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4nu7pf | how were red, yellow, and blue determined to be the primary colors? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nu7pf/eli5_how_were_red_yellow_and_blue_determined_to/ | {
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"**tl;dr our eyes just evolved in a way that they are only able to see three colors - other species have different primary colors**\n\nFirst you have to understand what the primary colors mean - that any color that we can see can be made by mixing some combination of the primary colors. Since our eyes can (generally speaking) see red, green, and blue, those are *our* primary colors (whereas the primary colors for a different animal might be different and more numerous - some birds, for instance, can detect 4 colors with their eyes), since every color our brain can detect is made up of those three colors.\n\nThat being said, some people would be quick to cry out \"No! I learned in school that the primary colors are red, blue, and *yellow*!\". This comes from there being two different types of color - additive and subtractive. With light, we call the absence of color black and the presence of all colors white, and the mixing of different types of light is called *additive color* while absorbing certain types of light is called *subtractive color*. The Sun, for instance, mixes all types of colors together and sends \"white light\" (which is, once again, just a mixture of tons of different colors) down to us on earth. Our eyes can't pick out any of these colors, so anything perfectly reflective just appears white. For us to actually see any colors, pigments will subtract all other colors except for the color you are seeing. So if all colors we can see are a mixture of red, green, and blue, for a car to appear blue, the paint on it would need to absorb the red and green from the sun's light.\n\nThat leads us to the primary colors you were taught in school - *magenta*, *cyan*, and yellow (the subtractive primaries). Your teachers taught you red and blue, but those are the additive primary colors, and are different. The relationship between them is that they're inversely related to the additive primary colors - [see here](_URL_0_)."
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5abkwo | what's that "floating" feeling i sometimes get when sitting or lying down? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5abkwo/eli5_whats_that_floating_feeling_i_sometimes_get/ | {
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"Sometimes the floating feeling is the fluids in your ear sloshing in just the right way and you sort of think you're falling. The feeling could also be a sort of sensory deprivation where you don't feel anything new touch your body except from the sheets. "
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6qnbax | why are rappers often involved in feuds with other rappers? is it necessary for their career in order to attract media attention or is all of it just made up for the purposes of making money? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qnbax/eli5_why_are_rappers_often_involved_in_feuds_with/ | {
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"While there are always legitimate dislikes between people in the same field, much of it is for the same reason you see a lot of \"featuring\" credits on songs: it broadens your audience.\n\nIf you write a rap song attacking another rapper, you get not only your normal audience but also a share of theirs who will listen to your track because it mentions their guy.\n\nLikewise, when that rapper drops a track attacking you in return, you both profit from the increased attention.\n\nIt's important to remember that the stage persona of musicians is a managed fiction. There are a lot of very clever people who are selling a certain story to get you to buy albums. While some degree of reality will always seep through, most of the drama you hear about is drama you're *allowed* to hear about because it serves the purposes of those cashing the checks.",
"Couple answers here are almost there - the one thing I feel they're missing is the conflict between community and capitalism.\n\nHip Hop and it's five pillars - Rap, DJing, Graffiti, Breakdancing and beat boxing - were locked down back in the 70s and 80s - ostensibly by the now disgraced Afrika Bambaata, as a method of cultural expression but also conflict resolution. The use of art and music as conflict resolution has a deep history in African and Afro-centric cultures (here's [a source](_URL_0_) ) and a good book, but also check out essays on by Richard Schechner)\n\nFeuds between artists aren't uncommon - Byron and Keats hated each other, Shakespeare and Jonson had their issues. The difference between now and then are the communities that form around artists. Hip Hop artists on the whole come from deprived and low-income communities. US Hip Hop culture (as opposed to UK Hip Hop culture) has a long history of apprenticeship and philanthropy. Artists often bring up their retinue through the ranks, or take care of them. Hence, when a feud begins you'll often have communities rushing to the defence of their artist (a la subreddit brigading).\n\nRecord labels, managers and PR companies have recognised this as a business opportunity. Conflict content generates ad revenues on sites and channels such TMZ, worldstar etc, giving greater opportunities for brand placements etc.\n\nJust as 'real' state-level conflicts are exacerbated by outside forces, the same is true here.\n\nBattle rappers, just the same as battle bboys and bgirls, graff jammers, battle dmcs, beatbox battlers *can* and do earn a living from that conflict - but it's nowhere on the same scale as someone on a Universal subsidiary contract. \n\nTL; DR - Yes and No; rap is confrontational by its very nature, but capitalism and labels ruin everything.",
"One part of it I can't see anyone having mentioned is gang affiliations. While most rappers probably aren't in gangs, there are certainly some. The beef that claimed Biggie and Tupac was most likely due to the gang affiliations of their producers (Suge knight and Puff Daddy)",
"They beef for the same reason you have a problem with other people at your job. Some is to draw attention, some is because you want to start drama, some is because you know you're better and you want to point out why. \n\nRappers beef because it's hard to have so many egos in such a small space."
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2d1jjp | why can't someone duplicate video games by simply putting the files onto a second cd/cart | What I mean is why is it so hard to pirate console games such as a Wii/Xbox/PS3 etc. The way I understand it you should be able to burn the contents from, let's say Call Of Duty: Black Ops, onto another disc and be able to put it in your PS3 and play it (I know it's blue ray, but you get the point)
How would the console differentiate the two different discs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2d1jjp/eli5_why_cant_someone_duplicate_video_games_by/ | {
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"Basically there is a special area on the discs that are produced that contain the data for authentication with the console/device. You can't easily copy this data, or burn them, with any discs or burners available commercially. This is why most console piracy involves physically modding the equipment inside the console to be able to bypass not having that authentication information."
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blaob7 | windows search files instantly | Windows 10 has this magnifying glass where you instantly can search through all files on your pc. How is that possible? Isn't that an extreme amount of data to instantly search through for keywords?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/blaob7/eli5_windows_search_files_instantly/ | {
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"If it actually searched the files, it would be.\n\nHowever, what it searches is a multi-dimensional table of keywords, created and updated in the background whenever a file is created or changed, which still can't be done instantly but can get far closer to instant than the human brain can perceive. \n\nGoogle and other search engines use the same principle to search *every website on the entire world wide web* in a fraction of a second (for example my last search took 0.31 seconds to find 17500 results).\n\nFor that matter, physical libraries have been using similar systems for several millennia. They only became faster than humans in the last few decades, though, and some of them are one-dimensional.",
"Your computer doesn't actually look through all the files to see if it finds something. instead, when certain files are saved, your computer makes a note where to find it and what is in there. \n\nFor example: You save a word document called \"Life is green\". Windows notes down that this file includes the words \"life\" and \"green\". \n\nNow, when you type in \"green\", windows goes back to where those notes are stored and shows you the results from there.",
"The operating system has a list of keywords, and for each keyword there's a list of files that include that keyword. Now when you save a file to the computer, windows will simply add that file to this list.\n\nBut this list would obviously quickly spiral out of control and be nearly as slow to search through as just going through all files on the system. But there are a few tricks you can use to navigate to the correct keyword in the list almost instantly.\n\nThe easiest way to do this is to use a so called \"hash table\". What that means is that windows uses a mathematical function that turns the word into a number. Say you have the keyword \"test\" and feed that into the function, you might get the number 82315. The keyword will then be saved to row 82315 of the table, where it can easily be found by using the same function again on the same keyword. This is extremely quick, so it's often used by website for their search function. There is a problem with this though: It can't find keywords if they are spelled differently, because the hashing function is designed so it results in a completely different number if there's just one different letter. For example, searching \"Window searc file instantl\" on Reddit will not find this thread, but \"Windows search files instantly\" will. \n\nSince windows finds files even if you type just a few letters, they must use something more clever instead. One way is to use a system similar to a library: Windows puts all files into shelves according to the letters they start with. For example, \"test\" might be put into the same shelf as all other words beginning with the letter t. If there are too many words with t, it'll put shelves inside that shelf, sorting the keywords into words beginning with \"ta\" or greater and \"ti\" or greater, repeated as often as needed to fit in all the files. So when searching \"test\", the program might go to the \"t\" shelf, from there into the \"ta to th\" sub-shelf, from there into the \"tep to tez\" sub-sub-shelf where it finally finds the files containing the word \"test\".\n\nThis is of course slower than the hash table. But it has the added benefit that it can much more easily account for similar or incomplete words. However, this still has a problem: It can't find the words if they begin with a different letter. So if you type \"tes\", you will find \"test\" - but not if you type \"est\". This, or some variant of it, is probably what windows uses."
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4wa4xt | how can the set of rational numbers be proved to be countably infinite? | In [a Numberphile video](_URL_0_), they explain that if you write out all the (positive) rational numbers like this:
1/1 | 1/2 | 1/3 | 1/4 | ...
2/1 | 2/2 | 2/3 | 2/4 | ...
3/1 | 3/2 | 3/3 | 3/4 | ...
4/1 | 4/2 | 4/3 | 4/4 | ...
... | ... | ... | ... | ...
and attempt to list them row by row, you won't be able to finish. However, if you attempt to list them by diagonals, you will be able to finish (after an infinite amount of time, but it is "theoretically" possible).
How can this be true? Attempting to list every rational number row by row would indicate that the set is uncountabley infinite, yet diagonally the indication is that they are countably infinite. How can a set be 2 different sized infinities at the same time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4wa4xt/eli5_how_can_the_set_of_rational_numbers_be/ | {
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" > Attempting to list every rational number row by row would indicate that the set is uncountabley infinite\n\nThis is the mistake. In order to show that a set is uncountable you need to prove that *no bijection from your set to a subset of the natural numbers exists.* What you have shown (or what is claimed in the Numberphile video) is that a *particular attempt at constructing a bijection to a subset of the natural numbers* fails.\n\n\"There exists *no* bijection\" versus \"*this* isn't a bijection.\"\n\n(I'ven't seen the video, but) I expect the Numberphile folks first showed that a \"listing\" in an obvious way fails, in order to emphasize the cleverness of the listing that works.\n\nFor example, have a look at a proof that the set of real numbers is uncountable. In order to prove this, you need to argue that no possible listing of real numbers covers the entire set. This is (the vaunted) [diagonal argument](_URL_0_) of Cantor.",
" > However, if you attempt to list them by diagonals, you will be able to finish (after an infinite amount of time, but it is \"theoretically\" possible).\n\nI don't think this is where you have a problem, but just to get rid of the sketchy \"theoretically\", here's how you can look at it:\n\nForget about counting the whole infinity of rational numbers, even in an infinite amount of time. Rather, show you can count up to any arbitrary rational number, which is a finite task. In this occurrence, with the diagonal count it is obvious that, no matter how far in the chart you choose your arbitrary rational number, the count will eventually reach it. This shows you can count up to all rational numbers without having to actually count all rational numbers, an infinite task.\n",
"I don't like that diagram very much. You can show that the rationals are countable *with ease*. You exploit the fact that the natural numbers have unique factorisations into primes. \n\nLet a/b be a rational number (so in lowest terms). Map it to 2^a 3^b 5^{sign(a)sign(b)-1}. By sign(a) I mean 1 if a is positive and -1 if a is negative. \n\nThis is a map from rational numbers to natural numbers, and it sends each a/b to a unique natural number. We are done. \n\nThe 5 part is to distinguish say -1/2 from 1/2. Negative rationals get a natural divisible by 5, positive rationals don't. \n\nNotice also, this is only using 3 primes. Out of *infinitely many*. I can embed the rational numbers into the naturals *infinitely many times without overlap*. I get one embedding per 3 primes!!! Absolutely mental. "
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2g46qf | how come increased memory on an iphone is so expensive? a 16gb micro sd only cost $10 | Why does it cost $100 more when buying an Iphone. Just take the same Micros sd and throw it in for just $10 more? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g46qf/eli5_how_come_increased_memory_on_an_iphone_is_so/ | {
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"Because they can. If people didn't pay they wouldn't do it. Nice mark up on the memory cup though they probably buy it for next to nothing ",
"The iPhone uses very high speed solid state storage inside that needs to meet strict speed and reliability standards for apple to use it. A $10 SD card won't perform as well as the storage used in the iPhone. Apple uses very high quality parts in their phone ensuring consistent reliability and performance. The iPhone also uses significantly smaller storage chips than an off the shelf SSD. \n\nSince everyone here seems to be posting \"cuz money\" \"cuz apple greedy\". Could the prices be cheaper? Yes. But you cant just say that an SD card = phone storage. ",
"Keep in mind that the internal storage of a phone is much faster than typical SD storage, SD storage actually has pretty slow read/write speeds. \n\nWith that said, the extra cost of internal storage does not justify the huge jump in price Apple charges for the extra capacity. \n\nFor example, you can buy a 120GB SSD HD on amazon for 65 dollars.",
"Apple has always been about the \"because they can\" strategy. They still have the strongest brand when it comes to smartphones and as such they can charge a premium and people will still be willing to be for it. ",
"Because the price of a product isn't based on how much it cost you to assemble it - it's based on how much your customers are willing to pay. \n\nTheir customers are perfectly comfortable paying $100 for extra memory so why would they charge less than that? ",
"Annoyed with the fanboy comments here so here's an actual answer:\n\nThe read/write speeds for one are lower on most MicroSD (for the purpose of this answer, we'll assume a standard £10/£20 card, rather than the 'extreme' cards that are upwards of £60-£100 for 64GB that have comparable speeds). \n\nSecondly, the quality of the actual flash storage is different. Many MicroSD cards wouldn't be able to handle the sheer amount of actual data writing involved in effectively running an OS. MicroSD cards are mainly used for occasional writing and more often, lots of reading. This means the storage isn't changed much, which gives the appearance of a great quality and long lasting product. Take it from experience, start writing GBs of data to a MicroSD card over and over and soon enough it'll fail. It's why desktop SSD's aren't just loads of MicroSD cards slotted together. \n\nThe storage in the iPhone had to be of similar quality to that in a desktop SSD. It has to run a full mobile OS, frequently write data (pictures, music, videos, text messages etc.) and still perform at fast speeds with minimal to no loss in overall capacity over a long period of time. It has to have near zero failure as it'll cause the entire device to fail (think system file corruption). It's also in constant 24/7/365 use for several years. \n\nWhile it's well known the actual storage doesn't really cost that much as Apple buy so much of it, the fact is that they charge a premium for their devices, and they can also make bigger profit margins by charging more for more internal capacity. An extra £80 for doubling the capacity each time (although that's now changed slightly with the 6 and 6+). \n\nThe final thing is this: by controlling the storage as internal only, Apple can control the overall experience further. A MicroSD card with a read/write speed of say 20/20Mbps versus 200/200Mbps would give very different results when copying data or playing back HD films. Apple can guarantee what will and won't work, the speeds of syncing data, and also what data can be copied to the device as it's not removable or readable as an actual storage device (for the most part when non-jail broken). \n\nSource: IT Engineer, Apple Certified Tech Co-ordination, former Apple employee, overall Apple/Tech nerd. \n\nTL;DR: The flash storage used in a MicroSD card is of a lower quality than that used in an iPhone (or other smartphones). Apple charge a premium because they can. ",
"They don't have an SD slot so your kind of forced to buy more storage with apps being memory hog's. "
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4bmx91 | does a sonic boom only occur at the moment you break the sound barrier or is it constant and if it is does it get louder the faster you go? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bmx91/eli5_does_a_sonic_boom_only_occur_at_the_moment/ | {
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"It is constant.\n\nA sonic boom is a [shock wave](_URL_1_) that travels outward from the plane. It follows the plane wherever it goes. When the plane flies by a person on the ground, the shock wave will hit that person (and be heard as a \"boom\") shortly after. Since the boom moves at the speed of sound, and the plane is moving faster than that, a cone shape develops, with the plane at the point of the cone. [Here's an example image.](_URL_0_)\n\nAs for speed vs. loudness, it's actually the opposite of what you'd expect. The faster the plane, the skinnier and pointier the cone. As a result, the energy of the shock wave gets spread out over a longer distance. Additionally, super-fast aircraft tend to fly at much higher altitudes, meaning the boom travels through a lot more air before it reaches the ground, dissipating it. So sonic booms actually get *quieter* the faster the plane flies.",
"Sound travels in all directions. When an object is moving it tends to compress the sound waves in front of it so they arrive closer together to an observer; IE the doppler shift or raising and dropping in pitch of a sound as something speeds past you. \n\nAs the speed of sound is approached, the sound waves become so compressed that they arrive at the same time as the object creating the sound. In other words, the object is traveling as fast as the sound is, and the sound waves all arrive stacked one on top of the other and hit the observer all at once. \n\n\nIf the object were to be going faster than the speed of sound, then it would arrive before the sound did, and the sound waves would start spreading apart again, but in the opposite direction they did as it approached the speed of sound. The maximum volume and impact is reached when as many of the sound waves are compressed together as possible. \n\nWhen it breaks the sound barrier the sound ahead and the sound behind end up in the same place in the air and BAM it hits you all at once. As it kept going faster and faster eventually the sound would stretch out behind the object with no sound in front of the object. IE the sound wouldn't all arrive at once again but this makes little difference to an observer though as it is still quite loud.\n\n[This video](_URL_0_) shows a visual representation of the overlapping sound waves.",
"Think of it like a boat wake riding along a shore line. The waves of the wake are like a sonic boom. And an observer on shore sees a big splash after the boat passes, but another observer just a little ways down the shoreline will see it at another instance after the boat passes.",
"No, actually what you're hearing is the wave front. That wave front travels with the aircraft (in a delta shape as I recall, think of a boat wake, same idea but with air). As an aircraft that is flying faster than sound passes overhead, you won't hear any sound from it until after it's already passed. Then you hear the \"boom\" which is actually 2 wavefronts back to back. You're hearing the \"clipping\" of sound or compressed, then vacuum, then compressed air, which means there are actually 2 sonic booms but they're so close together you hear them as one.\n\nThat's what I recall from physics, and all the recording engineering instructors I had who loved to talk about it for some reason.\n\n- other bits of useful information to understanding this: sound is a pressure wave that actually doesn't look like we're used to representing it as an up and down, ocean wave style wave. It looks like if you had a slinky and pulled a lot of the little rings together and let go. It's composed entirely of compressions and rarefactions, not up and down.\n\n- molecules have to be able to bump into one another for sound to travel. So no travel when something like the speed of an aircraft + the movement of the sound compressing into it makes it impossible for that sound to move between. So that tiny bit of silence between and the two loud ultra compressed bits on either side is what we experience as one \"sonic boom\" or for some people I guess they really hear the two \"puh boom\". I've never heard one in person.\n\nGlad to go digging in my course material if anyone really wants to know how this works. I'm sure I've got a powerpoint or some links to vids that my professors have given me.",
"This is something I was actually wondering about a couple of weeks ago. I did a bunch of google searches that helped, but I'm certainly no scientist.\n\nBasically, the way I understand it is that when an object is moving through the air, it sends ripples of outward pressure in all directions traveling at the speed of sound. So when a plane (or anything else) travels faster than the speed of sound, or Mach 1, the pressure ripples that are being pushed out by the front of the plane are now traveling behind the plane creating a pressure that pushes away from the back of the plane. Also, planes moving below the sound barrier have positive pressure pushing out from the front of the plane that is being met with positive pressure from the plane's previous pressure waves. The shockwave comes from a sudden change of pressure. This happens in any speed after Mach 1 (speed of sound) because the air in front of the plane is neutral and the front of plane has high positive pressure which is a sudden change pressure. This is actually just one of two shockwaves though. The second wave comes from the back of the plane having, I think, neutral pressure and the air behind it having high negative pressure. We hear it as one boom instead of two because they are both so sudden. \n\nThis sudden pressure difference will exist for any speed over Mach1. It is constant, but we hear it as one sudden boom, because the shockwave being emitted from the plane passes us. I've read that if a plane were travel at a speed greater than Mach1 towards a spot that you were standing on the ground and then swoop up before kamikazeing itsslf into you, you would hear a continuous boom. Additionally, the pressure diffenence is going to increase at higher speeds so, holding all else fixed, the shockwave will be more powerful and louder the greater the speed. However, planes moving faster are also going to most likely be traveling at altitudes further away from the ground in thinner air which would diminish the effect. Additionally, the shockwave occupies a cone-shaped area that becomes a thinner and more conenctrated cone the faster the plane travels.\n\nI apologize if that isn't what you were looking for. The last part is not something I understand perfectly, but I feel like I got a pretty good idea about the other stuff. I hope this helps.",
"It is constant as you travel at super sonic speeds, however the person going super sonic does not hear them as they outrun them, only observers hear them, they sound like a loud bang instead of a constant roar as the plane making the boom is only in audible distance for a fraction of a second.",
"A good ELI5 is that you aren't hearing the plane coming toward you because the plane is traveling faster than the sound it makes. \n\nThe boom is all that missing noise at once, when it finally reaches you."
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g2kro3 | why do books not have age ratings, but age demographics/target audiences instead? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/g2kro3/eli5_why_do_books_not_have_age_ratings_but_age/ | {
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"Because children generally have no interest in buying or reading novels for adults. For an 8 year-old reading a novel is hard, much harder than watching an R-rated movie or playing an M-rated video game, so most of them won't even try.\n\nIf that ever changed and elementary schoolers started lining up to buy 50 Shades of Gray tomorrow, we'd probably have a rating system within months."
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5uhhur | why can politicians get away with telling blatant lies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5uhhur/eli5_why_can_politicians_get_away_with_telling/ | {
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"Because people are dumb, stupid, cannot draw a causal relationship between themselves and politics, and are quite honestly content with getting fucked in the ass as long as you wave Sky Sports and advertising in front of their faces.",
"Because ignorant people choose to believe them because the lies align with their beliefs, instead of facts. And there are far more ignorant peopl in this world than there are rational, fact checking people.",
"Because they are people in power. Not just any power, though, they are people with *symbolic power*. It is pretty much the same reason why we all listen to our doctors - because they're the ones wearing the white lab coat, and we trust them because that is their job. We say, \"hey this guy is wearing a white lab coat so he must know what he's doing!\"\nPoliticians have a similar symbolic power as doctors do. We say, \"hey this guy was elected to sit in the Oval Office all day, better not protest against him!\" Although, as we know, many *many* people see past this symbolic power and actually do protest against him. For the people who tolerate political lies, it is because they believe that any harsh word against a political leader is a harsh word against their entire country. It's all symbolism.",
"Think of it this way.\n\nI don't know (and don't want to talk about) whether you were pro-Hillary or pro-Trump in the last election.\n\nRegardless of who you chose, if undeniable proof of your favored candidate lying about something less than massive came out, would you then vote for the other candidate? Or had you already made up your mind that that other guy is just no good?",
"Because we let them. \"Government of the people, by the people, for the people...\"\n\nEveryone puts 100% of the responsibility on the politicians. It's up to us (the people) to research them, keep them accountable and make sound choices. And when there are no sound choices, it's up to us to step up and either field a candidate or become one. \n\n",
"We do have things in place, they're called elections. The voters are responsible for vetting candidates and determine what they say is true or not.",
"The majority of their constituents either don't care or aren't smart enough to know they're being lied to. Law wise, it's not illegal to lie unless you are under oath.",
"Answer this. If you know that a politician is lying, what can you do about it? The problem is that aside from voting, you can't really do anything about it. You can protest all you want but the only thing that can replace the person is voting. But there is the other problem. We have a rigged two party system and we saw what happened when someone like Bernie Sanders tried to shake things up. He was railroaded and the parties in power made sure that you only got to pick from Liar A or Liar B. \n\nSo I don't think it's that we tolerate it so much as we don't really have a choice and people are too apathetic or get too polarized by issues designed to emotionally rial them up that they keep electing the liars. ",
"In our systems there's a fine line between fact checking and censorship.\n\nIn the US if the lie doesn't amount to libel or defamation, virtually anything can be said.\n\n*Legally* there is a very good reason for this. Some statements are simply incorrect. Some are mistakes. Some are meant to be rhetorical hyperbole. Some statements are made based on facts that may be proven false at a later date.\n\nNo one would argue for punishing someone who made a simple mistake. Correct? Ok so if someone says a false statement, who decides if it was a mistake or malicious? Whose the arbiter of this decision?\n\nDo you see how this could get political real soon?\n\nIf there is a Republican running for mayor who states that the city lost 16 million dollars last year. What if the sitting democratic mayor orders the police to arrest the Republican for presenting false information? What if the fact was 16.6 million dollars? The Democrat just imprisoned someone who made a simple mistake or a rhetorical shortcut.\n\n Now what if the Republican goes to court and the presiding judge is a democrat? What if the populous is overwhelmingly democrat and doesn't care about injustice, they just plain don't *like* the Republican?\n\nDo you see how this could slip into a very damaging problem for free speech? Everyone would be afraid to speak out against the government for fear they'll be arrested for false information. \n\nThis is why it's dangerous that our president wants to expand libel and defamation powers.\n\nNow back to our Republican candidate. Even if he fights and wins in court, he's lost Alot of money, time and Capitol fighting those charges. Now he has to answer questions about jail time to voters when he could be making his case for why he's the better mayor. \n\nAll of this differs from corporations who cannot present false adverisement. As this is a law for consumer protection. Because of industry trade secret, it's difficult for consumers to absolutely know all information regarding a product.\n\nIn contrast, our system entrusts the voters to properly \"punish\" those who \"lie.\" That's why you need a strong Press with plenty of leeway to report. That's why we need access to proper education so that we can develop problem solving skills. That's why we need more visibility for what government officials are doing on behalf of us.",
"You have to ask yourself what is a lie. The world isn't as black and white as we think it is. People like to reference statistics to support policies but very nature of statistics leaves them open to interpretations.\n\nThere are very few absolute truths in life because subjectivity is fundamentally tied to the human experience. \n\nThe function of the politician is to create a \"Truth\" that aligns with the \"truths\" of as many people as possible. ",
"Because the media also gets away with it. Both sides lie consistently and blatantly, so neither has any credibility to expose the others lies. There is little truth that spreads nowadays. ",
"Because the media, which would be the primary check against this behavior by the politicians, has settled into a pattern of not being \"pushy.\"\n\nThe papers, stations, sites, whoever, prefer to not \"burn the bridge\" with both individual politicians and larger organizations like state and national parties. If the bridge isn't there, they don't get interview or quote requests granted, they don't get tipped off with advance information on things the politicians are doing, and so on. The media outlets have collectively more or less demonstrated they'd rather have the access than to act the way most people *assume* media would act; as an information channel and check on what comes out.\n\nWe're seeing it right now with how Trump and his administration are treating a large number of media entities. Closing off access, not calling on them for questions; that's just what we can easily see. If that's happening in view of the public, then it's extremely likely that none of the outlets are able to receive replies to phone calls, emails, whatever, from the folks on the far sides of the burned bridges.\n\nDoes it suck, that they value the bridge over doing what most of us would assume to be their job? Yes. Will it change? At this point, probably not; because it's *easier* to keep that bridge so they don't have to work as hard.\n\nIn the current situation, possibly we might see some of the excluded outlets see increased ratings as they revert to pre-bridge behavior and start pushing for confirmed information. If they do get more ratings, well, news isn't a service (though most people assume it is, or at least should be); it's a business. If they make more money acting properly, then they'll start acting properly.\n\nWhich also sucks, but these enormous media companies have a lot of power to control the information flows. They use it to enrich themselves, and rarely even pay lip service to actually disseminating real info.",
"Because it is almost impossible to make sure you are telling the truth 100% all the time, simply because person can not know everything but has to make assumptions and guesses. So we have to leave a bit of grey area to get some communication done in time. We can't always wait how thing turn out and then knowing what should've been done is kind of stupid.\n\nPoliticians just started running wild with that excuse more and more in the last 2 decades and voters do not seem to care. Media has not done good job either, establishment half truths spread in mass media has been the norm for.. for ever actually. I'm not on any sort of \"fake news\" crowd on any side but large part of the problems we see now is the lack of challenge on the part of commercial news media. In countries where there is nothing else, the situation is the worst, countries with stronger national, publicly funded broadcast is much better. Not good but better. it is much harder to pass so bold lies, allthough Brexit is good example how little people actually want to know and how much they want to believe.\n\nIt's getting worse, globally. And we are the ones that should do something about it but aren't.. Don't keep voting liars to power is my plea. Much rather put the boring dude who has no radical ideas how to improve anything than the one who swears he is goig to change everything but has no rational plans to do so. And under no circumstance should one vote for people who want to destroy government's power as they are going to sabotage the whole thing; that is their agenda ffs, \"government doesn't work and we should get rid of it. Vote me in the government.\" It for SURE will not work after that guy is in power.",
"I think it is because regular people allow them to. When i talk with friends and family about their political positions, they will support a politician who is caught in a blatant lie. In addition, we do not reward politicians when they do tell the truth. Politicians have learned for example, that they should over promise both more spending and lower taxes and that doing so will not keep them out of office. But if they said \"we have to raise taxes to pay for the services we provide\" they won't get elected. So I think our whole society needs to be willing to elect honest people. Then, the free press has been eroded. One of the reasons for that is the flattening of expertise and the amount of noise on the internet. Anyone can claim anything they want and people will listen to them. The public needs to support scientific integrity for example and say - I will support scientists' right to not be political tools in order to get better information from government agencies. Or- I won't look at random blogs and then conclude that hundreds of thousands of experts around the world are lying to me. Because people have spent a lot of time undermining the reputation of the press,scientists, and others who might have more insight, some people will believe anything. I think fake news is a huge problem. Its like we have purposely infected our whole society with a parasite. Overall, our society does not punish lying, and cannot sort truth from fiction ",
"To a great extent, especially the last couple of years \"lie\" is only about who is currently telling you the \"truth\".\n\nSadly with so much hype, spin, and desperation for ratings there simply is not a news source out there that you can trust with the \"truth\", reddit has NO \"truth\", it's elusive and buried in the middle road positions that nobody has any interest in.\n\nSO, \"Blatent Lies\" ends up sounding naive because there simply isn't a source you can trust to find out what is or isn't a lie. \n\nHearkens back to the precedent set by the last Clinton... \"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement\"..",
"Cognitive Dissonance. You just don't want to believe they're lying.\n\nFor one of many reasons - you don't understand the issues deeply, you voted based on personality not on substance, whatever - you voted for some person who is now screwing you. \n\nnow, do you turn yourself around, change how you feel, doubt your decision making abilities, and restructure how you make decisions? Or do you ignore all this bad stuff?\n",
"Politicians in general tell the people what they want to hear. It's how they get their vote. ",
"Who will be arbiter of truth? You may think there is an objective standard of which we can judge if something is true or not, but there really isn't. We have our scientific models of reality but it's still growing, expanding, evolving - which means throughout history there has been always been things that our scientific models have failed to address or considered false/incorrect/irrational - that later turned out to be true, following a higher form of rationality.\n\nCouple that with the fact that institutions and power structures form around scientific models and modes of thought, you get a situation where new standards to which judge truths are resisted. It's why wars and revolutions have been accompaning huge shifts in our understanding / consciousness... and pioneers of thought has been derided, called liars, demonized, defamed, villanized, etc. and don't think we are above that yet. It's simply arrogance to think that we have a complete model of reality today to which we can judge things as objectively true or false. \n\nThere are also various ways to look at reality. E.g. if I say the universe revolves around earth, you may be correct in viewing that as an archaic or overly complicated model (when making certain predictions). But you'd be wrong to call it false - it's just a different frame of reference. Trouble is that most people would call it false. \n\n",
"The labor force participation rate is at a 38-year low.\n\nThe unemployment rate is at 4.9%. \n\nBoth are objectively true, but a politician can use either to praise or criticize our previous administration's handling of the recession, depending on what side of the aisle they're on and what they stand to gain from it. \n\nNot exactly what you asked, but it is at least one reason for why you will see pundits on TV or candidates in debates seemingly spouting opposite opinions all the while screaming that their side is telling the truth and the other person is full of shit. It's all great fun!",
"Here's the danger that's brewing, which is being dangerously: \n\nAll these claims about 'alternative facts' and 'fake news', are sowing a growing and irreversible distrust in our media for many people. Not just because there really *is* fake news out there, disinformation, but because it's become a daily occurrence to blame the media for lies, where there are none. \n\nBut in a Democracy, we ***rely*** on an objective, fair and balanced media as an ongoing check on our Government. \n\nOnce we lose trust in the media, once we lose the confidence in keeping our Government in check through fact-checking and many eyes on every page of every process, we've truly lost this battle.\n\nPlease fight this with everything you've got, we *NEED* the media to remain impartial, we need them to chase every curioisity, every angle, every straight and crooked story, and we need to **protect** the whistleblowers and **punish** those who refuse to.\n\nWe will win this, but it will take time.",
"CP Grey had a good explanation:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n(A more in-depth look can be found in The Dictator's Handbook)",
"[C.R.E.A.M.](_URL_0_) is not just a song by the Wu-Tang Clan.\n\nUnfortunately, those with the will to govern, aren't usually the most noble of creatures."
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jgdwu | what's that white/blue dot that flashes somewhere in the corner or sides of my eye sometimes? | I remember a bunch of people saying it was a ghost or something showing itself to a person, but I'm pretty sure that's bullshit. So is it something fucking up in my eye or an illusion or what? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jgdwu/eli5_whats_that_whiteblue_dot_that_flashes/ | {
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"text": [
"That happens to me when I look at something bright then look away.",
"In the industry, we call them cigarette burns",
"That happens to me when I look at something bright then look away.",
"In the industry, we call them cigarette burns"
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6t1kqo | why are some websites urls alternately written in short form? for example, _url_0_ vs _url_1_ or _url_2_ vs _url_3_? if this short form is also functional, why even bother using or advertising the full .com url? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6t1kqo/eli5_why_are_some_websites_urls_alternately/ | {
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"text": [
"It's to save space for services like Twitter which carry a character limit, similarly for those that don't have a mobile phone plan with unlimited texting capabilities. You'll notice a lot of short form URLs are merely tailed with a short string of characters that redirect to the full length URL once accessed."
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"bitly.com"
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8mzh4y | passengers sitting in the emergency exit row on planes, what happens if they pull the emergency exit lever mid flight? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8mzh4y/eli5_passengers_sitting_in_the_emergency_exit_row/ | {
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"Nothing. The emergency door opens inwards and the cabin is pressurized, so the dramatic air pressure difference holds the door shut with immense force even if you disengage the locking mechanism.\n\nI'm not sure what sort of alarms/lights any individual plane is equipped with, but I imagine attempting to open it would set off something and probably get you tackled by passengers."
]
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4toh2e | how do car keys with automatic door unlockers work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4toh2e/eli5_how_do_car_keys_with_automatic_door/ | {
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"text": [
"Bluetooth. The two devices (car and keys) are paired, just like a headset/headphones to a phone, or a keyboard/mouse to a computer, or your phone to the car's headunit (stereo/radio). When in range, the devices get connected, the car thus unlocks itself."
]
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4qcl8d | when drinking water, how is the body able to process how much is being taken in and so accurately and quickly tell you to stop drinking? | My physiology professor mentioned it briefly in class once but it just fascinated me how the body is able to tell you as you're gulping down water when your thirst is quenched | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4qcl8d/eli5_when_drinking_water_how_is_the_body_able_to/ | {
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"Most of what causes you to feel\"thirsty\" is the concentration of salt and other substances (potassium, calcium, etc) in your blood (aka blood osmolality). This concentration goes up when the amount of water in your blood goes down, and the concentration goes down when you have more water (excluding various unhealthy states. \n\nWhen the concentration is too low, your brain and kidneys detect that your blood is to concentrated and makes you feel \"thirsty\" so you'll drink more water. That \"thirsty\" sensation goes away when you've absorbed enough water to dilute your blood to the normal concentration (about 275-295 mosm/kg). \n\nIt's not an instantaneous process though, this all occurs after the water has been absorbed and taken up into the blood supply. Even then, only about 45% of the water you absorb is in \"extracellular fluid\", or outside of your cells. 55% of the water in your body is actually within the cells (\"intracellular fluid\")."
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deibtv | the research that won the nobel prize for medicine | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/deibtv/eli5_the_research_that_won_the_nobel_prize_for/ | {
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"So it took some digging to find the original citations but here is my best shot. Judging by your OP you have some knowledge so I got into a little more detail than normal. Theres a ***SHORT/ELI5*** version at the bottom if that's what you prefer!\n\nIt has been known since the beginning of the 1900s that a hormone called **erythropoietin** (EPO) is activated during hypoxia. EPO stimulates the production of red blood cells in the presence of diminished oxygen. \nWhat was not know was how the lack of oxygen was actually detected and converted into increased EPO/RBC production. The prize-winning scientists determined this relationship by studying the activity of DNA near the EPO genes in response to different levels of oxygen. They eventually discovered the **HIF** protein, which contains two transcriptions factors **HIF-1a** and ART. HIF-1a is what stimulates the EPO gene you see expressed during hypoxia.\n\nNow, under normal oxygen levels, HIF is rapidly degraded within cells. This happens when **VHL** tags the HIF-1a molecule with an **ubiquitin** \"tag\" which marks it for destruction. VHL is able to find and identify HIF-1a with the help of oxygen sensitive enzymes called **prolyl hydroxylases.** When oxygen levels drop, these enzymes are less active in helping VHL find and tag HIF-1a, leading to higher activity of HIF and EPO. \n\n\n***QUICK/ELI5 Version:***\n\n(o2) : VHL tags HIF-1a with ubiquitin using oxygen sensitive enzymes, HIF is degraded, EPO levels normal\n\n(hypoxia): VHL has trouble \"finding\" HIF, HIF is not degraded and activates EPO, EPO stimulated RBC generation\n\n & #x200B;\n\nHope that all made sense/answered your question"
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6ffcb1 | why do some puppies' bottom half tip up when they're eating? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ffcb1/eli5_why_do_some_puppies_bottom_half_tip_up_when/ | {
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"text": [
"Their heads outweigh their butts. They are stable while their heads are over their front paws, but not once they lean over."
]
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6ko1e0 | if hot air rises and cool air rushes down to replace it, how can we have really hot days with no wind? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ko1e0/eli5_if_hot_air_rises_and_cool_air_rushes_down_to/ | {
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"Typically the air is warmest near the ground because the sun warms the ground and the air next to it the most. Air gradually becomes cooler the higher up you go. This layering of temperatures is a common reason for wind, actually, as air shifts around to allow hot air to rise and cool air to descend. \n\nHowever, there is a fairly common weather effect that's called an inversion layer. If warm air travels from another geographic location and sort of settles over a place with cooler air under it, that's an inversion layer, and it causes the normal behavior of warm air rising from the ground to stop because there's already warmer air above it. As a consequence, wind tends to stop, and you have these super hot windless days. "
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2qae1o | how does my car move forward in drive when on normal level ground when i'm not even pressing the gas? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qae1o/eli5_how_does_my_car_move_forward_in_drive_when/ | {
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"The engine of a car is a self sustaining thing. If the engine actually stopped when the car stopped then you would need to turn it on again to start driving (some newer cars actually do this, but that's not important here). So since the engine must be running while the car is at a stop light, it must maintain a small amount of RPM in order to keep the reaction going.\n\nThat small RPM is enough to make your car go forward when at a stop light. ",
"Since you're talking about an automatic, engine at idle and on level ground with no brakes applied, it is simply caused by a small amount of mechanical and fluid drag within the transmission. A similar thing happens with a manual car if one of the driven wheels is jacked up with the transmission in neutral, each rotating item passes a little drag to the next and the wheel will turn with no gear selected. ",
"It all comes down to the torque converter.\n\nWhen you're in drive, then the transmission is always in some forward gear, no matter what. That means that the input of the transmission is turning with the wheels. Also, the output of the engine is spinning at the engine RPM.\n\nWhen you're stopped, then the wheels aren't turning, so neither is the input of the transmission. But the engine is spinning, so you can't just weld the two of them together.\n\nIn a manual transmission car, they use a clutch, which is a like a special kind of brake that connects the two when pressure is applied by a big spring.\n\nIn an automatic transmission car, they use a torque converter. Think of two really small jet turbines facing each other, one connected to the engine output, and one connected to the transmission output. Between and around them both is hydraulic fluid, really thick oil.\n\nWhen the engine output is spinning (which it always is if the car is running) its turbine moves that hydraulic fluid with it. That makes the transmission output turbine want to move as well. But it doesn't have to. It can be held in place by holding your wheels still with your brakes.\n\nWhen you let off the brake, that turbine starts to move with the hydraulic fluid moving past it. Eventually, it will catch up with the turbine attached to the engine.\n\nEdit:\n\nHere's an Army training video from the 50's that shows how a torque converter works: _URL_0_"
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5lw55a | why do some surgeries result in equipment being left behind in patients (e.g. scissors)? | How would a nurse or doctor forget that equipment is left behind? Doesn't the hospital check if equipment is lost at the operating theatre? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lw55a/eli5_why_do_some_surgeries_result_in_equipment/ | {
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"This is very, very, very, nearly impossibly rare. I trained as an O R nurse in the US in the 1970's. We counted all the instruments before surgery and after. These numbers were written down both times. The patient's incision was not closed until the numbers were equal. Also, during surgery sponges were used. Not the kitchen variety. They look like wash clothes and each has a tiny metal tag. These are counted as they are used and again counted at the end of surgery. Rarely a sponge may be left in the patient. And let me repeat, rarely. On x-ray the tag will be seen. Another operation and the sponge removed.",
"It's pretty rare (less than 1 in 5,000 operations) precisely because of detailed methods to count every item involved at the beginning and end; if the numbers don't square, you figure out why. There are even disposable plastic sheets that hold ten individual surgical sponges, to make it immediately clear how many have been recovered. \n\nSponges are the most common item left in; they're not like kitchen sponges, but basically a couple layers of gauze. Part of the problem is that one of their functions is being wedged in the body to absorb blood, which camouflages them red. Sponges are made to be visible on X-rays, and some newer sponges even have tiny radiofrequency chips in them which can be scanned with a wand.\n\nHaving scrubbed in on a number of surgeries, the complicated ones can involve a sizeable team of people acting out a huge number of steps, some of which are planned but many of which are just responses to what's happening (e.g. \"mop up the fluid that's collecting with a sponge.\") Assuming an overworked team that's not communicating well, and a surgery with some unexpected complications, and a minor error in counting, it's a slight risk."
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3q2y80 | why is the "eye" of the storm so calm. why isnt it the worst part because its in the centre | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q2y80/eli5_why_is_the_eye_of_the_storm_so_calm_why_isnt/ | {
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"text": [
"Because in the eye of the storm the wind is deflected and spiral upwards and around it instead of going right past it.",
"It's like when water's going down a plughole. When it spins, there's no water in the middle. If you stood in that vortex, you wouldn't get wet or spun around.\n\nOr another way of looking at it - it's standing on something that is spinning. At the edges, you're moving much faster than if you just stand in the middle, because you've got to travel much further in the same amount of time. This doesn't quite hold in a hurricane, because other forces stop the outer winds moving as quickly (thanks to /u/dtaylor84 for this correction)."
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4i7uji | how can programmers create entirely new things out of code when computers are built only to recognize a limited selection of things? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4i7uji/eli5_how_can_programmers_create_entirely_new/ | {
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"How can writers create entirely new stories out of words when there are only a limited selection of letters?",
"Came here to give the answer that PatriotGrrrl gave, but since (presumably) she already gave the real answer I'll be boring and explain it like you're five. The trick to programming is combinations. Computers only recognize a limited selection of things, but how many ways are there to combine three statements? Well, if your limited selection of things is Add, Subtract, Multiply and Divide there are 64 (4^3) ways to combine them. CPUs understand on the order of 100 different things, and if your program occupies a few megabytes (which is about right for a phone app, although way way tiny for a PC program) then you're looking at 100^1000000, which is vastly larger than the number of atoms in the universe. So we programmers create entirely new things out of code by selecting combinations from within the limited selection afforded to us by the computer's architecture.",
"How can you create new things out of Legos when they're a fixed format and and have limited parts?\n\nA better analogy might be an alphabet: how can unlimited unique text be written with a limited alphabet. "
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2mzepn | it is generally common knowledge that psychics are scams, my question is how do they still make enough money to keep their business going? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mzepn/eli5it_is_generally_common_knowledge_that/ | {
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"As P.T. Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute. That is how.",
"(1) Not everyone accepts the idea that they're scams.\n\n(2) Even some people who accept that they're scams find it fun.",
"Because humans are susceptible to lies. There are probably things that are not true that all of us have believed in at some point, and most will not even change their minds even after evidence is presented to the contrary. \n\nI'm not saying people are stupid. I'm not trying to belittle anybody who believes something different than me. I'm sure I have ideas that I probably hold on to despite evidence to the contrary, too. \n\nBut absolute adherence to the truth is superfluous. It's not something we've ever needed to survive, and thus it's never been weeded out.",
"If you needed to appeal to the majority of the population, there would be no niche businesses at all.\n\nMost people don't play the piano (or at least not well enough to want one at home), but I can tell you where to find a thriving piano shop.\n\nMost people don't believe in psychics, but that doesn't mean there's not a suitably gullible market out there.",
"A terrifying amount of people believe in psychics and use them to determine their actions and dictate their lives.\n\nIt's terrifying because it's greater than 0."
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4498fx | why do spicy foods burn on the way out? wouldn't the gastric acid produced in our stomachs take care of breaking that down enough that it wouldn't? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4498fx/eli5_why_do_spicy_foods_burn_on_the_way_out/ | {
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"Not everything is completely neutralized in digestion. Your pee will smell like coffee after you drink coffee. The body absorbs the nutrients and passes everything else on ",
"Capsaicin is broken down slightly by the liver. Some of it is not. The more capsaicin in your food, the hotter it is, and the less likely you'll break all of it down. \n",
"I was reading an article about this the other day. It said that we don't break down the spicy chemical so it comes out pretty much intact. The article said that you could desensitize yourself by eating peppers every day for 3 weeks. I thought about trying it, but the thought occurred that what if the article is wrong and I just put up with the ring of fire for 3 weeks with no results, and I decided not to. So if you do this let me know how it goes",
"much like corn certain parts of \"spicy\" food does not get digested and makes its way out. Also the tissue used around your sphincter is extremely sensitive think like your lips. The best example of this is eat some crushed red peppers and then look at your poop you should see specs of it.",
"I notice any diarrhea is burning - not sure whether it is stomach acids or enzymes. It may also be the irritating chemicals in peppers, curries etc cause faster bowel motion, leading to the above.",
"This does not affect everybody. For me, I had to quit eating spicy food because it burns so much on the way out that it's just not fun. My dad? He would eat habaneros like candy. I asked him about it burning when it comes out and he looked at me like it was the stupidest question he had ever heard, \"Uh, no? Why? Does it bother you?\" Yes, dad. \n\nI have asked several friends about this over the years and some people say that it bothers them, some say it does not. Somebody in this thread said something about becoming desensitized after 3 weeks. That may work for some people, but I tried it for 30 years or so and never experienced desensitivity.",
"I don't know why I was down voted so I'll try again. Most mammals have taste receptors, namely TRVP1, located in their anus. This is the receptor responsible for detecting capsaicin in both your mouth and anus. Some people have more, some people have less of these receptors in their anus. Depending on how many you have, you may or may not feel spicy food being excreted."
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547ish | integrated graphics fit on the cpu, and then gpus are a really big pcb, why is their size differ so much than their perfomances? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/547ish/eli5_integrated_graphics_fit_on_the_cpu_and_then/ | {
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"Remember that the CPU doesn't sit by itself in isolation. It has a motherboard that includes memory, buses, cooling and a variety of other things. The graphics card acts as the motherboard to the GPU and provides those same services.\n\n"
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21s32j | eli: why do many people not see downloading movies/songs/software illegally (p2p) as a crime? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21s32j/eli_why_do_many_people_not_see_downloading/ | {
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"I wouldn't go that far, but when you download something, you aren't stealing it (aka taking it away) from someone, so it is a victimless crime. "
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77zvhd | why are research papers written and published in a two-column format? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/77zvhd/eli5_why_are_research_papers_written_and/ | {
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"One of the reasons I have seen it that way is because of the frequent inclusion of small tables and pictures. If you had traditional page width text, you would wind up with wasted space because of these things, or you would have to cram more tables/pictures in one row, even if one of them isn't referenced for another page.\n\nOne could argue that, since most papers aren't actually printed, space isn't an issue like it is for print versions of journals. But that would be extra guidelines for editors and overall extra work. ",
"Graphic designer here. There is a certain width of s line that works best for reading. Having the text be the width of the page causes your brain to work harder to complete and comprehend the line. Breaking it into two columns makes it easier for comprehension\n\nImagine the two extremes, like if the whole paper were written on in line. Eventually it’s going to really bother you. The same is true if it was one word per line and caused you to read downward. Both are just not natural for our own brains to be comfortable with. \n\nI can’t speak for any particular journal, but typically two or three columns on a page are in the sweet spot for reading comprehension. \n\nAs for your comment on white space, just know that often times white space is a good thing. Good design doesn’t mean filling in everything. Often times it’s just the opposite; letting things stay empty so that what IS there is understood or followed more easily. \n\n",
"i have no idea but as a graphic designer i can tell you that smaller columns of text with a shorter amount of words per line (like a newspaper) is easier to read and format. i know you and many people prefer to read one solid block of text, and i don't know why this is, but i've always been told that having more than 50 words per line is a big no no. The only time i would do it is if i was writing a paper for a class in school or something and was formatting in Word but if i created a book of research papers or something I might be formatting in a more powerful program like InDesign and choose to make it look fancier. \n\nI could be completely wrong and it could just be a \"it's two columns because that's the way it is\" but i can't help but feel like it has something to do with it actually being formatted to look more respectable -or published in some sort of larger format maybe?",
"It depends on the journal. Some like Nature and Science use the multi column format, while some others do not for example the journal Sensors. I often see a mix of the multi column style and single column style. I agree that I prefer single column style as I mostly read them on screen and find it a pain in the butt to have to zoom in to read the tiny text in multi column papers.",
"Part science, part tradition.\n\nThe science part, as others have mentioned, is line length. Research shows lines that are too short or too long reduce comprehension. While there isn't one exact size, less than 50 characters per line seems bad, while more than about 80 also seems bad. If you look at professionally typeset material you'll find 99% of it with lines around 60-70 characters long.\n\nThe other half is tradition. Scientific papers are typically typeset \"densely\". That is relatively small fonts and figures. The idea is to fit a lot of information on the page. The smaller font size would make one column's lines way too long, so the two-column format makes sense.\n\nNewspapers, with large pages and a desire to be information dense use small fonts with many columns. Books, which are designed to be easy to read use single column with larger fonts.\n\nA good introduction (although far from gospel) online is _URL_0_",
"A quick correction: Scientific papers are often published in a two column format, but are almost never written that way. We write papers in a normal Word document, send them to the editors in Word, the editors send them to the reviewers in Word, we make needed changes in Word, and then finally someone at the journal reformats everything into two columns.",
"It strikes me as arising from a journals already having their LaTex macros and formatting templates already set up and there’s no incentive to change them.",
"Manuscripts are in fact sent to the publisher in the traditional block text double-spaced format and converted downstream by the journal(s) into their respective single-spaced two-column formats. \n\n1. Because if you insert a figure that takes only half the horizontal space and try to fill the rest with text it's ambiguous if the first line on the page begins under the figure or next to the figure. \n\n2. It was very common before electronic print to squeeze memos and advisories into journals like a mass email. But these 'articles' were only 1/6th a page. If you try formatting an article that small into un-columned page with other articles and figures you'll see that it looks absolutely terrible. Give it a try. Newspapers do it too.",
"I publish in Economics journals and have seen editors discussing the possibility of switching the format. There are a few things that matter:\n\n1-Design. As some designers have mentioned, good design avoids lines getting too long. One reason for that is that when reading a short line you can kind of see the beginning of the next line with the corner of your eye, so it makes it easier to skip to the next line. Ever started reading the next line, only to realize you have already read that one before? A lot of good design, such as choice of fonts, size of margin etc., is about making it natural and effortless to keep your sight at the right place.\n\n2-Cost of printing. In the old days, journals were all printed, and printing wasn't as cheap. Being efficient with the use of space was a good way to bring costs down. One way to be more efficient is to use a smaller font. But if you use a smaller font and keep a single line, the line gets too long, or the margin gets too large. Hence they used the double column, which is now regarded as a more classic/vintage look. \n\n3-Things that are not text. In economics, the main issue with the short space of the double column format was having to break longer mathematical formulas, making them sometimes hard to read. Because of that, there's recently been more of a move toward single column. This is also relevant for pictures or tables. All of these things have become increasingly prevalent or easy to make with our recent technology, so they are more relevant than they used to be. Things that are not text usually have a \"natural size\" and ideally the size of the text column would be the same as the pictures size (with a single column) or about half of it (for double column). In Nature and Science big pictures are often a thing, so that gives an argument for having larger columns (not a particularly strong argument, in my opinion, but still). \n\nIn my opinion, for text-only the double column format is superior and much easier to read. But as soon as you're breaking the text often with tables, formulas, or pictures, the single column gets better.\n\n",
"Same reason newspapers are multi-column: readability.\n\nToo-wide columns can cause the reader to jump to the wrong line when finishing a line, because the eyes have to trade the line back over a long distance.\n\nTo make a single column readable, the font size and/or spacing between the lines have to be increased. This will result in more pages needed, which is probably more of a concern years ago but not now.",
"Narrow columns are easier to read as requires less effort to track which line you’re on. For the same reason when using a large monitor I use a less-than-full-screen browser window to make text columns narrower. \n\nI agree that panning around a PDF of a two column journal is a pain but I prefer that to wider columns. "
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39vrih | why is trench warfare no longer used? | Is it because of the environment that more recent wars are fought, or is it just not the best way to fight a war anymore? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39vrih/eli5_why_is_trench_warfare_no_longer_used/ | {
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"Trench warfare was never the best way to fight a war, it's just war has evolved to where we don't have to fight that way anymore. WW1 gave us high capacity machine guns and artillery that kept people pinned down, with no armored vehicles capable of getting people through the firefight safely. With the invention of smart munitions, tanks, armored personnel carriers, airborne troops, etc... trench warfare is a thing of the past",
"It never was the best way to fight a war. It's because we have armored vehicles, planes, and airborne missiles. Trench warfare was really only utilized in World War 1 when neither side could gain any ground on the other and it became a matter of waiting to hit the other with an overwhelming charge which ended in mass casulties.",
"Any worth while military will still use entrenched positions and teach their men and have specialized engineering units for the construction of fortifications. They can provide important protection during attacks and firefights. \n\nBut the semi static sprawling lines of 1915/1916 in France are a thing of the past. The coming of effective small unit tactics, coordinated artillery, and armored vehicles all made that form of warfare less tenable. ",
"Trench warfare develops when infantry both sides are fighting along stagnant battle lines. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s had trench lines that spanned several miles, including entrenching of tanks. \n\nThe Iraqis tried those same tactics in the first gulf war after invading Kuwait. But US air power made bombing dug in tanks and troops easy.\n\nThere was a little bit of it near the cities in Afghanistan and Iraq. But as others pointed out, precision air power have made trench wars rare."
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3loqki | what really happens in court cases where the evidence is illegally obtained? | My general knowledge, which is based on pop culture and what I heard from others, is that the accused can simply walk. Is that true? What actually goes down in courts, when it comes to light that either side has obtained some evidence illegally? Does it make a difference if it's a petty crime or something really serious/disturbing?
Thank you in advance in case I don't reply!
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3loqki/eli5_what_really_happens_in_court_cases_where_the/ | {
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"If it's obtained illegally, then the jury will never see that evidence. If the illegally obtained evidence is the only evidence, then the person will likely walk. \n\nDoesn't matter if it's jaywalking or murder. ",
"Just because something was obtained illegally, doesn't mean it is automatically thrown out of court.\n\nJudges can consider factors like, \"would it have been found anyways?\" and \"what where the conditions of the search?\" when deciding to allow evidence."
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2151y2 | why can't you taste your own tongue? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2151y2/eli5_why_cant_you_taste_your_own_tongue/ | {
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"You're tasting it all the time, so your brain interprets it as the baseline, which means you don't notice it. \n\nIt's just like when you're around a smell for a long time and you don't even smell it anymore."
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fgao0e | if the sun is constantly bombarding the earth with energy, isn’t the earth continually gaining energy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fgao0e/eli5_if_the_sun_is_constantly_bombarding_the/ | {
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"So the answer is sort of.\n\nYes where the sun hits the earth it is gaining energy. That energy is absorbed primarily as heat. Meaning as the day goes on it gets warmer, as you'd expect. But remember the sun also is not hitting the other side of the planet for about the same amount of time. Giving the atmosphere and the earth itself plenty of time to radiate that gained thermal energy away. Meaning as a whole the earth is not gaining energy.\n\nNow that's the perfect system. The current system accounting for global climate change has less of that heat escaping. So the earth is gaining a ever so slight amount of energy each day.",
"It is.\n\nBut it also is constantly losing energy too.\n\nThe Earth is both gaining and losing massive amounts of energy all the time. Ideally the energy going in and the energy going out would balance out.\n\nIf they don't balance out you get a problem.\n\nWe currently seem to have a problem along those lines.",
"Yes the earth is constantly gaining energy from the sun. \nIt is also constantly losing energy to space. (they call this “radiative cooling”) \nThe atmosphere and rocks hold onto some of this heat for a while. \nWhich is why it’s warm down in the tropics, but really cold at 20,000 feet up in the air. \nThe air kinda acts like a blanket because certain gases (eg carbon dioxide) are good at holding on to heat.",
"Yes, but the same amount of energy or radiated away mostly as infrared radiation, however gasses like co2 slow down this radiation rate, keeping the planet warm\n\nThis is what global warming is: the planet gaining more energy because it can’t radiate enough away"
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k23ep | color theory. what is the "value" of a color? what is hue? lightness vs. brightness, etc. | Today was my second day of color theory at school and while I feel like I have a basic understanding of it, I still found myself struggling to completely understand the difference between lightness, brightness, darkness, value, color, hue, saturation and so on. I understand that we see color (or don't) depending on how much light is being reflected off a surface. Beyond that I'm lost.
Sorry if the question isn't specific enough, I'll take any answers you have to offer about any kind of color theory. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/k23ep/eli5_color_theory_what_is_the_value_of_a_color/ | {
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"Suppose Tommy has a huge box of crayons, tons and tons of colours (yes coloUrs). He sees that if he picks all the crayons that have a lot of colour, such as red, yellow and green, he can lay them out in a ring. This is hue. Moving around the circle changes the hue\n\nBut Tommy also has some crayons that look a little more washed out and grey than the others. They fit in the middle of the ring making a solid circle with true grey in the middle. This is saturation. Moving to the outside of the circle increases the saturation. \n\nTommy then look at all the other crayons and sees that they are all either lighter or darker then the ones that he has in his circle. So, being quite ambitious, he make a huge double cone of crayons, with pure white being at the tip of one cone and pure black at the tip of the other, with the ring of colours in the middle. This hight difference is lightness, (NOT brightness)\n\nBut then, Tommy's teacher, Mrs Commanderson comes over and points out that the colours in the ring and the white at the top all appear to have a similar brightness to them. So Tommy willingly obliges to remake his double cone into a single cone with the same ring of colours but now with white in the middle and the grey somewhere in between the white top and the bottom black tip. Now, the hight difference is brightness, or value. Moving up increases the value. ",
"So there are 2 major schools of thought on that front (hue-saturation-lightness and hue-saturation-value), but they have a lot in common. Hue is what your rainbow color category is (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).\n\nSaturation is how far away from grey your color is. No saturation gives you some kind of grey. Full saturation gives you a brighter, more vibrant color. In other words, it's how colorful the color is.\n\nLightness is how light your color is. No lightness is pure black, full lightness is pure white, and middle lightness is the brightest color you can get for your hue and saturation.\n\nValue, on the other hand, is how not-dark your color is. In other words, no value will always give you a pure black. Full value will give you the brightest colors possible (everything from pure white to the brightest possible color for your hue). So value and brightness are basically the same thing.\n\nThe upside of using lightness is that it seems to make a lot more sense than value, since you range from black to white, with your colors being in the middle. The upside of using value, however, is you have a much fuller range of color to choose from.\n\nPretend you had a square piece of paper. Going up on the paper has increasing lightness, and going right has increasing saturation. The whole top edge would be white, the whole bottom edge would be black. Halfway up the left edge would be middle grey, and half-way up the right edge would be bright red. Smoothly fill everything in the middle, and you have the full range for red in HSL.\n\nNow let's take a second square of paper. Going up is increasing value, and going right is increasing saturation. Paint the bottom edge black, the top-left bright red, and the top-right bright white and fill in the middle. Notice how there's more space between the red and black, and the red and white? Hooray HSV!",
"Light is photons (like little magical marbles) that bounce of stuff and into your eye. Photons can be any colour, from deepest red all the way up past violet and ultraviolet. If you see a rainbow, a photon can be any of those colours (and more!).\n\nNow, if you've ever had the fortune of seeing a double rainbow, you'll realise that the colours actually wrap around from blue back to red, just like musical octaves wrap around from a low C through a high B to the high C. This is what people mean when they talk about a colour wheel - you take a circle, and put the colours on the outside of it, going from red to orange to yellow to green through to blue and purple then back to red again.\n\nThe rainbow wheel is Hue.\n\nNow a colour can be incredibly vibrant, like kiddie plastic blocks, or it can be all washed out, like pastel colours. If there are lots of photons at a very specific colour, that colour is very vibrant. If there are lots of photons at many different colours, they merge together to make white, or just off-white, which gives you pastels.\n\nThis is called saturation. If a colour is just on it's own, and is vibrant, people say that it is fully saturated. If a colour is with many other colours at the same time, they will end up mixing to white - this is fully desaturated. \n\nLastly we have lightness, brightness, darkness. If there are no photons around, you don't see anything - it's black. If you see a black surface (like a painting or a book cover) what's happening is that it is swallowing up all the photons that hit it, and none of them are bouncing off into your eyes. (you might wonder where they go, and the answer is that when they are absorbed they make the black surface warmer - touch it and see!)\n\nLots of photons is brightness, no photons is darkness.\n\nHuman eyes are tuned to only really pick out three colours though - red, green and blue. Photons that are not exactly these colours are picked up mostly by the closest receivers - so a colour halfway between green and blue will get picked up by your eyeball as half green and half blue.\n\nThrough the magic of how your brain works, if you mix red and green together in different ratios your brain interprets that back to a colour between these two on the rainbow (oranges and yellows). The same happens for mixes of green and blue - different ratios of these get interpreted by your brain as cyans and aquamarines. If you mix blue and red photons together, you'll end up with purples and pinks.\n\nIf the brain gets photons in equal amounts of red, green and blue, it sees desaturated colours (shades of grey). The more photons it sees, the more the colour moves from black to white.\n\nIf more photons of two of the colours (or one of the colours) are received, then you see a more saturated colour.\n\nELI8:\n\nValue is the colour line from black to a fully bright colour (white when desaturated, or the vibrant colour when fully saturated).\n\nLightness is the colour line from black to white, with grey in the middle when desaturated and the colour in the middle when fully saturated.\n\nComplimentary colours are colours that are nice angles on the colour wheel (opposites sit at 180%, for example). If you think of sounds scales again as an example (this all is maths after all!) some sounds sound good together, like a CEG chord. some colours look good together and normally they are at specific fractions of wavelengths of each other just like an E note is a specific fraction of the wavelength of the C note.\n",
"Suppose Tommy has a huge box of crayons, tons and tons of colours (yes coloUrs). He sees that if he picks all the crayons that have a lot of colour, such as red, yellow and green, he can lay them out in a ring. This is hue. Moving around the circle changes the hue\n\nBut Tommy also has some crayons that look a little more washed out and grey than the others. They fit in the middle of the ring making a solid circle with true grey in the middle. This is saturation. Moving to the outside of the circle increases the saturation. \n\nTommy then look at all the other crayons and sees that they are all either lighter or darker then the ones that he has in his circle. So, being quite ambitious, he make a huge double cone of crayons, with pure white being at the tip of one cone and pure black at the tip of the other, with the ring of colours in the middle. This hight difference is lightness, (NOT brightness)\n\nBut then, Tommy's teacher, Mrs Commanderson comes over and points out that the colours in the ring and the white at the top all appear to have a similar brightness to them. So Tommy willingly obliges to remake his double cone into a single cone with the same ring of colours but now with white in the middle and the grey somewhere in between the white top and the bottom black tip. Now, the hight difference is brightness, or value. Moving up increases the value. ",
"So there are 2 major schools of thought on that front (hue-saturation-lightness and hue-saturation-value), but they have a lot in common. Hue is what your rainbow color category is (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).\n\nSaturation is how far away from grey your color is. No saturation gives you some kind of grey. Full saturation gives you a brighter, more vibrant color. In other words, it's how colorful the color is.\n\nLightness is how light your color is. No lightness is pure black, full lightness is pure white, and middle lightness is the brightest color you can get for your hue and saturation.\n\nValue, on the other hand, is how not-dark your color is. In other words, no value will always give you a pure black. Full value will give you the brightest colors possible (everything from pure white to the brightest possible color for your hue). So value and brightness are basically the same thing.\n\nThe upside of using lightness is that it seems to make a lot more sense than value, since you range from black to white, with your colors being in the middle. The upside of using value, however, is you have a much fuller range of color to choose from.\n\nPretend you had a square piece of paper. Going up on the paper has increasing lightness, and going right has increasing saturation. The whole top edge would be white, the whole bottom edge would be black. Halfway up the left edge would be middle grey, and half-way up the right edge would be bright red. Smoothly fill everything in the middle, and you have the full range for red in HSL.\n\nNow let's take a second square of paper. Going up is increasing value, and going right is increasing saturation. Paint the bottom edge black, the top-left bright red, and the top-right bright white and fill in the middle. Notice how there's more space between the red and black, and the red and white? Hooray HSV!",
"Light is photons (like little magical marbles) that bounce of stuff and into your eye. Photons can be any colour, from deepest red all the way up past violet and ultraviolet. If you see a rainbow, a photon can be any of those colours (and more!).\n\nNow, if you've ever had the fortune of seeing a double rainbow, you'll realise that the colours actually wrap around from blue back to red, just like musical octaves wrap around from a low C through a high B to the high C. This is what people mean when they talk about a colour wheel - you take a circle, and put the colours on the outside of it, going from red to orange to yellow to green through to blue and purple then back to red again.\n\nThe rainbow wheel is Hue.\n\nNow a colour can be incredibly vibrant, like kiddie plastic blocks, or it can be all washed out, like pastel colours. If there are lots of photons at a very specific colour, that colour is very vibrant. If there are lots of photons at many different colours, they merge together to make white, or just off-white, which gives you pastels.\n\nThis is called saturation. If a colour is just on it's own, and is vibrant, people say that it is fully saturated. If a colour is with many other colours at the same time, they will end up mixing to white - this is fully desaturated. \n\nLastly we have lightness, brightness, darkness. If there are no photons around, you don't see anything - it's black. If you see a black surface (like a painting or a book cover) what's happening is that it is swallowing up all the photons that hit it, and none of them are bouncing off into your eyes. (you might wonder where they go, and the answer is that when they are absorbed they make the black surface warmer - touch it and see!)\n\nLots of photons is brightness, no photons is darkness.\n\nHuman eyes are tuned to only really pick out three colours though - red, green and blue. Photons that are not exactly these colours are picked up mostly by the closest receivers - so a colour halfway between green and blue will get picked up by your eyeball as half green and half blue.\n\nThrough the magic of how your brain works, if you mix red and green together in different ratios your brain interprets that back to a colour between these two on the rainbow (oranges and yellows). The same happens for mixes of green and blue - different ratios of these get interpreted by your brain as cyans and aquamarines. If you mix blue and red photons together, you'll end up with purples and pinks.\n\nIf the brain gets photons in equal amounts of red, green and blue, it sees desaturated colours (shades of grey). The more photons it sees, the more the colour moves from black to white.\n\nIf more photons of two of the colours (or one of the colours) are received, then you see a more saturated colour.\n\nELI8:\n\nValue is the colour line from black to a fully bright colour (white when desaturated, or the vibrant colour when fully saturated).\n\nLightness is the colour line from black to white, with grey in the middle when desaturated and the colour in the middle when fully saturated.\n\nComplimentary colours are colours that are nice angles on the colour wheel (opposites sit at 180%, for example). If you think of sounds scales again as an example (this all is maths after all!) some sounds sound good together, like a CEG chord. some colours look good together and normally they are at specific fractions of wavelengths of each other just like an E note is a specific fraction of the wavelength of the C note.\n"
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5exk8b | why do we close our eyes when we hear a loud noise? for an example when someone is hammering in a nail. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5exk8b/eli5_why_do_we_close_our_eyes_when_we_hear_a_loud/ | {
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"Your eyes are the single most important part of perception as a human - People who cannot see are massively disabled and their entire life changes.\n\nLikewise, it makes sense to try and protect the eyes, and closeing them increases their protection.\n\nIf you hear a loud noise and react, it is a defense mechanism. Your body is instinctively thinking \"Loud noise, potential danger, might damage eyes, close them for a moment in case something might damage them,\" which makes sense considering your eyes are extremely soft (Basically just balls of wet jelly) and it doesn't take much to destroy them.\n\nFlying bits of debris can easily destroy an eye, even a well placed bit of tree bark, and a loud noise usually means sending debris flying, and an eye has FAR better chance to survive if it has a thick layer of skin and muscle covering it than just a thin, white membrane.",
"Do most people do this? I don't but I have never thought about it",
"Loud noises are generally made from something with a large amount of force, or an explosion of some sort. It's a good idea to close your eyes in case of both, because something might be flying at your eye.",
"It'll be from millions of years making stone tools and cutting wood with them. Both can send of shrapnel that could cause blindness."
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299afd | why do developers still create x86 applications? | From what I understand the majority of processors are 64-bit compatible, it was only a few pre-pentium 4 processors that are not. So why do developers still create x86 applications? Who are they afraid of leaving behind? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/299afd/eli5_why_do_developers_still_create_x86/ | {
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"Despite CPU's being 64-bit capable, millions of people still use Windows XP, which is NOT 64-bit capable. There are also still millions of 32-bit Windows Vista/7 installations out there. Then, when you look at businesses, many businesses still rely on 32-bit operating systems because their older applications don't work on 64 bit operating systems.\n\nEDIT: My employer *just* got off of a DOS application that wasn't 64 bit compatible. In fact, we still sometimes need it for our old historical data that we didn't migrate to the new system.",
"While the majority of processors are 64-bit compatible, the majority of OSes running on people's machines are not. Over time, more people will be using 64-bit, but until 32-bit becomes a minority (Windows XP, Windows 7 32 bit, Windows 8 32-bit still exist) and as long as Windows provides a way for 32 bit applications to run on 64 bit OSes, developers will continue creating 32 bit applications. Some produce a 32 bit and a 64 bit though. But the bottom line is, it's easy to just create a 32 bit application, knowing it'll work on both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. \n\nThe next question might be, why do 32 bit OSes still exist? Of the many reason 32 bit OSes still exist, one of the important ones is legacy business applications which are 32 bit; businesses are more amenable to a migration if their applications can be moved over quietly, without much effort, so there's quite a bit holding the 64-bit-only world back. ",
"I think you mean \"why do they still create X86 _32bit_ applications\". Current 64bit processors are still x86.\n\n1. If you're a developer and you want to migrate your app to 64bit it may mean retooling to an entirely different IDE and it will certainly mean a new compiler. It could take thousands and thousands of person-hours to update things.\n\n2. your software may use third party libraries (most do!) that have not been ported to 64bit themselves. \n\n3. you may want to serve your corporate customers and they have billions and billions of dollars of hardware that is 32bit, and stacks and stacks of applications that they depend on that are not actively developed. \n\nThose are three big reasons, I'm sure there are others!\n\n"
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81ay6c | how exactly does self checkout prevent ppl from stealing, techonologically done, apart from human supervision? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/81ay6c/eli5_how_exactly_does_self_checkout_prevent_ppl/ | {
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"One thing it does is weigh the items. If there are more things in the bag than you've scanned, it will summon an employee. This helps prevents you \"forgetting\" to scan something, or scanning something of a lower price. \n\nBut there *will* be more theft. The question the stores have to consider is: \"is the additional theft worth more than the cost of employing 6 more check out staff?\" ",
"Self checkouts main purpose is not to prevent theft, per-say. It’s more of a customer convenience / business cost saving issue. Less humans = less payroll, benefits, etc. \n\nEach barcode (upc) has a weight associated with it. When u scan an item, and place it in the baggage area (a scale) the weight increase is measured against what you just scanned. If that weight is more or less than what is programmed / anticipated by the software, it’ll send a message to have an associate to confirm you’re not trying to game the system. \n\nIt DOES have the potential of stopping people from stealing items they may be too embarrassed to have a human scan for them. But again I think the former are the reasons these machines exist. \n\nAlso, those machines never need to take bathroom breaks and never talk back to their managers. \n\n",
"Loss Prevention (LP) is able to watch the cameras that are on you (one over head and another pointed directly at you) as well as the transactions taking place at the register in real time(RT.) The Customer Service Representative (CSR) who is working the self checkout area is also able to watch transactions in RT from their own register. There is a camera directly overhead that does some degree of recognition of items. You may have experienced this when you went to pay and it told you to check your cart for additional items, or when it asked you to please place an item in the bagging area. There is also a scale built into the bar code scanner for weighing produce and such items that are sold by weight. I've heard rumors of the bagging area also being able to weigh the items in RT as you place in the bag. Not sure if this is true. Regardless, you answered your own question because the system is completely reliant on the LP to approach and detain you, which most of the time is only allowed if you set off the alarms at the doors. Not sure how long it will be before LP gets phased out by a drone with artificial intelligence. Sorry my tinfoil hat fell off there for a moment. \n\nWhat some criminals don't realize is that In most states it is less of a crime to push a cart full of stolen merchandise out the doors than it is to swap barcodes on those same items and pay something instead of nothing. However, I believe that some people feel like it is less of a criminal act giving the store some money instead of no money at all. "
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7updt6 | what is the difference between persons, people, and peoples? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7updt6/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_persons/ | {
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"Persons are individuals. People is human being in general. Peoples are groups of people that are divided. That's what i've been told anyway.",
"\"People\" is your general purpose collective noun for a group of humans.\n\n\"Peoples\" is when you have multiple groups of people - like \"the peoples of North America\" would refer to Canadians, Americans and Mexicans as separate groups of people.\n\n\"Persons\" normally caries some sort of legal context where you emphasize that a group is made up of individuals."
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3lvymi | why is it not possible to test for a deficiency in dopamine or serotonin instead of the current practice of trying several psychiatric medications until you find a method of action that works? | I have tried four different SSRI's and had bad experiences on all of them. I'm finally trying a drug that works on dopamine instead of serotonin and I feel better than I have felt in years. I wish there was some way of testing dopamine/serotonin deficiency, would have saved me years of med experimentation. Any possibilities of that ever being developed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3lvymi/eli5why_is_it_not_possible_to_test_for_a/ | {
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"Depression is typically associated with specific parts of the brain acting differently. When you're trying to test the brain, you're running into trouble with the blood-brain barrier, so normal blood tests aren't helpful. In order to measure the brain's environment we generally use lumbar punctures to test the composition of cerebrospinal fluid. However, neurotransmitters don't really drift very far from where they're released, that's kind of the point. A whole mess of stuff tries to scoop up and breakdown neurotransmitters before they drift too far away, otherwise they'd be triggering the wrong neurons. And CSF is typically sampled from well down your spine, far away from where your brain is doing stuff.\n\nNeurotransmitter levels aren't a passive thing like white blood cells or something. It's more like a signal rate and the signals are in your brain where it's hard to test and, chemically, they're very localized."
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3kkok1 | how are regions able to become de facto independent? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kkok1/eli5_how_are_regions_able_to_become_de_facto/ | {
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"The central government does have the military power to suppress the independence movement in the region, or does not wish to use it because it would be too costly, inspire even more rebellion or do too much damage to its reputation on an international level.\n\nAn example could be South Ossetia, which Georgia could probably reintegrate - if it was not backed by Russia to weaken its neighbour."
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43tshd | why is it harder to write with a color pencil as compared to a regular one? | If you've tried writing something with a color pencil, it just doesn't flow as well as a regular pencil, and also takes more effort to make a mark. Why is this so? And why does the lead also seem to break easier? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43tshd/eli5_why_is_it_harder_to_write_with_a_color/ | {
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"Graphite's ease to write with is directly caused by its molecular structure. It's got very weak bonds (compared to other carbon molecules like, say, diamond), allowing it to easily break from the rest of the lead and adhere to the paper. It is this attribute that also makes it a very good solid lubricant. \n\nIt's brittleness makes it easier to write or draw with, but means that it breaks very easily. \n\nUnfortunately it isn't particularly viable to colour. Waxes and oils are naturally lighter or easily are bleached, making light colors (like white or yellow) untainted by the colour of the material. This colour, as you have noticed, comes at the cost of quality, unfortunately. "
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64ljzi | what was happening in america around the 15th century? | I'm young, English and ignorant and I have zero knowledge on this. Was much documented? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64ljzi/eli5_what_was_happening_in_america_around_the/ | {
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"The first wave of colonization began and the natives got royally fucked. Diseases like Smallpox, Typhoid Fever, and Measles devastated the native population who had no natural immunity to it. There was estimated to be at most 90 millions Native Americans scattered across the Americas, and many as 90% were killed off by disease alone. What was left of the natives were often enslaved or driven off by the technologically superior European Settlers who arrived in droves to either escape persecution or make money.\n\nAs for records there are some, but almost entirely from the European side of things. Priests and scholars were in short supply in the New World and much of the Native documentation was destroyed and or considered heretical.",
"There is a book entirely focused on this that I highly recommend. It's called \"1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus\". I read it awhile ago, but one of the biggest takeaways for me was how many people there were before the population was decimated by disease brought by Europeans. We think of North America being very sparsely populated, but that's because by the time most places were reached by settlers, the number of natives was a fraction of what it once was. One thing that was speculated was that the giant hordes of Buffalo out west existed because the population of hunters had been massively reduced in the preceding centuries.",
"By 'America' do you mean 'the combined landmass known as America'? Do you mean 'the territory of the future United States of America'? Because the answer is going to be very different in each. Furthermore, you're asking a very general question that really can only be answered in the most general terms. Nonetheless, I'd direct you to r/AskHistorians, which can offer more detailed answers on this front. \n\nOne of the key evens of the 15th century was when, in 1492, Columbus landed in the Carribean, and initiated contact between Europeans and the natives of the Americas. In Meso-America, in 1426, the Aztec 'triple alliance' had managed to establish itself and ruled the Valley of Mexico, effectively from the city of Tenochticlan. In South America, the Inca Empire was also establishing itself, and taking control of areas up and down the Western coast of the continent. Meanwhile, in Eastern north America, the Missisippian culture was flourishing. \n\nOur records on this time are...limited, and most of what we do have has come via European conquerers and colonizers, and have to be interpreted in light of what we do have. \n\nIf you're curious about this period, then the [Wikipedia page](_URL_0_) is always a good place to start. It's not going to let you be an expert, but hopefully it'll be enough to give you a baseline about what was happening in the Americas prior to the Columbian contact. \n\n",
"I know some limited things about colonization in Latin America in the 15th and 16th centuries:\n\n• the Treaty of Tordesillas, a Papal Bull, divided the world between Spain and Portugal (but it was never enforced).\n\n• Columbus landed in Hispaniola and started Spanish colonization in 1492.\n\n• Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral reached Brazil in 1500. Trade with the natives for brazilwood would ensue, but there was no effective colonization for decades.\n\n• Hernan Cortés, taking advantage of local divides, conquers Mexico, decimating the natives.\n\n• Francisco Pizarro, also taking advantage of local strifes (a civil war had taken place not long before) conquers the Inca and also decimates them.\n\n• in 1530, in response to foreign activities in Brazil, the Portuguese Crown starts colonization in the country, sending destitute noblemen to rule swathes of land in their stead, with little centralization. It wouldn't work very well.\n\n• Spain finds rich gold and silver deposits and begins exploiting them. The Potosi Mine in Bolivia is especially famous.\n\n• Portugal produces sugarcane in Brazil and sells it to the Dutch to refine.\n\n• slave and indigenous labor is widely employed in the colonies. The Church opposes indigenous labor (it saw the natives as a \"blanks slate\" to be civilized, rather than dammed people), but it's still used, more so in Spanish colonies.\n\n• Portugal centralizes the Brazilian government in 1549.\n\nOf course this is not all that happened, it is merely what I know. It should also be noted that trade in the colonies was extremely restricted, and they could only trade with the Metropolises. Spain even designated a few ports to handle this exclusively (IIRC Lima, Acapulco and Veracruz) for fiscal reasons."
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27w6sl | what does it mean when a neurotransmitter's "reuptake" is inhibited? | I searched and found [this thread](_URL_0_), but I still don't get it.
If, for example, a person's body has a natural lack of serotonin, why does its reuptake (absorption to the brain) need to be inhibited? Wouldn't the reuptake need to be increased, since there's so little, and the brain needs as much as possible?
I feel like there's probably a simple analogy that could be used to explain this. It seems like the brain absorbing a deficient neurotransmitter is bad... but I don't understand why. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27w6sl/eli5_what_does_it_mean_when_a_neurotransmitters/ | {
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"Think of it like watering plants in a flowerpot. The plant's roots need water, but if you put a lot of water in the flowerpot, most of it doesn't go into the plants roots: it either flows out the hole in bottom of the pot into a puddle or it evaporates out of the soil into the air. So if the soil is constantly drying out (and therefore the plant isn't getting enough water), you could put some plastic over the top of the soil, or you could plug the hole, keeping more water in the pot. \"Reuptake\" is when excess neurotransmitter is absorbed by the body *without being used to affect brain function*. If you limit \"reuptake\" and leave more of the transmitter lying around, then more of it will be used for brain function. Similar to how having more water in the soil in the flowerpot means there will be more water for the plant's roots.",
"Neurotransmitters are used to facilitate function in your brain and nervous system. They're released and cause a synapse to fire. They will continue doing this until you get rid of them (reuptake). If you inhibit that reuptake, they persist longer and affect the brain more. If you inhibit the release of them, it does the opposite.\n\nTake acetylcholine, for example. It makes cholinergic neurotransmitters fire. Acetylcholinesterase breaks it up and stops them from firing. If you disrupt your production of acetylcholinesterase, your body overproduces all sorts of bodily fluids (you will tear up, drool, potentially vomit, maybe piss yourself, etc) because those switches aren't able to turn off.\n\nA lot of nerve gasses and animal venoms are acetylcholineterase inhibitors; they kill you by causing your muscles to seize up and eventually you asphyxiate because your diaphragm isn't working.\n\nIn lower doses they've been used to treat Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.\n\nSource: My ex-girlfriend worked for the Department of Defense doing brain surgery on guinea pigs to test antidotes for nerve gas.",
"You're on the right track, OP! You're just missing one detail to make it all make sense. You're thinking of reuptake as \"absorption to the brain.\" And it is, but reuptake is actually more like \"absorption to the part of the brain the serotonin doesn't belong in.\"\n\nLet's see if this analogy helps:\n\nImagine you've got a guy (let's call him Pitcher) with a bucket of baseballs, and he's throwing them across the room to another guy (we'll be super clever and name him Catcher). When Catcher catches a ball, he drops it into his own bucket. The goal is to get all the baseballs into Catcher's bucket. (The balls are the serotonin, and Catcher's bucket is the place in your brain the serotonin needs to get to for you to be healthy). \n\nSometimes, Pitcher throws a ball and it lands in the middle of the room. If Catcher goes and picks it up, he drops it in his bucket, and everything's fine. But sometimes, Pitcher grabs the ball before Catcher can get to it, and then he throws the ball out the window & it never makes it into Catcher's bucket. \n\nSo we glue Pitcher's feet to the floor! Then he can still throw the balls, but if they land in the middle of the room, Catcher will get them & they'll still eventually end up where they need to be.\n\nThrowing the balls out the window is reuptake. (In real life, it's a little more complicated than that, but I'm gonna call this close enough for ELI5.) The glue that you use to keep Pitcher from throwing the balls out of the room is the reuptake inhibitor. \n\nTL;DR: If you leave a gift on your neighbor's doorstep, then pick it back up and take it back home with you before they get home from work and have a chance to discover it, that's a terrible way to give someone a gift. When the part of your brain that makes serotonin uses that method to give serotonin to the part of your brain that needs it, you can become depressed. Reuptake inhibitors are a \"no take-backs\" pill that prevent that from happening.\n\n"
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aqytc6 | how does autotune work and can i use it to make me sound really good? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aqytc6/eli5_how_does_autotune_work_and_can_i_use_it_to/ | {
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"It changes the pitch of your voice to be in tune.\n\nYou can certainly use it to make you sound great, the pop industry uses it all the time. Often artists sound a lot worse out of the studio because they are not cleaned up be the producer.\n\nThe software has become much more accessible but was first around and well known from using extreme settings in songs like Cher's - Do You Believe.\n\nEdit - spelling "
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7tj0bk | why do large crowds (e.g: restaurants, parties) suddenly go quite or decrease in overall volume? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7tj0bk/eli5_why_do_large_crowds_eg_restaurants_parties/ | {
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8ovdyl | the social security and medicare problem | Today a report came out that Social Security and Medicare are running out of money? Can someone explain why/how/is this accurate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ovdyl/eli5_the_social_security_and_medicare_problem/ | {
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"This one's ELI5 and very simple - they're paying out more in benefits than they're receiving in tax dollars. SS/Medicare are systems where the benefit isn't strictly defined (as in, there's no cap - live to 140 and social security will continue to pay out until the day you die), and there's a projected shortfall as the number of workers contributing to the funds is stalling while the number of beneficiaries is climbing (due to longer lifespans and demographic changes).",
"In short, there are soon going to be more older retired people per young working person than before. Social security works in that you, as a younger working person, pay money into the program. They then turn around and use that money to pay the older people who are taking money out. Medicare functions similarly, but is also aided by general taxes as well. In both cases if you have too many people taking benefits out and not enough putting money in then you start to run out of money.\n\nOn top of this there have been recent tax cuts, which have made the problem worse. The result is that one of two things is going to need to happen; either lawmakers will need to raise taxes (which nobody likes) or they will need to cut benefits of the programs (which a lot of people don’t like) or they will ignore the problem in which case benefits will drop to around 79% in 2034, then to around 73% by 2089.",
"I'm going to primarily explain Social Security because Medicare is a it more complicated, but the claims of impending 'insolvency' are similar for each program. [Federal Budget](_URL_0_)\n\n- The primary difference in how Social Security (SS) and Medicare are funded as opposed to other government programs like Defense or Education is that SS and Medicare are required to have their own independent stream of revenue that only these programs can use. The primary source of revenue is from the Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA) or payroll tax. SS checks are also taxed and go directly back into the program (which is essentially a cut in benefits that was made during the Reagan administration).\n\n- For several decades Social Security took in more money from the payroll tax than it payed out in SS checks. Surplus money was put in the Social Security Trust Fund. It is held in government Treasury bonds that earn interest. There is currently about $2.9 Trillion in the Trust Fund. \n\n- SS is no longer taking in more from FICA (and taxed SS checks) than it is paying out in benefits. The program is making up the difference by using money from the Trust Fund (which is the purpose of the Trust Fund). \n\n- The Trust Fund is projected to be exhausted around 2034. After that point the program will only be able to pay 80% of scheduled benefits e.g. someone scheduled to receive a $1000 check would only receive $800\n\n"
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3mkgj7 | what is this dark line in the sky? | [Seen over north central Indiana.](_URL_0_) I assume it's a shadow but what is causing it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mkgj7/eli5_what_is_this_dark_line_in_the_sky/ | {
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"It is the shadow of the contrail. The sun's light is being reflected off the dust in the air, so shadows are apparent.\n\nYou can see a slightly fainter shadow being cast by the other contrail to the left. \n\nEdit: These shadows are only apparent when the sun is below the horizon, but still shining on the upper atmosphere. For the strongest effect, you also need a cloud running directly east-west, and almost overhead."
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1hcjtn | the whole zimmerman-martin issue. | Also, try to tuck in how skittles are involved. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hcjtn/eli5_the_whole_zimmermanmartin_issue/ | {
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"Throwaway here, as I am too busy right now to follow up on this right now but feel compelled to add good information to an important subject.\n\n[Here](_URL_0_) is a summary of the case - about 25 minutes about the facts of the case plus additional commentary - which seems to be the most fair and complete of any I've yet seen. I would strongly suggest anyone with any interest in this case watch it.\n\nMr. Martin was not a saint by any stretch, nor was Zimmerman some vigilante looking to pick fights with black people, all political correctness aside. There seems to be legitimate evidence to suggest bad thinking and intentions on the part of Mr. Martin, it would be a shame indeed if the failure to understand this fact leads to riots or further hatred from the black community towards non-blacks in the US.\n\nAs for the question about skittles, they used mixed with codeine and certain soft drinks (sprite or arizona iced tea) to form a druggy concoction called \"lean\" \"sizzurp\", \"purple drank\", etc., side effects of which can include paranoia, violence, and brain damage. Sprite and jolly ranchers along with codeine form a similar concoction.",
"Trayvon martin was coming back from a connivence store from buying food (skittles). Zimmerman was returning from grocery shopping. It was raining and trayvon was walking around in the rain. Zimmerman pulls over to call the police. Trayvon runs. Zimmerman gets out of the car to look around. Loses Trayvon for about 1 minute 20 seconds. Police tell him to stop and return to the truck. As he is doing so Trayvon approaches him and sucker punches him to the ground. The continues to beat Zimmerman. Zimmerman pulls his gun and shoots. \n\nCops and original prosecuting attorney rule it a justified shooting. Jesse jackson an al sharpton roll into town to drum up racial tensions. Black people get lied to by the media, and a \"special\" prosecutor is assigned to the case. Charges Zimmerman with 2nd degree murder.\n\nSkip to the trial, where the state's case has promptly fallen to shit. ",
"I present to you the facts. I also included my opinion at the end but you can feel free to ignore that part. \n\n---------\n\nWho: \n\nGeorge Zimmerman: \n- 29 Years Old\n- Hispanic Male\n- Insurance Fraud Investigator\n- Spearheaded a Neighborhood Watch program after a string of burglaries. \n- Lives in a gated community in Sanford Florida. \n- Record of Assaulting a Police Officer\n\nTrayvon Martin:\n- 17 Years Old. \n- Black Male. \n- Student\n- Suspended from school for Vandalism\n- Participated in and refereed illegal MMA fights. \n- Lives in Miami Gardens, Visiting father's France's house in Zimmerman's neighborhood. \n\nRachel Jeantel\n- Trayvon's Friend. Originally claimed to be his girlfriend. \n- Was on the phone with Trayvon during the moments leading up to the shooting. \n- Originally claimed to be 16. That's why she was not featured before the trial. She is actually 19. \n- Ms. Jeantel has offered a few variations of events. For simplicity we will use the version she gave during the trial. \n\n----------\n\nWhere:\n\nSanford Florida. Gated community where Zimmerman lives as well as Tracy Martin's fiancé. \n\n----------\nWhen: \n\n\nFebruary 26, 2012 between 7pm and 8pm. It was raining and getting dark. \n\n----------\n\nWhat: \n\n- Trayvon was visiting his fathers fiancé. \n- Trayvon went to the gas station to get skittles and iced tea. \n- Zimmerman notices Martin walking through people's yards. \n- Zimmerman calls the non emergency line for the Local PD. \n- Zimmerman describes Martin to dispatch and requests a police officer. \n- Zimmerman says These Fucking Punks always get away. \n- Trayvon notices Zimmerman watching him as tells Jeantel it is a creepy ass cracker. \n- Trayvon continues to walk through people'a yards. \n- Zimmerman gets out his his car in order to follow Trayvon and see why he is traveling through people's yards. \n- Trayvon tells Jeantel \"The nigga still following me\"\n- Trayvon begins to run towards his fathers finances house. \n- Zimmerman begins to run in order to keep sight of Trayvon. \n- Dispatcher hears wind noise and asks Zimmerman what he is doing. \n- Zimmerman states he observing the subject and trying to find an address for the PD to intercept Trayvon. \n- Dispatch tells Zimmerman \"We don't need you to do that\"\n- Zimmerman stops and loses sight of Trayvon. \n- Zimmerman heads back to his car. \n- Trayvon tells Jeantel that he lost Zimmerman and he is right outside his fathers finances house. \n\n----------\n\nUp until this point Zimmerman's story and Jeantel's testimony match. Now the stories diverge. \n\n----------\n\nZimmerman's Version:\n- As he is walking back to his car Trayvon approaches him and asks, \"You got a problem?!\"\n- Zimmerman says \"No\"\n- Trayvon says \"You do now\"\n- Trayvon attacks Zimmerman and smashes his head into the sidewalk. \n- Zimmerman draws his weapon while Trayvon is on top and fires into his chest killing him. \n\n----------\n\nJeantel's Version: (From Trial)\n- Trayvon is outside his Fathers finances house. \n- Trayvon suddenly says, \"Oh Shit\"\n- Jeantel hears Zimmerman say, \"What you doing here?\"\n- Jeantel then says she hears a bump and wet grass sounds and the phone goes out. \n\n----------\n\nMy opinion:\n- Jeantel's version doesn't make sense. If Mr. Martin was already at his Father's finances house then the altercation would have occurred there and not over a hundred yards to the north towards Zimmerman's SUV. \n\n- I think what happened was Trayvon doubled back and went looking for Zimmerman. After all he didn't feel he was doing anything wrong and would've been pissed that a white guy was following him as wanted to teach him a lesson. \n\n- I think we had two hot headed individuals that both had opportunities to walk away. \n\n- Unfortunately they didn't and one was killed. \n\n- I believe that Zimmerman had every right to simply observe Trayvon and call the police. \n\n- Unless we can prove that Zimmerman walked up to Trayvon and started a physical confrontation with him then his claim of self defense should be upheld. \n\n- Just because Trayvon was annoyed that a (what he thought was) white guy was following him does not give him the right to use any physical force. \n\n- It all comes down to who threw the first punch. Based on witness testimony and the layout of the neighborhood I believe that Trayvon doubled back and went looking for Zimmerman. \n\n\n"
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ohcu1 | hard determinism and why one would disagree with it. | I can't quite wrap my head around the term. I know what determinism is- broadly. I'm trying to read the wiki on Hard Determinism, and one part says that it rejects the idea of free will. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ohcu1/eli5_hard_determinism_and_why_one_would_disagree/ | {
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"Hard Determinism states that the future is immutable (pre-determined), either due to a strictly cause-to-effect model of physics or because of the will of some deity. It states further that peoples' decisions are part of the future, and, therefore, pre-determined. If one can't legitimately choose any presented option, then one only has the illusion of choice.",
"Other people have given you a pretty good explanation of hard determinism, which isn't that difficult of a concept. The idea is that if you had perfect information about everything in the universe (every particle, sub-particle, so on and so forth) that you could predict, with 100% accuracy, the future.\n\nHowever, this is not a totally accepted idea. A counter idea would be that, even with perfect information, the best anyone could do towards predicting the future would be to give possible outcomes and their probabilities of occurring.\n\nAs systems get more and more complex, the possible outcomes increase and the probability for any single outcome decreases. \n"
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4iwucq | two objets at certanly distence. can we put them closer each other by the half distance indefinitely? . i mean the half of the distance, then the half of that distance ......thx | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4iwucq/eli5two_objets_at_certanly_distence_can_we_put/ | {
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"Theoretically, in abstract terms yes. There will mathematically always be another half distance you can divide by.\n\nBut real world physics don't permit for this. There is a phenomenon called the Planck Unit, which I suppose you could think of as the \"resolution of the universe\". Much like a screen cannot show something smaller than a single pixel, the Planck unit is the smallest measure of spacetime anything can occupy. You literally cannot break spacetime into a smaller amount in real world applications."
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6vm8md | what determines whether or not you break your neck in a hit/fall? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6vm8md/eli5_what_determines_whether_or_not_you_break/ | {
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"The force of the impact, the angle of the impact, the strength of the muscles/bone/etc in the affected area, I'm sure there are more variables as well."
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1l9waf | a tesseract is a 4 dimensional cube. how do we know this and what are the 4d analogues of other shapes? | Is there a way to figure out/calculate how any 3 dimensional shape will translate into 4 dimensions? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l9waf/eli5_a_tesseract_is_a_4_dimensional_cube_how_do/ | {
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"Yeah, we just use math. Think of how we define a square.\n\nA square with area 1 square meter (just for simplicity) is drawn by going 1 meter in one direction (let's say to the right), 1 meter in another direction (let's say up), one meter left, and then one meter down.\n\nThe key here is that all the sides are the same length, the shape is closed (the first side connects to the last), and they're *orthogonal* at the vertices, meaning that they make right angles at the corners.\n\nIf you think about it, a square is the only shape that meets those criteria that you can draw in two dimensions. The sides of a triangle or pentagon, for example, don't make right angles at the corners, so they're out. Technically, I should also include the rule that all the corners are convex (otherwise you could make a plus-sign shape), but you get the basic idea.\n\nSo, what if we move to three dimensions? If we draw a closed shape with all sides of equal length, all the sides are orthogonal (right angles), and it's always convex, the only shape we can make is a cube.\n\nWe used the same set of rules, and just added an extra dimension, getting us a new shape.\n\nThe tesseract is the same thing; you just add another dimension, but keep the same rules. That's why we can say that it's related to a cube or square.\n\nI can do the same thing with a circle/sphere/hypersphere, triangle/tetrahedron/???, and so on. All we really have to do is come up with a description of the shape (or \"family of shapes\") that doesn't rely on how many dimensions you're in.\n\nThe definition of a square/cube/tesseract up above that I gave you doesn't care what dimension you're in. You'll note that I never said anything like \"it's flat\" or \"it has four sides\" or anything, because that would have eliminated cubes and tesseracts from my definition. A square just \"falls out\" of the definition when you restrict the shape to two dimensions, a cube \"falls out\" when you restrict to three, and a tesseract \"falls out\" when you restrict it to four.\n\nedit: /u/rognvaldr is right that this can't generalize to *any* shape, just to be clear",
"We know that a tesseract is a 4D cube simply because that's the word we chose to describe a 4D cube. That is what it is *by definition.*\n\n > Is there a way to figure out/calculate how any 3 dimensional shape will translate into 4 dimensions?\n\nNo. For example, in [this animated gif](_URL_0_), the 2D image we see on our screen tricks us into making an assumption about the 3D reality that is incorrect. In other words, the 2D image we see can be translated into a 3D shape in more than one way: the way we tend to assume, and the way the people who made the video set it up to fool us. The same is true from 3D to 4D. \n\nThe thing that is special about a cube is that it has a strict definition that we can expand to other dimensions. Other shapes that we can do that with include a 4D sphere. But for an arbitrary shape without a definition, there wouldn't be just one 4D extension (in fact there would be infinitely many possibilities). ",
"You can always do this as long as you very carefully figure out what defines the shape you want in a way that does not depend on the number of dimensions. For instance, we can say that an n-dimensional sphere is the set of all points in n-dimensional space which are equidistant from the origin. This generalizes perfectly well to 4, 5, 100, 1000, or any finite number of dimensions.\n\nThe tricky bit then is finding a way to mathematically specify the object that you are interested in in a way which generalizes to whatever dimension you like. For a cube, it suffices to note that the unit square can be formed by connecting the points\n\n(0,0) \n(0,1) \n(1,0) \n(1,1) \n\nand taking the [convex hull](_URL_0_) of the resulting shape. Note that the coordinates are formed by taking all permutations of length 2 from the set {0,1}. We can similarly form the coordinates of a unit *cube* in 3d by taking all the sequences of length 3 from {0,1}, connecting them, and taking the convex hull. This is a construction which generalizes perfectly well to higher dimensions as well, which allows us to talk about hypercubes.\n",
"I can add another approach to what's already been written so far. This is a visual approach so some people find it easier to picture. **A quick note**: you only need to read the first handful of lines for this post to be useful. Leave the rest if you don't want to read a book. :-)\n\nHow do you draw a square? Well let's start with 0 dimensions, just a dot. Let's extend that dot into a line. Imagine dragging that dot in a particular direction, and it traces out a line segment of length `s`.\n\nNow we have a line. Let's grab that line and drag it in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction we dragged the dot. As we do that, let the points at each end of the line trace out two more lines of length `s`.\n\nThere you have it, a square! Ok, now can we follow that same process again? You bet! Grab the square, and drag it in a direction perpendicular to *both* directions we've used so far. Let each corner of the square trace out 4 more lines of length `s`.\n\nNow we have a cube. How do we continue to a tesseract? Well, grab that cube, and drag it in a direction perpendicular to the other 3 we've used already. Let each corner of the cube trace out 8 more lines of length `s`.\n\nThis is hard to imagine because we've used up all three of the spatial dimensions we know about already. But we can still reason about it if we make one little change. Let's imagine what a 3D object must look like to a 2D man that lives in a sheet of paper. You could show that man a sphere and he'd say, \"What? I don't see anything.\" You say, oh sorry, let me put it in your plane of existence.\n\nSo you set the sphere on the page and it touches at one point. The man looks at it and says, \"Ah, you mean a point!\" You say, ah, no, not really. Here, let me push it through a bit more.\n\nSo the man sees a line segment extend out, and he goes up to investigate it but finds that it's not actually a straight line segment but curves away from him. He goes all around it investigating it and feeling it, and eventually he says, \"Ah ha, I see, you mean a circle!\"\n\nHrm, no, you say. I mean a *sphere*. Here, let me push it through, and you watch the entire time. That way, you can see each 2D slice of this thing, and you can imagine what the whole thing looks like yourself!\n\n\"Ok,\" he says. So you set it down. \"Point...\" then you push \"...circle...\" push \"...bigger circle...now it's getting smaller again, now a point.\"\n\nThe problem for 2D man is that he cannot conceive of this third spatial dimension. By pushing it through his plane at a constant rate, though, and letting him sample each cross section, you have set up an association between time–a dimension he does understand–and this third spatial dimension that he cannot conceive of.\n\nThis is great for a sphere, but if you think about other shapes, it gets way more complicated for our poor little 2D man. Imagine taking our cube and pushing it through. If you set it down on the page, he sees a square. Then he ... continues seeing a square. Then a square. Then it disappears. Great. That isn't very helpful. To 2D man, it seems a cube is just a square that hangs around for a bit. Aha, you say, that's just one view of a square, let me rotate it point-down and push it through. Now this gives 2D man all sorts of interesting things to look at while you push it through, but in the end it's kind of a jumble of confusing 2D cross sections of the cube. He might start to think he'll never get the hang of this third dimension thing.\n\nThe trick is to let him tell you all different ways to rotate the 3D shape and, if he's clever, he'll start to notice that certain things are invariant. For instance, with a cube he can never, ever get a line segment longer than `s`, the side length of the cube. He will always see certain relationships between those line segments of length `s` too, they'll always be perpendicular to each other.\n\nWhat he is doing in this process of investigating the cube is he's learning to identify its *invariants*. It turns out that this is exactly the same way he understands 2D shapes...he's just never thought about them that way, but really that's what's going on. It's just that they're simple so he can see the totality of the thing and those invariants seem obvious.\n\nWe can learn a lot from 2D man. :-)",
"If you want to see some great examples of how this works, there's an awesome series on Youtube called Dimensions.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIt starts by explaining how to make a 3D object displayed in 2D: the globe. Then it talks about how you might be able to explain a 3D object to 2D beings, and by the end of the series it makes it really clear what 4D objects are really like."
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32yiv2 | what is java and do i need it on my computer. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32yiv2/eli5what_is_java_and_do_i_need_it_on_my_computer/ | {
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"Java is programming language that is nice because once you write code it can run on any machine!\nThis is possible because of Java virtual machine. It interprets code and runs it. Java virtual machine is what you have installed on pc.\nIf you don't use Java applications you don't need it, but things like minecraft and many Web applets are written in Java, and if you remove it you won't be able to run them. ",
"Java is a two-part system: a coding language, and a program that translates the language into a language your computer can understand. You \"need\" (it's not actually a need, but it's useful to have), because without the translator program, no code written in Java (which includes a lot of stuff on the internet) works.\n\n\nThink of it like holding an international conference. If you tried to have everyone talk their own language, and have it translated into every language, you'd need one translator for every two languages, and if any translator was missing, those two groups couldn't talk.\n\nOr you could have every language translated into a common language, and back. It takes a little longer, and maybe you lose a little, but it's way easier to set up, and anyone who wants to give a prepared speech can have it translated properly into the common language ahead of time.\n\nFor computers, Java is one such common language that has translators for any computer's language (mac, Windows, Unix, etc.)."
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99ej7u | how does the attorney client privilege work, or not in the case of cohen and trump | I am not from the US and know little about this concept other than I always understood that confidentiality between client and attorney was absolute. Even if attorney found out client had done something wrong.
How come Cohen seems to have so easily rolled over and is, apparently, willing to openly discuss his clients dealings.
Genuinely curious. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/99ej7u/eli5_how_does_the_attorney_client_privilege_work/ | {
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"Attorney-client privilege does NOT protect against:\n\n 1. Planning to commit a crime with the assistance of the attorney, \n\n2. Committing a crime with an attorney, or \n\n3. Discussing plans to commit a future crime without the aid of the attorney. \n\nEssentially, discussion between a client and an attorney are protected as long as the discussion in question is not a crime on its own. You can talk to your attorney about a crime you have committed and it is protected. You cannot create a plan for committing a crime and expect it to be protected. \n",
" > I always understood that confidentiality between client and attorney was absolute. Even if attorney found out client had done something wrong.\n\nThe privilege has limits. There is no attorney/client privilege if the attorney conspires to commit a crime with a client. Privilege is waived if the attorney-client discussion is made in the presence of the 3rd party, or of the client discloses it to a 3rd party. There are some other minor exceptions.\n\nIn this specific case, any communication between Messrs. Cohen and Trump made for the purpose of circumventing election law would not be privileged.",
"Hey, Post-bar law grad here! Sorry for long answer!\n\nTypically, you have to look at this in steps, then at Trump's/Cohen's specific situation. Confidentiality has three components generally for law in the US, the duty of confidentiality, the attorney-work product, and attorney client privilege. The first is a general ethic rule all lawyers have, the latter two are evidentiary rules (ergo they directly apply to the acquisition of evidence during trial). \n\n*The duty of confidentiality* typically covers when it is ethical for the **Lawyer** to disclose information told to them by their client. This is largely, if not entirely, regulated by something called the ABA Model Rules (specifically rule 1.6). The states themselves [and their BAR associations] set the ethical disclosure rules for Lawyers (when they are allowed to talk), but almost uniformly follow or adapt 1.6. This rule basically says lawyers can't reveal or use info related to a representation of a client without client consent or implicit authorization (like we need to for trial). This rule has broad application, but is not absolute (we can break it to prevent impending death for instance). It also endures beyond the trial, in other words, you are basically expected to keep the confidentiality until you literally die or get permission.\n\nAttorney-Client Privilege is an evidentary rule and is a creature of what we call ***Common Law*** in the US. That means it isn't set by any statute like rule 1.6, but rather has been patched together by various states and legal cases like the famous United States v. United Shoe Machine Corp. Basically, to avoid a long explanation, this rule applies to confidential communications between an attorney and a client, or their respective representatives, if made for the purpose of obtaining or rendering legal advice and not in furtherance of a crime or fraud. This rule then essentially bars discovery of said communications; that means the opposing side in a trial cannot compel you or your lawyer to reveal this info. Attorney-work product is similar to this, but specifically applies to notes and other similar personal documents that Attorney's write in preparation of a trial. The duty of confidentiality and these two evidentary rules can overlap, for example a lawyer can have confidential information on a client and refuse under the duty to reveal it, but if that info isn't part of a confidential communication it may not be protected by attorney-client privilege and may be compelled in court. \n\nThat last sentence brings us back full circle to Trump and Cohen. The main issue being Trump is literally the worst client to work for I have ever seen. The problem isn't that Cohen didn't try to defend trump, but that Trump would go on the news or Twitter constantly running his mouth about payments to pornstars, collusion, all that bs. Cohen can refuse to tell the court a lot of what Trump revealed in confidence to him because of the duty of confidentiality, but this only gets him so far. The client, in this case Trump, can waive the privilege by revealing information previously covered by it to the public. As such, Cohen may be compelled by the courts to reveal info on example the payments made to stephanie clifford (stormy daniels) because Trump kept talking about it like an idiot (probably AFTER lawyers told him not to talk for this specific reason). So it isn't that Cohen is \"flipping\" easily, but that Trump (for no discernible reason) crippled his own attorney-client privilege by never shutting up about the case, such that Cohen can now be legally threatened with sanctions (on top of the illegal acts he already pled to) if he doens't talk. \n\n**TL:DR** The duty of confidentiality comes in several flavors, some rules for a general purpose and others as specific evidentary standards. Trump messed up these evidence-based rules, largely by talking to the press and on Twitter about the campaign finance violations regarding paying porn-stars (yes multiple lol). Trump's talking in public about it ruined the confidential protections it had, and thus Cohen lost his only viable legal theory for refusing to hand in much of the info. \n\n"
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5jr7vd | how are tariffs bad for the economy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jr7vd/eli5_how_are_tariffs_bad_for_the_economy/ | {
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"Tariffs make imported goods more expensive. That means that consumers have less money to spend after they buy these imports. Certainly they buy fewer imports, which is bad for your store if you sell imports, but when they still buy some imports they have less money to buy other goods, which is bad for your store if you sell local goods. In general, when money goes to the government it doesn't go to somebody else, and that slows the economy.\n\n",
"They raise the cost of the tariffed goods, which raises the cost of living. For most good that are imported import substitution is not a viable option. But even if a domestic company decided to make the good, it would still have a higher price, which is why it wasnt manufactured here in the first place. Raising the cost of living has negative trickle down effects on consumption and investment across the wider economy. And it hits poor people the hardest, not exactly good for helping them get their feet under them. There are also effects on currency value and potentially political relations (unemployment overseas isnt good for us either). ",
"Tariffs are taxing goods manufactured elsewhere and imported into your economy. The idea is to keep more money within your borders, which encourages more local manufacturing. \n\nWe need manufacturing to be done *somewhere* so we can all have widgets to buy. If widget manufacturing is done in your local economy, then you can theoretically sell those widgets to other economies, which brings cash within your borders. That means pay raises for everyone, since there's more money to go around! \n\nEventually though, it will be cheaper to manufacture widgets outside your borders so the folks currently manufacturing widgets in your economy can do even MORE productive things like designing doodads. Sure you're sending $10/widget out of your economy, but thanks to enhanced doodad production you're making an extra $30/doodad. All told, your economy is making a $20 more! \n\nHowever, we still NEED widgets. If we suddenly increase Tariffs, those that are manufacturing widgets aren't going to just drop that billions of investment. Instead they'll raise the price of Widgets to cover the Tariff costs. Now the cost of living in your economy goes up because everyone HAS to pay the extra Tariff for the Widget manufacturers. Sure they *were* making more money manufacturing doodads, all those profits are now just going into that tax. \n\nEventually things will even out when someone rebuilds the local Widget factory, but that may never happen if people think the new Tariffs will be gone in 4-8 years, because then it's cheaper to buy imported widgets again. \n\nTL;DR: Tariffs can be bad in the short-term for an economy that imports the bulk of it's goods (like America) because it will raise the cost of living without bringing any extra money into the economy. Over enough time it should be a net gain, but that's debatable as well. ",
"The idea of globalization is that certain regions have different resources and are better at producing certain things. The US has huge amounts of farmland and is amazing at producing food. The Middle East has lots of easily accessible oil. China is good at producing electronics because of cheap labor and an optimized supply chain. Germany is great at producing high-precision machines and instruments because they have a highly educated workforce. \n^these ^are ^all ^examples ^and ^vastly ^simplified\n\nA tariff is a tax on bringing stuff made in one country into another. So, for example, any electronics brought into the US from Asia would be taxed and more expensive. The US*can* make electronics themselves, but because their labor is more expensive and they don't have the supply chain, electronics are more expensive to make thjere, too. \n\nAlso, when one country starts putting tariffs on stuff, their trading partners put tariffs on their stuff. So, China might put a tax on US food. China can produce food themselves, but they're not as good at it and it will be more expensive. Also, American farmers won't sell as much food, so they'll make less money.\n\nBasically, tariffs are trying to stop countries from doing what they're best at."
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cs4ev1 | how does water boarding make you feel like drowning? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cs4ev1/eli5_how_does_water_boarding_make_you_feel_like/ | {
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" > make you feel like drowning?\n\nBy preventing you from taking breaths through the water blocking your mouth and nose.",
"If you put a towel over your head and breath, you suck in the air through the towel. \n\nHowever if you soak the towel with water you actually breath the water in. And it doesn't help that the water that's inside the towel collects itself inside of the gap of your mouth because of the way our face is structed. \n\nLike if you have an open mouth the towel will bend inwards of your mouth and therefore lose all or most of the water inside of your mouth."
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1zyl5k | if there's no air in space, how can a shuttle propulsate itself, against what ? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zyl5k/eli5_if_theres_no_air_in_space_how_can_a_shuttle/ | {
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"There is no requirement for anything for a rocket to 'push against' when in space. By ejecting combustion gases one way, the craft will automatically be propelled the other way due to the Newtons Third Law of Motion, which says;\n\nTo every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.",
"Imagine that you are shooting a gun. When you fire, the bullet goes out of the nozzle very quickly and the gun will \"kick\" or recoil in your hands... The gun will want to go the opposite way that the bullet is going. \n\nNow, the bullet is like the fuel inside the shuttle. The fuel will violently escape the back of the shuttle and the shuttle will \"kick\" or recoil in the other direction. \n\nThe fuel pushes against the shuttle and the shuttle is pushing against the fuel so they both go in opposite direction.\n\n"
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rnyed | the size of the universe and various space questions | I cannot seem to grasp the concept of how small we are. I just can't wrap my head around it. Any explanation that puts it into perspective would help.
Also, i have heard that the light we see from stars is years old, and that star may not even be there anymore, even if we can see its light. How long does it take for a star's light to travel to earth?
Can someone also explain the basic terminology of space? IE: auroras, supernovas, nebulas, etc
Thank you!
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/rnyed/eli5_the_size_of_the_universe_and_various_space/ | {
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"For size/scale of earth to the rest of the universe, this is my favourite comparison. Images say more than words etc\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe length of time it takes for a stars light to reach earth depends on how far away it is, but light travels at 299,792,458 meters per second through the vacum of space. Our closest star is the sun, which means that sunlight takes about 8 minutes and 19 seconds to reach the Earth (based on the average distance).\n\nNot too sure on some of your other questions though\n\nEdited for clarity & additional info",
"The oldest light we can see is just over 13 billion years old, the universe is about 13.7 billion years old. The size of the entire universe is unknown since we cannot see it all... but... it seems like the Universe is at least 250 times as big as we can see and it is possible it is infinite. \n\nLight travels about 6 trillion miles in a year or about 16 billion miles in day... or 11 million miles in a minute or about 186,000 miles in a second... so light traveling for over 13 billion years to get here has traveled a long way. \n\nEdit: spelling",
"Auroras - When particularly strong charged particles our sun hits one of the top layers of our atmosphere, it excites the gases there. The gases light up and you get the colorful displays known as auroras. \n\nSupernova - Sometimes a star will die violently. When it does, it explodes and becomes very bright. It is an uncommon event as not all stars go supernova when they die. It's quite exciting, really.\n\nNebula - A nebula can be thought of as a massive cloud of gas and dust that has come together. There is a lot of gas and dust out there and over time they clump together. After enough clumping, there will be enough dust and gas to start accreting. It will eventually collapse into stars and planets, so a nebula is a stellar nursery of sorts. "
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8557w2 | whats the rationale behind grocery stores using "sell by" instead of "best before" for expiry dates on food items? | I have noticed more and more food items being labeled as "Sell By" instead of "Best Before" or "Use By". Why are they doing it? If anything it is unclear to me if I should drink the remaining glass of milk or not as it does not give definitive expiry date. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8557w2/eli5whats_the_rationale_behind_grocery_stores/ | {
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"Most food stays good looooong after whatever date is printed on the package. With some exceptions. \n\nHowever I feel it’s due to 3 factors. \n\n1. Consumer demand. We’re (at least in the US) obsessed with things “going bad”. So much so that I believe manufacturers have started adding these “best before” dates in response to consumers pestering them about when something “goes bad”\n\n2. Litigiousness. We love suing people. Especially companies who have money. If you print a date on your food product and someone tries to sue you because it made them sick, it probably gives you at least some kind of foundation that you “warned” them. \n\n3. Profit. Taking advantage of #1. Companies want to make people feel that an item needs to be rebought if it reaches a certain age. There are shelf stable items that last a _very_ long time that have a 6-8 month “best by” date on them for no good reason. ",
"Best before date is about quality\nBest before date is about quality and not safety. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best. Its flavour and texture might not be as good. The best before dates appear on a wide range of frozen, dried, tinned and other foods. The best before date will only be accurate if the food is stored according to the instructions on the label.\n\n\"Sell-By\" Dates\nMany fresh or prepared foods are labeled with a \"sell by\" date as a guide for how long the item should be displayed for sale before quality deteriorates.\n\nItems are generally safe for consumption after this date, but may begin to lose flavor or visual appeal. To keep quality goods on the shelf, retailers will pull items that are past their \"sell by\" date. This date is chosen with the assumption that the consumer may store or consume the item for a few days after purchase.",
"The \"sell by\" date is just an arbitrary number the store assigned to the product. This helps their FIFO (First In, First Out) processes, since they don't want older product sitting on the shelves for too long. Sell-by is *not* an expiration. The store/manufacturers anticipate that it will sit in your fridge or pantry for a while. If there's a real expiration date, it should be printed on the product/packaging. \n\n\"Best Before\" is also not an expiration date. It's just the cutoff date in which they no longer guarantee that a product will be fresh. You might see this on a bag of potato chips. They won't be *bad*, but they could be a little stale. \n\n\"Use By\" is an expiration date. There's usually a decent-sized buffer here, but it's essentially the company saying that the product is getting pretty old and they'd rather not be liable if you get sick from consuming it beyond this point. "
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41fv94 | why does a phone message fail to send instead of just continuing to try? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41fv94/eli5_why_does_a_phone_message_fail_to_send/ | {
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"In general it's a bad idea to program a device to keep on trying to do something forever until it succeeds. That's how you get programs that lock up and just wait.\n\nIf the message doesn't send within some amount of time then there's probably some reason why it's not going to send. It's best to have it abort the process and give an error message instead of just sitting there and trying forever, likely draining the battery incredibly quickly.",
"On that note, I receive SMS messages when I reinsert my SIM card after using a foreign one for a while. Are these just continuously trying to send to the SIM?",
"So your phone knows something has gone wrong but not what or why. If the problem is large scale, say, an entire area has gone offline in some natural disaster then not only will your phone keep trying to resend messages but all phones trying to send messages to that area will keep trying. Eventually you have hundreds of thousands or millions of phones sending a message every few seconds on top of all the normal traffic. \n\nOne problem is that the first few hops in the system that are still working may become overloaded with millions of requests to send a message every few seconds on top of the normal traffic that is getting through. This can cause more failures and make the situation worse. \n\nWorse, When the system comes back up its going to fall over from the load and die again because of the congestion. This happens in a loop called congestive collapse and can be very hard to get out of. \n\nSo phone designers are told by the carriers to \"play nice\" and don't overload our systems on accident. This is one of the results. \n\nThere are design choices that could be made to address this but it's not worth it. (Trivia: SMS messages were designed to ride along with existing data that your phone sends to/receives from cellphone towers anyway). Think of it this way, how much extra would most people pay for that service? "
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4h2jsu | why do some cars and trucks still have an almost vertical front face | Ever since I was a kid, there are always videos of a wind tunnel with a thin trail of smoke explaining the importance of aerodynamics. How come I see cars, vans and trucks that is meant for high speed, long haul travel but with an almost vertical front face. I would assume that the drag would be tremendous. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4h2jsu/eli5_why_do_some_cars_and_trucks_still_have_an/ | {
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"The more aerodynamic a vehicle is, the more expensive it is and the less space it has.\n\nFor a lot of vehicles- especially vehicles used for hauling- storage space is the most important asset. There may be a trade-off with fuel economy, but it's generally negligible.\n\nThese vehicles typically don't travel at \"high speeds\".",
"Aerodynamic forces simply aren't that big a deal outside of motorsport.\n\nCar design is driven far more by style and safety regulation than by aerodynamics. The haulage industry could probably save on fuel if long-haul trucks were more aerodynamic, but that would also make them more expensive, longer, and heavier. Truck and trailer combos are limited by federal regulations to a maximum length and weight, so if the cab gets longer and heavier the trailer has to get shorter and lighter, and the trailer is the part that makes money.",
"This is most common with large haul trucks and buses in countries that have small roads. Maximizing cargo capacity in the limited length available either dictated by law or by common sense in such countries nets more profit than being more aerodynamic saves. \n\nSimilar issues can apply to vans and personal trucks. I am not sure why cars are in that style though. ",
"The almost vertical front face does have an effect but it's not as much as you would think. Most drag comes from the rear of the vehicle. The air at the front of the vehicle is still mostly \"clean\" or undisturbed air. If the front is mostly flat-ish instead of sloped but has the same total height and width as one that is sloped, the same amount of air will need to move out of the way anyway. \n\nJust because something looks like it would be aerodynamic doesn't mean it is.",
"Big trucks have Big engines.\n\nBig engines make lots of heat.\n\nAll cars and trucks have a part called a Radiator.\n\nThe Radiator is where all the heat from the Engine goes.\n\nThe Radiator is put just inside the front of the Car or Truck so the air can take the heat away as the Car or Truck drives.\n\nBig Trucks have Big engines.\nBig engines have Big Radiators.\n\nTherefore Big Trucks have Big NOSES!\n\nNow, Who wants ice cream?!\n\n(I hope I did that right, first ELI5 answer I've done)"
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3iu64v | boshin war | Just a quick explanation why it happened and the outcome. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3iu64v/eli5boshin_war/ | {
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"If you're really interested, check out /r/AskHistorians. Here is a very quick and dirty answer until someone comes with a better one. Through the 19th century, the shoguns (military dictators who ruled with the consent of the emperor) had their power eroded by European involvement and demand to trade. This violated 3 centuries of self-imposed isolationism. Certain ambitious clans, who were both nationalistic and xenophobic, resented this and eventaully used \"returning the emperor to power\" as an excuse to rebel and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate.\n\nEDIT: That rebellion was the Boshin War, and ended with the alliance led by the Choshu and Satsuma clans victorious. With that, Japan \"opened up\" and the old samurai class system was officially (but not necessarily *de facto*) abolished.",
"The two main players of the Boshin war were the Tokugawa Shogunate (Ruling class of Japan for centuries), and an alliance of regional warlord clans (headed by the likes of Satsuma and Tosa clans).\n\nThe Shogunate had been in a constant power struggle trying to regulate local warlords (Samurai, think of the States as if they were ruled by generals), with the central government (Shogunate) maintaining control over the various segmented regions in Japan. During this period, the West (Americas+Europeans) became heavily involved in trade and diplomacy with Japan, at the time renowned for its isolation policies. The local clans had seen a reduction in their authority/power/class status, the emperor reduced to a public figure head/puppet (no power, just a symbol) and the encroachment of foreigners (in their eyes).\n\n The wake of Japan's break of isolation resulted in what was perceived as Western imperialism, deals and acts considered the \"Unequal Treaties\". The united clans in their overthrow of the Shogunate set out with 3 main goals:\n\n\nRestore the Emperor to Power\n\n Undo the \"unequal treaties\" and re-isolate Japan from foreign powers\n\n\nReturn many houses to power that had been stripped down by the Shogunate over centuries. \n\n\n\nThe aftermath:\nEmperor is restored to power, transferred from Kyoto to Tokyo (Tokyo becomes the capital essentially)\n\n\nthe clans abandon their anti-foreigner attitudes and instead opt to work on rapid modernization+undoing of the unequal treaties\n\n\nThe abolishment+restructuring of the warlord era regions into restructured prefectures \n\n\nIn short, the Boshin war is an interesting topic given the \"winning\" faction set out to essentially prevent foreign influences and restore many customs and power to the samurai, a \"return to the old ways\" if you would. Instead, foreign influence was heavily welcomed along with rapid modernization and the complete dissolvement of the feudal caste system they sought to rebalance. "
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2u2h57 | why does tomato ketchup taste nothing like tomatoes | I hate tomatoes, the taste, texture.. just nothing about tomatoes seems nice to me. But I love ketchup, I love tomato puree, and I love tomato based curries. On the other hand, my fiance loves tomatoes, but hates ketchup, puree and curries.
Why is there such a big difference in taste to the point where I personally don't think they share even a resemblance of taste? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2u2h57/eli5why_does_tomato_ketchup_taste_nothing_like/ | {
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"Ketchup contains a lot of sugar and vinegar, both of which will mask the flavor of a tomato, not to mention also mask the flavor of the food you use it on. There's usually plenty of sodium in ketchup as well, which will overwhelm your tastebuds, hiding the tomato flavor even further.",
"At least Finland has \"natural\" or \"special\" ketchup which means it has less sugar and salt than normal ketchup (the tomato itself is processed of course). Meira natural ketchup has 13% sugar (less than 1% added sugar) while Heinz ketchup has 26.7% sugar. Tastes great, a lot better than the icky sugary Heinz ketchup. Maybe your fiancee should look for natural ketchup or special ketchup (another word for same stuff by different brand)."
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5lpxpq | why has no law been created to enforce news/media outlets to fact-check their news before release? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lpxpq/eli5_why_has_no_law_been_created_to_enforce/ | {
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"It's all protected by the first amendment. \n\nThey can and will say whatever they want as long as the company continues to make money. ",
"The real issue is: how can you determine what's real news or not? What government agency determines what's true or false? It seems like a good idea on paper, but the system is so easily corruptable (by an already corrupt government, might I add) that it can quickly turn into forcing all media outlets into complying to government propaganda.\n\nAn example of this can be seen in the former Soviet Union - yes, there could be independent news publishers, but they had to comply with government standards of 'truth,' which really meant 'say what we want you to say.'",
"It creates a conflict-of-interest situation, and opens up an enormous potential for abuse.\n\nA law like that would put the government as the ultimate decider of what's true or not, because if a news reporter was accused of breaking it, you'd have a trial and trials are run by... the government! \n\nThe problem? If you're a government official and someone prints some **real** dirt on a stunt you pulled... you are now in a position to really make their life suck. Even if you don't have the power to *directly* shut them down, you can create enormous, expensive, drags-on-forever court cases. That's enough to put random small jobs out of business and even potentially make a big company like CNN's life tough. Other governments that have been granted this privilege have *seriously* abused it. And if you give the government ability to do something, it's **very** hard to take it away.\n\nSo this situation sucks because bullshit news **suuuuuuuucks**, but putting the government as the decider of truth also has a lot of dangers. There's no good answer yet.",
"Most importantly the first amendment protects free speach and freedom of the press. Any law passed along these lines would likely be rejected by the supreme court for violating the first amendment. Laws restrict freedoms. A law like this would restrict peoples and business' rights. The other major problem is that there's a lot of subjectivity involved in determining the truth. Two observers could both tell their truth and have completely different stories that are both true to the speakers. If you were to require a news outlet to report the facts, you have to determine what the official facts are. At this point there's more subjectivity in deciding what the facts are and what the important facts are. A restriction like this would require a large agency devoted to it and that agency would have power to ruin a news outlet. Another issue is determining what the mode of control would be. Will there be punishments for violations? Will all news need to be prescreened? If facts are unknown at the time will news outlets be allowed to speculate or discuss possible explanations? In the end all a law like this would do is restrict freedoms and cost money. The problem then leads to a scenario like 1984 where the government controls the flow of information and has the ability to decide what people are allowed to talk about. \n\nTldr: the first amendment and the possibility of a corrupt system controlling information"
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67sp8q | nasa's cassini spacecraft | NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun an unprecedented series of space dives that will see it plunge through the icy rings of Saturn, in the final phase of its 20-year mission,My question is,,Why are these probes being destroyed,instead of being flicked off into deep space ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67sp8q/eli5_nasas_cassini_spacecraft/ | {
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"Cassini doesn't have nearly enough propellant to leave Saturn's orbit, let alone the escape the Sun's gravity. Eventually Cassini will shut down from power loss or failure, and it will just be debris in orbit around Saturn. Because of the possibility that some of Saturn's moons could harbor life, it's better to send Cassini to a controlled destruction rather than let it potentially impact and contaminate these moons with Earth microbes at some point in the future."
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zqim7 | please explain the difference between 3 phase and single phase power. why does a 3 phase table saw cut "smoother"? | I understand the basic principle. A single sinewave verses three. What I can't comprehend is even with a single sinewave alternating at 60 hz (?) it's not like I can feel the saw blade alternate or anything. It's obviously happening very quickly. Why 3 phase feel like it doesn't bog down? And why 3 phase? Why not 2 or 5?? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zqim7/please_explain_the_difference_between_3_phase_and/ | {
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"Well, without going into much detail, the 3 phases together peak more often than single phase, delivering a more consistent flow of power. \n\nYou cannot feel the oscillation but the motor does suffer slightly during transitory periods. A big heavy blade will store more energy than a thinner and lighter one and your rate of feed is probably quite slow anyway. \n\nThe reason for having thee phases is quite complicated but basically in this case it's a number whereby power transmission does not require too many separate cables and is a multiple of the windings in the motor.\nThe motor that you're using for the three phase power must be wound in such a manner as to accept three phase power. \n\nJust other things, rather say \"cut more smoothly\" and it is \"sine\" wave, not \"sign\" wave.",
"When you have a single-phase power source, it's going to have times where there's no power being transmitted to the saw blade - basically, each time the hot line goes from positive voltage to negative.\n\nA three-phase system has each of the three lines offset by a third of the cycle. So when one line is at maximum voltage, the other two are a third of the way away from that. When one line is at zero voltage, the other two are equally spaced above and below zero voltage.\n\nSo a three-phase power system always is transmitting power, since there's always a line that is hot (either positive or negative voltage).\n\nThere's also another advantage for three-phase power. When you put three electromagnets equally spaced around a circle, and wire each one to one of the phases, the inside of the circle gets a spinning magnetic field. I'm too rusty to explain why this is the case, but it makes it very easy to make a motor out of it."
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1lq4w5 | how do the separate languages of cantonese and mandarin share a common writing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lq4w5/how_do_the_separate_languages_of_cantonese_and/ | {
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"To put it very simply, it's because Chinese hanzi characters do not indicate a certain pronunciation, but a specific meaning. For example, a character means \"dog,\" but does not tell you how to pronounce it. So, \"dog\" has a different spoken word in Mandarin and Cantonese, but the same character.\n\nWhat complicates things is that one, there are exceptions to this (but not a whole lot) and two, there are \"simplified\" and \"traditional\" versions of the writing system that are more popular in mainland China (Mandarin) and Hong Kong (Cantonese) respectively. "
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2c4f8y | when and how did cats become such good manipulators of humans? | I need to know ... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c4f8y/eli5_when_and_how_did_cats_become_such_good/ | {
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"It's because of the mind altering parasite [toxoplasma gondii](_URL_0_) endemic to cats."
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[
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2k2k3k | why was the wii "hacked"/modded/softmodded while the other consoles of it's generations weren't? | It seems so easy and simple to mod the wii to play pirated games/roms/ other unintended purposes. The PS3 and 360 are still not able to do this. As far as I know other previous consoles weren't able to do this.
Why and how did this happen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k2k3k/eli5_why_was_the_wii_hackedmoddedsoftmodded_while/ | {
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"There was an exploit discovered early in the Wii's life cycle that made modding it very easy. It involved glitching a Twilight Princess save."
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22za3n | if marijuana isn't addictive, and it has no long term effects on the brain, why do people i know who smoke regularly act different and seem to need to smoke it daily? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22za3n/eli5_if_marijuana_isnt_addictive_and_it_has_no/ | {
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"It isn't chemically addictive. However, anything can become psychologically addictive.",
"Because neither of those claims are true.\n\nIt is not physically addictive like cigarettes or heroine. But it can be mentally addicting, like food, or sex.\n\nAnd his has been shown to increase the chances of certain psychological conditions in people with a family history of mental problems. Such as depression, schizophrenia and late-age bipolar disorder.\n\nI'm not saying that it doesn't have a myriad of positives ranging from appetite control, to being a painkiller, to helping people with anxiety. But like any drugs, there can be complications."
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45ccqn | why red-hot iron/steel lose its magnetism | I've seen tons of blacksmithing videos, also done some myself, and when the template comes one of the ways to check the temperature is with a magnet. When no longer sticks to the metal is quenching time. So, why's that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45ccqn/eli5_why_redhot_ironsteel_lose_its_magnetism/ | {
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"Magnetism happens because all the atoms are lined up the same way. When metal gets near melting, the atoms start moving around randomly, which messes up that effect.\n\nMore details in [this more advanced discussion.](_URL_0_)",
"Cold iron consists of tiny areas called domains, where the magnetic fields of the the atoms all point in the same direction. They will change direction in the presence of a magnetic field, and that is what makes a magnet stick.\n\nBut when iron gets hot, the atoms vibrate harder, so hard, they break their alignment and no long form domains, and magnets will no longer stick."
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32pga0 | how did std's begin? | How did they very first originate? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32pga0/eli5_how_did_stds_begin/ | {
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"Like most disease, it started with the constant contact of livestock and the vermin that surround them like birds, bats, rats, insects and the like. As time passed, certain bacteria and virus mutated to essentially jump species. They did not have sex with these animals (they actually may have) but most likely came into contact with excrement like feces, urine, saliva, sweat, ect allowing transmission.",
"Imagine an STD that within a day or two of you getting it you break out in horrible draining sores all over you. It's pretty much impossible. Would you, healthy and horny have sex with someone that sick? Nooo.\n\nSTD's need to have victims that look healthy for a period of time so that the infection has a chance to get to another person before it makes too much of a mess of it's current host.\n\nHow did STD's get started get's the same answer as nearly everything else in Biology; they evoloved that way.\n\nDifferent pathogens cause different diseases and all of them have been adapted by natural selection to find and get past weaknesses in our immunity. \n\nThey don't get past a thin barrier of latex mearly as well.",
"Diseases have been around as long as there have been animals to catch them. They've evolved with us, and have evolved a variety of forms of transmission. Among highly social animals, sexually transmitted diseases are particularly prevalent because the close contact and frequent sex that social animals have. There's no need for these diseases to jump species like The_Burg has suggested, although there is evidence that some have. Some are transmitted by other species, but those species don't always show symptoms because the infection is evolved to infect humans. In that instance, you wouldn't say that the infection has necessarily jumped species, but is merely being transmitted by a host, like the black death was transmitted by fleas on the backs of mice. Many of the STD's humans have are as old as humankind, and have just evolved along side us, which is why they don't infect other animals.",
"The same way every other disease and virus did, evolution. Although as someone did say, that is how aids came to humanity, but not how it started. Also, while we're on the subject, humans have two types of hair louse, one on our heads, and one in our pubic region (crabs). As it so happens, the pubic louse is more similar to the gorrila louse than it is to the human head louse, suggesting that it came from gorrilas.\n\n*shudder*",
"If you have time, check out this podcast from Radiolab called Patient Zero. They talk about the first AIDS victim, Ebola, and Typhoid Mary.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThis was one of the first podcasts I listed to last year and since then, I've been hooked! ",
"What came first, the bacteria/virus or the host?",
"All I know about this is that HIV started as SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) and was spread to humans who ate bushmeat back in the day.",
"I have a question. If we would to round up everyone who has an std and isolate them. Would the std free people be free to have unprotected sex without fear of catching something?",
"They can come from many different sources but the basic idea is some pathogen mutated into an STD and just kept on moving.\n\nFor example with AIDS the origin is hotly debated but the consensus is it came from a type of chimpanzee in West Africa that carried simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV and transmitted that to a human, most likely through hunting and eating the chimpanzee the humans came into contact with the infected blood.\n\nThe region where this disease was found is an isolated part of West Africa where two rivers bow and create a pocket that wasn't hunted till the twenties, it took the disease nearly 30 years to each the Atlantic coast of Africa.\n\nThe interesting thing about this is this is HIV-1 which has the viral groups M and O, group M is the virus we all know. Group O and there is an HIV-2 as well as other strains that have already died out, these other guys are still localized to West Africa. While we know group M and the other guys are both spread the same it seems that group M was carried to Haiti in the 60's and...well now you know how a pandemic is born.\n\nSo to bring this back around to the question at hand, I assume they all have origins similar to this, convoluted mutation hopped onto humans from somewhere or random mutation in ourselves that spread easier as an STD than whatever it was before.",
"I think it's also important to note, many STDs are simply water/fluid borne diseases. It just so happens that our mouth, eyes, other mucous membranes are fairly disease resistant. Our genitalia is our weakest spot so it makes sense that we catch water borne diseases mostly from this area.\n\n(Ebola is a good example of a disease which can be considered an STD in some cases.)",
"[How AIDS spread in the US and how it started in the first place.](_URL_0_)\n",
"Haha.\n\nThis question immediately reminded me of the Beavis & Butthead revival a few years ago.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\"If they did this long enough, they could find out where herpes began.\"",
"Clicked to see if you meant save the dates or sexually transmitted diseases. Aren't they STIs now?",
"some are skin diseases. some are blood diseases. if you have herpes on your foot and rub it against someone else's foot, that's how it's spread. it just so happens we rub genitals. well.... not \"we\". someone does. not me. \n\nblood diseases like aids are from fluid contact, usually not from external sources like handshakes, but from outing a syringe or body part in another person. \n\n\nso then the question is \"where did disease come from\"? hell if I know. I can guess. mutated DNA from animals or bacteria. \n\nmy suggestion is \"don't be a fool. wrap your tool\". ",
"STD/I simply means sexually-transmitted disease/infection, so it's only describing the way it gets passed around.\n\nThe infections themselves originate like any other infection. Bacterial colonisation or a virus chooses your genitals as a host. An infected penis is an infected penis, but it is an STD because the infection on your penis can infect the vagina you insert it into.\n\nside note: is pregnancy the world's most common parasitic STD? discuss.",
"Are there any insect STD's?",
"STD now naturally means Short Term Disability to me. \n\n*sigh* adulthood. ",
"What I don't get is how or why viruses exist. They're technically not alive but they're always *there* and evolving, serving no purpose other than to create more of itself",
"When a mommy and daddy love each other they snuggle. Sometime mommy was a dirty whore so daddy gets sick. Sometimes daddy likes to snuggle whores on the side and gets mommy sick. Either way, you can blame yourself for the divorce. \n\nTL:DR - viruses have been around forever. Sometimes they only travel by fluid transfer. Most STDs can be passed by blood sharing too. ",
"There's a really good podcast on patient zero by radiolab\n\n_URL_0_",
"Somebody touched a Monkey in a way you aren't supposed to be touching Monkey's",
"A bacterium or virus living on your partner's junk survived and reproduced in a niche in your sexual organ. It's progeny liked the niche and stayed, fastword a few million years and you have specially adapted bacteria/ viruses called STDs. ",
"_URL_0_\n\nMaybe like this?",
"On the 6th day God created STDs because it was Saturday night and he had had a few glasses of Jesus' wine and thought to himself 'Fuck 'em, they're all gonna stop believing in me some day anyways.'",
"Do you mean Save The Dates?",
"I find it odd there is no mention of Adam and Eve in this thread.",
"I feel like OP had just one thing in mind woth this post but didnt want to offend anyone. Pretty sure he wants us to talk about how Africans fucked monkeys",
"I clicked this because i wanted to learn about std's, and somehow here i am reading about all the best animals to fuck. Idk if i love or hate reddit",
"OP's mama! That one never gets worn out. Unlike OP's mama.",
"\"Some say it's because some dude had sex with a monkey. Who the hell fucks a monkey? Do you even know how hard it is to CATCH a monkey?!\"\n\n-Dave Chapelle",
"God created them 4,000 years ago along with dinoasaurs and humans who lived together. =)",
"I am pretty sure that bitch Eve got them from that snake.",
"Now that we have completed our task (Making plastic), mother nature has decided to slowly phase out humans from the gene pool. ",
"When a man and a monkey love each other very much..."
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5d33y0 | how can you tell who will be effected by the side effects of medicine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5d33y0/eli5_how_can_you_tell_who_will_be_effected_by_the/ | {
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"You can't. Sometimes certain side effects are felt more in certain groups, which is why doctors might not recommend a drug for certain people, but mainly it is a crap-shoot.\n\nThrough clinical trials, you might, for example, be able to find out that on average 10% of the people taking this medicine gets headaches. But if you then give the medicine to 100 people, there is no way to predict who will have a headache. ",
"While many you can't predict, others you can reasonably assume an outcome based on patient history, current health and demographics. For example, a male of African descent who is overweight and diabetic might experience cirrhosis of the liver (basically scarring of the liver) if they take ibuprofen (a painkiller) often. \n\n"
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1v9u6p | how do international differences in law affect members of the iss? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v9u6p/eli5_how_do_international_differences_in_law/ | {
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"Space Law! I just love the way that sounds. Here is some more info specifically for the ISS.\n\n1998 ISS agreement\n\nIn addition to the international treaties that have been negotiated at the United Nations, the nations participating in the International Space Station have entered into the 1998 Agreement among the governments of Canada, Member States of the European Space Agency, Japan, Russian Federation, and the United States of America concerning cooperation on the Civil International Space Station (the \"Space Station Agreement\"). This Agreement provides, among other things, that NASA is the lead agency in coordinating the member states' contributions to and activities on the space station, and that each nation has jurisdiction over its own module(s). The Agreement also provides for protection of intellectual property and procedures for criminal prosecution. This Agreement may very well serve as a model for future agreements regarding international cooperation in facilities on the Moon and Mars, where the first off-world colonies and scientific/industrial bases are likely to be established.[11]\n\nSource: _URL_0_"
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1v8w63 | do people in colorado still have to take drug tests for employment? and if so, how is colorado working around marijuana legalization? | Do people in Colorado still have to take drug tests for employment? And if so, how is Colorado working around marijuana legalization? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v8w63/eli5_do_people_in_colorado_still_have_to_take/ | {
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"The law is very clear that the legalization of marijuana has absolutely no impact on how employers drug test or punish their employees.\n\nThere's no legislation to work around -- if you do something your employer says you can't, you're SOL"
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3d4qb3 | if money is not backed by gold, why does printing more money drop the value of the dollar? | It would make sense to me if the money was representing something. But if it's not backed by gold, what exactly does money represent and why does printing more drop its value? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d4qb3/eli5_if_money_is_not_backed_by_gold_why_does/ | {
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"First rule of economics whenever there is more of something it is worth less.\nImagine there millions of autographed Babe Ruth baseballs, they wouldn't be worth much. Since there are so few, they are worth hundreds of thousands ",
"Printing money drops it's value because the people who set prices are human beings looking out for their own interests.\n\nDetail:\n\n* You print more money\n* More people have money to spend\n* Person who sets prices recognizes that they can set their prices higher, and still get as many sales, due to more money being around, so they do so\n* Person who sets prices makes more money\n* Everyone else does this too\n* Prices are now higher.\n\nIt's not necessarily a direct relationship, printing 5% more money doesn't increase prices by 5% for example. There are also other factors which might make this less of an impact, for example if there are more people around, then printing more money might not increase prices, since the price setter can't necessarily raise prices, since people don't necessarily have more money because there is more money out there, there may simply be more people."
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2eo6y5 | why are the medical and dental communities kept so separate? shouldn't dental be part of general well-being? | The insurance world keeps medical and dental separate (and why is vision another separate entity?) Also, podiatrists and obstetricians tend to define themselves as a doctor while dentists, despite being Doctors of Dental Science tend to refer to themselves as dentists. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2eo6y5/eli5_why_are_the_medical_and_dental_communities/ | {
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"I asked once why dental stuff costs so much and I got the \"We have to pay back school loans and we're so specialized and people NEED us, so you have to pay us big time.\"\n\nTell that to my foot doctor who wants $450 for a set of fucking inserts for my shoes that my insurance will only cover if you have diabetes.",
"Nothing more than tradition. The schooling & healthcare system around dentistry has developed to be something separate from the rest of the body.",
"It probably comes down to money so Dentists and Optimitrists can set their own rate within their own realms outside of the American Medical Association that sets the pricing and terms for all the internal medicine practice.\n\nThat seems like the logical conclusion. Add in insurance and you get another tier of price fixing.\n",
"There was a decent thread on this a few months back, it might have some answers you're looking for:\n\n_URL_0_"
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6yapnd | - before taxi meters, how did they accurately calculate the fare for a journey? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6yapnd/eli5_before_taxi_meters_how_did_they_accurately/ | {
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"a simple device measured the number of turns of a cart/wagons wheel which when multiplied by the circumference would yield distance traveled. \n\nAlternatively the driver would look at the map and measure the distance to the destination and quote the fair. ",
"Before meters, it was negotiated. You'd hop in the cab and say \"How much to take me to < destination > \", the driver would quote you a price and you'd agree (or get out)."
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190f6k | what's the evolutionary sense in making the clitoris outside the vagina, since most women orgasm by clitoral stimulation? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/190f6k/whats_the_evolutionary_sense_in_making_the/ | {
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"Mind, not everything makes evolutionary sense. ",
"It is equivalent to the penis. So it's more of an accident rather than selection.",
"Granted this isn't sceintific evidence or even a theory for that matter but it serves an interesting point. Starts around 2:30 mark _URL_0_",
"I don't think i would like it if my clitoris was in my vagina. It works perfectly for me right where it's at now.",
"The clitoris is inside the vagina, for a large part.",
"That's not really how evolution works, because there's no blueprint that it adheres by. It quite simply just evolved that way because the specific mutation was beneficial for procreation. ",
"This is just speculation, but because its on the outside, it provides motivation for the woman to strive for deeper penetration, which, in turn, allows for increased chance of conception.",
"When a baby is made in mommy's tummy, everyone starts out with girls parts. When the baby grows, the part that will be the clitoris on a girl grows into a penis on a boy! Keep in mind though, that even if everyone starts out with girl parts they already have their gender predetermined. (If the sperm has an X chromosome, you will be a girl. If it has a Y chromosome you will be a boy.) \n\nThe female orgasm doesn't serve a purpose as far as we know today. It's simply a bonus.",
"This is a stretch, but a number of animals have devised mechanisms to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy by unwanted suitors. It's theorized that the female orgasm facilitates sperm moving up through the cervix for fertilization. So, because of the anatomy, taking longer to have an orgasm than the average man means that she is less likely to get pregnant by someone she's not actually stimulated by. ",
"So the balls can gently rap on the clitoral hood during animal-sex. (Doggy style)",
"The clitoris is essentially a penis that stopped growing. When we are a fetus, our body doesn't know what kind of gender we are going to be for a little while. Because of this, it basically gets certain processes started and then alters them when it decides. It's why men have nipples.\n\n\nSo basically, it's on the outside due to reproduction consolidation. ",
"also could you imagine having that many nerve endings in the vagina during childbirth? me neither.",
"So men can find it!!! ",
"I wonder if it also has something to do with the fact that the female should be more discriminatory in choosing a mate. If she could get off with any partner if the clitoris was inside then wouldn't she be more likely to have sex willy nilly, instead of picking a mate based on good characteristics regardless if she got off or not? ",
"When a single sex species diverges into two sexes, the complete sexual equipment forms into the female first. The female usually retains self reproduction ability for several generations to give the males time to form the correct mating equipment. You also see this in many hybrid animal breeds where the first few generations of males are infertile but the females can reproduce. The external placement was needed to give rise to the male counterpart that allows penetration. \n\nJust to throw this out there, there are many of us can orgasm from penetration alone. I can do it both ways but find clitoral orgasms shallow and undesirable in comparison as they are nothing alike in intensity or duration. Why we have two types is something that has mystified me (but I am not complaining). ",
"Evolution isn't done yet.",
"It makes you try harder by having more sex.",
"You're not going to get an ELI5 answer because there isn't even consensus on what the female orgasm is for, from an evolutionary perspective. This is a question for /r/askscience, where someone who's studied human sexual evolution can give you a more detailed answer.",
"Doesn't nature kinda want us to multiply? Isn't that the point of life, to continue multiplying? Well, it would stand to reason we leave the more sensitive parts of the reproductive organ outside so that we may rub the tips of our organs accidentally to create the chemical reactions needed to get us to go twenty toes. \n\nI could be wrong, I'm not really educated on the matter, that just seems to make the most sense to me.",
"Primates love fuckin'\n\nBut seriously no one knows.",
"The female orgasm isn't essential for reproducing. The male orgasm is, which is why it's so much easier for dudes to have one.",
"humans are the only mammals that don't require orgasm for the female to be impregnated, and the purpose of sex is to procreate (strictly from an evolutionary stand point). an orgasm that causes the cervix to open and dip down, grab the sperm and sling shot it up into the uterus is actually caused by penetrative orgasm (G spot and/or V spot). so the location of the clitoris is moot in terms of evolution. \n\n",
"CUZ THAT'S HOW GOD DID IT. AMERICA!",
"It's the trail of bread crumbs before you reach the horrifying monster",
"It's actually all about pelvic pressure and stimulation. The missionary position is the default for sex among partners and creating the pleasure hub at the forefront of the pelvis increases stimulation during gyration. It's been theorized that the reason sex \"feels good\" for people is because we're not predisposed to pop out as many humans as possible, but as my Human Sexuality professor used to say: \"Ladies, mother nature wants you pregnant.\" So the clitoris is the pleasure point at the common pressure point to increase desire for sexual intercourse. \n\nThis is, obviously, all anthropology/sexuality theory, not fact, but interesting nonetheless. "
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a33h0g | how can photons infinitely move forward if perpetual motion is considered impossible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a33h0g/eli5_how_can_photons_infinitely_move_forward_if/ | {
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"Perpetual motion is not possible.\n\nA perpetual motion *machine* is not possible. This is a key difference.\n\nThere is no law stating that a system cannot move for infinity. But there is no way to *extract energy/work* from that system and have it not slow down/eventually stop.",
"A perpetual motion *machine* is not possible. A system only has so much energy to give so nothing that does any work or emits energy can move forever.\n\nPhotons don't do any work until they hit something and are destroyed, so the travel time and distance are somewhat irrelevant.",
"The machine part is definitely the key part of the impossible. Photons do not have mass and cannot lose energy except by interaction with mass. No machine exists which is free of mass and thus can be free of \"friction\". In effect, photons do not experience friction when traveling through empty space. they do interact (experience \"friction\" in a way) when they encounter mass. As long as they do not encounter mass, they will keep going because there is no force acting against them.\n\nI use \"friction\" to mean any force or process that works against the initial movement. It does not have to be what we would call \"friction\" in a true meaning of the word."
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62y1aq | why do we sneeze when its cold? | Today's really cold where I live and my friend began to sneeze and I thought to myself why do we sneeze when it's cold? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/62y1aq/eli5_why_do_we_sneeze_when_its_cold/ | {
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"Sneezing is caused by an irritation in the nasal mucous membrane. When it's cold outside, that membrane dries out, which makes it irritated, which makes you sneeze."
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2slryi | why don't people make a wig out of their own hair before they start chemotherapy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2slryi/eli5_why_dont_people_make_a_wig_out_of_their_own/ | {
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"Well, for starters, you need at least about a foot of hair to make a wig. If your hair isn't long enough, no go. ",
"Hair needs to be a certain length for hygiene/aesthetic purposes before it can be considered donation worthy. I don't know the specifics, but I have tried to donate a few times now- your hair has to be pretty damn long in order to \"qualify\".",
"Honestly, having known people who've gone through chemotherapy, the loss of their hair is one of the lowest things on their priority list. Seriously, most are more worried about the incredibly debilitating side effects of chemotherapy, and ya know.... dying.",
"many points: your hair is most likely not capable to make a wig out of it (to thin, to short...). \n\nIf you are presented with cancer, your hair falling out isnt your first priority.\n\nAND, to make a wig out of your hair, you'd need to cut it off straight away. so you'll be bald from day 1. that's not what most people want. the hair doesnt fall of all at once, it does this sequencly. depending on the type of chemotherapy (intencity, type of cytostatica..) it takes 2 weeks and longer, till all your hair is fallen off.\n\nAt first you don't really realize, that your hair will fall off, and also how big of a deal it is - till you wake up and find tons of hair on your pillow. day by day, you'll start to look more and more like a plucked chicken. but you still hold on to every single strain of hair till it falls off - because that's the last connection to your previous - cancer-free - live.\nSource: me\n\nTL;DR: you dont want to shave your hair on day 0."
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3j3r93 | why can't we eat raw meat in fear of getting sick but can order a steak rare? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3j3r93/eli5_why_cant_we_eat_raw_meat_in_fear_of_getting/ | {
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"Your premise is false. People eat raw meat all the time. Beef tartare and beef carpaccio are both made out of cut-up raw beef. (I've eaten them a number of times and never gotten sick.) Inuit people eat raw seal meat.\n\n",
"Most pathogens in the cattle meat don't affect humans, but the ones in the gut do, so it's very important that any pathogens on the outside of the meat are killed, while those on the inside are generally pretty low risk. So searing the outisde of a single piece of meat is usually enough. \n\nBut meat like hamburger where meat that was on the surface can be on inside of the burger needs to be cooked thoroughly. If one buys meat from a known good source (like they did the butchering themselves or had a trusted high quality butcher) making hamburger from a single piece of meat on clean equipment allows most of the risk to be limited, which is why you can frequently order a rare burger at many fancier restaurants. ",
"Beef is a very dense meat. Bacteria and other microbes that would make you sick cannot penetrate into a steak; they can only live on the surface. So if \"not getting sick\" was all that you wanted, you could theoretically just sear the outside and leave the inside totally raw, and you'd be totally fine. In fact, this is an actual way of cooking a steak, known as [Pittsburg rare](_URL_0_).\n\nNote that this only applies to cuts of beef. It does *not* apply to ground beef, as during the grinding process the meat is totally mixed up, and there is no longer an \"inside\" that is safe from microbes. It also does not apply to less-dense meats like chicken or pork. This is why you can never get a rare pork chop."
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776z9f | why does the typical college education take 4 years? why not 2 or 3 years for example? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/776z9f/eli5_why_does_the_typical_college_education_take/ | {
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"Come study in England. A batchelor's degree only takes three years. Unlike in the US, though, you'll need to choose what you're going to study right from the start of the course and focus on that. Specialization in education starts much earlier, beginning with GCSEs (middle school) and then A-levels, where only a small handful of subjects are studied rather than the wide range (but less depth) taught at a US school.\n"
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7qjrng | how does non-scratch glass work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7qjrng/eli5_how_does_nonscratch_glass_work/ | {
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"Alot of your non scratch glass undergoes a special treatment in which smaller sodium ions are replaced by bigger potassium ions. This an ion exchange reaction at very high temperatures. \n\nWhen you think of a lattice, the positive ions (cations) are the smaller atoms in the lattice and they sit in the gaps of the lattice. Because the ion exchange reaction placed bigger potassium ions in those gaps the lattice is more dense and under alot more compressive stress. The result is a harden surface. If you try to scratch this harden surface the increase compression will 'fight back'. \n\nBasically the bigger potassium atoms push the surface together so hard that a knife cant break through. ",
"usually by not being glass. the most common way is to put on a chemical coating that's much harder than glass. the particulars vary with brand, there are all sorts of minerals that do the job.\n\n",
"The latest versions aren't normal glass, they're artificial sapphire, which is very, very hard. You can scratch it with diamond but your keys have no chance."
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61p0m3 | how did cops determine speed before the radar gun? | I got pulled over a few days ago, and I was wondering how cops determined speed before the radar gun was invented. Thanks in advance for an explanation. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61p0m3/eli5how_did_cops_determine_speed_before_the_radar/ | {
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" > Speed limits were originally enforced by manually timing or \"clocking\" vehicles travelling through \"speed traps\" defined between two fixed landmarks along a roadway that were a known distance apart; the vehicle's average speed was then determined by dividing the distance travelled by the time taken to travel it. Setting up a speed trap that could provide legally satisfactory evidence was usually time consuming and error prone, as it relied on its human operators.",
"Basic physics.\n\nSpeed = Distance / Time\n\nThey'll watch you pass a mark on the road or guard rail. Time how long it takes you to get to another mark. Divide, and that's your speed. \n\nThe same way radar works. You just do it in your head.\n\nThey'll casually ballpark it.\n\nIf it takes 3 seconds at legal speed and you do it in 3-ish. It's fine.\n\nIf you cover it before they get the word \"one\" said in their head..... red & blues go on and you get ticketed.\n\nTo automate the process they just use [VASCAR](_URL_0_)\n\nI probably should have led with that lol",
"Cop here, it's called Pace Clocking. Essentially what I do is follow behind a car and match my speed with them so I they are not pulling away or going closer to me. Once that is done I, I go a couple of blocks to see if they stay consistent at that speed. If they are over the limit I pull them over. Our vehicles at my department are calibrated twice a year to maintain consistency and must maintain a +/- 2 mph on the calibration. Hope this helps.\n\n*Edit*\n\nI do this because I haven't gone to radar school yet and I also don't enjoy doing traffic unless it's for the purposes of something bigger, i.e. drugs or warrants. ",
"Cop here, radar has become extremely useful for traffic control. It's even evolved into using laser which is more accurate and can even tell me at what feet you are away from me when I clock you. I use laser over radar, but before that I had to pace vehicles. That just meant I'd drive behind them, compare my speed with theirs to a fixed point (like a sign or building, whatever) then I'd pull them. It's also important to note, that a cop can only do that if the cop has their speedometer checked every 6 months and certified. I generally do not pace people anymore just because laser and radar have made life a lot easier when it comes to getting an exact speed, and I can stay stationary while doing so. "
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c89wdr | after seeing a little spider dance to itself in the mirror, it made me wonder; are humans the only animals who are able to recognize that it is themselves in the reflection? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c89wdr/eli5_after_seeing_a_little_spider_dance_to_itself/ | {
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"No, but not many can. As far as I know, the range is limited to dolphins and chimpanzees, as well as some other primates like Orangutans. \n\n\n\nIt depends on development in some creatures, too. Chimps have to be of a certain age, otherwise they will simply recognize the mirror as another chimp.",
"_URL_2_ magpie knows itself.\n\n_URL_0_ elephants\n\nCertainly most primates, so many videos I wont link\n\n_URL_1_ dolphins\n\nSo no, but it tends to be more complex animals. Many can see 'similar animal' but behave like that animal is a threat (eg cats fighting that other cat in the window).\n\nMost likely your spider was trying to mate with, or intimidate, what it perceived as another spider.",
"So why does my cat hate her sister but is totally fine with her reflection?",
"Cats are a curious case. They don't seem to recognise themselves in the mirror but as soon as they realise that there is no real cat they ignore the reflection as irrelevant just as they might ignore a shadow that follows their movements. They must know the reflection is somehow related to them like a shadow is but either don't care or don't make the connection that that is what they look like to others.",
"As others have said, there are other animals that recognize themselves in a mirror. One I haven't seen mentioned is the ant.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n[A study](_URL_0_) may has shown that ants recognize themselves in a mirror by, among other things, painting a blue mark on the ant where they cannot normally see. The ants make no attempt to clean off the mark until they see themselves in a mirror, and they make no attempt to clean the reflection, just themselves. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nAnts are pretty interesting.",
"Many animals can. Scientists check it by placing a dot on their forehead and seeing if animals try to clean it off I believe.",
"It is called the mirrot test. Used to test weither an animal (or person) is able to recognice that something is a reflection or another individual. \n\nI’ll cite wilipedia here:\n\nVery few species have passed the MSR test. As of 2015, only great apes (including humans), a single Asiatic elephant, dolphins, orcas, and the Eurasian magpie have passed the MSR test. A wide range of species have been reported to fail the test, including several species of monkey, giant pandas, sea lions, and dogs.\n\n\nLink to wikipedia article:\n_URL_0_",
"ELI5: We're not 100% sure but we think a couple animals can.\n\nELI15: Scientists do something called the mirror test, which originally only great apes, a single elephant, dolphins, orcas, and magpies passed. Monkeys, giant pandas, sea lions, and dogs failed. Recently they changed the test because they didn't believe that was accurate and now it is a bit more inconclusive. Some animals pass but other animals of the same species fail.\n\nELI25: The mirror self-recognition test (MSR) was developed in 1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. In the original version, they anaesthetise an animal and then paint them in a spot they can't see then give them a mirror and see if they associate the mark in the mirror with the same location on themselves. This has been challenged as some creatures could be asking 'do I have that, too?' rather than recognizing the reflection. More modern tests often go by the type of response, rather then any response. The current list of animals that have passed is:\n\n* Bottlenose dolphin\n* Killer whale\n* Bonobo\n* Bornean orangutan\n* Chimpanzee\n* Asian elephant\n* European magpie\n* Pigeons\n* Ants\n* Cleaner Wrasse\n\nThe current list of animals that have failed is:\n\n* Sea lions\n* Giant panda\n* Gibbon\n* Stump-tailed macaque\n* Crab-eating macaque\n* Rhesus monkey\n* Black-and-white colobus monkey\n* Capuchin monkey\n* Hamadryas baboon\n* Cotton-top tamarin\n* Grey parrot\n* New Caledonian crow\n* Jackdaw\n* Great tit\n* Tanganyikan cichild\n* Octopuses\n\nSource: [Wikipedia](_URL_0_).",
"I assume you have had a lot of answers here, but this is something you might find interesting although it isn't directly related:\n\nThe mirror test is based on sight, of course, and unlike humans not all species have sight as their primary 'sense'. In a test similar to the mirror test but with smells, dogs were seen to recognize their 'mirror-smell' as themself.\n\nKeep in mind I read this long ago and can't find the source and this cannot speak of its validity",
"Cats don't seem to be able to do this, but there is this one video where a cat notices it has ears due to a mirror, so I'm not sure about them"
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1j4w8e | the relationship between hong kong and china. | I understand that Hong Kong was a British territory until the 1990s, but I don't understand the exact level of autonomy of Hong Kong. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j4w8e/eli5_the_relationship_between_hong_kong_and_china/ | {
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"Hong Kong is a part of China that has special privileges, because it used to be a British colony. When the British handed it back to China in 1997, they negotiated as part of the handover that China would allow Hong Kong to keep its various freedoms, and China agreed for several reasons. One, that it was a rich city, and they didn't want to risk \"breaking\" it. Two, that a lot of Hong Kong citizens had other passports and could choose to leave if they wished. It would have been an enormous hit to Chinese prestige if all these people left right after China took over.\n\nSo that's about it. They have a separate legal system, government, etc. It is an open question how long this will last, and a lot of people expect that these special rights will erode slowly over time."
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9hxzra | why does having a node/nodule on your vocal cord mess up your voice? | And can permanently damage your ability to sing ever again. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9hxzra/eli5why_does_having_a_nodenodule_on_your_vocal/ | {
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"text": [
"Nodules are masses along your vocal cords that interfere with the vibration. Think of a guitar string with a piece of chewing gum stuck to it. "
]
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7hopmr | why is entropy energy per temperature? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7hopmr/eli5_why_is_entropy_energy_per_temperature/ | {
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"Entropy is not \"energy per temperature\", it just has units of [energy]/[temperature]. And that's really just a convention. Some people prefer to think of entropy as being dimensionless. The dimensionful entropy (S) and the dimensionless entropy σ are just related by\n\nS = k*_B_*σ, where k*_B_* is Boltzmann's constant."
]
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||
1snluf | what is happening when you're in a constricted space and you're still breathing in but you know you need fresh air? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1snluf/eli5_what_is_happening_when_youre_in_a/ | {
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"I'm no scientist, so I could be wrong, but I'll take my best educated guess.\n\nI would bet it's your body detecting increasing levels of carbon dioxide in your blood as the oxygen in the room starts to deplete, causing a slight panic reaction. "
]
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||
u6orb | why sunburnt skin is red. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/u6orb/eli5_why_sunburnt_skin_is_red/ | {
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"The red color comes from extra blood in that burnt part.\n\nSunburn occurs when UV light damages DNA in the skin cells. Damaged DNA in the skin is what causes skin cancer. When the body realizes that the DNA is damaged it does on of several things to heal and prevent more problems. \n\nThe body can try to repair the DNA. It may decide to kill the cells instead of letting them cause problems with damaged DNA. These things need extra blood so the body lets more blood flow through the damaged area making it red.",
"it is red because the blood vessels open up (vasodilation) due to the inflammation from the heat damage... :) ",
"C'mon man, at least *try* Google first. [2nd result](_URL_0_) if you Google \"why are sunburns red\". "
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5sb0cq | how are they able to leave a supreme court seat vacant for so long? | Aren't there still cases being heard by the Supreme Court (I heard on the news today that the travel ban might go to the Supreme Court.) Isn't it unfair to have an even number of justices since a lot of times the one swing vote decides the decision? How can they leave the seat vacant for a year without any repercussions? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5sb0cq/eli5_how_are_they_able_to_leave_a_supreme_court/ | {
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"There's no law or anything in the Constitution that mandates when a vacant seat must be filled by.\n\nThis isn't to say that the delays are right or wrong, only to say that they are legal. ",
"When there is a vacancy on the court, it is the job of the President to nominate a suitable candidate. The Senate must vote to confirm the candidate. If a simple majority approves the choice, then there is a new Supreme Court Justice. However, confirmation is **never** a foregone conclusion. When the Senate does not vote in favor of a candidate, the President must supply another nominee. \n\nWhen there's an 8 member Supreme Court it functions as it would with 9 members, however if there is a 4-4 ruling the Appelate verdict will be affirmed. \n\ntl;dr: if there's a tie the decision of the lower court stays the same. "
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1utdq3 | why are asians, on average, shorter than other people? | Please read :
_URL_0_
What is the evolutionary benefit for being shorter?
(yes, i realize that there are tall Asians like Jeremy Lin and Yao Ming. please do not discuss genetic outliers) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1utdq3/eli5_why_are_asians_on_average_shorter_than_other/ | {
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"The reason Europeans are taller is due to a mutant gene that makes them lactose *tolerant*, which means more calcium in their diets for strong (and longer) bones. Ninety percent of Asians are [lactose intolerant](_URL_0_), and since cheese is not a normal staple part of their diet (seriously, check out some Chinese/Japanese recipes, rarely do they use cheese or butter), they do not have enough calcium intake.\n\nThat is why Asians are also very susceptible to [osteoporosis](_URL_2_). \n\nFinally, famine plays a big role in the size of people. During the '40s to '70s, many Chinese are malnutritioned and thus have stunted growth. A case study is North Korea, where the people are way [shorter](_URL_1_) due to recent famines.",
"My Japanese studies teacher back in college said it has to do with diet and very little to do with genetics. A large portion of the world's Asian population eats too much rice and not enough calcium and protein, and you can't grow tall off of rice. A lot of Asians in America are short because they grew up eating the same diet their parents ate. An Asian who lives off of pizza and hamburgers will grow just as large as any other American.",
"Nutrition is the major factor. \n\nI find it funny that you linked a wiki article but did not read it.\n\nA short excerpt from the Wiki article:\n\"In the late nineteenth century, the Netherlands was a land renowned for its short population, but today its population is among the world's tallest with young men averaging 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) tall.\"\n\nHow did one of the shortest populations become the tallest? Their country became richer and people had better nutrition. \n\nAnother excerpt:\n\n\"A 2004 report citing a 2003 UNICEF study on the effects of malnutrition in North Korea, due to \"successive famines,\" found young adult males to be significantly shorter.[specify] In contrast South Koreans \"feasting on an increasingly Western-influenced diet,\" without famine, were growing taller. The height difference is minimal for Koreans over 40, who grew up at a time when economic conditions in the North were roughly comparable to those in the South, while height disparities are most acute for Koreans who grew up in the mid-1990s – a demographic in which South Koreans are about 12 cm (4.7 in) taller than their North Korean counterparts – as this was a period during which the North was affected by a harsh famine.\"\n\nSo genetically similar population has nearly a 5 inch difference between them due to nutrition. \n\nAlso, if you continue reading that section, you'll see that historically Europeans were around 5'6'' -5'7'', which is around the height of older Asians. \n\nPlease at least read the article you are posting before wasting everyone's time. ",
"Just want to point out that Central and South America as well as a lot of Africa is about the same or shorter than Asians."
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height#Average_height_around_the_world"
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"http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bone/Osteoporosis/Background/asian_american_women.asp"
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2gj6i2 | if cancer is mutation, and mutation is always occurring as part of evolution, why do we try to "cure" cancer? | Seems like we're attempting to stop the body from doing what the body will always naturally do, so it is therefore impossible and therefore a waste of money. Don't mistake treatment and removal, but a "cure" seems impossible. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gj6i2/eli5_if_cancer_is_mutation_and_mutation_is_always/ | {
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"That's a different kind of mutation. The mutations that cause evolution are variations from one generation to another than get passed on. Cancer isn't a genetic mutation, but a degeneration that occurs during our lives. \n\nThere's also the fact that it provides no benefit and kills you. ",
"We're not exactly trying to \"cure cancer.\" In general, it's more complicated than \"cancer is mutation.\" While different cancers have different origins, they tend to involve a number of mutations which, taken together, knock out a cell's normal ability to regulate growth and division. (This is why a mutation acquired from a sunburn in your youth can increase your cancer risk many years later; as long as the mutation is passed on, it can add to others and produce unchecked growth.)\n\nNow, no one is trying to prevent all mutation. Mutations and other genetic changes will always happen, and that doesn't worry cancer researchers. However, it saves a lot of lives to limit certain causes of mutation that sharply increase cancer risk, like asbestos, cigarette smoke, and UV light. Our gene pool gets plenty of new diversity all the time without any additional pressure."
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|
34c3a7 | what caused the u.s. to become a "less friendly" place for children over the change of the century? | When I listen to stories from my parents and grandparents about when they were kids, the world seemed to be a much more friendly and open place for children. They would be able to run around their neighborhood all day doing whatever they please and their parents would be largely unconcerned.
However, parents these days are a lot more security-minded and watchful of their children, and kids running freely around the neighborhood is almost unheard of. What brought this about? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34c3a7/eli5_what_caused_the_us_to_become_a_less_friendly/ | {
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"The media, mostly. In the past, you would only hear about local bad things happening. Nowadays, we constantly hear about bad things that happen all across the country. That gives us the impression that things have become less safe. They haven't. Statistically, we are living in a safer time than the past, but we hear about the bad things so much more. Additionally, the media tends to be very one-sided with the stories it shows. Fear sells, so they show us that. Which means that very rare things that happen (a kidnapping by a stranger, for example) get tons and tons of attention, but nobody on air is going to tell you that really, your chance of your kid getting kidnapped are tiny, and if it is going to happen, it is more likely than not to be in a custody dispute and not some big bad stranger.",
"Parents are paranoid for no good reason. Chidren are safer than they have ever been. News reports of stranger abductions only prove how very rare they are. The media benefit from scaring people, and scaring parents about their children is very effective. If there are a few \"free range\" parents in your neighborhood, they will find their children picked up by the police for walking from a park less than a mile from their home. Last week we had a pair led under police custody without notifying their parents for 5 hours.",
"I would say media like everybody else. But also because people are having less children it makes childless people less aware of what's normal. They might see a kid screaming and assume it's abuse, or see kids walking along the street and assume their lost. But that's just like, my opinion, man.",
"I think it's two main reasons. First, all the media that sensationalizes the worst stories, and gets parents scared even though the worst possible thing that can happen is very very rare. This happens to the police and child services too, they have to take very ridiculous measures in the name of prevention. Because you know if they are negligent in investigating a report and something serious happens, the media will be all over that too and start calling for their heads.\n\nThe second reason is that we just don't know our neighbors any more. People stay in their houses and watch their screens and don't spend a lot of time just being outside chatting with the humans who live on their same block. So there's less trust, less sense of community, less sense of responsibility. I was reading about the most recent Meitiv incident and people were like, \"OMG they were in a potentially dangerous situation! Of course the guy had to call the cops!\" This instead of, say, talking to the kids or trying to contact their parents directly without bringing in that whole other level of authority. But again they don't know the kids and they don't know the parents and they aren't comfortable starting up that type of conversation. So much easier to just let child services handle it - talk about putting out a spark with a fire hose.",
"The US is safer than it ever has been. One problem is people don't do much research when they hear something. Another is news from around the country is much more in your face now and people just assume because they hear about it a lot that it is somehow worse than when they didn't hear about it as much.",
"I don't think any one thing caused it. It was a number of different factors. Let's start with war. Before WW2, America had limited involvement with foreign affairs. We didn't worry as much about spies, covert operations, and things \"over there\" affecting us \"over here.\" After that war, there was an increasing level of anxiety and fear. The rise of different forms of media amplified this. There was, however, sentiment that kids will be kids and all of this adult fear shouldn't be a burden on them. Besides, up until the 1980s many forms of entertainment for kids were outside. Then computers and video games came along. Suddenly, kids didn't feel the need to go outside. They didn't have to play sports, or hide-and-seek, or cops-and-robbers. They were perfectly content by themselves, living a sedentary lifestyle, and parents were adjusting to this. Changes were happening regarding how to teach and discipline children, and these ideas spread quickly instead of parents just winging it or doing what their parents had done. Also, anxiety from the Cold War was so generalized that it never completely wore off. 24-hour news cycles started happening, which sensationalized minor problems and made distant problems feel closer to home. 9/11 just made this even worse. New medicines also meant your child wasn't just misbehaving- they had a disease or disorder, and needed to be coddled and drugged-up. Between kids not feeling the need to go outside, and parents scared to let them, the isolation led to the erosion of a sense of community, which reinforced the fear.\n\nTL;DR- Blame WW2, the Cold War, 9/11, the media, prescription meds, videogames, and the internet."
]
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|
1szyvd | why are there strange letters that are used for pronunciation when looking in a dictionary, or on google? | ju;wɒt meɪt? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1szyvd/eli5_why_are_there_strange_letters_that_are_used/ | {
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"text": [
"Its for pronounciation of words. You can look up what each character means under _URL_0_\n\nIts meant for people who aren't sure how to speak the word."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet"
]
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|
uf2b0 | motion blur | What is it and why does it happen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/uf2b0/eli5_motion_blur/ | {
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"text": [
"Think video cameras. Think of a video camera with a low frames per second rate. It does well to capture slow paced movement, but once an object moves fast enough, it will lag across the screen, disappearing and reappearing in other places. \n\nYour mind has some of the same principles. It will capture movement well enough up to a certain point, however, but once an object starts to move fast enough, it adds motion blur to acknowledge movement rather than seeing the object lag. \n\n_URL_0_",
"Are you talking about motion blur in video, still photos, or something you view directly?\n\nThe easiest to explain is the still photo, but you need to understand how a camera works. Behind the lens that focuses the light, there is a light-sensitive film. And between the lens and the film is the shutter. The shutter is closed at first, but opens just long enough to let in the right amount of light into the camera for the photo to be made. Most of the time, this happens very fast, and so the photo looks like an instant in time.\n\nBut it's not actually instantaneous. The shutter takes some time to open and close again, and if an object is moving fast enough, then the object is in one location when the shutter opens and somewhere else by the time it closes. The film gets exposed to every location the object was in between the opening and closing of the shutter, causing a motion blur.\n\nIn a digital camera, the film is replaced with a light-sensitive sensor. Motion blur in video works mostly the same way. And motion blur in your eyes, though it's usually much less apparent than in a camera, happens for a similar reason: your eyes also don't respond instantly to changes in light either."
]
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[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=buSaywCF6E8#t=197s"
],
[]
] |
|
co1pfn | - where is outer space? or is space space? if you left our galaxy and headed towards another galaxy what would the space between the two be called? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/co1pfn/eli5_where_is_outer_space_or_is_space_space_if/ | {
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"Interstellar space is defined by that region of space in which the energy flux is not dominated by a single source star.",
"Outer space is what we usually just call space. It is everything above an altitude of 100km above earth.\n\nThe space between galaxies is called intergalactic space.\n\nUsually we use the words inter- and intra- to describe stuff between and inside something.\n\nIntercontinental travel is travel between different continents.\n\nInterplanetary travel though interplanetary space is travel between planets, like from Earth to Mars.\n\nInterstellar travel is through interstellar space is travel betwen solar systems like from our solar system to Alpha Centauri.\n\nIntergalactic travel though intergalactic space is travel between galaxies like from our Milkyway to Andromeda."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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||
ot79j | what makes you a compatible bone marrow donor? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ot79j/what_makes_you_a_compatible_bone_marrow_donor/ | {
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"Everyone's bodies make cells and tissues in a slightly different way. This leaves little protein tags on the surface of cells.\n\nIf your immune system sees tags that aren't yours, it's like finding a stray footprint in your house. They freak out and track down the \"invader.\"\n\nReplacing the bone marrow replaces the cells that make immune cells. It's like getting new security guards. They're going to see all your markers and go \"Oh no! invaders are moving in\" and trash all your stuff... meaning your body. They don't realize THEY moved.\n\nSo you pick a donor with all the same tags as you, so the immune cells are like, \"Hey, nice job redecoratin', boss,\" and are more likely to leave your tissues alone. They see all the right markers not to attack.\n\n[Wikipedia write-up on graft-versus-host problems](_URL_0_)\n\nEdited for clarity.",
"Blood cancer survivor here!\n\nYour body is made up of tiny factories called cells and inside each cell is a really big molecule called DNA. Each DNA molecule tells the cell that contains it what to do and each DNA molecule contains all the information needed to build you... all of you.\n\nDNA is so big that your body stores it like an encyclopedia, in volumes. Scientists call those volumes \"Chromosomes.\" On Chromosome number six is a special part of your DNA called the HLA. The HLA stands for \"Human Leukocyte Antigen.\" \n\nThe HLA part of your DNA tells your body what the outside of your cells should \"look\" like. When your body is building a new cell it uses molecules called proteins to make the outside of the cell match to what the HLA says it should look like. \n\nWhen you get sick your body sends White Blood Cells -- sort of the Marines of your immune system -- after the germs that make you sick. White Blood Cells are big and powerful cells and it would be bad if they beat up on parts of your body that aren't sick. They look at the outside of cells and leave the ones that match your HLA alone. That way they only beat up cells that don't belong... cells that don't have your DNA.\n\nSometimes when a person gets **SUPER** sick they need a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow is a special cellular factory deep inside your bones where your body makes new blood cells including white blood cells. When a person's bone marrow is replaced they get a WHOLE NEW FACTORY but that factory comes with all of the instructions -- all of the DNA -- that made it work in the person who donated it. \n\nThat means that it comes with the donors HLA and that the white blood cells it produces will attack and kill cells that don't match the donor's HLA.\n\nSo if the donor's HLA doesn't match the recipients HLA the donated bone marrow will make white blood cells which will try to kill the recipient. Doctors call that \"graft vs host disease.\"\n\nThat's why it's so hard to find bone marrow donors. You need to find someone who has a nearly identical HLA. You need to fool the donated cells into thinking that they're in the body they came out of; that means you need an almost identical genetic match. \n\nThose are hard to find. Sometimes even brothers and sisters aren't a close enough match. Fortunately, there are billions of people all over the world and while it might be a million to one shot of finding a donor, we have six-thousand-million people to choose from!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematopoietic_stem_cell_transplantation#Graft-versus-host_disease"
],
[]
] |
||
bpq6m4 | how mitochondria has stayed in our cells even after millions of years of reproduction? | [ The endosymbiotic hypothesis suggests that mitochondria were originally prokaryotic cells, capable of implementing oxidative mechanisms that were not possible for eukaryotic cells; they became endosymbionts living inside the eukaryote](_URL_0_) (Wikipedia).
What I don't understand is how this relationship has continued since this first instance of the mitochondria being consumed by some other organism?
Is the mitochondria just trapped inside a cell and when the cell reproduces another mitochondria is trapped inside that new cell, repeated x100000000? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bpq6m4/eli5_how_mitochondria_has_stayed_in_our_cells/ | {
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"There is a lot of integration between mitochondria and cell, but as far as I know part of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation are now located in the main nucleus, while some other genes are located in mitochondria own circular DNA. So mitochondria can't survive or reproduce outside eukaryotic cell.",
"The first proto-eukaryotes were created out of an endosymbiotic relationship, where the mitochondria gained energy from within the larger cell and the larger cell absorbed said energy and encompassed the smaller cell for protection (and some other mechanisms).\n\nFast forward to the present, the mitochondria is *part* of the eukaryotic cell because of this relationship. The process and efficiency was so good that the next replicated eukaryotic cell *had* to have its own mitochondria. Therefore, while it started with a dual-cell relationship (in this sense), the current mitochondria is just a specialized organelle based off of a proto-bacteria in the past.",
"Each cell has lots of mitochondria, and when the cell divides it makes sure that each daughter cell gets some mitochondria of its own. The mitochondria also divide so there's always enough of them to go around. Any cell that somehow doesn't get mitochondria dies, so there's been really strong pressure for cells to be sure and always have mitochondria in them."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion#Origin_and_evolution"
] | [
[],
[],
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|
6qsph7 | why are energy drinks always in cans and not transparent bottles? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qsph7/eli5_why_are_energy_drinks_always_in_cans_and_not/ | {
"a_id": [
"dkzqqus"
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"text": [
"Im sure this violates the sub's ediquette but here ya go OP. , [energy drinks in a clear \"can\"](_URL_0_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.cstoreproductsonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/enhanced_slideshow/public/monster-1-810.jpg?itok=-QRRHdpi"
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