q_id
stringlengths 5
6
| title
stringlengths 3
296
| selftext
stringlengths 0
34k
| document
stringclasses 1
value | subreddit
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 4
110
| answers
dict | title_urls
sequence | selftext_urls
sequence | answers_urls
sequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2is0cc | why does time seem to go so fast in the morning before i go to work? i only sit there on the couch doing nothing. yet when i get to work, time seems to drag all day? | I get up around 6 am, then I have 2 hours before work. It's like I'll look at the clock and it's lets say, 6:40. Then what feels like a few minutes later I'll look again and it's 7:05. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2is0cc/eli5_why_does_time_seem_to_go_so_fast_in_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cl4wzvl",
"cl4x366",
"cl4x5ts",
"cl4y1to",
"cl51c49",
"cl52m5x"
],
"score": [
3,
3,
2,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Can't speak for everyone here, but when I don't pay attention to the time, the work day tends to go by quickly. ",
"I thought this was a question I was wondering about too but after reading the whole title I see that it's not exactly the same.\n\nI did notice that in the morning, if I listen to a song, the rythm seems a lot quicker compared to me listening to the same song in the evening. I wonder how that happens.\n\nTo maybe answer this question, you probably are still awakening from a deep-sleep cycle in which you were basically a plant while once you're awake, your body has a better sense of time. Maybe also because it's usually more fun to be at home compared to being at work which makes time seem to go slower.\n\nThis is just what I feel like the reason would be. I'm in no position to say that's a fact. Keep that in mind.",
"probably because your brain is in boot up process, so you are not much aware what is going on around you. At work, you are conditioned to think only things at hand so you very aware and times seems to slow down. This is how i understand it. ",
"my observation only, but it depends on what you do. If you do time-consuming things that absorb your attention, it will make time go by quickly. When I am working on projects at work, time can soar by. But sitting there with little to do, or non-engaging things to do, makes it feel slower.\n\nPerception is a funny thing and can twist reality in all manner of ways for us.",
"I'm not saying this is your situation, but I've noticed that time goes most slowly when:\n\n1. I am procrastinating\n2. When I'm far too ramped up about the task(s) I just completed, gaining on overblown sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.\n\nPerhaps in the morning one procrastinates getting/going to work, thus time moves more slowly. Just an idea of mine...",
"Because when you are waking up your memory don't record every second. \n\nYou remember your alarm going off like was minutes ago because all the time between events weren't properly registred"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
759eww | what are poverty traps? with real life comparisons? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/759eww/eli5_what_are_poverty_traps_with_real_life/ | {
"a_id": [
"do4efa7"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"A poverty trap is a situation where people who are poor do not have access to the resources they need in order to escape poverty simply because they are poor.\n\nAs an example, it is pretty clear that increased education is an established way to escape poverty - the more educated you are, the better a job you can get and the greater income potential you have. However, in many parts of this world, education costs money to obtain. If you are poor, you may not be able to pay for schooling, obtain credit to take out loans for said schooling, or avoid working for daily living costs (which prevent you from taking the time to get educated). You are unable to access a resource to escape poverty (education) because you are too poor to pay for it or take time off to utilize it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
fznsv6 | serious question, what decides if something is/will be a belch or flatulence? | When you eat some foods they make you belch more afterward and others cause flatulence. What is the deciding factor on what end the gas will come from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fznsv6/eli5_serious_question_what_decides_if_something/ | {
"a_id": [
"fn56ohj"
],
"score": [
12
],
"text": [
"if the gas is before the pyloric sphincter, which is the valve between the stomach and the small intestine, then it'll be a belch. if it's gas after, it's a fart"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
7se77s | what really happens to make us feel 'refreshed' after a shower? | As in, what goes on in our body that makes it possible/necessary? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7se77s/eli5_what_really_happens_to_make_us_feel/ | {
"a_id": [
"dt40li4",
"dt47qwy"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Besides the water temp, it's the water drying on you. It absorbs your skin heat in the process. As your skin gets colder, you feel the refreshing sensation.",
"I think it has a lot to do with washing all the dirt and oils out of your pores. Getting all that out of there allows your skin to 'breathe' and feels good to touch the air unimpeded."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2akoqb | israel's structure of government and the multiple parties. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2akoqb/eli5_israels_structure_of_government_and_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"ciw4bhh"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system. The government is divided into three branches:\n\n* The Knesset is Israel's legislative branch (like the UK parliament or the US congress). It is comprised of 120 members who are elected once every 4 years, but not directly - instead, they are divided into various political parties. During the elections, each eligible citizen votes for one party, and then each party gets seats in the Knesset according to the respective numbers of votes that parties received, out of the total number of valid votes (so a party that gets 25% of the votes will get 30 seats).\n\n* The cabinet is Israel's executive branch. The prime minister (currently Binyamin Netanyahu) is the head of the government (there's also a president, but I'll get to that later). The cabinet is formed by a coalition of parties from the Knesset - after the elections, parties must for a coalition of more than 60 members (so they'll have a majority, otherwise the Knesset can dismantle the cabinet). Members of this coalition are appointed for ministers in the government as part of the coalition agreement.\n\n* Israel's judiciary branch, which includes judges that are appointed by a special committee, comprised of other judges, members of the cabinet and of the Knesset.\n\nIsrael also has a president, who serves mostly as a figurehead as he has very little actual powers, and mostly represents the state internationally. He is chosen by the Knesset every 7 years, and he appoints the elected prime minister (by choosing the member of Knesset who is most likely to form a coalition - usually the head of the largest party).\n\nIf you have more questions, feel free to ask."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
fw6bzj | how does a sinus infection work? | How is it that a sinus infection can create eyeball pain, clogged ears, which can also come with some muscle aches? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fw6bzj/eli5_how_does_a_sinus_infection_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"fmmrxxz"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"your frontal sinuses are just above your eyes, and the ethmoid sinuses are between your eyes and your nose. If they get infected and swollen, they can put pressure on/near your eyes, causing pain.\n\nYour nasal passages are tied to your ears via the eustachian tube. It's pretty common for any upper respiratory bug to cause migrate to/from the inner ear, causing blockage or an ear infection."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
8m2wd9 | in sweden i see the moon day and night. since the moon is smaller than our earth, how is it possible that the moon is visible on the other side of earth aswell? (like in america) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8m2wd9/eli5_in_sweden_i_see_the_moon_day_and_night_since/ | {
"a_id": [
"dzkcf73",
"dzkcm3d",
"dzkdjgq",
"dzkeva7"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"You don't see it *all* day and *all* night. On any given day, it is roughly in the same position relative to Earth (changing by only 1/28th of a rotation each day).\n\nWhen your location on Earth is facing the moon, you'll see it. When your location on Earth is facing *away* from the moon, you will not. \n\nAt times when it's between the Earth and the sun, you'll see it during the day (though you're mostly looking at the dark side so its smaller and less visible). \nAt times when it's \"behind\" the Earth and opposite the sun, you'll see it at night. \nOther times it's \"next to\" the Earth (compared to the sun) so you can see it for part of the day and part of the night. \n\nBut never for all day and all night-- unless you're at an extreme Northern or Southern location. At these same times in these same places, neither the sun or moon would disappear. ",
"Well you don't see the moon every day and every night. The moon orbits around the Earth at a different speed than the Earth rotates. That's why we get full moons, crescent moons and no moons (new moons). Additionally the Moon isn't on the same axis that the earth is spinning on, it's about 5 degrees off so it crosses over the equator, thus there shouldn't be any location that can consistently see the moon every day and night.\n\nWhen 1 side of the world sees the moon during the day, that's generally because the other side of the world is having a full moon during their night.",
"Where in Sweden, on this date, is the moon up for 24 hours straight?\n\nIn any event, the other side of Earth from Sweden is not the United States, or any other place in the Americas. It is between New Zealand and Antarctica. Rest assured, the moon is not visible from both Sweden and New Zealand from the ground at the same time.",
"Whenever the moon is low on the horizon in a northerly direction for you, it is mostly the other side of the world (central Pacific, eastern Asia, western Americas) that is able to see the moon. If you froze time, as you travel south in to Europe, the moon would disappear under the horizon so it is not visible for much of Europe and all of Africa at this time. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6baa9k | traffic | How come sometimes you are at a stand still for 15 miles then it just opens up and everyone is zooming through ?(assuming no accidents, road work) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6baa9k/eli5_traffic/ | {
"a_id": [
"dhl1yfd"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Imagine a hallway with double doors at the end and a steady stream of people shoulder to shoulder leaving through the door. Suddenly shut and lock one of the doors. Now two people have to leave through a door that only takes one at a time, so they have to slip in between each other and the people behind them have to stop walking for this to happen. Eventually you will see a bunch forming as there are more people arriving at the door than can fit through it.\n\nThen unlock and open the 2nd door. Now people don't have to stop and fit through the same door, they can continue at their normal speed. But the people in the back can't just start walking immediately, they'd walk right into the person stopped in front of them. So the backup clears from front to back until the people are back up to normal speed."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
ckqtvv | why does the timer on my washer lie to me? it has said ‘6 minutes left’ for the last 20 minutes. what causes the accuracy (or, more commonly, the lack thereof) in the timer for washers and dryers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ckqtvv/eli5_why_does_the_timer_on_my_washer_lie_to_me_it/ | {
"a_id": [
"evpxpw5",
"evq1tzw"
],
"score": [
6,
9
],
"text": [
"At leas for dryers most of them have te ability to sense how wet the clothes still are. So they will give you the estimated time to be done and then if they sense the clothes are still damp they will keep going.",
"During the spin cycle some washers have an unbalanced load sensor (i.e. all the clothes has lumped up on one side of the drum). When the machine detects this it stops the spin and the timer to avoid damaging the drum and will rotate back and forth slowly a few times to try to evenly distribute the weight and then spins fast again. However, certain loads can't be evenly distributed (a couple of thick items like jeans or sweaters with other clothes) and so this cycle will repeat, lengthening the complete cycle time. If your load has ever finished, but the clothes are still very wet, this is likely your problem."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1hxk7q | how come my phone charges so much quicker when plugged into the wall, opposed to when it's plugged into a computer via usb? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hxk7q/how_come_my_phone_charges_so_much_quicker_when/ | {
"a_id": [
"cayworv",
"caywrxv",
"cazf5ck"
],
"score": [
34,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Your phone wants 1 amp of power to charge ( often written as one-thousand milliamps aka 1000 mA). A USB port only provides 500mA, half of what it wants. It charges, but slower\n\nYour wall charger can provide the full 1000mA, so it will charge faster. ",
"The difference is the watts, which are the measure of power. Power is the rate at which energy is transferred.\n\nWatts = current (Amps) times voltage (Volts).\n\nFrom _URL_0_ , looks like USB 1.0 is limited to current of 100 mA at voltage of 5 volts, or 1/2 watt. USB 2.0 can supply 5x that much, 2.5 watts.\n\nYour home AC outlet (in USA) can give 15A at about 120 volts, or 1800 watts (enough to run a microwave, for example).\n\nTypical laptop power brick you plug into the AC outlet might supply around 70 watts to the laptop, usually something like 4A at around 18V.\n\nHigher current (Amps) requires thicker wires.",
"Because you're not getting enough current.\n\nYou can use Asus Ai Charger to speed it up on PCs.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Power"
],
[
"http://lifehacker.com/5993609/asus-ai-charger-quickly-charges-your-iphone-or-ipad-over-a-regular-usb-port"
]
] |
||
9jmoe9 | is it possible for a country to buy another country? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9jmoe9/eli5_is_it_possible_for_a_country_to_buy_another/ | {
"a_id": [
"e6sl0fy",
"e6sl476",
"e6sla3x",
"e6slh24"
],
"score": [
10,
30,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"No. There are two different reasons why not for the two different forms of government.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n1. Democracies like you describe are governed by the will of the people. There is nothing to buy. You might be able to spend a huge amount of money delivering \"free\" social services to the population of another country so the people want to join your country, but just look at China and Taiwan, people are smart and understand when an abusive guy is buying them flowers trying to get them to take him back. Long story short - in a democracy there is nothing to buy because government is just based on the consent of the governed.\n\n2. Dictatorships you have a bit more of a chance. However realistically you still can't just purchase the country for one simple reason - a guy can only spend so much. If I'm a third world dictator it only costs a few thousand dollars a day to keep me in all the physical comfort I could possibly have. No matter how shitty the country Maduro is always going to have all the burritos he can eat. On the other hand, being president gives me something that no amount of money can buy - power. You insult me? I'll kill you right there. That girl is hot? Lets grab her. I want to jerk off my ego? Order my painting put up on every public building's wall. Things you could literally NEVER purchase are freely given to you as president of a dictatorship. Why give that up for money when you already have all the things money can buy?",
"Theoretically yes, a nation could agree to be peacefully annexed with a transfer of wealth as a prerequisite. This was once fairly common, as small nations occasionally sought protection and wealth by yielding sovereignty to imperial nations.\n\nIt hasn't happened in recent memory, but there's no UN \"rule\" (If UN rules really meant anything anyway) preventing two nations from merging.",
"I feel that logically this isn’t possible. \n\nI think of it along these lines. If Belgium wanted to buy Luxembourg, for example, BE would give LU a set sum of money and then BE would own LU. But then it would also own all that comes with it, including the money that was just handed over. So it didn’t lose any money at all. It seems more like a marriage/pooling of resources to me. \n\nAlternatively, given that the true owners of a country are its citizens, Belgium could buy out every single Luxembourger on condition that they leave and never come back, but they get to take the money with them. Or they could just stay and be much richer than all the Belgians. That technically would be a true purchase, but unlikely to happen. \n\nLastly, I guess they could “buy” it from a corrupt government. Also very unlikely to happen, especially in a Belgium-Luxembourg scenario. ",
"In general no, however the failure of the Darien scheme meant that Scotland was basically broke and England stepped in to help it out which then led to the acts of union where England and Scotland became a single country - _URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/YFCbVtUxs9A"
]
] |
||
5cmk3g | why do people start feeling drowsy in extreme cold conditions? ie. freeze to death | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cmk3g/eli5why_do_people_start_feeling_drowsy_in_extreme/ | {
"a_id": [
"d9xtr4l"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The cold slows down your circulation, on top of your body trying to pull in heat towards your vital organs. This decrease in circulation will cause you to feel sleepy because less oxygen is getting through your body."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
bdtryp | why did it take so long to stop notre dame cathedral's fire? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bdtryp/eli5_why_did_it_take_so_long_to_stop_notre_dame/ | {
"a_id": [
"el0mgbb"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The main problem was access. The burning wooden beams were above the stone ceiling of the interior and below the stone roof. They were too high up for water sprayed from outside, and the area is accessible only through extremely narrow stone spiral staircases inside the walls."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
7l3z77 | how do you reverse engineer the ingredients of a chemical formula? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7l3z77/eli5_how_do_you_reverse_engineer_the_ingredients/ | {
"a_id": [
"drjbjnl",
"drjcajr"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Well, you can use a gas chromatograph to measure the different elements and ions in the mystery substance. That's not totally enough information, so then you'd have to look at how those \"lego blocks\" might be arranged in a stable molecule. Sometimes there are a couple of possibilities. When you get it down to a list of possibilities you can define specific tests to measure A vs B and then C vs D and then A vs C to boil it down to an answer.",
"Just did a lab where I had to do this. Basically, I first had to identify what my substance contains. Iron? Copper? Salt? Etc. then, I needed to identify what possible reactions could produce the substance. Usually, we are given constraints to narrow down possibilities. In my lab, I had two blue paints and a white paint that were known to contain parts of the substance I was reverse engineering. Knowing that, I could take a list of possible reactions, compare with what’s logical with the constraint, and determine how the reaction took place, or even what the hell the substance is, if given other information instead. \n\nIn a nutshell, without sophisticated technology, it’s a lot of guess and check."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
9ik92n | understanding simulacra and simulation -- "the simulacrum is never that which hides the truth - it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. the simulacrum is true." | "The simulacrum is never that which hides the truth - it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true." -- Jean Baudrillard/Ecclesiastes
& #x200B;
Can someone help me understand this quote? I think I understand the basic concepts of simulacra and simulation, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Simulacrum is composed of symbols that have lost their original meaning. So clothing that is purchased for its social value as a display of wealth or class, rather than a practical purpose (to protect you and keep you warm) could be an example of a simulacra because the consumer of the object has completely lost sight of the original purpose of the object.
& #x200B;
So in relation to the quote, the simulacrum doesn't hide the truth -- the fact that there is an object that has come to mean something different than originally intended, doesn't hide the fact that the object originally existed with a different purpose. The new meaning wasn't created to obscure the original meaning.
& #x200B;
The part that confuses me is: "it is the truth that hides the fact that there is none." What exactly does this mean? That the truth hides that fact that there is no simulacrum, so the original meaning hides the fact that there is a new meaning? Like if you only look at clothing as a tool to keep you warm, does this truth hide the truth that clothing can indicate status? Or is it saying that the truth hides the fact that there is no truth? So what someone believes to be true, might not actually be true. So if you deeply believe that clothing only indicates status, does your truth hide the actual truth that it is meant to keep you warm? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ik92n/eli5_understanding_simulacra_and_simulation_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"e6kb267"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"So you're partially right, but simulacrum doesn't necessarily mean an intentional distortion of the original. Simulacra can also be a faithful reproduction or an attempt to perfectly copy the original, whether it's an image or an object or something else. Think of something like a recreation of a sculpture in a museum somewhere. Baudrillard argued that simulacrum was not just a copy, but becomes an original thing in its own right, as a hyperreal. \n\nHyperreality is the inability of consciousness to distinguish what's real from what's not. That the real and the fiction blend together so seamlessly that one can't tell where one ends and the other begins. He proposed orders for transition from real to hyperreal. The first order of simulacra is that known to not be real, the viewer never confuses it for being real, such as a landscape painting during the renaissance period. The second order is when the simulacra is taken to be an adequate substitution for the real, but the real may still be recognized. This would include a photograph of the earlier mentioned painting. The third and final order of simulacra is the hyperreal, in which their is no original, only a simulation of a simulation. A good way of identifying the hyperreal is not by asking if there's an absence of real, but if it's meaningless to ask whether it's real or fake. Disneyland is always given as the best example . A child sees an actor wearing a Mickey Mouse costume and thinks \"Wow it's the *real* Mickey Mouse\". But of course, there is no such thing as a real Mickey Mouse, it was always a simulation, it's neither fake nor real. That's what he meant when he said \"it is truth that hides the fact that there is none\".\n\n & #x200B;\n\n & #x200B;"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
c9i4rx | why do all the yummy foods have such high calorie amount or calorie density? and why does the human body want it so much? | For example, chocolates, crackers, instant noodles, candy, rice... It just doesn't make sense how the human body never enjoys healthy foods. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c9i4rx/eli5_why_do_all_the_yummy_foods_have_such_high/ | {
"a_id": [
"esylkqb",
"esym2o3",
"esyq6wt"
],
"score": [
14,
8,
5
],
"text": [
"Sugar and fat are 2 good sources of energy, that's why your body craves them, you need them to stay alive. The problem is now it's much more easily available than ever.",
"For most of human history, and before we evolved into modern humans, it has been a challenge to find enough food to survive. High calorie density meant that a food *was good for you*, since obesity was not a problem. In fact, being too skinny and even starving to death, was what most people needed to worry about.\n\nSo if there was a food high in calories, it was beneficial for you to feel compelled to eat it, and to find more. That item was a very good and in fact *healthy* source of food, not because it was a perfectly balanced meal, but because the alternative was eating too little or nothing at all (or something with very little nutritional value).\n\nIt’s only with the introduction of modern farming and transportation techniques that *too much* food has become a health problem, and too much of these calorie-dense foods in particular is basically a shortcut to overeating.",
"One unmentioned thing here : \n\nWhen you eat something that tastes \"good\" dopamine is released in your brain. Dopamine is the \"reward\" system of your brain. Do something good? Here is a reward; you feel better. \n\nThis is an addictive system and your body will desire that dopamine release again and again. Some people with legit chemical imbalances can struggle with obesity because the amount of dopamine released is way more than an average healthy person so they binge eat to satisfy that drive for dopamine. \n\nSo while what the others are saying is true, your body is capable of identifying survival methods, it is also a matter of becoming physically/chemically addicted to dopamine, and mentally addicted to the feeling of reward that you get from eating."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
jlt1s | the difference between silver/white gold/platinum | Obviously I know they are three different metals, but is there any way to tell by just looking or is it just a price thing for rich people to whine about? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jlt1s/eli5_the_difference_between_silverwhite/ | {
"a_id": [
"c2d6bwm",
"c2d6cl2",
"c2d6bwm",
"c2d6cl2"
],
"score": [
8,
13,
8,
13
],
"text": [
"thought this would be a pokemon question before I clicked",
"I'm a metalsmith and I make jewelry out of the metals you are talking about for a living.\n\nThe most basic answer to your question is that these three metals are completely different elements (literally, different elements - check the periodic table) with very different properties, and some are more abundant on earth than others.\n\n**White gold** is regular yellow gold mixed (alloyed) with white metals such as nickel. Often, to make it appear even whiter, it is then plated (covered) with a thin layer of a very bright metal called rhodium. Gold is highly valued by human beings and not a very abundant mineral. It is very soft unless mixed with stronger metals. Just about all gold is an alloy, because otherwise it's too soft to do do anything with.\n\n**Silver** is a vastly more abundant metal (occurring on earth in a ratio of about 15:1 when compared to gold). It is fairly soft which means it doesn't work well for jewelry that is going to be worn long and hard, for example as wedding rings. It's pretty easy to work with, and readily available thus it is affordable. It is naturally white, but comes in various alloys to achieve different properties.\n\n**Platinum** and a similar metal palladium are most expensive of all of them, and are very hard, heavy and durable metals that are also not terribly abundant, which makes them highly valued. Palladium is sometimes alloyed with gold. Platinum is naturally white.\n\nI can often tell the metals apart by sight/weight/touch because I have spent a lot of time looking at them, but definitely the only way to be sure is through chemical testing, especially because there are lots of other white metals that could be used to confuse.",
"thought this would be a pokemon question before I clicked",
"I'm a metalsmith and I make jewelry out of the metals you are talking about for a living.\n\nThe most basic answer to your question is that these three metals are completely different elements (literally, different elements - check the periodic table) with very different properties, and some are more abundant on earth than others.\n\n**White gold** is regular yellow gold mixed (alloyed) with white metals such as nickel. Often, to make it appear even whiter, it is then plated (covered) with a thin layer of a very bright metal called rhodium. Gold is highly valued by human beings and not a very abundant mineral. It is very soft unless mixed with stronger metals. Just about all gold is an alloy, because otherwise it's too soft to do do anything with.\n\n**Silver** is a vastly more abundant metal (occurring on earth in a ratio of about 15:1 when compared to gold). It is fairly soft which means it doesn't work well for jewelry that is going to be worn long and hard, for example as wedding rings. It's pretty easy to work with, and readily available thus it is affordable. It is naturally white, but comes in various alloys to achieve different properties.\n\n**Platinum** and a similar metal palladium are most expensive of all of them, and are very hard, heavy and durable metals that are also not terribly abundant, which makes them highly valued. Palladium is sometimes alloyed with gold. Platinum is naturally white.\n\nI can often tell the metals apart by sight/weight/touch because I have spent a lot of time looking at them, but definitely the only way to be sure is through chemical testing, especially because there are lots of other white metals that could be used to confuse."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1x5oex | what is the big bang theory | NOT THE SHOW | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1x5oex/eli5_what_is_the_big_bang_theory/ | {
"a_id": [
"cf8c078",
"cf8c2hx"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"The universe is of finite age, and the objects in the universe were once much closer than they are today. As a consequence, the early universe was exceptionally hot and dense, resulting in states of matter and particles not observed in everyday situations today.\n\nThe most direct evidence for the Big Bang is the existence of the [cosmic microwave background](_URL_0_) - a dim radio glow across the entire sky that is almost completely uniform. This is the \"light\" (now shifted far outside the visible range) of the last time space was in the proper state to be opaque. The existence of this background was a prediction of the theory long before it was observed, and agrees to fantastic precision with the theoretical predictions.",
"Its a very miss leading title _URL_0_ its not an exposition then everything just was."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background"
],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3MWRvLndzs"
]
] |
|
b4n905 | how are concepts in statistics different for courses like psychology, political sciences, or sociology? | These majors all require courses with statistical packages such as SPSS or R and they have different readings and resources. Are the materials in these courses mostly transferable, or do I need to take the specific course and use that material? Can I use a psychology course package in stats for doing sociological research and vice versa?
Are there really psychology specific statistical tests that would not apply for other fields? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b4n905/eli5_how_are_concepts_in_statistics_different_for/ | {
"a_id": [
"ej7tglx"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Statistics is a branch of mathematics.\n\nThe math does not change, but how you apply it does, and that is what tailor made classes do, teach you how to apply the math.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
34t6xl | no captcha recaptcha | If there is any confusion, I'm referring to the new version of Google's (in)famous reCAPTCHA service. Official release blog post here: _URL_0_
Now, understand it is a fancy risk assessment engine. It looks at your usage of the website and decides if you are human. What I don't fully understand is what sort of cues it takes and what sort of logic it follows.
For example, sometimes on Google Chrome while logged in on my main google account (which I clearly owned by a human, there is a bunch of legit activity over 5+ years) it starts off with easy captchas and then makes them harder and harder until I can't resolve it.
Then if I open an Incognito session or use Firefox on the same device, it goes back to trusting me. To me it makes sense that the more info it has about you, more confident it can be in your intentions.
Then at other time, on the same device it does not actually challenge me at all and simply allows men to tick the box.
Then, in mobile it will be very lax, asking for really simple challenges when I'd imagine mobile platforms would be more difficult as every Android device is substantially less unique than every other device of the same brand and model.
Can somebody explain to me how reCAPTCH decides of if I'm human or not? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34t6xl/eli5_no_captcha_recaptcha/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqxv2uh",
"cqyo9i1"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"It tracks your mouse movement and compares it to average mouse movement t by other humans and mouse movement done by bots. The specifics aren't given out because then it wouldn't work because the bots would be programmed to move the cursor like humans.",
"It's a very interesting topic, at least to me. Source: I work at [FunCaptcha](_URL_2_) and we specialize in making CAPTCHAs not terrible. \n\nUnfortunately: you'll get nothing but educated guesses on what's happening 'behind the curtain' as Google simply can't reveal anything more than it has. Why? It's a security asset. If they gave too much away, it would be too easy to break. But essentially, you've nailed the bullet points already: it builds a history of your activities around the web (aka \"cookie whitelist\") and when you click the checkbox, it takes an educated guess as to whether you're human or a bot. \n \nI actually [wrote a piece](_URL_1_) on this with more detail which explains [security expert findings](_URL_0_) and even someone who [reverse engineered it](_URL_3_). It's a bit more complicated but if you're interested in the topic further, have a read and let me know what you think."
]
} | [] | [
"http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/are-you-robot-introducing-no-captcha.html"
] | [
[],
[
"http://homakov.blogspot.in/2014/12/the-no-captcha-problem.html",
"https://www.funcaptcha.com/2015/01/06/recaptcha-is-still-vulnerable-perhaps-even-more-than-ever-before/",
"https://www.funcaptcha.com",
"https://github.com/neuroradiology/InsideReCaptcha"
]
] |
|
b0r1o0 | why are there no flying animals large enough for humans to ride? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b0r1o0/eli5_why_are_there_no_flying_animals_large_enough/ | {
"a_id": [
"eigiodh"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Why don't they exist? Because there is no evolutionary advantage for birds to be massive enough and carry enough weight for humans to ride them. \n\nWhy isn't it practical? Weight. The largest flying birds in the world are a couple varieties of albatross, with wingspans around 10 feet and they weigh a mere 19 pounds. In order for a bird to not only be able to sustain its own weight in flight and also a human's, it would likely need to weigh substantially more than a human which means you'd be likely looking at well more than 500lbs. Birds just don't scale up like that."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
d395dn | why is it that the earth's gravity is powerful enough to pull aeroplanes down from the sky if they didn't move fast enough yet we can easily raise our arms in the air without feeling any force pulling on them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d395dn/eli5_why_is_it_that_the_earths_gravity_is/ | {
"a_id": [
"f00e13g",
"f00ep1x",
"f00erqq",
"f00f7co",
"f00h8rl",
"f00tcsw",
"f00tgsh",
"f01ui0o"
],
"score": [
6,
3,
10,
10,
20,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Airplanes weigh a lot more than your arms. The overall force due to gravity increases with the amount of \"stuff\" being pulled by gravity. Clouds, for example, are \"big\" but don't compromise of much \"stuff\" so they are pulled down comparatively little",
"It's all about lift, planes have to generate enough lift to escape the pull of gravity, if they go too slow, the amount of lift generated drops too low to overcome gravity and they fall. \n\nImagine lifting your arms up with a 20lb weight in each....you have to work a little harder than with no weights but not too difficult right? Now imagine holding your arms up and having a friend strap 100lb weights to each. Unless you constantly work with that amount of weight, you're not going to be able to overcome the effect of gravity with that much weight.",
"It's not about strength, it's about force and acceleration.\n\nThe Earth's gravity applies an acceleration to every object of about 9.8m/s^2 at ground level.\n\nThat means that everything in Earth's influence will move toward the earth, accelerating as it goes. No matter how heavy it is. It's the reason airplanes that don't move stay on the ground, the reason you stay on the ground, and the reason everything stays on the ground.\n\nThen the plane moves, however, the lift provided by the wings provides a force that counteracts gravity--exactly the same as when you raise your arms. This holds true for everything: to move something upward, you need to just apply a force that's great enough to accelerate the mass of the object away from the Earth at a rate of ~9.81m/s^2 or more. For planes, they're very massive, and so require much more force than your arms. \n\nBut you *do* feel a force pulling on your arms. Stick your arm straight out in front of you and see hold it there. See long long it takes before your arm starts to hurt? That's because you're forced to constantly provide that gravity-counteracting force to keep your arm upward.",
"ELI5: relax your arms and they will fall down. Small things take less effort to lift than big things, but they all take _some_ effort to lift.",
"You don't feel any force pulling on them? My arms get tired very quickly when I have them raised in the air.",
"The force of gravity is directly proportional to the mass of the object. So the force in 1kg is 9.8 newton but for 2 kg is is 19.6N and for 10 kg it is 98 N. What a newton is not that important just that the force depend on the mass.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nYou arm might have a mass of 5 kg and the force is 49N \nA empty Boeing 737 have a mass of approximate 36 000kg so the force is 352 800 N.\n\nThe force on the airplane is 352 800/49=7200 times higher. \n\nThe reason a aircraft stay in the air is the lift on the wings from the air that move over them and that is why you need to move forward. The option would be a wing that moved when the aircraft is stationary like if you rotated it around and attached it to the top so it do not hit anything that would also work and we call it a helicopter. \n\nYou will not feel the weight on the arm if you just lift it because you are used to it and you brain thing of it as zero But hold a weight in your arm and you will feel it directly. \nThe brain in general tune out the normal stat because it is not useful information. You feel clothes when you put them on but then there touch on the skin is filtered out\n\nAnother option is to hold out you arm horizontally for a few minutes and you will start to feel that there is a force on them",
"We *do* feel force on them. It's just that our muscles are specifically adapted to be big enough to raise our arms. Look how much muscle you have in your shoulders and upper arms, just to move your arms 1 meter upward.",
"Thanks for taking the time to answer guys, much appreciated!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6gszmh | why do some swelling require an ice pack and others require a warm compress? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gszmh/eli5_why_do_some_swelling_require_an_ice_pack_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"dissmhp",
"dist4cb"
],
"score": [
2,
5
],
"text": [
"What swelling are u referencing in regards to needing a warm compress? If I better understand the question I may be able to help u on this explanation",
"Ice packs are for more recent injuries to keep swelling down. Warm compresses are usually for later to increase blood flow to move the fluid in the swollen area out."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1dij37 | why people don't like yelp. | When I was reading the [LPT](_URL_0_) about talking to managers/bosses at businesses before posting a bad review of the business on Yelp earlier, it seemed like a lot of the people who commented really disliked Yelp. A quick google search didn't really turn anything up but yahoo questions talking about it.
What is it that Yelp supposedly doing and are there reliable sources that back it up? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dij37/eli5_why_people_dont_like_yelp/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9qmsrz"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Yelp has recently become a bit extortionist in regard to which reviews they show. Business that are Yelp-members may have the couple reviews that show by default be very high ones, even if the majority of their reviews are poor. Additionally, companies that choose not to become members will show poor reviews, even if most reviews are good.\n\nAlso, members will find it easier to have Yelp remove a review that was posted than non-members."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/1dhdd7/lpt_before_writing_a_negative_review_on_yelp/"
] | [
[]
] |
|
3iah4x | what's going on with the fall in the value of the australian dollar over the last three years? is it a coincidence that it started to fall around the time of the liberals and their 'budget crisis' were voted in? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3iah4x/eli5_whats_going_on_with_the_fall_in_the_value_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"cuew4l0"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"China's slowing manufacturing economy and consequently, decreasing demand for Australian minerals."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4f86vo | is everything covered in germs? | I'm sure you've all heard of the "five second rule" which basically states that if you drop food on the ground you have 5 seconds to pick it up before it becomes contaminated.
My question is, since germs are so common and they multiply frequently does that mean everything is covered in germs?
If so, what's to stop us from being sick regularly? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f86vo/eli5_is_everything_covered_in_germs/ | {
"a_id": [
"d26o7dr",
"d26o9sh",
"d26ofam",
"d26owl1",
"d26wapt"
],
"score": [
4,
3,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"This is an interesting one. A simple answer to your question is yes everything is covered in germs. The longer; every surface has germs but to a varying extent. A surface that is regularly wiped clean such as a kitchen counter has some germs or microbes on it from the bacteria in the air. In comparison a surface that isn't wiped clean as regularly such as the inside of a bin will have much more bacteria on it. \n\nIn respect to the 5 second rule, Wikipedia (on mobile so can't link) lists a few studies that give conflicting data. The general consensus seems to be that any food that touches the floor will be contaminated BUT the longer it is on the floor the more it becomes contaminated. Obviously the length of time it takes to become dangerous to eat depends on the amount of germs on it and the type of material the flooring is (e.g. Carpet is worse than tile). \n\nWhat stops us being sick? Our stomach acid and enzymes destroy most germs the rest is pretty much dealt with by the immune system.",
"Pretty much, yeah. The 5 second rule is BS. Germs from the floor get on the food on contact. \n\nWe don't get sick all the time because most bacteria is harmless, and some is even beneficial. In fact, many types of bacteria live inside our body, passed down from our mother, and help us in a symbiotic parasitic relationship. They break down the food we eat and convert it into stuff that is easier for us to digest and many other functions. \n\nOn top of that, even the germs that are harmful to us are usually taken out by out immune system. ",
"First defence: Skin. It's essentially biological armour. Without skin, our muscles and such would be exposed to the air and we'd probably all die of widespread infection pretty fast.\n\nSecond defence: Immune system. Kills bacteria in the bloodstream. When there's too many bacteria for it to kill quickly, the toxins they release build up in your blood you get sick. Obviously this is different for different strains of bacteria.\n\nThird: Acids and enzymes in the stomach. Unfortunately the GI tract is also pretty much perfect for some types of bacteria, so if say a piece of bread with lots of bacteria in it gets into your intestines and they've not all been killed off, they could reproduce fairly quickly and lead to food poisoning. That's why you shouldn't eat undercooked meat for example.\n\nAs to bacteria on surfaces, Yeah there is a lot of native bacteria around, but as long as you wash your hands you should be fine. Also there's some metals are [biocidal](_URL_0_) which is why you'll frequently see Brass doorknobs around, even though we've hardly used Brass for anything after leaving the victorian era-- \n\nTL:DR; after a few hours in sunlight a brass doorknob will effectively disinfect itself.",
"Not everything is covered in germs, but nearly everything is. But that is irrelevant. \n\nWe don't get sick regularly, as most germs are harmless, and although a lot of stuff is covered in the harmful ones, our bodies have a lot of mechanisms that defend them from harmful germs, ranging from mechanical barriers such as the skin or mucous membranes, through chemical weapons, even getting sick is a defensive mechanism that prevents the microbes from killing you most of the time at the cost of also causing damage to the body. Yes, there are germs that can bypass or survive all that, and they can kill you, but you are extremely unlikely to encounter them. Most of the time, serious illnesses require the immune system to be already compromised, e.g. because of a wound.\n\nAlso, getting sick regularly is often caused by the immune system overreacting to a stimulus.\n\nThe five second rule is BS in my opinion, but I'm not sure.\n\nI'm not a doctor, so this may be factually wrong.",
"Depends on what exactly you mean by \"germ\". There is a broad sense of the word, in which \"germ = microorganism\", and a narrower one, in which \"germ = microorganism that causes disease\"\n\nPretty much everything on this planet is covered with bacteria and archaea, and often small eukaryotes too. \n\nMost of them are harmless. \n\nHowever, it is important to understand that many disease-causing microorganisms are not evolved pathogens, i.e., many diseases are caused by microorganisms that have evolved to be pathogens and that is their only lifestyle, but there are also numerous others which happen by accident. For example, some obscure soil bacteria turns out to be a deadly pathogen when introduced into humans, even though it normally never comes in contact with them. \n\nA classic example is the brain-eating amoeba, *Naegleria fowleri*, which is normally free-living and eats bacteria. But if you are unlucky to inhale some of it when swimming, it eats your brain and you die. \n\n*Vibrio* bacteria are another good example -- they normally live in ponds and lakes, attached to various animals and plants, but some strains can cause various diseases in humans when ingested. \n\nLegionnaires' disease is cause by *Legionella*, which normally is an endosymbiont of free-living ameobae, which makes it somewhat pre-adapted to living inside human macrophages, where it causes diseases.\n\nEtc., there are many similar examples."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodynamic_effect"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
40ubbs | why do we have fiction stories (books, movies, games)? | I get that it's fun. I do it all the time. I like watching movies, even if it takes hours of my time and gives me nothing back. But what exactly pushes us to do this? And why do some people not care at all for fiction? It feels like we don't get anything from it.
I guess it can be used as a sort of coping mechanism to escape everyday life but I doubt it's the only purpose of fiction.
Thanks | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40ubbs/eli5why_do_we_have_fiction_stories_books_movies/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyx61qi"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Stories help us learn about the world and the values of our culture. Consider the movie *Twelve Years A Slave*. You could learn the details of slavery through a textbook and learn about the morality of slavery through moral treatises, but it won't have the same effect as watching a movie telling the story of a man who is enslaved.\n\nStories can help us communicate things that we have trouble putting into words. It's a lot easier to tell stories about good people and bad people or people doing good and people doing bad than it is to work out a systematic morality that can guide how we should live."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
66x45q | why are there atheists, and while i ask that, why do we have religion, is it really required | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66x45q/eli5_why_are_there_atheists_and_while_i_ask_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"dglwz2t",
"dglx5ce",
"dglxa2y",
"dglxuk8"
],
"score": [
3,
4,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"There are atheists because religion has no solid backbone and any argument can be refuted. Religion isn't required per se but a lot of people believe that without religion there are no morals, so they have to indoctrinate and brainwash children so they'll believe that there's an invisible being that, instead of fixing world hunger or preventing natural disasters, really cares if you masturbate or desire a woman.",
"Religion provides answers for questions that we had no answer for, but as science progressed and answered many of those questions people found no need for religion. As for it being necessary, that becomes a more subjective topic.",
"Atheist is the default condition. You are born atheist. If your parents are religious, they will most likely fill your developing mind with religious bullshit that takes a long time to clear out.\n\nIn short, religion is absolutely not necessary, and is in fact a huge problem.",
"Because people are afraid of the unknown, and while today it can be explained why and when crops will succede, in early years it wasn't known, which meant something unexplainable affected their crops, so they imagined a guy high above who controls nature and started praying to him. Also, thunder is scary and is known to hit trees and cause fires, which is generally a bad thing and was interpreted as if that certain allpowerful guy high above was angry with them. \n\nSo that continued, crops and equinox were explained, calendar was invented, thumders were explained and it was proven that the Earth orbits Sun, rather than the other way around. But what was left unexplained and will remain unexplained is what happens after death and why do we exist, so again, out of the fear of the unknown, people pray and believe something will save them from imagined fires and eternal damnation, aka hell.\n\nReligion is, in the end, the longest running practical joke in human history. And people still think their souls (whatever that is) will be eternally saved if they recite some words before meals and before bedtime and accept an ambiguous and questionable historical person from X years ago as their ruler and saviour.\n\nThere buddy, is that an answer worthy of your question?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3vfhe0 | why does the government provide “stimulus” to banks rather than just larger returns to low to middle income earners? | To understand this question I guess you need some familiarity with economics. The way government quantitative easing works, whether domestically or internationally by the ECB, the govt pumps up the economy by printing more money and giving it to banks in exchange for Treasuries and mortgage backed securities. The theory is that banks will re-lend the money out, thereby stimulating economic activity. The truth, however, is that many banks simply hoard the deposits for capital reserves or use the funds for purposes other than lending. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the government to spend these billions by giving larger tax returns to low to middle income earners who are more likely to spend it out of necessity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vfhe0/eli5why_does_the_government_provide_stimulus_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"cxn1akh",
"cxn8e9b"
],
"score": [
10,
2
],
"text": [
"they did do that. _URL_0_\n*almost* everyone got $600 cold hard cash.\n\nUnfortunately this money was quickly blown, often on imported goods that did nothing to support the US economy.\n\nQuantitative easing was a more direct route to not just subsidize spending, but to facilitate liquidity for the market to operate naturally.\n\nThere was also cash for clunkers, which IMO was a fairly ingenious plan to support the auto industry while reducing pollution. Unfortunately it turned out to be insufficient.",
"The most recent Freakonomics podcast was an interview with Ben Bernanke which explains this from his view and makes fun of him, just a little bit. I'd link but I'm on mobile."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Stimulus_Act_of_2008"
],
[]
] |
|
477olm | what a "crazy cat lady" is and where the definition came from. | As seen on the simpsons: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/477olm/eli5_what_a_crazy_cat_lady_is_and_where_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"d0asx77"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Some lonely old ladies like to get cats for company. There are some notable cases where this has gone to the point of a mental illness where the house is swarmed with ill trained cats that the occupant has no ability to take care of (you try to clean up after 50 cats). It isn't a common occurrence, but since it makes the news whenever it gets to the mental illness stage, it seems more common than it is."
]
} | [] | [
"https://eruditefeline.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/crazy-cat-lady-color.jpg"
] | [
[]
] |
|
144b02 | how something like this floats? (pic inside) | This was posted on /r/pics and I can't understand how this can float? Isn't it a huge chunk of metal carrying huge chunks of metal?
_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/144b02/eli5_how_something_like_this_floats_pic_inside/ | {
"a_id": [
"c79qmrl",
"c79qudd"
],
"score": [
6,
4
],
"text": [
"[Buoyancy explained like you're 5](_URL_0_)",
"There's a LOT of ship underwater, which you obviously can't see, but it's displacing enough water to make up for all the stuff that's loaded on there."
]
} | [] | [
"http://i.imgur.com/29EcG.jpg"
] | [
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0SnFCs9z1g"
],
[]
] |
|
96y2nt | why can't we build reserves of water on our body like we build reserves of food? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/96y2nt/eli5_why_cant_we_build_reserves_of_water_on_our/ | {
"a_id": [
"e440be2",
"e440dwf",
"e443fkg",
"e447stk",
"e448epb"
],
"score": [
2,
5,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Because too much water can easily kill you. \n\nYour cells contain a certain amount of stuff (proteins, amino acids, sugars and so on) that attract water. Drink too much water and it will be pulled into your cells. Enough water gets pulled in and your cells burst and you die. Protein you can (sort of) store. Fat and sugar you can easily store. There isn't really any way to store water. ",
"Binging on water causes a state called hyponatremia, which means not enough salt in your body and it can be fatal. Essentially your body is is not salty enough and your cells swell with too much water and begin to die. A single binge at a meal may make you sick to the point of vomiting but wont kill you.",
"Because our body does not really have any way to \"store\" water for later use, as it does with food (fat cells). All it can to is regulate how much water it keeps from what we ingest, and it needs a constant supply in order to get rid of waste products as well as cool down by sweating and keep mocuous membranes working (especially the lungs).\n\nFrom an evolutionary standpoint, in-body water storage has never been very useful to develop because it would be a lot of additional weight to carry around, and in nearly all circumstances the small amounts of water we need to drink are pretty easy to find.",
"Your body has a mechanism for storing food energy (the calories), as fat. Food CAN be scarce, so animals have developed a method for storing some reserves.\n\nOn the other hand, water goes into your blood right away, and then your kidneys have to eliminate the excess as pee, or your blood can get too thinned out. \n\nWe don't have a mechanism for \"storing\" the water, and we don't have a mechanism for \"storing\" oxygen, because air and water have historically been \"everywhere\" for animals to use.\n\nIn places where this is not the case (deserts for water, depth of oceans for oxygen), some animals (camels, whales) have developed ways to last longer without drinking / breathing.",
"It's absolutely possible to do, from a biological point of view. Camels are an example of a species that has evolved a way of doing this. They can drink more than 10 gallons of water in one go, and then survive without drinking for months.\n\nAs for why humans can't do it, evolution isn't an intelligent process. It relies on random chance and so called evolutionary pressure. It's not enough for a species to simply need a specific feature for that feature to evolve. They need to both need a certain change, and also be lucky enough to get a mutation that brings about this change.\n\nIt's possible that humans, with their higher than average intelligence, would figure out ways to find water faster than they would evolve \"drought resistance\". "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1q7l3t | why does the barometric pressure drop when a storm is overhead? | I've read some complicated explanations, but a simple one would be great.
I would have thought that when a big heavy, full of rain/snow/hail cloud was overhead, that the air pressure would increase because of the weight of the cloud. But no, the air pressure drops, sometimes significantly, during a storm. Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1q7l3t/eli5_why_does_the_barometric_pressure_drop_when_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"cda6g07"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"From what I understand, the pressure is not low because the storm is overhead. The storm is overhead because the pressure is low. Take a ziplock bag and fill it a quarter of the way up, the lay it on its side. If you apply pressure, the water moves out of the way to where there is less pressure. When pressure is low, the moisture gets forced higher in the atmosphere. The higher it gets, the more condenses and starts falling back to earth. The swirling from the air and moisture moving up cause static electricity. Mix that all together and you've got a storm. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
4wpwn8 | how come venezuela is in such a poor state if it has nearly 300 bn barrels of proven oil reserves? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4wpwn8/eli5_how_come_venezuela_is_in_such_a_poor_state/ | {
"a_id": [
"d68xfs1",
"d68ykvl",
"d6905h0",
"d692vxv",
"d694hxg",
"d69707b",
"d697jwr",
"d69824l",
"d6989f9",
"d69bf92",
"d69dlw4",
"d69dpso",
"d69dvqz",
"d69e1at",
"d69e3qy",
"d69fi8p",
"d69fj9z",
"d69frv6",
"d69fus8",
"d69fxjl",
"d69gvao",
"d69hioe",
"d69ibuc",
"d69iqr3",
"d69jr2e",
"d69kag2",
"d69kk58",
"d69kogl",
"d69krnj",
"d69lhxc",
"d69m3p6",
"d69mq9t",
"d69mtlv",
"d69nkyp",
"d69poal",
"d69qnub",
"d69rbzz",
"d69re7z",
"d69ri3j",
"d69sf4o",
"d69shgt",
"d69sv54",
"d69tb5k",
"d69tri6",
"d69ucbm",
"d69v77h",
"d69vqqw",
"d69z6vz",
"d69zodp",
"d6a08km",
"d6a1hen",
"d6a5fe9",
"d6a7au6",
"d6a7f4c"
],
"score": [
88,
15,
44,
1880,
22,
240,
36,
8,
67,
46,
9,
48,
30,
13,
2,
2,
2,
3,
2,
12,
50,
4,
52,
10,
35,
19,
2,
9,
670,
4,
16,
60,
3,
2,
4,
19,
4,
17,
2,
2,
9,
33,
3,
4,
4,
4,
2,
3,
5,
3,
2,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Because it costs more for it to produce a barrel of oil than it does for a refinery to buy a barrel of crude.\n\nNot all oil is the same and Venezuela's is some of the lowest quality on Earth.\n\nEven countries without high cost oil are not breaking even (e.g. the UAE). Unlike those countries, though, Venezuela has no savings to fall back on and no functioning economy beyond the state oil firm.",
"There was a [really interesting article about this in NLR](_URL_0_) but its not really ELI5.\n\nThe ELI5 version is I guess something like this:\n\n- Oil costs quite a lot of money to get out of the ground in Venezuela so you can only really make money when the cost of oil is high, and right now the cost of oil is low.\n- Even when the cost of oil was high the type of oil Venezuela makes is really heavy and needs to be mixed with light oil before it can be used. Most light oil comes from the USA and the USA doesn't like Venezuela very much.\n- Venezuela has had several different types of Government recently but what they all have had in common is that they haven't really managed to get the non oil industry parts of the country to work very well.",
"Socialism mixed with the fact that oil prices have dropped significantly meaning the cost of extracting it is barely covering the resale ",
"All oil producing states too a hit when the price per barrel tanked. Venezuela in particular has a few problems. Theirs is high in impurities, which increases refining costs. Plus they were selling it for pennies on the dollar to their own citizens as well as key allies like Cuba. \n\nVenezuela's is what would be classified as a \"banana republic\". That is a country which is nearly entirely dependent on a single industry. Over 93% of their economy is tied to oil. Any shocks to this industry can have a catastrophic ripple effect. \n\nAdding to the problem is that Venezuela is not agriculturally self sufficient. Most of their food has to be imported. These goods are purchased from suppliers using US dollars, but are then purchased by citizens with the local currency. The Bolivar is not only worthless, but extremely volatile. The country's inflation rate is expected to reach 481% this year. If you started with an item that costs $10 on January 1st, it will cost $48.10 by December 31st. When you consider the average wage is $20 a month, a nearly 5 times jump in price is crippling. Stores are taking in less money than they paid for their stock, which means they have less money to buy new stock, and so on. Which is what's causing shortages.\n\nThose who can get their hands on US dollars instead chose to buy goods on the black market. Criminals are taking big time advantage of the social breakdown, which is why the murder rate has become so high. \n\nOn the government end, corruption has been running rampant for years now. Maduro and the other heirs of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution are desperately trying to cling to power. The government also owns a big portion of the failed oil sector. Maduro will keep trying to blame capitalists and the US, but that will only go so far. Things aren't likely to end well for him. \n\nIncidentally, this is also likely the reason behind Cuba choosing to negotiate with the US government. The island nation was heavily dependent on Venezuelan economic and political support during the Chavez regime. Havana doesn't want to fall back to the dark ages of the 1990's after the Soviet Union collapsed. ",
"All the money was robbed by the politicians.\n\nThe previous presidents daughter is considered one of the richest women on the planet. Coincidence?",
"It all comes to two factors:\n\n- The main industry of the country (oil extraction) is highly inneficient. Doesn't hire the proffesionals it need to actually exploit the oil reserves the country has, instead, it hires the cousin of the guy in the direction, so it all comes to a spiral of ignorance and political chanting, expecting the oil to come out on its own and save the day. Lets remember the administration that controlled PDVSA (oil industry), had projected in 2001 (1 year before going on a strike against Hugo Chávez and being fired for it) a 9-10 million barrels per day by this time, instead, we're on 2.4-2.5 quota, which more than 1.2 alone goes to internal market, which is subsidized, and some \"allies\" along the Caribbean.\n\n- Corruption: more than 85% of the total revenues produced by the country (oil industry and rest of the economic activites), nobody knows where they are, they haven't been declared officially, instead, you see low level executives with multi-million accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Andorra, you name it. Other employees with huge appartments in Brickell - Miami, US, and so on. It's the normal history of the guy who fights for its people, chanting against the \"empire\" and then buying an appartment in Manhattan, and getting a Mercedes Benz. \n\nThat's what happened. As of now, the reserve of 300 Bn barrels is there, just needs the right administration, before oil starts becoming a second-third option to get energy in the world.\n\nSource of all said: a Venezuelan living in the country right now.",
"because of the Saudi/Iranian pissing match is driving oil prices into the ground (iran is trying to establish a market for its legitimate oil exports, but Saudi wants to keep them from disturbing the current hegemonic order so they're flooding the market).\n\nthe problem is that Saudi can (and probably will) maintain these prices for something like 20-30 years. they're that desperate to keep iran's influence from spreading into Shiite groups in their country as well as in Saudi-bordered states like yemen.\n\nas a result, that 300B barrel reserve isn't worth much of anything right now, and won't be for decades. hard to finance a depreciated asset.",
"They are quasi-communist/authoritarian socialist and throughout history this has been a very bad recipe for human rights and sustained economic output.",
"Venezuela has, for years, been subsiding on massive loans from China. $50B in the last decade.\n\nThe debt is backed by oil. From what I understand, the debt is repaid *directly* with the physical oil shipments, but just how much debt that pays off depends on market value of the oil. Now, with oil worth far less per barrel, China is taking a very large bite of their production.\n\n45% of Venezuela's oil output is going *just* to service their debt to China.\n\n A longer-term aspect is [Dutch Disease](_URL_0_), an economic problem that occurs without any intent. If you have a high-value commodity being exported in high volume, it raises your exchange rate so high it kills the ability to export anything else. Thus there will be no other native industries. \n\nYou'd think \"well if the exchange rate is high, just lower the price of your widget until the world market wants to buy it\". But it won't work. You won't be able to make a profit.",
"It's actually fairly simple on the eli5 level. \n\nVenezuela has an economy based on socialist principles. There's a reason why the socialist bloc collapsed into poverty in 1989, why Sweden found itself in an economic crisis in the late 80s and why the most socialist countries in Europe (which are usually not the ones people on reddit think are socialist) are struggling. \n\nThere used to be a joke about socialism: \"*if socialism was introduced in Sahara within five years they'd run out of sand*\"\n\nWell, Venezuela introduced socialism in a country that literally shit gold and they're out of gold. Surprise, surprise.\n\nI could go into details on how the economy has been structured in such a way that no genuine development was possible, no reform was undertaken and all issues were hidden under a thick layer of propaganda and political repression and how oil was used as the only means of reliable revenue to pay for the country's needs in a completely unsustainable way which with a drop in oil prices meant that no money at all was coming in and the country had to resort to money printing in a Weimar fashion which created inflation and killed the economy. Wow that is one long sentence...\n\nBut that's the history of socialism in the Soviet Union in a nutshell so my initial argument stands.",
"Political mismanagement. Apparently socialists can't run an economy successfully, go figure. Just like the USSR, Cuba, Nazi Germany, and all the rest. Hmm, seems to be a trend, but I'm *sure* they'll get it right next time, or maybe the one after, or the one after that, or. . . .",
"A constant merry-go-round of corruption, failed socialist policies under Hugo Chavez (some deem him a hero, I know. But he essentially ruined Venezuela), economic isolation, failing infrastructure (and not enough money--due to the aforementioned corruption and failed socialist policies--to fix it). And so on.\n\n[This Bloomberg article](_URL_1_) provides a simple yet relatively thorough explanation of how Venezuela ended up in this dire state, as does [this NatGeo](_URL_0_) article",
"all the responses below can be summed up to this: Socialism.\nThe people in Venezuela have to rely on the government to give them EVERYTHING. Their government is full of criminals, and they keep all the oil $ and goods for themselves. Its truly depressing.",
"It's all about supply and demand.\n\nImagine you find a really pretty blue stone, and everyone likes it. People are actually willing to pay for your blue stone, so you go and look for more. \n\nOn the best days, you can find 5-10 blue stones, and are happy selling them for $10 a piece. You can pay your rent, bills, buy food, because you now have $50-$100 per day. There's probably a lot more blue stones, but it takes time to find them, dig them up, clean them, etc... But just the same, you don't worry about running out either.\n\nNow a new guy comes to town, and he's discovered a hidden stash of blue stones in his back yard, and promptly starts selling them for $2 a piece.\n\nNobody's going to buy your stones at $10 a piece, because the new guy has plenty to sell at $2 a piece, and they're just as good. So what do you do? You sell yours for $2 a piece.\n\nNow you can't afford to pay your rent, or your bills... you get hungry. Life sucks. You've got plenty of blue stones, but all that would do is add fuel to the fire, because finding more blue stones would only make the price drop again, just like when the new guy found a hidden stash... If you dig up twice as many as he has, they'd just be worth half as much.",
"Well it's an incredible corrupt dictatorship with obscenely high crime rates and no other viable exports other than oil. So.. That's a start.",
"Prob also worthwhile to say that as much as fifty percent extracted doesn't ultimately reach port. The lost oil ends up in lake maricaibo and the rest of the environment because of lack of infrastructure investment.",
"The Venezuelan government instead of trying to sell this oil to other countries decided to basically give it away for free (¢1 per gallon) to the people of their country and allies in hopes that it would allow all people to afford it. When they did this, however, the country then had very little commodities to trade to other countries in exchange for money to buy all the things they need to import (like food). This lack of resources put high demand on everyday needs. This demand made prices for anything imported (toilet paper, food, etc..) rise heavily, (this is where inflation comes from) and lots of people can't afford the things they need to survive.\n\nTL;DR: Venezuela is giving their oil to its people and allies rather than profiting. They are buying more than selling and losing money.",
"I heard that Venezuelan citizens pay less than a dollar a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline and diesel. If the government tries to raise the price even one cent a gallon then thousands of people take to the streets yelling and shaking their fists.",
"Bro they rely on oil for everything, oil is at an all time low, so all their public services and subsidies can't be paid for. ",
"Venezuela saw oil as the golden goose. A demagogue named Chavez became president, and made massive changes to the constitution. His basic philosophy was 'we have a ton of oil, we'll sell the oil and then buy whatever we need with the oil money.' Then oil prices crashed and the government could no longer pay for all the stuff they wanted. \n\nThat's the short version. Chavez also attacked a lot of other businesses who opposed him, and did a lot of nationalizing of various industries. These were not well run. His program focused on helping the poor, but that included price freezes on goods. When the oil price collapsed, the cost of goods went up. But the price couldn't change. So it cost more to grow and make something than it could be sold for at the market. So why bother? \n\nThey took a bad situation and made it three times as bad, basically. I'd note that Chavez also died, and his successor is pretty incompetent. ",
"There are two main factors in play: The horrible economic mismanagement of the Chavez regime and oil prices.\n\nVenezuela has always been a one industry nation, that being oil. Like many other South American nations it suffered some severe inequality and racial issues. In 1999 Chavez came to power promising a socialist revolution and to redistribute the nation's oil wealth to the people. He nationalized the oil industry and ramped up social spending, making him popular with the lower classes.\n\nHowever Chavez proved to be really bad at running the economy. He fired most the nations skilled workers (many of whom immigrated to the US) and put his cronies and supporters in their place. He put massive subsides on food and oil which lead to smuggling to Columbia and Brazil. Investment plummeted as he nationalized more businesses and became increasingly vitriolic against the west. He began giving free oil to Cuba and other Caribbean states in an attempt to build an anti US alliance. This made him even more popular with the poor despite the massive cost of all these programs and the loss of economic productivity and growth.\n\nEventually these costs caught up with Venezuela (despite surging oil prices), forcing them to take out tens of billions in loans from China. Inflation grew and the US dollar became more and more valuable on the black market. Chavez implemented a byzantine tariff and monetary exchange policy but this only made the black market worse. As Venezuela continued to slowly crumble Chavez died (in 2013) and his successor Maduro was even more incompetent (a former bus driver) and, even worse, was not blessed with the oratory skills that Chavez had.\n\nThe straw that broke the camel's back the oil price collapse, destroying Venezuela's last source of income and trade. Now Venezuela faces 400%+ inflation, a shortage of foreign currency and severe shortages of food and consumer goods. The nations is now resorting to forcing city works to spend time in the fields in a vain attempt to increase agricultural yield. ",
"There is also a massive drought right now, and since Venezuela relies almost entirely on hydroelectric power, they are basically unable to produce enough electricity to run industry. \n\n",
"Most people ITT have correctly pointed to socialism as the cause of Venezuela's woes, but without going into a lot of detail. Here's some articles I recommend for anyone who wants to delve deeper into how Venezuela got to where they are today:\n\n* [Factbox: Venezuela's nationalizations under Chavez](_URL_0_) - an exhaustive list of all the industries Chavez destroyed through nationalization. \n\n* [How Venezuela's socialist dream collapsed into a nightmare](_URL_2_) - this article is particularly worth reading because it's by someone who *is* Venezuelan, used to cover the country's affairs as a freelance reporter for several newspapers, and thus has first-hand experience of the situation.\n\n* [Hugo Chávez revolution mired by claims of corruption](_URL_4_) - a detailed account of the Chavez regime's corruption and graft, much of it coming from a whistleblower who used to be in his inner circle.\n\n* [Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's lord of misrule](_URL_1_) - this article explains how Maduro has only made the situation worse while becoming even more of a corrupt dictator than Chavez.\n\n* [Venezuela's Latest Terrible Economic Idea Is Forced Labor](_URL_3_) - this gets into how Venezuela has recently started enslaving its own citizens amid massive food shortages.\n",
"Communist countries only produce half the products and services that capitalist or \"market\" economies do. Communist countries which allow market economic policies like China do better, but even then, there are limits -- communism is a terrible economic system and always leads to this type of failure even with huge natural resources since these are inherently mishandled in a communist economy. ",
"IF you look at oil production in Venezuala it started dropping the minute they began nationalizing to oil industry under the sun. It began long before oil prices began to drop.\n\nThey are poor because of socialism.",
"Venezuela is a socialist country. They tax the people to death and are supposed to do things like provide food, school, police...and everything a government is supposed to do. Instead, the politicians enrich themselves and fuck over the people. Add to that the fact that OPEC has dropped the price of oil dramatically so it doesn't matter if Venezuela produces oil. They can't sell it to anyone outside the country to make money. It really comes down to a socialist dictator being in charge and fucking it all up. ",
"Fun fact. The world uses 30+ billion barrels of oil a year. Venezuela could supply the worlds for almost 10 years.",
"Venezuela removed all of the large, skilled oil companies out when they became socialist, this left many untrained and inexperienced oil workers to run the plants. This lowered quality and amount of oil produced, as well as pollution increased. This lowered how much they could charge for oil and who would buy and how much could be produced. \n\nIn all, they forced out those who were trained, and put in untrained workers to their oil industry",
"I'm a venezuelan, I replied to a thread a couple of months ago explaining the whole situation, I'll paste it here:\n\n > It's 6 a.m. in Venezuela, I can't sleep, so I'll bite again.\n\n\n > First of all, the situation here is very complicated at the moment, but I want you people to understand that this food/economic crisis is caused by a simple triade of bad decisions:\n\n > 1. Price fixing: Prices in Venezuela, for a list of basic, 'first necessity' items have been fixed for the good part of the last 35 years, in an attempt to make them available to the poor and a big chunk of populism.\n\n > For the past decade, maybe a bit more, some items on this list have been rather escarce, some of them being extremely import dependant. [See point number 2.]\n\n > The current and past government have had terrible anti-investment policies, a lot of central planning and company seizing (of big companies, not any mom and pop) to sustain populistic social policies that worked as band-aids for the very terrible situation we were in before Chávez. (which wasn't paradise either, no matter how much people romanticize it). \n\n > Now, in 2013, current president decreed, thanks to a pro-government majority in the National Assembly (single chamber legislative branch) a law that allows a maximum profit of 30% in any form of commerce. Technically fixing the price on every single item in stores.\n\n > They have also attempted, and succeeded on allowing the military branches to participate in voting and permeate State bureaucracy, it's not uncommon to see a Colonel or a Captain poorly running a seized industry to bankruptcy. This is done with the sole purpose of perpetuating the political status quo, because in Venezuela and most of Latin America, you have to keep your military happy, or prepare for a coup.\n\n > - 2. Oil revenue and import dependance:\nVenezuela is a mono-producing petrostate, oil was nationalized way before Chávez. Oil revenue has always been poorly administrated, in the eyes of the Venezuelan people, but right now we are at the very pinnacle of shitty revenue administration.\n\n > This is happening because a) international oil prices are low and b) revenue and surplus was spent on corruption, populism and imports.\n\n > Venezuela relies on state money for imports of good because we have not had serious foreign investments in anything except for oil. And local entrepeneurs and the high class have always made money out of the state, through subsidies, becoming contractors or retailers. Nobody has ever seriously invested in industrializing Venezuela.\n\n > - 3. Arbitrage: This is a natural practice in markets, you buy a bunch of something really cheap, maybe subsidized, you see a market gap for it, locally or somewhere else, and you mark up a new price on that. It sounds like a sweet, legal deal, right?\n\n > Except the really cheap, subsidized items you bought, are part of a big list of basic or 'first necessity' supplies, people need that shit. The government has made it illegal to sell these items at any price above the one in the package, and you can't sell it somewhere else because the military has been ordered to not allow any of these items to cross the borders.\n\n > What do you do? Stop? Fuck that! You Mark up the prices again, risk has a cost. You set up your little black market store, you throw money at the very kind cammo dressed men, that just politely greeted you as an old friend at the borders and sell your very good merchandise somewhere else for even bigger profit.\n\n\n > Venezuela is in crisis, yes, but we are cannibalizing each other, we have been brewing this thing for a while.\n\n > ------------\n\n > I'll try to ELI5:\n\n > Let's say your name is Venezuela, you are at this club, right? You were paid a big fat check, for making a sweet deal for your boss, and you have so much money, you decide to bring your friends, workmates and acquaintances along with you. Since you have money, drinks and food are on you. The Party is lit, women and men are all over you, the DJ and bartender want nothing but to please you, the man of the night.\n\n\n > After whoring around, drinking and eating, you wake up hungover, your wife is screaming at you, your kids have no food and you have to go buy it, you check your wallet, and you see a torn condom package, unidentified fluids and no money. If only you had saved some.\n\n\n > But now, Venezuela, you are sitting in the corner of your bed, sickly hungover, wife nagging, kids crying, empty wallet, debt collectors calling your cellphone. \n\n\n > You get a text message saying 'yo, Venezuela, the party on for tonight?', you reply hastily 'damn right it's on!'\n\n\n > TL;DR: Venezuelans are suffering Dutch Disease due to: 40 years of fixed prices, 100 years of oil revenue dependancy, 20 years of economic cannibalism, and 10 years of eating and drinking what we should have saved.\n",
"Socialism like every leftist ideology kills the nation. Sanders and Democrats lauded the red Venezuelan until they collapsed now justice is reaped against the people who suffer for embracing for socialism ",
"Price controls. \n\nIf you make it illegal to sell things above the cost to make them, nobody makes anything.",
"Probably gonna be buried but here goes.\n\nTL;DR: Venezula is a classic example of what happens when you try to boss around (too much) with the market forces.\n\nShortly the economic background: Normally, supply and demand (in other words the market) will find an equillibrium price (for any good/product). Often times referred to as an \"invisible hand\" that makes sure the price ends right. In Venezuela there has been an economic policy where the government has decided what the price should be for certain goods, like medicine and basic normal goods. The intention was noble; that the poor should be able to purchase more goods, due to the fact that the price was set lower than the aforementioned market equillibrium. Now normally, there would be no problem for Venezuela, as the country took in a lot of oil money, but when the drop in oil price hit, it hollowed the economy. \n\nFurther description\n\nAs so many times before seen in history: When you remove the market price mechanisms or alter them drastically, you ruin the incentive structure that would otherwise make sure that there would be enough supply to meet demand. Now Venezuela has a problem as there is not enough supply of basic things like medicine and food, because there hasn't been a strong enough incentive to be a supplier (producer), due to the fact that you have forced the price to be low on many goods, and at the same time seized the means of production in many cases.\n\n\nThis is of course the \"simple\" economic description. The magazine \"The economist\" has a more in depth (and good) article that examines the specific case, and which also compares it to other similar countries.",
"One main clue is corruption. [Hugo Chavez's ambassador daughter is Venezuela's richest woman](_URL_0_)",
"A lot of these comments are pretty much right, although a big part of the collapse of the oil industry is seizing the means of production. This is 3 fold so to make it simple lets split it into thirds:\n\n- a third of their oil goes to the people. Petrol is almost free there, you can fill up a 4x4 for literally a few cents due to government subsidy. This means a third of their oil revenue is immediately lost (plus a decent chunk more to support fuel infrastructure).\n\n- a third goes to pay debts, mainly to the Chinese, but also others. Again an instant loss of a third of revenue. \n\n- a further third is sold which was their main source of revenue. This was huge as they had so much, however critically the fields were mainly run by American and other foreign companies (although mainly American workers). When Chavez seized the means of production (literally as they are a socialist state), he put his inept cronies in charge and they basically ran it into the ground. Cue mass exodus of workers and almost total collapse of oil industry. This was mainly in the thin oilfields, which they mixed with the cheaper, cruder oil to make exportable oil, leaving them only really with the cheap nasty stuff to sell. \n\nThis is how they crippled the countries revenue. On top of this, huge control over trading in foreign currencies (dollars are not allowed to be freely traded, but are highly sought after for international trade) created a huge currency black market, where say, rather than 1 dollar buying one bolivar, a dollar buys 5, that's how desperate people are to get their hands on it.\n\nThis all together has led to their 200% inflation rate, and total inability to import necessary goods which has led to the populace now being on the brink of starvation, (e.g a tray of eggs costs an average days wage). This is obviously unsustainable in the extreme and is leading to riots and what will ultimately possibly become civil unrest. \n\nThis is vastly simplified as I don't have all the figures, but I lived there and my father worked as a diplomat for 15 years in South America, 6 of which were in Ven. His wife is also Venezuelan and we have talked about it a lot, so that is my understanding of how the situation arose. \n\nObviously coupled with a staggering amount of corruption, that is how you destroy one of the potentially most prosperous states on earth.\n\nThe Jewel of Latin America from the 60s is no more and what a huge shame it is. A beautiful country torn apart by greed and lack of foresight. ",
"the easy answer? corruption",
"Because bad economics and liberty strangling politics destroy any hopes of long term growth and wealth. Resource availabilty does not equal prosperity.",
"This is perfect for an ELI5 because the explanation is just one word. Why are they so messed up despite having huge oil reserves? Socialism.",
"Venezuela has 8 times the amount of oil the US has. They took a hard hit when the price of oil fell. The government took over the oil industry and they do not know how to run it, thus having it fall apart. They also have a socialist government. I know it is not popular to say this sort of think on reddit but it must be said. The government has tried to replace a lot of private industries. This will always be a disaster because the government cannot price goods because there is no market. You can read Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth by Ludwig von Mises to have a complete overview.",
"The same way you can be poor and make 150k a year. If you spend more than you make and run your home like a drunken pirate next thing you know you are in rough financial shape. ",
"I really appreciate your message! As a fellow Venezuelan, I think you will be proud of this :)\n\n [Venezuelan Engineer ](_URL_0_) ",
"So many answers here are dancing around the point and blaming things like \"corruption\" or the price of oil. If those were the answer then the USA would be just as bad, but it is not.\n\nThe right answer is the simple answer: Communism and Socialism cause problems with money and make everyone poor.",
"All the liberals blaming Venezuela's situation on oil dependency rather than rampant socialism and price fixing have their head in the sand with headphones blasting.",
"A lot of people are leaving out that Venezuela was taking a large downturn months before the Saudis flooded the oil market so that's not the only cause",
"Venezuela under Hugo Chavez nationalized pretty much the entire oil industry at when prices were pretty high, so the foreign workers left, then local workers started leaving as foreign oil producers were paying better than the Venezuelan government. So they had a severe drain in labor skilled, trained or educated in working their facilities. Next, you have the fact that the the oil companies weren't compensated when the facilities were nationalized, so foreign oil companies who designed and build them aren't going to supply parts and technical advice for them till they get paid for what the government stole from them, and the companies that weren't involved aren't going to do business with them fearing they will get ripped off after the work is done and not get paid. \n\nSo now Venezuela might have the reserved, but their ability to pull it out of the ground, ship it, or refine it has been been reduced after they haven't been able to maintain the faculties they took from the oil companies. ",
"Socialism. \n\nIt doesn't work. It never has. It never will. \n\nSooner or later the bill comes due and everyone who could help scrambles for cover leaving only the leaders and the poor wretches who believed in them -- and the lies of socialism. ",
"Read the book The Looting Machine by Tom Burgis. It explains how oil states can export so much and be so poor, even if it is about Africa.",
"A great majority of Venezuela's oil profits were reinvested by the state back into the industry. The state neglected to invest in other sectors and industries so the only thing they could regularly rely on was oil profits, until oil prices dropped dramatically. ",
"Let's narrow all this down. Socialism DOES NOT WORK! It never has and it always fails. So tell decrepit Bernie to go back to Vermont and stay there.",
"just want to chime in that most power in venezuela is from hydroelectric, and they have been having a terrible terrible drought. They dont have much in the way of natural gas reserves (like here in america) and never invested in nuclear or other options so the drought hit them HARD. \n \nAlso their oil is super heavy, which means its sludgey and also contains alot of sulphur. so they might have 300 bn in proven oil reserves but for that heavy oil there are high cost techniques like pumping steam, C02 or water (water doesnt really help all that much) to help loosen it up to flow to the surface, and that costs money. \n \nAll in all, when they nationalized they kicked everyone out who could have helped. The production of oil suffered due to nationalization and many service companies are very hesitant to go in and help, why spend millions if theres a threat the state will just say \"thats ours!\" and kick you out. I feel sorry for venezuela, they spit in the eye of anyone that could have helped, and then dont invest in themselves. I heard caracas has a higher murder rate than many worn torn capitals right now, I pray the country's leadership can soberly see the problems before them and enact practical solutions. ",
"Saudi Arabia tanked global oil prices because they are able to extract oil cheaper than other countries can. The prices are so low (or at least they were a few months ago) that it would cost Venezuela more to drill a barrel of oil than they'd get selling it.\n\nSo why don't they sell the drilling rights directly, or the right to drill the reserves in the future? Simple, foreign businesses don't trust Venezuela to not seize their property, so they try to minimize their assets and investments there.",
"The real reason and problem is that they have to use usa dollars. South america should unite and print their own currency to stand up against big bullies to impose their curreny on other countries.",
"Just some thoughts from an actual economist. Not very ELI5, I'm afraid.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_",
"ELI5 after a brief, actual explanation.\n\nA large factor nobody has mentioned here is the closing of the oil refinery Hovensa in February 2012, which was based in the US Virgin Island of St. Croix. Hovensa was a joint venture between Hess Corp (American) and PDVSA (Venezuelan). It provided much of the refined oil products used in the Caribbean and US which originated primarily from Venezuela. Roughly 650,000 barrels per day were produced at Hovensa, making it one of the ten largest refineries on the planet. Once Hovensa shut down due to two EPA scandals and consistent losses totalling 1.3B Venezuelan oil became much less competitively priced. \n\nAlso corruption, dutch disease, and other things people mentioned which I wont waste your time reiterating. \n\nOkay, ELI5 for the Hovensa situation:\n\nYou, as a clever 5 year old, have made a business selling lemons (Crude Oil) off your parent's lemon trees, which are plentiful. Unfortunately nobody wants to just buy your lemons, so you decide to split your profits with your sister (Hess) in exchange for her making lemonade (Refined Oil) out of them with her juicer (Hovensa), which you then sell to homeless people without access to lemonade (The Caribbean Islands), as well as the regular houses in your neighborhood (The US). \n\nYou also employ other 5 year olds to pick the lemons and care for the trees (Venezuelan citizens). Unfortunately, you are a greedy bastard, so you short your sister to make an extra buck (Corruption), don't give your workers the required training or supplies to care for lemon trees (poor infrastructure), and you save the time and energy while making bank. \n\nEventually the other kids get annoyed (public unrest), and your trees suffer (poor infrastructure). Also your sister gets tired of helping you because lemon juice is sticky and mom (the EPA) is getting mad at her for leaving a mess all over the counter (Clean air act violations). Your sister wastes more time making sure mom is satisfied with her cleanliness than it is worth for the meager earnings she gets, and decides to bail on the operation. You now have to pay Ted down the street to make your lemonade, and Ted charges a lot. \n\nEventually Becky comes along (Saudi Arabia) with her own juicer and lots more lemons than your annoyed badly trained workers can produce, and she sells lemonade for half as much, so now nobody but the homeless want your lemonade. Everyone is mad at you, and to try and keep business up you claim you are making 300 cups of lemonade per day, when you are really only making 240, and the neighbors are only buying about 60 cups a day. You have to cut back on workers and try to hide all the money you have been taking on the side. ",
"The most ELI5: Doesn't matter how much oil you have if it's at a very low price. In fact, selling more now will cause the price to drop more."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://newleftreview.org/II/99/julia-buxton-venezuela-after-chavez"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/03/130306-hugo-chavez-venezuela-oil/",
"https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-08-27/how-hugo-chavez-trashed-latin-america-s-richest-economy"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-election-nationalizations-idUSBRE89701X20121008",
"https://www.ft.com/content/f7ae1936-1ddc-11e6-a7bc-ee846770ec15",
"http://www.vox.com/2016/5/26/11774482/venezuela-socialist-collapse",
"http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/venezuelas-latest-terrible-economic-idea-is-forced-labor.html",
"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/18/hugo-chavez-revolution-corruption-claims"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3192933/Hugo-Chavez-s-ambassador-daughter-Venezuela-s-richest-woman-according-new-report.html"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/11/20/meet-denisse-aranda-nasas-feminist-engineer/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/venezuela-dismantling-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction",
"http://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/fixing-the-venezuelan-economy"
],
[],
[]
] |
||
d5zgs1 | why are pickled cucumbers 'pickles' while all other pickled things are called 'pickled thing'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d5zgs1/eli5_why_are_pickled_cucumbers_pickles_while_all/ | {
"a_id": [
"f0oxzqr",
"f0oyh6g",
"f0p3qff",
"f0pb0d9",
"f0pfszy",
"f0pga8z",
"f0piw3y",
"f0pnf2r",
"f0qmlwj",
"f0qremg",
"f0r5txn",
"f0ro6fy"
],
"score": [
187,
27,
56,
17,
2,
5,
2,
3,
3,
242,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"It's just a shortened colloquial way of saying pickled cucumbers, similarly to how french fried potatoes became shortened to french fried, and are now simply called fries.",
"I think in England a “pickle” is anything that’s pickled, and they specifically call pickled cucumbers “gherkins”",
"Edit: I realized my original comment did not explain the answer to the question, so I'm answering that in an edit here as well.\n\nI'm not the only one to say this, but \"pickles\" is just short for \"pickled cucumbers\". Now we also use \"pickled \\[thing\\]\" so that we distinguish the pickled \\[thing\\] from the pickled \\[cucumbers\\]. (This is similar to r/le_petit_dejeuner's answer, like \"fries\" is short for \"french fried potatoes\".\n\nOriginal answer: This also has a language/cultural aspect. In Russian, cucumber pickles are translated literally as \"salted cucumbers\" back into English. In Indian cuisine, \"pickle\" is a whole other thing, basically a salted spiced mixture that contains oil as well.",
"In the most simple terms, pickles refers to pickled cucumbers rather than any other pickled food because it was the one that was first and most commonly used. It's the same reason we call it milk butter 'butter' when there's almond butter, peanut butter, and apple butter, and why 'milk' typically refers to cow milk rather than soymilk, almondmilk, or even goat's milk.",
"In the UK, you can buy jars of 'mixed pickles' which include things like pickled cauliflower, pickled onions and little pickled cucumbers (cornichons), so it's ok to call all sorts of other things 'pickles'.",
"Similar to how tomato ketchup is typically referred to as just ketchup even though there are other (less common) types.",
"well if we called everything that's pickled \"pickles\" then we would be confused. so pickled cucumbers get called pickles, everything else you gotta be more specific. That's cucumber privilege, baby",
"Others have said this too, but it's a primarily American thing to call them \"pickles\" and this is just a shortening of \"pickled thing\", as they're the most popular pickled food item in the States. They are still called \"pickled gherkins\" in the UK, for instance.",
"The most common picked food item eaten in America is the pickled cucumber and was eventually shortened to \"pickles\". The next most commonly consumed pickled food item is likely cabbage but we use the names of specific styles of pickling for that and either call it Sauerkraut or Kimchi. Other pickled food item either get similar unique names from their cultures of origin or are full named like \"pickled beets\". \n\nOther food items have gone through similar shortenings. Hamburgers for instance were originally \"Hamburg Steak Sandwiches\", and Fries were originally \"French Cut Fried Potatoes\".",
"I understand your puzzlement, but actually there *are* widely used names for other pickled items:\nPickled peppers are know as gauchitos or vinniepeps;\nPickled herring sometimes known as rollmops;\nPickled cabbage is sauerkraut;\nThe pickled relish known as chow-chow;\nPickled beets are inedible dogshit;\nPickled garbanzo beans are lurzjanni;\nand others.\nAnd across the world, in non-English speaking countries, are many more pickled foods with distinctive names.",
"It's just in the US (AFAIK). For example, in India, \"pickle\" refers to a whole bunch of different spiced pickles, and doesn't make sense by itself unless the others in the conversation get the context.\n\nLike, we may establish that the best \"pickle\" available at home (or restaurant) is the cut-mango pickle. And henceforth, \\_that\\_ is the \"pickle\".",
"That’s a localised thing. Pickles of all types have names- cucumbers alone are cornichons, wallies, gherkins to name a few varieties. Around the world pickles have countless names, methods, and of course, flavours."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
95y5q3 | how are car doors able to be ajar but still be unable to be opened without opening the latch | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/95y5q3/eli5_how_are_car_doors_able_to_be_ajar_but_still/ | {
"a_id": [
"e3wgxko",
"e3whoi6"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"It's because the hook that is attached to the vehicle's door jam has 2 notches on it. The latch on the door goes over these two notches when you close it and it hooks the door closed. If you open the door just a little the door latch then catches on the second notch of the door jam and stays hooked and bounces between the 2 notches in the door jam. ",
"The sensor isn't perfect and they design it so that the latch is safer than the sensor. That way the sensor is \"fail safe\" (won't fail to beep if door is really open) as opposed to \"fail deadly\" (sensor never beeps when door is closed but also might not beep if latch is insecure).\n\nThe fridge light is the opposite of this. It's possible to trigger the \"light off\" switch even if the door is still slightly ajar."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
2e1i3p | why do breakers on a beach look like they aren't moving when viewed from an airplane in flight at high altitude? | This one has been bugging me for years,and I was hoping someone here could explain this. The light from the waves is obviously moving fast enough, so why is it I can see the lines of the breakers, but they appear stationary? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2e1i3p/eli5why_do_breakers_on_a_beach_look_like_they/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjv5k33",
"cjvfodm"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"You're too far away. The scale is too small. ",
"You're referring to time dilation, a part of Einstein's theory of relativity\n[Discovery Channel article](_URL_1_)\n\nThere's loads of articles to be found concerning this, but they easily tend to get very mathematical. [better explained](_URL_0_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/jw/module4_time_dilation.htm#true",
"http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/time-dilation-einstein-relativity.htm"
]
] |
|
5fnysk | what is variance | how is it different from standard deviation
someone please explain thanks | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5fnysk/eli5_what_is_variance/ | {
"a_id": [
"dalqldd"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Variance is the average of the squared deviations from the mean. So for some set of data, you calculate the mean, then you calculate how much each data point deviates from the mean, then you square those deviations, and then finally you average those squared deviations. The standard deviation is the square root of the variance (so standard deviation and the mean have the same units).\n\nThe standard deviation generally describes how far your data is distributed about the mean. So a very low standard deviation means that the data is very tightly packed around the mean. A high standard deviation means the data is very spread out from the mean."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
zzpg7 | what is atheism plus, and why does everyone get mad when it comes up? | I've read the forums over and over, but I just can't get a proper grasp of what the movement is all about. Everytime someone talks about it, it devolves into an incoherent argument.
Can someone without bias explain exactly what atheism plus is and what its members believe? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zzpg7/eli5_what_is_atheism_plus_and_why_does_everyone/ | {
"a_id": [
"c6942ko",
"c699a8w",
"c6avrxx"
],
"score": [
4,
4,
3
],
"text": [
"Atheism Plus is a movement integrating atheist and social justice movements. That is, they talk about atheism *and* sex/race/wealth/whatever, and see all of those discussions as important parts of the movement.",
"Its literally SRSAtheism\n\nIt has nothing to do with atheism and is a radical feminist subreddit on par with SRS. Nobody is angry with it, were just wondering why they need to use the name atheism when its mostly non-atheism related.",
"There's a group of feminist bloggers that were upset that the larger atheist community wasn't paying enough attention to them. They started complaining pretty much constantly about petty shit. A few people told them either grow up or fuck off. They were so upset that everyone wasn't giving them the attention they wanted so they got together and started a feminist pity party forum where they can talk about how progressive they are and how everyone that has a dick or disagrees with them is a misogynist rape enabler. The majority of atheists could give a shit about them but would rather they didn't try to link radical feminist bull shit with atheism."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
dcc2fh | why do digital cameras and lenses range in price from under $100 to tens of thousands, and at what price point are there diminished returns (for the average person's eye)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dcc2fh/eli5_why_do_digital_cameras_and_lenses_range_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"f276vpq"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"* Build quality\n\n* Image sensors and processing capabilities (you need processing power to encode video, for example) which can affect video recording capabilities, image resolution and quality, color calibration features, etc\n\n* Lenses. A $100 camera is going to have a fixed lens. DSLRs are almost always $400+, usually $600+ and let you swap out lenses which produce a vastly superior picture when you're using the right lens for a situation and know what you're doing. \n\nWhat's the price point at which you start experiencing dimininishing returns? Depends on your definition of \"Average person\". Your average person doesn't own a dedicated camera and uses a smartphone which is good enough for day to day use. What it really lacks is performance in low light, lack of optical zoom, lack of fine, true (as in not software-based) control over stuff like ISO, fstop, shutter speed. Most people are fine enough with this to not spend $500+ on a single purpose device that can't fit in their pocket.\n\nYour average photo enthusiast that wants a dedicated camera is likely to be looking at an entry level (~$500-600) or mid range ($700-900) DSLR. A mid-range DSLR will probably do for some professional purposes as well."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
151x7f | streaming content compared to watching a tv channel. | When watching a TV program, say Monday Night Football for example, is it not streaming? What is the difference?
Why I ask: TV programs are not downloaded and saved before viewing yet there is no buffering nor is the quality affected by or adjusted according to my internet connection. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/151x7f/eli5_streaming_content_compared_to_watching_a_tv/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7ijawp"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"TV is broadcast, not streamed. \n\nThink of it like this, a TV antenna sprays a TV show out as a big long line of pictures to the surrounding area, as loud as it can. If you are within range you can look at the antenna and see those pictures coming. You can't control them though, whatever is passing by when you look is what you see. The antenna is only sending out one line of images but 3000+ people surrounding it can all see it.\n\nStreaming on the other hand is directed specifically at you and another completely separate stream, even of the same content, is directed at your neighbour. Already we've doubled the 'antenna' requirements, now it's sending out two lines of images.\n\nScale that up and clearly you run into a problem. The technology that was capable of sending out one really big line of images just can't cope with sending out 3000 of them. \n\nCable works the same way, the amount of information flying through the cables is constant. One line of images multiplied by however many channels they carry. Both you and your neighbour are looking at the same line of information."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3al422 | how do the people responsible for the "deer crossing next x miles" signs determine the deer will appear for only that distance? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3al422/eli5_how_do_the_people_responsible_for_the_deer/ | {
"a_id": [
"csdmby8"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Deer-crossing signs merely indicate places where deer crossings occur at a higher rate than usual, not places where the deer will *only* cross. The locations are determined based on where highway workers find deer carcasses in the road, or where motorists have reported near-collisions with deer."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3dh4sc | how did greece get from saying "no" in their referendum to passing an austerity bill in under 2 weeks? | If you guys recall correctly, couple of weeks back, Greece passed a referendum saying that No that they will not be paying back their bill, however now [they just passed an Austerity Bill ](_URL_0_). How is this possible ? Isn't countries like Germany, France aka the countries who bailed out Greece but haven't seen a penny back pissed off ? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dh4sc/eli5how_did_greece_get_from_saying_no_in_their/ | {
"a_id": [
"ct538iu",
"ct53ibk",
"ct5aybt"
],
"score": [
2,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"The general populace passed the referendum, which is understandable because the austerity was hurting them as individuals. The austerity bill was passed by their elected representatives, who realized that Greece defaulting would have made things much worse. ",
"If you look at the referendum question, the [phrasing was not a simple yes/no to austerity, but a rejection of a specific proposal by the EU](_URL_1_). The bill that has been passed is a fresh proposal put forward by the Greek government themselves.\n\nSo whilst not technically being a violation of the referendum result, essentially the government has caved to pressure from Europe to avoid being kicked out of the Euro entirely. But as you might think, [there are plenty of Greeks who feel that the referendum was pointless, and that the new austerity bill is worse than the one they rejected](_URL_0_).",
"Since most people answered your first question, I'll answer the second :\n\nFrance and Germany have an entirely different reaction to this.\n\n- Germany is indeed quite pissed off. Not so much because Greece needs to be bailed out for the third time (this was expected for quite some time now), but because of Greek's reaction. They view Greece as being ungrateful after Germany has lent them so much money to avoid them immediate bankrupcy and so-called \"Grexit\". They also believe Greece has done little effort to sort itself out and be able to earn enough money to pay back on its own.\n\n- France, on the other hand, has much more sympathy for Greece. They are more willing to admit that Greece is doing it's best but that broke is broke, and there's little Greece can do to pay back now. They are also of the opinion that Greek debt is unsustainable (Greece will never have enough of a recurrent revenue to outgrow the cost of debt and make the debt decrease), and that the austerity measures that were forced upon Greece only made the matters worse instead of improving them as was initially expected.\n\nIn other words, Germany is like \"dammit Greece, this is all your fault, you got yourself broke to begin with, you're not even trying to help yourself now, and on top of that, you hate us while we're trying to help you, fuck you Greece!\" whether France is more like \"Well, Greece, you fucked up, but at the same time it's kind of a collective failure, the tips we gave you to improve your wealth were actually not all that good, and we know you're doing your best. We know you will never be able to pay us everything back, so let's have you pay what you can and forgive the rest\".\n\n\nMy opinion is that France's stake is kinda linked to a distrust toward austerity, but also linked to a fear that they might someday have to be bailed out too so they're not willing to hit too hard on broke countries, whereas Germany strongly believes in austerity, and is also very sure that they're a \"virtuous\" country that'll never have such a problem because *they* are doing what it takes to avoid getting themselves into troubles."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.bbc.com/news/live/business-33480291"
] | [
[],
[
"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/11733777/Bewildered-Greeks-left-wondering-what-happened-to-referendum-No-vote.html?WT.mc_id=e_DM31386&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FPM_New&utm_source=email&utm_medium=Edi_FPM_New_2015_07_12&utm_campaign=DM31386",
"http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/jul/03/greek-referendum-voters-greece-creditors-proposals"
],
[]
] |
|
39b3mp | how are trick pop-up ads allowed to exist, like fake virus warnings or things meant to look like you've received a message? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39b3mp/eli5_how_are_trick_popup_ads_allowed_to_exist/ | {
"a_id": [
"cs1wtsx",
"cs1xu2k",
"cs1xwif",
"cs1xypw",
"cs1y8os",
"cs1z3xc",
"cs21p2d"
],
"score": [
14,
172,
2,
6,
5,
6,
3
],
"text": [
"What law would they be breaking? ",
"Many reasons:\n\n* most of them are not illegal, the user usually has to manually download and install the app\n* even if they are illegal, who has the time and money to sue them all? Occasionally you'll hear of the lawyer who sues spammers but that's far from the norm\n* their ads work well and guess who earns money from ads? Ad circuits. You could say that Google should stop crap like that but they get a cut and they make big money from it\n\nThe unfortunate thing is that even more virtuous companies like the above mentioned one allow this, so imagine what will the small almost-failing web company will do to keep the boat afloat: adware, adware everywhere. ",
"First of all, -In some countries- these types of ads would be considered illegal, yes. But that is the major benefit/issue with the internet atm, it is not globally governed. Secondly, many of these sorts of scams only need you to click them for the provider to make a small potion of money. They essentially target less informed people intentionally with click-bait as a means to propagate exposure to products. Because there is no recognized laws and the server you are in contact with could be in Uganda for all you know- it is actually one of the easier ways to make actual money on the internet, hence why it is so common.",
"Allowed to exist? More like, how is it at all feasible to enforce any kind of arbitration against offenders? No, this is something that each individual has to protect themselves against, it's a client side issue. Going after the offenders would be dumber and more fruitless than the game of whack-a-mole that is anti-piracy.",
"what i find more troubling is the fact that they exist, that means there is profit being made. And that means there are people falling for this ",
"Even if a particular ad does violate some law somewhere (like false advertising), there is no agency fully equipped and motivated enough to enforce the law and prosecute the makers of the ad or the company that distributes it. Because of this, companies have no motivation to screen the ads they show based on the criteria you mentioned and will therefor continue to select the ads that will earn them the highest profit. \n\nI think that keeping the internet open and free is really important, so I don't advocate for creating a new agency or adding powers and funding to old ones in order to strengthen policing of online activity. Instead, if we feel these types of invasive and deceptive marketing techniques are truly a breech of our rights then we should be responsible enough (or annoyed enough I suppose) to choose not to support the business of companies that distribute them. For the most part, this already occurs in most places on the commercial surface level of the web. Most browsers use popup blockers which make invasive popup ads less effective at reaching their audience which make them less profitable for ad companies to spend resources trying to distribute them. Most big name websites (like YouTube, facebook, Google, etc.) are conscious of their reputation, aesthetic appearance, and relationship with users enough to avoid accepting the business of ad companies that use techniques and ads which piss off the users. The only places we still see these kinds of ads are websites that for one reason or another have skirted the costs and limitations of open competition. Mainly in my experience it just comes down to illegal streaming/downloading sites and sites that offer rare or nefarious content. Even the porn industry is public and competitive enough now that the ads they distribute are rarely blatant scams or maliciously invasive. \"Hot single ladies in your area\" doesn't give you a virus or steal your information, they just sell a low quality product for lonely and desperate men. Kind of like a strip club billboard. Or a high end furniture catalogue (see fight club).",
"the worst kind is fake download buttons all around the page,its literally russian roulette to install a mod ectera. that shouldnt be legal."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2qmorn | what is the pre-tsa screening line i see in airports now, and doesn't the lower security of those lines defeat the purpose of stopping terrorist? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qmorn/eli5_what_is_the_pretsa_screening_line_i_see_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"cn7hon7",
"cn7hpx5",
"cn7hwmk",
"cn7ifx5",
"cn7jrla",
"cn7lvsi"
],
"score": [
4,
5,
2,
16,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"When you qualify for pre screening you supposedly go through a background check. You also pay a small fee. I think the program is silly and rewards a few while punishing others who don't fly as often or don't want to go through the pre screening process. However I generally believe airport security is put in place to make the people feel safer rather than to thwart potential attacks. ",
"Passengers with TSA-pre go through government background checks as a pre-screening. I think this background check has to be renewed every 5 years. Don't consider it to be \"lower security\". It basically just means these people don't have to take their shoes off, turn on their computers or take their liquids out separately (saving time when going through the security line). They're still required to follow all federal laws and guidelines. Their baggage is still x-rayed and they're still required to go through a metal detector/body-scanner. These people can also still be randomly selected for additional screening. ",
"I think there is a background check before you are approved, and the only major difference is that you get to keep your shoes on. The real benefit is that you get to skip most of the line. Airlines have a priority lane for customers that fly with them often (i.e. spend lots of money) with precheck someone who doesn't fly often can skip the line to.",
"I'm not sure the TSA is there to prevent terrorists. I think its there to give the illusion that its there to stop terrorists and make people feel better. ",
"You are assuming that the screenings are meant to stop terrorists in the first place. They are not. They act like they do and pretend that they do but they don't. They find the odd weapon or forbidden object but that is about it. \n\nTSA screening are a response to 9/11. They knew that they couldn't actually prevent another attack but they had to do something. It's like the old [Duck and cover videos](_URL_0_) in the 50's. If the bomb was dropped, there was nothing you could do, but the concept of duck and cover made the people feel safer and the government was doing something. This is the same thing. The government is doing something regardless of how pointless it is and the people waste a lot of time going through the motions but for some reason a lot of people feel better about the whole thing.",
"If you're worried about pre-screened people smuggling bombs through, bear this in mind: these days, if you were a suicide bomber, you wouldn't have to get through security. You just have to set your bomb off while you wait in line *before* you pass through security."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://youtu.be/IKqXu-5jw60"
],
[]
] |
||
5g6m5w | it seems that every day i see a new news article on how something new has managed to kill/defeat cancer. is it just click bait/old news or are we actually closer to curing and/or saving cancer patients lives? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5g6m5w/eli5_it_seems_that_every_day_i_see_a_new_news/ | {
"a_id": [
"dapw52p"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"What happens is that some scientist will discover that some chemical will kill cancer cells in vitro, meaning in a Petri dish. Of course that's good news but you cannot extrapolate the results to real cancer patients. It is a long process to then conduct in vivo experiments (those on real people). And the human body is much more complex than cells on a dish so the chemical often won't work very well on real people. I once read that 9 out of 10 experiments don't go further than observations in test tubes."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
6nmegt | what's happening to my eyes and/or brain while they are adjusting to a new glasses prescription? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6nmegt/eli5_whats_happening_to_my_eyes_andor_brain_while/ | {
"a_id": [
"dkaj9l3",
"dkavsu3"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Just what you said, theyre adjusting. If now things are being magnified through the glasses, your eyes are like wow ok this is much more clear, i should focus less or more to account for this. Also when you want to look at something near or far with new glasses, your eyes( brain) are learning how. They test out how much to focus or not.\n\n\nIts almost like learning how to know how hard to throw something to get it to go a certain distance, but much more advanced because subconsciously and sort of consciously your brain is calculating the new parameters very fast while you yourself are learning what you need to do to be more effective and accurate with the new glasses. \n\n\nIf you wanted the real science of it, i couldnt tell you.",
"There are lots of different processes going on to make sense of the world, done in stages all of the way from your eye to your conscious perception. Processes like finding edges, shapes, colors, and eventually objects. These processes are quite flexible so that if we sustain an injury to the optical system or just have general degradation over time we aren't just done for. When you get a new prescription those processes that are used to getting input in one way and need to need to make adjustments to getting input a new way. \"this slightly curved shape is a straight line but now with the correction this straight shape is a straight line\" or \"things this distance away needed to be focused on by moving the lens this amount, but now it has to be this other amount\". Physically the neurons are either making new connections or adjusting the intensity of existing connections.\n\nThis adjustment process can take a while (weeks or even months) if you had a significant change in prescription."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
2odbj1 | what is the science behind tnt pop-its (snap bags)? what makes them explode when you throw them at something? | My company bought a really old ice cream truck to refurbish, and we found a goldmine of old candy and toys inside. Amongst all the crap was a box of TNT Pop-Its. We've been scaring each other by throwing them around the office all week, and it's been making me wonder about how exactly they work. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2odbj1/eli5_what_is_the_science_behind_tnt_popits_snap/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmm19t1",
"cmm1mwj",
"cmm5pbu",
"cmmm62l"
],
"score": [
18,
91,
8,
2
],
"text": [
"They contain a chemical called silver fulminate which is an unstable explosive. The impact, or the friction from rubbing against the sand in the popit, is enough to detonate it.",
"Inside the tiny bag is ~99.99% gravel or sand, the other 0.01% is a chemical called silver fulminate. It's a highly unstable chemical that ignites under any sort of friction ( by dropping, squeezing, or stepping on it). When the chemical ignites it creates a shockwave that travels faster than the speed of sound and that's where the \"snap\" sound comes from (kind of like how a whip makes its noise). This shockwave is extremely weak and that's why you can pop one in your hand and it wont hurt. ",
"Hey, I was a truck driver for TNT for a few years! Any other fireworks questions? I'm obviously an expert. ",
"BTW, these are a hoot to put under toilet seats in the ladies room."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
pyvs0 | what's the difference between positive and negative voltages? | When using a DC power supply, what's the difference between positive and negative voltage leads? Why do they have different max amp ratings? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/pyvs0/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_positive_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"c3tdh59",
"c3tf86i"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
" > what's the difference between positive and negative voltage leads?\n\nRoughly, one of them sucks away electrons (that's the positive) and one of them spits out electrons (the negative). Remember that electrons are negatively charged, so when you take away electrons you make something less negative... aka more positive.\n\n > Why do they have different max amp ratings?\n\nMost electronic circuitry is designed to work with positive voltage. Not many are designed to work with negative voltage. Consequently, people who make power supplies mostly make positive voltage supplies - because that's what their customers ask them for.",
"Direction.\n\nPostive voltage drives the electrons forwards in a cable, negative voltage is voltage in the opposite direction (backwards).\n\nThink of it as a pipe with water. Voltage is the pressure, and positive/negative stands for the direction.\n\nAmpere is the current, which can be compared with water flow.\n\nDC = direct current, so then you always only send the current in one direction. I'm not sure what you mean by different amp ratings for positive/negative, can you give an example? Photo?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
1idk69 | how did the united states congress become so divided? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1idk69/eli5_how_did_the_united_states_congress_become_so/ | {
"a_id": [
"cb3iz3e"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Gerrymandering contributes I think. Congress cuts up the voting districts so the incumbents can keep their offices. Since the districts are purely one party or the other, candidates are pushed to the extremes of their own parties to compete. My district looks like Swiss cheese. It's a disgrace. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
5wty07 | what do they do if someone pulls the fire alarm in a hospital when they're in the middle of a major surgery (open-heart bypass or something)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wty07/eli5_what_do_they_do_if_someone_pulls_the_fire/ | {
"a_id": [
"decyrmz",
"decyrrv",
"decys0a",
"decysv0",
"deczs4k",
"ded0lor",
"ded1pgv",
"ded1r7e",
"ded1wbc",
"ded29jf",
"ded2fur",
"ded2nez",
"ded2qk8",
"ded2wfo",
"ded2wop",
"ded3j96",
"ded3ps6",
"ded4hd0"
],
"score": [
3,
2276,
262,
50,
52,
21,
3,
14,
10,
40,
39,
99,
3,
2,
15,
310,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Why does it say there are three comments and then down where the comments are supposed to be, it says \"there doesn't seem to be anything here\"? Is Reddit broken?",
"Many hospitals have their fire alarms set up in zones. So each wing/floor/area is its own zone. When the fire alarm is activated in a zone, either from a pull station or a detector, the audible alarm will only sound in the affected zone. It will also close all the fire doors in the area, which are held open by magnets. The fire department receives the activation and responds while hospital security will go to investigate if there is a fire. Hospital staff or the fire department can expand the activated areas as needed, and usually the rest hospital will be notified of a fire alarm somewhere in the hospital by an announcement for a \"Code Red.\" along with the area of the hospital that is affected. Because of this set up, its unlikely the surgical procedure would be impacted at all. Even if the activation was in the same zone, they would most likely continue as long as no flames or smoke were seen.\n\nThis may not be the set up in all hospitals, but has been in the ones I have worked with.\n\nSource: am former fire prevention officer.\n\nEDIT: Spelling\n",
"Everyone in the hospital is taught race and pass before you even get to your station. Hospitals are built to compartmentalized fires so race:\n\nR = Recuse & remove anyone from immediate danger\nA = activate alarm\nC = Contain - close the doors, most systems do this for you these days\nE = extinguish small fires or evacuate if in harms way\n\nP = Pull\nA = Aim\nS = Squeeze\nS = Sweep\n\nYou do not evacuate a hospital because a fire alarm is triggered. It is common to be triggered because of the lab and other departments. Like a high rise in a major city, unless immediate damaged presents itself you wait for instruction before evacuating. The only difference between a hospital and any other building is the design to compartmentalized the fire and not allow it to spread. Other buildings besides hospitals are erected this way but not your standard house or high rise due to cost.\n\nYou could ask what happens during surgery and a power outage. The simple answer is very expensive generators with flkywheels. You won't even see a blip in the lights.",
"Actually, this question has been asked before, at least on /r/NoStupidQuestions/. Here's a link for the replies on that thread: _URL_0_\n\nThe top answer on that thread was \"They keep working, have people prepare to move/stabilize patient if necessary and monitor the situation till it's certain they have to leave.\".",
"Where I'm on placement, hospitals are designed with this in mind using a concept called compartmentalisation. Each ward/section/area is a different 'compartment' separated by fire resistant walls and separated by fire doors with an estimated time of 60 minutes (i.e. They are theoretically able to withstand a direct flame for a total of 60 minutes). This both buys time for moving patients and limits damage caused in the event of a fire. \n\nTherefore, throughout the hospital there are two fire alarm types:\n\n1) Continuous: the compartment you are currently in contains a fire. In this event, if it is not a false alarm, measures may need to be taken in order to stabilise and move the patient into another compartment, in order to continue the surgery there. \n\n2) Intermittent: a compartment adjacent to the one you are currently in contains the fire. I imagine in this case, the surgeons would attempt to continue with the operation in the assumption that they are not under any immediate threat, as in theory even in the event of a serious fire, their compartment will not be at risk for another 60 minutes, in which time emergency services will notify them of the very real danger.",
"I know I shouldn't do this, but I ignore nearly everything I hear over the intercom at the hospitals I work. You hear alarms a lot and you get numb to them. So I'd keep operating and wouldn't notice it until I saw an actual fire or a lot of smoke. ",
"I was walking in a hospital hallway when the fire alarm went off once. These large doors closed behind and in front of us so it divided the hallway into segments. Imagine that one red laser door part of Phantom Menace, but with a group of people and a bigger compartment.",
"I was assisting in surgery and this happened. \n\nWe kept going, but man that alarm was annoying. ",
"Some interesting Googling to be had here...\n\nAmong numerous [reports](_URL_0_) about a Japanese woman farting and causing a fire during her surgery, is an [article](_URL_1_) saying \"*Virtually all operating room fires ignite on or in the patient, and about 10 surgical patient fires a year come to ECRI's attention*\".\n\nAnd a specific [case study](_URL_2_) about such an incident.",
"We had a fire in theatre one day (someone put something flammable in a warming cupboard) and all the other theatres kept operating. We were just kept up to date with what was going on next door. \n\nWe did have training drills if we had to evacuate mid operation, and the plan was to stabilise the patient, cover any open wounds and prepare for transport. The destination would be an empty theatre out of the fire zone or a nearby hospital. Transfer to another hospital would be by intensive care ambulance as the patient would still be under anaesthetic. ",
"When in HS I was having surgery for an abdominal hernia and someone called a bomb threat into the surgical clinic just as they opened me up. I guess the surgeon and the anesthesiologist both stayed to finish as everyone else was evacuated from the building. I started coming out of it while being loaded into or out of an ambulance and being taken to a different hospital to recover. I remember thinking, \"this can't be a good sign\" then passing back out. ",
"I've been in an operating theatre when the fire alarm went off - a naked acutely psychotic man was crawling through the ceilings of the hospital, setting things on fire. Seriously. \n\nFalse alarms go off quite often, so nobody panicked, just rolled their eyes. But smoke started seeping in under the theatre door so then we knew it was real. \n\nWe were doing abdominal surgery on a 1 year old child. Very calmly, the surgeon and anaesthetist stated that if the smoke became stronger they expected all the other theatre staff to leave, and they would stay until they were overwhelmed. \n\nLuckily the smoke didn't become stronger..... we didn't have to find out at what point the surgeon and anaesthetist would abandon their patient. ",
"Due to the nature of a hospital, it is not always possible to evacuate the entire building in the event of a fire and are designed with this in mind. \n\nWalls, floors and celing are designed to slow down the spread of fire and doors are rated as being 30, 45 or even 60 minutes fire proof (next time you are in a hospital look out for tags on door displaying such a number). These doors also have expandable interiors (the 1cm wide white strips in the center of the door) which once heated, create a air tight seal.\n\nIn the event of a fire, patients are moved from the immediate area into adjoining wards and so forth until the fire is extinguished. \n\nShould a patient be on the operating table when a fire starts in the next room, the surges would have sufficient time to stabalise the patient and move them further away from the fire before the operation can be sucessfully completed or brought to a satisfactory conclusion. \n\nBaring in mind the fire service can be at the scene within 20 minutes of discovery of the fire, moving the patient to literally the next room could give the fire service 100 minutes to extinguish a contained fire.",
"They keep working at first. Then they will find out whether the fire is a) real and b) a danger to them. If there is no danger, or no danger for the time being, they will carry on working as long as that remains true. If there is a danger then they prepare to evacuate the patient as safely as possible.",
"Surg tech student here, yes it's all zoned, and inside an OR you can almost NEVER hear what's outside. It's really well isolates that even if the fire alarm in zone a sounded and you're in the OR (zone b) you couldn't possible hear it. \n\nThen there's certainly protocols, you keep doing the surgery till you must evacuate, usually the RN will keep up with the fire info and let the surgeon know if it's serious and they have to evac. Typically if it's just an alarm the hospitals are high tech enough to know if it's because of a fire or what not. Usually no one pulls the fire alarm for shits and giggles, even if there is a fire I wouldn't pull it, I'll grab the fire extinguisher and PASS (pull aim spray sweep) and god help me. \n\nIf there was a massive fire in the OR(let's say an anesthetic gas exploded in the neighboring OR, it can be put out by either fire extinguisher or by negative pressure, all OR rooms have positive pressure, where the air is filtered and pushed into the or is if the door is opened it pushes the bad outside air, away from the room. You can easily reverse this in the control system and suck all the air out and choke the flame that way.\n\nOn top of that everything used now a days is fire retardant, resistant, and non flame able. (And this is in the actual OR, so worst case scenario).\n\nThen if nothing can be done to stop the fire, you have to move to any neighboring core/floor/unit and finish the procedure plus my job is to keep all the equipment sterile so yeah...That's not happening even if I tried.",
"Surgeon here, from UK. Excellent question! And one that I didn't know the answer to until actually went through it! I previously worked in a hospital in London when there was a large fire within the building, in the basement.\n\nAlthough there was no fire actually within the operating theatres, it affected the ventilation system and smoke was entering the ORs. The Clinical lead (head doctor of the hospital) informed all theatres that all operating to cease ASAP. \n\nWhat ended up happening was: Those that were almost finished hurried up, those that had just started stopped, those that were literally half-way through just covered up as best they could (made it as a safe as possible, cover the wound etc) and the still-anaesthetised patient was wheeled to a \"pop-up\" ITU somewhere safe & away from the smoke. \n\nAs it happened the fire was quickly brought under control, ventilation system was disabled and the few (1 or 2) patients that needed it went back to theatre the next day I think. \n\nAlthough less than ideal patients can be kept anaesthetised for quite a while and could even be transferred to other hospitals if required (which is what I'd imagine you'd have to do if someone was actually on CPB (cardio-pulmonary bypass). Would be a massive pain in the arse logistically, but when there's a need these things get sorted. \n\nThere wasn't any cardiac at this hospital so that particular scenario wasn't encountered... \n\nHope that helps!",
"Interesting question! \n\nI was curious about fire evacuations at my work. I work at a court in the heart of a city. So in case of fire, sheriffs officers have to evacuate prisoners. And of course you want to keep the prisoners away from the public...and the judges hearing their cases!\n\nAs it happens, we have an area called a \"sally port\" where a sort of carport door lifts up to admit prison vans. In case of a fire prisoners are evacuated to this enclosed area, and can be evacuated in vans back to prisons.",
"In my hospital we have different codes (announced over the PA) for different kinds of emergency. A code red is a potential fire in an area - staff will search for the fire and the fire dept will be notified to attend and assist. \nA code orange is an evacuation notice - all staff have to leave and arrange for the Pt to be evacuated too. \nI'm not actually sure what happens in my hospital when it comes to a code orange in theatres - id hope we have a procedure in place! \n\nIn the case of open heart surgery for the most part a patient is on a heart lung machine. The cannulae used for heart lung machines can be easily incorporated into a device called ECMO which is a longer lasting heart lung machine that can provide full replacement for a pts heart and or lungs for days (and up to weeks). ECMO Is easily mobile and allows a Pt to be moved from one area to another safely. \nWe also actually leave pts chests open occasionally. A simple piece of plastic is all that is put over the pts chest and it's left open for a few days. This is done infrequently when the swelling in the thorax is so significant that the sternum can't be safely closed. \n\nSource: Clinical Nurse Specialist in Cardiothoracic ICU and ECMO operator. \n\nEdit: there are some absolute excellent answers on how to evacuate and manage fires in hospital! It's not my area of expertise - I was mainly looking to provide clarification on the 'open heart bypass' part. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/3537td/what_do_they_do_if_someone_pulls_the_fire_alarm/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/85982410/Fart-sparks-fire-during-surgery-in-Japan-patient-seriously-burnt",
"http://www.mdsr.ecri.org/summary/detail.aspx?doc_id=8197",
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19731843"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
4kt9gf | clicking "x" and clicking to close, why do they not immediately close the applications? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kt9gf/eli5clicking_x_and_clicking_to_close_why_do_they/ | {
"a_id": [
"d3hkh90",
"d3hkhe9",
"d3hkhy9"
],
"score": [
9,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Clicking the X sends as message to the program the basically says, \"Program, please close yourself at the earliest convenient opportunity.\" If the program in running slowly for some reason, then it might take some time for it to close itself.\n\nSo you might ask why the OS doesn't just force the program to close when you hit the X, and it's because the program might need to do some special stuff before closing, like prompt you to save the currently open file, or gracefully close network connections.",
"Clicking \"x\" sends the application a message asking it to close. This enables the application to shutdown properly - closing open files, network connections and such. For example, when you close a text editor this allows it to show you a window asking whether you want to save your changes in the currently opened file.\n\nHowever, sometimes the app might be still busy doing something, so it takes a while to shut down properly. ",
"Uhm...don't they?\n\nUsually Applications i use close immediately unless closing opens a dialogue (\"are you sure\", unsaved data and somesuch) or they are running a bit slow and janky.\nCould it be that your system may be overall slow / in need of maintenance of some sort?\n\nThat said, Applications may not close immediately if they are currently writing to the hard drive (to avoid data corruption) or to stop background services not tied to the desktop application."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5pvef0 | why do we tend to notice things in pairs? or, why does there seem to be a general consensus that even numbers are more, "attractive"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pvef0/eli5_why_do_we_tend_to_notice_things_in_pairs_or/ | {
"a_id": [
"dcu8gxa"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"I've always looked at it as it has to do with being symmetrical. You can divide even numbers into two equal halves. When you look at someone and find them attractive their face is normally symmetrical. People without birth defects have symmetrical sides of the body, two arms, two legs, ten fingers and so on. This might not be as scientific as you were wanting, just my two cents. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1iyjyn | what are the tiny little dots in your vision that you see when you stare at a solid colour? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1iyjyn/eli5_what_are_the_tiny_little_dots_in_your_vision/ | {
"a_id": [
"cb9al86",
"cb9arv1",
"cb9cbsk",
"cb9dgby",
"cb9e0u4",
"cb9e5p0",
"cb9gmuc"
],
"score": [
2,
16,
4,
9,
4,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Imperfections/damage within your eye: _URL_0_",
"if you stare at one color too long the different cones and rods in the back of your eye react. Each cone and rod distinguish between a different color. So if you stare at green for a while the cone will leave the colored spot in your vision. Each one leaves different colors based on tge color your staring at. That or its damage like the other guy said. ",
"In addition to previous comments, if it looks a little like the static on an untuned TV it's likely something known as '[visual snow](_URL_0_)'. The causes for visual snow are mostly unknown, but it seems to be brought on by stimulants or hallucinogens most of the time.",
"Any solid colour or specifically blue ? If so, then they're red blood cells in your eye.\n\n_URL_0_",
"There are little motes that naturally float around in human eyes; they're especially easy to see when you stare at white walls. They're harmless and I do not know where they come from.",
"TIL: Human vision is surprisingly terrible",
"There are many people in this thread with many answers. Can you give us more details about what you're referring to? "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floater"
],
[],
[
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Red-blue-noise.gif"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_field_entoptic_phenomenon"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
a03cak | what’s the difference between racism and colorism | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a03cak/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_racism_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"eae7v6l"
],
"score": [
21
],
"text": [
"Colorism is within one specific race. For example in the black community, colorism would be favouring somebody who is light skinned, but still black. Let's take Beyonce as a popular example. Some would argue that she's only popular because she's light skinned. Preferring Beyonce over a darker skinned black girl is not racism, because they are both black, and you're not discriminating against black people as a whole, so it's colorism."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1qghdj | how does voice analytic software work? | And does inflections and or accents effect the probability of matching? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qghdj/eli5how_does_voice_analytic_software_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdcjyhy",
"cdck8tj",
"cdcqgwo"
],
"score": [
10,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Most speech to text software works based on machine learning algorithms that use statistics.\n\nThe gist of it is that you can \"teach\" computer software to become good at pattern matching. By analyzing the wave pattern of the sound you make when you say words, and by telling the computer what the word is for each pattern, you can train the computer software to match a sound pattern to a word.\n\nSo if you have a large amount of voice clips, and someone has transcribed all those clips, you have created something called \"training data\", which you can feed into the software to teach it how to match those patterns.\n\nAccents will effect the probability of matching if the software wasn't trained with recordings of accents. But that's easily fixable by adding accented data to the training data.",
"I'll try to do that really simply because it's actually pretty complicated today.\n\nSo if you want to write a word in written English, you have to use one of the 26 **letters** of the alphabet.\n\nWell if you want to say a word in spoken English, you have to use one of the 40 basic **phonemes** of phonology. You could reduce a phoneme to the syllables to understand better but there is more than that to it actually.\n\nSo in theory, if a computer could recognize all phonemes of spoken English (Like storing them in the HDD and the computer would just make the comparison), he'd be able to understand what you say. If we'd speak slowly with the same pronunciation, it's gonne work. But hey, everybody's unique so we need to complicate it a bit.\n\nLike you said the issue is pronunciation, accents, fluency, fillers. So, we are adding more and more complexity to the software. So today, Voici Recognition Software uses statistical, pattern recognition techniques to help them understand what you are saying. This are really complicated for example if you say \"Thank dew\", your computer because it's been programmed to understand that **generally** you put \"you\" after \"Thank\", you meant \"Thank you\". This are called **Hidden Markov models**.\n\nThe last improvment made in this field is that in order to better personnalize your voice recognition software, you generally go threw a **training phase**. So the Software is built with classic dabatabes of phonemes, statistical grammatical structures of the language, dictionnaries. To personnalize it, they'll make you read pre-saved phrases then they'll correct the bases phonemes using your own voice. \n\nYou can now understand how complicated it can get. Well, the future will be even more. The next step is called **Artificial Neural Network** which is in the main lines a computing model that is able to recognize patterns and making the machine learn. It's actually pretty old but it's been in the last decade that we made some really incredible discoveries in the field. They are litterally making a computer learn a language allmost from scratch with all its words and grammatical structures, etc...\n",
"This is pretty high level, but here is a good tutorial on Hidden Markov Models to speech recognition\n\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://people.sabanciuniv.edu/berrin/cs512/reading/rabiner-tutorial-on-hmm.pdf"
]
] |
|
52em1g | how can some insecticides be labeled as safe to use around humans but at the same time are lethal for bugs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52em1g/eli5how_can_some_insecticides_be_labeled_as_safe/ | {
"a_id": [
"d7jl67f",
"d7jonga",
"d7jsgi1",
"d7jw074"
],
"score": [
7,
2,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Insects and mammals have some fundamental differences in basic body chemistry. \n\nLet's say all insects have a protein responsible for maintaining sodium balance in their cells. If we create a compound that blocks this enzyme, it will be lethal to all insects. \nMammals have an entirely different enzyme to do the same job, and will be entirely unarmed by the insecticide. \n\nDisclaimer: the sodium balance thing is an example - real insecticides work on other enzymes. ",
"Note: I am not a doctor. Don't think that you can take drugs/use pesticides/whatever without first talking to someone who's an expert.\n\nThere are several different reasons, and they vary depending on the insecticide:\n\n(1) Body temperature. Permethrin, for example, is effective at lower temperatures, and ineffective at higher ones. Bugs, which are cold-blooded, are more affected than humans, who are warm blooded. (Permethrin is still toxic to cats, though, but for unrelated reasons.)\n\n(2) Body chemistry. Different animals have different body chemistries. To use the example of Permethrin above, Cats evolved to have a flaw in their glucuronosyltransferase enzyme, meaning that they process the drug differently. Other mammals didn't evolve that flaw, and thus can process it just fine.\n\n(3) Size and dose. A tiny speck of pesticide is 1/10th the mass of a bug, say, but 1/10000th the size of a human. It's just not enough to make a difference in the grand scheme of things for the human: it might kill a few cells here and there, but your body recovers. It kills too many cells in the bug for it to fix them quickly enough.\n",
"Caffeine is a pest repellent made by plants so bugs won't eat them, so is cocaine from the coca plant. These substances produce diffrent effects in humans. Bugs n people are diffrent and compounds in plants effect us diffrently",
"Pesticides, biocides and other agents, including antibiotics, use a principle called \"selective toxicity\". They target a specific feature of the body or metabolism which is different between the thing you want to kill and the thing you don't.\n\nIn the case of insecticides, many are nerve agents, that block the transmission of nerve signals. There are a class of insecticides called organophosphates, which do just this. The insect nervous system and mammal nervous system are pretty similar, so some organophosphates are less selective (for example, sarin or VX gas).\n\nSo what makes some organophosphates so dangerous to humans, while some aren't. The answer is that they take advantage of very slight differences in metabolism between different species.\n\nThe organophosphate malathion, is almost instantly destroyed in body of mammals by enzymes called carboxylesterases. Insects don't usually have very effective carboxylesterases, so the malathion quickly spreads around the whole body and poisons the insect. However, you can get resistant strains of insects where upgraded carboxylesterases have evolved because malathion has been used for decades in large quantities.\n\nThere are lots of ways of getting selective toxicity; you can use the fact that one species deletes the chemical quickly, one species may not absorb the chemical, one species may not have the metabolic pathway which is affected by the chemical, you can use an inactive chemical, that one species has a \"detoxification\" system that mistakenly activates the chemical, etc."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3i0yw5 | if words or prestablished form of communication are required to define a term, how were human languages developed? | Title says it all | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3i0yw5/eli5_if_words_or_prestablished_form_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"cucb9lp"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"If I point at a tree and say 'tree' you'll eventually get the concept. Just keep going from there.\n\nMe Tarzan, you Jane."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
5j3liw | how do scratch and sniff stickers work | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5j3liw/eli5_how_do_scratch_and_sniff_stickers_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbd3sn4",
"dbd95re"
],
"score": [
105,
91
],
"text": [
"An adhesive mixed with an ester (a chemical that can smell like various organic substances, such as strawberries) is stuck onto a piece of paper. Then, the smelly area is sprayed with an easily-scratched substance, which also blocks the scent until the smelly patch is uncovered. ",
"I'm a print press operator and the way it was explained to me was that there is something called microencapsulation technology. The basic idea behind scratch-and-sniff is to take the aroma-generating chemical and encapsulate it in gelatin or plastic spheres that are incredibly small -- on the order of a few microns in diameter. When you scratch the sticker, you rupture some of these spheres and release the smell. The smell is essentially held in millions of tiny bottles, and you break a few of the bottles every time you scratch the sticker. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1rfubz | kids generally seem happier than adults. why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rfubz/kids_generally_seem_happier_than_adults_why/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdmt36d",
"cdmt4ek",
"cdmt8ua",
"cdmtab8",
"cdmtc0j",
"cdmx49r"
],
"score": [
16,
3,
3,
3,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Ignorance is bliss.",
"Less stress. The unhappy kids are generally the exceptions to that.",
"Think of all the things that make you sad, upset, angry or stressed in a given day. Did those things impact you the same or were you even aware of them when you were 5,7,10, etc.? ",
"Kids generally have less responsibility, and are more able to live in the moment, without their minds constantly reminding them of problems that they're dealing with or upcoming tasks or whatever. \n\nI can try and tune out the rest of my life and just enjoy watching a football game, but if I know that I've got a huge crappy mess of work waiting for me at the office the next day, it's hard to get that out of your mind and completely relax. \n\nKids tend to have way less of that sort of stuff to worry about. ",
"Kids don't have bills to pay or jobs to worry about. All their needs are seen to by other people. Food is cooked for them, outings to fun things planned. Nothing takes effort on their part and the world appears to literally revolve around them from their point of view.\n\nChildren also don't worry about upcoming wars, or world news. There's no concern that things might come crashing down around their ears tomorrow or the next day.",
"Kids don't pay mortgages."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3zrzk0 | the revelation by a string theorist that computer code is found within the layered equations of theory? are we in the matrix? | _URL_0_
In this video, a sting theorist describes finding "literaly 1s and 0s" which translate into an error correcting computer code within the overlapping equations of string theory.
Does this mean we're in the matrix? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zrzk0/eli5_the_revelation_by_a_string_theorist_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyok1zx",
"cyokr1i"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"It only matters if we're in the Matrix or not if there is anything outside it. In the movie, there is this horrific dystopian world, but there doesn't have to be. It could be the Matrix is simply all there is. ",
"This is why I find it hard to take theoretical physics too seriously. It's equations, conceptualized and written by people... that have resemblances to code/equations, also conceptualized and written by people. Hmm...\n\n Yeah, we're probably in the Matrix. Pack it up boys, we've figured it out. "
]
} | [] | [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvMlUepVgbA"
] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
8twue2 | why cant we charge normal batteries like) aa, aaa 9v ect | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8twue2/eli5_why_cant_we_charge_normal_batteries_like_aa/ | {
"a_id": [
"e1avmbg",
"e1awtpw",
"e1b6guf"
],
"score": [
2,
46,
5
],
"text": [
"They are not manufactured with the intent to be rechargeable. Although you can recharge them and reuse them. But since they are not built to be recharged they will not hold a charge for very long. Plus they risk leaking battery acid.",
"Because the chemical reaction they use to produce electricity isn’t fully reversible by just putting electricity back into the battery. \n\nMost common batteries are [alkaline batteries](_URL_1_) which use a reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide that isn’t easily reversible without side effects that degrade the battery’s capacity.\n\n[Rechargeable alkaline batteries](_URL_0_) include other compounds that prevent this degradation, but they’re more expensive and thus less common than normal alkaline batteries. ",
"You can. Check your favorite retailer. There are chargers which can charge alkaline batteries a few times each. Been doing this for years. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechargeable_alkaline_battery",
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery"
],
[]
] |
||
x7nw9 | gun ownership/ gun creation | After reading the article:
_URL_0_
It got me wondering. If make a device that uses standard size ammo, do I need to register it, do I just make my own serial number up for it, or does it even need a serial number. Can I carry it without a lic. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/x7nw9/eli5_gun_ownership_gun_creation/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5jwz4n"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"A homemade firearm by a private party in the US, provided that it is not to be sold, is legal to produce. It must comply with the sporting arms definitions laid out by the ATF, such as barrel length, overall length, operation (non-fully automatic), number of imported parts, etc. There is no registration, and I do not believe a serial number needs to be applied to it. Carrying it is a completely different topic and governed by your state laws regarding firearms carry. "
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/133514-the-worlds-first-3d-printed-gun"
] | [
[]
] |
|
1qm4t6 | how places like disney and busch gardens can charge so much for water and food? | How is it not price gouging to charge so much for a bottle of water just because you don't have a choice to buy it anywhere else? Shouldnt this be illegal?? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qm4t6/eli5how_places_like_disney_and_busch_gardens_can/ | {
"a_id": [
"cde627p",
"cde64pp"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Because youre there on their property and its the only food around. Its a legal monopoly. Regualr food places have to compete with home cooking which is alot cheaper.",
"Captive Market.\n\nThey know you are unlikely to leave the area, and they have a monopoly within it, so can put them together to force a high price. It's not illegal, because they're not preventing you bring it in, or leaving the park to buy some more cheaper at the gas station across the road.\n\nThe same thing happens in airports. They know you're not going to go through the hassle of going back through security, so they charge more. (It does cost a bit more to have an airport shop/stock it, but not that much more.)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
3kxhd2 | why are cigarettes more commonly smoked then cigars? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kxhd2/eli5_why_are_cigarettes_more_commonly_smoked_then/ | {
"a_id": [
"cv1bdpa",
"cv1bfls",
"cv1nhat"
],
"score": [
2,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"As an ex-smoker, all I can say is that while cigarettes are horrid, cigars are horrider!\n\nIt's quite easy to learn to smoke cigarettes, but the initial strength is probably enough to put most people off.",
"1) Cigars are expensive, usually $6+ for a decent one\n\n2) Cigars takes an hour or more to smoke, compared to a few minutes with cigarettes\n\n3) Because cigars take so long to smoke, the smell lingers much longer\n\n4) Cigars don't get you nearly as buzzed. Cigars are not meant to be inhaled, simply pulled into your mouth then expelled, so you don't get a strong nicotine high very quickly. They are smoked for taste, not buzz. Usually you need to be smoking one for at least a half hour before any kind of buzz starts to set in. ",
"There is actuly quite a history of this. I would recommend Chris Snowdons book...(will insert name later). \n\nCigarettes did not become popular until after soldiers returned from world war two. In fact, around that time, they were distained as womenly. There is also history between...sorry, going off memory from the book...i believe Leggetts brand and another major player. Both companies were in the same area as eachother and one developed the cigarette rolling machine and tried to market the hell out the resulting product (unfiltered at this time). Both companies battled it out and I believe Leggett won. Anyways, it wasnt u til the war the cigarettes became a thing - primarily because they were being sent to soldiers. Nicotine is great to keep people alert, yet relaxed. Caffeine or other stimulants make you alert, but hyped and shaky. Nicotine make you alert, but calm. When soldiers came back to the US, they made cigaretttes popular becuase it was what they used \"in the field\". It was right around this time that it was shown that tobacco was bad for you. In the 50s, cigarette companies added filters and that was met with great distain to, so it was marketed toward women. By the 60 and the surgeon generals first report, we all knew smoking was bad (not how bad, but bad) and filters became popular (though we now know they dont do much). By this time, the anti-tobacco lobby was in full swing and they took to the airwaves to battle big tobacco. It was working. More people quit smoking in the late 60 early 70s in response to the Ant(anti-tobacco lobby) and the surgeon generals reports. They fought that tobaccco comp. Sbould no longer be able to advertise on TV. The FCC then said that both the antz and BT(big tobacco) should get equal access to airwaves in equal amounts. This wasnt good enough for the antz, so they fought and got BT off the air, but it meant *they* couldnt continue their very effective TV campaign either...and guess what? Cigarette consumption jumped after the decision. They were doing more good going head to head with bt *on air* then when they kicked ot off the air completely. \n\nThis is where I left off in the book, so I can only give first hand experience for the last 35 years or so. \n\nThe book is about the history of the anti tobacco lobby (its not all good!) which goes back all the way to Columbus' time. Its a very good book, easy to read and not that big. I highly recommend it. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
42wlmq | how come cte can be seen posthumously, but not while the patient is alive? | I get that the brain tissue is too small for MRI's, is it the same reason for CT scans? And if so, will there be technology in the future to fix this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42wlmq/eli5_how_come_cte_can_be_seen_posthumously_but/ | {
"a_id": [
"czdo0vy"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"CTE results in non-structural injuries to the brain that cannot be detected with conventional MRI or CT brain scans. The only way to diagnose CTE reliably at this point is to open up the brain and physically study and inspect the brain tissue.\n\nResearch efforts are now focussed on using PET scan technology since some early testing has shown promising results and it may be possible to detect CTE with PET scans. The problem with PET scans is they are costly to run studies with and it requires patients to consent to having radioactive chemical compounds injected into their bloodstream."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3zqnx9 | why does electricity have erratic movements? | You know when you see a "string" of electricity or whatever it's called, like inside a Plasma Ball (example) or a thunder "beam" (in those still images).
The "string" of electricity will move all over the place but will end up somewhere (in the Plasma Ball, it would be your finger). What determines the movements of the "strings"? Why is it all over the place? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zqnx9/eli5why_does_electricity_have_erratic_movements/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyo7j0l"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Electricity will always take the path of least resistance. When an electric bolt is traveling through the air, it essentially has to make a \"decision\" about where to jump each time it makes a small step forwards. This decision is always based on what jump is the easiest. At every single point in space, the electricity makes this decision. This is why it appears so jagged because the path of least resistance will almost never be a straight line in space. This path is largely determined by how the gas molecules are situated at that particular moment in time. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2kdsxb | why don't planes incorporate noise cancellation into the cabin? | Excluding the Airbus A380, which I've heard is already quieter. I've traveled on a lot of planes, and every time the experience has been insanely loud. Having a conversation with the person in the next seat is difficult, and communicating with someone in the aisle involves shouting or gesturing. It's like trying to communicate underwater. In recent years a lot of people have started to wear noise cancelling headphones on flights, but it seems like this problem could have be solved by placing microphones in the cabin and cancelling out the noise through the speaker system. Why isn't this done? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kdsxb/eli5_why_dont_planes_incorporate_noise/ | {
"a_id": [
"clkb3vh",
"clkb5k3",
"clkb87k",
"clkb9ko",
"clkbvx1",
"clkeplb",
"clkey8o",
"clkl1kj"
],
"score": [
2,
7,
17,
2,
8,
7,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"because it can't be done with out large and substantial cost. it's a lot easier to noise cancel the sounds going directly into your ear than to noise cancel something that is \"broadcast\" like a speaker. it's too complicated to account for all the sound reflection and all that. ",
"I think you can't hear becasue your ears are pressurized. Try equalizing and you may be able to hear much better. I've never had a problem hearing people on a plane.\n",
"You're most likely not having trouble due to sound, but rather because your ears aren't pressurizing, try popping your ears next time you fly.\n\nMost planes due have noise cancelling insulation and such, but many people find comfort in being able to hear the engines.",
"They can and do. The remarketing of the DHC-8 as the Q-Series was due to the introduction of active noise cancelling in the cabin. It only works so well, however.",
"Honestly, sitting in a cigar tube with a few hundred other people, I kind of like the white noise. I don't really want to hear the breathing, snores, coughing, conversations, noseblowings, etc., of all those people. Yes, it makes it a little tough to ask the attendant for a cup of coffee, but that's a minor inconvenience.",
"You can only effectively cancel noise at a point. You could make some points in the cabin quiet but the cancelling waves would make it louder everywhere else. ",
"First they do to an extent, but jet engines are insanely loud along with all the other associated noises. They could cancel more sound, but that would add cost, and it would add weight, which adds more cost in terms of fuel. Try to pick seats as far from the engine and chew some gum to help your ears equalize in pressure",
" > but it seems like this problem could have be solved by placing microphones in the cabin and cancelling out the noise through the speaker system. Why isn't this done?\n\nBecause it wouldn't work that way. Noise cancelling depends on timing, if it works perfectly while beeing at the back of the plane you will actually hear the noise of the engine and then the noise from the speaker if you move to the front, because tehy won't sync up any more."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
otcuc | why brownies don't dry out when they are left in the pan | I get why the middle stays moist, but why don't the edges dry? They always have direct contact to air, so it seems that they should dry out. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/otcuc/eli5_why_brownies_dont_dry_out_when_they_are_left/ | {
"a_id": [
"c3jvnn1"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"theyre not moist, so much as they are oily. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2ecebg | what would the planet be/look like if all the nuclear explosives exploded at the peak of the cold war? | If all the nuclear explosives in the entire world, to be clear. Did we have the power to physically destroy the planet? Could we be an asteroid field? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ecebg/eli5_what_would_the_planet_belook_like_if_all_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjy55w8",
"cjy58kt",
"cjy5d4e",
"cjy5ftp",
"cjy6hl7",
"cjy9io5"
],
"score": [
6,
52,
13,
13,
16,
3
],
"text": [
"Would it look like anything if there is no one here to see it?",
"20,000+ nukes? We would be in the middle of a [nuclear winter](_URL_0_) and unlikely to survive. So, long story short, you're dead, everyone you know is dead, and everyone in your family is dead. Just dead, dead everywhere. \n\nOn the upside, there might be a new explosion of life in a few centuries or millennia. Maybe the invertebrates finally get their shit together and show the cold-blooded and mammalian lifeforms what life on Earth should be like...\n\nEdit: Ninja typo away",
"We don't have enough fire power to shatter the planet. We do have enough to put so much ash and crap into the air that temperatures plummet for thousands of years. Oceans freeze over, agriculture -- and humanity -- end, and something else may evolve from the few places, in the oceans, that have not frozen over. I'm betting on some sort of aquatic mammals -- whales or dolphins.",
"Like the Apple logo.",
"Many replies here point to nuclear winter. If the earth was so susceptible to nuclear weapons, why have the thousands of nuclear explosions done mostly as tests had such a small impact? \n\n[This document](_URL_0_) shows about 2,000 nuclear explosions since 1945. Why would 20,000 necessarily result in nuclear winter? I would imagine that it would just wipe out a bunch of people, but the planet itself would be largely ok. \n\nIs this an urban myth? It not, can you justify why it would cause nuclear winter? Serious question. \n",
"There was a documentary made not so long ago about Bikini Atoll where americans made multiple nuclear trials. After 50 years of not having any kind of humans going near it, the corral reef started to grow again and gave life to a big brand new ecosystem! I cant remember the name, but here's a link with a better description:\n\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.ctbto.org/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Sipri_table12b.pdf"
],
[
"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-559872/Coral-flourishing-Bikini-Atoll-nuclear-test-site--humans-driven-away.html"
]
] |
|
196kvg | internet service providers. | Daddy? How do internet service providers work? I know I need an ISP to connect to the internet, but how do ISPs connect to the internet? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/196kvg/eli5_internet_service_providers/ | {
"a_id": [
"c8l95g0"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The internet isn't \"one thing\", it's actually a number of computer networks that has decided to work together. Each ISP runs their own part of the internet.\n\nSo if I send this message from Sweden to the reddit servers in the US it first goes to my local ISP but they only deal with local stuff so they hand it over to a large nordic telecommunications company that has a network that reaches as far as Denmark. \n\nBut the large telecommunications company doesn't have a transatlantic telecommunications cable so in my case they hand the message over to [Level 3 Communications](_URL_0_). \n\nAnd after a few steps more it finally arrives to reddits servers and you can ask them to give it to you. So the internet is kind of an patchwork but so nicely done that you only see one thing.\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_3_Communications"
]
] |
|
21ibdd | why does it become dark immediately when i switch off the light? what happened to the photons of light that were emitted by the light source? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21ibdd/eli5_why_does_it_become_dark_immediately_when_i/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgd9zys",
"cgda0kp",
"cgdae2n",
"cgdami8",
"cgdej9p",
"cgdfx5p"
],
"score": [
8,
22,
4,
10,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"They get absorbed by the walls and objects in the room. It just happens very quickly because light moves so fast.",
"You mean are photons that were emitted just previously still traveling at the instantaneous moment the light turns off? Well, yeah, but they move at the speed of light. In case you don't realize how fast that is, light could circle the earth over 7 times a second.",
"The entire room doesn't become dark immediately. But as /u/rtechnix pointed out, light is unbelievably fast. So fast that we think of it as being immediate, because our human perceptions have no chance at all of directly detecting things that quick. ",
"Light decays over time. As it travels through our atmosphere and as it bounces off of the walls. Imagine the light can travel around your room fifty times and it's probable that light can only bounce around your room less than 10 times. We'll assume 50 times for shits and giggles and we'll also assume you have a 15 x 15 foot room. So any time the light travels it will travel 15 feet per bounce and bounce 50 times. So 50*15 feet so about 750 feet.\n\nLight travels at 983,571,056 feet per second.\n\nTo travel 750 feet it takes less than .000001 second. to put that in perspective, your pc monitor refreshes 60 times in one second. In the time it takes your monitor to refresh once, light was able to travel 22,044 miles in a vacuum.\n\nAny time you think about how light behaves, you always have to think instant. Without Math, Humans cannot comprehend the speed of light. 1/100th of a second and 1/1000000th of a second are the same speed to us. When you're dealing with light, you're dealing with 1/10000000ths of a second.",
"The photons get absorbed by the things they hit (anything). Because they are so fast, this happens almost immediately.\nOr, in actual ELI5-terms: When you turn off the light, the photons get immediately eaten by all the things in your room.",
"That's the speed of light for you."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8yp24u | why is it often advised to unplug an electronic device for a few minutes to resolve an issue? how does unplugging it (instead of restarting it) make a difference? e.g. smart tvs | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8yp24u/eli5_why_is_it_often_advised_to_unplug_an/ | {
"a_id": [
"e2cmiad",
"e2cmoc9"
],
"score": [
3,
6
],
"text": [
"The capacitors will still hold a charge, if still plugged in. Sometimes unplugging and holding a button down for 30 seconds will resolve some very odd errors. Other reasons also include the device may hold some persistent information that isn't cleared out unless it has total loss of power. ",
"Every electronic device with a microprocessor, will have a memory cache. This cache is constantly sending and receiving data to and from the processor, and acts as a buffer for the data as it cannot be processed all at once. The data in these memory caches is subject to malformation and corruption, often resulting in operational errors of the device. The only way of clearing these caches, is to stop the flow of power / electricity to them."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
4211q6 | why aren't obese people's muscles stronger than average, considering they carry around so much weight every day? | I am sure there's some wrong with my thinking, and I'd like to understand what. I think it is a fact that the more you exercise a muscle, the stronger it becomes. Let's assume we have one obese person, and one person of healthy weight. Both of them walk 1h per day over the same distance. Since the obese person carries around so much more extra weight, can't we assume they are straining (training?) their leg muscles more by the additional effort required, making them stronger in the process? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4211q6/eli5_why_arent_obese_peoples_muscles_stronger/ | {
"a_id": [
"cz6pipk",
"cz6plgm",
"cz6pmux",
"cz6pyg4",
"cz6r8di",
"cz6u3ai",
"cz6ywt5",
"cz70qns",
"cz71ewj",
"cz741s3",
"cz747xw",
"cz76mty",
"cz76orz",
"cz76s3c",
"cz78ksg",
"cz78kx1",
"cz7dgan",
"cz7dvdw",
"cz7es1h",
"cz7etnd",
"cz7kaje"
],
"score": [
206,
17,
458,
65,
9,
10,
2,
15,
3,
2,
3,
6,
3,
2,
2,
4,
9,
2,
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Their muscles are stronger, a lot stronger. You won't see this effect in any bodyweight exercises, because the muscles, while stronger, still have to move all that bodyweight (so we wouldn't expect obese people to be able to do pull ups, for instance). But if you put a 350 pound guy with no training on a leg press he's going to be able to do some real damage, compared to a 175 pound guy with no training.",
"Some obese people are very strong. If you look at some of those strongmen competitions, some of the strongest people in the world are what would likely be described as obese. The muscle men you see in shows, flexing their bicepts are likely weaker, they're building muscle with an emphasis on definition over strength. \n\nThat being said, obesity can be a complication from a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and the like. It can also make exercise and mobility uncomfortable. So the lifestyle that can often lead to obesity also doesn't often lend itself to strength training. Your muscles may do more work to move, but if you do less movement that doesn't help. So an average slender person who works out can still potentially out 'strength' an obese person who doesn't. ",
"They generally are. For pretty much exactly the reason you said.\n\nMaybe you're conflating muscle definition (i.e. the muscles you see on body builders) with muscle strength. A quick look at Olympic weightlifters will show you where strength actually lies. None of them look like bodybuilders. ",
"They are. Far stronger.\n\nIf you took an obese person at 300 LBS, and magically removed all of his fat, dropping him to 6% BF, he'd have **extremely** strong legs and significantly stronger upper body, even having never trained before. ",
"Obese people have much stronger muscles than thin people. If you cut off their legs and skinned them so you could just see the muscles, the obese person's muscles would be much larger.\n\nThere are two catches here though. First, as an obese person gains weight, it is disproportionally fat, not muscle. Second, when they lose weight, obese people lose muscle mass as well as fat.\n\nEvery time an obese person lifts a weight, they also have to lift the weight of their body. It's why a 500 horsepower semi-truck is slower than a 200 horsepower car. If you can isolate the muscle from the body fat (by using a weight machine) the obese person would be able to lift much more.",
"Have you ever looked at fat people's calves? Or even more obvious when its someone who was fat their whole life and lost weight, they usually have beastly calves from supporting all that weight.",
"If you've ever seen a fat dude's calves after he's lost a bunch of weight that will tell you that they have some strong ass muscles under the layers.",
"Well, as a moderately obese person who jogs regularly (how? slowly. very slowly.), I can attest that my legs are pretty damn strong. I can't find tall boots that fit because my calves are so big. My *lower* legs aren't fat at all; that's all muscle. ",
"Ever see a guy who was heavy and lost the weight? Their calves remain enormous. It's a running joke among fitness enthusiasts that the only way to build calves is to let yourself get fat, build them, then work the weight off.",
"Have you ever looked at an ex fatty's calves? They are beautiful. ",
"Many heavy people are very inactive just because of their weight. Someone is is very heavy *and* active will be strong.",
"Think of it this way. If you weighed 150 lbs and could squat 400 lbs, that would be a lot, aka you would be viewed as strong. A person comes along that weighs 400 lbs, and can only squat 150 lbs, they're essentially squatting the same combined weight. However, since their weight is in their body and not on a bar, it looks like less. Fat doesn't contribute to strength, they could have the muscle definition of the 150 lb body builder inside, but be carrying around 250 lbs of excess fat on the outside. So in essence yes they would be considered strong if they were to suddenly lose all their excess weight. It's more of an allusion that fat people aren't strong. They're just constantly under strain.",
"I used to be a mega fat chick and my lower body strength was incredible! I'm half by highest weight and definitely work out way more, but it's not even a comparison.\n\nI've never had a terribly strong upper body, but has seemingly remained correlated to my weight as well. \n\nThis is, of course, totally anecdotal.",
"Anecdotal evidence here, but I was overweight as a teenager and after losing it all had quite well developed calves and thighs compared to the rest of me.",
"I am a fat girl and I took to strongman lifting very quickly because of my lower body strength. 335 deadlift in no time. I'm sure being overweight has contributed to my strength, though of course training is still necessary.",
"I had an obese friend...his calves could deflect bullets, but...the rest was \"waddle, sit, wheeze, waddle, sit, wheeze\" etc",
"Yup, I'm obese and still pretty damn strong. I'm one of those types who is thick all around instead of being a guy with a beer gut. I'm fairly sure inside of my fatness is a ripped dude named Stone Rockford and I'm slowly losing lbs to set him free from his skin prison.",
"Have you ever seen the calves of a formerly-obese person? They are like tree trunks.",
"Only scrolled about halfway down, so I apologize if this has been said, but I wanted to make 1 clarification for OP. Not only is there a difference between muscle strength and physique, but there is also a big difference between muscle strength, muscle power, and muscle stamina. While many comments quite accurately discuss looking ripped vs. developing raw strength, it should be mentioned that training for strength, definition, power, and endurance require very different exercise regimens. When working out, most are trying to achieve a couple of these at the same time (e.g. fat los/physique + increased strength or power + stamina) so they're often conflated unless you have superspecific performance needs and a precise training program. ",
"We are stronger.\n\n6'3\" over 400lb a decade ago, slimmed down to 270 over those years. When I started doing some weight training with my brother on his home machine, we realized very quickly that leg workouts were impossible. I was maxing the home machine leg presses with no fatigue except for pain in my back/knees from pushing that much weight for 15 minutes.\n\nI had walked a lot almost all my life, so my legs always kept up, my upper body was super weak, it's still a work in progress. I was a cook for a decade as well, my calves are scary big, as are my thighs. I have a 40\" waist, but most pants that size dont fit in the calf and thigh areas. I can't ride a lot of newer roller coasters because the restraints still can't close over my thighs.\n\nWould not recommend this method.",
"You also have to take into account the fact that they are always carrying that weight. Generally their muscles are stronger but when they go to pick up a 20 lb weight they are also lifting the 30 lbs that hangs off their arms hence why they may technically be stronger but still can't lift as much.\n\nAnd even though they have more muscle, you won't see it because fat attaches itself and builds around muscle so that way your body can use it more effeciently."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2lt7ou | why does it normally take food 24-72 hours to digest but when i eat something greasy it goes right through me in less than 15 minutes? that seems like an incredible amount of ground to cover in 15 minutes. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lt7ou/eli5_why_does_it_normally_take_food_2472_hours_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"clxxptp"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"Initially the stuff that's coming out is the food your body was already digesting. When you eat something your digestive system doesn't like it pushes the stuff already in there out faster in order to get the nasty stuff out faster. Unfortunately that means your poops are gonna be loose because there wasn't enough time for all the water to get sucked out."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
6rtv3g | how can video games be played from a cassette tape? | I'm talking about old 80s and 90s computers that played games (and possibly run other programs I guess) via tapes that looked like audio cassette tapes. How does that work? If you want to listen to an audio tape from the start you have to rewind it, not so if you lose a game on a tape and have to restart it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6rtv3g/eli5_how_can_video_games_be_played_from_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"dl7osdh",
"dl7oukg",
"dl7vt8t"
],
"score": [
8,
3,
5
],
"text": [
"The cassette tapes were used for data storage. Just as you can have data CD's, and music CD's. The tapes were played and the data input into the computer's RAM. No game data was stored on the computer's tape itself.\n\nData loaded much more slowly than happens now. But a program could be saved. There were no CDs, DVD, thumb drives, or any other storage devices. No Internet or cloud.",
"They work the same way as floppy disks later and hard drives now: There is a file at the beginning that says what files are where. The computer had enough memory (what you would call RAM today) to do all the work.",
"Cassette tapes were used to store computer programs, but they weren't run straight from tape.\n\nYou would first rewind the tape to the beginning, tell the computer to load the program, then start the tape. The computer would simply read the data from the tape and store it in its RAM; and this would be the complete program -- if a game, it would be all the levels and everything. Once the program had been completely loaded, you'd switch off the cassette player and instruct the computer to run the program.\n\nAnd to do that, the computer wouldn't need to read any extra data. Everything it needed was already loaded in its RAM. If you lost, no problem: the program would ask you if you wanted to try again, and if you did the program would simply loop back to near the beginning and run again. A simple program written in BASIC, for example, might include something like:\n\n 9960 INPUT \"Enter Y to play again. \"; x$\n 9970 IF x$=\"Y\" OR x$=\"y\" GOTO 100\n\nOf course, commercial games would normally be written in machine code, not BASIC, but you get the general idea: simply loop back to the beginning of the game. (Or near the beginning.)\n\nBear in mind that these games were very simple -- a home computer in those days might have something like 64 kilobytes of RAM in total. Maybe 128. There wouldn't normally be many levels, and a good player ought to be able to complete them all in one session (eventually).\n\nObviously, compared with today's games, there were drawbacks. You couldn't save the state of play at any point: if you loaded another program or switched off the computer (or even if the power supply glitched for a split second), the game would be deleted from RAM and the next time you played it, you'd start from scratch.\n\nIt was floppy disks that made it possible to save high scores and other data in order to save state."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
96pnc1 | how do the groundskeepers at sporting places make it look like there are slightly different swathes of grass? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/96pnc1/eli5_how_do_the_groundskeepers_at_sporting_places/ | {
"a_id": [
"e428adg"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The mower has a drum on it, which flattens the grass down after cutting it. The grass appears to be a different colour depending on which direction it was flattened. If you just mow back and forth, you make stripes of alternating colours. Or you can get fancier and make more complex patterns.\n\nI used to mow the rough at a golf course. It can be tougher than you think to keep your stripes consistent, when mowing around obstacles like bunkers or greens "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2w4oke | what would happen if someone injected themselves with a "eppie pen" if they didn't need it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w4oke/eli5what_would_happen_if_someone_injected/ | {
"a_id": [
"conjnkk",
"conjpcr",
"conkcnf"
],
"score": [
9,
18,
3
],
"text": [
"The side effects of epinephrine include changes to the touch sensation,;arm, back, or jaw pain; blurred vision, chest pain, chest tightness, dizziness, racing heartbeat, nausea/vomiting, paleness, pounding in ears, and other things if they don't overdose. \n\nIn short: A massive \"adrenaline\" rush sensation it seems. \n\nIf they OD then hostility, coma, seizures, stomach cramps, and other problems can arise. \n\nSo it would be horribly unpleasant it sounds like, and would not be fun. Likewise, you'd have to explain to the owner of the EpiPen why you wasted their life-saving shot for jokes and giggles. ",
"An epipen injects you with a dose of epinephrine (adrenaline). Your heart beat is going to get crazy high and your breathing might deregulate. That is why you need to get to the hospital ASAP after any injection with an epipen. Additionally, epinephrine constricts the blood vessels around the injection site, so depending on where you got injected with it, they are going to want to monitor that you are still getting enough blood in that location. \n\n*Edit*: One other thing. This above is what happens if it has been correctly injected in a muscle. If you accidentally inject it in a vein, you might just die from ventricular tachycardia. Which is your heart beating so quick that shocking you with two giant paddles seems like a good solution. ",
"I can throw this lil antic of mine in. I'm in a touring rock band and tend to spend a lot of stage time wasted. I'm also deathly allergic to bees and the like so when I'm on tour, I keep an epi pen in my back pocket constantly. We played a big rock festival last summer, but since there were a lot of bands we wanted to see play, we ended up at the festival for 5 days. Over the 5 days we played 3 shows. 1 at the festival and 2 in the campgrounds. I was completely and utterly wasted for 90% of the 5 days, but right before the festival set I needed to sober up quick. Drunken me thought it would be an awesome idea to take the epi pen. It was a great idea and I did sober up. But goddam, it was like I took a half gram of really good coke to the dome. About a half hour into the set it wore off and I was even more exhausted than before. I ended up sleeping in 99' heat for about 6 straight hours. Never again, but damn. What a rush. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3rfd2m | whats wrong with eating common brand peanut butter, like jif? are the organic products far superior in terms of nutrition? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rfd2m/eli5_whats_wrong_with_eating_common_brand_peanut/ | {
"a_id": [
"cwnk24q",
"cwnk2ne",
"cwnk33w",
"cwnopf0"
],
"score": [
5,
11,
6,
5
],
"text": [
"Organic is not any more nutritious for you. At all. Some varieties have less sugar in them, and fewer preservatives which means they will spoil faster and are better choices if you are avoiding those things but you do not get any more nutrition from organic foods. ",
"Nothing about the \"Organic\" certification has anything to do with nutrition. \n\nSome brands of peanut butter may contain added sugar or other sweeteners. \"Homemade\" style peanut butters generally contain less sugar.",
"\"Organic\" does not imply more nutritious. What you should be looking for is less added sugars (corn syrup, etc) and hydrogenated vegetable oils. These don't need to exist in peanut butter, but are added to make it taste better and make it cheaper to produce, at the expense of nutrition.\n",
"Look at the ingredients:\n\nJif:\nROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.\n\nAdams unsalted:\nPEANUTS\n\nA lot of other \"peanut\" butters are mostly corn syrup."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2b6wcq | how can netflix acquire big hollywood blockbuster films within less than a years time after their release but have multiple hit tv shows that are missing 2-3 seasons? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b6wcq/eli5_how_can_netflix_acquire_big_hollywood/ | {
"a_id": [
"cj2ehu4",
"cj2emec",
"cj2iucw"
],
"score": [
2,
8,
3
],
"text": [
"It just depends on if Netflix can get the license to show those shows/movies. It may be a while till they find a deal that can support whatever range they're looking to pay in.",
"Probably has something to do with syndication and re-runs of shows needing to stay exclusive to the network that runs them in order to get more viewers on network and not netflix.",
"There seems to be an issue with music in TV shows too. I guess when they made a lot of them they secured rights to broadcast & sell on dDVD but no one realized streaming was going to be a thing. So to put them on Netflix not only do you need to negotiate with whoever owns the show but dozens of rights holders for content in the show that was never licensed to be streamed. I've heard scrubs for example is missing a lot of songs for this reason on Netflix.\n\nbasically newer stuff is planned to be sold over the net. With older stuff where that was never planned for it can be rather complicated to get the needed rights from tons of different folks"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
28qyyz | how can my cable company/isp block me from seeing a video made available on a tv network's website? | Earlier, I tried to watch a few episodes of The Legend of Korra on _URL_0_, but when I tried to stream the episode, I was met with a message stating that due to failed tv network negotiations, my telecom provider blocked me from seeing web content. Can my company restrict internet access just because of television negotiations? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28qyyz/eli5_how_can_my_cable_companyisp_block_me_from/ | {
"a_id": [
"cidlj8r"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"[Here's some background on the Ciacom and Cable ONE dispute.](_URL_0_)\n\nWhat I think is happening is:\n\n* Viacom has 15 channels that produces (BET, Spike Comedy Central, MTV, nickelodeon, etc.)\n* Viacom sells it's TV channels to cable companies.\n* Viacom also makes some content available online.\n* Your cable company (Cable One) carried Viacom's channels.\n* Viacom started aggressively promoting DISH, which Cable One and many other cable companies objected to. They didn't think they should have to run ads for competitors.\n* Edit: I forgot to add that [Viacom doubled their price to many cable companies](_URL_1_) (presumably Cable One was among them).\n* Your cable company (Cable One) dropped Viacom's channels.\n* Viacom got mad at Cable One, so decided to punish Cable One by stopping their customers from accessing Viacom's free content online.\n* Viacom decided it would rather have Cable One look like the bad guy so puts up a message saying \"Cable One ... has blocked you from seeing this content\". This message is a lie, it's Viacom, not Cable One that is blocking you.\n\n\nEdit: I never answered your main question about of how an ISP could access to a particular website. I'll also talk about how a web site could block access from a particular ISP.\n\nWhen you connect to the Internet, you enter a name in your browser (e.g. _URL_2_). Your computer looks that name up in a system that's like a phone book (it's called DNS or Domain Name System) which tells your computer the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the web server (e.g. 184.150.159.201). Your computer then makes a connection to that IP address.\n\nEven if you're connecting to a secure web site, your ISP can see the DNS lookup and see your computer making the connection. The ISP can do four different things different things:\n\n* It can intercept the DNS call and tell you that the site doesn't exist\n* It can see the IP address and not allow you to connect\n* It can intercept the DNS call and direct you to a different site\n* It can see the IP address and send that request to a different site (this is effectively what many public WiFi systems do when they send you to a login page)\n\nIf you made a secure connection, you'd get an error message from your browser when if you got sent to a different site, but if it was normal HTTP you might not notice.\n\nOn the other side, to connect to the Internet your computer needs an IP address. You ISP has a pool of IP addresses and assigns your computer one when it connects. There's a directory of which pool is assigned to which country, and which ISP, and since ISP's tend to make smaller internal pools, people have even made directories of which IP address is in which city (although this is a bit less reliable).\n\nA web site can look at the IP address of the person connecting and change the response based on which country or ISP they are coming from. It's also possible for the operator of the web site to notice this when the DNS lookup happens and send users from different countries to different web sites."
]
} | [] | [
"Nick.com"
] | [
[
"http://www.joplinglobe.com/lifestyles/x1934103335/Joe-Hadsall-Cable-One-Viacom-bad-breakup-reveals-life-without-net-neutrality",
"http://stopthecap.com/2014/04/01/viacom-demands-100-rate-increases-for-hundreds-of-small-cable-systems-military-bases/",
"viacom.com"
]
] |
|
2ia5w8 | in american football, if the offensive and defensive coordinators are generally responsible for calling offensive and defensive plays, what does the head coach do? | ELI5: In American football, if the offensive and defensive coordinators are generally responsible for calling offensive and defensive plays, what does the head coach do? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ia5w8/eli5_in_american_football_if_the_offensive_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cl08u73",
"cl0950a",
"cl096c5"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"They make important decisions like when to call timeouts or when to challenge a play. In a system like this, the coach works out the game plan in advance and is basically just watching to make sure it is all coming together as planned.",
"Strategy, the coordinators implement the hc strategy",
"The head coach might actually create the offensive/defensive system and allow the offensive coordinator to call the plays. However, some coaches may defer the overall plan to their coordinators or create it with them. Mike Martz, for example, pretty much created the offensive system and called the plays as an offensive coordinator under Vermeil. Then, when he was made coach, he continued to use his system and from what I can remember he called a lot of plays as well. I'm not sure he called all of them, but he wasn't a typical coach.\n\nSo, it's complicated. Some coaches may simply defer to coordinators, but others may take the reigns of one or both sides of the ball. Some may just call plays, some may create the system. It's all dependent on who it is."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
21ph07 | why is it so hard to predict the future of tech? | I always hear people talking about it's near impossible to accurately predict the future of technology even if we try to base our predictions off of real data. I know this is true because past predictions have been so wrong it's laughable but why is it so easy to be so wrong about tech specifically? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21ph07/eli5_why_is_it_so_hard_to_predict_the_future_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgf9fbk"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Because you have to predict possible inventions, which are by definition things people haven't thought of before. For example, if you look at sci-fi movies or artwork from before the LCD panel was invented, the dashboard of spaceships would just have a *whole bunch* of shiny glowing analogue dials, like your speedometer. No one could even conceive of a computer-controlled collection of pixels that are capable of changing color dozens of times each second. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
47wg20 | when someone loses a hand/arm etc., and the wound is cauterised, what happens to the blood flow? wouldn't the arteries leading to the wound clog up with blood, leading to extremely high blood pressure and a heart attack? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47wg20/eli5_when_someone_loses_a_handarm_etc_and_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"d0fxjji",
"d0fxmtq",
"d0fxnnp",
"d0g01fj",
"d0g0z2n",
"d0g2jh1",
"d0g4d89",
"d0g80mh",
"d0gm16w",
"d0gnocj",
"d0gom7r",
"d0gpo20"
],
"score": [
18,
1870,
147,
3,
2,
2,
2143,
11,
18,
14,
10,
3
],
"text": [
"No, arteries connect to small vessels called capillaries that let the blood drain into the veins. Blood doesn't flow out to the end of the artery and there into the vein.",
"The arteries are tied off and stenose (ie. they scar up and narrow). The pressure doesn't increase because arteries self regulate pressure using dilation and constriction. (although there's always a risk of ballooning of a weakened vessel, called an aneurysm)\nThe blood just continues flowing from the collateral blood vessels to the veins (ie. Going smaller from artery to arteriole to capillary bed, to (going bigger) venule, vein). Of course we have a capillary bed everywhere, not just at the end of our arm, so the terminal capillary bed would just be higher up after amputation.\nTldr: No. Capillary bed and autoregulation of circulation ",
"Don't mean to hijack, but what happens to the nervous system when someone's had they limbs removed?",
"As a few people have mentioned before capillary beds prevent this from happening. To read about what happens when arteries and veins directly connect and bypass the capillary bed, read here: _URL_0_",
"Speaking of nerves and phantom pain, the skeptics guide podcast did a report on a technique using a dummy hand , a mirror, and some touch techinques on 'the real hand'. The point being that part of our sensory experience is visual. When the brain saw a touch incident on the fake limb along with feeling a sensation on the hidden real hand, the brain somewhat reprogrammed the nervous system. This helped with eliminating phantom pain.",
"The branch with the tied off artery simply attracts less blood flow. Same as happens when you shut off a faucet in your home; your pipes tend not to explode then... Why would they explode if you shut down flow to part of your body? You may have higher blood pressure until your body adjusts to the lower volume by reducing your blood volume to compensate though. ",
"Our circulatory system is a lot like a big road system. Now imagine you're taking a trip in a car. Along the way there's a wreck that no one can pass. It slows cars down and there's traffic buildup so you take a detour. You exit off the highway and try to find a different way to go. In very simple terms this is how circulation works in the body. Red blood cells behave a lot like people in cars - they hate traffic, and they always want to take the least congested route. In the body, what path these cells take is determined mostly by pressure, traveling from areas of highest pressure (left ventricle) all the way back to areas of lowest pressure (the right atrium). So what happens when there's a kink in the system? To answer your question about cauterization, this is like a whole road being closed. Red blood cells build up behind the blockage, increasing crowding, which increases the pressure. Blood cells coming into the jam are more likely to be detoured into another vessel branch that has less pressure. Now our circulatory system is incredibly connected by branches that we call \"collaterals.\" This connectivity prevents the problem of \"extremely high pressures\" that you're talking about because there are literally millions of release valves that keep the pressure manageable. They're essentially branches in parallel, if you know something about circuits. \n\nThe amazing thing about collateral circulation is that if there is still high pressure, the body will make completely new vessels to reduce the pressure over time. It will even remodel existing blood vessels to handle more blood than they could originally. A great example of this is the rib notching phenomenon in patients with coarctation of the aorta. This is a disease where the aorta has a spot that looks like someone tied a rubber band around it. So instead of passing through this tight squeeze, blood takes a detour through vessels that go around your ribs. The vessels get bulkier from all the new blood they have to carry, eventually causing them to create \"notches\" in the rib where the vessel bulges against it. \n\nThere are some cases where the catastrophe you described can happen though, and this typically only occurs where there are no alternative branches for blood to escape. The best example I can think of is a saddle embolus, often happening from a clot in your leg veins that breaks off and travels all the way to your heart. Some background, there is only one route to get from the heart to the lungs - the single pulmonary trunk that branches off into the right and left pulmonary arteries. If a clot is large enough to get caught at this branch point it will \"saddle\" both arteries, cutting off blood supply to the lungs and left heart which kills you almost instantly. \n\nSo the main idea here is that collateral circulation is the key to keeping your blood flowing when there is a blockage. I mentioned two examples that show the role collaterals play. In coarctation of the aorta, the body may divert blood through pre-existing collaterals as an emergency pressure release, and remodel/make new ones as a long term fix. But in a saddle embolus there are no collaterals and there is no time to make new ones. The pressures build up to dangerous levels on the right side of the heart and fall to near zero on the left side. Eventually the heart stops pumping altogether and you die. \n\nTL;DR collaterals allow the blood to take a detour\n\nEdit: Gold?! thanks frand!",
"Imagine two trees that are actually connected at the tops. One tree trunk is the artery, the other tree trunk is the vein, and the hundreds of connected branches are the arterioles (little arteries) and venoles (little veins). It's not like one half-inch pipe connected to another half-inch pipe. The \"connection\" is through hundreds of very small capillaries, some only large enough for one blood cell at a time to pass through. The arteries are connected to the high-pressure side of the heart. The veins are the low-pressure, \"return line\" to the other side of the heart and the lungs (where the red blood cells pick up oxygen again through the change in pressure when you inhale and exhale, which allows CO2 to pass OUT of the blood and O2 to go IN.) This is why cigarette smoking is VERY FUCKING BAD. You do NOT want to damage the lung tissue where the oxygen/ carbon dioxide exchange takes place (the alveoli.) (Unless of course, for some insane reason, you actually WANT to develop COPD.) If you smoke, stop this very instant.",
"surgeon here and the top comment about collateral flow is true long-term but doesn't really hold up when you actually cauterize something (short-term). \n\nWhen a vessel is cut, cauterizing it clots the blood and 'melts' the sides of the vessel together. That stops the bleeding; but the question is why doesn't the blood that's now not flowing (leading up to the cauterized edge) all clot up? Imagine your blood clotting system is like a slimy piece of snot. Warm and runny when inside your nose but hard and crusty outside it. \n\nWhen blood hits the outside of a blood vessel, it clots (turns hard and crusty). This is called the 'coagulation cascade' and it's a bunch of enzymes that get activated to form a clot. But inside intact blood vessels (e.g. upstream from the cauterized edge) there's another enzyme that keeps it warm runny called plasmin. Plasmin rips apart clots that form. \n\nSomewhere, just up stream from where the cauterized edge there's a turning point. Any further up and plasmin is more plentiful than the coagulation cascade (warm and runny). And towards the cut edge, the coagulation cascade enzymes are more plentiful than plasmin (hard and crusty).",
"Start breathing out through your mouth and nose at the same time then close your mouth. All that happens is the airflow through your nose suddenly increases. Your cheeks don't balloon out, your chest doesn't become heavy. The pressure in your mouth doesn't increase even though the air that's in your mouth is blocked and has nowhere to go. Because there's another open pathway for your breath to take it does so seamlessly. \n\nThe same is true for your circulatory system. If one artery is blocked the blood just flows through the arteries that forked off upstream. In fact every other artery in your body will receive a little more blood flow and the pressure will be instantly relieved. Only the blood at the very ends of the blocked arteries will be trapped there where it will clot and the pressure there will be no higher than the pressure anywhere else just like the pressure in your mouth was no higher than in your throat or nose. ",
"So this is totally a question about lightsabers, right?",
"Arteries do not directly connect to veins. The blood gets from artery to vein though capillaries and diffusion in muscle and organ tissues. Think of it more like liquid diffusing into a sponge in some areas, and other areas suck the sponge dry. As long as you don't have a blood clot preventing living tissue from getting blood, which in the case of a limb amputation you wouldn't, then it's fine. When they clean up amputations or perform them surgically they work with the nerves and blood vessels to make sure the remaining tissue is well supplied. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arteriovenous_malformation"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3q2wvr | why are laws pertaining to killing someone with a car different from murder or manslaughter? | Current explanation is that if it was truely intetional murder, it would be charged as such.
If it was manslaughter, there would be different classifications.
Correct me if I'm wrong. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q2wvr/eli5_why_are_laws_pertaining_to_killing_someone/ | {
"a_id": [
"cwbkox9"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"What do you mean? If you kill someone with a car you can be charged with murder or manslaughter depending on the facts. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1za6v9 | why are people so "stranger-phobic" nowadays? | My grandfather often makes remarks about how closed everybody is in public. He tells us that when he was younger, you could start a conversation with the person sitting next to you, and it would be completely normal. He believes people used to be more open minded with strangers. I agree. Stranger to stranger interaction almost never occurs, and if I do try to spark conversation, I just receive social cues that the person doesn't want to talk. Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1za6v9/eli5_why_are_people_so_strangerphobic_nowadays/ | {
"a_id": [
"cfruzma"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Because the media shows so many awfull things happening, that no one actually trusts eachother anymore. That, and I have no idea what to say to strangers, I'm not really talkative and when I do say something in the nicest way, I mostly get a very rude response.\nLots of people blame it on internet and videogames making people less social, but I don't believe in that. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
36anvj | why do reviews for games from gamers and critic websites such as metacritic differ so much? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36anvj/eli5_why_do_reviews_for_games_from_gamers_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"crc8ymi",
"crc8ys4",
"crc93pa",
"crc9hli"
],
"score": [
3,
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"For the same reasons that films that are almost universally panned by critics can still manage to sell quite well at the box office. The thing you have to keep in mind is that critics of any sort are generally reviewing whatever form of media they review based on a set of technical characteristics. \n\nTake the book Twilight, for example. Twilight is objectively bad, if you're looking at it from the point of view of a writer. The writing itself is just not very good. The pacing is bad. The character development is lacking. The diction is bland and repetitive. It's just, in general, not a good book. Yet it has sold staggeringly well. So there must be something going on in the book that readers find worthwhile. \n\nThe opposite can also be true. A book or a movie or a video game can be very *technically* good. It can have a compelling story. It can have excellent graphics. It can have solid gameplay. It can meet all of the traditional criteria that constitute a \"good game,\" and still not be enjoyed by gamers. \n\nThe important thing to keep in mind is that a game could be the sweetest, juiciest, most perfect peach in existence, and there are still going to be people who don't like peaches. And the fact is that often, the people who are most interested in being heard are the ones who have a lot of negative stuff to say. So while the critics might praise a game, even as it seems like gamers are deriding it, it's very possible that those gamers are in the minority, and that the game is actually well-liked, but that the people who like it are too busy playing it to argue in favor of it. \n\nDoes that all make sense?",
"People are prone to look at what they like most. Lets say a game has a terrible story but a player only bought it for the multiplayer and that person thinks it is good. He then gives it a good score. However, critics will take into account the terrible story and multiplayer and make an informed score.",
"Critics tend to put more thought than people who just go to a site and click a number based purely on how they feel and not actually looking at the game in depth like critics have to to write an article and score it.",
"I think a big part of it is, gaming journalists make money in part by hyping games. When they can boast about having info on the next big game, more people will read their articles. But then the game comes out and its just ok, more of the same, just plain bad, etc. Well, this gaming site just spent the last half-year hyping this game, so they can't take it all back and say no actually it's a pretty fun game but nothing you haven't seen before, so they give it a better review than it deserves in order to justify the hype they gave the game prior to its release"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
qq3fg | why is the kony viral video so controversial? | I've read some of the comments on Reddit about it, yet I still don't understand why so many people are against it. To me it seems like a good cause. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qq3fg/eli5_why_is_the_kony_viral_video_so_controversial/ | {
"a_id": [
"c3zji1v",
"c3zk0m8",
"c3zkrwx",
"c3zlslc"
],
"score": [
18,
81,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"It's the entire idea that watching a video and then making a social media post about it will fix the problem/add money to the organization trying to fix the problem. Awareness does not equal a solution. Some people are also concerned about the genuineness of the Invisible Children organization and where/what the money given actually goes to. Then other people are just pissed that something happened and it overloaded their particular social media timeline for a few hours/a day.",
"An organization called \"Invisible Children\" released [this](_URL_0_) video asking for support against an abusive leader of Uganda named \"Kony\" who uses a police force called the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) to do his dirty business, harming many citizens and children in Uganda. Often, this is done in the name of Christianity. Nobody sane is defending Kony and his corruptness and genocide, but the Invisible Children organization has been getting a ton of heat. \n\n1: Invisible Children's video has little to no information, and tries to tug at your emotions much more than describe how to fix the issue, or explain it in detail. Basically, the problem could be summed up in one paragraph and they take a half hour in order to strictly manufacture passion (as well as sell you merchandise).\n\n2: The video isn't entirely studious. For political reasons the LRA is never referred to as \"Lord's Resistance Army\" and it fails to mention that there is no evidence of Kony Being alive since 2006, all among other things.\n\n3: The obvious promotion of their goods is what many would call disgusting. When you buy a bracelet or t-shirt etc. from their site, almost all of it goes into their pocket. It's not donated to Ugandans.\n\n4: The video expresses support for US Military intervention and neo-conservatism. This makes you ask, why specifically Uganda out of all the countries in the Eastern world with corruption and genocide? Is it really the United States's job to intervene? Shouldn't Uganda, their surrounding countries, The African Union or United Nations be responsible? Also, wouldn't going in \"just the kill Kony and get out\" turn into another Iraq? Let me remind you that we went into iraq \"just to kill Bin-Laden\" and it costed trillions.",
"The Kony 2012 video may do some unintended good after all if the focus on *real problems* in Uganda leads to help for Nodding Disease Victims.\n\n[Uganda: Nodding Horror - 12-Year-Old Victim Is Tied to a Tree for 13 Hours Everyday](_URL_1_)\n\n[Uganda: Diaspora to Raise Funds for Nodding Disease](_URL_0_)",
"It's the internet. Regardless of the subject matter, it seems the majority of the people are going to be against it and be angry about it. It's the cool thing to do."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc"
],
[
"http://allafrica.com/stories/201202280051.html",
"http://allafrica.com/stories/201202170066.html"
],
[]
] |
|
50sitz | what does it mean for a battery to 'short-circuit'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50sitz/eli5_what_does_it_mean_for_a_battery_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"d76kx0v",
"d76l9o3",
"d76p1pi",
"d76wb7l"
],
"score": [
6,
82,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"It means somehow the positive and negative terminals are directly in contact with each other. Because there is no resistive load on this completed circuit, the battery drains rapidly and sometimes explosively.",
"In the \"-\"-terminal of the battery, there are lots of tiny particles called electrons, that desperately want to get to the \"+\"-terminal of the battery. When you use the battery to power a lamp, for example, you allow them to go there, but you put something in their way that slows them down and takes their energy to do something else, in this case produce light. Now, when you connect both terminals, you're allowing the electrons to get to where they want without anything in the way to slow them down, so all try to get to the other end at once, and there is no controlled way for them to loose their energy. All that energy still has to go somewhere though, so it dissipates uncontrolled, most of it in the form of heat. This heat can damage the damage the battery, and might even cause it to explode.\n\nThis is what you call a short-circuit, connecting the two terminals of a power source directly to each other with no consumer between them to control the energy flow.",
"It means there is a connection between the positive and negative part of the battery with a material that lets electrons flow really, really easily (like just a metal wire). So they do. A lot of them. All at once. And really fast. Since they bump into so many other atoms so much, they all start jiggling around a whole lot, which we feel as the battery getting hot. It can get so hot that it could even start a fire.\n\n",
"ELI5: \n\nWhen all the power flows out of the battery at once because nothing in between the contacts \"does\" anything with that power.\n\nImagine a dam holding back water and what happens if \"all of it flows at once\". If that flow is too strong, it can damage the batteries and the surroundings. The water washes things (houses, forest) away and breaks things physically, the battery can get hot and as such start to burn or explode."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
b93dpg | how does “saving” music on the spotify app work? why doesn’t it take up storage capacity on the device? | So I have multiple playlists saved to my phone via the Spotify app in order to not use my Mobile Data
But when I check the storage settings on my phone, Spotify is one of the lowest ranking apps in terms of how much storage it uses.
How does it save them for offline listening without actually saving them?
Especially compared to Podcast, which I download for offline listening and they do take up storage on the device? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b93dpg/eli5_how_does_saving_music_on_the_spotify_app/ | {
"a_id": [
"ek1wk6p",
"ek1wybz"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Probably storage setting only show you the dimension of the app itself and not the downloaded songs. Go to spotify > setting > memory",
"They are stored on the device somehow.\n\nSongs are shorter than podcasts, often about 3 minutes while a podcast could be 20 times longer. So they’ll take up less space.\n\nDepending on your settings, the podcast app might download a whole season, or download each new episode as it’s released, which is another reason it might take more space.\n\nLastly, podcasts are sometimes made by amateurs or small companies, so they might not have the ability or interest in compressing their files in the most efficient format possible. Spotify would compress audio for the absolute best ratio of sound quality to size, and put quite a lot of effort into doing this, because their ability to make money depends on distributing these files to millions of (hopefully happy) customers with minimum cost and maximum speed. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
3x50uv | why do so many say that socialized (canada and such) health care is better than what we have here in the us? | I'm really curious on this one, and I just want an explanation. Thanks in advance! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3x50uv/eli5_why_do_so_many_say_that_socialized_canada/ | {
"a_id": [
"cy1kkvm",
"cy1kr72",
"cy1kt23",
"cy1n3aq",
"cy1qjny",
"cy1rodp",
"cy1rux7",
"cy1spke",
"cy1zea2",
"cy206fz"
],
"score": [
21,
17,
44,
8,
3,
4,
18,
8,
2,
9
],
"text": [
"For typically three reasons (remember, this is answering your question, not stating my opinion on the relative quality of healthcare in the two countries):\n\n1. it costs less to individuals and to society.\n2. it produces medical outcomes that are favorable in comparison to the United States.\n3. access to it is more equitably distributed amongst the population.\n",
"First and foremost because it guarantees health care for everyone, which is something many people feel is a fundamental requirement for any advanced society. ",
"If I told you that america actually spends more public tax money on healthcare per capita than Canada but that you all still have to pay for private costs on top of that, would that convince you? That means that america actually spends more tax money per person on healthcare than canada does, but we get it for free. \n\nthe goal of socialized medicine is to provide everyone adequate healthcare, the goal of the american medical system is to make money. Single insurer systems can negotiate much better prices for medical supplies which drives costs down drastically for equipment and procedures and there is no arms race between insurers and hospitals that drive healthcare costs to the absurd levels where you see things like $18 paper cups.",
"If you think about from a completely personal level, because it doesn't cost you anything to go to the doctor, stay in the hospital, etc.\nGetting hurt or sick isn't a financial liability, and you don't have to worry about dealing with insurance companies, etc.",
"The top comments explain it well but I'd also like to chime in that it is less stressful to get medical care when your not paying through the nose for each thing. I just couldn't imagine what things I would just try to deal with than go and see a dr if I could become bankrupt for it",
"It's \"better\" because everyone gets covered regardless of their ability to pay. (because it's paid from taxes, only those who have to pay taxes are paying for it, and even then you don't see it as a medical bill, so it doesn't feel like you're paying for it)\n\nOf course, depending on your perspective, that's what makes it worse, too, because better can be subjective.",
"Have you seen stories on the local news about some unfortunate kid who has some rare cancer, and their desperate family is holding a fundraiser to scrape together the $100,000+ they need for treatment?\n\nThat doesn't happen in the rest of the developed world. If you get sick, you just go to the doctor and get better. You pay your dues in your taxes every year, and if you need treatment you get it, no questions asked.\n\nThe American system is like if the fire department wasn't tax funded, but instead wouldn't put your housefire out until you pay them in cash up front.",
"Americans hear about all of the great things about Canadian healthcare (low copays, cheap meds) and none of the bad things, namely that you have to see a primary care doc for any kind of referral and that wait times for most elective procedures are pretty long. Canadian-style care would not work with the American mindset. I used to be a primary care physician, and I can tell you that Americans simply don't believe in preventative medicine, which is something you have to buy into in Canada. If their knee hurts, they want to see an orthopedic surgeon to get it fixed, without going through physical therapy first. If they notice blood in their stool, they want a CT scan and a colonoscopy even though most of the time it'll be nothing significant. And so on.",
"The two biggest reasons that come to mind are;\n1. Companies ting to outbid each other leads to lower healthcare costs. For example the Canadian government is looking into hip replacments, many medical companies give lower and lower prices per unit until one if them is chosen. They let it go so low because they will then be used exclusively so they make a ton of money doing it. From what I understand you have the opposite in the U.S. as they want to charge as much as insurance will pay for.\n2. Preventative care is almost always the cheapest, most effectiveway to go. It's easier to treat a small infection or take out a potentially cancerous growth than putting it off and having it become life threatening, unfortunalty when you can't afford health care you often put things off until the last minute. This makes your treatment more expensive,more dangerous and less effective usually.\n\nEdit: you should check out the movie Sicko, it's a really great documentary about this!",
"At a very basic level, it's because:\n\n1. **Everyone gets care.** Elsewhere in the developed world, we believe denying medical care to people because they can't afford it is immoral.\n\n2. **The overall cost of the system in actually cheaper.** This is because the govt has a lot of power to control the cost of services. In the US, the lack of govt regulation of prices means that patients are powerless to stop things like [$55,000 appendectomies](_URL_0_). In Australia, this is simply not allowed to happen.\n\n\nOne of the main issues with single-payer healthcare is waiting lists, however this is often overstated by those who've never actually had single-payer. In Australia at least, illnesses that are time-sensitive like heart attacks, cancer chemo, etc. don't have waiting lists at all. And for the 'elective procedures' that do (e.g. hip replacement), they can be avoided by getting supplemental private insurance (which is a heavily regulated industry here to make it cheap and comprehensive)\n\nNo healthcare system is perfect, but a well-run single payer system is both cheaper that US healthcare and covers everyone."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1tugnm/i_never_truly_understood_how_much_healthcare_in/"
]
] |
|
614n19 | how do people get addicted to prescription drugs, such as painkillers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/614n19/eli5_how_do_people_get_addicted_to_prescription/ | {
"a_id": [
"dfbnjgx",
"dfbnnyy",
"dfbo5zn",
"dfbo7wh",
"dfbxxjt"
],
"score": [
4,
4,
13,
27,
2
],
"text": [
"They grow a tolerance. That's the shortest answer I can come up with. They take the regular dose - it isn't enough passed a certain point so they take more.",
"they feel good\n\nwhen you feel bad, they can make you feel good\n\nwhen you feel bad all the time, you can take it all the time and feel good all the time\n\nif you keep taking it all the time, eventually you will have to keep taking it all the time to just be normal. it won't make you feel good anymore. it just makes you feel normal\n\nif you stop taking it, you get really sick\n\nsicker than the worst flu you've ever had\n\nyou can make it go away by taking more\n\nit's an endless cycle. \n\n[nuggets](_URL_0_) is a short animation that explains it much better than i could",
"When taking painkillers, the drug makes your body release dopamine and oxytocin (pleasure causing chemicals). They also make your brain eat up all you seratonin. Seratonin regulates mood and helps regulate sleep, this is why when withdrawing, you feel depressed and restless. \n\nBut to answer the question directly: When taking these something like painkillers for an extended period of time, the painkillers act as sort of a surrogate for your mood regulating chemicals, so production and release of these chemicals is halted. When stopping the drug, your body has to \"remember\" how to make these chemicals again, and until then will \"crave\" them. \n\nMay not be 100% accurate but that's the best I could come up with.",
"Imagine a pie factory. This pie factory makes ten pies a day. It is a shitty pie factory. \n\nOne day the pie manager hires an additional pie maker who is awesome at making pies. He makes twenty pies a day. \n\nAfter a while The other pie makers in the factory Realise they can start slacking off and being idiots and don't really make pies anymore because they only need so many pies a day. \nThey are in a union so the pie manager can't fire them. \n\nThe new hire pie maker eventually gets fed up and quits.\n\nThe original pie makers have been slacking off so long they barely remember how to make pies, and so it takes time to get back to ten pies a day, and during that time the pie manager feels like shit has trouble sleeping and gets night sweats amongst other things. \n\nThis makes him want the new hire back. And he is willing to steal his moms tv to do it, because customers became used to purchasing 20 pies a day and that extra revenue felt SOOO good.",
"It's a slippery slope... I started taking a couple vikodin maybe once a month with a co-worker. Was kind of skeptical at first but once you feel the effects your sold. slowly over time we started taking them maybe twice a month, and then months later every Monday at work. After you have a taste for it, it seems like a no brainer to take a couple pills when things aren't going your way. I had a bad break up and said fuck it, and started taking them daily, because I had a near endless supply (or so I led myself to believe) Well no supply lasts forever so I ended up running out and thought I was strong enough to deal with the dreaded withdrawals I had heard about. Well, let me tell you, no one can express how absolutely terrible opiate withdrawals are and make you understand until you live it. The physical withdrawals alone might be tolerable (still torture) if it weren't for the crippling psychological effects. You feel like a rat in a cage that's being slowly lowered into boiling water. Your fight or flight system is in full swing because your brain is trying to convince you to get more opiates regardless the consequences because it is telling you that you are dying. I caved of course and found more opiates, and these happened to be much stronger. At first i would take little bits to stave off withdrawal, but it gets to a point where life is so terrible that you have to use more. This was just the beginning of my addiction. Was probably 7-8 years ago. eventually progressed to shooting heroin (promised myself I would never try heroin and i promised myself i would never inject anything. So much for that) I started the heroin in the same way my addiction manifested in the first place. Too depressed and done with life to care about the consequences. You could compare it to whatever makes you happy in life; picture whatever that is was taken away, and now you have to live life depressed and without purpose. The drug steals your ability to experience happiness, and sometimes any emotion at all if your not on it. It makes life this endless chore of finding a way to experience pleasure one more time before inevitably you take a hit thats too big and you are released from your self-constructed hell. The real struggle for me is not finding that option unappealing.\n\nTL;DR Everyone would like to think they aren't a cliche' and can handle heavy drug use, but it's a lot more insidious than that, and will change how you reason with yourself."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUngLgGRJpo"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6y5gnh | how is it that all gasoline companies claim to have 'top tier' gas? and if it's true, how do companies like mobil and shell stay in business when arco is always significantly cheaper? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6y5gnh/eli5_how_is_it_that_all_gasoline_companies_claim/ | {
"a_id": [
"dmkxx8j"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"1. Top Tier is a certification, your gasoline has to meet certain criteria _URL_0_ listed under the Top Tier name.\n\n2. Because Arco is a huge pain in the ass because it doesn't take credit cards and charges a fee to use debit cards."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"to.be"
]
] |
||
vwu2d | why did a leap second break the internet? | I see lots of stories about how a leap second broke the internet, but no one is explaining why. What about the systems breaks everything? Wouldn't stuff just... be a second off? What implications am I not seeing?
EDIT for clarification: My curiosity isn't so much based in "why the patches sucked and borkt the world" but more "Why does my server care in the first place what NTP has to say, to the point of self destruction" | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vwu2d/why_did_a_leap_second_break_the_internet/ | {
"a_id": [
"c58bdgk",
"c58djbq",
"c58ejvz",
"c58er1c"
],
"score": [
26,
8,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"The leap second itself didn't do anything. It's that some computers had the leap second implemented while others hadn't, so the time stamps in the packages made the one computer think \"wow, these packets are really old\" and so it sped them up, and started transmitting faster, but then those other systems were like \"shit, those packages are from the future\" and lost their shit and decided to block the one thing until those packets became back into the present, so the whole thing spun around itself and made some sort of time loop.",
"Usually a new day starts one second after 23:59:59. With the leap second the time 23:59:60 existed. Programs making the assumption that a minute is 60 seconds got confused.",
"There are a whole number of reasons why the leap second might cause problems. Anything that wants to try to handle the leap second will need some fairly involved systems to do that. And any of those systems might have a bug that causes problems of some kind. Or any other systems that indirectly uses the time keeping systems might not be expecting the leap second and run into problems. Since a leap second is a fairly rare occurrence, these cases might not have been tested so well. So very likely there isn't a single reason why things crashed. Different things crashed for different reasons that just might have had the leap second as the root cause. Some systems might also have crashed for completely different reasons and people just assume that they crashed due to the leap second. \n\nAnyway, [here's a fairly detailed explanation](_URL_0_) of a problem in Linux kernel related to the leap second. Note that it is way over age 5 level.",
"There was a bug in the linux kernel, which runs a large proportion of the servers on the internet. The relevant buggy code wasn't very well tested as leap seconds don't happen very often, and consequently when one came along a lot of stuff broke."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://serverfault.com/a/403767"
],
[]
] |
|
7om2uq | how can meteorologists/scientists predict the formation and course of a cyclone ? | I mean its strength and its course | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7om2uq/eli5_how_can_meteorologistsscientists_predict_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"dsaixwq",
"dsaj4lk"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"There are some predictions you can make simply from knowing how the earth's weather systems work (cyclones generally move with the prevailing winds, so subtropical storms will tend to move westwards and away from the equator; you can make estimates of intensity from knowing sea surface temperatures, etc.). In practice however, it's almost all done computationally these days. Observational data (from weather stations and satellites) from the recent past and present are taken, interpolated, and plugged into a complex weather model that attempts to simulate the physics involved in weather systems. You then run the model forward in time, and that's your prediction. \n\nWeather is mathematically \"chaotic\" which means it is highly dependent on initial conditions. We cannot know the exact state of every part of the planet (because we simply don't have weather stations everywhere) so this introduces uncertainty. One way of dealing with this is by running multiple simulations (called ensembles), each with a slightly different set of initial conditions that reflects our uncertainty. You can then analyse the outputs and work out how confident we can be in our predictions. If all of our ensembles show the same thing, we can have high confidence in them. If all of our ensembles show different things, you've got less confidence in those predictions.",
"3 things: 1. A solid mathematical model. 2. A lot of data. 3. A lot of computing power.\n\nThe mathematical model describes how the weather behaves and are modeled based on physical laws (mass, momentum, and energy conservation). These laws are represented by a system of equations (continuity/transport equation, Navier-Stokes equation, and energy equation respectively). This forms something called a dynamical system.\n\nThe solution of the model tells you how weather will behave. However, the solutions change vastly dependent on how your weather behaved at first, so you need a ton of data from sensors, satellites, etc., to feed initial data into these systems so the predictions actually reflect what's going on.\n\nFinally you need computational power because it's impossible to do it by hand. The NOAA does this in a datacenter full of supercomputers 24/7 to crunch out results.\n\nWhat you see when you check the weather is simply a visualization of the results on a map. Sometimes you see different predictions. They all follow the same idea with slight variations in parameters. However these small variations may lead to dramatic changes (chaotic solutions) which is why long term forecasting is often highly inaccurate."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
33z6gp | if humans were erased from the earth and earth was later discovered by aliens, would they be able to access our internet to learn about us? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33z6gp/eli5if_humans_were_erased_from_the_earth_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqpqhsa",
"cqpqrdw",
"cqprtps"
],
"score": [
4,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"No- the internet is a connection between 2 powered devices, so if we were all gone, the power would eventually go out and everything would shut off. If the aliens managed to power up a PC, a few routers and a server, they'd be able to access those.",
"No, the internet is simply a combination of computers, switches, and routers all which require power. If humans go, our power plants will shut down, the machines powering the internet will go down too",
"Even if we assume powering everything up is not a problem, only if they arrived quickly. Most digital storage degrades to unreadable in less than 10 years. Some stuff would survive up to 100 years, but by then the computers would not work. \n\nWithout the computers to let you see how the data is encoded, any data you recovered would look like a stream of incomprehensible 1's and 0's."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2w4qup | why are websites vertical and narrow, when monitors are mostly widescreen and getting wider all the time. looking at the new ultra-wide stuff coming out soon. | almost every time I click a link I have to hold ctrl and mouse wheel in to get the site to fit. I seems to me that sites should be closer to the correct width to start off? Also I'm a retard so could just me, did try searching but did not find anything. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w4qup/eli5why_are_websites_vertical_and_narrow_when/ | {
"a_id": [
"conkerp"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"One reason is that it's easier for the human eye to read something narrow, like the size of a book page. Constantly moving your eyes back and forth across a distance is fatiguing."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
5rf45c | how can some countries claim separation of church and state, but use religious reasoning to pass bills/laws? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5rf45c/eli5how_can_some_countries_claim_separation_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"dd6ppbn",
"dd6psam",
"dd6rx4b",
"dd6uxw5"
],
"score": [
9,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Separation of church and state simply means that the government won't favor one religion over another.\n\nIt does not mean that people can't base their political beliefs on religious principles.",
"The idea of separating Church and State does not require an absence of religious thought.\n\nIt is more direct and practical than that. It means that the Church (any church), as an organization can not (or at least should not) influence politics. It means the Pope, say, can't lobby the President to pass a law.\n\nIt doesn't mean that legislators can't consult their own religious beliefs when making decisions.\n\nIt gets a bit fuzzy when you see lay groups (not clergy) that have a definite religious agenda lobbying politicians. But that's another sort of problem.",
"Religion is an intrinsic component in the cultural psyche of most nations/ethnic groups. The decision to base a decision on a seemingly religious factor, may in fact reflect cultural preferences, not religious.\n\nFor example, most nations have laws against murder. These originated in religious beliefs, but have become part of the nation's culture. Imagine if the Aztecs had survived, they would probably have a law that says it's perfectly okay to murder prisoners captured in raids on neighbours specifically for that purpose - how else will the sun come up tomorrow? How else will we have good crops?",
"Separation of church and state doesn't mean that religious reasoning cannot be part of legislation, it means the government can't favor one religion over another, or grant special privileges to a religious group. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2augd7 | zionism. does it have a negative connotation to speak about zionist jews? | There are few threads about Zionism, but none of these explains it very thoroughly. Whenever somebody speaks about Zionism it either have conspiracy undertone or antisemitic undertone, so why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2augd7/eli5_zionism_does_it_have_a_negative_connotation/ | {
"a_id": [
"ciyveos",
"ciyvhh5"
],
"score": [
2,
8
],
"text": [
"You won't get an answer. This is one of the topics that we will never have an honest and open discussion about. Taking religion out of it, looking at the situation most would say that Palestinians are being abused. However, historical recounts and biased media portrayal prevent any real criticism of Israel to be disseminated to the people. The negative connotation is created in the media because no one wants to lose the AIPAC money.\n\nEven now I am trying to toe a fine line and hope that I have expressed this in a way that won't lead any people (govt agencies included) to assume that I'm anti-Semitic. I am merely trying to enter the marketplace of ideas.",
"Zionism is a national movement that started in the late 19th, which advocates for the creation of a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel, as a way for Jews to avoid persecution and antisemitism.\n\nSome people view Zionism as a colonialist and/or racist movement, since it is ostensibly the cause the current Israel-Arab conflict and the situation the Palestinian people are in."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
5djeqm | what do seniors with no savings do if they have no family? | Where to elderly folks who depend fully on social security go when they can no longer care for themselves if they have no family? Are there state funded nursing homes that take in residents? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5djeqm/eli5_what_do_seniors_with_no_savings_do_if_they/ | {
"a_id": [
"da513g9",
"da5fx9t",
"da5iso1"
],
"score": [
19,
3,
5
],
"text": [
"They live off of a combination of SSI income ($700/mo), food stamps, and there are many senior-specific services designed to help them stay in their homes as long as possible (that is both better for them, and cheaper for the fed govt). Some such programs do home repairs, home dr visits, and there are programs to drive sr's to dr visits. also community senior centers for fun little things to do for cheap/free. \nMedicare pays for nursing homes. They aren't good ones.",
"Off topic a bit: I've always wondered whats stopping seniors from just bingeing like crazy with credit cards. I don't think their family would inherit their debt or maybe the company would try to seize the house. but if they had no relatives then what's stopping them from living their dream on credit cards?",
"I'm fortunate enough to live in the UK, where we enjoy what we call a 'welfare state'. This was introduced just after the second world war by the newly elected 'labour party'. These were 'socialists' but not 'communists', and our National Health Service was formed along with the 'State Pension' that was applied to everybody. I realise that other countries have differing systems, but insurance based systems have one very glaring fault..... sometimes our free market economics ruins them and no cash is forthcoming. Our pensions and health service are paid for out of current taxation revenues, so the well-working pay for the rest. Yes, there are problems.... some quite huge, but on the whole, if you are ill a doctor will see you free of charge and any hospital treatment is free, too. When you reach pensionable age, the State (the government), pays you a modest but sufficient pension upon which you may live. Our unemployed, sick, disabled and mentally il, all are covered by this mantle of care. Most of us over here are stunned that it took so long for the modest 'Obarmacare' to materialise in the 'land of the free'. Those who voted and railed against it appeared to be like turkeys voting for Christmas, with no thought for their own survival or needs in later life when their health and incomes failed."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.