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6kz94f | why are ultra enlarged objects not in color? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6kz94f/eli5_why_are_ultra_enlarged_objects_not_in_color/ | {
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"The cameras that see that small are called electron microscopes. They don't see in the visible light spectrum like regular cameras. Google them, they're pretty cool.",
"Colors are not a phenomenon that is intrinsic to objects. Objects simply reflect some wavelengths of light. It is our brain that attributes colors to certain wavelengths. \n\nAs objects get magnified more and more, the wavelengths of light we can see get too big to resolve those objects. That is, a wave with wavelength 700nm cannot resolve an object that is 0.1nm big. \n\nThus, we have to use objects with smaller wavelengths - like electrons. Electrons, however, are not associated with color in our brains, so we simply have to resort to black and white images. ",
"Thank you for this question and answer. I actually meant to ask as well but saw a squirrel."
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aaoz0c | why some objects orbit and don’t get pulled directly into another objects center? | Some planets have multiple moons and others have none. It seems like it’s a million times more likely for an object to just get pulled to the center of another by gravity as opposed to orbiting. Probably because I have no idea how it works. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aaoz0c/eli5_why_some_objects_orbit_and_dont_get_pulled/ | {
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"It *is* unlikely for an object to fall into orbit. Many objects are orbiting because they formed there, from debris themselves that were in orbit. For instance, the planets formed out of a rotating dust cloud that was orbiting the center of the system. Some objects fell into the center. Others were ejected from the system entirely. The planets formed from material that remained. ",
"Object get pulled directly towards the center of another object that is how gravity work.\n\n\nIt the two object initially was stationary relative to each other the would collide. The problem is that object in space is not stationary relative to one another but move. If you pull a object to the center while is move relative to you the result is a orbit. So the smaller object has to initially move so it intersect the larger object for a collision. If it misses the larger object the result can instead be a obit. Planets are large but space is larger so the probability of a hit is a lot low then a close miss that might be a orbit.\n\nThe solar system was not created by stationary object but from a gas clouds that started to collapse. The spinn or angular momentum is preserved so planets and moons spin around there axis, around the planet if it is a moon and around the sun. "
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adajco | why do some materials resonate at certain frequencies when they is sound playing around them? | I was recently playing at an orchestral concert and I noticed that my viola(string instrument) was vibrating on certain notes when I was not playing while my chair vibrated on different notes. What’s the reason for this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/adajco/eli5_why_do_some_materials_resonate_at_certain/ | {
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"Because they are easier to vibrate at those specific notes.\n\nThink about how your viola works. You vibrate one of the strings and if you want a higher pitched note, you shorten the length of the string by pressing the string to the fingerboard. You are using the same bow and same technique, but the string vibrates at the different frequencies(pitch). That change in strength length causes it to more easily vibrate at a different frequency.\n\nLikewise, the different shape and material of your viola versus your chair cause them to vibrate at different frequencies.",
"It’s called a resonant frequency. Every object has a frequency that the molecules are vibrating at. If you then expose it to other frequencies, the waves can either diminish each other, cancel each other out, or add together to amplify the frequency. This is called the resonant frequency of the object. \n\nBasically if you expose an object to its resonant frequency, it vibrates more than normal. Google it. \n\nIt’s the same phenomenon at play when a loud noise at the correct pitch (frequency) can shatter a wine glass. The noise is causing a huge amplification in resonance (vibration) within the glass, causing it to shatter. ",
"Objects have certain \"natural\" vibrate frequencies when they are vibrating on their own. These frequencies are determined by their materials and shape, just like your viola strings. Now sound is just the air vibrating (read expanding and retracting). So when the sound \"touches\" the object, the air slightly pushes the object, again and again, at the frequency of the note. Think of this like how you push a swing. The only way you can make a swing go higher and higher is that you push it at the same frequency at which it swings on its own (its natural frequency); you push when the swing is going forward, and stop pushing when it is coming back. If you don't follow this frequency, your pushing force will desynch with the swing's motion and will cancel out, rather than accumulating on the swing's motion. Same principle applies to air and the object it touches. Only when the frequency of sound matches the natural vibrate frequency of the object, will the slight pushing forces of the air accumulate on the object and make it vibrate visibly. \n\nNow if you ask, why doesn't the pushing force of the sound accumulate infinitely and make your chair explode?... That's because the vibrating frequency of an object will actually start to change if it is vibrating too hard. Just for people who may ask this, swings are the same. You may have learned in your high school physics class that a pendulum's swinging frequency does not change (that's how mechanical clocks work; actually electrical clocks work in the same way if you look a bit harder; it's just instead of a pendulum, now it's electrons swinging in the circuit.) But if you had a good teacher, they should tell you that this conclusion is merely an approximation when the amplitude of the swing is not too large, otherwise the change of amplitude will have an effect on the frequency. "
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fj72gz | what’s the likeliest scenario for rarely flossing your teeth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fj72gz/eli5_whats_the_likeliest_scenario_for_rarely/ | {
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"There’s debate over whether flossing does anything. The evidence supporting it is very flimsy. It’s a very American thing.\n\nI’ve personally never flossed and I’ve never had dental problems.",
"Likeliest scenario assuming you regularly brush, brush effectively, and have no dental imperfections where toothbrushes cannot reach, absolutely nothing. The entire necessity of flossing is being heavily questioned, and some argue it's more detrimental than beneficial. Sure, flossing on a case by case basis is good, with the cases being food actually stuck and cannot be removed. But otherwise it can damage gums as it's hard to do it properly without going too far."
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9orsns | how are people who shed a lot not bald? | I have been wondering this for years. I am a woman with average hair, not thin but not super thick either, and I shed a lot. My hairbrush and shower drain are always filled with hair and my hands are covered in hair after shampooing. I know this is normal but it honestly baffles me that I constantly have the same amount of hair on my head. How is this possible?
Edit: I understand hair is always growing, I guess I’m more curious as to how I don’t just have a bunch strands of hair that are different lengths if the follicles are always producing more hair? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9orsns/eli5_how_are_people_who_shed_a_lot_not_bald/ | {
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"Because you grow hair while at same time shedding.\n\nIf your hair stopped growing and you shed then you become bald.",
"Individual hairs only grow for a particular length of time. On the head this might be a number of years. At the end of this time, they enter a sort of dormant state, and then ultimately are shed, and replaced with a new hair. \n\nSo it's totally normal for you to lose some. At the same time, new ones are starting.\n\nSince the bulk of the hair doesn't operate on the same timer (they aren't all falling out at once), the individual losses and gains are lost against the whole.\n\nIf you never cut your hair, it would ultimately reach a maximum 'extent' (length/volume) where the loss balanced the growth. \n\nThis is also how something like body hair appears to 'know' when to stop growing to be the same length. If you trimmed some, those hairs you trimmed would actually never get to their full potential length (how far short they would be would depend on how much had already grown that cycle). Ultimately they'll be shed and replaced with new hairs that will then (unless cut again) achieve relatively consistent length with the rest. Since this won't happen all at once, what you *see* (unless you're really careful in your observation) is the short hair gradually getting to normal length, as some hairs are shed and replaced, and the remaining short hairs are gradually obscured in the bulk."
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34246v | why do corporations lobby for laws that impoverish lower class citizens? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34246v/eli5_why_do_corporations_lobby_for_laws_that/ | {
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"Basically, the people who run large corporations don't think about lower class citizens. They've become ludicrously rich by ignoring them so far, why start now?",
"Because their responsibility is to their shareholders, not to \"lower class citizens.\" Their job is to make money, not to take care of everyone, as harsh of a reality as that may be. If they choose to do ethical things, and take care of their employees, do nice things for communities, etc, then that's awesome. But it's not their responsibility to look out for everyone.",
"Three things to consider. First, corporations lobby for laws which benefit them and their investors, not people in general. \n\nSecond, if you have a job which is going to be at risk due to TPP, TTIP, NAFTA, or any other string of letters, then you should brush up your resume because your job is going to be on the chopping block in the near future regardless of if the deal gets passed. Jobs in dying industries, jobs which can be done from abroad, and jobs which can be replaced with automation are all going to go the way of the dodo sooner or later. If companies and governments want to continuously prop up inefficient and outdated models, they're going to keep falling further behind and costing more money until they become untenable. Lots of people lost their jobs when textile mills started to use mechanized looms, but you'd have to be insane to think that we should go back to having all of our textiles being hand sewn.\n\nFinally, we live in a world which has a global marketplace. Free trade agreements like TPP open up a lot of doors to Asian markets. If a company loses business in America, but picks up a lot more in Asia, they're still making more money overall, so it's a reasonable choice from their perspective. ",
"It's not all corporations. US farmers is one the most vocal group for these kind of open trade deals. US agriculture groups want Asia to buy our beef, rice, fruit, cheese, wine and etc. They don't care if jobs will be lost in manufacturing.",
"Large corporations benefit when many people lose jobs. If there are many unemployed people trying to fill few positions, people will be willing to do the same job for less money.\n\n > If they want more money, they should at least have people employed no?\n\nThey will have people employed. For far lower wages."
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4ecuun | - why does water begin to boil at the side of the pan, as opposed to anywhere else in the pot? | Is it the heat conducted from the metal is slightly hotter to begin with? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ecuun/eli5_why_does_water_begin_to_boil_at_the_side_of/ | {
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"Reactions like boiling need some kind of incongruity in order to start. In the case of water in a pot, the grooves and such in the metal of the pot will kick off the boiling process. Unequal heating can also provide the incongruity needed.\n\nPure water in space could be heated up to hundreds, maybe thousands of degrees without boiling because there would be no catalyst for it. Then if you stuck your finger in it it would instantly boil, starting at your finger.\n\nThat's why water in a glass bottle won't freeze until you open the bottle, then it instantly freezes. It's also why microwaving water in a glass mug is dangerous. The evenness of the microwave's heating and the smooth surface prevent the water from boiling until something breaks the surface, like a quick movement or a teabag or something, and then it instantly blows up, spraying scalding water everywhere.",
"The source of heat is outside the pan, so it's not surprising that the water should start to boil where the source of heat is. In the case of a gas stove, people often use a larger burner than needed, so instead of the heat being absorbed by the base of the pan, much of it runs up the sides - which leads to the liquid boiling readily at the sides.\n\nAs the water is heated at the sides it rises, descending in the middle - like a doughnut turning itself inside out continually.\n\nEDIT - put a pan on a smaller burner or electric ring and you'll likely see it boil on the base instead."
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1jtegj | how does baking memory sticks or gpus in an oven fix it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jtegj/eli5_how_does_baking_memory_sticks_or_gpus_in_an/ | {
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"Heating it up will soften up the solder connections. If one of these connections has come loose, heating up the device and then cooling it will let the solder melt and reform a good bond.",
"Sometimes the metal glue manufacturers use to connect parts together on circuit boards/computer can break. This can disconnect some important parts of the circuit board/computer. To make it easy and safer to use, this metal glue melts at a pretty low temperature compared to common metals. When you put these parts in the oven, they heat up enough to melt the metal glue and re-connect the part that came off. Then, when you take the parts out of the oven, the metal glue becomes hard again, sealing the connection.\n\nEDIT: This is the same logic as the \"Towel Trick\" for the XBox 360: heat the chip up hot enough to melt the solder (metal glue) which will reconnect the broken connection.",
"In the computer world one of the things we sometimes need to do to fix a broken component is something that's called 'reflowing.' If you've ever had your PS3 or Xbox break someone may have done this for you.\n\nBasically what happens is that inside your GPU are various metal bits connect to the card itself. Over time these can erode or corrode and lose contact.\n\nBy placing the video card in an oven what you're doing is heating up these metal bits so that they every so slightly 'melt' back onto their contact plates."
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ds4sew | why is protein from meat “better” than protein from a shake? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ds4sew/eli5_why_is_protein_from_meat_better_than_protein/ | {
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"Is it? Good protein powders/shakes contain most, if not all, of the hidden nutrients that meats contain (vitamins/minerals and such). The only thing they typically miss is fiber and antioxidants found in some protein-rich whole foods such as quinoa or lentils (but not typically meats). \n\nIn general, meats aren't better than good protein shakes/powders in regard to overall nutrition, however good whole sources of protein generally provides more nutritional value than shakes/powders. \n\nNow if you're referring to cheap discount store protein shakes, than meat probably has a more complete mix of other nutrients than the shakes, making it better in that regard, but probably worse in regard to fat content (depending on the meat)."
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1q9tls | why is there still royalty in england | I Understand Parliament but the King and Queen | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1q9tls/eli5why_is_there_still_royalty_in_england/ | {
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"Because getting rid of them means tearing down and rebuilding a large amount of constitutional law and custom that assumes a monarch. This would be awfully complicated and wouldn't really provide any benefit to the country. \n\nIt's like asking why the USA still has an electoral college. Because there is a huge headache involved in formally getting rid of it. ",
"because they tried it without (Cromwell) and realised it was better with.",
"Just to clarify, in the UK at present, we don't have a King, we have the Queen and her consort, the prince. \n\nAs doc_daneeka touched on, the Queen has an important role, although essentially ceremonial, in our parliamentary constitutional monarchy system as the head of state. \n\nIt's not a great comparison given the Queen never expresses any political opinions or uses any of the powers she has without direction from her government, but she's in essence the 'president' in our system and given the complicated unwritten constitution it would certainly be a huge task to remove the position. \n\nThe other major reason is that there's not a huge will to get rid of them, there are small republican movements but they've never really attracted wide support. We did remove the monarchy after our civil war in 1649 but restored about 20 years later and we've been 'content' with them ever since. \n\nAnd then there's the money, for all the talk of 'what they cost us' it's not a bad deal, the monarchy essentially gave up their land etc. and the subsequent income that made (£200m/year) to the treasury in exchange for what was called 'the civil list', an annual budget of about £8m. Then there's all the tourism revenue they help create. \n\nTLDR; Too much effort to remove them from the system, they don't cost a great deal in comparison to what they pull in and republicanism isn't widely supported. \n\n\n"
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28emhn | where does all this food go?!?! (competitive eaters) | Ok, I just got done watching a few of Matt Stonie's videos, and especially with a guy this small where does all the food go? I mean, watch [this video](_URL_0_) This is a 12 pound burrito that is gigantic. Its actually not even the most I have seen this guy eat. Where does it all go and how can somebody that small possibly fit all that?? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28emhn/eli5_where_does_all_this_food_go_competitive/ | {
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"it's a common misconception that smaller/skinny people cannot eat more than fat people. the stomach is an extremely versatile organ and can greatly expand/shrink. competitive eaters train to expand their stomach to the maximum potential. for people that do not have a \"fat layer\" their stomach can expand more since skin is more elastic than fat, fat is like a brick wall and would prevent the stomach from expanding more.",
"It goes into the stomach. The human body can stretch alot"
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267jvr | why are engagement rings so expensive? | I got to talking about engagement rings a while back and I was told that a guy is supposed to drop a months or 2 months wages on an engagement ring.
This seems like an utterly insane amount for a piece of jewelry that's only there to mark the time from when you get engaged to the point where you actually get married.
**Edit:** Wow.... really really Debeers can go to hell as far as I'm concerned | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/267jvr/eli5_why_are_engagement_rings_so_expensive/ | {
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"Because Debeers had a brilliant marketing department that made this \"myth\" commonplace. Now most women expect it, so most men do it.",
"The idea of spending \"two months salary\" was started by the diamond suppliers, as well as the idea that you should buy a diamond engagement ring specifically because 'diamonds are forever'. Diamonds are artificially inflated to be more expensive despite the fact that diamonds are not particularly rare (though large, gem-quality diamonds are more uncommon).\n\nThey're expensive because people have been taught that they're expensive.\n\nYou can see evidence of this in the whole 'canary' and 'chocolate' diamond market that had popped up recently. Until fairly recently, no one wanted yellow or brown diamonds - they were worthless, or only worth being used for industrial purposes (diamond dust is great for grinding things). But recently someone got the idea of rebranding them as 'canary' and 'chocolate' and suggesting people wear them as gemstones, suddenly inflating their price. \n\nDiamond engagement rings aren't worth it, IMO. If a girl is absolutely, dead-set on a diamond, I would probably try to talk her out of it. You can get a gorgeous synthetic stone (or cheaper natural stone that looks like a diamond) for much less and it would still look just as beautiful and mean just as much. Just don't lie and say it's a diamond - be up front about it not being one. ",
"Because a brilliantly effective marketing campaign in the 40s I think. (Maybe 50s). The De Beers company was able to convince nearly every american that if a man didnt put a diamond ring on his fiances finger he wasnt worth shit. And the tradition spread from there. With this manufactured new demand for diamonds, the prices skyrocketed. \n\nEdit: that 2 months salary thing was a headline in the De Beers companys marketing campaign."
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j6mti | why have some countries developed rapidly while other have not over the last century? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j6mti/why_have_some_countries_developed_rapidly_while/ | {
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"The world is a big place and there are lots of powerful nations and weak nations interacting all the time. The reasons for the state of a given nation can vary really widely and this question is tough without getting political/biased. \n\nGenerally, the citizens of a nation need to work together to make the nation prosper/grow/succeed. There are a lot of factors that can prevent success and prosperity though, or at least make it extremely difficult to achieve. Factors like the presence of a combination, or particularly bad instance of the following: lack of resources within the country or ability to get them elsewhere, having good resources and squandering them is equally bad. Some countries that don't have much to offer potential allies may receive less investment, aid, protection or status as a trading partner - when powerful nations are ambivalent to your existence it can be more difficult to thrive. Being attacked or subjugated by more powerful nations, attacking neighboring nations and losing could also hurt long-term development. A lack of leadership, presence of a powerful but bad leader or a lack of unity among the people who live there is common too - many African nations are a good example here. When nations colonized Africa and carved out their own little pieces of the continent, they made countries without regard for the people who lived there, this created more trouble still once those nations backed out of Africa. Imagine you're told that your lifelong enemy suddenly is now your roomate, and not only that but you must run the household together.",
"It's easier for us to create heat than to remove it. Furnaces for heating have been around forever but air conditioners are expensive and still catching on. Therefore, for centuries the most productive places have been cold-but-not-too-cold places because they can get work done all day, year round, whereas in warmer places it's too hot to get work done and some countries literally have to shut down in the summer. Even in developed nations, August is the slowest month for productivity. So if you look at a map of the \"developed world,\" it's well north (and south) of the equator.",
"The world is a big place and there are lots of powerful nations and weak nations interacting all the time. The reasons for the state of a given nation can vary really widely and this question is tough without getting political/biased. \n\nGenerally, the citizens of a nation need to work together to make the nation prosper/grow/succeed. There are a lot of factors that can prevent success and prosperity though, or at least make it extremely difficult to achieve. Factors like the presence of a combination, or particularly bad instance of the following: lack of resources within the country or ability to get them elsewhere, having good resources and squandering them is equally bad. Some countries that don't have much to offer potential allies may receive less investment, aid, protection or status as a trading partner - when powerful nations are ambivalent to your existence it can be more difficult to thrive. Being attacked or subjugated by more powerful nations, attacking neighboring nations and losing could also hurt long-term development. A lack of leadership, presence of a powerful but bad leader or a lack of unity among the people who live there is common too - many African nations are a good example here. When nations colonized Africa and carved out their own little pieces of the continent, they made countries without regard for the people who lived there, this created more trouble still once those nations backed out of Africa. Imagine you're told that your lifelong enemy suddenly is now your roomate, and not only that but you must run the household together.",
"It's easier for us to create heat than to remove it. Furnaces for heating have been around forever but air conditioners are expensive and still catching on. Therefore, for centuries the most productive places have been cold-but-not-too-cold places because they can get work done all day, year round, whereas in warmer places it's too hot to get work done and some countries literally have to shut down in the summer. Even in developed nations, August is the slowest month for productivity. So if you look at a map of the \"developed world,\" it's well north (and south) of the equator."
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3kg95g | why do people on the internet write with such horrendous grammar, spelling, and punctuation? | Isn't it more difficult to understand someone if they don't write well? I'm just curious as to why folks do this. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kg95g/eli5_why_do_people_on_the_internet_write_with/ | {
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"There's a large number of people on this site, so it's reasonable to expect that a certain percentage are going to:\n\nA). Still be in school, and thus have worse writing skills\n\nB). Have a bad education, either through choice or as a result of where they grew up\n\nC). Be from a non-English speaking country, in which case their grammar and spelling is understandably worse when writing in English as opposed to their native language\n\nD). Not care about grammar or spelling, even if they technically do have the skills\n\nE). Be writing on a phone, in which case it's easier to make spelling mistakes",
"What do you think people have good grammar outside of the internet? Before the internet bad grammar was still very much so a thing, and it still is a thing.",
"Most likely because they can. No one here can enforce proper grammar except purging the whole post as an admin, which defeats the whole point of a dicussion"
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3f7stj | before cigarettes were widely known to be terrible while pregnant, did babies constantly come out with health issues? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3f7stj/eli5_before_cigarettes_were_widely_known_to_be/ | {
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"They did. \n\nHowever, pre-natal care was weaker across the board. Drugs, x-rays, poor nutrition, contaminants...there were all kinds of dangerous in the environment we wouldn't think of exposing pregnant women to today. Smoking was on of them, but there were so many others, it didn't really stand out."
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2a2yz0 | how is nascar a sport? | I've never quite understood it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2a2yz0/eli5_how_is_nascar_a_sport/ | {
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"Auto racing is generally accepted as a sport. Ergo, NASCAR is a sport.",
"A sport is:\n\n > an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.\n\nSo:\n\n1. Activity - Stuff is happening.\n2. Physical exertion - According to [this](_URL_0_) \"dehydration and heat exhaustion are a major concern in NASCAR racing.\" - So there is physical exertion, no less than something like golf for example.\n* Skill - The best have had a lot of practice and are obviously pretty good at doing it.\n* Individual or team competes - This is pretty clear.\n* Against others - As is this.\n* For entertainment - And people find it entertaining.\n\nSo, it's a sport.",
"Where racing events like formula 1 are about how well the cars are built. NASCAR focuses more on the driver. Stock cars go fast, and that's about it. They don't handle very well, and are very hard to control. It's like a rodeo bull, it's got a lot of power, but it's not very cooperative Put a bunch of them together in a pack, on an elliptical track, and they get even harder to drive. With all those cars going 200+ mph, and trying to pass each other at the same time, it becomes total chaos for the drivers. It takes legitimate skill to A. Not crash, and B. Actually win the race. \n\nIt may not be the most fascinating thing to watch, but that doesn't mean it isn't difficult, kinda like golf.",
"As someone who has raced go-karts since 3rd grade and started in cars at age 15, take it from me, racing of any kind is a sport. I'm 26 now and I still race cars, on a circle and course tracks. It irritates me to all hell when people think racing in a circle is easy, it's not, there's so much skill involved. People think just because they can go 100mph on the street that they're awesome drivers and racing must be easy, those are the people that end up in a ball of fire on the track. // Racing is a sport, but most redditors wouldn't know what a sport/physical activity was even if it hit them in their gens."
]
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|
2whume | why didn't america keep the statue of liberty polished so it didn't turn green? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2whume/eli5_why_didnt_america_keep_the_statue_of_liberty/ | {
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"Copper oxide protects the copper from further oxidation.\n\nIf you repeatedly grind off the oxide the statue will eventually rust away.",
"Too expensive.\n\nYou would need a team of trained people working around the the clock with polish every day in order to stop the oxidization.\n\nIt's just not worth it.",
"The green coating is generally regarded as pleasing. It also stops the metal from completely eroding away so the statue will actually last longer.",
"The patina (the copper rust) is considered by a lot of people to be aesthetically pleasing and is therefore designed into a lot of different architecture. The statue was designed to rust and turn green",
"TIL the statue of liberty isn't originally green."
]
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5ra860 | why do anti-stress toys like fidgets and stress balls actually work? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ra860/eli5_why_do_antistress_toys_like_fidgets_and/ | {
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"Stress happens when too much is happening.\n\nFidgeting with stuff makes it feel like you're doing stuff, which your body can interpret as you fixing the stress.\n\nAlso, it gives you something other than stress to focus on."
]
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[]
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|
3ms7ow | how do skateboarders do insane jumps over staircases? | Sorry if my question is worded oddly. I've included a video to show what I mean. It seems like skateboarders are able to jump ridiculously high flights of stairs, but would the same people be able to do it without a skateboard? And if not, what about being on a board helps them do something like this?
_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ms7ow/eli5how_do_skateboarders_do_insane_jumps_over/ | {
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"Look at Spencer Nuzzi explain how to ollie(the ollie is the jump on a skateboard) [higher](_URL_0_).\nMultiple factors come into it, speed and how hard you can pop.\n\nIf you thinking jumping stairs is amazing, Aaron \"Jaws\" Homoki will blow your [mind](_URL_1_)"
]
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"http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt92xw_crazy-high-jump-skateboarding_sport"
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiE35KJ2Rj8"
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b3j4hq | when a star shines brighter than another, how are scientists able to tell if the star is bigger or just closer to us than the other? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b3j4hq/eli5_when_a_star_shines_brighter_than_another_how/ | {
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"text": [
"They compare it to other ways of measuring distance on the [cosmic ladder](_URL_1_). Questions about the cosmic ladder are [fairly common](_URL_0_)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
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"https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&source=hp&ei=ms6SXOeKGay-ggeRzoJQ&q=site%3Awww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive+cosmic+ladder&btnK=Google+Search&oq=site%3Awww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive+cosmic+ladder&gs_l=psy-ab.3...397.2681..2750...0.0..0.119.927.15j1......0....2j1..gws-wiz.....0.Hiu7Mg7XzqI",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_distance_ladder"
]
] |
|
7ya8ba | why do countries want to host the olympics? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ya8ba/eli5_why_do_countries_want_to_host_the_olympics/ | {
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"It’s a force of national pride and draws tourism for the games themselves and also because people learn about places and travel afterward. In recent years, as costs have skyrocketed it has become harder to get countries to want to host. But even when countries do “lose money” on the actual games, the ongoing tourism boost and benefits to infrastructure, etc. can have ongoing financial benefits.",
"It's mostly a prestige thing for the host city, and it can result in new infrastructure money from higher levels of government. The tourism boost can also be beneficial though it's usually short lived. \n\nThere's been a bit of a shift in attitudes towards it though. The rising costs has started scaring off potential bidders. The IOC is gaining a similar reputation to FIFA in regards of corruption and their expectations of lavish spending by the host nation. Such that for the 2022 winter games, only Beijing and Almaty (Kazakhstan) actually bid. Oslo's bid was withdrawn due to high costs, lack of support, and public scrutiny on the IOC's 7,000(!) page list of demands. "
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57xti2 | why have major countries not taken to teaching esperanto in classrooms to allow people to communicate internationally? | To rephrase my question; Why haven't we all agreed on a language that everyone should know so every human on Earth can talk with one other? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57xti2/eli5_why_have_major_countries_not_taken_to/ | {
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"Because English largely fills this role, albeit incompletely. In general it's far more practical to get everyone to speak a language that at least some people already speak. It's at least incrementally harder to get people to speak a language that essentially _no one_ speaks.\n\nAs for why we aren't \"all in\" on this, it's largely because it's vastly easier and feels better to communicate in a native tongue. Would you give up the ability to have a natural communication with your child in order to satisfy some utopian global communication ideal? Would you divert what little resources are already available for education in much of the world in order to learn a hypothetically useful language? Or...would you spend those resources on something more immediately practical?\n",
"We already have English as the Lingua Franca. If countries aren't currently teaching their students English, an already useful language, with a massive amount of native and non-native speakers what makes you think they will teach Esperanto, a language that only a tiny minority of people can speak?",
"If *everyone* started teaching Esperanto now, it would be useful in about 20 years. They *also* need to teach English now, because that's the language everyone is using now. Knowing Esperanto but not English would be very useless until everyone speaks Esperanto. \n\nAlso, not enough people speak it to be able to teach it in any large scale way. ",
"We have agreed on a language and it's called English. Before that it was French. Before that it was Latin. The next one is probably going to be Chinese.\n\nThe point is: You can not decide what language people are going to speak. The rise and fall of languages is closely related to history and power. Nobody can just make up a language and tell everybody to study it.",
"First, because of all the prejudices and misinformation about Esperanto you can see clearly in this very thread.\n\nSecond, because English speaking countries have their economy profiting too much from their language being used as a lingua franca worldwide.\n\nEsperanto takes between 5 and 10 times less time and effort to learn than the easiest natural language (which one varies depending on one's native language). But it has raised suspicions in many places it started to gain momentum because it was used by some people who the majority wanted to eliminate (resistence movements in times of war, political oppositions in some countries, etc.). But when we evaluate how useful it would really be, too few people are able and willing to leave their prejudices aside to make a rational decision.\n\nA recent study estimated that if all European countries decided to teach Esperanto instead of English, as much as 24 billion dollars could be saved *annually*.\n\nEdit : An interesting [blog post](_URL_0_) about linguistic discrimination that favors English speakers on a global level, if you are interested to learn more about the impacts of using English (or any language that is linked to a country) as the lingua franca of the world. Using a language that doesn't belong to a country, like Esperanto, for that purpose also limits the advantage and power we accept to give to that (or those) countries.",
"As others have said, because there's already a language that does the job, and that is English. It's easier to get people to learn the language that already suits that need than to get everyone to switch over to a new language. Even though there is a higher individual cost (time-wise) in learning English in comparison to Esperanto, there is a very high sunk cost when it comes to English (i.e. everyone who already speaks it has already done that learning).\n\nA better framework through-which to look at Esperanto is its [propaedeutic value](_URL_0_), this is effectively how useful Esperanto is when it comes to learning in general. It turns out that when someone has learnt a non-native language, it is then easier for them to learn other non-native languages. This is because some of the things that you need to learn for a non-native language can be re-applied for future languages (e.g. learning what tenses are). There is an added benefit if your non-native languages are related (so, if you know French, it's easier to learn Italian than Korean).\n\nEsperanto is positioned well as a simpler language to introduce people to learning other languages. It's similar to how in school, rather than teaching all of the pupils how to play a French horn, they teach them how to play a recorder - recorders are a lot simpler than French horns, but a lot of the music theory will carry across."
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5h8wfa | who makes pc viruses, why, and how do they work? | And are AntiVirus actually useful? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5h8wfa/eli5_who_makes_pc_viruses_why_and_how_do_they_work/ | {
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"Hi! I work for a company that make an antivirus, along with some other products.\n\nViruses exist to make money. They do this by snooping for credit card numbers, encrypting your data and holding it hostage until you pay, and other fun scams. Because they're often deployed internationally, catching online criminals is very difficult because law enforcement agencies aren't working tightly-enough together to pull it off.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nAntivirus programs are useful, assuming they're setup properly and kept up to date. There's two popular methods to bust bad bugs: fingerprinting and heuristics. For fingerprinting, there's a database containing samples of part of viruses. The program scans your computer and looks for matches. \n\nHeuristics is watching for suspicious behaviors. When a program doesn't present a GUI, doesn't register itself properly with Windows, runs from user-owned folders instead of proper system folders, listens for remote commands...all are considered suspicious and the more a utility does, the more strikes against it until the program decides it's probably bad and needs to stop.",
"**Who:** Mostly people who know how to code and want to get information about people or just damage a computer.\n**Why:** As I said before, to damage computer, get information, try to get money (Ransomware).\n\n**How:** There's a plenty ways how they work. \n*Ransomware*, for example blocks completely the computer encrypting files with a password and making it unaccessible to the host. You get a bitcoin account and you are asked to pay a certain amount of money (if you have this kind of problem NEVER PAY. Just call the police)\n\nA *trojan* is a virus which will let remote access to the person who infected it allowing him to do whatever he wants. Just as if he was in front of the computer.\n\nA *worm* --- barbodelli will explain it nice here down!\n\nEdit: I forgot about antivirus. Yes they are useful. They work with a big database of virus around the world and are able to detect them before they do serious damage. Anyway the best antivirus, is you.",
"**Why make viruses?**\n\nBecause lots of stuff on your computer is actually valuable. A common type of virus is called \"Ransomware\" where the virus encrypts your hard-drive and you need to pay the hackers to be able to decrypt it again.\nMany viruses are after your personal information. Stolen identities can be sold for a lot of money on the black market. Viruses can steal your passwords, your documents, your nearly finished thesis on the ideal antivirus, or anything of value online.\nThere are many more types of viruses, including adware, Trojans, keyloggers, etc, but all of them want to make money.\n\n**How do viruses work?**\n\nViruses are just computer programs, so sequences of instructions to your CPU. That means a virus can do almost anything your CPU can do once it is loaded. Many viruses set themselves up to trigger when your computer starts up, and run quietly in the background until they have finished their work.\n\n**Do Aniviruses work?**\n\nYour operating system is more important than your antivirus. If you have system folders set to the right permissions, it's very hard for a program to edit them, and viruses are forced to move to more visible places like your start menu startup folder, where you can easily see them. Still, I recommend using a virus scanner just to check your downloads for common viruses and Trojans. That will only work when it's up to date though.",
"A virus is an unwanted application running on your computer. They are written just like any other application. These unwanted applications have a wide variety of purposes, but in modern times they are developed in such a way as to gain the writer of the application money. These applications sit, sometimes unknowingly, on your computer, spying on you and selling your personal information. Sometimes these applications rob you, saying give me your money or I will not give your computer back.",
"Ok so you say Virus, I think you mean Malware. I'll get into that later.\n\nNow let's break it down:\n\n* **WHO:**\n\nLots of people. Sometimes it's the military (Stuxnet), sometimes it's a kid bored in his basement, sometimes is a researcher who breaks quarantine, sometimes it's a criminal. Anyone with the power to program can write malware.\n\n* **WHY:**\n\nThe big factors are as follows: \n\n* Money - Duh\n* Power - Usually this is your nation state sponsored. Cripple the enemies computers, win the information, win the war.\n* Prestige - I hacked google! I am awesome! Everyone bask in my awesomeness!\n* Challenge - The best way to find a security hole in an appliance? Tell pentesters it's hack proof. We infosec people love a good challenge\n* Politics - Wikileaks. Someone at the DNC didn't like what they were doing & so leaked information. **OR** (depending who you believe) the Russians hacked it.\n\n* **HOW:**\n\nHere is where we need to break it up.\n\n* Virus\n\nA virus is a computer program that hijacks another program. On their own they are harmless, and they don't really travel. Rather once on a machine, they look for their intended victim. They hijack the code through a variety of exploits too deep for ELI5 and make it do something else.\n\nAnd example: Stuxnet.\n\nStuxnet hijacked the Command And Control (CNC) coding for uranium centrifuges. See to get weapons grade uranium, you spin uranium gas at **VERY** precise speeds, for very long times. Filtering out what you need.\n\nWhat Stuxnet did was inject itself between the CNC node, and the Server. What happened next went like this:\n\n* Server: Hey CNC node, spin at 100\n* Stuxnet: Got it boss!\n* Stuxnet: Hey CNC node, it's server, spin at 150\n* CNC node: Got it boss\n* Server: Hey CNC node, just checking in. You're spinning at 100 right?\n* Stuxnet: yeah boss!\n* Stuxnet: hey CNC node, spin at 75. (lol)\n\nA virus needs a host program, just like a virus needs a host cell.\n__________________________________________________\n* WORM\n\nA worm is a program that runs on it's own. It can spread on its own via email, via web, or hitching a ride on that shady porn sites video.\n\nA worm can do almost anything, as it is it's own program. Sometimes it exploits a known hole & runs. Sometimes it tries to trick you into thinking it is another legitimate program (these are called trojans). But they all do something bad.\n\nThe most common we see now are keyloggers, which record your keystrokes & then send them back home to be analyzed for credit card numbers & other info, and cryptolockers. Cryptolockers encrypt your files, and tell you to send money to someone to get the password.\n\nIt would be like if I took your phone, put a password on it, and said \"I'll give you the password for $20\"\n\nWorms live. They can act on their own, they travel on their own. Like a worm parasite. \n\nWorms can also carry viruses.\n______________________________________________________________________________________\n\n* **ANTI-VIRUS:**\n\nOr rather anti-malware.\n\nThese do work. But none are perfect. They use two methods of detection:\n\n* Signature based detection.\n\nEvery file has a signature. Called a hash. This is a one way function that creates a unique (or nearly unique) code.\n\n[Try it out:](_URL_0_)\n\n\"This is a sentence\" has a hash of: 09e720276ad42173bf2723f7fc050f49\n\n\"This is a sentence.\" has a hash of: d15ba5f31fa7c797c093931328581664\n\nSee what a difference just a \".\" makes?\n\nWell there are **HUGE** databases of hashes. And when you download or run a program, the AM will check the has of the program against a known malware database. If there's a match, it sets off an alarm & goes into action stopping it.\n\nThe weakness here is what we call 0-days. What happens if you're hit before the database is updated? Sadness. Sadness happens.\n\n____________________________________________________________________________\n\nAnomaly detection.\n\nThis is the other method of detection. Your AM will build a baseline of what is normal. When something exceeds this, it will trigger a response.\n\nIf you never use your computer between 2 and 6am, but all of a sudden after downloading \"Free willies.avi\" your CPU and network usage starts to spike to 100% at 3 am. Well something isn't right, and it will take action.\n\nThe weakness here is what happens if the malware is smart, and some of them are, and sleeps while it builds a profile on you, or slowly ramps itself up so it doesn't trigger the alarms unto the baseline is adjusted? Sadness. Sadness once again. Like Latvian christmas with no potato.\n____________________________________________________________________________\n\nIt is always better to have one than to not. I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. Malware Bytes. Or Kaspersky for the average user.\n\nBut the best protections you have are yourself. Don't click that email link from Kunta Kintae. Don't go to that shady Latvian torrent site \"_URL_2_\" And please, run an ad blocker. Ads are a **HUGE** malware vector.\n\nIf you have any other questions I'll be happy to answer. I do this stuff for a living.\n\n______________________________________________________________________________\n\nHere's one of my favorites:\n\n :(){ :|: & };:\n\nThis is called a forkbomb. Like a fork in the road, a fork bomb splits. Imagine telling your computer to open a program, that opens itself again, forever. That is what this does. Your computer will quickly ruun out of memory & CPU processing ability, and lock up.\n\nIt's *relatively* harmless, so I feel comfortable sharing it here. Also it's probably the most well known.\n\nI'll break it down for you!\n\n* :()\n\nCreate a function (program) called \":\"\n\n* { :|: & };\n\nTell that function to open itself. Load a copy of itself into it \" & \" do so in the background so it can't be easily killed.\n\n* :\n\nDo it. Do it now.\n\nSo that program runs, and opens a copy of itself. Which runs, and opens a copy of itself. Which runs, and opens a copy of itself... until your computer can't do it anymore. Well until your computer can't do *anything* anymore.\n\nEDIT:\n\n/u/random_access_cache did mention gold-level comment. Just a preemptive request. If you do feel like gilding this, please just donate to the Free Software Foundation instead , I dont need gold, do some actual good :) [Link](_URL_1_)",
"I can give you what I know. My person I live with works in something called InfoSec and a big part of his job is actually finding exploits in various systems.\n\nTo answer \"who writes a virus?\" you have to start at what a virus is.\n\nA virus/mallware/trojan/some kind of malicious code/etc is at it's core an \"exploit\". Something not malicious but still falls under this umbrella is send out a .bat file to someone with this script: \n\n > shutdown-s -t 60\n\nAll this does is just make the computer shut down after 60 seconds. But for a non-technical user, a .bat file is a non-descript file. And if you get it sent to you in the mail, and it's name is \"Picture of my new dog\" then sure, they'll click on it. And if you think \"Most people wouldn't open a picture from someone they don't know.\"\n\nSure. But when you receive an email, the name you see is meaningless. It's kind of useless information. You could easily use PHP to send out an email that gives you the name of someone else.\n\nBut how would you find out that person's family memebers' names?\n\nFacebook. Go on Facebook, type in \"Angela\", pick one from the list, view her friends, pick one of those names and in PHP send an email to her with from the [email protected] and you have successfully tricked like half the email using population into clicking on whatever you linked to in that email.\n\nSo if a .bat file can contain instructions for Windows to do things, and downloading that .bat file can do really bad things to your computer, what would a good, well-trained Anti Virus do? Well. It would look at the name of the file. It would see that it has the extension .bat and it would say \"No. Hold up. This shit ain't right. Why you be downloadin' .bat files from the internet, son? You betta' get ready for some flamin' hot digital hemorrhoids if you wanna open this mofo up. Tell you what. You don't download this shit. Imma take it away from you and put it in a vault. Here. See? Safe. Peace out.\"\n\nNow. Why would someone write a .bat file that does something bad? Why would they want to mess with your computer.\n\nWell. Most wouldn't. In fact, *a lot* of work goes into making the viruses as difficult to notice as possible. The viruses are (usually) designed to not impact you computer at all. All they do (the good ones) is sit quietly and do things like send ads to your friends. Use your current session authentication to encrypt a bunch of files on your PC and then ask for a ransom (granted this one you will notice). Some just log data and send it back to a database for whatever random use.\n\nThere is also such a thing as an exploit kit. This is something targeted specifically to get into your computer one way or another by using known exploits in the older versions of software. If you have an older Java version then maybe there is a know exploit for it that has been patched in the new version. But you never updated. And you accidentally click on a file with the name: \"HotSexySluts.png\" but whose real name is \"HotSexySluts.png.exe\".\n\nWho? Random people. Depends on what the virus is. Or even - depends on the method of attack. A virus is a tool for an attack, rather than the attack itself a lot of the time.\n\nDoes antivirus work? Yes.\n\nWhy? For the ad viruses - money. For the ransom viruses? Money.\n\nThen there are viruses that make your unit part of a network of computers that contribute minutely to a DDoS (denial of service attack). That is done for either money (sometimes bot nets are hired or rented) or just because someone got pissed off at someone else.\n\nFor the viruses that make your screen change wallpaper to a dick? I don't know. Just for the lulz. To see if they can. To do some damage.\n\nSome viruses aren't really viruses, just user errors. Like sending you to a page that looks identical to Google but has the domain name \"_URL_0_\" or something where they want you to \"Reset your password\" by entering your current password once.\n\nI don't know if this helps. I don't know that much about it tbh, just what I read and am told."
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2rgj1z | how does child sexual abuse affect the victim into adolescence and later adulthood? specifically relationship-wise? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rgj1z/eli5how_does_child_sexual_abuse_affect_the_victim/ | {
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"Numerous ways. It pretty much can negatively impact every aspect of your life.\n\nThere is an insane amount of reading and studies on the subject you can find through a casual google search.\n\nSome possible problems are increased risk of crime and drug/alcohol abuse, inability to form stable relationships, increased promiscuity, low self worth, reduced chances at financial success, disorders such as depression, eating disorders, PTSD, dissociation, increased chance of suicide, poor social skills, poor anger control.\n\nSexual abuse as a child usually makes it very difficult to form healthy long lasting relationships as an adult, and ongoing counselling and support is usually needed to manage the problems it causes.",
"**I can't speak for everyone**, but I can speak for myself. white male, aged 34.\n\nWhen I was 7 years old, my father molested me. He had a history of assaulting my mother and they were getting a divorce. The very worst of it happened while on visitation for weekends.\n\nSexual abuse for men is different from women. I was violated by a man and even as a child, sexual situations can feel good. Ultimately, this was the most confusing part for me. As I developed into adulthood, I remembered what had happened and even though it was assumed that it was the worst thing that could ever happen, I knew that it physically felt good. \n\nAs you might imagine, I spent some time trying to \"prove\" I wasn't gay. Of course I wasn't, but try telling that to a kid of the 80s and 90s. Not knowing much about love and being a very angry young man ruined a lot of relationships for me, including my marriage. \n\nI had a lot of other issues, too, so I might not be the best example. I joined the army in 2000 and we'll just say that I didn't have the best time toward 2003ish and other things have affected me and contributed to the way I've failed in relationships.\n\nFrom the male's point of view, all I can offer is the outdated feelings from a different time of sexual abuse. Telling anyone meant everyone calling me a faggot, if they did believe me. So I had to live inside with it for a lot of years without saying a word. When I did open up, it was probably too late to actually get closure and move on quickly.\n\nI don't know if I can say, \"I do this particular thing wrong because I was molested and it affected me in this way.\" But when it happens to men, the effects can be really different than the things we hear about with women.\n\nI understand that my typing format with this response sucks. If you have any questions, PM me or leave them here and I can try to answer specifics."
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1tun0l | what is is that the people who upload viruses get out of that? just the satisfaction of knowing they're messing up people's computers? | This was just something I never quite understood. Is just malicious people who get a kick out of knowing they ruin someone's computer? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tun0l/eli5what_is_is_that_the_people_who_upload_viruses/ | {
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"That was the initial draw, yes. But nowadays viruses are used to create spambot networks and things like CyberLocker (which holds files hostage until you pay a ransom). There are also reasons like corporate espionage or identity theft. All of these lead to significant financial gains. ",
"And to see how long they can avoid the 'authorities' and also profit for anti-virus.",
"Yes, but those are pretty rare nowadays. The thing you should look out for now are malware and such that either tracks your personal dats or try's to sell you things. ",
"Hi, \"malware\" creator here. Let me answer this for you.\n\nI get kicks out of annoying people. Most of what I do is just simple tricks that are easily undoable and won't really ruin anybody's day, just harmless fun.\n\nOnce I swapped out the Internet Explorer shortcut for a batch file that opened an explorer window and swapped the mouse buttons. It's easily reversible.\n\nI myself just got a rush out of the \"prank\" aspect.\n\nOthers do it to gain control of your computer for ransom, or to use it as part of a DDOS or spam botnet.\n\nNote: I do not advocate malware that causes harm, I myself am just a prick.\n\n**Edit:** I see I'm getting some negative reactions. I'm so, so very sorry for answering the question.\n\n**Edit 2:** Well, this has been a pretty divisive impromptu AMA. Thanks for the fun!",
"I know this almost seems like a cop out to say there are various reasons for virus correctors but based on the responses I've seen it varies from those strictly in it for monetary gain those who are in it strictly for the thrill. I guess i can understand there will always be someone willing to do something to harm someone else for money but the idea of spreading a virus simply to know that theoretically you caused someone somewhere so discomfort seems a little bizarre to me. ",
"If it isn't ransomware that holds your machine hostage with some sort of thing or a virus that turns your machine into a bot for some purpose, they try to actually be silent now. They don't want to mess with you in an obvious way because the longer they can work undetected the more information they can pull.\n\nViruses very rarely are made these days to just mess up a machine. They are there to either extort money or steal information. \n\nsource: I am a sys admin",
"Does anyone remember the Trojan netbus? I remember getting infected by it though icq through a whackamole.exe and knew nothing about it till my cd drive opened on its on. I did a bit of yahoo fu, as was the fashion at the time and found netbuster, a program that would show you as an open back door then install the Trojan on whoever tries to attack you. It was a fun little program to fuck with people who thought they were fucking with you. I never did anything malicious with it, but it was a nice introduction to internet security for me back in the day. ",
"The easiest and first thing most virus uploaders get are\ncredit card infos.\nNext you maybe have a facebook account of a real person\n(up to 30$ for a real account with 1000 friends)\nAlso you can use the hardware for calculation (botnet distributed calculations, they work like SETI@home but illegal or you mine bitcoins)\n\nYou can get a bunch of money from one person.",
"_URL_0_ be a dick\n2.For money (by stealing your credit card/paypal info, filling your screen with ads, there was even one case of a software that made your computer mine bitcoins)\n_URL_1_ steal potentially valuable information.",
"Many people may be unaware of the original reason viruses were created. At the beginning there was two camps of thought, one believed software should be shared. This group created freeware and made programs avaible for download. The second group believed programing was for profit and they should be compensated for their programs. \n\nSince the two camps were equally devided there was a lot of sharing of commerical programs. Naturally the companies producing programs for profit began losing a lot of money. Some of these companies began to embed a new program element called a virus into a supposedly free copy of their software. They then uploaded this program to frreware sites to discourasge people from trusting the programs they \ndownloaded. \n\nFirst there was the worms, then came the creation of viruses. Even actual freeware became infected.. I remember buying a computer and the company preloaded it with Tetris, a freeware game. Upon opening it the program delivered the Jerusalem Virus which removes the com files and sent the virus to any program opened after it. \n\nThe news media played up this virus problem playing right into the hands of the for profit companys. The freeware industry fought back. Thus was born the virus and bug detection software like McAffey. As time went on the forprofit won the fight. So not all virues are sent to just be mean. There are many reasons behind why a virus was sent that one would not suspect. \n\nMy! I am getting old. :)",
"You know who catch viruses and malware? People who don't know shit about them.\n\nEducate yourself and you'll never catch one. I run my secondary laptop without any anti virus or malware at all, never caught anything."
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2pnlfl | as gruesome as it sounds, what would a human being experience during a full blown aircraft explosion, during and up to their death? | You're in the cockpit. You hear a boom. There's fire. Then what? Are you burning alive as you fall to the ground? Or does the shockwave from the explosion knock you unconscious?
Edit: I'm talking about in a war scenario. You're either in a fighter jet, or a helicopter and get hit by a missile of some sort. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pnlfl/eli5_as_gruesome_as_it_sounds_what_would_a_human/ | {
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"Well, if you were hit by an air to air missile, those are mostly designed to be like a grenade, that is, they get close and spray shrapnel at the plane. There's no need for a direct hit then, you see, they Swiss cheese the plane. There's a good chance you might be hit, but there's often a lot if plane in the way. So that's good.\n\nLikely you would try to eject. Ejecting isn't fun: try riding a rocket seat at 15g. Compression fracture of vertebrae is not uncommon. Then you have airblast: you were moving at hundreds of miles an hour, the wind is unbelievable. At least you can breathe, your seat has emergency oxygen. If you survive that, you have to wait and hope that your chute deploys. Your legs get sucked into the chair and the seat harness tightens when you eject, so you're pretty much helpless until you hit the ground and can free yourself. Try not to eject over water.\n\nIf you don't or can't eject, it's likely that your plane is aerodynamically unstable. You will likely start to spin in one or more axes, sky whirling, until either you black out or the plane breaks apart, flinging you away from it. Try not to hit disintegrating plane. Oh, and since you didn't actually eject, don't count on any parachutes.\n\nIf you don't black out, if you're close enough to ground, whether you can see it coming or not depends on how disoriented you are from the spinning.\n\nGiven this set of possible futures, it's no wonder that pilots do everything possible to stay with their plane."
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3t1b3i | how do things dry at low temperatures? | Elementary school/basic science tells me that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit/ 0 degrees Celsius and boils to evaporation at 212 degrees Fahrenheit/ 100 degrees Celsius. Everything between that is liquid.
So how come when I hang my wet towel up in my 70 degree Fahrenheit apartment, it's dry by the time it gets home? Why is the water evaporating instead of trickling onto the ground or staying in the cloth?
I feel like this is probably obvious, but my mind isn't making the jump.
Edit: Oooooh gotcha. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t1b3i/eli5_how_do_things_dry_at_low_temperatures/ | {
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"Water eveporates from its surface the whole time. It's why puddles aren't permanent. \n\nThe molecules move about and on the whole stay in the liquid but they do detach and escape. They stay where they are partially due to the pressure of the molecules above them (which is why evaporation only happens the surface) and also due to the vapour pressure above the surface of the water. The evaporation is increased when either: \n\nThe vapour pressure at the surface is lowered (basically 'dryer' air). \n\nor \n\nThe temperature is raised giving the molecules more energy to escape from the surface. \n\nBoiling point is just the point where the vapour pressure of the liquid equals the vapour pressure in the surrounding air and evaporation can occur throughout the liquid (hence the bubbles). It's not the temperature required for water to be *able* to turn to gas - that can happen at pretty much any temperature if the conditions are right. You've heard of freeze drying? That relies on the evaporation (technically sublimation) of water at really low temperatures, which happens due to the vapour pressure being lowered."
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67s8ae | why are canada and the u.s. arguing over milk? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67s8ae/eli5_why_are_canada_and_the_us_arguing_over_milk/ | {
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".... \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis is a thing?"
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ar9b0c | why can’t ants hop/jump? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar9b0c/eli5_why_cant_ants_hopjump/ | {
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"Ants do jump. One example is the aptly named Jumping Jack Ants from Australia:\n\n_URL_0_"
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5mnf5l | the basic relationship between christianity and judaism, and their respective holy books | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5mnf5l/eli5_the_basic_relationship_between_christianity/ | {
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"Jesus was a Jew. The first half of the Christian Bible, the Old Testament, is pretty much the same as the Jewish ~~Torah~~ Tanakh.",
"Judaism predates Christianity by many years (thousands). Jesus was, in fact, Jewish. The Jewish holy book is referred to by Christians as the Old Testament. Christians believe the New Testament, which is basically the gospels of the life of Jesus, takes precedent over the Old Testament. \n\nChristians believe that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah. Jews believe he was just another false prophet. \n\n",
"So around 3500 years ago, a tribe of people began to exist in the middle east, and they began to create a holy text. This text gradually became what is now called the Old Testament of The Bible. The oldest parts of the Bible date from that time, but new parts continued to be added. This people eventually came to be known as the Jews. Among the holy texts was the idea that one day, a special savior would come along--the anointed one, the messiah, the christ. Every once in awhile, some Jewish guy would claim to be that person. This particularly happened when the Jews were in a bad situation. About 2000 years ago, at the time that the Roman Empire conquered Jewish lands, it was an especially bad time, and there were multiple men who claimed to be the messiah. Jesus was one of them. Some Jews thought he was the messiah, most did not. Eventually, the group who thought he was the messiah broke off from Judaism and formed its own religion, Christianity. They used Jewish holy books, which they now called the Old Testament--texts pre-dating the arrival of the messiah. They also created new holy books, which they called the New Testament, which they see as superseding the Old Testament laws. The Jews continued along with their own religion and own texts. Jews don't believe in proselytizing, so Judaism stayed a small religion primarily composed of the descendants of Jews from generation to generation. Jews continue to believe that one day a messiah will come, but that belief is only a very minor part of what Judaism is, so it's not something most Jews talk about or spend many prayers on. Christianity believes in proselytizing, plus eventually gained the adherence of the leaders of the Roman Empire, resulting in Christianity growing tremendously. Jews continue to use the Old Testament as their holy books, but of course don't call it the Old Testament, because that's a Christian designation. Plus the Jewish Old Testament contains slightly different texts than the Christian Old Testament does. And different Christian denominations have selected somewhat different books for their Old Testament, anyway. Like, one book, the Book of Esther, is part of the Old Testament for some Christian denominations, and not others, for example. And for Jews, the most important of the holy books is the Torah--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Those are part of the Christian holy books, but not as centrally important as they are to Judaism. ",
"at a very basic somewhat overly generalized way. Christianity's holy book the bible is split up into the old testament (think everything before Jesus and the new testament (right before Jesus' birth and everything after that). The Torah Judaism's holy book is roughly the old testament."
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6164gz | can a 4gb usb stick infect your windows computer if you have autorun disabled and open nothing in it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6164gz/eli5_can_a_4gb_usb_stick_infect_your_windows/ | {
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"Depends on the windows version, driver version and USB controller firmware. Even if you don't actively try to execute a file on the USB drive, the USB stick could be another type of USB device in disguise. \n\nEven if it looks like an USB drive, it could secretly be pretending to be a USB keyboard as well, and send keyboard commands to your machine, and windows would think they were from a real keyboard.\n\nIt could also attack the USB hardware controller in your PC, if it has a known weakness, or windows' drivers for it, to load data into RAM and then executing it, without actually having to go through the normal file-transfer protocols. No files would be transferred, but for example the area of your RAM that used to hold your Chrome browser now suddenly contains malicious code from your USB device, and the next time your PC tries to access the chrome browser, the machine would accidentally execute the new code that was put there instead.\n\nI don't know why you included the size of the USB stick. That makes no difference.\n\nBottom line, you should not insert USB devices you don't know where came from, unless you have a locked down, isolated computer that you don't mind having to wipe and reinstall. Even if you think your system is patched and up to date, there's still a chance that you might encounter malicious software that attacks a weakness that no one (other than those who made the malware) knows of yet.\n\nIn fact, dropping infected usb devices on purpose in hope that someone will pick them up and check what's on them has been used to get unauthorized access to systems in the past, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's still used today as well.",
"Yes.\n\nMany USB connected devices provide the driver information necessary for the computer to correctly interact with it. This is how the myriad USB devices can work without having to install separate driver software for each.\n\nMalicious software can introduce itself as part of this driver interrogation and negotiation. Sometimes this will be done under the appearance of providing device information, such as \"how bug is the storage on this device\" or \"what is the resolution of this camera\" or whatever. Done \"right\" this device driver interaction will run software on the USB device regardless of you autorun settings.\n\nYou need to disable automatically enabling USB devices when they are inserted. The computer should then detect some very basic \"device present\" information. However, to use the device, it still needs to do the aforementioned negotiation.\n\nThere are USB scanners available that can try to detect malware or undesirable interactions, but they fall under the normal arms race that all malware detection have; if the malware is more sophisticated than the detection, it will likely escape detection.\n\nMake sure you have solid antivirus and rootkit detection software and you'll be as protected as you can. Trust no one, and assume the worst habits by those you share USB storage with."
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2qmezc | how serious is the russian economic collapse, and does it have implications outside russia? | I DID SEARCH. I don't want to know what caused it. I get that. I want to know how serious it is. Whenever I hear anything about it, it sounds like they're in the middle of a total collapse, but it doesn't seem like it's getting much coverage as it should be if that was the case. Wouldn't the collapse of a nation as big as Russia have implications for everyone? Is it mostly just hype? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qmezc/eli5_how_serious_is_the_russian_economic_collapse/ | {
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"It's only very serious for Russia. The surrounding countries economies' are not very dependent on Russia's, and everywhere else certainly isn't. Contrast it with the US, where if they tank, the world goes with them.\n\nRelatively few countries are dependent on Russian exports (which is mostly oil), so not very many countries lose anything if Russia nosedives.\n\n[Here's a website for tracking the ruble/USD ratio if you're interested.](_URL_0_)\n\nEdit: more info\n\nEdit: made too broad of a generalization, fixed it",
"It is certainly far more serious for Russia that for the rest of the world economy.\n\nThe effects on Russia's economy are well documented: a decline in the rouble which has caused inflation (as imports are more expensive) and a destabilisation of the Russian financial system (due to difficulty meeting foreign debt obligations). \n\nHowever, this should have a limited DIRECT impact on the world economy for two reasons:\n\n1) Russia wasn't producing great growth before hand - the fact that Russia is now entering recession won't hit global growth too greatly as it has never been a great contributor to global growth\n\n2) Russia has steadily cut ties with the global economy - the effects of sanctions on both sides (from the US/EU on Russia, and from Russia on the EU) have already greatly reduced trade and investment. As such the deepening crisis in Russia is limited in the extent to which it will impact other economies. \n\nHope that helps!",
"Russia's economy is relatively small and heavily dependent on oil. With the fall of oil prices being as large as seen in a very long time, their economy loses on a very large export. The decline in the ruble and pressure on the financial system from its debt has started to cause inflation. Russias economy is fairly independent, also given its size (us gov spends more than their entire economy produces) i cant imagine more than a handful of countries being impacted, those.mainly being the netherlands (russia exports heavily to them), as well as maybe Belarus and Kazakhstan. The people its really hurting are the poor russians who cant afford 10% inflation/month",
"predicting the future is a mugs game, but you may find similarities to 1998 collapse. The Wikipedia article is a pretty good summary. I'm guessing they won't get any bailouts this time...\n\n_URL_0_",
"Considering the US and allies orchestrated this by placing all the sanctions on Russia after the whole Ukraine problem, they knew the repercussions would be far worse for Russia than the rest of the World. Russia also did it to themselves by banning all \"Western\" foods imports, the price of food (grains, corn, flour, fruits, etc.) really has an impact on the overall economy. Basically, the rest of the world will feel a minor hiccup in their economies because the US doesn't trade very many essential goods with Russia so a stable US economy makes a far better stable global economy because the US will still be able to trade with China.",
"If Russia's economy does collapse it will have implications for everyone. Already it's starting to affect a few nations (Lithuania, Estonia, etc) and the German business community is starting to get nervous because Russia is a big market for them.\n\nThere's also the recent agreement between China and Russia to trade in the ruble and yuan. China has also agreed to come to Russia's aid financially if they need it. Either of those actions could potentially destabilize the us dollar and the global economy. ",
"Am I stupid, or is the price of the ruble still higher than it was in December of 2013? I don't really get why this \"crash\" is that serious if their currency is still up from a year ago.",
"Keep in mind that the Russians aren't going to stop exporting oil or natural gas because of this. The drop in those prices are actually good for most of the rest of us. \n\nInternally Russia is going to have some problems, but like the rest of us Russian consumers will benefit from lower heat and fuel prices. German cars, French wine etc. Will be much more expensive, if they can get them at all. But Russia can feed itself and make its own cars. So rather than buying a German Mercedes people will have to look for domestically made and priced cars. Inflation if you rely in imports is a lot more than the 10% headline, but if you don't it's a lot less. (also 10% inflation is high but not catastrophic in the grand scheme of things, if it goes on for a few years it's big problem, but for now it's not so bad). \n\nIf you need medicine or a computer in Russia your costs will go up. But Russia exports raw materials, which just got cheaper which is good for the rest of us. \n\nSanctions on Russia are a different problem. That's going to make them look East rather than West for customers. Good for China, bad for Europe I suppose. \nRussia has absolutely insane wealth inequality. This crisis screws people at the top a lot, which is why they are fleeing to anywhere they can with every penny they can take. \n"
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6b3gji | why do i burn myself when touching water at 100°c but not when touching air at the same temperature? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6b3gji/eli5_why_do_i_burn_myself_when_touching_water_at/ | {
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"basically it comes down to the rate of heat transfer.\n\nair is actually a pretty major insulator, while water is going to transfer that heat very quickly",
"Same reason why styrofoam sitting outside in 5C feels warm and the metal piece next to it feels cold. Termal conductivity."
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3n2vkp | why are astronauts and submariners still fed "real" food instead of some kind of nutrient paste/liquid thats much easier to store? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3n2vkp/eli5_why_are_astronauts_and_submariners_still_fed/ | {
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"Because psychological health is also something that is a major concern for long term events. Having nutrient paste or liquid diets is very very demoralizing. "
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55j16r | how do parasites and algae enter a new aquarium? | How does algae materialise in aquariums and where do parasites and diseases come from if all the fish in an aquarium were in quarantine and rocks/gravel have all been washed?
How does algae get into your aquarium and where do the parasites come from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55j16r/eli5how_do_parasites_and_algae_enter_a_new/ | {
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"Algae can be really tiny and can become airborne fairly easily so it can get to anything that is exposed to the air. Also like bacteria it is virtually impossible to get rid of 100% of it especially on the irregular surfaces of rocks.",
"Local fish store manager here!\n\nAlgae is frigging everywhere. It's single celled and only needs a little bit of moisture to stay alive. As u/MJMurcott pointed out, it can get airborne easily. But it'll also hitchhike on your skin, or more likely, in the water your fish were transported in. Same with parasites. That's why it's important to net your fish from the bag instead of pouring the whole thing in!\n\nParasites will also stay hidden, particularly in your fish's gills. Ich is known for this. It can stay in the gills and not be noticeable for weeks until its lifecycle puts it into the spore phase, and a week after that suddenly half your tank has it.\n\nA coworker swears he carried ich in droplets stuck in his metal watch band: his Oscar was ich free for years, but suddenly got it bad a week after he started working here and had to clean an infected tank!"
]
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2w4p2g | some islamics are offended when pictures of mohammed the prophet are created, so why doesn't this extend to other prophets? there are millions or pictures/ videos depicting other prophets recognised by the sharia including abraham, moses, noah and jesus. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w4p2g/eli5_some_islamics_are_offended_when_pictures_of/ | {
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"It does [extend to other prophets](_URL_0_) (I'm not entirely sure how to ELI5 this, since the question asks to explain something that isn't true, so I figured linking to the Wikipedia article was the next best thing). ",
"And the prohibition is comparatively recent. Images of Mohammed from Muslim texts: _URL_0_",
"I'll preface this by saying I'm not a Muslim, but religion interests me and I've done what I can to learn, so:\n\nThe Qu'ran doesn't explicitly state you can't depict the prophets, but it does ban the worship of idols. The ban on depictions comes from some things called the Hadith, which is basically a collection of wisdom from people who knew Muhammad or his followers, a kind of authorative hearsay, like \"the Qu'ran doesn't say it but I witnessed Muhammad say he didn't like X so we shouldn't do X.\"\n\nMuch like how different Christian denominations, such as Catholic and Protestant believe the same god but believe different saints and different rules, there are different denominations of Islam (such as Sunni and Shia) which follow different Hadith. Some Hadith are so strict they state no living creature should be depicted, through to ones that state only the prophets in general shouldn't be depicted in case they lead to cases of idol worship. So right off the bat, different types of Muslim are okay with different levels of depiction of different people.\n\nThat \"idol worship\" part also gets tricky. Whilst all of the prophets are considered important, most Muslims accept that Judaism and Christianity also believe in them and will generally accept that they have a right to depict them if they so wish, but choose not to depict them themselves. That's as far as the belief extends. If you're a Muslim, and you believe in those Hadith, then you don't depict the prophets, but you don't have a right to tell anyone else whether they can or can't.\n\nExtreme or fundamentalist Muslims of recent years (this isn't some ancient tradition, really a modern societal reaction) tend to get a bit annoyed at any depiction of any prophet, but they too realise it'd be utterly futile to try and get Christians to stop depicting Christ etc, whereas Muhammad is an explicitly Islam-only prophet, which they feel gives nobody else a valid reason to depict him, and that depictions are thus disrespectful to Muslims, and then violence occurs to try and force them to stop and we end up where we are now."
]
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"http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/islamic_mo_full/"
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dbsanq | how can the nsa activate your microphone while your device is turned off? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dbsanq/eli5_how_can_the_nsa_activate_your_microphone/ | {
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"Who says they turn it on when in reality it could always on?",
"The NSA wouldn't be very good at their jobs if someone could give you an exact answer.\n\nIf you know how it's done, you know how to undo it. The last thing the NSA wants is for someone to figure out how they do it.",
"Your phone actually has two operating systems. The top one, like Android or iOS, manages buttons, apps, display, etc.\n\nThe one underneath is the one that manages connections to cell phone towers and that kind of hardware.\n\nI'm no expert, but it's quite possible that when you shut your smartphone off, one part of it continues to run, at least at a reduced level. It could certainly receive commands and activate your microphone while your phone appears to be asleep, or even off.",
"The NSA can't, as far as anyone knows, activate some random microphone on some random guys laptop. \n\nIf they have a terrorist, then they find a way to load a spyware program which gives them background access, remotely, to the operating system on that laptop. Then they probably load some other program which will enable the microphone output to be packetized and streamed to a server at NSA or FBI headquarters.\n\nNow, has NSA struck some kind of backroom deal with Microsoft to load that spyware on with every new copy of Windows? Who knows? But my guess would be, probably not. If that came to light it would cause a shitstorm of epic proportions. Not just for the government but for Microsoft also. So no one is going to sign off on potentially bugging everyone in the entire United States. Any installation of spyware is going to require a wiretap order signed by a judge. I know everyone thinks we are under NSA surveillance all the time but it's not true.",
"Lots of possibilities.\n\nThe phone has to be built to be always be on or to be woken on receiving a specific instruction.\n\nNsa can set up fakephone towers that your phone will accept commands from including activation of phone features.",
"I used to write patents for companies in this space (e.g., Ericsson, Qualcomm, Broadcom, etc.) and have seen a number of ways this can happen. The typical way a non-user can activate a resource (e.g., microphone, camera, gps) is by sending a packet containing certain commands to the UE (i.e., cell phone). The UE then receives this packet and the operating system executed the commands, thereby turning on the desired resource. The real trick is getting past the security measures of the OS, which can vary by phone and from country to country. This can occur a million different ways, but the most common is by repurposing other tools, such as adding a resource trigger to a national emergency command. Here is a patent for Broadcom discussing one way this can occur: _URL_0_.",
"Encryption only works if it is unbreakable, except between the sender and receiver. NSA has people who are smarted enough to identify/introduce flaws in encryption technology that if the encryption is used, they can decrypt the msg, see link. [_URL_0_](_URL_2_) IIRC, Snowden disclosed NSA's cloud spying cluster.\n\nFurthermore, China added a tiny chip to motherboards being manufactured in China to steal data. [_URL_1_](_URL_1_)\n\nFinally, phones with removable battery was one way to ensure no power to the chip/mic/etc. With non-removable battery, you don't know what gets power and what data is being sent. You should assume any powered electric device should be listening in at all time(some might even be sending low res pic).\n\nAs a side note, based on my experience, Facebook is the glue that holds all other big data firms together. Once I killed my Facebook acct, my targeted ad on all servers became wildly inaccurate.",
"Side note: thought you might like this. The Soviet Union gave a US ambassador a gift way back when of a US Plaque, inside was a listening device that had no active electronics. It used passive technology to transmit audio. Really neat item, saw a thing about it at the spy museum in DC.\n\nInteresting technology given the time in which it was made, very clever.\n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"There isn't one right answer here. It varies infinitely from device to device, OS to OS, and between versions of the same OS. The short answer though is simple: bugs.\n\nProgrammers are not perfect, and they're doing work which is immensely complex, often with tools and techniques which are crude or error-prone. It's not that unusual to make some sort of subtle mistake or fail to foresee a possibility that some other clever individual discovers and learns how to exploit for their own benefit.\n\nHere's a simple example of this sort of thing, though with a password rather than a microphone:\n\n\n def checkPassword(input: String): Boolean = {\n var i = 0\n while (i < input.length) {\n if (input.charAt(i) != Expected.charAt(i))\n return false\n i += 1\n }\n return true\n }\n\nOkay, so even if you don't know how to program, you can get a general idea of what the above is doing. It takes some `input` password from a user and checks it against some `Expected` password, one character at a time. If it finds a character which *doesn't* match, it immediately returns `false` and presumably the user will be denied a login. If it gets all the way through the `input` password, then we know that every character matched, so we let the user in!\n\nThere are *three* bugs here, all of which are bad, and two of which can be exploited by a clever attacker to do things they shouldn't be allowed to do. The three bugs, in escalating order of severity:\n\n- We only bound the loop by the length of `input`, not the length of `Expected`. If `input` is longer than `Expected`, then our function will crash!\n- We do *less work* when `input` fails to match `Expected` early on in the string, meaning that our function will return `false` faster than it would have had `input` failed to match later on in the string. If an attacker just watches the clock and tries a bunch of different passwords, they can figure out when they've managed to stumble upon a few characters at the front of their guess which match the *actual* password. Once they know that, they can concentrate on passwords which include that prefix and repeat the process, *dramatically* reducing the amount of guesswork they need to do.\n- We don't bother checking that `input` is as long as `Expected`. This is related to point one, but with a nasty twist: it means that the empty password is accepted as valid, *regardless* of what the `Expected` password is. So anyone can log in just by pressing \"Enter\".\n\nThese are all bugs. The first and third are very likely to be caught in code review and with some testing effort, but the second one is quite subtle and is very frequently encountered in the wild (e.g. if you log into five online shopping websites that aren't Amazon, I bet you that at least four of them have this bug). Even the first bug on this list can be quite severe, since software that crashes is, by definition, in an invalid state, and all sorts of unanticipated things can happen when you crash. Like, say, logging personal data in the interest of \"helping to diagnose the crash\", which is another bug that four of those five shopping websites almost certainly have.\n\nNow, these are very simple bugs. More complex software and hardware have far, far more subtle and complicated bugs that are much harder to find, much harder to exploit, and much harder to explain. For example, a bug in the way that operating systems manage RAM was exploited a few years ago, allowing attackers to read *any* data in memory on machines which ran their code (including data like passwords, and worse). The oversight came from the fact that RAM hardware is implemented using electricity passing through silicon pathways, and those pathways are close enough to *very* mildly interfere with each other, just due to… physics (well, technically due to magnets). In other words, in some sense, the bug was caused by *the nature of our universe* combined with the raw miniaturization of modern physical hardware. That's a very hard bug to find!\n\nSo what does this have to do with the microphone on your phone? Well, the NSA can't get access… unless there are bugs in your phone's hardware, operating system, or the apps you're running, or some combination of all three (usually it's a combination). Bugs are very very common, and while both Google and Apple work extremely hard to address these sorts of things proactively and aggressively, mistakes still happen. The latest version of iOS, for example, *shipped* with a known bug which allowed anyone who could physically touch your phone to access all of your contacts without unlocking it. They fixed that a few days later, but you get the picture.\n\nThis is why it's so important to keep your phone and computer updated. It really is far and away your best defense against the NSA, hackers, and really everyone, because it's also far and away your best defense against bugs."
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"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG"
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49smvz | the nsa's prism program | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/49smvz/eli5the_nsas_prism_program/ | {
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"One of the great challenges of the 21st century is figuring out how our old laws and constitutional rights apply to digital age technology. New technologies are not exactly analogous to anything that was around when the constitution was written, so it's unclear what's meant to be protected and prohibited. If I'm in a bank and I write a letter, and that letter is readable by the security camera, does the tape break the constitution? Could it be used in ways that violate the constitution? What happens if someone notices my letter while investigating the bank for something else? We'll be coming back to this.\n\nPRISM is a bulk data collection plan by the NSA. Every electronic communication, from your phone calls to your emails to your texts are all delivered by digital transmission. What that means is that you make a copy, your ISP makes a copy, and then they make a third copy at the destination. The NSA keeps a copy of the ISP records for themselves. In essence, by an accident of digital technology, there's always a camera looking at us writing letters, and while the NSA isn't reading every letter, it's saving all the camera film in case it wants to look at a letter one day. They would argue that you shouldn't have the expectation of privacy while writing a letter in a bank, and that you shouldn't have the expectation that no one has a copy of your email when you pay your ISP to copy it in three or four places for you.\n\nThis is a real grey area, constitutionally. When the laws against unwarranted search and seizure were written, opening your mail meant having someone intercept the letter written in private, opening it, actually reading it, then sending it on to you. That's much more invasive and personal than what the NSA is doing because no human being is actually reading any of your letters - they've just got a digital time machine to read any letter that was ever sent to you if they get a warrant.\n\nCritics of PRISM will point out that the security is pretty lax. There's nothing to stop an agent from opening any random letter without a warrant. While you would notice if the police opened a physical envelope with your mail, you have no way of knowing if someone accessed a copy of your emails. Accusations from Edward Snowden were that the NSA is not policing itself in an adequate way and that agents were routinely accessing copies of letters without a court order. This criticism is genuine, and it's my opinion that an outside agency (preferably the FBI) should conduct annual audits of NSA file use. \n\nIt's not at all clear if the constitution was meant to stop bulk data collection or not. I think that at this point, a constitutional amendment would be needed to render the actions unconstitutional. Whether such an amendment should be passed is a matter of opinion."
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fhsykq | how can the outdoor temperature ever increase in the middle of the night? where is this warmth coming from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fhsykq/eli5_how_can_the_outdoor_temperature_ever/ | {
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"It happens in Australia quite frequently. The centre of the country is a desert and heats up during the day. That heat rises and moves with the wind so it blows over the cooler areas of the country, meaning quite often we get 10C rises in the middle of the night. It is the hot air from the desert moving with wind across the rest of the country. \n\nThe same effect will happen to lesser extents all around the world for a variety of geographical reasons. \n\nAdditionally, there are established air currents that push hot air from the middle-east across northern europe (the gulf stream). That is what prevents the UK getting as cold as neighbouring scandinavia.",
"Air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. so..the answer is that air in the high-pressure area is warmer than the air in the low pressure area. So...for example, if a dessert area that retains a lot of heat blows toward an area with canopy or near a cooling body of water the air that comes in at night may be warmer than the ambient temperature that it rushes towards.",
"Somewhere warmer. \n\nYou know how the northern US seems to have a week or two of arctic temperatures. Well it's weather patterns forcing air from far north being pushed much further south than it usually does."
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2shuqc | why is it that if someone is sad/depressed their eyes seem dead but when happy, their eyes seem to "light up"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2shuqc/eli5_why_is_it_that_if_someone_is_saddepressed/ | {
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"The sad eyes usually don't blink a lot and lead to a glossy cover which we attribute with sickness or sadness. Sad people tend to stare off and look down and both are signs of *sad*. The muscles around the eyes are relaxed and the eyelids are droopy a well.\n\nWhen the person has happy eyes they are much more open and wide which we associate with paying attention, energy and livliness. The muscles are also actively being used and don't look lethargic or worn out.\n\nEDIT- I also want to add that most of the sad or happy eyes we see is actually our subconscious taking in body language (mostly facial expression and movement) and giving us the impression that the eyes are more sad than they actually look by themselves.",
"I think the effect is mainly due to the dilation of pupils.the enlargement is small but It is very noticeable it gives the lilight up feeling. Furthermore, the cheek muscle positions play a role in appearing genuinely happy. There is a study about the matter"
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5p0txk | microsoft buying minecraft for 2.5b | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p0txk/eli5_microsoft_buying_minecraft_for_25b/ | {
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"That's what it cost to buy them. They paid what they thought was a fair price that they could turn a profit on in a reasonable amount of time.\n\nAlso keep in mind that Minecraft/Mojang is a pretty big game, it's generating substantive revenues and the brand itself is worth billions. Microsoft (most likely) figures that that they take the existing brand and build on it."
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2iq2hb | how do the cables in a suspension bridge hold it up, since the cable at the top is slack? | See: The Golden Gate bridge. _URL_0_
Shouldn't the top wire be a series of straight line segments, rather than forming a smooth curve? I'm a first year engineering student, and I still don't get it.
_URL_1_
Edit: Added diagram.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2iq2hb/eli5_how_do_the_cables_in_a_suspension_bridge/ | {
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"Suspension bridges are an interesting design feat that were accomplished using a very complicated set of cables to balance the weight over long distances. \n\nThe Golden Gate bridge is one of the prime examples and is studied far and wide by engingeering students worldwide.\n\nTo simply answer: Its because it is not a straight line at all. The main truss, is not a solid piece. [Each Main cable](_URL_0_) is made up of 23,700 smaller wires strung together into the same shell that is approximately 36\" across.\n\nThe weight of this is an extreme amount, and allows for the main cables to flex downward but at the same time be very, very solid.\n\nIf you tried to make it in a straight line or make a solid piece of steel, it would not properly distribute the weight of the bridge and the occupants as the cables do now. It would bend and break because it would have a fault point. The thousands of strands have the flexibility to remain strong even under the duress of its own weight.",
"No one here's explained the real answer, so I'll take a stab at it.\n\nFor a cable in isolated suspension, like a telephone wire, the natural shape of the wire is a hyperbolic trigonometric function; see [here](_URL_0_). The reason for this is an annoying statics derivation I did in college that has to do with the way a flexible tensile structure supports an evenly distributed load. Because the weight of the cable is constant over it's length, that's the naturally resulting deformed shape of the cable between supports.\n\nFor a suspension bridge, the forces acting on the cable are the weight of the cable, and the weight of the surface or road of the bridge. The weight of the bridge can be evenly distributed along the length of the cables. This is very nearly the case, as there are many supporting cables holding the road up and transmitting the load to the suspension cable. \n\nSo, you've got the evenly distributed weight of the cable, and the evenly distributed weight of the bridge. The two evenly distributed weights combine to form a single evenly distributed weight, and the resulting deformed shape is another hyperbolic trigonometric function (same as before). Now, there's considerably more bend to the cable due to the weight of the bridge, but that doesn't change the general deformed shape.",
"If it was taught and straight, it would be weaker in the middle (or near the middle, not 100% sure). The bend is more natural, and the weight is more even in that shape. Also, even though it looks slack, the Golden Gate Bridge actually has a lot of tension! ",
"The ELI5 answer for your confusion is that the cable at the top isn't slack, it's just bearing weight in a curved shape rather than a straight one, to provide more even force distribution across the whole cable."
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"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/GoldenGateBridge-001.jpg",
"http://puu.sh/c53BD.png"
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5kx8sb | how does a newborn know how to pout? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kx8sb/eli5_how_does_a_newborn_know_how_to_pout/ | {
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"Many behaviors are innate to us, which can easily be demonstrated by people who have been blind/deaf since birth and still smile and laugh despite never having observed and learned the behavior from others.",
"Pouting specifically would be an innate behavior because it allows the newborn the ability to signal to its mother displeasure and elicit a sympathy response from her; improving its chances of survival."
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6qsqfp | why isn't chewing tobacco a big thing in countries like usa, england and ? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qsqfp/eli5_why_isnt_chewing_tobacco_a_big_thing_in/ | {
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"If you're talking about nicotine gum, it can have help benefits if it helps a smoker quit. \n\nIf you talk about chewing tobbaco, it destroys your teeth and is linked to mouth / tongue cancer.\n\nAs to why it isn't popular ? It's less addictive than a cigarette (nicotine reaches your brain faster and blood level nicotine peaks faster), it isn't glorified by movies, it wasn't advertised... in one word, it's less profitable for big tobbacco companies."
]
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1lpjbx | why cant we order and buy new cars completely online, but are instead required to go to the dealership? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lpjbx/eli5_why_cant_we_order_and_buy_new_cars/ | {
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"Tesla cars can be bought online! Otherwise due to state laws and stuff for regular cars you must go to a dealership.\n\nPersonally the best way that secured car purchases with me is go to Edmunds Tmv, get that price with the specs you priced and go to a dealership.'if they don't even match it or come close walk out and go to another one. Every time they say wait and i get the TMV price",
"This story on planet money does a really good job of ELI5 on this question: _URL_0_"
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9hxjyt | how does your stomach know when the food is bad and decides to stop processing and starting pushing it back where it came from? | After a night of hurling (non alcohol induced) I had plenty of time to wonder about it... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9hxjyt/eli5_how_does_your_stomach_know_when_the_food_is/ | {
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"Our stomach doesn’t know the food is bad. Instead, the cause of the food spoilage is bacteria. When the bacteria contact the environment in the stomach the organisms break open and spill their cellular contents into the stomach. Those contents act as an irritant to the GI system, leading to nausea and contractions of the stomach and esophagus that lead to vomiting. ",
"We have a ridiculous amount of bacteria and sensors in our gut. Amazingly of the 100 trillion odd bacteria in our gut, our bodies can detect rogue bacteria pretty precisely. This triggers the orders to clear house.\n\nEdit: I'm no expert, by any means. I've just been reading the book The Mind-Gut Connection. Fascinating stuff - do recommend. The gut is an extremely complicated thing and is much more integral with our other organs than we possible imagined a few decades ago. \n\nInteresting fact: the bacteria in our gut (changed the above to gut instead of stomach, apparently the majority of the bacteria is in our large intestine. Also changed 300 to 100) has evolved with us over time and has learned to communicate with us through signaling molecules which communicate with the nervous system in our bodies, basically the same way drugs do.",
"Most foodborne diseases take at least 24 hours to produce an effective dose, unless it is fucking rancid, which if you eat, is clearly a net gain for the gene pool.\n\nWhat normally happens is that you eat some contaminated food, but there is not enough pathogen to hurt you. However the stomach is a wonderful place for something like salmonella to multiply and so it will. It will continue to do so until it reaches an effective dose. That's when the confusion of whether you should put your head or your arse over the toilet first.\n\nIf you take care of how you store your food, make sure you cook it thoroughly and eat it right away, the chances of contracting something reduces immensely.",
"A lot of people are unaware that our gastrointestinal tract is filled with neurons that act as what's known as our \"second brain.\" It can send chemical signals to the brain within a short period of time. A recent study (I don't know the source, it was on Reddit recently) suggested that it can also send nerve impulses through the Vagus nerve directly to the brain within milliseconds.",
"chemistry, if stuff \"tastes\" not normal or triggers something that couses irritation and your body start the \"get that out of me\" process"
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5zteqx | i want to design a video game. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5zteqx/eli5_i_want_to_design_a_video_game/ | {
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"You could start with a basic programming course and maybe the series on coursera about video game design from Michigan state. I thought it was pretty good to start. ",
"I think the first step would be deciding what type of game you want to make, and based on that, what programming language you should learn. Depending on how much money you want to put into the project, you could probably hire just about everyone you need to realize the concept...programmer, artist, designer, director etc etc. you could totally use your 7-8 hours to learn basic programming, and while you'll put a lot more time into it, you'll be able to make it exactly to your concept.",
"I would recommend Unreal Engine for creating a video game. It's free at first, but if you're making over $5000 (?) a quarter you have to pay them 5%. It can look great and there is some great asset packs you can get started with. There is tutorials on YouTube for beginners too, so hopefully it will suit your needs. ",
"Seeing as your background is in business administration, you're probably better off starting a studio and hiring employees to do the technical work.\n\nHowever, if you want to get into it yourself, I wrote an ELI5 answer to a very similar question I can link you to:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThat should shed a little light on what makes a video game. Sorry I can't help more with the fundamentals of programming, but they are available out there as well.",
"I concur that Unreal editor is the way to go. The SDK is freely available and you pay nothing unless you make money.\n\nThere are plenty of free assets you can use as long as you credit people and assets you can buy to use in your projects. Like more than any other kit that I know of currently.\n\nYou can use the Unreal for mobile games ... my starting suggestion since those games are smaller scale, easier to do in a one man project and theres plenty of tutorials on making them. And a little money if you get lucky and it goes viral or popular.\n\nA full PC development or console game from a one-man project is insane. Don't even think about it unless you want to go crazy. Good luck and have fun OP!",
"The very first thing would be to understand that you WILL NOT be making money off your first game project and you most likely won't even want to release it on a free public site. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop games, yet many of your early projects will be duds. \n\nAn important note that any amateur game dev will tell you is to remember scope control. Limit your game's scope. That means limit the number of assets, features, remove anything complicated like physics. Do not plan to make more than one level or environment. No complicated online bullshit. (EDIT: Some of the neatest amateur games I've seen have come out of gamejam projects with like one mechanic and set in one level. Those first time game maker guys online who want to make the next MMOCODWOW killer never ever get their projects off the ground).\n\nSo, ok, how start game? First get out a notepad and write down your idea. Then look it over and identify the core gameplay mechanic. You want to pick one thing that the game hinges on. Make it simple, make it work. \n\nFrom that core game mechanic you build the game's design document. This is your outline. You want to limit the number of assets- and the more complicated the game's visuals the fewer assets you should have. \n\nThen you build your assets (this is 2d art on sprite sheets, 3d models, or what have you) and you code your game in an existing engine. Either UDK or Unity are the popular free engines (you need to pay a fee if you ever get to the point of selling a game with them).\n\nI would highly suggest looking at a free tutorial for Unity or UDK which shows you how to build a demo game and copying that step by step to create a small demo game. You should also look for local in-person GameJam type events where you are tasked with making a game in 24-72 hours. The games you make at GameJams are often extremely janky, but they are extremely good learning events. \n\nEDIT: Question- What is your current game concept? ",
"Former game developer here,\n\nIf you want to make it yourself, you have to consider what part(s) you want to make yourself. Typically, people will collaborate as much as possible, especially programmers with artists and musicians, yet others will learn the skills to do all three. So pick up the parts you want and collaborate with the others.\n\nFirst, write down your ideas, as much as possible. Backstories, concepts, game rules, structures, sketches, flow charts, whatever you got. The document should be a living document, changes and revisions should be added and tracked. It will help everyone, especially yourself. You think you remember everything now, but wait 6 months, you'll forget. Office document formats often have document history and revision tools built in, learn how to use them. Incorporate all that you can into the document.\n\nSecond, you're going to need a budget and a schedule. Most everything you're going to want to do is going to be free, so your budget will likely be zero. Fine. But the schedule. This ties back to the document - you need to know what *done* looks like, and you need projections and accountability so that you *actually work on your project* and you can track your progression. This is often the #1 killer of a project. You need clear goals and agendas in mind.\n\nIf you want to make a game, you need a scope. And this is going to be in your document. Game makers typically use off the shelf components as much as possible, because we're not in the business of making custom renderers and tools, we're in the business of making our games! Every developer has a \"forever\" project that will never be finished. Your games can't be one of those. It's a killer.\n\nThird, if you're going to be a developer, you need to learn to program. There r/programming to get started, and they have links on their sidebar to learn programming. There's also r/gamedev whom will be one of your greatest allies.\n\nI can't tell you what language to learn, because it depends on many factors. Typically, you'll use whatever language your engine was written in, but there's no actual requirement for that. Research the type of game and platform you're targeting, and look at the engines available to you.\n\nYou'll have to learn concepts like variables, functions, branching, recursion, polymorphism, etc, but you only have to learn them once. After that, it's just syntax of a particular language."
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1nrs2n | i feel like i'm decent looking but why do i look uglier in pictures? | Not an insecure post. Just a general question. I think I'm decent looking when I look at myself in the mirror, but when I see pictures of myself I don't like them. Most of the time I find myself looking uglier than what I think I look like. Also some of my features in the mirror look good but when I see pictures they stick out. Like my hairline. I feel like I'm going bald when I see my pictures, but it seems fine when I look at myself in the mirror.
I have to "pose" and stand on an angle and stuff to get a picture. But when I'm standing in front of the mirror, I have no issues about how I look.
It's like your voice. When you listen to a recording it doesn't sound anything like you think it sounds. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nrs2n/eli5_i_feel_like_im_decent_looking_but_why_do_i/ | {
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"Your image in the mirror is what you're used to seeing. It's what your mental image of yourself looks like. In your mind, your image in the mirror **is** you.\n\nHowever, almost no one has a completely symmetrical face, and when you look at a picture, you're seeing a non-mirrored image of yourself that doesn't quite match your mental image of what you look like. So since it doesn't look like \"you\", you view it as being less attractive.\n\nAlthough it might surprise you to know that your friends and family have the opposite opinion. They're used to seeing your non-mirrored face, so to them, your image in the mirror is the less-attractive one.",
"What AnteChronos said about mirroring, and also because images are flat. A lot of features that may look nice in real life don't look as good when viewed flattened. Like noses for example may look wider in pictures than irl because you can't see the depth of the nose like you can in real life. Bad lighting can also can make you look worse because it can cast shadows in unflattering places. ",
"If the photograph used flash it is extra bad. All the proper forms get flattened out and you can see a lot of reflection in your skin so you see all of the imperfections and protruding brow etc... When you look in a mirror you might be getting nice \"top-down\" lighting sorta similar to a movie or something. This \"key light\" might be soft and you will get nice shadows and warm lighting. You just get the impresion of yourself at a glance. But in a photo you can see yourself up close. All the oddities. Especially if the light is blown out like in the sun / convention center / or with flash. \n\nFlash is the devil.\n\nAlso. Field of view can make people look less desirable. The more flat the perspective the better some people look. No joke for some online dating pictures i've taken pictures of myself from further away (using a timer) and then cropped the image. ",
"You can learn to be more photogenic. Check out Peter Hurley on Youtube. He's a famous headshot photographer and gives some great tips.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Something I didn't see mentioned: some people (like me) are uncomfortable around cameras, and even more so around video cameras. We become self conscious and try to pose. The only pictures where I don't find myself ugly are the ones where I wasn't aware a picture was taken.\n\nI hate it when my mother pulls out her camera at every familly gathering, I try not to look at it so I won't know when she takes the pic. What makes it worse is she will make people stand still for 2 minutes with a fixed fake smile until she figures out which button to press.\n\n"
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f99zkd | how do the clinic personnel avoid getting infected with contagious diseases all the time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f99zkd/eli5_how_do_the_clinic_personnel_avoid_getting/ | {
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"There are strict rule one has to follow in those situations. If it really is as contagious as you say and the disease can be transferred via fluids, the personal most certainly wears a mask and gloves. Besides that disinfecting your hand before and after contact to the patient can keep most things away from you, if you don't lick your fingers or touch your face right after contact. And last, but not least the immune system gets pretty strong if you're in constant contact to diseases :)",
"A big key is do not touch your face or your head. You train yourself to never do it. Watch yourself one day, see how many times you touch your face, scratch, rub your eyes, brush your hands through you hair, prop your face in your hands, you'll be surprised. The big issue is your eyes, nose, and mouth have mucous membranes. This gives bacteria n shit easy access to your body. How they teach children is \"don't touch your T zone\" the eyes, nose, and mouth make a T shape if you trace them. By not touch your face or head at all helps immensely with not getting sick. From there its just good practices, proper ppe (protective materials like gloves, gowns, masks) and sanitization/hygiene.",
"In addition to all the other answers about how risks are mitigated, you should be aware that healthcare personnel *do* get sick, but they often show up to work anyways.\n\nWhen I was an EMT, I was sometimes sicker than the patients I was transporting.",
"Most viruses don't really actually fly through the air between people very much. If someone has smallpox or something that is actually airborne they need masks and respirators, but most diseases you need to get on your hands and then touch your face or some broken skin or something. Stuff you can learn to just not do.",
"Hand sanitizer before going in and going out of any room, washing hands often, gloves when interacting with patients, and contact precautions (mask, gown, gloves) when a patient is particularly contagious or susceptible to infections.\n\nMost diseases aren't airborne and incredibly infectious (like TB comes to mind) when a patient does have these diseases special precautions like pressurized rooms and airborne face masks are used.",
"Paediatrician here - we don’t. Never been as ill in my life as doing 6 months in children’s A & E 😒\n\nWashing your hands is all very well but when a child sneezes right in your face ain’t a lot you can do...",
"Wash hands like 12 times a shift. Do not touch face. Always and I mean always avoid touching the patients or their belongings without gloves.",
"38 years teaching elementary school means I’ve seen nearly as many cases of pink eye, skin rashes, runny noses, lice infestations, and barfing kids as a physician. My first year teaching was rough until my body developed some resistance. After that I rarely got sick. I do not touch my face, I washed my hands constantly, I washed down surfaces like their desks and door knobs, and I also washed my hands before I left school, frequently washed my steering wheel, and then washed my hands when I came in the house. I did my best not to bring germs home to my family.",
"not all illnesses can be passed via the air. if an illness can be passed via the air someone often has to stay in an special room or some kind of translucent dome to prevent further spread. when someone is confined to an room or dome like that its called quarantine. when personnel enters an quarantine zone they will wear additional protection and possibly even air tanks.\n\nfor illnesses that do not pass via the air, personnel has strict hand washing guidelines to wash away the illness. in my country for example, they have to wash their hands with special anti illness soap (disinfecting soap) whenever they enter and leave an patients room. they have other additional rules like not touching any wet or slimy body parts (lips/mouth, anus, ear canal, etc) without first washing their hands.\n\nadditional if they touch an patient, they generally wear one time use gloves which they throw away afterwards. they still have to wash their hands though.\n\nwhen they know an patient might splash fluid on them with the risk of transmitting illnesses they sometimes wear face shields (a cap with a bend plastic window attached that completely covers the face from ear to ear and extends down to below the chin).\n\nadditionally they often have to wear white clothes. even their shoes. A lot of dentists i know for example wear white crocks or clogs because they didn't have white shoes themselves. this is because any dirt which might contain illness transmitting stuff is easily spotted on it and washed away.\n\nAnother big thing is that clinics are cleaned more thoroughly than other places, this too limits spread. the reality of it is that it isn't 1 or 2 things that makes it harder for illness to spread, its an multitude of measures working together.\n\nhope these answer some of your questions!"
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3d3teg | why did human babies evolve to be so loud and demanding? wouldn't a constantly screaming baby be an extreme problem for the safety/hunting of our ancestors? | So my best friend recently had a baby and it got me thinking. Too much crying can..
- Stress out the parents, or make them sleep deprived, which isn't good for the baby's survival prospects
- Not only stress out the parents, but stress out everyone else in the vicinity, which could cause banishment/anger towards the family
- Scare off nearby hunted animals
- Attract dangerous animals
- Give away the position of the tribe etc, possibly allowing attack from hostile tribes etc
And so on.
Obviously babies do it for a reason (to signal that they need food, feeling uncomfortable, etc). But it seems like the advantages of not crying so much, outweigh the disadvantages. This is backed up by the fact that (correct if wrong) no other animal on this planet cries, or is as loud, as a human baby. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d3teg/eli5_why_did_human_babies_evolve_to_be_so_loud/ | {
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"Most baby animals do make noises to attract parents but not so loud as humans. In the case of humans it is likely the reason that they make more noise is because that all other animals are basically afraid of humans therefore no need to keep quiet.",
"I do believe our brains are wired to respond to a baby's call as if it was top priority, in order to ensure our genetic offspring survives and reproduces. The shrill noise of a baby's cry is being exaggerated by our brains and prompt us to heed their call. \n\nA constantly screaming baby would have been taken care of by the mother, that is why our female ancestors were preoccupied with taking care of the young most of the time. ",
"Hehe, this video has a potential answer to that: [BAH - \"The Crying Game\" Hypothesis](_URL_0_). \n\nOk, this is sort of a joke, but BAH (Bad Ad-hoc Hypotheses) are awesome. \n\nIn all seriousness, this may have something to do with why the men went out hunting separately from the women (to keep crying babies away from the prey). All in all, crying is generally positive for a baby's evolutionary fitness, because it gets adults to pay attention to its needs. We can probably all relate to how impossible it is to ignore crying babies!",
"It's not that they evolved to be loud, they didn't need to evolve to be quiet. There was no selection pressure selecting for quiet babies. On the contrary, there was very strong selection pressure favouring animals smart enough to leave us alone.",
"It's from living in social groups where staying quiet wasn't a priority because of the types of threats. Predators would not have much trouble tracking/locating the group so a crying baby doesn't reduce the group's chances of survival. The babies chances of survival go way up when the parents are constantly tending to it's needs in the hope that it will shut the fuck up and let them sleep. \n\nAnother argument would be that ~70,000 years ago the human population dropped to around ~2,000 individuals. This is the Toba catastrophe theory which correlates with a bottleneck in the human population. Perhaps the set of mutations for a quiet baby, and the conditions to select for that, have not come about since.",
"Virtually all infant animals make noise to communicate all the same things human infants do. The difference is due to the size of our brains we are born far less developed than other animals are. \n\nIt is true that it would cause problems if you are hiding from predators and hunting with an infant, which is why we did not do that often historically. We alter our environment building defensible shelters (be they caves, campsites, or villages), live in groups for protection, and send hunters out from the group to gather food. ",
"If you leave a baby without stimulus, as in left in the cave while parents are hunting, it supposedly goes completely silent after a short while.",
"Your question may be unduly influenced by western ideas of what babies do. In many cultures babies are securely strapped to a family member 95% of the day, fed on demand, and never left alone. As a result, they aren't \"loud and demanding\" nearly as much. \n\n**EDIT**: my most popular comment and Gold. Also controversial it would seem. See _URL_0_ for a more scientific answer. And yes, I am a parent and have lived with a newborn full time. ",
"Evolution is more based on survival. So the genes in babies that cry are still being passed on. If those babies started dieing off and more quiet babies' genes continued to fill the space, then evolution would have turned out differently.",
"I've often wondered about this (mostly in case of zombie apocalypse because I feel like having a small child would screw your chances of survival big time) but the explanations below cover it pretty well. Humans are very adaptable creatures, and we've tended to change our environments to suit our needs. Particularly after we started building settlements, noise would not have been seen as a problem. If anything, most predators seem to be scared off by lots of noise because it is not consistent with \"prey\" behavior. Think of the advice you've probably heard about what to do if you encounter a bear or mountain lion- make yourself big and make lots of noise. The only reason it would be a problem with zombies is because they aren't scared of you :)",
"This isn't really evolution so much as behavioral psychology.\n\nFor the parents, it's a textbook example of negative reinforcement: you do something because it makes something unpleasant stop happening. Fire alarms work on the same principle: you hear a really annoying noise and you want to stop hearing it right now! Babies get attention much more promptly because the sounds they make are obnoxious. \n\nAnd for the baby, it's positive reinforcement: more crying, harder and louder, means that needs get met more promptly. So of course that's what they're going to do! Language development is what starts to head this off: it's much faster and easier to tell an adult that you're hungry than it is to scream until someone figures out that you want food. (And interestingly, we see the very beginnings of language development in infants' crying: babies raised by parents speaking different languages will cry in different patterns, and early in development babies start to use different cries to express different needs and desires.)",
"Human babies are pretty average at fending for themselves. Most infant animals can walk by the end of the day, we however cant do anything, we cant do anything other than scream for the first 4 or 5 months. Its most than likely also why we learn to speak so quickly, communication is what lets us as a species exist.",
"About five million years ago, our ancestors began to walk on two legs. That switch required a major change in the architecture of the human pelvis, which changed from long and slender, to short and broad to accommodate the muscles for walking upright. That re-engineering also altered the birth canal. At first, birth wasn’t a problem because human brain size was still small (the size of an ape), so newborns could exit through the more constricted and curvier birth canal with relative ease. But once our ancestral brain size became exceedingly large, about three-and-a-half million years later, babies simply couldn’t exit. Evolution opted for a compromise – infants would be born early, some say three months too soon, with smaller than expected brains, and they would be neurologically unfinished.\n\nAnd so babies are both physically and emotionally dependent. They’re cognitively and emotionally immature and unable to care for themselves. This evolutionary response to large brains and tight pelvic openings might not have been successful if evolution hadn’t also recruited adults to be part of the system. Just as babies have been selected to be dependent, adults have been selected to notice baby sounds and movements, to react emotionally, and to respond in ways that relieve a baby’s needs and stresses.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"Last time I checked you don't take a baby hunting with you. You leave the baby at home with the S.O. and she is with the group. Obviously she probably won't be doing gathering with a squeezing little shit demanding milk every 2 seconds.",
"The reality of the situation is that they don't. Humans have evolved to be more sensitive to important peak frequencies such as the human voice (male 1kHz, Female 2kHz and babies around 5kHz). So whilst the level itself isn't overly loud our perception of it is.",
"Human babies are loud and demanding because they are truly helpless and can not do anything for themselves. No other animal on the planet has young that are as helpless for as many years as human babies.",
"Crying and fussing is evolutionarily beneficial for the baby. Keep the mother in close vicinity, and you have a better chance of being fed, comforted, etc. There are a bunch of reflexes and behaviors that babies exhibit that are directly related to their evolutionary survival.\n\nEdit: Fun fact, this is also why babies \"fake cough\" when their parents are not paying attention to them. ",
"I read a theory somewhere that crying babies were more likely to survive because they prevented their parents from having additional siblings, which might be a threat to their survival.\n\nEdit: Here it is _URL_0_",
"I read something about an orphanage where the kids had grown over time to stop crying as they knew nobody came when they did",
"Adding to other comments, babies have also evolved to cry so as to preoccupy the mother preventing its parents from producing more offspring. This would increase the direct fitness of the baby as more attention is paid to it and its development.",
"Just an interesting thought.. I have been living in Thailand for the past few years and I've very rarely seen a crying/screaming child. I find the Thais in general are a lot quieter and well behaved than us westerners when going about their business, so perhaps this has an influence on the children. ",
"I agree with /u/squeakyshoe89, I believe it was to space out siblings, but you have to realize that in those days babies were kept quite close and, therefore, didn't cry as much. They were with someone 24/7 and got their needs met. They were worn and slept with and most likely didn't cry nearly as much as babies do now. ",
"A few good answers up top, but I haven't seen any reference yet to what I think might be the best answer: a relatively recent theory that it's to prevent too many siblings competing for parents' attention. \n\n_URL_0_",
"never forget - a baby that cries and makes its parents exhausted is making it infinitely harder for those parents to have sexual intercourse and therefore this behaviour can reduce the chance of siblings and resultant resource constraints - there are examples all over nature. There's a reason why many, many people stop at 2 - the pain is just too much to handle.... the best contraceptive in the world is a baby, trust me. ",
"I actually know the answer to this! Humans have very large, developed brains compared to other animals. As our brains continued to grow (producing smarter and smarter primates, until we became modern humans) we reached a point where a larger head size would make childbirth very difficult. To make it possible for our brains to develop more without making birth harder, babies are born without fully functional brains which continue to develop after birth. That's why for the first few years of life, they are essentially (from a survival standpoint) helpless. Other animal babies are not fully functional upon being born, but are much closer to full development and can do basic survival tasks.",
"Richard Dawkins discusses something like this in the book \"The Selfish Gene\". To summarize...\n\nIf we imagine a nest full of chicks, one of the chicks might start screeching at the top of its lungs. The mother will react by shoving food down its throat and doing everything to calm it, as the chick is endangering the mother and all of the offspring.\n\nThough this may seem odd, so long as the chick doesn't actually attract a predator, the chick is better of because not only is it getting more resources from the mother, but it is also getting more attention. This leads to greater fitness.\n\nThe offspring are always in a fight to maximize their fitness, even if it is through dangerous methods. Of course, this strategy will hit a roadblock when it actually does attract predators. Even if it isn't predators, the mother or even the other chicks might take action against these loud chicks by chucking them overboard. There is a careful balancing that goes on throughout the generations.\n\nSo this kind of flips the question on its head. Neglected babies that did not cry would not receive the necessary attention from the parents to survive. Babies that did cry when neglected would receive the attention from their parents as well as quiet the baby. To put this another way, the natural state of human babies is not crying all the time, but it is rather being taken care all the time. If a baby is not being taken care of, it is probably crying.\n\nThis actually makes a lot of sense when considering that humans are completely dependent on the caretaker for a number of years.\n\nHow people take care of babies and children today is a little strange, as they receive far far far less attention from their parents than they did in the past. It used to be common to carry the baby everywhere. Nowadays, many parents don't see their babies for up to 10 hours a day.\n\nThere are a lot of other factors involved, and it all gets very confusing. One interesting tidbit is that one reason the whites of the eyes might have evolved in humans is to be a means of allowing the mother to communicate non-verbally with their baby. A wide array of emotions can be communicated with the eyes, with infants being able to read fear at 7 months of age. The idea is that if there was a legitimate danger, the mother will likely make eye contact with the baby to communicate with them.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Hmm... I've heard that babies, after some time of crying, switch to a \"silent mode\", is it true? ",
" > Extremely stress out the parents, or make them sleep deprived, which isn't good for the baby's survival prospects\n\nLegit problem. But when you have the child with you 24 hours a day, it's less of a problem. Plus, you have the help of an entire village. People didn't live alone, so they had elders and other women, and children, in the village available helping them all the time. I bet that baby wasn't crying that much after a while, usually.\n\n > Not only stress out the parents, but stress out everyone else in the vicinity, which could cause banishment/anger towards the family\n\n I mean... nearly everyone else in the village has children at some point, too. They all can help, they all have sage advice to make the kid quiet, etc. I'm sure this issue arose in tribal societies, but they would deal with it.\n\n > Scare off nearby hunted animals\n\nProbably most of their hunting was not done anywhere near earshot of the village. Hunting parties would likely range for many miles, while the baby is back home with mom in the village. This was probably not an issue at all.\n\n > Attract dangerous animals\n\nAnimals were mostly probably smart enough to stay out of the village. Those that weren't were probably dinner when the whole tribe would come out with bows and spears and such. Doubtful that this was much of an issue, either.\n\n > Give away the position of the tribe etc, possibly allowing attack from hostile tribes etc\n\nI'm sure they're not often living in total secret quiet with no fires such that nobody knows where they are. It's not a tribe of Ninjas. The location of the tribe would probably be pretty easy to find if you were in their vicinity, due to other noise, light and smoke from fires, other signs of obvious habitation, etc.",
"Babies cry when they have primitive needs that aren't met. If they have their basic needs met, and are still crying, it is likely an environmental cause. Something smelly, hot/cold, loud... If you look at people, they've evolved to be quite loud themselves, and people are now tempered to be as dramatic as possible (thank you media), rather than calm, cool and collected. When I see parents flipping out at a screaming kid, I instantly know why the kid is screaming. He learned the basic mannerisms from their parents. If you take a family with parents that are calm and collected, and intelligent, and handle situations with their kids in such a manner, their kids will do just the same, and will learn to behave as their parents. ",
"if one takes care of a baby the baby does not scream. people have not learned that yet and like the scream it out method. baby screams because it is hungry put it in the other room and close the door, eventually it stops screaming! ",
"I think its important to realize that tribes of humans have for a very long time been the complete apex of predators. There isn't an animal on earth that willingly hunts humans.",
"I'll go point-by-point:\n\n* Frequently calling for their parents' attention would *help* a baby's survival by making sure they're being taken care of, even if the parents feel stressed out by it.\n\n* This point seems to be projecting our modern sentiments of, say, being on a trans-Atlantic flight with a crying infant. Sure, that frustrates everyone today, but in a hunter-gatherer society? I would expect that baby noises would be very common, and simply a part of life.\n\n* Babies probably wouldn't be taken on hunts - they would be left at \"camp\" while the hunters go off and get food.\n\n* They *could* attract dangerous animals, *maybe* ... but few predators are willing to attack a well-defended prey, like a baby in a group of adults. Predators try to go after stragglers and un-defended young.\n\n* I don't think the sound of a baby crying would carry a very long way. If you were concerned about hiding your position, we're talking about pretty big distances - tens or hundreds of miles, right? You'd have to get within a few hundred *yards* before a really loud baby would be audible to you, and at that point you're 99.9% of the way to finding the camp anyway.\n\nAnd to your very last point, there are lots of baby animals that are *extremely* loud, and there are many species that produce needy offspring that can't do anything for themselves - they are called [altricial](_URL_0_) species. Having noisy, useless babies is a common evolutionary \"strategy\", because the babies do what works best: putting themselves first. The benefits *to the baby* outweigh the risks.\n",
"It's not just that they are loud in an absolute sense, our ears also evolved to be the most sensitive to the frequency of babies crying. It's the reason you can hear a baby crying next to a busy street 100 meters away, but adult voices are lost as background noise.",
"I have a 7 month old, so I'm more curious how we survived when the try to put everything in their mouth.",
"All of the answers dont apply to evolution. They are just social changes. So really, it is nurture over nature. ",
"Sound like a western baby. I feel like babies born of the western cultures are noisier because their parents are not with them all the time (work and such). Looking at tribal people and other cultures, the mothers always carry their baby and very rarely do I see crying babies in various videos about primitive cultures.",
"In hunter gatherer societies the man would go out and hunt and the woman would stay at home and take care of the house.\n\nI'm sorry if that's sexist everyone but that's the way it is. Men and women really are different.",
"I wouldn't claim to be an expert, but here's my general guess to the answer on your points:\n\n* *Stressing out the parents, or making them sleep deprived* - Yes, a crying baby induces a sort of stress, but it's a stress that gets people to respond to try to help a baby, which helps the baby survive, which will probably be selected for. Sleep deprivation probably wasn't that huge of a problem, since people could nap, and weren't on the same kind of rigorous schedule that modern people have, and there would be other people around to help out.\n* *Stressing out others, leading to conflict* - A lot of people fail to realize that affection and compassion are very natural human responses. You'd have a pack of people who are essentially a big close-knit family. If there were a variant of humans who \"banished\" families for having babies, that variant would be selected against, and not last long.\n* *Scare off nearby hunted animals* - There's an easy solution: don't take the babies hunting. One of the conventional models for early humans were that the men organized hunting parties while the women would hang back with the children.\n* *Attract dangerous animals or hostile tribes* - This is probably your best point, in that babies probably would give away the position of people. Most likely, the added danger to the tribe from predators and hostile tribes is dwarfed by the danger to the tribe of babies dying from inattention, and failure to make their needs known.",
"Another perspective;\n\nFrom books I have learned human babies are born (a year or so ) prematurely.\n\nThe reason : brains got bigger and bigger, whereas human female can only deliver so big a baby. Bigger brains help to survive, so evolution supports it.\n\nThe affect:\n\n1. human baby need care for much longer duration then other animals. Baby cows, dogs and even baby monkey require less care\n\n2. Human baby has to stay under protection (of the tribe )for longer \n\n3. Baby males learn who is the alpha, beta, gamma, etc I.e. the baby learns its place in the tribe. As a result males need not be cast away when they are teenagers. Like in lions or tigers. Which in turns leads to bigger , stronger tribe . Which means the tribe can fight predators, other tribes, etc. Also not to mention specialization of trade and then farming and then society and then army and you get the idea .....\n\n4. Another side effect, due to long care period of human babies is that they learn culture, more specifically language. This gives more advantage in hunting , defending, mating(or is it , doesn't help me much ...) never mind the mating part..... ya so for example neantherdals were stronger then our ancestors but they lost the evolutionary race because they didn't have language.\n\nTL;DR version: advantages of crying , obnoxious babies overweigh the disadvantages, in long race \n",
"Child psychology and development student and nanny of 5+ years here. Human babies are not loud and demanding. Crying is their only mode of communication and infants cry to express between 3 and 5 needs: hunger, tiredness, discomfort, the need for affection/attention, and boredom or dissatisfaction with their environment. A baby who gets his/her needs met consistently and warmly should not cry for more than 15 mins, otherwise there is something physically wrong ( i.e. they are sick)or you've let them cry so long they're inconsolable.",
"Maybe its possible that in the past human babies weren't as loud and over time, because of the way we've moderated our environment, loud babies have started to survive for longer periods, increasing their % in the overall population of babies.",
"I remember reading somewhere (and sorry Reddit, I cannot remember where) that the baby's cry needs to be annoying so that it is hard to ignore by the parent. Also the very high pitch of a cry, although easily heard, is apparently hard to locate. For some reason it fools the directional hearing of the potential predator. Therefore a predator would not be able to locate the baby, whilst the mother, who knows what's she left the baby, would be able to rush to the child asap. Of course I have no proof and would be interested to hear comments for our against the theory.",
"The fact that babies are helpless and loud should scare the living shit out of anything that tries to fuck with them.\n\n\nMess with my baby? I'll rid the immediate area of your entire species.",
"I read somewhere that old indian tribes used to pinch the babys nose whenever they started crying. The smart ones would stop crying after a while and choose to breathe instead.",
"Infant crying happens not just in humans, but in **every species.** Its a matter of competition between siblings for food from the mother. \n\nThe child that cries the loudest, gets the food. The more annoying and perturbing the cry, the more likely that child is to get the food. \n\nThis is why human baby crying is evolutionarily engineered to be one of the most annoying sounds in the world. ",
"The first question should be, why are human babies so helpless that their only method of communication is crying for a long time?\n\nFor humans to be able to have such big brains, they have to be born fairly early (so that the head will still fit through the birth channel), and remain unable to fend for themselves for pretty long compared to animal babies, who mostly grow up pretty fast.\n\nSo they can't walk, can't even turn around or crawl at first, and can't speak. What else can they do but cry?\n\nThis survival strategy was only possible because humans evolved a social structure in which the young are nurtured for a very long time. In effect, you are betting on their survival being good for the tribe and the species. Pretty long-term investment.\n\nThis is pretty unique. Humans have put their offspring first for a long time, while in the animal kingdom, sacrificing your offspring for the survival of the adults is not uncommon [National Geographic article on this topic](_URL_0_).\n\nAs others have said, a baby that is in skin contact with its mother is usually not cranky, sleeps well strapped to the back or front, and can be fed \"on demand\". At night, it wouldn't have been alone in a room either, so no need to cry for any length of time.\n\nDue to the social structure of even an early human tribe, it would not be taken on hunts anyway.\n\nAnd animal babies do call for their mothers loudly and repeatedly when lost or scared or hungry. Deer, hippo, bear, lions, you name it. This will help their mother find them, but could also draw a predator's attention. Two sides to every coin I guess.",
"Like the top comment says...I don't think babies are like that naturally...that seems to be their naturally response if they think they've been left alone or abandoned though. What if the baby somehow got placed in a bush during an ambush or attack from something and then they couldn't find the silent baby afterwards? At that point...the baby crying in hope of being found by it's mother are worth the risk of attracting predators.",
"It seems to me that you're listing off reasons why loud babies would endanger our species, but it's quite clear that they *haven't*, because we have survived quite admirably, I would claim. The very fact that babies *are* loud proves that your bullet list of what \"too much crying can\", while it sounds like it could make sense, is not in fact relevant to our survival. Certainly, \"too much crying can\", but evolution has already proven that \"too much crying does not\" to the degree that it has impacted our ability to flourish.\n\n > But it seems like the advantages of not crying so much, massively outweigh the disadvantages. \n\nAgain, obviously not. If that statement were true, evolution would have borne it out, our babies would have been quiet, and you'd be on reddit asking why babies are so quiet and rattling off a series of imagined advantages of loud babies.\n",
"I heard an interesting theory about this recently. The sociologists theorized that the exhaustion experienced by the mother of newborns as a result of the demand for constant attention ensured that no other babies would be conceived for a few months, thus ensuring that the baby would receive constant care and attention. ",
"Have you noticed that if babies weren't as cute as they were, we would ignore / kill them? \n\nEvolution made its compromise bro. Also what everyone else says about modern culture being different from the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation rings true, as well as babies being neurologically and physically dependant from birth as opposed to other animals. \n\nEssentially babies need to cry or they will die. ",
"There is a known phenomenon where children of deaf parents stop crying and find alternative ways to get their parents attention. ",
"I think your premise is wrong. When I watch a family of ducks, the ducklings are constantly beeping for attention. When a mother sparrow comes to the nest with a freshly caught worm, hear the little ones scream! I've heard a goat kid bleat incessantly for weeks after it had been weaned. \n\nWe and our babies evolved so that a crying baby is hard to ignore. A baby that gets attention when it needs some is at an advantage. Parents who give their baby attention when it needs some are at an advantage. The sound of a baby crying goes straight to the soul, interrupts whatever thought you were having and demands either immediate attention or intense willpower to ignore. \n\nThe sound of ducklings crying sounds like gentle beeping to us because there was no reason for us to evolve to find it relevant. I'm sure the mama duck is unable to ignore it. ",
"babies scream,shout and cry becuase its there only way of communicating to us on what we want. back then caveman didnt know what babies wanted so it was the babies job to give some kind of response to let them know what was right and wrong",
"I'd have to say that the question is simply answered via a simple evolutionary proposition. That is, the advantages of crying loud obviously outweighed the disadvantages. If the opposite were true natural selection would have ensured that the loud crying babies genes were killed off. Obviously, the need for babies to be loud and its consequential effect to adults of \"hey this baby seems to need something\" was a bigger benefit to the gene pool than any of the potential perils you outlined above. ",
"How do you get a loud, crying baby to be quiet? You stick a boob in its mouth and feed it.",
"I can understand it in a baby as they are helpless. What I don't understand is when a full grown animal makes crying noises when they are in pain or stuck. What is a stuck sheep going to achieve by making noise if it is stuck halfway down a cliff? Are his friends going to come and give him a leg-up?",
"To make us more inclined to eat them....\n\nSeriously, though, it's noise makes you suit it's needs, right? Not much different from a mewling kitten.\n\nEdit: Basically, humans, like most other mammals, evolved so that the sound of their young in distress is nearly impossible to ignore.",
"If they weren't loud and demanding you might not hear/see/go to them. Kind of answered your own question.",
"It is our current child rearing practises. In third world countries this isn't as much as an issue. First world countries have convinced themselves that separating out babies to sleep by themselves is a good idea. Not only that, we are isolated from other family members and have to put our children down because we don't have the village to help us raise the child. \n\nBabies don't even know they are a separate person until 18 months. They are designed to not leave the parent's side. Yet we stick them in cribs in another room. So they have no choice but to scream their needs.\n\nIn other countries where the children are bundled like a papoose and kept with the parent 24/7, this isn't an issue. Which is why colic doesn't exist outside of first world countries. \n\nIn a situation where a baby is carried with the mother and the baby starts crying, she can instantly pop a boob in its mouth to keep it quiet. And the jostling and noise it experiences being carried around with mum soothes it to sleep. The womb is a very active, noisy place that is as loud as a vacuum cleaner, which is why many babies get freaked out in quiet, still surroundings. They are not used to it. ",
" Have you been around a lot of babies? Unless they have colic or an ailment, they don't generally cry that much. ",
"Well, we've never taken new borns along on hunts. Gender separation of jobs has always been a thing. Same with war. If you take mothers on the war path, you are going to be unnaturally selected out of the gene pool. Also, you cannot hide hundreds of people to such a degree that a crying baby would be the thing that gives you away except in absurdly rare circumstances. \n\n\nWe've always lived in large groups and predator behavior hasn't changed much. \n\nAlso, the reason it causes sleep deprivation is because we have set schedules. In the old days, you slept when tired, worked when necessary. None of this 12 hours on 12 hours off BS. \n\nAlso, Most people are just shitty stupid parents who put neither thought nor study into being a parent. Apparently not just any idiot can tell what a baby needs before it starts screaming. Even though it's pretty easy. ",
"According to Trivers (at least the pop-version of Trivers which is my memory) there might be an evolutionary advantage for babies to make sure their parents don't have any more babies, at least for a while. \n\n_URL_0_",
"I think you are overlooking the communal nature of [early] man. The infants in question would never be on the \"front line\" of danger, because of the numerous members of the tribe or community who would protect baby and mother, sleep deprived though they both may be.\n\nAlso, everything a baby does is to ensure it reaches adulthood and reproduces. Clearly, evolution has determined that loudness helps this effort. The proof is in all of us.",
"There's so many responses that this will probably be buried, but as the father of a 13 mo. old baby, I can attest that [the calming reflex](_URL_0_) actually works. Babies can be quieted down quickly if need be.",
"It sounds like you've never seen babies of almost any species. Baby birds squawk like crazy. They are incredibly loud and demanding. As are almost all babies of almost all species.\n\nIf you cannot walk, feed yourself, or see. You need to scream to get the food, water or attention you need.",
"you assume that people in western society are raising kids in a natural environment?",
"Oddly, I think about this very thing often. My little one just turned 2 and she screams/cries all the time. Even when we are trying to give her what she wants. And I always think \"If we were cavemen right now, I'd be tucking you under my arms, covering your mouth and running. Because a screaming 1/2 year old is like a dinosaur duck call (I know cavemen and dinos never coexisted, don't point that out please).",
"Human babies cry less when they are held than when they are put down somewhere. Think about a baby in the wild with predators around... It's defensless. When it's carried, the baby has the mother to carry it while running away or attacking a predator. \n\nOnce toddlers can crawl on their own, and their vision has lengthened to be able to see other, protectibve humans around it, they stop crying when put down, in preference to exploring the world around it.",
"It's a cultural thing, not an evolutionary one. We've been taught as mothers to do many things against our natural instincts. This article touches on how babies behave differently in Africa: \n\n_URL_0_\n\nThis article explains further why this concept doesn't always work in our culture: \n\n_URL_1_",
"Maybe it's a sign that society has problems, not babies. Humans used to be raised by a tribe. It's too much work for just 2 people.",
"This is my personal theory: The bug is a feature.\n\nSleep deprivation, constant stress, and requirements for constant attentiveness are utilized in order to reprogram already-coded firmware in recruits at boot camp, and at Special Forces training camps.\n\nBut why don't other mammal babies use this technique? Why not our closest relatives? Because unlike them, human babies have needs that suddenly (in evolutionary terms - in the last few million years) jumped upwards. A chimp one-year-old can forage, flee to the trees, look out for predators (somewhat), and groom itself. A human one-year-old can eat Doritos it is lucky enough to find on the ground, smear itself with feces, and can only crawl away if anything as dangerous as a roomba comes near it. \n\nSo, since the change happened so damn fast, humans haven't evolved a hyper-long baby-obsessing tendency. Adult parents can and will walk away from a needy \"infant\" (where human infancy lasts longer than 1 years, remember); something most animal parents would not do (except during the high-loss training period of first litters). \n\nTo combat this, the human infant has evolved training techniques that reconfigure adult parent brains to focus on THEIR needs, all the time. A squawling-prone baby is a far easier modification of genetic behavior, it seems, than parents who forego their own needs for years on end just to make sure this offspring survives.\n\nAnd it follows the facts presented by the plethora of deadbeat dads in humans. Despite the fact that infant mortality is greatly increased by the loss of one parent - even the non-milk-producing father - human fathers that are not immersed in the mind-numbing pain of baby-rearing have a tendency to attempt to even reduce or altogether stop child support payments, while avoiding any real, direct baby-raising efforts. Obviously, I'm speaking about many, not all, separated fathers here - but the very idea of a \"separated parent\" doesn't even exist in Bonobo society, where all adults in the pack contribute to the raising of all babies.\n\nKeeping parents sleep-deprived reorients their thought processes to put the baby's welfare above everything else, which is the only way it will make it through the years of can't-even-wipe-their-own-butts-yet-much-less-order-pizza.\n\nTL;DR: No other baby on Earth needs that much attention, by far.",
"I know the answer to this question. I read a scientific article about this exact subject, the same questions were posed, why would nature select for loud babies, when this would stress parents, attract predators, etc.\n\nThe answer is that the parents of loud babies chose sleep over further procreation activies. This afforded crying offspring less sibling competition than babies that slept soundly. The less competition for millk and food resources, the better the survival odds for the new child.",
"The fact that we survived as a species despite the constant baby crying means that apparently it had not a malicious effect. Maybe if we were to rise our children alone, I suppose it would have a negative impact on our survival. But humans evolved pretty quickly to create communities where children would be protected and cared for by an entirely group of people. I'm such a social environment, on the other hand, it would be beneficial for a baby to cry so it can make others aware of its needs.",
"A screamy baby phase optimizes a species for cooperation and job division between baby quieter and resource aquirer. If those who cooperate and divide jobs into baby shusher and provider as a result of having a loud ass baby have a better chance of having of loud ass babies that procreate, evolution will select for these traits, and we end up with progressively louder babies until that loudness crosses the threshold that would make it apply the reverse selection pressure via the mechanisms you mentioned. ",
"I think it just shows what murderous motherfuckers we are as a species. You ever found an orphaned baby mammal of any other species? They mostly just sort of sit there quietly frozen in terror, to avoid attracting hungry predators.\n\nA human baby gets mildly annoyed and it screams like a banshee, utterly unconcerned about predators - because we've been at the top of the food chain for a long time we've evolved to get our parents attention rather than hide.\n\n",
"A noisy infant might attract nearby predators, but predators would be very leery of getting that close to a large group of humans.\n\nAt the most, a predator might be *curious*, and *scout* the area for any *stragglers* or easy targets. And even then predators are often *cowards* when it comes to taking a risk. \n\nIf you've ever seen a nature documentary, you'll often see a pattern in that, herbivores are often in some kind of *herd* either tightly spaced or loose, and predators either hunt as a pack, or as individuals. Either way, the Predators are almost always very cautious getting close to a herd, they can go hours just *observing*, picking out the oldest, weakest, or slowest in the bunch.\n\nBut Humans aren't Gazelle. As individuals we would *run from danger*, but as a group we hold our ground and fight back. (Which is why said fleeing humans would tend to fall back to the group)\n\nAlso; a large group/tribe of humans wouldn't be hunting as one big unit. Hunters would go out as a small pack and either bring the game back to the group, or bring the group to the prey... all depending on the type of group we are talking about, and the time of year.\n\n\n",
"Babies aren't supposed to be constantly loud and demanding. If a baby is crying it has been trying to get someone's attention in other ways for at least half an hour and is only crying as a last resort. The only reason babies cry a lot in modern times is because they are left alone so much and only fed at certain times, as opposed to being eith the parent all the time and fed when needed.",
"Its a cultural thing. Western practices of giving attention/rewards to babies for being noisy and annoying in effect cause this behavior to happen more often. In effect crying becomes an operant response to get X akin to pulling a lever. Cycle would be something like this:\n\nBaby cry > Gets attention/whatever he/she wants > Baby cries more.\n\nOther cultures do things to normalize the amount of attention the baby gets at all times so that there is no spike when it wants something (by having a larger family, communal child rearing, etc) which in effect makes kids more articulate (as they get a lot of feedback on their actions and attempts to communicate), and a lot less loud (as the feedback they get when they do go all out is negative, not positive, babies can tell emotions, anger, annoyance, etc).\n\nA baby will be loud regardless if its severely endangered (see malnourished, dirty, sick), but they don't blast out for minor things unless they are rewarded when they do so.\n\n",
"I'm not a scientist, but I'll try to weigh in here:\n\nCro-Magnon probably did have less fussy offspring, for the reasons you just stated. However, modern humans have more fussy offspring for these two reasons:\n\n1) As humans evolved to lose their fur, we gained more sensitive skin. This has the advantage of increased tactile response to things like affectionate touch. However, this also means that there is increased pain and discomfort response to things like wet diapers or rough cribs. This leads to greater incidence of crying.\n\n2) As humans evolved to gain greater intellectual capacity, we also gained a need for intellectual stimulation, and infants have the greatest need for such stimulation since they have so little experience or understanding. Thus, infants need adults to talk to them and entertain them constantly. Without such interaction, infants have greater incidence of crying.",
"it is very simple: because we have become pussies and are allowing that babies run our lives. Babies know this and are taking advantage of it. One of the first lessons that babies learn is: extortion fucking pays!",
"Well, think about it from an evolutionary standpoint. If a baby was put somewhere, and a predator was attacking it, do you think the baby with the \"quiet\" genes would live, or the baby with the loud genes? Granted, the baby with the loud genes might die, but he has a much higher chance of survival. And the same goes with hunger. Sure, the loud one might be eaten, but the quiet one would probably die of starvation. Not only that, but in most cultures, babies are with their mother 24/7, besides when they are sleeping. So the baby just cries for a second, and then the mother knows that the baby needs something, most likely food.",
"The human pelvis is too small to give birth to a baby in comparison to the size of our heads. Basically, the brain of a human is highly underdeveloped because of this.",
"Interestingly, this thread made me think back to my own new parent days. My sons were several months premature, and if you've never had experience with preemies then you might be surprised to learn that they don't cry. The nurses always warned us that we had to be overly cautious and attentive to our sons, because they likely would not cry, even in the event that they needed something or were in pain. And it was very true! As they got older, they would go from 0-60 on the scream scale...as in there were no hunger/discomfort cues. It was: wake up and immediately scream hysterically until someone ran in to save them lol. Still do to this day, unfortunately.",
"Here's some scientists suggesting that babies cry to keep from having siblings. _URL_0_",
"I have a 3 month old that is never \"loud and demanding\" as long as you feed and change her (and, you know, take care of her) ",
"As a parent of 3, I can tell you that babies crying motivates you to keep them happy and fed. Remember, humans use to live as a village, where multiple people watched the kids. Crying and getting loud gets you more attention and probably more food just so you'll be quiet. ",
"I've also read that the crying at night is a way to ensure that the new parents don't have another child before the first one is old enough. Kinda like tired mom + tired dad = no sex. No sex = no baby to compete with. It acts as a survival technique. ",
"It is the evolutionary thing. People need to attend to the baby ASAP and it is hard to ignore. Otherwise baby would die (hence the species) due to neglect. ",
"I think a game theory approach would probably shine a bit of a light on this as well. If you are one out of 30 babies in a tribe and the only one that doesn't cry, you are going to be disadvantaged. Whilst there may be some advantage to having a bunch of quiet babies (is it more valuable for them to be communicative or for attention to not be brought to the clan?), any baby that remains quiet leaves an exploitable advantage for a loud one, giving you a Nash equilibrium of a horde of crybabies.",
"I would imagine most early human tribes had some division of labor, wherein some people would care for children, craft items, and gather medicines and foods from their environments, while hunters were out in the bush finding meat for their families. It doesn't seem likely that babies were brought along into situations where their behavior would compromise the hunt. Rather they would stay back at camp and help the people there (likely women and elders in most cases) with the various tasks that kept the camp running, learning and practicing the various skills they would need.",
"I often wonder when I hear a screeching baby, how many babies got people killed. Imagine a town in the dark ages being sacked, and a woman is hiding under a floor with her baby. She's almost safe, the army is leaving when suddenly it starts screeching and the nearest looter comes to investigate. ",
"Its not that babies evolved to be loud and demanding. Human babies are simply less developed at birth than other animals because of female human hips/birth canal, due to the fact that we walk upright. The baby's brain isn't fully developed at birth because the head would be too big to fit through the birth canal. This leads to a more demanding offspring compared with other mamals, whose babies are more self sufficient at birth.",
"Well, if a baby cries out loud and that brings predators, parents will try their best to stop him, feeding the baby. Evolution is about spreading YOUR genes not the good of the species. The babies that cried the loudest, were fed the most.\n\nThere is a book that explains this better than me: Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Wikipedia link: _URL_0_",
"i read somewhere that indigeonous tribes would pinch a babies nose for a second or two when they started to cry, so it would have to stop crying to breathe in through its mouth. very quickly they are conditioned not to cry.",
"Look at how tribal/primative/aboriginal/whatever pc term you want to use people raise their children. Basically, only modern babies cry because we leave them alone in cribs, on beds, in chairs, and so on. \"in the wild\", your child would be constantly with you, usually physically attached to you, and it would be on similar feed/poop/sleep scheduel as the person its attached to so they would know when to premptively change/feed/care for it. \n\nAnother thing, babies crave stimulation. They need to hear sounds and see things move. They get bored to death when stuck in a house and scream because of that.\n\nAs an experiment, just grab a baby some time, and take it outside with you. They will quickly shut up and be completely engrossed in the experience. This is why taking kids for walks or in a stroller works so well. ",
"Babies evolved to expect nurturing care and be physically connected to a family member 95% of the time, and be nursed on demand. If you look at how other primates care for their infants, that's how it is, the baby is always being held.\n\nIt is the modern Western practices for child care of cribs, day-care centers, playpens, carseats, leaving the baby alone, sleeping alone, etc, that is stressing the evolutionary blueprint of babies and causing them to rebel from what they are expecting.",
"Human babies evolved crying to alert the mother. Women, in turn, evolved the ability to hear higher registers better, and so are easily awakened by the sound of a crying child. Babies used to be cared for constantly and carried everywhere, as there weren't cribs, playpens, and bouncy chairs to put them in before modern day. They probably did not cry as much or nearly as loudly, and if they did the parents would have been alerted immediately and seen to the babies needs. Whereas today, parents tend to leave the baby alone (again in a crib, playpen, etc.) more often, so babies had to evolve a better cry to gain attention from the parents. In addition, many parents can hear differences in crying (i.e., the hungry cry, the sleepy cry, etc.) and so can tell better what their children need, be it food, a diaper change, or merely more attention. Is it good or bad? Hard to say. It's suited for our busy and geographically secluded (relative to tribal times) speaking lifestyles, but it DOES get really annoying. Also now, other people don't help raise the kids. It's just the mom and dad, so there's less attention to get because of less people. The saying \"it takes a village to raise a child\" is certainly no longer the case thanks to new technologies and inventions, but using those inventions leads to evolutionary progress for the baby in that it must evolve to get our attention even in spite of all the new gadgets and toys we buy for our kids now. Some would say it's worse, some would say we are lucky to have these new technologies and conveniences.\n\ntl;dr Evolution keeps going no matter what, and less people to take care of the child combined with busier lives equals babies who have to cry much louder to get the attention they need.",
"\"stress out parents\"\n\nSure, it happens.\n\n\"everyone else in the vicinity, which could cause banishment/anger towards the family\"\n\nThis wouldn't be the first baby they've encountered. Tribes/humans are social, and would help each other. I doubt banishment was even a concept.\n\n\"Scare off nearby hunted animals\"\n\nThey don't take the babies on the hunts. \n\n\"Give away the position of the tribe\"\n\nThe tribe would be clearly visible without needing a baby scream to be found.\n\n\"...advantages of not crying so much, outweigh the disadvantages\"\n\nDead baby vs loud baby. Loud baby survives better. \n\n\"no other animal on this planet cries, or is as loud, as a human baby\"\n\nThat's certainly wrong. Lot's of baby animals make loud noises for their mother's attention. Some of which actually had predators to be worried about, whereas humans did not.",
"All humans want to survive no matter the cost. Babies are the same. They cry when hungry and don't care if anyone else is going to eat.",
"humans are apex predators. People forget this. Apex predators can afford to be loud. Dangerous animals will not be attracted by such sound....\n\nWhat crying does is help the parent locate the child and know its level of distress. Apparently, these outweighed the other concerns you listed.",
"Consider this: A baby that cries every night and stresses out his parents will discourage the sex that precedes the arrival of a second baby, who would be direct competition for attention and resources.\n\nBabies who cry loud have fewer brothers and more food and love. Silent babies wake up to higher-priority competition.\n\nHave we perhaps evolved unknowingly to scream away (our parent's) sex opportunities and siblings?",
"I recommend watching a documentary called \"babies\" that follows several babies from around the world. It is pretty surprising. \n\nWe adapt even as kids to our environment and how we raise our kids causes this sense of entitlement and demanding nature. ",
"If someone could figure this out and change human behavior in the two months before I give birth, that would be great, thanks",
"And also for people like me who would just put them down, walk away, and say \" Fuck this shit.\"",
"Trying to be serious here, and I've put a lot of thought into this very question. The answer can only be \"because being loud is an effective strategy to survival.\"\n\nWe've been at the top of the food chain for long enough for evolution to favor loud infants over quiet ones. If a baby is quiet, it might be sleeping, or it might have been eaten by a predator. Being loud summons the adults and their associated weaponry.\n\nThere also weren't nearly as many people before the current population boom, so tribes were spread out far enough to never be able to hear their noise. If tribes wanted to wage war, they would already know exactly where the opposing tribe was.",
"I think that this question may be motivated by a very common misunderstanding of early human lifestyles. We did not evolve in lone, nuclear family units that could be vulnerable to, say, a bear that decides to attack your camp. Hunter-gatherer bands generally made up of a dozen or more people, so camp, for the most part, is an intimidating prospect for a predatory animal. A baby crying in camp may give away its position, but that doesn't expose you to much risk because there are usually enough people to defend it. On hunts or riskier gathering expeditions, babies may simply not have been taken along.\n\nWe justify a lot of our nastiest behavior with our fantasy of a nuclear family in the wild with a lone strong male at the helm. ",
"My favourite explanation for this comes from [signalling theory](_URL_2_). Here's [a Nature letter](_URL_0_) from 1991, discussing the same question in birds.\n\nEssentially, the idea is that for the baby's crying to be a reliable signal of need, there has to be a cost attached. For baby birds, the more they demand feeding, the greater the risk that they attract the unwelcome attention of the rest of the animal kingdom. Being eaten is pretty expensive.\n\nYou can apply the same reasoning to baby humans - the fact that crying is (or was) risky, implies that you can trust it as a means of communication... And here's [a paper](_URL_1_) which mentions this, amongst a few other hypotheses.\n\nTLDR; Being loud is dangerous, so you can trust babies.",
"From my own experience, when my child felt unsafe he was silent. New environment (shopping, nothing dangerous), and we had a quiet baby. Get in the safe car, and he would scream for neglected care (had not noticed as he was quiet).",
"I've always heard that babies are born so helpless and needy because their heads have to be able to fit through the birth canal. Once out the baby continues to develop and their head gets bigger allowing for our intelligence.\n\nBecause of our young being so helpless we formed civilization, villages, farming, shelter, etc... in order to be able to care for babies better and thus more survive to reproduce.",
"I would like to know in evolutionary terms why human babies are as useless as a bag of shit?\n\nEvery other animal out there has some sort of genetic memory that helps it to learn things pretty quickly. \n\nHuman offspring take half a year to learn to walk and five years to gain the faculty to communicate in any kind of proper way that does not include screaming. Even then, they are only communicating at the base level, hungry, tired, want to play, and need to shit.",
"My children are \"attachment parented\". My wife wears them in a wrap or carries them EVERYWHERE all day. Our youngest cries for maybe 5 minutes a day total, including at night. My 3 year old was also treated this way and we are confident that this led to his ability to leave our bed and sleep in his own with zero crying. He goes to bed at 8, plays with his Daniel Tiger toy for about 5 minutes and doesn't wake up until 8am. Some days we have to wake him up for his medicine (seizure) because he'll sleep in like a teen aged child.\n\nThe idea of a fussy baby is because of western \"cry it out\" rearing techniques. \n\nCaveat is baby who suffer from gurd or colic... ",
"I heard that there were thousands of cave families that were eaten by Dinosaurs because of crying babies. Probably what happened to the people in the US after the Dinosaurs ate them then they died out because of lack of food which opened the way here for the Europeans. Makes total sense.\n",
"No predator in its right mind would run TOWARD a screeching human infant. It is utterly the most repellant noise in the universe. Little known fact, our ancestors would waggle squalling infants at Dire Wolves to chase them away. Alternatively screeching pre-humans made good bait for the now extinct Bearus Maximus. All other answers are utter bullshit.",
"Part of the issue is, perhaps, that every single sensation that a Baby feels is litterally the worst pain they have ever felt.",
"I tend to parent \"as a caveman\" as I tell friends and family. \n\nMy baby is wrapped to me 7-10 hours a day, he nurses from me as he wants. He eats solids when he learns to grab them. He is changed when he is wet or smells. He sleeps on my back when tired. \n\nHe honestly rarely cries. Except that one time I handed him a hot Sausage from the grill without thinking. Or that time my husband put him on the stove not knowing I had just used it. \n\nCribs, baby gear (swings, bassinets, bouncers, etc) remove the human from the child. All baby wants is comfort and food. Provide that... And you won't have a lot of crying. \n\nSome parents are going to have a rough zombie apocalypse. ",
"Please realize that I don't agree with what I'm about to type:\n\nThere are ways to keep babies from squalling. Unfortunately the side effect can be death. In the time before civilization, the survival of one child was not so important as the group.\n\nKilling one baby didn't mean much.\n\nGroups that had enough defense to allow babies to squall had an advantage. \n\nThose groups eventually formed our modern civilizations.\n\nEven white European history in north America has accounts of babies that were suffocated during attacks while the land was being settled.",
"At some point our ancestors developed the capacity for predation and the ability to kill at an unprecedented distance. The children of a hominin with projectile weapons would live in a zone best avoided by animal predators, they're not worth it.\n\nI expect that wolf pups are noisy playful things that can afford to pay no attention at all to personal safety, no need to be quiet or hide when you are under the care of a top predator.",
"the volume and frequency (and frequency) is there to provide the most effective birth control ever. It's the baby's way of saying, \"there can be only one.\" ",
"Well, i think some animals may cry, too. but just not in front of human beings, or not as a baby but the adult. such as lions, apes, tigers and so on. Baby born with the human nature and since they were first brought to the world, they need to cry to announce he/she was alive and healthy. therefore, i think baby's crying is forgivable. ",
"The squeaky wheel gets grease. A crying baby might be fed more often and survive infancy healthier and grow up healthier too. I'm sure this is a contributing factor, but not the only factor.",
"Squeaky wheel gets the grease and that's their only way to articulate having needs to be met. This is probably part of the reason for traditional gender roles. The men would go hunting in groups and leave the women behind. Nobody was bringing screaming babies to score some meat. And as far as giving up your location, if an animal is close enough to hear a baby, they're going to smell your clan anyway. Protecting the young was probably the earliest motivation to create military order among tribes.",
"Negative. In the most dire of circumstances they served as a tasty distraction or an irresistible bait. Never forget the brave babies that gave their lives for our modern society.",
"The very fact that babies cry is a survival mechanism itself. If you literally can't have a noisy baby (due to predators outside etc) then you'll do anything to quiet it. Babies don't just want regular feeding and bodily contact, they physically need it. Their regulation systems aren't fully mature so things like skin to skin contact for example is a need to help them with their own thermoregulation. Quiet babies get ignored and their needs go unmet, in the early days babies sometimes sleep for hours longer than they should and hunger won't wake them, but their bodies start to shutdown due to not enough fuel, after a while they do wake but still physically need regular feeding and bodily contact. A newborns stomach is the size of a marble, milk is digested in something like half an hour, makes sense that they would need regular boobing. \nWe're not nest animals like birds, we product immature infants who need to be carried around and kept close basically always, this means at night and during sleep too, this means bed sharing rather than using cots in another room. \nCarrying babies means a lot of reasons for crying are eliminated, the rocking motion, reduction in wind, overstimulation doesn't happen, you're more able to see any feeding cues before they get to crying, crying is actually a fairly late sign that they want a feed. \nA lot of the ideas around attachment parenting are based on the idea that these actions \n are inherently normal. \nWe're also social animals so we're not supposed to be doing this by ourselves, caring for a demanding infant can be intense but we're supposed to be surrounded by our tribe to help out. All this has been lost though, we haven't evolved out of needing these things but we have changed our set up to make things harder for ourselves in that respect. ",
"ancient babies used to be super loud (like ambulances). those families got eated by t-rexs. so only the quieter babies were the ones that grew up to have more quieter babies and thats how natural selection was invented.\n\nthats why you shouldn't time travel without earplugs."
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d3teg/eli5_why_did_human_babies_evolve_to_be_so_loud/ct1s2h4"
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"http://childmags.com.au/family/parenting/6796-is-there-a-right-way-to-raise-babies"
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"https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/babies-cry-night-prevent-siblings-scientist-suggests"
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[
"https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/babies-cry-night-prevent-siblings-scientist-suggests"
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[],
[],
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"https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201411/the-whites-your-eyes-convey-subconscious-truths"
],
[],
[],
[],
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[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altricial"
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[],
[],
[],
[],
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[],
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[],
[],
[],
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"http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140328-sloth-bear-zoo-infanticide-chimps-bonobos-animals/"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parent%E2%80%93offspring_conflict"
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"http://www.babycenter.com/0_harvey-karps-happiest-baby-method-for-baby-sleep-and-soothin_10373838.bc"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.incultureparent.com/2010/12/why-african-babies-dont-cry/",
"https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201103/babies-don-t-cry-in-africa-why-should-they-cry-in-the-usa"
],
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"https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/babies-cry-night-prevent-siblings-scientist-suggests"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene"
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"http://gen.lib.rus.ec/scimag/index.php?s=Signalling%20of%20need%20by%20offspring%20to%20their%20parents",
"http://www.huli.group.shef.ac.uk/lummaa-ehb-1998.pdf",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_theory"
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bajgrg | what is a cvt in a car and why do a lot of people hate it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bajgrg/eli5_what_is_a_cvt_in_a_car_and_why_do_a_lot_of/ | {
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"Continuously Variable Transmission.\n\nIt's a technique for building an automatic transmission, and some folks just don't like automatics. There is, of course, some energy loss in the mechanism but much of this can be made up by CVT's ability to run the engine in its highest efficiency RPM range. Also you can't use engine braking or other \"manual only\" techniques.",
"You've probably seen a multiple speed bicycle with 5 or more gears on the rear wheel. If it were a CVT, it would look more like one cone, rather than distinct gears, where any spot on the cone can be use. So between 2 of the bikes physical gears, the CVT can great anywhere between the 2 gears.\n\nPeople hate them because they are soft shifting, especially when compared to a manual shifter. Beyond simple feel, the cars they are put in tend to be smaller cars and the shift points tuned to higher mileage over performance, although most have sport mode and manual shifting that is able to be enabled via the shifter or a button.",
"A CVT is a type of automatic transmission that, in it's purest form, does not have several \"gears\"; that is, first, second, third, fourth, overdrive, etc. (CVTs do have reverse, though.)\n\n & #x200B;\n\nA CVT avoids the need for \"gears\" by using two cones, facing in the opposite direction, with a V-shaped belt between them. By moving the cones, you change the ratio between the two cones, thereby changing the ratio of engine rotational speed to axle rotational speed.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThere are two primary reasons for having a CVT. First is to make best use of the engine's optimal performance range. Second is to provide a smoother experience by avoiding the need to shift \"gears\", either automatically or manually. CVTs are excellent in small cars with limited power, making up for the loss of power experienced by a traditional automatic transmission. They also help with fuel economy. CVTs also have far fewer moving parts which, in theory, mean less things to break. I don't know if that's proven to be true or not.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nBecause of their design, driving a true CVT is an odd experience; however, many CVTs offered these days are not true CVTs. I say that because consumers complained so much about the new and odd behavior and \"feel\" of CVTs that auto manufacturers programmed the CVTs to act more like an automatic transmission; that is, they used software to create shift points, so the car feels as if it is shifting \"gears\", even though it actually isn't.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSome people comment you lose the ability to perform engine braking with a CVT, and that's mostly true. Because of that, the cruise control doesn't hold speed well when going downhill...something I've noticed on my car. For me, it's not a big deal since I never engine brake anyway.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nI love manual transmissions, but they are a PITA in the city/traffic. For me, the CVT is a great choice for an automatic transmission...much preferred to the standard type of automatic."
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422vka | if i freeze a glass of water at 20 degrees, and another at 0 will they thaw at the same rate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/422vka/eli5_if_i_freeze_a_glass_of_water_at_20_degrees/ | {
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"I would go with no, if they are both exposed to the same thawing conditions it would take longer for the temperature of the glass of water(ice) at 0 to reach the room temperature than it would the other",
"No, the ice in the glasses has to warm up to 32 before it can melt. The ice at 0 has a lot further to go than the ice at 20.",
"I'll interpret the question to mean that the two water glasses were brought to 20^o F and 0^o F, respectively, held at those temperatures while the supercooled water was made to crystallize, then brought to thermal equilibrium at *the same temperature* (say 20^o F, for sake of argument), and finally warmed at *the same rate* until melting was completed.\n\n\n-\n\n\nI would expect melting to be slightly faster (starting slightly sooner) in the glass that had been frozen at 0^o F (the colder freezing temperature). This is because the shape of the ice crystals is determined in part by the temperature of the water into which the crystals are growing. The more supercooled the water is (i.e., the further below 32^o F the water temperature is), the faster the crystals will grow, and the finer (smaller) the tips of the advancing crystal branches will be. Thus, on a microscopic scale, the water that was frozen at the colder temperature (0^o F) will contain ice crystals that are finer, while the water that was frozen at the higher temperature (20^o F) will contain ice crystals that are coarser. \n\n\n-\n\n\nNow, it turns out that because of surface tension, ice crystals that are small or have sharp features begin melting at temperatures below 32^o F. The finer the features of the ice crystals, the sooner they melt during warming. For this reason, the ice crystals in the glass that had been frozen at 0^o F is expected to begin melting sooner than the ice crystals in the other glass.",
"I did a little back of the envelop calculation and if the 0 degree glass melted completely in 49 minutes the one that was at 20f would melt in 43 minutes. So there would be a difference but it would be fairly small. The phase change from ice to water is relatively \"expensive\" compared to simply changing the temperature of ice.\n\ne: I can show my work if anyone is interested."
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3nq2kg | why is the cdc not allowed to research gun control/gun violence? | It can't be just that the NRA lobbied for it just because. They had a compelling reason, right? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nq2kg/eli5_why_is_the_cdc_not_allowed_to_research_gun/ | {
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"They say it's because they believe that CDC should be limited to studying diseases and gun violence isn't a disease. However, they also believe that the results of the study will be used to support more stringent gun control laws, which is probably closer to the real reason.",
"Since Congress passed the law that stopped the CDC from doing gun research there isn't necessarily a single reason. Each congressperson who voted could have had a different reason. \n\nThat being said, the stated reasons from Boehner, the Speaker of the House, are that guns require someone using them to kill so we should focus on punishing the individuals who use them and that guns aren't diseases. The NRA did lobby for it and that most likely had some affect on the outcome, but it's hard to say exactly how much. I also imagine many congresspeople just dislike gun control and voted for that reason, but don't want to say so.",
"The US government has $17,000,000,000,000+ worth of debt.\n\nDo we really need the center for disease control to research gun control, when the ATF (Bureau of alcohol, tabaco and firearms) exists?\n\nDo you believe the federal reseserve should research space flight? Should the department of education solve civil wars in africa? Do we need planned parenthood to negotiate trade agreements with central america?\n\nHow about we make sure each department is doing it's job so we can pay closer attention to what they are doing in order to see if they are being effecient and not wasting money?"
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3gmscb | why are arctic regions blurred/pixelated on google map? | Also some of the places in those regions have different colours like if it were a combination of old and new photos | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gmscb/eli5_why_are_arctic_regions_blurredpixelated_on/ | {
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"Close up images on google maps (minus streetview) come from pictures from aerial photography **not satellites**. Since those places don't have that many aerial photography missions and satellites pass over them less frequently, you end up with worse imaging.",
"The images you think about on google maps, especially zoomed in, are **not** satellite photos. They are aerial photos stitched together in pattern. \n\nThis aerial photography has to be paid for by someone, whether it's by google or by a company that google purchases those photos from. It's just not worth it to fly around the north and south pole taking pictures, because there's not enough people want to see there.\n\nTo jump back a little, this is why when you zoom out to just the right distance you'll sometimes see a vibrant green field split in half where the other side is sort of a sad green. Zoom in a little more and the edge becomes indistinct, and the field looks normal, as if it isn't two photos next to each other.\n\nThis is because you switched from the \"very far\" zoom set of photos to the \"not as far\" set of photos. And if you zoom in more, you'll switch to the \"really close\" set of photos.\n\n\nBasically, google maps makes you *think* you're zooming in, but at a certain point it replaces the photo you're looking at with a different photo of the same area (taken from closer), then you start zooming in on *that* photo, etc. "
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14awh0 | is there a point where we will no longer be able to "contact" voyager 1 | Eventually will there be a point where we can no longer communicate witch voyager 1 due to cosmic interference or the such? If so can there be a reasonable expectation as to when we will loose contact? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14awh0/eli5_is_there_a_point_where_we_will_no_longer_be/ | {
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"I don't think it's possible to know the answer to this, which is what makes it really exciting.",
"I'd imagine that at some point it would be too far away for us to contact it with current antenna technology, but what's actually going to keep us from using it forever is the power source. The reactor that supplies the probe with electricity is expected to fall to a low enough output to effectively end our contact with it sometime around 2025.\n\nI say effectively end because from what I understand they will still be able to get the most basic, rudimentary response from Voyager at this stage. They won't be able to receive any research or data from it, just a message stating that the probe is still there.",
"I think they were surprised to still be able to. But since the communications gear we have now is so much more sensitive than it was, they can still pick it up. Once the power goes, or it hits a big rock or something it'll be over.",
"[Picture for reference](_URL_0_)\n\nBackground: Just like how atmosphere and the magnetic fields of the Earth protect us from solar rays, our solar system forms an electromagnetic 'bubble' that a percentage of cosmic rays bounce away from.\n\nThe Voyager spacecraft is unprecedented, and as it sails on we are learning more and more about cosmic travel. Voyager 1 is about 2 or 3 years from leaving middle of a sheath called the heliophase. Some scientists think that the radio waves from here will be too jumbled to understand. However, the Voyager might continue to send waves until 2020 when it will power will cease. The answer to this question, is really the whole point of Voyager. Maybe?"
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5nu4yx | why nowadays up to 60% of the people in developed countries have some kind of vision impairment? | I remember my father telling me that when he was young (70´s) no way near as many people had to wear glasses as today. Someon knows why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nu4yx/eli5_why_nowadays_up_to_60_of_the_people_in/ | {
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"Totally winging this, but I'm guessing it just wasn't diagnosed much before reading small text became a part of daily life. If you learned to read when younger but need bifocals at 40, who cares if you already know everything you need to know?",
"Because being outside prevents nearsightedness. Children spend more time indoors which changes the way your eyes focus on things and you don't get enough natural light. \n\nScreens and reading in low light also cause problems with your eyes.\n\n\n_URL_0_\n\n",
"I don't believe there is a 'right' answer to this. My opinion is that much more work is being done on computer screens that are incredibly bright and a close distance from your face. \n\nThis can be reduced by some simple things like taking 'eye breaks' from a screen, turning down the computer monitor's (or other device) brightness, or even just sitting a little farther back from the screen. It's not technically considered ergonomics, but I believe it falls within that realm."
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11mom9 | why is pumpkin seemingly the fall vegetable or to put it another way how did it become so popular it's in everything this time of year? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11mom9/eli5_why_is_pumpkin_seemingly_the_fall_vegetable/ | {
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"Pumpkins where long associated with this time of year because this is the best time to harvest them. \n\nAs a result they worked their way into 2 fall holidays, Halloween as the jak o lanterns and Thanksgiving and delicious delicious pie. \n\nAnd because its a seasonal crop many stores cash in by inserting pumpkin into everything they can to cash in on people getting their yearly fix.\n\nAs a fan of the deliciousness that is the pumpkin this is my favorite time of year. "
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2r6b4p | why does my dvr stop recording slightly earlier than the end of my scheduled show? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r6b4p/eli5_why_does_my_dvr_stop_recording_slightly/ | {
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"The DVR is probably recording the correct time; the show is running a bit long. Some networks do this on purpose. I don't understand the logic of it, though. ",
"When DVRs became popular, networks started to let their most popular shows run a little over their scheduled time slot.\n\nThe goal was to tie up the DVR for a short time during a competing show on another network, which would cause the DVR to register the overlap as a conflict and not record the lower priority show. (This is not usually the very popular show in the very popular time slot, but usually the slightly less popular show in the less popular time slot.) Note that there's no problem if you're taping consecutive shows on the same network, you just catch the end of the show you were watching at the beginning of the next show you recorded anyway.\n\nThis all happened before cable providers started offering DVRs to compete with TiVo, and it's also before TiVo had overlap protection, which is a feature that allows the DVR to not treat shows as conflicting when they overlap for less than 5 minutes. Also, to combat this problem, TiVo started putting multiple tuners in their DVRs. My TiVo S4 has 4 tuners in it, and I rarely record more than two shows at once...but I use all four tuners plenty of times due to these overlap conflicts. (With the multiple tuners plus the overlap protection feature, I rarely miss the beginning/endings of shows, and in the rare cases all four tuners are busy then overlap protection prevents me from missing an entire time slot because of the small overlap.)\n\nI don't know why there was no consumer protection outcry in all of this. I suppose when this was all developing, there were so few TiVo users that they weren't enough of a force to make a difference. And, TiVo was struggling to get off the ground and probably didn't want to start a PR or legal battle with big fish that were probably looking for ways to sap their resources.\n\nI notice the other answers say that time slots aren't exact. This is completely wrong. Since the 1940s, TV shows have always ended and begun in their time slot. Much of the time a show would begin on the dot, in fact. Suddenly when TiVo started to be widely adopted, there were schedule interruptions the networks had forgotten how to control? And when shows ran over, it always *just happened* to be the most popular shows in the most popular time slots that were overstepping their slots? Why never a less popular show at 7:00 accidentally running into the prime 8:00 time slot? How is it that these changes always broke in favor of ad rates?\n\nThe other reason you know this is a BS answer: Networks could easily publish the real begin and end times of their shows to the program guides used by DVRs if they wanted to. But they don't."
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6vzvth | why are laws regarding exhausts on cars so strict for noise in some places when motorcycles are insanely loud without any consequence? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6vzvth/eli5_why_are_laws_regarding_exhausts_on_cars_so/ | {
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"Motorcycles have to comply to all of the same noise laws, and most of the same exhaust regulations in the vast majority of jurisdictions. When you hear a very loud motorcycle they are violating the law and you can report them for that. ",
"Motorcycles have the same laws. Usually when you hear a super loud motorcycle it is because someone modified or removed components of the exhaust to make it louder. This is done intentionally for one of two reasons (or a combination of both): 1. To make the vehicle sound cooler 2. To increase awareness of their location, thus safety.\n\nMany police officers give bikers a pass because they have been to many scenes where they had to scrape some poor guy off the concrete because a driver didn't see/hear them. But, they can be ticketed for it the same as if you removed the muffler from your car."
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2r7nfh | - what tends to happen to a person if he/she was bullied throughout childhood? | ..in school and everywhere else? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r7nfh/eli5_what_tends_to_happen_to_a_person_if_heshe/ | {
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"depends, it makes some stronger and it makes some weaker. I would say regardless its a terrible thing to go through.",
"Pressure can make diamonds or it can bursts pipes.",
"Most people just grow up and become normal. If there was a reason to the bullying that is something the child lives with I.e. weight, gay, skin color. It gets harder for them because it's something that they will get \"bullied\" for for their entire life.",
"I was bullied all through elementary and some middle school.(Cleft lip and pallate.)\n\nAt first it left me self conscious, zero confidence, shy, and I'd always try to hide my nose and face. \n\nBut one day, I just... decided that I shouldn't fuckin hate myself. So I started telling myself I was pretty everytime I looked at the mirror, whether I thought so or not. Eventually, I started believing it, and by my senior year I fucking loved myself. Ive been out of hs for about twoish years, I've since gotten surgeries and I look way better than I did before. (I have a picture on my profile somewhere.)\n\nBut now that I look back on bullying, I think it made me a lot stronger, it made me nicer towards others and it made me less bitchy I think. And some of those people have actually apologized, so that helped too. But when I was younger, that shit killed me. It was really hard. That takes a toll on you, and messes with you for years. Every mean thing you've said or done to a kid, that shit sticks with them. \n",
"The effects vary greatly obviously. On a whole it hurts a person's self esteem. In extreme cases it can cause suicide. Everyone's been picked on, but being bullied gives a person a whole set of degradation that makes them feel a sense of worthlessness. Sure, some people will give you the \"what doesn't kill you makes you stronger\" bit but generally in life what does hurt you, often leaves scares that hurt and isn't beneficial for most people.",
"Getting bullied during childhood will cause you to stop bothering to ever open your mouth around those your age again, since every time you used to open your mouth you'd get teased, made fun of, ridiculed, etc. this can happen before you're fully formed socially (before you've learnt all the right/wrong things to say to people through trial and error) and so you end up with fucked up social skills, an introvert, and all the countless hours spent alone confined in your room might make you develop unusual sexual/nonsexual attractions into and throughout adulthood.",
"Learning disorders, fear of people, social anxiety, anxiety about looks. \n\nEverything that makes people social and normal isn't there because they were conditioned they're not normal and are punished for being different.\n\n"
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jjzhb | why is twitter so popular? | Everyone is talking about it, you even hear tweets mentioned on the news. So whats so good about it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jjzhb/eli5_why_is_twitter_so_popular/ | {
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"Well, Twitter is a website where people can post what they're thinking, so long as it's short. They can also post to it from their phones very easily, so it has become pretty common to post about what is happening around the person who is posting. Sometimes people on Twitter see what's going to be in the news before the news people can get there, or sometimes they just say something really funny! It can be pretty interesting to read.",
"Twitter is best explained by the video they use to explain it:\n\nTwitter in plain english:\n\n_URL_0_",
"Twitter spent a lot of time and money attracting a sizable user base which finally snowballed into the mainstream culture. They were hemorrhaging money for quite a long time before hand. Kind of like how Youtube, despite how popular it was, was still losing money before it was bought by google. (I'm pretty sure atleast). \n\nIt has a somewhat legitimate use in keeping people up to date with tweet containing relevant information. I've found it useful for various podcasts/live streaming shows which will tweet when they are about to go live, especially useful if they have an irregular schedule. \n\nReally though it does nothing other social networking sites do, does a lot less really, though that may be part of the appeal.",
"It is more a user friendly RSS feed in some cases and in others, a witty comment generator. ",
"Okay, so I think to really understand Twitter you have to get a little bit of internet history.\n\nSee, a few years ago, lots of people who had jobs involving computers would hang out in what is called an \"IRC Channel\". IRC stands for \"Internet Relay Chat\", and an IRC channel is an online \"place\" where a lot of people can go and \"chat\" by typing at one another. This is the early days of the internet, where a lot of people don't have standard coworker relationships-- water cooler discussions, stuff like that. Social interaction-- talking, mostly-- that could go on in the background while they all got work done. (Some people still use IRC, or other chat programs.)\n\nNow, the problem with IRC is that you don't really get to pick who's in your channel. Sure, if you're one of the moderators or administrators of the channel you'll get to kick people out, or you can hide people, but you can't force people who usually hang out elsewhere to come and hang out with you too, and you miss a fair amount of the conversation if you hide a lot of regular users.\n\nTwitter is, in a way, the next step in the evolution of stuff like IRC and chat programs. It's something that you run in the background on your computer, it gives you social interaction that is not very intensive. You only see messages that the people you follow are sending to other people you follow, so you don't end up missing pieces of the conversation you aren't interested in.\n\nOther people use Twitter in different ways; there are a lot of companies that have Twitter accounts and news agencies with Twitter accounts. If you think of Twitter as like a room with all the people you want in it talking to each other, you can think of those accounts as like having a TV or a radio on in the room-- every once in a while, a bunch of people will notice something interesting on the TV and start talking about it. That's what happens when breaking news happens on Twitter; a lot of people repeat the news and then discuss it.",
"Well, Twitter is a website where people can post what they're thinking, so long as it's short. They can also post to it from their phones very easily, so it has become pretty common to post about what is happening around the person who is posting. Sometimes people on Twitter see what's going to be in the news before the news people can get there, or sometimes they just say something really funny! It can be pretty interesting to read.",
"Twitter is best explained by the video they use to explain it:\n\nTwitter in plain english:\n\n_URL_0_",
"Twitter spent a lot of time and money attracting a sizable user base which finally snowballed into the mainstream culture. They were hemorrhaging money for quite a long time before hand. Kind of like how Youtube, despite how popular it was, was still losing money before it was bought by google. (I'm pretty sure atleast). \n\nIt has a somewhat legitimate use in keeping people up to date with tweet containing relevant information. I've found it useful for various podcasts/live streaming shows which will tweet when they are about to go live, especially useful if they have an irregular schedule. \n\nReally though it does nothing other social networking sites do, does a lot less really, though that may be part of the appeal.",
"It is more a user friendly RSS feed in some cases and in others, a witty comment generator. ",
"Okay, so I think to really understand Twitter you have to get a little bit of internet history.\n\nSee, a few years ago, lots of people who had jobs involving computers would hang out in what is called an \"IRC Channel\". IRC stands for \"Internet Relay Chat\", and an IRC channel is an online \"place\" where a lot of people can go and \"chat\" by typing at one another. This is the early days of the internet, where a lot of people don't have standard coworker relationships-- water cooler discussions, stuff like that. Social interaction-- talking, mostly-- that could go on in the background while they all got work done. (Some people still use IRC, or other chat programs.)\n\nNow, the problem with IRC is that you don't really get to pick who's in your channel. Sure, if you're one of the moderators or administrators of the channel you'll get to kick people out, or you can hide people, but you can't force people who usually hang out elsewhere to come and hang out with you too, and you miss a fair amount of the conversation if you hide a lot of regular users.\n\nTwitter is, in a way, the next step in the evolution of stuff like IRC and chat programs. It's something that you run in the background on your computer, it gives you social interaction that is not very intensive. You only see messages that the people you follow are sending to other people you follow, so you don't end up missing pieces of the conversation you aren't interested in.\n\nOther people use Twitter in different ways; there are a lot of companies that have Twitter accounts and news agencies with Twitter accounts. If you think of Twitter as like a room with all the people you want in it talking to each other, you can think of those accounts as like having a TV or a radio on in the room-- every once in a while, a bunch of people will notice something interesting on the TV and start talking about it. That's what happens when breaking news happens on Twitter; a lot of people repeat the news and then discuss it."
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5ezfgv | what is the intuitive answer for the need for e^x? | What are the real-world applications of e^x?
What are the real-world examples for the derivative of e^x being e^x?
Why is e^x so fascinating to people beyond the fact that it is famous?
Is their an answer that one can think through without retreating to proofs and limits?
What do we calculate with this instrument? How (a non-rigorous/intuitive answer please) do we calculate something with e^x? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ezfgv/eli5_what_is_the_intuitive_answer_for_the_need/ | {
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"e^x is used for growth and decay models of situations i believe, modeled like so\n\nA = Ao e^(kx)\n\nwhere \nx is the time passed\nA is the amount at time x,\nAo is the initial amount \nk is a constant\n\nif k is negative it is a decay situation and as x increases A will decrease.\nYou could use this to model the decay of a radioactive substance, \nto find the final amount after say 30 years time, or to find out how much there was 30 years ago\n\nIt is used for more things but this is the extent of my knowledge.",
"There's an identity that's very useful: e^ix = cos(x) + i*sin(x), where i is the imaginary number (the square root of -1).\n\nThis identity gives you a way to change cosines and sines into the form of e^x which makes the derivatives much easier. Nearly everything in life oscillates or vibrates in some way and usually needs to be represented with a combination of cosines and sines at some level, so the deeper you need to go (think molecularly), the more often you start seeing e^x pop into equations for rates of change. I used it often in quantum mechanics, predicting the probability cloud of an electron.\n\nOtherwise, the e^ix equation is used all over the place in AC electronics, as capacitors and other electrical components allow for imaginary currents to pass over them (capacitors are charged metal plates, no current actually flows over them), altering the flow of electricity in a way that makes sense to use imaginary numbers that oscillate, eventually being represented as something in the e^x form.",
"If the value of something is proportional to rate at which it changes, then exponential is a solution for that. Example: if the friction on something is related to how fast it is moving, then the rate it stops will be an exponential decay. e is specifically famous since it is it's own rate of change, so it is kind of a base for exponential. A natural fixed point."
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1w3pbu | why is it sometimes when i put hot food in tupperware container it sucks the lid in and sometimes it blows the lid outward? what's going on and what decides which direction the lid will flex? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1w3pbu/eli5_why_is_it_sometimes_when_i_put_hot_food_in/ | {
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"If you are putting in food emitting water vapor, ie steam, then the pressure in the container increases, popping the lid. If it doesn't emit vapor, then the pressure will decrease steadily as the temperature drops, and lower pressure gas takes up less volume, and the lid is pulled in."
]
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3sbfvy | are 2000 y.o. seeds dead before they germinate? if not, what part of them is alive? | Recently, some seeds from Jewish ruins were grown after 2000 years. How can life come from dead seeds? And if the seeds are not dead, what part of them is alive? There can be no moisture left in them after that long, right? And no cellular activity at all, right?
If the answer is that they are dead, how does water start in them life? Do we understand this?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sbfvy/eli5are_2000_yo_seeds_dead_before_they_germinate/ | {
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"You are thinking of Judean date palms, which were recently regrown from 2000 year old seeds.\n\nThe seeds were still viable after 2000 years because the cells inside were not dead. They were dormant for a long time, but there have been cells thawed out of ice in the arctic after millions of years that were still viable. \n\nAs for moisture, the earth's air contains plenty of moisture. Nothing exposed to the atmosphere ever becomes completely dessicated"
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5ti5r9 | - why are idevices the most secure devices available? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ti5r9/eli5_why_are_idevices_the_most_secure_devices/ | {
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"If you mean in general consumer use, it's because they operate a completely closed ecosystem. Unless you jailbreak the device you can only run apps that have been approved by Apple. That, while not being perfect, does offer an additional layer of security that makes it harder for sketchy people to run apps on your device and steal/hack your data. The second helping factor is there's only one manufacturer and only a couple of versions of ios - and they nag you to update even to the point of frustration. If you own the hardware, software and you vet the apps that run, you have a far greater level of control. This creates a more secure environment at the expense of a more flexible one. Trade offs. "
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1gpul7 | why is a kilogram or kilometre equal to a thousand, but kilobyte equal to 1024? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gpul7/eli5_why_is_a_kilogram_or_kilometre_equal_to_a/ | {
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"Kilobyte can be both 1000 bytes, or 1024 bytes depending on context (different companies use different naming conventions for example). \n\nIt's to do with the way computers count in binary (base 2 counting).\n\nSince 2^10 = 1024 is approximately 1000, the SI prefixes (Kilo, Mega, Giga, etc) were used for binary multiples. \n\nIntrestingly an unambiguous Kibibyte (and Mebibyte, Gibibyte etc.) has been proposed as taking over as default naming convention for the base 2 figures, and the SI prefixes reserved for the base 10 values.. However the dual use of Kilobyte is still very common.\n\n\n[See here for more info.](_URL_0_)\n\n\n\n",
"Trying \"more 5-year-old\": When you count to 11, that's \"1 ten and 1 one\". If you're counting on your fingers you run out. \n\nComputers count with one finger: 11 to a computer is \"1 two and 1 one\". \n\nSo 100 to a computer is one four, zero twos and zero ones. \n\n10 000 000 000 to a computer is one 1024, zero 512s, etc. \n\nEarly computer programmers said \"That's about a thousand\" so they used the kilo prefix. It was easier to say \"4k\" than \"4096\" and way easier to say \"64k\" than \"65536\". ",
"Nice round numbers in base 10 are: 10, 100, 1000, etc. We give special names to those numbers because they're round.\n\nNice round numbers in base 2 (binary) are: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024\n\nSo, when people were using binary they called the round number nearest 1000 kilo.\n",
"Because the smart people that run the computer world aren't scientists and *really* won't change their words because they're stubborn, um, people.\n\nKibibyte (+ Mebi and Gibi) are the right words to use, but good luck talking computer people into using them.\n\nRemember the talk we had about science, and how Pluto isn't a planet, and how a true scientist would take that demotion in stride because it means we now have a good definition for what a planet is? And remember how I said there were people who really wanted Pluto to still be a planet even then though they were now wrong?\n\nYeah, it's like that, but for computer words.",
"I haven't seen anyone else point this out - Kilograms, kilometers, etc. are part of the metric system. Kilobytes, megabytes, etc. are not part of the metric system, but they do use similar naming conventions for convenience.",
"Computers naturally deal with numbers that are powers of two, like 1024. When the people working with computers wanted to quickly describe multiples of 1024, they used the SI prefix kilo-, meaning 1000, since it was pretty close. This is an inaccurate usage, and is always and has always been technically incorrect. \n\nThe correct prefix to use when you mean 1024 is kibi-, though in practice no one ever does this – they just say the wrong thing and figure that you'll understand what they mean. ",
"If you say kilobytes for 1024 bytes you are going to be in big trouble anywhere in the real world. \nkilo = 1000."
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non6a | how air traffic is coordinated | It just seems so complex with arrivals, departures, delays, weather, etc. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/non6a/eli5_how_air_traffic_is_coordinated/ | {
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"I'm no air traffic controller, but this when i was driving with my instructor (he was a retired pilot), this is how i remember him explaining it to me:\nThere are two types of planes, commercial and private. Private planes fly at altitudes of 150 feet, 250, 350, etc. while commercial jets fly at 200, 300, 400 etc (or vice versa, can't remember). I know this probably doesn't answer your question, but it's the info i know of flight control.",
"Just like on the roads, there are highways in the sky. Commercial aircraft fly on specified altitudes and specified \"routes.\" When a plane has to wait to land, there is a flight pattern that they fly in. There is a circle that they make over the airport. \n\nIf there is a weather problem that closes an airport, the aircraft will go to the next airport they have been directed to. The aircraft will still follow the road in the sky. To see a good example of this, when 9/11 shut down the skies over the US, many aircraft landed in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. The reason they all stopped there is because many international flight plans used Gander as a fueling stop.\n\n*ELI5 Version*: The airspace that commercial jets fly in is similar to the highways that many people drive on. The airports are no more than exit ramps. If one exit is closed, the jet flies to the next exit.",
"Most answers in here are slightly incorrect. Air traffic controllers have rules and guidelines they use that have been set by the FAA. Classes of airspace denote different rules, (ifr/ifr separation at all times by atc in class A, you're on your own in class G) and these rules are used in conjunction with radar and common sense. There are per established routes certain planes fly, but by no means is it like a highway that you must stay on. Pretty much, it's just an air traffic controllers job to keep the blips in the radar from touching and to provide a certain amount of separation. On landing and takeoffs, all pilots on the radio can hear one anothers transmissions and atc transmits by a call sign (your tail number) letting everyone know who you're talking to. So I may say \"november ptsbbam, you are clear for immediate take off at runway 46 right.\" and you'd say \"cleared for take off at 46 right, November ptsbbam.\" everyone knows what you're doing, and you have your instructions.",
"I'm no air traffic controller, but this when i was driving with my instructor (he was a retired pilot), this is how i remember him explaining it to me:\nThere are two types of planes, commercial and private. Private planes fly at altitudes of 150 feet, 250, 350, etc. while commercial jets fly at 200, 300, 400 etc (or vice versa, can't remember). I know this probably doesn't answer your question, but it's the info i know of flight control.",
"Just like on the roads, there are highways in the sky. Commercial aircraft fly on specified altitudes and specified \"routes.\" When a plane has to wait to land, there is a flight pattern that they fly in. There is a circle that they make over the airport. \n\nIf there is a weather problem that closes an airport, the aircraft will go to the next airport they have been directed to. The aircraft will still follow the road in the sky. To see a good example of this, when 9/11 shut down the skies over the US, many aircraft landed in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. The reason they all stopped there is because many international flight plans used Gander as a fueling stop.\n\n*ELI5 Version*: The airspace that commercial jets fly in is similar to the highways that many people drive on. The airports are no more than exit ramps. If one exit is closed, the jet flies to the next exit.",
"Most answers in here are slightly incorrect. Air traffic controllers have rules and guidelines they use that have been set by the FAA. Classes of airspace denote different rules, (ifr/ifr separation at all times by atc in class A, you're on your own in class G) and these rules are used in conjunction with radar and common sense. There are per established routes certain planes fly, but by no means is it like a highway that you must stay on. Pretty much, it's just an air traffic controllers job to keep the blips in the radar from touching and to provide a certain amount of separation. On landing and takeoffs, all pilots on the radio can hear one anothers transmissions and atc transmits by a call sign (your tail number) letting everyone know who you're talking to. So I may say \"november ptsbbam, you are clear for immediate take off at runway 46 right.\" and you'd say \"cleared for take off at 46 right, November ptsbbam.\" everyone knows what you're doing, and you have your instructions."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
36qxp4 | does stimulating the prostate really lead to a heightened male orgasm? if so, why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36qxp4/eli5_does_stimulating_the_prostate_really_lead_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"crgl5gh"
],
"score": [
26
],
"text": [
"Depends greatly on the person. Some people love it, some people hate it, some people are neutral.\n\nAs for why, the prostate is basically a giant bundle of nerves that's hooked up to your penis. Stimulating it can create a massive direct stimulation of the pleasure circuits in your genitals."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4swq3d | why does swatting yield such low charges in america? | I want to be as clear as possible, I am talking about calling emergency services on people to troll them instead of swatting insects. How did we get to a point where someone who harasses people by diverting emergency workers, who's job is to save lives, on a regular bases get only a sub three year sentence? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4swq3d/eli5_why_does_swatting_yield_such_low_charges_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"d5crsyz"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Cop here:\n\nLaws haven't caught up, basically. When they were written, \"SWATting\" wasn't really a thing. They just have general \"misuse of emergency services\" charges.\n\nPolice and prosecutors can't make up charges- they have to go by what's on the books. Judges can't sentance people for more than they're allowed to."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
64xuzw | if there's enough food and resources in the world to go around, why is there so much poverty concentrated in certain parts of the world? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64xuzw/eli5_if_theres_enough_food_and_resources_in_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"dg5ssgi"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Because the food and other resources are concentrated also. There are physical, logistic, and economic barriers to redistribution. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
5m0tkd | how do retail stores make money with such ridiculous return options and not go into the negative? | After reading several post today i was wondering.. how do major department stores compensate for money lost on returns? Some things that stores take back are ridiculous | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5m0tkd/eli5_how_do_retail_stores_make_money_with_such/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbzvr60",
"dbzvrvi"
],
"score": [
3,
6
],
"text": [
"I know at wal-mart they have agreements with there suppliers that they will accept a certain amount of returns without question and if it is over that then I guess they just eat it,",
"the amount of returns on those things is usually very low.\n\nif it became a money loser, they would stop doing it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
3a31yd | what are those websites that i get directed to when i accidently write the name wrong in the url? | For an example when i visit _URL_0_ instead of _URL_1_ i end up on a website with a few related links and a search bar. Who hosts those websites and why do they all tend to look the same (cheap design, related links etc.)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a31yd/eli5_what_are_those_websites_that_i_get_directed/ | {
"a_id": [
"cs8ta2f"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"They're \"squatters.\" People who know that users are going to screw up their typing and get unintentional web traffic, so they are attempting to make a profit from that exposure.\n\nIf you want to see who owns any website (like their name and address) just go to the internic whois page\n\n_URL_0_\n\nand type the domain in (leave any www. or other top-level domain out. You'd type _URL_1_ not www._URL_1_)"
]
} | [] | [
"www.anwsers.com",
"www.answers.com"
] | [
[
"http://www.internic.net/whois.html",
"google.com",
"www.google.com"
]
] |
|
3laiww | does a man retain ownership of his semen after it leaves his body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3laiww/eli5_does_a_man_retain_ownership_of_his_semen/ | {
"a_id": [
"cv4ku0h",
"cv4l4al",
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"score": [
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2
],
"text": [
"Legally, I think it's generally legally treated like the trash you leave on the curb -- as discarded trash, no longer owned. ",
"No, its not yours unless its fertilises something. The law has a double standard when it comes to gamete cells of the sexes. When it comes to men's reproductive rights in general, the laws are pretty shitty. ",
"There a case, where a guy had gotten a blowjob from a girl, she didn't swallow, but instead injected the semen into her vagina and got pregnant.\n\nCourt ruled the semen was a gift and she could do with it whatever she wanted.",
"This begs the question - what do you mean by ownership?\nBiologically? Yes - it matches his genetic code.\nLegally? It's not considered a body part and more of a excreting body fluid so I would argue no, unless it was specifically retained for a purpose."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3ztkns | there are all these companies offering free credit scores. what's their angle? how do they get paid? | They've got to be getting money somehow. They run ads that feel like they're selling exercise equipment or auto insurance. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ztkns/eli5_there_are_all_these_companies_offering_free/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyoxlml",
"cyoxv63"
],
"score": [
20,
4
],
"text": [
"CreditKarma works like a champ & I have yet to be bothered by them. Their angle is advertising. Their site has all sorts of \"suggestions\" which include a number of things you can sign up for, like credit cards. So it is exactly as they advertise. Free report & you have to wade through some advertisements. Would never pay again. \n\n",
"They aren't selling you a real credit score (known as a FICO score). There are only three companies that will offer you a a real FICO: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. \n\nThese other companies use their own formulas to come up with a number similar to your FICO score. These fake FICO scores, known as FAKOs, are basically meaningless. \n\nMore details here: _URL_0_ "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://blog.credit.com/2014/12/fico-vs-fako-whats-your-real-credit-score-103270/"
]
] |
|
ah44cq | why do people want to buy broken/water damaged iphones for cash? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ah44cq/eli5_why_do_people_want_to_buy_brokenwater/ | {
"a_id": [
"eeb9ksg"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Broken electronics still have components that can be used, or resold for profit. They're also full of useful and valuable metals, such as gold."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
20duxo | why can't you record police officers? | I always thought it would help for evidence for whatever they were responding to. Or is it so they can get away with bending the law themselves? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20duxo/eli5why_cant_you_record_police_officers/ | {
"a_id": [
"cg29y5i"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It isn't always illegal or legal, depends where you are.\n\nDifferent jurisdictions that prohibit it give different reasons for it. (Although many people would accuse it of being to protect the police from prosecution when they overstep the law.)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
537m2f | if eating raw eggs can give salmonella why do athletes drink raw eggs before/after a work out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/537m2f/eli5_if_eating_raw_eggs_can_give_salmonella_why/ | {
"a_id": [
"d7qll5j",
"d7qm5xg"
],
"score": [
4,
5
],
"text": [
"1. Almost all the time, it doesn't give you a Salmonella infection.\n\n2. When have athletes ever done things strictly for safety?",
"Answered: You can eat eggs raw, it is all OK."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
87vd0o | it is said that zinc has quantifiable effects on the cold virus, regardless of strain; as people who intake zinc during the early stages of cold reduce the symptoms by one day or so. what's the reason behind this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/87vd0o/eli5_it_is_said_that_zinc_has_quantifiable/ | {
"a_id": [
"dwfu1q2",
"dwfu3z8"
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"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"The evidence for zinc's effects on colds are limited, at best. From the [Mayo Clinic website](_URL_0_):\n\n > Recently an analysis of several studies showed that zinc lozenges or syrup reduced the length of a cold by one day, especially when taken within 24 hours of the first signs and symptoms of a cold.\n\n > But the recent analysis stopped short of recommending zinc. None of the studies analyzed had enough participants to meet a high standard of proof. Also, the studies used different zinc dosages and preparations (lozenges or syrup) for different lengths of time. As a result, it's not clear what the effective dose and treatment schedule would be.\n\n > Zinc — especially in lozenge form — also has side effects, including nausea or a bad taste in the mouth. Many people who used zinc nasal sprays suffered a permanent loss of smell. For this reason, Mayo Clinic doctors caution against using such sprays.\n\n\nThe mechanisms through which zinc may work are murky:\n\n > Zinc may work by preventing the rhinovirus from multiplying. It may also stop the rhinovirus from lodging in the mucous membranes of the throat and nose.",
"Zing and cold is a very controversial topic. \n\nIn short, zinc does seem to reduce the duration and severity of some colds when taken immediately after onset of symptoms. Colds are caused by a wide range of viral strains and species, and only one to three species are generally suspected of being affected. \n\nThe exact mechanism is not known. One commonly-cited hypothesis is that the virus's polymerase uses a coordinating zinc ion at the hinge (that's known for sure), and excess zinc in the cell disrupts this structure. This does work in vitro, but it is difficult to increase the internal zinc concentration of cells, even if you take a very high dose of zinc orally, so it's not known if this works in vivo. \n\nZinc lozenges in stores tend to be one of the most marked up things you can buy. If possible, buy an ordinary zinc supplement not directed to colds. Same thing, much cheaper. Probably won't make much difference, and might even make you feel worse, but oh well. \n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/zinc-for-colds/faq-20057769"
],
[]
] |
||
2opy1o | how audience could hear actors in ancient greece and elizabethean era. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2opy1o/eli5_how_audience_could_hear_actors_in_ancient/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmpfe71",
"cmpfw1d"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Many Greek amphitheaters - in some cases purely by accident - were structurally designed in such a way that resulted in the natural amplification of the actor's voices by reflecting certain frequencies of sound toward the audience. Amphitheater designs that produced the best acoustics were then copied.",
"* smaller venues\n* sound reflecting chambers\n* the actors had to pretty much yell all of their lines"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
30jy7x | why do we enjoy watching a movie or reading a book more than once if we already know what's going to happen? | Some movies/books are even better the second time. Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30jy7x/eli5_why_do_we_enjoy_watching_a_movie_or_reading/ | {
"a_id": [
"cpt4ry2",
"cpt4w9a"
],
"score": [
4,
8
],
"text": [
"Wouldn't you like to relive your happiest moments in life? ",
"My take on that:\n\nBecause a good story isn't good for its outcome. It's good for its rich characters and the way the story takes to lead your characters to the end. I also like all the development characters make in the process of the story."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
6l2wd1 | how did big pharma help create the current heroin epidemic? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6l2wd1/eli5_how_did_big_pharma_help_create_the_current/ | {
"a_id": [
"djqobyp",
"djqojee"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"You may be confused. Big Pharma companies are accused of helping to create the current *opioid* epidemic, because they make opioid pills -- which are being used much more than their original intention.",
"Big Pharma pressured/paid doctors to prescribe opiates to people who don't really need them. Opiates are more or less watered down heroin, and are addictive in and of themselves. People prescribed opiates for a long time quickly become addicted, and then start to develop a tolerance. Many stay on painkillers as long as their prescriptions/insurance allows them to, but once they're kicked off either of those; they're still addicted to opiates. Heroin is easier to get on the streets than prescription opiates are, and they fill that same addiction. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1bhuxh | how is it possible that csx trains can move cargo nearly 450 miles on a single gallon of fuel when my car can only go 18. | Knowing that trains weigh significantly more than cars how is it possible that a million pound train can move farther than my 2-3 ton car using the same amount of fuel? Wouldn't all the extra mass require more force to move compared to a car? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bhuxh/eli5_how_is_it_possible_that_csx_trains_can_move/ | {
"a_id": [
"c96sox1",
"c96sw09",
"c96udf1",
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"score": [
31,
9,
77,
2
],
"text": [
"There is a large reduction in drag from air. Once the locomotive pushes it out of the way, air doesn't settle completely back into place until the train has finished passing by. There is a reduction in rolling resistance with steel wheels on rails compared to tires, the contact patch per ton carried is reduced. The engines used by trains can be operated closer to their ideal operating points, and starts and stops are more predictable.\n\nFor contrast to the CSX train, the *Emma Maersk* container ship gets 28 **feet** per gallon of fuel oil, but it also carries 11,000 containers at once. It's about three times as efficient as transportation by rail.",
"On average (per locomotive) the train gets .41 mpg. So no the mpg isnt great, but where that train is getting .41mpg its also hauling 13,000 tons vs a semi at 8mpg hauling 40 tons or your car at 18 mpg hauling whatever you and your car weigh. The 450 miles on one gallon is comparing how much freight they are hauling, not their actual mpg. ",
"CSX trains do NOT get 450 miles per gallon. They get 450 ton-miles per gallon ([Source](_URL_0_)). To calculate ton-miles per gallon, take the weight of the vehicle and multiply it by the more standard miles per gallon. If your car weighs 2.5 tons, 18 mpg, it gets 45 ton-miles per gallon.\n\nThat isn't to say 450 isn't really darn good, and the other answers help with that, just that it is more understandable when the trains weigh thousands of tons.",
"I had understood that those trains are diesel/electric hybrids, and the diesel engines are just there to run the electric motors that actually move the train. Any truth to that?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/about-csx/projects-and-partnerships/fuel-efficiency/"
],
[]
] |
|
2p992s | why don't positrons react like that? | In the [Ghostbusters vs Mythbusters](_URL_0_) episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, there's the line "It's a fact positrons don't react like that!". Could someone please ELI5? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p992s/eli5why_dont_positrons_react_like_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmuhmwn"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The Ghostbusters infamous backpacks are supposed to be \"positron colliders\". When positrons collide with electrons, they either destroy them or scatter, they dont create magic lassos."
]
} | [] | [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0pnTm-KK9k"
] | [
[]
] |
|
6n9gw7 | how come my alarm wakes me up without fail, but other very loud noises in the vicinity of my house don't? | So my alarm wakes me up without fail no matter when I have to get up by. It's just my alarm on my phone doing the default tune it's set to.
Where I live however can be very noisy. Within throwing distance (literally the end of my road or on the other side of the fence to my road) I have a train station, police station, ambulance station, fire station, a hospital and an industrial state that always seems to be doing something with big heavy metal things. I don't know what, but they clang them about and I wish they wouldn't. Also on the industrial estate they have days where they decide to blast music super loud, or have "horn honking" competitions (at least that's what it sounds like).
These events and noises aren't a "constant" however, so it's not like regular background noise, and I do find them very irritating when I am awake and they do happen.
Now this all happens during the day, and as I have recently started a new job which makes me work nights, I was concerned I'd never sleep. Yet I have not woken to any of the above events or any thunderstorms or anything at all.
Why aren't any of these loud things waking me, but my little phone alarm does without fail? And in a very jumpy/panicked way at that! As if it's an emergency. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6n9gw7/eli5how_come_my_alarm_wakes_me_up_without_fail/ | {
"a_id": [
"dk7qcp0",
"dk7qq9o"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"You have had that alarm tone for years now so you have trained your brain to when it hears that it is time to wake up. Also you have learned to fall sleep with all the other sounds so you filter them out. \n\nAlso something else is if you wake up at 6am every day for years, your body is ready to be awake at 6 so any loud noise could wake you up at that time. ",
"Your brain will actually still process all the sounds while you sleep. Basically your brain knows that the alarm should wake you while background noise like a truck going by or a siren in the distance isn't really a priority. It's possible to sleep through an alarm if you are too tired because your brain is basically like \"eh, sleep is more important than this.\"\n\nAlarms are pretty consistent and can actually get louder and louder as time goes on as well. In my experience, loud noises do wake me up sometimes but I am not aware of it. I just know I woke up but not sure why. Alarms are more annoying and I definitely know they are going off."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
5dgqar | null and alternative hypothesis (statistics | I understand the basic premise of hypothesis testing. I under stand why we fail to reject or reject the null hypothesis. I can't wrap my head around the terminology, alternative is straightforward enough that it isn't the claimed statement. How in the world did it wind up with the term null? Statistics seems to use certain terminology just to keep laymen out. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dgqar/eli5_null_and_alternative_hypothesis_statistics/ | {
"a_id": [
"da4dmtb",
"da4i06p"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text": [
"The Null in Null Hypothesis just means that there is no hypothesis. The Null Hypothesis is just the status quo and and the Alternative Hypothesis is what you are trying to gather evidence for.\n\nBecause we are starting with a reasonable assumption as the status quo, we look to reject that assumption. Or we fail to gather enough evidence to reject that assumption.\n\nEDIT for an example:\n\nLet's say you claim to be psychic and you want to perform an experiment to prove it by guessing the outcome of 100 coin flips. What's the reasonable assumption here? What's the status quo? The reasonable assumption is that you are not psychic, because that's a thing that doesn't exist, you don't need proof that someone is not psychic. \n\nSo the null hypothesis would be be that you will not correctly guess more coin flips than would be expected by random chance alone, but the alternative hypothesis would be that you will correctly guess a number of flips that's highly unlikely to be done by random, say more than 3 standard deviations from the mean.",
"\"Null\" as a mathematical term typically refers to some sort of a 0 value, which varies depending on the context. For instance, the empty set (which contains no elements) is sometimes called the \"null set,\" or a \"null vector\" is a vector with length 0.\n\nIn this case, the \"null\" hypothesis states that there is \"0 relationship\" between the two variables. The alternative hypothesis proposes that one does exist."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2288uu | the dark ages | Were pagan cultures that thrived before the christianity dominated dark ages more technological and scientific then the various christian countries? Did the dark ages effect the entire world or was it just in Europe (like were civilizations in Asia or the Americas thriving?) ? What was the initial spark that caused religion to pretty much abolish the sciences? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2288uu/eli5_the_dark_ages/ | {
"a_id": [
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"cgkb6kt",
"cgkm49h"
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"score": [
3,
3,
13,
7,
13,
16,
2
],
"text": [
"[These people know what they're talking about.](_URL_0_)",
"1 - The Dark Ages refer to just Europe, not Asia or the Americas, as globalization was not a thing at the time\n\n2 -Pagan cultures were more scientific, but also not. Their beliefs were basic, but how they did things was more advanced, they realized the importance of things like maggots treating infected flesh, they knew how to hunt and have sophisticated medicines, even though they thought it was magic.\n\n3 - The initial spark was the fall of Rome, Rome was sacked by the Visigoths and people no longer had time to philosophize or think about science, it was all about survival.",
"This question is incredibly loaded, and also wrong on multiple levels. I'll try to keep the explanation brief though.\n\n1: The \"Dark Ages\" is a myth. The time following the fall of the Roman empire was described as a \"dark age\" by writers during the Rennissance, because they had a massive hard on for Rome. While standards of living did suffer more than a bit following the fall of Rome, they eventually picked back up. Meanwhile, technological innovation never really stopped. Finally, for what downsides there were in the \"Dark Ages\", they were largely confined to western Europe. Things were going swimmingly in Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Byzantine Empire (the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which lasted for something like 600 years after the fall of Rome) and the Middle East. The Middle Eastern empires in particular were doing amazingly well for themselves, being socially and technologically well beyond anything in Europe at the time. \n\n2: The notion that Christianity somehow attempted to kill of science is also a complete myth. Catholic priests were among the best educated people in Europe for centuries, and monasteries were veritable treasure troves of knowledge. Hell, the only people that even knew how to read were the aristocrats and the clergy, and most of the aristocrats were *taught* by the clergy. \n\n3: By the \"Dark Ages\" in Europe, the various Pagan cultures weren't particularly developed or civilized. Most of them had already been converted to Christianity. Most of the rest were basically barbarians living on the fringes. While some of these barbarians were actually quite successful (the vikings made an absolute fortune for example), they mostly got by stealing the wealth of other civilizations.",
" > What was the initial spark that caused religion to pretty much abolish the sciences?\n\nCommon misconception about the Dark Ages. The Church didn't repress science or learning. In fact, pretty much the only people who could read or write were in the Church, and monks were the only people doing anything *remotely* close to science, literature, or art. The Church worked really hard to keep what knowledge hadn't been lost around, and to recover as much as we could.",
"The Dark Ages is a generalized term referring to Western Europe between the fall of Rome and the start of the Renaissance.\n\nIt was called \"Dark\" because a lot of knowledge was lost to the Western Europeans. People stopped maintaining libraries of knowledge and turned to matters of the spirit. Many old manuscripts were scraped clean of text and re-used to make copies of religious texts. People hard pressed to grow enough food to survive, and engaged in endless struggles with one another over territory, tribute, and religions aren't predisposed to let their kids spend time studying ancient literature.\n\nIt was also \"Dark\" because the population contracted and disbursed, reducing many cities and towns in size and scope. Rome's economic system enabled a substantial amount of trade which was needed to sustain concentrations of people. As the economy broke down and trade collapsed people had to disburse and population density was determined by the ability of local agriculture. \n\nDuring this period there were plenty of Christians in Western Europe. Over time Christianity became the dominant faith, then it became a nearly-universal faith as anyone who would not convert was marginalized or killed (handful of exceptions such as Jews, but they were really minor exceptions). The centuries between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance in Western Europe can't really be called \"Pagan\".\n\nOutside of Western Europe things remained much as they had for the previous millennia. Before Rome collapsed, the Roman Empire was split into two parts, and the Eastern part of the Empire, centered on Constantinople, survived a thousand years and retained much of Roman knowledge. In China and India the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire had little immediate impact. In the Americas and Africa south of the coast of North Africa there was no contact with Europe at all. The Middle East preserved and retained a lot of knowledge lost to the Western Europeans, conserving it until it would be reintroduced by returning Crusaders.\n\nThe Romans knew about certain engineering processes that were lost when the Western Roman empire collapsed. The knowledge of how to make concrete, for example, was forgotten. The mathematics and engineering the Romans used to build things like the aqueducts and the Roman Roads was lost. But people retained knowledge of metalwork, herbalism, geometry, and astronomy.\n\nThe Romans were more advanced engineers than their descendants but they were not more scientific. The Roman world was a superstitious land where gods and spirits controlled the world and the fates of humans. The Romans did not have the scientific method. They could not explain much about the world other than through their mythology. In this, they shared a worldview common to every person on the planet, until the middle of the 2nd millennium.\n\n",
"You seem like an intelligent and genuinely curious person. I recommend you watch [Crash Course World History](_URL_0_). Crash Course is a channel founded by the Nerdfighter community dedicated to understandable explanations of complicated topics in a class-like manner, with new videos every week. The first series was World History, it took an entire year to complete, and it covers all of human history from early hunter-gatherers, to the invention of agriculture, all the way up to today from a non-Eurocentric, impartial perspective. \n\nEven if you don't want to watch the entire series, there is a video on the Dark Ages that explains what was going on very well. I think the video right before and right after also do a good job of explaining the awesome things that were happening in the Middle East, Africa, and China at the time. ",
"Q: What was the initial spark that caused religion to pretty much abolish the sciences?\nA: The reputation of the Church impairing science is indeed firmly grounded, yet maybe not in the Middle Ages period. \nDuring the High Middle Ages in Western Europe (VIII-XIth century), the Church has been an enlighment vector. While the population was scattered and tried to survive among the remains of the Roman Empire, the Order of Saint Benedict rescued countless manuscripts from the Roman Empire, and also rescued the art of writing and reading. After the feudal lords secured Europe against Eastern Invasions, they began warring at each other. The Church influenced them to stop quarreling and be better administrators instead. Thus, feudal society was so successful that in the XIIth century, some cities were back to size they had before the fall of the Roman Empire.\nThough, the XIIth century is a turning point: an economical change with the raise of the merchant guilds; a political change with the end of strict feodalism and the raise of central states; an ecological change with the expansion of human society and the spread of cities (the ongoing loss of balance was of particular concern in a society mostly relying on local agriculture); a cultural change with increasing contacts with Eastern Europe and Arabic civilzations; a societal change with overall wealth increase and development of urban way of life and scholarship. This crisis leads to much political, societal and cultural trouble during XIII-XVth century (Low Middle Ages).\n\nLet's come back to our Religion vs Science:\nWestern scholars were used to deal only with the christian heritage of the Antics (remember that the Last Roman Empire was christian): during the High Middle Age, only the founding of Benedict Order permitted to rescue ancient manuscripts. But pagan knowledge was of poor price to them, so they frequently erased old manuscripts to copy holy writings. So even during the XIIth century, while university is burgeoning in Werstern Europe, Antique scientists and philophers are known only through quotes of later christian exegetes.\nSuddenly, through the crusades and especially de Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), medieval society comes in contact with Antique knowledge: it had been lost in Western Europe during the High Middle Age, but was still fairly well known by byzantine and arabian scholars. With the fall of Byzantium, countless pagan books spread across Europe, where nobody knows how to handle them since they are often in conflict with holy texts.\nIn this context, scholastic raised after the works of Thomas Aquinas. It flourished during the XIVth century across Europe and its purpose was to determine which knowledge was christian and which was heretic or demonic. Thus Copernicus and Galileo's works were proven to be Satan's brood (among countless other works of science).\n\nIn contrast, Islam did not empede medicine (obstetrics, ophtalmology, ), hospitals (first teaching hospitals), chemistry and algebra, milling and aqueducts, architecture (later used to build churches in gothic style), smithing (damascan blades)...\n\n- > this reputation of the religion trying to abolish the science dates back to scholastics and Thomas Aquinas."
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7kgmug | how do waterless toilets work? how do they not smell constantly? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7kgmug/eli5_how_do_waterless_toilets_work_how_do_they/ | {
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"They use a puck that reduces the smell when urine passes through it. Then the urine/cleaner combo go into the drain. The drain still uses a p-trap or a U-shaped bit of pipe that will hold liquid to prevent sewer gases from escaping. ",
"The two main types of \"waterless\" toilets are composting toilets and electric incinerator type toilets.\n\nIncinerator type obviously need electricity and simply burn up the waste with odor handled by fans and venting.\n\nComposting type units store the waste in sealed containers and use similar types of venting.\n\nThen there are the vault outhouses in most forest service campgrounds which do smell constantly."
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51vcxq | why is it that a webpage that's not loading always appears for a second just as i navigate away? like just a teasing flash of the page as i hit "enter" on a different url, or as i hit "refresh". | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/51vcxq/eli5_why_is_it_that_a_webpage_thats_not_loading/ | {
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"The browser is waiting for a script to complete. When you hit refresh, you stop the script, and send a HTTP request for the page again. There is a delay, however before that request is processed. Since the long-running script has stopped, the browser is able to load the page in this delay. However, it may not look or work correctly, if the scripts did not complete.",
"The browser loads stuff in the order that the website's designer tells it to. Sometimes an ad or picture takes a long time to load. Ads are often coming from another website. If that website is super slow it will slow down your browser. Then you get impatient and interrupt the loading process by going to a different site or hitting stop and the browser says \"fuck it, I'll show you what I got so far.\"",
"Imagine you're at the bank and you request money from your account. The employee starts giving you bill after bill until you get what you asked for. However halfway through you get bored and decide to leave. You are now in possession of half of what you asked for and that's what you get. That's pretty much what is happening.\n\nYour browser is asking a server (the employee) for data (the money) and loading them (more or less slowly), once you get bored and decide to leave, it stills display what you already managed to get.",
"I do believe that most of the other answers are correct, but need to add that sometimes you can get the same behavior just by using the \"Stop\" button - the browser will usually show you what it's managed to load so far, but the site might not work as intended.",
"The browser has paused rendering because it is waiting for some resource to download like a javascript file or a CSS. When you interrupt that process, by hitting refresh or stop or whatever it is that you did, then it gives up on downloading that file and renders whatever it has already downloaded.",
"# Responses that talk about javascript are incorrect.\n\n------\n\nSuppose you have a table, like this:\n\nColumn A | Column B | Column C\n---------|----------|----------\nA1 | B1 | C1\nA2 | B2 | C2 \nA3 | Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee3 | C3\n\nSuppose that you download the lines of the table one at a time.\n\nYou cannot draw _any_ of the table until you have downloaded the very last line, because you don't know that you need a huge space in between B1 and C1 (and B2 and C2) until you see Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee3.\n\nThe instant you stop downloading new lines from the table is the instant at which you can start to draw the table.\n\nThis same general principle applies to layout of more complicated pages, not just tables. But originally on the web, tables were the only kind of layout, so it really was all about tables!\n\nAdvanced web design involves carefully ordering and specifying dimensions of elements so that browsers can begin to render them before downloading the entire page. But this kind of optimization is not always done.",
"I can do an ELI5 on this.\n\nTLDR; it's mostly a glitch from either Browser's side or from network's.\n\nImagine a friend of ours who is young and enthusiastic, and who is really good at drawing things. Let's call him BRowser.\nSome people know this and ask Browser to draw what they desire. \nUsually, Browser likes to show the completely finished drawing(website) to have a maximum impact on the viewer; if not at least a drawing finished enough so it won't be just a blank paper.\nBut,\nA pretty drawing takes some time to complete. There are so many things to be done. Sketch(download code), prepare the pallete(download more code), fill in the colour(wait if some code is still downloading) and so on.\n\nBut at certain times, the other person might be in a greater hurry to leave, or a colour which needs more time to mix(slow connection) at such times browser waits until the very last moment and still if the person leaves, then Browser gets agitated and throws the remaining incomplete drawing in a trash can sighing to himself. And sometimes due to some glitch in Browser we get to see that unfinished view while Browser is throwing it away in the trash can.\n\nThat was the gist.\n\nBonus TLDR: Below is another really good answer buried in the comments which is much shorter than mine here is the permalink \n_URL_0_\n\nIt is fine if you didn't read my post below this line.\n\n-------\n\nNow to more elaborate points.\n\nThere is a vast opinion difference between what browser considers to be complete and what a person might consider complete. Due to this fact it often happens that the drawing is almost complete but a certain tiny tiny minute detail is remaining which Browser thinks is a real big deal and doesn't show the whole painting; in few cases however, it is perfectly fine for him to show the painting to his admirer. \n\nWe are saying few cases because this happens all the time with Browser, this whole trash can thing. Each time somebody closes a video, a streaming audio, a really large photo gallery and most notably while closing a website that won't load at all.\n\nI will tell you a secret. \n\nYou are not supposed to see that flash, ideally. Day by day both Browser and people are getting more mature and are increasing their mutual understanding. A mature, modern Browser knows better in what to show and when to show. Modern Browser also knows how to hide his feelings behind a blank paper and won't give you that 'Oh it was almost done and now I can't do nothing!' sorry feeling while navigating away, and sometimes it's just that the slow network.\n\n\nJust a side note since many of us are wondering if this behaviour of Browser of getting us to wait could be changed.\n\nI don't know any of such settings precisely at the moment, but what I can tell you is this:\nEach Browser has a certain set of complex configuration options which are not visible to a normal user, using which you might be able to achieve the behaviour you want. Browsers come preconfigured of this setting and the company/community that makes the Browser decides the optimal threshold time for it. You can simply google \" < your browser's name > advanced settings\" to get to those hidden settings. But I would advise you to not to change anything there as it would probably make things worse.\n\nEdit: The capitalization of the letter 'R' in the first appearance of the word 'Browser' was done deliberately upon reading some comments to prevent confusing it with 'Bowser'.\n\n-------\n\nThank you for the gold kind stranger!",
"Depending on how the site is set up, the browser waits for a certain amount of the page content to load before it shows it to you. Sometimes a script or large resource takes a long time to download and therefore blocks the display of the page. When you hit back etc. you effectively cancel this process and the browser just displays whatever it has downloaded by that point.",
"One of the things you can do is just hit the stop button, the \"X\" where refresh is in chrome. This will display what the browser has rendered so far.",
"Lots of good answers here, but I didn't see any of them that touched on the *exact* cause of this.\n\nThe main cause of this is because the browser does its first paint to the screen after all *blocking resources* are ready.\n\nWhat's a blocking resource, you ask? Well, they are usually scripts or stylesheets - but *not all scripts or stylesheets are blocking resources*. Blocking resources are the things that the browser thinks it needs in order to display the page, non-blocking resources are things where the browser goes \"they'll probably need this, but they should be able to see the page without it.\" Web developers have control over which things they designate to be blocking or non-blocking. The current \"best practice\" is to make *all* your scripts be non-blocking (with very few exceptions), and have *some* of your styles be non-blocking (because having stuff jump around on the page as new styles load in is bad UX, so the non-blocking styles are supposed to be limited to stuff you probably won't see on the screen right away).\n\nHowever, the \"default\" way to add stylesheets and scripts to the page makes them blocking, which is why you see the random flash when you cancel loading the page:\n\nWhen you cancel the page load, the browser quits its downloads where it's at. For some reason, I'm not sure why, browsers then take what they have and render it before starting to load the next page. If it's downloaded half of a big blocking stylesheet, it will apply the styles of that half and render. If it's downloaded all the styles but there's a big blocking script that was taking forever - it will render the page without running that script.",
"Realistically, the page content should load fluidly and display on the exact cause of this.",
"To correctly draw a web page on the screen, the browser needs to have everything so it can work out where it will all go. If something doesn't load, it won't display anything because it might be all wrong.\n\nWhen you cancel loading, the browser now knows none of those things can affect the layout of what it already has, so it goes ahead and draws them to the screen. But of course, you're just leaving, so you only get it for a second or two.\n\nA handy tip to tell if this is happening is if the page title appears in the window title bar. This means that the HTML has arrived, but that we're waiting for something else to appear.",
"Okay, so the loading process works kind of like this: there are a series of steps for it to go through in order to load, and most of those steps are also made up of a few different steps, themselves. So you have step 1, made up of steps a, b, and c, then step 2, made up of a, b, c, d, e, and f, step 3, made up of a and b, and so on. Some of these steps take longer than others, especially if they're trying to access something that's running slowly (like ads). Your browser goes through each step in order, making sure that everything's ready before it shows you the page.\n\nNow, let's say step 7 is taking waaaay too long. You get impatient and close the window. The browser can't really multitask, so it has to finish what it's doing before it can close. However, since you told it to close during the loading process, it receives a message saying \"skip over everything, we don't need it.\" It finishes up whatever sub-task it was doing, reads the message, and skips over all the rest of the steps.\n\nHere's where it actually displays for that short moment. See, the \"loading\" process and the \"display\" process are separate. The loading process goes through all the steps and makes sure everything is in order, and then the display process pulls back the curtain and reveals it all to you. Since the display process isn't one of the steps that the browser was told to skip over, it still quickly pulls back the curtain, giving you a glimpse of the unfinished page. Usually, it's a back-end process or ad that takes forever, so everything that would actually be displayed on the screen is loaded, which is why it always looks complete as soon as you close it. That page wouldn't work, though. Some function or button or something wouldn't work right and everything would be faulty.\n\nSo, the page you see in that split second is just everything that was already loaded, which is usually all the visual aspects of the page. It's not a complete page, but the browser was told to not complete it, so that's okay. It just wasn't told to not display what it had. Yes, it could potentially be modified to not show anything when you leave a page, but that opens up the potential for bugs like randomly closing web pages, and that's much worse than flashing a site at you when you close it out of frustration.\n\nTL;DR: It loads then it displays. You can tell it to stop loading things, but it will still display it when it stops loading.",
"Since this has already been answered, I'm just going to add (for any new web developers) that placing your javascript calls/code at the bottom of the html (or php, cfm, etc..) file can help prevent this issue or at least everything before it will load giving the illusion that the page is finished loading even if the scripts are still running. However, that doesn't mean the page will function correctly and it can get incredibly annoying. Wordpress sites are often filled with crap JavaScript. It is like building this beautiful house and filling it with so much shitty art that you can't even get around in the house. \n\nFull disclosure: I rarely put JavaScript at the bottom of the file unless it is being used to retrieve content from an external source. ",
"I didn't see this in any of the comments but the simplest answer is caching. You computer stores the style sheets and scripts everyone else is talking about so when you enter the URL you have the last known configuration of the website saved locally on your computer, so before you receive the packets from the Internet your computer can briefly load the last known configuration of the site, and when it goes away it's because the cache needed to be updated and when you received the packets from the Internet the code has changed and the page will finally load with all the new data which is now cached and the cycle repeats. \n\n\nI realized the above paragraph is kinda technical so here's a better ELI5 breakdown:\n\n\n some files that help make up how a website looks are saved locally for faster access and can briefly show up when you try going to a url but if your saved stuff isn't the same as what the Internet is sending you the page goes blank to start loading fresh. Then when it loads you save the new files and thus the cycle never ends. ",
"The simplest answer is it made a bunch of API calls (think phone calls) to display the information. It's waiting to here back. When you say \"Never Mind\" it shows you what it already has. \nMost of the time, it's waiting on ads and tracking sights. So that's why the website appears \"whole\"\n\nSource: 11 years as a web developer",
"Is there a Chrome extension that can force it to display what it has already downloaded?",
"HTML - First stage of loading a website, these are static instruction's telling the web browser where and how to put things. HTML is the only thing required to make a web page and must load first.\n\nHTML can be modified in both style and function using static instruction's using a styling language called CSS and a programing language called JavaScript.\n\nSome browsers wait until all the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript have downloaded loaded before showing the user the page. Sometimes interrupting that process can make the data that has loaded appear for a second.\n\nThe reason many pages typically don't load isn't because it's to much data to download, but because the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are dynamically generated by a computer (web server) in another programming language designed to package and send the data. Every request to package and deliver a web page requires memory on the web server. Servers have a limited amount of memory and when too many people request the web page at the same time, it runs out and then you have to wait.\n\nCloud computing (distributed computing) allows for scalable shared memory, this is why we see less and less web pages timing out, many websites have transitioned to the cloud.",
"Yes, it could potentially be modified in both style and function using static instruction's telling the web page is built it can work out where it actually displays for that short moment.",
"Browsers read the file a bit at a time. If the file references a JavaScript or CSS file, it wont show anything after it until those files are loaded or a 30s - 60s timeout occurs.\n\nThis is one reason to put low priority JS and CSS at the bottom of the page.\n\nThis is also a good reason not to reference files on Google CDN's which are blocked in China and maybe a few other countries. This makes your site pretty much unusable in those countries. Microsoft CDN's are much more accessible.",
"Your browser is waiting for other resources from the server to be ready before displaying the page. Often times this is ads on an ad server which are much slower than the actual web host.\n\nIf you hit 'stop' on loading the page will give up on the resources and often display what it has. Hitting the back button essentially hits the stop button first, for your convenience, and then loads the previous page.\n\nThis is one of the reasons i use adblocks and script blocks, they often are there to load in external resources which are unnecessary but will delay the display of the page.",
"If I'm not mistaken, a part of it involves the transfer of data - a lot of pages are coded to \"wait\" to display until they have most/all of the data they need - so, on a slower connection, this takes a while before it starts to render (display) anything. \n\nOnce you hit \"cancel\" or navigate to another page, you are essentially closing that connection, and so the browser may interpret that as being \"all clear\" to render whatever data it has.",
"It is showing the cached version of the webpage, this won't happen on a website you have never visited before, and the fact that it reloads after means that it is not exactly the same.",
"Browsers in the past used to render content as it downloaded, so you could see things updated. Modern browsers hold most of it back until it is more complete (code fully downloaded), because things can jump around a lot as the HTML becomes more fleshed in, and javascript starts running. What happens is, as you navigate away, the stream downloading the stuff is closed, and that was what held back the page from being shown, so the browser renders what it has."
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2k3nfs | how has the iss been able to stay in space for so long? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k3nfs/eli5_how_has_the_iss_been_able_to_stay_in_space/ | {
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"The ISS orbits at about 200 miles high, at 17500 miles per hour. This high speed and height is enough to ensure it's trajectory matches the curvature of the earth - ie it will never fall and hit the earth.\n\nIn reality this isnt true, even at 200 miles up there is still a slight trace of atmosphere, a few atoms per square meter - and with its large surface area even that small amount of atmospheric drag will slow the station down causing it's orbit to deteriorate.\n\nThe answer to this is to give it periodic boosts to get it back up to the right height and speed. This is done using the cargo ships that regularly visit the station. ",
"It gets regularly resupplied from the ground with food, air, and fuel. But if you are talking about the orbit itself it only requires minor corrections every so often; there isn't very much drag up there at all so it just keeps orbiting without significant input."
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20doz7 | what causes "protein farts" to smell so horrible? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20doz7/eli5_what_causes_protein_farts_to_smell_so/ | {
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"I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that since many amino acids contain sulfur, you're getting all sorts of fun thiols in the gas.",
"Short-Chain Fatty Acids are the smelly products of animal fat when it is degraded/digested. Finding short chain fatty acids disgusting is useful because it warns us meat has started to degrade, and therefore probably has a huge bacterial load that will make us unwell if we eat it. \n\nMeat typically is completely digested before it gets to the lower intestine and has a chance to contribute to farts. Unfortunatley, complete digestion doesn't always happen, for example in the case of high meat diets (especially fatty meats), the use of diarhoea-inducing diet pills that push the meat through faster, and even eating meat when you are usually vegetarian. "
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cbrv4x | why are cups or plates the primary trophies in many sports? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbrv4x/eli5_why_are_cups_or_plates_the_primary_trophies/ | {
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"In ancient Greece very fine olive oil was a common prize. Olive oil is transported in vases and ... cups. The image of the two-handled cup is very similar to the olive oil urn. Everything else is just derived from that idea.",
"Because kings and lords would gift talented entertainers at their banquets with their precious metal plates and bowls. Very common practice during the Plantagenet/Angevin era as well to gift the same to Tourney knights (see Life of William Marshall and the story of the Trout) who performed well.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nPrecious metal plates were often used as a sign of wealth and could be converted to coinage upon need",
"Isn't it cups, statues, or medals in most sports? Who uses a plate?",
"In Eastern Asian cultures, people were prized by garlands, flags and signboards. It’s a practice still being used today in China, Vietnam...",
"I always thought it'd be hilarious if Formula One drivers, after racing for 2 hours, would have to lift a refrigerator instead of a little shield.",
"When people first came up with sports, not many things had been invented yet. So for a long time if you won a game and you were gonna get a prize, you tried not to get your hopes up cause you knew it was only gonna be one of a possible 6 or 7 things. Maybe 8 if someone had a good idea that day but hell even half of those were just different shaped pinecones.",
"Who wants to win a spoon?",
"Also food dish-related, college football post-season games are called \"bowl games.\" However, winning a bowl is not because of the name of the trophy. Instead, the first ever \"bowl game\" was a post-season game played at the Rose Bowl stadium, named as such for its bowl-like shape, and subsequent \"bowl games\" were called as such because of the Rose Bowl.",
"The reason for plates, cups, amphora, pitchers and similar utilitarian items as rewards is solely because “plate” in precious metals was how wealth was held prior to banks. As late as the Restoration in the UK, Samuel Pepys, the famed diarist documents the struggle to maintain “money” in the absence of banks and his receipt of “plate” as compensation.\n\nSee: _URL_0_"
]
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[],
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[
"www.pepysdiary.com"
]
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||
1nl34n | why does adobe reader need to be updated every 5 days? | What updates am I actually installing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nl34n/eli5_why_does_adobe_reader_need_to_be_updated/ | {
"a_id": [
"ccjjtz7",
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"text": [
"It varies from day to day, but they're most likely small little bug fixes for corner cases, and also any possible security issues that they might find.\n\nKeep in mind, you're talking about software that's installed on the VAST majority of PC's in the world. This makes it an absolutely fantastic target for hackers/virus creators/anyone looking to do anything malicious to a lot of computers. So Adobe has a vested interest in doing everything they can to make the program extremely secure, lest they deal with the huge public backlash of exposing a backdoor to damn near every PC.",
"Adobe Reader has a lot of powerful functionality most people don't know about, such as the ability to submit forms over the web, in essence acting as a mail server. A lot of the updates are security oriented and relate to this sort of functionality, not the simple reading of PDFs."
]
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[],
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|
cxqhmz | does a caterpillar feel pain during metamorphosis? | So a caterpillar makes a chrysalis, dissolves into goop, then reforms itself into a butterfly. Does having it's body dissolve hurt? Does regrowing? Do we know? Do we have any idea what it perceives and for how long? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cxqhmz/eli5_does_a_caterpillar_feel_pain_during/ | {
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"text": [
"Some please answer this! I get asked this all the time by little kids at work and I have no idea.",
"The non-ELI5 version of a similar question was asked [previously](_URL_0_).\n\nTo give the ELI5 summary: we simply don't understand animals like insects or crustaceans well enough yet to say if they are able to feel pain or not. We'll only be able to say whether they feel pain during metamorphosis once we first know whether they can feel pain at all.",
"Pain has an evolutionary purpose. When you feel pain you know a part of your body probably requires your attention, it's your body's warning sign. Seeing that metamorphosis probably isn't something traumatic for the caterpillar, I would guess that there is no pain even if given that caterpillars do feel pain.\n\nAnother way to think about it is that pain isn't inflicted upon you. Damage is. Pain is a signal that your brain decides to generate in response to the trauma. When nothing is wrong at all, your brain wouldn't randomly create pain for you just for the LOLs. \n\nI must also bring up the point that yes sometimes we feel some strange pain and the cause isn't obvious, it doesn't mean there was no reason for the pain. So when you do feel minor pain and discomfort, always pay attention to where and what type of pain it is in order to better understand your own body. Your body is trying to tell you something. Just my two cents."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1sgfcg/do_insects_and_other_small_animals_feel_pain_how/"
],
[]
] |
|
4zd85n | why is the government bailing out taxi businesses as services such as uber and lyft have become more popular? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zd85n/eli5_why_is_the_government_bailing_out_taxi/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Because taxi services have historically been heavily regulated and as such can't just make changes to react to upstarts like Uber and Lyft. For example, most big cities have medallion systems that limit the number of taxis allowed. The cities set the fare rates, don't allow for variable pricing, etc. They also have additional regulations w/ regard to licensing, background checks, drug testing, etc. for drivers. Also, taxi fares have historically been taxed. So they are making the new services -- which are hired car services like taxis -- follow some of the same rules, and also helping the taxi industry shift to better compete.",
"Same reason the government bailed out the auto industry, the banking industry, and the flight industry. The livery industry is a major lobbyist and rather than embracing change and something better, the government would rather protect it's industrial interests."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
2dlg8c | why are exotic cars so unreliable? | I love exotic cars but I always hear that they are notoriously unreliable vehicles. If they are so expensive wouldn't they use high quality materials and engineer a reliable vehicle or is it just not possible to sustain that level of performance for the long haul? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dlg8c/eli5why_are_exotic_cars_so_unreliable/ | {
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"text": [
"I'm no expert, but I think that regular day to day repairs that you make in your Honda Civic can potentially be exponentially more expensive in exotic cars. I really don't know what I'm talking about, but I've heard that an oil change on a Ferrari can cost north of a thousand bucks. Imagine having to replace the alternator on your Lamborghini? Buy new tires? ",
"It's not so much that they are unreliable as such that parts are expensive and harder to get as they come in from overseas. If you were to buy an Australian made vehicle, it will be an exotic car to your country, assuming you're in the US. Parts are harder to come by as they're manufactured in Australia and not locally made.",
"Your average daily commuter car has plenty of safety margin designed right into it, because there is no real drive to reduce weight or produce the maximum possible performance. Instead, the design factors are good value for money and the fact that complete numbskulls will be driving the thing.\n\nIn an exotic car, grams count. In every possible place, weight savings have been pursued. This means making parts as light as they can possibly be while standing up to the extraordinary stresses on them. Also, those stresses have been magnified immensely, because the idea is to go from 0 to 60, 0 to 100, 0 to 200, and 200 back to 0 more quickly than the other guys. \n\nLong story short, exotics are more highly tuned and immensely more highly stressed than normal cars. It's absolutely no surprise that they are not as reliable as normal cars, because they are tweaked out to the ragged edge of performance, rather than being aimed at 65 MPH for 45 minutes a day. Anything aimed at an extreme will always be a little touchy, because the extreme is unexplored, and moves up as the state of the art advances. Next year, the ragged edge of today will be boring, and the exotics will be pursuing something a little bit beyond what we consider to be radical today.",
"Because most exotic cars are made in Italy or sheds.",
"Several reasons. Most of it has to do with scale, which is why exotics made by volume mfrs (NSX, R8), tend to work considerably better.\n\n* Low engineering manpower - Companies like Toyota or GM employ literally 100x the amount of people that Ferrari or Lamborghini do. Honda likely has a team of engineers that work endlessly to make sure that the door handle feels right. Ferrari has a drastically smaller engineering team and thus probably has them focusing on sexier components like the engine, transmission, body, and aero. If you've spent any length of time in an exotic, you can tell that creature comforts were a complete afterthought. HVAC systems don't work that great(if at all), buttons don't feel quite right and have very questionable placement.\n\n* Low production volume - Honda has the advantage of being able to drive several hundred Civics into the ground to find design flaws before mass production. Ferrari, conversely, cannot blow up 50 Enzos for the hell of it, and are thus less thoroughly tested and some of the less obvious problems are more likely to slip pass to production.\n\n* Highly stressed components - All of the stresses in a supercar are significantly higher than a normal car. The engine revs to speeds that almost make me cringe. The transmission performs at levels that almost defy physics. Massive amounts of heat is generated. All of these stresses push the lightweight minimalist designs to the limit.\n\n* Cutting edge technology - These cars, in an effort to continually push the envelope, utilize the most cutting edge technology to achieve their performance figures. Unfortunately, by their nature, these technologies are usually also very much untested in road going environments and the cars are therefore almost rolling science experiments. It took a couple generations for them to work out the quirks of sequential gearboxes. Now exotics are dabbling with high performance hybrid technology and I suspect this will come with its own set of initial issues.\n\n* Handbuilt construction - Some manufacturers, whether for \"tradition\" or whatever reason, take pride in their handbuilt automobiles. While this sounds very elegant and exclusive in theory, IMO it's a very poor process to manufacture something as complicated as a modern car."
]
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[],
[],
[],
[],
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|
70ovw6 | why sunblock is bad for marine life, particularly coral reefs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70ovw6/eli5_why_sunblock_is_bad_for_marine_life/ | {
"a_id": [
"dn5edzv"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"I am not sure about the answer but I think my explanation seems legit enough to post it. I would say it is due to the metallic nanoparticles that are found in sunblock. As corals filter water to obtain nutrients, they will accumulate those nanoparticles, which can be toxic in high quantities. From there, the process of biomagnification can occur: a fish eating coral will accumulate heavy metals in its body, a bigger fish eating the smaller fish will accumulate them from the small fish, etc. Affecting the whole ecosystem."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4ziev4 | why is the spine arched (in the lumbar area) instead of just being straight? | And what exactly is "lumbar support" in a chair?
EDIT: I picked biology as the flair, but I feel this could just as easily fall under Engineering. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ziev4/eli5_why_is_the_spine_arched_in_the_lumbar_area/ | {
"a_id": [
"d6w151s",
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"score": [
3,
5,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"A curved spine is able to flex when walking or running. A straight spine would not and you'd just end up with all the weight of your head slamming straight down on a most uncompressible pile of bones.\n\nLumbar support on a chair is just an adjustable pad that lets you adjust the shape of the chair to comfortably match the curve of your spine.",
"Rigid things crack and break under repeated impact. Flexible things bend, absorb, and stay intact. The bends in your spine work the same way as rubber tires on a car or the shock absorbers on bumps in the road when you're driving. If you had solid wheels and no shock absorbers then your car would absorb all the shocks of driving into its sold tires and solid metal parts and it would shatter into pieces very quickly.\n\nThe same goes for your spine. It turns the energy of the repeated shocks of moving around in daily life into flex and movement in the spine instead of just rigidly taking the shocks and quickly cracking and breaking.",
"The lumbar spine has to deal with a lot of compression, tensile, and shear forces. If it was straight the verterbrae break, discs would slip more often. It helps in absorption of loads. The muscles (ie. spinae erectae, multifidae) that articulate these spinal segments can calibrate movement according to loads being handled and the dynamics of movement. Whenever you hold weight in the hands and move shear force is being placed there. The lumbar spine acts to stabilize the rest of the above spine. ",
"Follow up question, do people with more weight on their front (boobs/belly) have a more drastic curve or am I seeing things?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
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|
9e8pdi | how long can a human physically stay awake for if the feeling of tiredness never came? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9e8pdi/eli5_how_long_can_a_human_physically_stay_awake/ | {
"a_id": [
"e5mzmsc",
"e5nc5yz"
],
"score": [
23,
4
],
"text": [
"The longest documented time period of wakefulness is 11 days, 25 minutes, without microsleeps or drugs. Many studies have kept people awake in the 8-10 day range in more recent years, but we don't really like to push it too much. It's quite dangerous and, because there are no decent human analogs (close approximations for use in laboratory studies, like rats) for sleep, we can't really do a lot of testing. Animals have been tested and shown to actually die from extended periods of wakefulness.\n\nMost of the time, when people stay awake (even with drug use) for a long period of time, they will experience periods of microsleep. These tend to last for just a few moments, but it's really interesting anyway. They'll stop midsentence and fall asleep, and then wake up just a moment later and continue their sentence. \n\nUnfortunately, because we can't do a great deal of research on this due to health risks, there isn't going to be a definite answer.",
"ELI5: How can we stay awake if we never truly wake up?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
2s2y9x | why was kurdistan divided? | As far as I understand, Kurdistan is now divided between Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Could someone kindly explain to me how this happened, and why there isn't an independent Kurdistand today? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2s2y9x/eli5_why_was_kurdistan_divided/ | {
"a_id": [
"cnlor0e"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"It's not like Kurdistan was conquered and split between other powers, it's more like Kurdistan never officially existed. The Kurds have lived in that area, but have never had their own political unit, they never established their own nation-state, rather, they've pretty much always been ruled by other empires and nations, the Persians, Parthians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Syrians, Byzantines, Arabs, Russians, and Ottomans have all ruled the Kurds at one point or another. \n\nWhen the Ottoman Empire fell after WWI, it's territory fell into the hands of the British and French, who then divided the area into Turkey and Iraq, and gave the rest to Persia, which in 1939 got fed up with people calling it Persia and insisted that everyone use the real name of the country, Iran. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
azr7fe | what are the "bases" when people use it a metaphor for making out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/azr7fe/eli5_what_are_the_bases_when_people_use_it_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"ei9kqsf",
"ei9ksmg",
"ei9llv4"
],
"score": [
3,
3,
5
],
"text": [
"It isn't clearly defined anywhere, but if first base is a kiss, and a home run is sex, you can sort of fill in the blanks on base 2 and 3. Heavy petting of different kinds and/or oral sex",
"1st base-Kissing.\n\n2nd base-Feeling eachother up/groping/possible handjob or fingering.\n\n3rd base-Oral sex.\n\nHomerun-Everything up until now, plus sex.",
"To my knowledge, the quartet is *French*, *Feel*, *Finger* and *F & %k*.\n\n*French* being French kissing. *Feel* being hand contact over breasts abd the genital region. *Finger* being hand penetration of the genitals themselves. And finally, intercourse itself is home base.\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
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