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cbuj3s | what does an irreversible maoi do? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbuj3s/eli5_what_does_an_irreversible_maoi_do/ | {
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"Monoamine oxidase (MAO) breaks down a lot of the neurotransmitters associated with mood disorders in the body to non-active forms. An MAOI inhibits MAO from doing it's job properly, thus increasing the concentration of these neurotransmitters in the brain. An irreversible MAOI binds to MAO and won't let go, effectively disabling the enzyme until it is destroyed, whereas a reversible one can be \"knocked out\" from the MAO enzyme to make it usable again. The biggest advantage of a reversible one is that it is safer in overdose than an irreversible one."
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1xwytw | what happens when the us government proves a monopoly or oligopoly exists? how is the law enforced? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xwytw/eli5_what_happens_when_the_us_government_proves_a/ | {
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"Contrary to popular belief, monopolies and oligopolies are not illegal.\n\nWhat is illegal is using monopoly powers in specifically described ways to stifle competition. For example, selling goods at less than cost to drive a competitor out of business is illegal, as is colluding with other companies to fix prices or territory.\n\nIf a company is caught doing one of those things, it can face legal action. ",
"they make them change their name(s) and APPEAR to be different companies lol"
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68pwbk | why is japan not facing economic ruin when its debt to gdp ratio is much worse than greece during the eurozone crisis? | Japan's debt to GDP ratio is about 200%, far higher than that of Greece at any point in time. In addition, the Japanese economy is stagnant, at only 0.5% growth annually. Why is Japan not in dire straits? Is this sustainable? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68pwbk/eli5_why_is_japan_not_facing_economic_ruin_when/ | {
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"Because Japan owes money mostly to institutions within the country, faces much lower borrowing costs, and can devalue its currency instead of defaulting if push really came to shove.\n\nThat said, Japan's debt burden (and the shrinking working population and ballooning retired population that drives it) is *the* biggest economic issue in Japan.",
"Japan is a middle-aged doctor who took out a second mortgage maybe they shouldn't have. They are still wealthy, still have a great, high income job, so people are willing take more chances loaning them money, even if the debt is starting to pile up. If worse comes to worst, they can always sell their vacation condo to make ends meet.\n\nGreece is an assistant manager at Kinkos, who lied on a bunch of credit card applications and lived too large for a few years until it all caught up with them. Even though they owe less than Japan, even as a ratio to their income, their job is much less stable, so the interest is higher and their creditors are much less patient. They also live in their parents' basement, so they have no house to sell to get them out of trouble. And most worrying, they haven't assumed responsibility for the mess they made and spend most of their time blaming other people rather than trying to fix it.",
"The situation is sustainable as long as people believe that Japan can meet its payments and will be able to in the future. So far, people do believe this and far from facing economic ruin, Japan is building itself up and investing in technologies and strategies that will position itself better to handle future challenges - among them, the debt. ",
"Japan owes most of its debt to its own people and at a quasi non-existing interest rate. It's like they owe 200,000 USD at 0.05%, and have an income of 100K a year, so they need to pay 100 bucks every year. They can afford that.\n\nGreece owes most of its debt to outsiders and at a much higher interest rate. It's like they owe 5,000 USD at 10%, with a 5K a year income, so they must shelve 500 USD every year. That's already a much more significant amount.\n\nSo Greece must pay five times what Japan has to pay although its debt is much smaller. Then you consider that Japan's population is 12 times higher, this means, per person, Greek people must pay 60 times what Japanese do.\n\nThat's the reason why Japan is not in dire straits but Greece is: Japan owes money to itself, at 0% interest rate while Greece owes money to the mafia at high interest rate.",
"Most of Japan's money is owed to itself, and in Yen. So if the value of the Yen falls...the debt is still basically the same. And it's Japanese citizens and Japanese banks that own most of the debt. Japan only has to answer to Japan. And Japan has enough money and is rich enough to pay off all its debt and to pay for what it needs. If the country needs more money, it can get it from the Japanese people and banks. \n\nGreece had debts in the Euro. It's debts were controlled by foreigners. The Greek economy went bad, and it was German and French banks that wanted money back. The economy went down and it couldn't pay its citizens or the debt. And it couldn't get more money from its own citizens. \n\nThe UK, after the Napoleonic Wars, had a debt to GDP ratio of over 250%. And it was almost 250% after WW2. \n\nIt's not about the size of the debt, it's about the ability to make the payments. Japan is rich; Greece was poor. ",
"Japan borrows yen. Japan will not run out of Japanese yen.\n\nGreece borrows Euros. Greece can run out of euros, and did.\n\nIt's the same reason the UK/USA add Australia will not run in to problems with public debt, but Spain/Italy may and do. If you're going to borrow, borrow only what you cannot run out of. Doing so prevents you from sending your country to ruin.",
"Most of Japan's debt is owed to the government of Japan. And what debt Japan owes to private bond holders is owed in a currency it controls. Japan can print their way out of debt should they wish, but doing so increases their costs of lending and is not sustainable long-term. Which is why the Japanese have taken steps to decrease their long-term debt.\n\nGreece, on the other hand, owes a bunch of countries, mainly Germany and France, a shit-load of money in Euros. Since Greece can't just print Euros, they have to actually earn them through tax revenue. Additionally, the Greek bailout came with onerous terms for the country that many, including the Greeks, believe will make the debt impossible to payback.\n\nThe ECB also caps the amount of debt that any one nation may hold, and it is unclear what they will do should Greece exceed this cap.\n\nThe Financial Times has a great primer on the subject, but it's behind a pay wall.",
"Weird answers that half understand national debt here. \nJapan doesn't struggle because they have an export economy but it is their own export economy. Greece struggles because they have a tourist economy that got fucked by the euro. Long story short, the more you export the stronger your currency. Germany passed this \"currency strength\" to other countries in the euro zone by sharing currency. Greece wants a weak currency to promote tourism. Your dollar should buy so much stuff in Greece that vacationing there is quite appealing. They lost that when they joined the EU. ",
"Japan issues its own sovereign currency and is unrestricted with deficits. Greece uses a foreign currency (euro) and has to follow strict rules for deficits. Government spending equals private income, dollar for dollar.",
"When you correct for population growth and demographic development the economic growth doesn't look that bad for Japan compared to other rich countries. ",
"Because debt to GDP ratio means nothing when a country controls its own currency. The crisis in Greece was caused by a typo in an excel spreadsheet from Harvard where they mistakenly thought that a debt to GDP ratio of over 90% would lead to all kinds of problems so the Europeans started punishing Greece for having that., but then they realized after the fact that it was a typo but the damage was done.. they had forced Greece to take on triple the amount of debt and destroyed their economy in the process. _URL_0_",
"Another thing to add to all the answers here is that Japan is a net creditor nation (is owed more then it owes others).",
"Having a public bank for only your country is better than your currency being controlled by other countries or private banks. ",
"Japan owes its debt to people in Japan, in Japan Yen. It can always print Yen to pay back, but it would devalue the currency. Coupled with things like the interest rate it owes being really low, less of a problem for Japan. \n\nGreece owes its debt to foreign investors, in a currency that is shared (cannot print). Hence, if they run out of $, they are in trouble.\n\nKinda, but more factors could be included to make it complete (other posts)",
"The last ~10 years Greece has rarely had less than 10% unemployment. Currently it is over 20%.\n\nThe last ~10 years, Japan has rarely had greater than 5% unemployment. Currently it is under 3%.\n\nJapan is a productive, exporting country.",
"Without going to much into detail (this is ELI5 after all):\n\nWhy Japan is not facing a crisis:\n\n- Japans debt has a very low interest rate, which makes it easier to pay off.\n- Japan is a rich country, and so it can afford to pay off the interest it owes\n\n**edit:** thanks to u/mustbemoney for reminding me:\n\n - A significant amount of Japans debt is owned by the Bank of Japan. In effect one branch of gov owns the others debt, obviously BoJ is going to be more lenient with the Gov than EU with Greece.\n\n\nWhy Greece is in trouble:\n\n- Its debt is at a high interest rate\n- Its debt is attached to a currency it has no control over, the **EURO**. If their debt was in Greek Drachma's (currency prior to euro), In an extreme and unlikely scenario,It could print out more money and pay off its debt (this would of course make it harder for them to raise money in the future, since investors will not trust them. This would also lead to inflation. It would also cause other stuff I am not qualified to ELI5 because of their complexity)\n\n\nNow, I'm pretty sure you're thinking: \"But isn't GDP the Wealth of a country? I mean, if I'm making 50k a year and I owe 50K in loans, aren't I better off than a guy who makes 100k a year but owes 300k?\"\n\nWell, unfortunately, GDP is an indicator of a Countries Wealth, **not its Governments Wealth**. Greece's government doesn't \"make\" the GDP, it makes what it can tax from the GDP, and then after it is done with government spending it can use what's left to start paying off debt. What's left is very little because of multiple factors, some of which but not all are:\n\nedit: to be clear, the \n\n\n- The Governments inability to get people to actually pay taxes (they're doing better than they used to).\n- The fact that raising taxes and/or cutting social programs **will** slow down the economy making it harder to make more money. \n- Some social programs cannot feasibly be cut (e.i: the Greek version of social security) or risk destroying the country\n-Greece is not growing very fast for various complicated reasons (aging pop is one)\n\n**Edit:**\n\nTo use the example of :\n - **Guy A** that makes 50k a year and owes 50k \n - **Guy B** that makes 100k a year and owes 300k\n\nIf **Guy A** has expenses of 45k a year (rent,food,etc..), he will only have 5k left to pay off debt. \n\nIf **Guy B** on the other hand could have expenses of 60k a year and will have 40k a year to pay of his debt, making him better off than **Guy A**\n\n\nI'd like to add that Japan's huge debt is a big concern, but since they are able to afford their interest payments, they have lower interest payments, which makes their interest rates lower, which makes it easier to afford their interest payments, which....\n\nBecause I just had this argument with a friend I'm going to add something here:\nThe **BoJ** has the power to print more money to fulfill interest payments not the Japanese government. This means the BoJ could refuse to print money to pay debt obligations (in a worst case scenario), but in reality wouldn't because of the negative effects (i.e Japan defaulting). Clarifying that here.\n\nAlso typos...\nmore typos...\nJeeze... so many typos !\n\nOk Reddit, take [this](_URL_0_) as a thank you for all the upvotes :)",
"Some good explanations at the top. However, ultimately countries run into trouble when they have a persistently negative net balance of trade. That means they are importing more goods and services than they are exporting. This balance can fluctuate but if it's persistently negative for a long time a country will face a problem if it's creditors decide to stop extending credit. That happened to Greece and it was a real problem because Greece must import more than it exports and to do that it has to borrow money.\n\nSomeone may like to point out that America has run a negative trade balance for a very long time as well and that's true. It isn't a problem, yet, for America because America is essentially running the board (security is a \"soft export\"). Greece is just a bit player and can't just keep running huge trade deficits every year without consequence.",
"Way too much focus on the \"Japan rich, Greece poor\" and \"who the money is owed to\" arguments here. These are really not important (especially the latter one - do people understand how bonds work?). The only important difference between the two countries, is that one is in the Eurozone, and the other is not. \n\nUsing a ELI5 analogy, Japan is like someone who owes a lot of money, but also owns a printer that can print additional money. No one worries about Japan's debt because if they are struggling, they can fire up the printer, print a bunch of money and use that to pay the debts. Of course if they went too crazy, inflation would shoot up and cause other issues, but given *deflation* has been Japan's biggest issue for most of the last 30 years, no one is worried about that.\n\nGreece on the other hand is like someone who owes money but, in this case, some guy down the street named Germany owns the printer, and even though they could print money and really help Greece (and bunch of other countries), Germany is *very* worried about inflation (unreasonably in most economists eyes) and is refusing to do so. So instead, Germany is making Greece cut back on spending to try get out of debt. \n\nNow this is where it gets a little complicated and the analogy breaks down. For most individuals, cutting back on spending has no impact on your income. For a country, cutting back on spending almost always leads to lower income as well. They cut spending, which depresses the economy, which leads to lower tax revenues (income) and means their overall income to spending ratio doesn't improve all that much, so more cuts are asked for and so the circle continues. This is the viscous circle Greece (and Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal) have been stuck in for nearly 10 years. \n\nIt should be noted that some of these countries have basically turned it around now (Ireland, Spain and Portugal are growing again, strongly in some cases). But this is just catching up the huge drops in economic output that they suffered when they were cutting. In the meantime, close to 50% of young people couldn't get jobs, far right (Italy, Greece) and far left movements (Spain, Portugal) surged, human capital was completely wasted, and the Eurozone is now facing an existential crisis. But, you know, inflation was really the big concern. ",
"Japan: Toyota, mitsubishi, hitachi, Sony, Nippon, Nissan, Honda \n\nGreece: eeeerrrr...hmmm...the pireous port?\n\nwho would you trust with your money?",
"People in Japan pay their taxes and work damn hard. Greece, the tax compliance is sub par, and lets face it many people (particularly men) sit around watching soccer and try ti hook up with British tourists... ",
"Debt and credit conceptually are basically nominal factors of faith in ones ability to generate more than was put in. \n\nSo on a micro level you have a credit score and basically this is a number the banks put on you to gauge how much you make, spend, owe and basically results in how much you can be leant. For example, even if you're like a crack addict with no job and no money, if you don't have any debt banks still feel confident in lending you a few thousand dollars it's a small amount of exposure to them and the payments on that small of a loan are so low an unemployed crack addict could pay them. Now an unemployed broke crack addict already in a small amount of debt that they may even be making payments on successfully won't be able to get a loan because the risk is higher for the lenders and the gains aren't that good.\n\nOk so now if we blow that up to like a macro level with like the debt of countries right, let's look at the US. We are 20 trillion in the hole and our GDP, basically the total value of the entire US economy annually, is like 18 trillion. It's actually a lot better than it was, basic in the 2000s gdp was like less than 10 trillion and debt was more than 16 trillion, but that doesn't matter. The reason it doesn't matter is because people are still always willing to lend the us government money. And I don't mean like bank loans, anybody can lend the government money by buying bonds or securities. Basically these amount to micro loans to the government. You buy a $1000 savings bond that pays $1250 in 3 years, that's basically you lending the government a 3 yr $1000 loan with whatever interest rate. Bonds are always good and people are always buying them; basically this is like saying the government can always go into more and more debt because people will always be willing to lend the government money. There's a lot of reasons behind this, not the least of which is the us governments reputation for paying back these investments but also that these investments are done in dollars which is a strong, reliable currency. Some governments aren't as good about paying back loans like this or they pay back the loans by printing more money which lowers the value, so you my buy a 1000 jigger bond from jiggerland that pays 1250 jiggers in 3 years, but after 3 years one jiggers only worth what half a jigger from 3 years ago was worth so the 1250 jiggers they give you back are actually worth less than the 1000 you started with.\n\nThis is basically what's going on between Japan and Greece. Japan is in a lot of debt, but basically Japan is still reliable to loan money too. They will pay you back on time and what they pay you back with will legitimately be worth more than what you originally lent them. Greece on the other hand has a reputation for sucking at this. They'll probably pay you back what they said they would, maybe on time, but more than likely it won't be worth more, or much more than you originally lent to them. There's also a marketing thing where like Japanese bonds are more reliable, so more investors want them, which in turn makes them more expensive and harder to get. Greek bonds on the other had are super cheap and easy to get, but as they say nothing ventured nothing gained.",
"I'm surprised no one has touched upon one of the most important differences:\n\nYour comparison is based on gross debt. \n\nThe government of Japan holds A LOT of assets. Factor that in and you arrive at a net debt to GDP rate of roughly 116%.\n\nThe Greek government holds virtually zero assets. Their gross debt and net debt is basically the same - 197%\n\nGreece is like a young guy who took up lots of debt and spent it on wine and parties. Japan is like a person who has a mortgage and some other debt, but owns a house where he has tenants who pay rent.",
"Debt doesn't cause economic ruin, lack of credit does. Greece couldn't get credit because they don't control their own currency and the people who did control their currency didn't trust them. Japan's credit is still strong, just like the US.",
"FUN FACT: Luxembourg is a country with less than a million inhabitants but it has the 6th highest debt in the world. If we all had to pay our share. We'd have to pay 6.9 million per capita. ",
"Debt solvency is not the major economic problem, but only in very few cases around the world. Major problems include ageing demographics -that change money habits and people tend to save more and spend less which is bad for growth and also seems to be bad for productivity as older people have a harder time to integrate with new technologies-, a new trade model that provides higher margins to emerging market economies today that it did 100 years ago and thus global GDP growth is distributed to other countries than just in the west, and inherent ideological beliefs that edges econ knowledge and theories and take over policymaking (although i should mention there are other reasons too, like short-termism etc). Debt solvency is a problem because it takes away the major tool to get over economic crises (budget deficits) and that simply intensifies the econ problem, but it doesn't originate it. As for Greece vs. Japan, the Greek gov during the past two years hired around 30k people in the public sector and most empirical signs suggest all of them are members of the ruling party, on top of all the other major causes for econ decline. Safe to say, this is not about debt levels.",
"Hi.\nI have been living in Japan off and on since 1989. How this place keeps going is a mystery. I have read some of the comments and they seem correct to me. No one here worries about it. No one seems to do anything about it. The place is a demographic time bomb but still keeping its head above water. One thing I notice is that foreign workers are all over the place. I call my local 7/11 Katmandu for obvious reasons (actually, the workers are great. 3 a.m. and they can still crack a smile). Buildings are being torn down everywhere and my Japanese wife has even noticed that many of the guys doing the work are white foreigners (probably eastern European). I live in Nagoya which, along with parts of Tokyo is one of the few areas in Japan seeing a growth in population. i.e. the economy is good. Horror stories abound about the depopulating countryside and lack of people paying into pension and health plans but, so far so good. Glad we have an exit option.\n",
"“ELI5: Why is Japan not facing economic ruin when its debt to GDP ratio is much worse than Greece during the eurozone crisis?”\nFiat money functions on the belief basis that it has intrinsic value. Although it doesn’t, if it isn’t backed by something with intrinsic value such as gold, silver, oil, etcetera. Because it doesn’t have true value, it can be indefinitely printed off as required. Until declared worthless by those being asked to accept it as payment. That point for Japan has not yet arrived, but it is inevitable.\n",
"Because [the correlation between a high debt-to-GDP ratio and serious economic problems](_URL_0_) was based on [a mistake in an Excel spreadsheet](_URL_1_).\n\nThe reality is that economies are messy and complicated, and it's not possible to explain what happens in different times or in different places using anything as simple as a single ratio.",
"The best points have already been made. I'm gonna throw out 2 weaker points that are more meta.\n\nThe (not-so balanced) International Balance of Payments: No one wants to invest in Greece. When Japan or the USA get into economic trouble, investors at home and around the world swarm in to invest. Everyone knows there are fortunes to be made. Greece, on the other hand, has a terrible reputation and not a whole lot of directions to expand in.\n\nAnd if we're gonna go out on a limb here... Greece is hindered by its geography. This is old-fashioned geopolitics and it's open to dispute, but I'll say it anyways. The geographic hindrances make economic growth in Greece difficult. The country's population is spread out across so many damn islands. Encouraging economic efficiency is difficult when it becomes expensive to just move goods from one island to another. Even the basic stuff, like coal for power plants, is not easy to move around.",
"How's your Greek TV and stereo? ",
"The key is: Japan controls the currency of its debt, Greece does not. This makes a huge difference to how things play out when there's a downturn.\n\nFor Japan, the downturn lowered interest rates, lowered the value of the Yen in step with the economy, hence lowered the debt. \n\nFor Greece, the downturn in Greece did not lower interest rates, in fact, interest rates skyrocketed for ELI6 reasons. It did not lower the value of the Euro in step with the Greek economy. Worse, the European Central Bank completely mishandled the crisis at first, making Greece's situation much less stable than it needed to be.\n\nTL;DR: countries are better off if their debt is in their own currency.",
"Japan has control over their economic future, Greece does not. It's not rocket science. The Euro is poorly designed, the financially incompetent people just didn't coincidently move to the outskirts of Europe. Without a surplus recycling mechanism (which existed in previous common currencies like the New Deal and Bretton Woods) any non manufacturing country will struggle.",
"DONT bother listening to any other explanation. THe ONLY thing you need to know is that Greece is no longer a currency sovereign while Japan is. When a nation can't run deficits, it is FUKED. Austerity kills. Listen to Mark Blyth or Stefanie Kelton youtube videos and you'll understand. ",
"Historic output, larger population, more overseas reliance on exports from Japan and confidence from enormous GDP. All good reasons.\n\nELI5:\n\nYou have two friends. One has a dad with really neat toys, they help you in life and are fun. The other has a kickass party once or twice a year and used to be super cool a few hundred years ago. They both invite you to their house, but if you don't go to the cool kid with neat toys house they can cut you out. The kids with parties twice a year needs you to go to their parties and will be much less annoyed if you don't turn up.\n\nThere's only one choice.",
"Central banking, and fiat currency. The US will have this same stagnation. Its already happening. Central banks pretend they can control the ebb and flow of economies by raising or lowering interest rates artificially, as opposed to letting the market set rates. All they really do is create bubbles that pop. Japan's popped a long time ago, and this is just the slow death of their money.",
"This will be my first ELI5 answer, so bear with me and any over-simplifications or lack of simplifications that I might do.\n\nJapan is in dire straits, but they are paying the price in terms of low growth because they have a culture of not being able to lose face.\n\nGreece is still in dire straits since their politicians haven't been able to correct the living standard increase that people got through loaned money.\n\nThat might be the short answers, but why end there? Am I really telling you that the Greek people are better of now than they were before they began taking out all the loans, and that they will have to \"suffer\" more before it gets better? Well, in some ways, yes.\n\nThink of it like this. You earn $100 per day. You also borrow $100 per day, because some moron lets you do that. Now, even though you buy a new Ferrari with your loan (yes, a very cheap one, make it a toy car, happy?), your neighbor who also earns $100 per day and loans $100 per day spends his money on buying the olives you sell from your farm. Thus, his $100 per day is supposed to finance both your normal costs, his olives and your toy car... and this works for as long as no one wants you to pay interest, or in Greece's case, as soon as people don't want to increase your amount of loaned cash every day to cover for your interest payments. Suddenly you have $100 of olives that he cannot buy, so you can't cover your basic costs like other food or heating, while you also cannot buy a new toy car every day. The other guy, well, he still has his day job earning him $100 per day, but he cannot afford your olives so his situation will be worse and if he earned his income as a part-time toy car seller and part-time waiter in the restaurant you used to visit, then he might be out of a job too.\n\nNow, what has to happen is that the two neighbors have to help out with the olive farm and sell those olives abroad, but that will only net them $100 per day instead of the $400 they used to be able to spend, so the farmer might keep $60 and the other guy $40 which is way less than what they had...\n\n...and this is doable, because they did so \"before\", but it's always harder to lower your living standard than to raise it, and thus the Greek government is still asking the lenders to give them $50 per day and person because they have suffered so much... and the EU and the IMF is kinda accepting this, for now, but they also know that they won't get the money back and since they don't want to keep giving Greece money forever, they also demand that the Greek government should keep on lowering the living standards until they reach where they \"should\" be given how productive the Greek people are.\n\nThat's half of the question. The other part is... easier, since I already did the hard simplifications.\n\nThe consensus among economists has been and probably still are that a modern economy will have an ideal GDP growth rate around 2-3% per year, which tend to be illustrated by the leading economy (the American) on average growing at that speed for... a long time. This is basically the economy's body temperature. Anything more, as in when growth spikes at 4+% percent over a couple of quarters and you have a fever... or rather probably have some asset price bubbles brewing, and anything less and you have serious health issues.\n\nEnter: Japanese economy. Basically, the Japanese economy has had \"the lost decade\", \"the lost score\" and \"the lost 20 years\" since a major asset price bubble which went bust in the late 1980's, and at this speed we'll talk about \"the lost 30 years\" in 2020. That is what I would call being in \"dire straits\"... However, since the crisis is more about not having growth than having to scale back of fake growth, then the crisis doesn't become as noticeable as how it is for the Greek people.\n\nSo what are the reasons for the Japanese problems, and why aren't they as obvious as the Greek ones? The easy answer is that while the Greek government (and people) had to borrow from global institutions because there wasn't enough local cash, the Japanese government is borrowing from its own citizens (kinda like having a voluntary tax), so they won't run the risk of big institutions suddenly realizing that the debt isn't sustainable. They, through the Bank of Japan, decides the interest rate and thus are able to control how much they have to pay for the debt and paying 0,5% of 200% in interest is far cheaper than paying 8-10% of 200%.\n\nThe more complicated answer is that since the Bank of Japan is unable to increase its interest rates, because it would result in the Japanese government defaulting over its internal debt, then the real crisis is how Japanese companies are investing their resources. A low interest rate tends to lower the required return on an investment, which in Japans case have resulted in a lot of companies allocating their resources to save poorly performing sub-divisions, which is making the economy suffer. Add to that that Japanese have had a culture where people have avoided to lose face and you got problems.\n\nTL;DR So to answer your answer, the Japanese economy is actually in dire straits and it's debt is only sustainable in a self-destructible environment.",
"What I really don't understand is why Japan is in debt in the first place. It is a nation of highly educated hard working people - my simple brain would imagine the country itself to be rich because of this.",
" Finally a question i can use my expertise to answer. I will make it very brief and simple. \n\n Greece's problem was not just the non viable financial sector. The core problem lied within the whole financial system and the way it was structured. The unbearable was bureaucracy and the economy generally unproductive. On top of that they had unstable and corrupted governments that only made things worse.\n\n When Greece joined the EU was already in a bad state. People found the opportunity to finally get cheap and fast loans to buy homes and cars. That made them rely their spending on credit rather than savings. This is something that happens in most contemporary financial systems that rely a lot on credit for liquidity. The main difference is that Greece did not have a system in place to sustain it. Japan, who even though as you said had a larger debt, their system was structured better and both the government and central bank used stimulus plans to assist the recovery of the economy. Meanwhile in Greece, before they were able to start a stimulus plan they had to do reforms of the government, financial sector, taxation etc. \n\n People in Greece right now are frustrated with the current situation since the reforms came at a high price e.g. higher taxes, lower allowances and pensions. \n\nIf you want further info, inbox me.",
"They very much are, and have been since the early 90's.\n\n\nYou've just never been paying attention. Look up Japan's \"lost decades\".",
"It is facing economic ruin.\n\nIt's inevitable.\n\nOnce interest rates rise, the debt will be unmanageable.\n\n",
"Some very stupid want to be economists here. Japan like Greece is screwed. There next 10 generations will live under the foot of this debt. Just like the US.",
"Because debt-to-GDP is not nearly as big of a factor as people make it out to be, especially if you control your own currency. Debt fetishism is kinda dumb. ",
"Isn't there a culture of saving money in Japan? So there's actually lots of personal wealth floating around banks and stuff. Same with Germany and why it's done so well in the EU. It's culture is one of work and saving money and paying you taxes ",
"Im just gonna mention something no one said, which is that a big percent of Greece's population is elrderly people who are being forced to work until 67 having as a result a lot of young people unemployed.",
"japan issues its own currency. a sovereign currency issuer can never default on its own debts because it can fire up the printing press at will. greece doesnt have this luxury",
"So many of these answers are incorrect. It has nothing to do with interest rates/who owns the debt. \n\nJapan is a fiat currency meaning that it controls the printing of its currency. Greece and other EU countries cannot print their currency. \n\nThink of an extreme example. Japan/US could pay off all of their debt in one swoop if they wanted. They could just print a multi-trillion coin and be done with it. Obviously, there are inflation implications but this is just to illustrate the example that a fiat currency country cannot, unless by choice, default on debt issued in its own currency. In contrast Greece is unable to do this, they can't print currency to pay debt off. \n\nIf you want more info on this check out this book :_URL_0_ . weritten by a hedgefund manager who is a legend on the street. ",
"A lot of answers but most of them aren't really correct.\n\nLet's say you are a parent with three kids. You want your kids to do their chores, clean up after themselves, and contribute to the common good of your household. You decide to print up small paper squares with a picture of your face on them and since your name is Bill you call them \"Bills\"\n\nYou offer to pay your kids Bills when they do things you want. One Bill to unload the dishwasher, two Bills for walking the dog, five Bills to mow the lawn. You announce your plan to the kids and they look at you like you're nuts. \"Why would we care about these pieces of paper with your face on them?\" they ask. That's when you inform them about the second part of the plan. Every week they have to give you ten Bills to cover their room and board. No Bills means no food and they have to sleep in the backyard. Your children enthusiastically agree to the new system.\n\nThis is how modern monetary systems work. You (Japan) spend Bills (yen) by giving it to your kids (private sector) and you demand payment (taxes) from them all and if they don't pay you punish them (jail).\n\nYou are a prudent parent so each week you decide to spend 30 Bills getting work out of your kids and you ask for payment of 30 Bills each week, you have a balanced budget. But after a few weeks your children notice something, earning and spending 10 Bills a week is a bit constraining. Some weeks they are busy and earning 10 Bills is hard, some weeks they have extra time and they end up sitting around when they could be earning Bills. They ask you if you'd consider spending some extra Bills so they can save a few. So the next week you pay your kids for 40 Bills worth of work, you take back their required 30 Bills at the end but the kids now have 10 Bills between them.\n\nThis is deficit spending. You (Japan) have spent more Bills (Yen) than you took back (taxed) and you have run a 10 Bill deficit. Notice that the deficit is exactly equal to the amount the kids (private sector) have saved.\n\nThe kids now begin to trade these 10 Bills back and forth. Bobby does Suzy's chores on Monday and she gives him 2 of her saved Bills. Jimmy goofs off and only has 9 Bills at the end of the week so he borrows 1 Bill from Bobby and promises to pay it back the following week. Having 10 Bills floating around makes it a lot easier for the kids to trade with each other, back in the old days they have no Bills left over each week which they could exchange with each other. The kids ask you if they can save any more Bills and you agree.\n\nThe following week you spend another 40 Bills on child labor and only take 30 out at the end of the week. The deficit is 10 Bills and the cumulative deficit is 20 Bills. The net savings of your kids is 20 Bills. The sum of all the deficits you have run (National Debt) is exactly equal to the savings of your kids (private sector).\n\nAs long as your kids want to save more you can continue to run deficits to fund them. You could give them 60 Bills (200% GDP) to save between them if they really wanted it. \n\nWhat happens if you become more \"financially responsible\" and decide to cut your debt? You must spend less than you tax to do this, let's say you decide to spend 30 Bills and tax 33 Bills this week. Turns out Jimmy, that little spendthrift has no savings and he only has 10 Bills worth of chores. He's desperate to earn that extra Bill he needs. Bobby and Suzy are happy with their amount of saved Bills so Jimmy is in trouble. He offers to do some work for Bobby to get that precious extra Bill, he asks you if he can do Suzy's chores for fewer Bills. Your new budget where you tax more than you spend (a surplus) has led to a negative effect (deflation).\n\nYou are smart enough to reason this out ahead of time so you never go ahead with your foolish surplus plan. Instead you decide that maybe this chore system is a way to get lots of extra work out of the kids. So instead you decide to spend 60 Bills and tax only 30 Bills (a big deficit). Your kids do their normal workload, 30 Bills worth of work. Bobby and Suzy are pretty busy and satisfied with their current amount of savings so they just pass on the extra offer of work for Bills. Jimmy has finally gotten his financial house in order and wants to save a bit. But Jimmy doesn't really want to save 30 Bills, he offers to take the money but he's only going to do half the work for it. Your large deficit spending has led to a different negative effect (inflation).\n\nSo to sum it up you (Japan) can spend more than you require your kids (private sector) to pay back (taxes) and build up a cumulative deficit (debt). Your total cumulative deficit (debt) is exactly equal to the savings of kids (private sector). If your deficit/debt is too high you cause inflation, if it's too low you cause deflation. The right size is dictated by the savings desire of the holders of your currency.\n\nThe most interesting implication of this is that deficits are good and necessary as long as they are appropriately sized. Large ones could cause inflation. If the private sector has more savings than they need and choose to spend excess savings, if economic output is at capacity and the government continues to spend prices go up. Conversely balanced government budgets or surpluses cause deflation and economic harm. The United States has had six economic depressions and six periods of extended government surpluses. In every case the surpluses occurred immediately prior to the depression. The 7th period of surpluses ended in 2001, how did the next couple decades work out?\n\nAnother implication is that government spending must necessarily occur before government taxation and government borrowing. The government does not borrow money in order to spend. On day one there are no Bills in circulation for you as the parent to borrow. You spend first and then tax second. If there are extra Bills you can let them sit in paper form or if you are so obliged you can let your kids deposit them with you in an interest bearing form (government borrowing). But in either case spending comes first, there is no reason for the government to ever worry about borrowing the dollars it needs to spend.\n\n",
"Simply put, because unlike Greece, Japan wasn't artificially bankrolled by a global version of *Same Day Cash Advance* who forged the loan papers so it could qualify for the cash only so they could charge them a gazillion percent in interest to bankrupt them later - i.e. that being the US, British, German and Swiss Banks. ",
"ELY5 : Japans government owes japanese people money. The country as a whole isn't losing a dime.\n\nGreece's government owes German people money. They are losing money to a foreign nation. That money is actually leaving their economy."
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1ljvgq | what happens between turning your key and your engine running in a car? | I understand that turning the key makes an electrical connection, but what's the chain that leads to the engine running, and do things split off and start running parallel? (i.e. Transmission and engine) The more detailed, the better, thank you! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ljvgq/eli5_what_happens_between_turning_your_key_and/ | {
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"It depends on the car, but nowadays most cars have computers and fuel injection. When you turn the key halfway, the computer powers up and the fuel pump primes the fuel lines. When the key is fully turned to the start position, the starter motor turns the crank and the computer then tells the ignition system to send voltage to the spark plugs, in sync with the fuel injectors which allow fuel into each cylinder for firing (exploding), and then the car starts.\n\nEDIT: PS - With fuel-injected cars, it is a good idea to turn the key halfway to prime the fuel lines, give it a second or two, then turn the key fully to start. By doing this, you are allowing the fuel lines to prime before starting and you may jus provide longer life for your car battery and starter motor.",
"Not sure about modern computerised cars but this is what happens in non-computerised vehicles. The transmission doesn't need electrical power, it's the mechanical bits that turn the power from the engine into power at the wheels (via the gearbox and axles).\n\n**OFF** \nNo power to engine or starter.\n\n**Accessories**\nNot all ignition systems have this position, but it there is an ACC key position then it means still no power to engine or starter, but things like the radio and lights have power.\n\n**ON / RUN**\nPower to the engine components and accessories. The coil receives battery voltage (12 volts) that is cranked up to tens of thousands of volts to be directed at a spark plug by the ignition system. Other equipment that the engine needs to run (like fuel pump, cooling fan) also receive power.\n\n**START**\nThis position is sprung such that the key returns to ON when you release it. Power is cut off from accessories (cranking the starer motor takes so much power it could damage them). Power to the engine (as in ON position). Power is also sent to another switch that triggers power to be sent to the starter motor that cranks the engine. Starter motor is triggered by a separate switch because it requires so much power it's not feasible to switch that directly with the ignition switch you put the key in.\n\n[edit - clarification and mentioning the transmission]",
"The main thing that happens is a big electric motor makes the engine turn. This allows the linkages in the motor to do all the things that make a motor engine work.\n\nIf the engine is working right, as soon as it turns through one whole cycle, the engine will be ready to start, the engine fires and runs.\n\n"
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1mbdnh | how do dust bunnies form? | I was cleaning my house today and found a colony of dust bunnies under a chest of drawers, it got me thinking. How does the dust clump together where there is no air to push it around? Why do dust bunnies form in some places but not others eg. Under radiators but never on top of a dusty book? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mbdnh/eli5_how_do_dust_bunnies_form/ | {
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"Static. Everything has a weak electrical field, objects with similar and compatible electrical fields are attracted to one another and clump together, the heavier object becoming the foundation, thus the reason why that static cover balloon sticks to the kid but the kid is not pulled to the balloon. All dust particles have a similar electrical field, the more dust you have the more likely you'll have particles with compatible fields, e.g. opposite polarizations to their field, the more of these similar and compatible fields you have the more likely that the particles will find one another and form a clump, you then add in things like hair, string, and other long particles again with similar and compatible electrical fields and soon you'll have a bunch of little dust bunnies."
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97focy | why can the task manager close tabs while simply pressing close program cant even though they should do the same thing | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/97focy/eli5why_can_the_task_manager_close_tabs_while/ | {
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"The operating system (Windows) has a range of methods available to force a program to close. The most forceful may cause the program to lose its data with no change of saving it, so they are hidden away from easy-to-launch commands.",
"They are not the same thing.\n\nThere are a number of ways to close a program.\n\nIt can get a bit complicated, but what you are looking at is mostly the difference between politely asking a program to finish its current work clean up its desk and leave and grabbing the program by the neck dragging it to the door and kicking it in the butt so it will stumble out to get it to leave the office.\n\nThe letter is messier, but does not rely on the cooperation of the program being evicted.",
"Clicking close is basically asking very nicely for it to end when it can find the time\n\nEnding task (task manager) tells the program YOU NEED TO STOP RIGHT NOW! \n\nending a process (also task manager) is taking a gun and shooting it.",
"The button in the corner tells the program to sort its shit and close.\n\nYou know how a word processor asks if you want to save your work first? That’s because the program can at its own discretion choose how to close. If at all.\n\nThe End Task in the task manager, though, just shuts down the program immediately and takes back the memory it consumed.\n\nIt’s a huge difference."
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4pcc7w | why do fire alarms go off so frequently in work buildings? | In my work building the fire alarm goes off every week, sometimes more. If there were a real fire, no one would even react to the fire alarm since there are so many tests. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of fire alarm testing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4pcc7w/eli5_why_do_fire_alarms_go_off_so_frequently_in/ | {
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"It does. What it means is that your building has a really bad alarm system, for the very reason you mention: frequent alarms [desensitize the people to actual danger](_URL_0_).\n\nMany buildings don't have this issue. It's not a problem with workplace fire alarms, it's a problem with *shitty* building alarm systems.",
"not sure how that works. my building we are gfiven an email with date and times of any testing/fire drills so that we do not become accustomed to random drills. if they are doing testing to verify function it should be done at non peak times. IE my building emails us that saturday XX/XX/XXXX they will be doing fire alarm testing. during this time the alarms may go off and will stay on for 10-15 minutes while staff checks all the alarms and lights."
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8sj4ky | - why is there a fear of the “deep state”? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8sj4ky/eli5_why_is_there_a_fear_of_the_deep_state/ | {
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" > They’re basically the machinery of the government, right? Why should a secretary, paper pusher, or administrative assistant be subject to the whims of the general electorate?\n\nThe fear is that this \"machinery\" isn't just operating as their leadership directs but rather exerts control themselves.\n\nFor example many things operate according to \"regulations\" rather than laws. The law would state that a federal agency has the power to regulate an industry and then it is up to that agency to set or change what rules are in force. Those rules then are not subject to a vote, it is just that the agency itself is supposedly being directed by an elected official at the top. What is feared is that if the agency is staffed by \"deep state\" members who are not subject to election and they have an agenda, then the behavior of the agency might not reflect the will of the elected officials at the top."
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ccnous | why does it take so long to manufacture contacts for a person who has a bad astigmatism? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ccnous/eli5_why_does_it_take_so_long_to_manufacture/ | {
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"They are made with your prescription strength but also with a weighted side so that gravity spins them to make them align to match the shape of your eye. Since there are so many variables they usually don't have your perfect set in stock and have to custom order them. That's why it takes so much longer."
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4lkvg7 | in the past couple years why have there been so many problems with performing the death penalty? are the drugs used that hard to come across? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4lkvg7/eli5_in_the_past_couple_years_why_have_there_been/ | {
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"There are some issues and concerns with cruelty surrounding \"Lethal Injection\". It is know to cause severe pain, and there has been a lot of pushback from humanitarians on whether or not it is considered a cruel and unusual punishment.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nPlease check out this NBC article for more information. It is slightly bias as it is from a large news conglomerate, but less so than a lot of the other websites concerning the issue that has no information sited."
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5n5cnc | why does the tissue on the inside of your cheek heal/regenerate so quickly? | Whenever I accidentally bite the inside the of my cheek, it seems like it's completely healed a few hours later whereas your skin takes weeks to heal | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5n5cnc/eli5_why_does_the_tissue_on_the_inside_of_your/ | {
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"Well a couple reasons. One is that the type of tissue that makes up the inside of your mouth has more blood supply than say your skin. More nutrients means it has the tools to heal faster.\n\nAlso it's a great deal simpler than just regular skin.. You have like layers on layers of highly specialized cells on the skin of say your hand.. Where in your mouth it's just a mucous membrane with a smattering of fiberous tissue",
"There's [an episode of SciShow](_URL_1_) that explains a little of what's going on here, but the gist of it is that human saliva, and that of some animals contains a protein called [Tissue Factor](_URL_0_) which they claim helps with the blood clotting process. They add that saliva also has [Lysozyme](_URL_2_), an enzyme which can inhibit bacterial growth by attacking the cell walls of certain bacteria.\n\nEdit: yes, the video I referenced is about why animals lick their wounds, and yes it applies to humans and no, I don't advise you to do that. Use some neosporin or something you animals.",
"There's one reason that I didn't see mentioned here. It HAS to. It's got a lot of things going for it that help it heal quickly, but when you get right down to it, cuts, abrasions, and burns in your mouth have to heal quickly or else they'd become really nasty festering wounds. Mouths are really nasty biological cesspools, and if you get an injury there, you're a lot better off if the skin cells in there are actually programmed to react to damage with superspeed repairs.",
"Because it's highly vascularized and it's keratinized stratified squamous skin tissue. Keratinized cells are generally the types of cells on the body that are regularly exposed to the outside world, they tend to be tougher and repair quickly due to the fact they are hydrated and are often exposed to simple trauma. They are arranged in a manner that allows them to slough off and be replaced easily without the deeper layers of tissue becoming exposed.\nEdit: sorry didn't know what ELI5 meant before I posted this. Was excited there was a question I knew the answer to."
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2dn2dz | many americans in the u.s. don't want war and prefer the the country to be at peace and solve it's own issues. why does the country still go to war? | Supposedly the country is a democracy, but they don't listen to the people. Isn't that a violation to the whole idea of a democracy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dn2dz/eli5_many_americans_in_the_us_dont_want_war_and/ | {
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"Well, you elect the people who make the decisions and those people then make the decisions. You don't ask the people on every issue.\n\nWith that being said... Americans do generally support wars when it comes to entering wars, they only have a majority against the war after the fact. \n\nAfghanistan had huge support, like 80-90% \n\nIraq was about 60% support, Korea 65%, Vietam 60%...\n\nIt's not until the nation is at war for a period of time that the majority begin to oppose it and pretend they never supported it. \n\nI don't think they've ever gone to war when it wasn't the majority opinion",
"Children don't want to eat their vegetables, parents make them do it anyway. Whether or not the populace wants to go to war there are reasons to do so, whether to eliminate a threat, secure a resource or protect a foreign populace. America is especially prone to this because Americans love to chest pound about being the most powerful country on Earth, well that is a title you have to constantly maintain.",
"Our country is not a Democracy. It is a Repbulic of elected officials. The Republic is elected Democratically, but the legislation is voted on by the Republic. A great system in theory.\n\nThe problem arises when the size of a country outgrows its system. What I mean by this is that our Republic is now detached from their constituents. So the only means of enacting influence on them is by lobbyist. These lobbyist represent public interest professionally.\n\nAnother great idea, until the free market took hold. What happened is that we started to realize that some lobbyist were far better at their jobs than others. So corporations with the most money would higher the best lobbyist. These lobbyist would get their way a higher percentage of the time. So these corporations now have an unbalanced influence from within the republic.\n\nNow the republic is no longer being influenced by their people but rather the corporations, and since these corporations have also started getting the members of our Republic re elected, they have an even stronger hold over what their opinion should be.\n\nSo it really isn't about the American public and what they want. It's about a few things:\n\n1. Which way do I vote that will help me get re-elected.(Since money is the most important factor to win, they will usually do what the corporation wants)\n\n2. Who stands to profit(Defense contractors, oil companies, shipping companies all profit from war)\n\n3. What does my political party leadership want me to do\n\nPoliticians care about 3 things; Money, Endorsement, and Power. They get the first one from corporations. They get the second one by their political party, who in turn gets the first one from the same corporation as well. And they get the third one by ~~the american people~~ the corporations and political party working together to win elections.\n\nThe opinions of the average American mean little these days. It has become a battle of profitable companies fighting for the countries direction. You have oil companies, defense contractors, and old financial institutions on one side. On the other you have tech companies, renewable energy, and unions. They all have billions of dollars and they all have different agendas.\n\nWho knows what will win out in the end. Most likely it will be who can generate the most profit for Americans without violating civil rights. But who knows.\n\nAn interesting thing that has yet to play out is Tech companies, they have little political involvement right now compared to the money they have. They are starting to get more involved and it should be interesting to see how it all plays out.\n\nThe American people still have a voice though, and we our still heard. Our opinions and agendas only matter though if they don't get in the way of big business.",
"Everyone prefers for the US to be at peace, but peace cannot always be produced unilaterally. Sometimes the US gets attacked. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are two major examples. At other times, the US has not been attacked but military analysis predicts a threat of attack. For example, we know that ISIS is deeply hostile to the US (and is an offshoot of Al Qaeda which has already attacked the US) hence, it seems prudent to try to prevent ISIS from becoming too powerful. \n\nThe US does not always make the right decision when it goes to war. And there was a period of American history in which the US was an expansionist nation that simply wanted to seize territory. But at the present time, the US is reacting to perceived or actual threats. However much the US may prefer peace, it does still have to defend itself.",
"Governments aren't about listening to \"the people,\" they're about protecting and serving the rich and powerful. With very few exceptions, it has always been thus. And making war tends to be good for business. In a lot of cases, countries go to war *specifically for* business, as was the case with the US in the latter 19th and early 20th century.\n\n\n\n\n",
"Keep in mind that in many cases the public are depressingly naive, uninformed and short sighted. And other times the government is lying, and people believe the lies because they have no way to know differently. \n\nEvery country that is a signatory to treaties has obligations under those treaties, they can be alliances, commitments against genocide etc. People are only rarely aware of those agreements, and even less inclined to think they should go along with them, but the consequences for not being part of the broad international systems are quite serious. The US and the average american needs goods to flow around the word because that's where consumers of US goods, and suppliers of US products are. And instability in those places is ultimately bad, as is the threat to Americans very real if you let hostile people take over. \n\nThen there's the big picture. \n\nTake the situation in Syria and Iraq. No one particularly wants to go back into Iraq, nor to get involved in Syria. But it's important to recognize the commitments made against genocide, and the US has interests in the region. Turkey is an ally, which borders both countries, and Saudi Arabia and Iraq both supply a lot of oil to the world, which is, again, in US interests. Letting the Iraqis sort it out isn't working so well for the Iraqis. So what do you do? Let people get massacred by the thousands? Let ISIS take over oil fields in Iraq? What if they take over all of Iraq and march on Saudi? Do you want Iran to defend Iraq and then Iran controls more of the worlds oil supply, because by the way they aren't too friendly to the US. \n\nPeople can also be sold on a war, but not on the clusterfuck the US military makes of it. Al Qaeda really was responsible for Sept 11th and the Taleban in Afghanistan shielded them. That's bad. Really bad. We (NATO) can't just be having an attack on one of our members go unchallenged, and the longer term risks of doing nothing are even worse. But that doesn't mean we want mercenaries driving around in the back of trucks murdering people, and we don't want to be bombing some dudes wedding. We support military action to liberate afghanistan from the Taleban and the Al Qaeda goons they are protecting. We don't support military action that makes more enemies rather than less. \n\nOf course the US government and US military lied about what we should expect in afghanistan, and what they were capable of. Against Nazi germany and Japan everyone expected an enemy that could and would fight back and so it wasn't a shock when they did. Lots of lies were told about how wonderfully superior the US military is, and how liberated all of those people would feel. And it was bullshit. \n\nThe 1991 Liberation of Kuwait was straightforward. Iraq invaded Kuwait illegally, and that conflicts with US interests, removing Iraq from Kuwait is an agreeable thing to do. People were more or less content with the whole thing. There were some lies about Iraq threatening Saudi, but there was no question Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and that shouldn't be happening. \n\nBut the 2003 invasion people supported in part with the condition 'well if he has illegal weapons we need to be rid of him and everyone says he has illegal weapons'. So they supported the invasion, up until the point where they realized the government had been lying about the weapons, the Iraqi exiles were lying about the forces they could bring to the table, everyone was lying about ethnic and religious differences in Iraq, etc. People are willing to go along with a reasonably honest assessment of the situation and actions to be made in good faith towards reasonable goals. But when the whole thing is built on lies that's bad. \n\n > Isn't that a violation to the whole idea of a democracy?\n\nDemocracy gives people a say in governance, but that doesn't mean you should let them control it. That's why we elect representatives, who are hopefully able to spend the time to get versed in a broader range of issues, and who are able to balance the numerous tradeoffs involved in decision making. Money spent on Iraq is not spent on water shortages in California, but money spent on water shortages in california is not spent on helping detroit. Lots of people need things and the public are easily swayed to things which make good headlines but not necessarily good policy. Granted, politicians don't seem particularly good at it either, but the US has a rather poor political system that encourages incompetence among the leadership. ",
"I think \"Men in Black\" sums it up best, \"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat\"",
"I'm very serious when I say this, watch South Park Season 7 Episode 1 called \"I'm a little bit country\". It explains it brilliantly. Here is one of the quotes: \n\nCartman:\tI learned somethin' today. This country was founded by some of the smartest thinkers the world has ever seen. And they knew one thing: that a truely great country can go to war, and at the same time, act like it doesn't want to. [a shot of the crowd] You people who are for the war, you need the protesters. Because they make the country look like it's made of sane, caring individuals. And you people who are anti-war, you need these flag-wavers, because, if our whole country was made up of nothing but soft pussy protesters, we'd get taken down in a second. That's why the founding fathers decided we should have both. It's called \"having your cake and eating it too.\"\n\nRandy:\tHe's right. The strength of this country is the ability to do one thing and say another.\n\nSkeeter:\tYeah, but... if it weren't for all you guys protesting, why everyone around the world would hate the American people instead of just the President.\n\nGerald:\tAnd if it weren't for you people flexing your arms, America could easily get taken over by terrorists or... or China.",
"Because money. That's how we make money. We make our own money and when we are at war we can make more. It is the same as it has always been: Poor people die so rich people can make more money.",
"The job of the government, and elected officials, is NOT do do the bidding of their voters. That is a very common misconception. Their job is to make decisions FOR their voters because voters do not have the time or ability to be informed enough to actually know what they are talking about on every issue. If the people want something that is not to their advantage, and an elected official knows that, it is his duty to make sure it doesn't happen. They are supposed to be more informed and do what is best for people, not just do what the ignorant people want.\n\nThe issue is people don't even understand the fundamental principals of how their government is supposed to work. ",
"If you are refering to Iraq and Afghanistan, what makes you think the majority didn't want war with them? \n\nRight after 9/11, almost 90% supported the invasion. In 2008, 50% of Americans still wanted to keep troops in Afghanistan, as opposed to 44% who wanted them returned. I mean, as of *now* support is low, but 5 or 10 years ago the majority still supported war. \n\n_URL_0_"
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dsrc3s | why are most stores mostly open on weekdays when everyone is either at work or school? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dsrc3s/eli5_why_are_most_stores_mostly_open_on_weekdays/ | {
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"There are tons of people out in the middle of the day doing all sorts of things. On all days even! Not everybody works full time, or the same schedule, and some don’t even work at all.",
"If most stores weren't open on weekdays then all those people that used to work at stores on weekdays wouldn't be at work during weekdays and therfore would be looking for places to shop but nothing would be open.",
"I mean, several reasons. First of all, because people who work those jobs need breaks too. And yeah they could take hours off in the day, but now their day off doesnt line up with anyone elses, killing their social life. Second of all, many people work night shift or shop on their lunch break, so there is service to be had even in the daylight. And on top of that, a Monday through Friday job is a cultural staple, one so rooted in societal tradition it is unlikely to change.",
"I don't work a 9-5 (grad student) and I end up doing a decent amount of shopping during those hours (mostly grocery). There's a decent amount of people. Not everyone works a 9-5, stay at home parents are actually fairly common, and don't forget retired people. It's nowhere near as crowded like when i'm there in the 5:30-6:30 range but there's a decent amount of people. \n\nThere actually isn't a huge market for futons at 1:30 am. A lot of stores are more crowded at 10:00 Am than Pm, even on the weekdays.",
"In the retail world, 11-3 is usually time to stock your shelves, update your displays, handle your orders, take care of your returns, you know...do all of the things that make a store a store. \n\nRinging a register is a very small part of what goes into a business.",
"On top of everything else, many businesses you see but never visit are aimed at businesses: lawnmower stores with giant lawnmowers in a showroom inside are targeting the professional lawn guy, not you.",
"You realize those aren't the only 2 options, right? SAHM or 9-5er? There's a ton of waitresses, bartenders, janitors, graveyard shift workers, cooks, doctors, nurses, call centre workers, retail workers, bus drivers, paramedics, firefighters, police officers, security guards, nighttime construction crews, small business owners, and countless other jobs where people work odd hours.",
"An extremely large percentage of the work force do not work 9-5. This means they do their shopping at different times of the day or night. Additionally you have a lot of people who run errands on their lunch break when they do have a 9-5 job. \n\nAlso there is a lot of work that goes into maintaining a store. You have to restock the shelves, organize new product, clean, prepare for rushes, set up sales, etc.",
"Sometimes, we take time off work to run errands and such. Especially salaried employees. In my industry we tend to work well over 40 hours a week, so we do what we have to do to keep functional.",
"Where the heck do y’all live? Pretty much all the stores in my city are opened on the weekends because that’s when everyone shops.",
"I work in a large warehouse retail type store. Over 70% of our revenue is from Business2Business sales, rather than Business2Customer. This is the main driver of being “open” between 7am and 5pm on weekdays. Many of these businesses will have an official “purchasing officer” who comes into the store to purchase the items they need. If we weren’t open they’d simply go to the next store that is.",
"Some of the largest employers. Wall mart amazon ect. Are open 24/7 so staff work all around clock. Amazon is biggest employer in my area and everyone works one weekend day and has a three day weekend inc 2 weekdays. Id wager more people have jobs like this even if the boomer default of a 9-5 is the prevalent cliche its just not accurate to majority of people.",
"Have you ever driven around the city during 9-5? People everywhere! Solid number of people don’t work typical 9-5",
"I can't think of a retail location that isn't open till 8 and most are open atleast till saturday.\n\nThe only exception is specialty places that know you'll work around their schedual so they can have standard working hours.",
"Online shopping is killing brick and mortar. \n\nBusinesses have busy times. You can check them out on Google.\n\nWhen you count everyone, most Americans are unemployed. They could come by.",
"My biggest complaint about this is banks. How do I get into the bank if they're only open during business hours but I also work during business hours?",
"There's a large amount of people who are home during the day. The old, young, house spouses. It's a small segement of the population that works-- and even fewer that work in an office 9-5",
"I work as an EMT and so I’m off Tuesday through Thursday and honestly when I go shopping on those days there are tons of people out and about doing stuff. Not just old people or parents but adults of all ages. Not as many people work the typical 9-5 as you may think.",
"Most people can leave work to do shopping, what luxury is this... \n\nIf I do that in my job, you won’t be coming back, and no I don’t mean a long weekend either.\n\nSome stores tried a 24/7 thing, I went it, past 10pm was great, 2am even better, but at 2am, was rediculous to see so many mothers with new borns, just walking about.",
"One thing to keep in mind is that people in established careers often have a lot of flexibility. Even though they officially work a 9-5 job, their boss isn’t checking on them and they can set their own schedules for the most part. \n\nThese folks will pop out for a couple hours between meetings or come in late on days when they have a few errands to run. If they have kids this is usually especially handy since running errands in the evening can be a nightmare. During the day they are able to be alone and avoid crowds and traffic. \n\nIt just so happens that these folks are usually the types that have lots of discretionary income to spend on stuff, so it works out good for retailers.",
"Because the people working in the stores are real people too. \n\nYou can't say I want to shop on the weekend when nobody has to work, if shopping on the weekend requires everyone working in those stores to work on weekends. \n\nIf you start with retail you sooner or later end up expanding to the entire service sector. \n\nSome restaurants and similar businesses get around that by simply moving the day when they are closed to a weekday. \n\nIn some countries it isn't even up to the businesses themselves as there are laws to at least keep the Sunday work free for as many people as possible. (partially because of religion and tradition and partially because unions and workers rights groups would be against any change).",
"This surprised me during my trips to Au/NZ or EU, the shops close on sundays, it's odd for someone like me who's from India where the shops are open well beyond 8 PM even on sundays.",
"We laugh at all the old retiree's who still insist on doing their \"big\" shop on a Saturday. Like... You've had all week! Get out my damn way.\n\n\n(England by the way)",
"I don't understand how most people get packages delivered. Getting deliveries is always a pain for me because they're always delivered during weekdays during business hours... the exact hours I won't be home.",
" > Also didn't realize most people can just leave work to do shopping\n\nWait what? Not in any job I've worked. They've granted unpaid leave for occasional appointments but never for shopping.",
"When I wonder about this, I always figure that at some point, most businesses have wondered the same thing and tried it. I assume that when they did, during the new hours, they didn’t get enough business to pay for the lights and the staff. A lot of businesses will do what they need to in order to make money, and if it doesn’t work and they lose money, they will stop. Other business owners, I’m sure, will wait for others in their industry to do it or learn from others that have already done the experiment. I certainly remember random stores offering 24 hour shopping, but since only two people came in to buy copier paper at midnight, Staples stopped doing it. It doesn’t make sense to pay someone $10/ĥ to ring up $8.42 in sales."
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2ul4cy | why can't prostitutes just sell their clients something and then have sex with them to avoid prostitution charges? nsfw | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ul4cy/eli5_why_cant_prostitutes_just_sell_their_clients/ | {
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"Because, for the most part, you can't use \"tricks\" for getting around the law. Every single person, from the cops, to the judge, to any lawyers and/or jury will know that what *actually* happened is that you paid for sex, and they will not decide that you're not guilty just because you somehow found a loophole.",
"That would be a sham transaction. \n\nIf a reasonable person would not purchase lint at that price, it is pretty clear that it was simply a cover for an illegal transaction, and can be prosecuted accordingly.\n\nIt is the same soft of thing as selling your grandma your sports car for $100 the day before you declare bankruptcy."
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2bwgjp | why does a room temperature of around 72 °f (22 °c) feel cool from an air conditioner but warm from a furnace? | Heat = Feels warm
A/C = Feels cool | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bwgjp/eli5_why_does_a_room_temperature_of_around_72_f/ | {
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"text": [
"Human body is awful at telling absolute temperature - we feel relative temperature only. If something is cooler than your skin temperature, it feels cool, if it's warmer, it feels warm."
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a6u0wd | in animated films why are the credits often in a different animation style? | Is there a history to it at all or just to show off other styles or something? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a6u0wd/eli5_in_animated_films_why_are_the_credits_often/ | {
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"Movie credits (in general, not just in animation) are often a different production team or even company.",
"From what I've seen, the credits are a style that's easier to make quickly. It's something lots of people skip, so they don't wanna put too much effort into making it amazing"
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2b547b | why can't digital currency be counterfeited? since the money is virtual, a few lines of code could make you rich...? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b547b/eli5_why_cant_digital_currency_be_counterfeited/ | {
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"For digital currency (Bit coin for our uses), your wallets content isn't determined by you. The **Block Chain** is best explained as spreadsheet of what every person has, as determined by the majority. To get more bit-coins, you would need to convince 51% of the \"people\" involved that you have that money. This kind of attack it theoretically possible, but would require a computer larger then all the supercomputers of the world combined."
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3a0qzc | what contains the universe? | So I was laying in bed last night and blew my mind away by trying to grasp something, namely: we are on a rock orbiting the sun in a solar system, which is in a galaxy, which is in the universe, which is in?
EDIT: Also where did all this come from? Do we even have something like a concept explaining it? I'm kinda stuck in an infinite chain of questions trying to think about it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a0qzc/eli5what_contains_the_universe/ | {
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"This is probably an unsatisfactory answer but the universe isn't really in anything. All that there is is 'in' the universe."
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2f50w6 | how are we supposed to colonize other planets like mars if they don't have the same gravity as us? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f50w6/eli5_how_are_we_supposed_to_colonize_other/ | {
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"Another issue is [long term effects of zero gravity](_URL_0_), like what you'd see on a long voyage to Mars. Your body quickly adjusts to lower gravity by reducing bone and muscle mass, making it extremely difficult to go back to a higher gravity place.\n\nOn a long term stay on a lower gravity place? From the article, it seems like people would adjust by having less blood volume, less bone mass, less muscle mass, an atrophied heart... Perhaps that would be fine if people stayed on Mars, rather than trying to move between Mars/Earth after a long stay. "
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24z7c7 | covelant bonds, hydrogen bonds, polar bonds, and ionic bonds | Taking bio and am having a difficult time wrapping it around my head. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24z7c7/eli5_covelant_bonds_hydrogen_bonds_polar_bonds/ | {
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"Chemistry and bonding has to do with electrons. Valence electrons are the velcro of chemistry.\n\nIonic bonds are made with very unequal sharing of electrons. The ions gain or lose electrons, become ionized, and this causes them to be associated with one another.\n\nCovalent bonds describe a situation where both atoms have equal grip on the electrons.\n\nPolar bonds are somewhere in between, the electrons \"spend more time\" at the more electronegative atom.\n\nHydrogen bonds are different from the above 3. They are loosely bind molecules, namely water, because hydrogen has a loose grip on its electrons, is therefore slightly positive and is attracted to slightly negative parts of other molecules.\n\nDon't you have a TA or some shit?"
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czxjmp | how does copy & paste work on computers? | For example, when i highlight a sentence on a webpage and paste it in Word or some text editor, what's the process behind it?
What about the formatting of the text? (font, size, color,...)
How about copying images? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/czxjmp/eli5_how_does_copy_paste_work_on_computers/ | {
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"The operating system (Windows, MacOs, Linux) provides a clipboard function that allows copying/cutting and takes both a blob of data and some metadata about it. The metadata tells what the data is (text, formatted text in format X, an image, a file reference, etc.)\n\nAn application can allow pasting from that system-wide clipboard, interpreting the data based on however it can handle it (if it can), using the metadata to try to figure out what to do with it.\n\nSo in some cases, like from and to Windows Explorer, copy-pasting a file might create an actual copy of the entire file, while in other applications, the paste might just result in the file's path/filename being pasted, or nothing at all, or the contents of the file. Sometimes if you copy formatted text and right-click the destination, there'll be options to \"Paste plain text\" or \"Paste formatted text\". It's up to the receiving application to decide how to handle a paste."
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670sb9 | why are scuba suits mainly black? | I know that some fish tend to have their underbellies white and the tops dark (some rays), is there some relation of this with scuba suits? Or to do with absorbing heat, being seen, etc.
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/670sb9/eli5why_are_scuba_suits_mainly_black/ | {
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"The purpose of a wetsuit is to keep you warm. They do this by trapping water between the suit and your skin. Black is the best color to absorb sunlight - and heat the suit up. There may be some other reasons but I believe this is the main one..",
"A big reason is so they will dry out more quickly.\n\nIt can be pretty hard to get a wet suit dry, and if you pack it away when it is still wet it can get kind of funky. Letting it sit in the sun for an afternoon will usually do the trick.",
"I'd bet it also has to do with making straight black unadulterated neoprene suits is somehow cheaper."
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4gatap | why was the "tampon tax" started in the first place? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gatap/eli5why_was_the_tampon_tax_started_in_the_first/ | {
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"* It's not a specific tax relating to only tampons. Other items e.g Toilet roll, soap and bread fall under it as well.\n* Women believe it shouldn't be taxed, because it's an essential healthcare product. To be honest, they've got a point.\n\nEdit: checked the VAT stuff-- my mistake, bread isn't taxed, but the rest are.",
"In the UK they just got VAT (sales tax) along with everything else. There are exceptions, and tampons have now been added to the list.",
"It wasnt. \n\nSales taxes generally apply to anything you purchase and governments add exceptions to the sales tax to make life easier for certain groups. For example groceries might be except because they're a necessity.\n\nTampons were not explicitly excludes so taxes applied. Many people see that as an oversight but it's not s deliberate tax on Tampons ",
"It's that they are taxed like general merchandise (paper goods, soaps, deodorants, lotions) instead of how food, drugs, other necessities are taxed at a lower rate.",
"It is not a tax on tampons. It is not a special tax. \n\nIt is just standard sales tax that is on all items not specifically exempted. "
]
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[],
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||
3t9zuq | why did the star become such a popular symbol for humanity? furthermore how did the five pointed star develop and why is that specifically such a popular symbol? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t9zuq/eli5_why_did_the_star_become_such_a_popular/ | {
"a_id": [
"cx4gbiw",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"It represents the solar systems eclipse with Venus. If you were to put a dot where the eclipse happens over a period of time it would show the dot to dot of a five pointed star. Hope this helps :) Edit added photo :)_URL_0_",
"Another interesting fact about this particular star is its relationship to rather famous mathematical principles.\n\nSpecifically, the golden ratio. If you've heard of that, it's likely that you've heard that it tends to show up in art and architecture a lot since people think it's pleasant to look at (and supposedly shows up a lot in nature as well).\n\nThis ratio involves values A and B so that A/B = (A+B)/A and this winds up being approximately 1.61803398875 (it's an irrational number like pi, it is generally represented by the Greek letter phi - φ)\n\nThis is related to a 5 pointed star in that if you [draw one like this](_URL_0_) the length of any single point-to-point line is divided by either of the crossing lines into segments with lengths that satisfies this ratio. This *might* indicate why it's become so popular in that it is simply a \"nice looking\" shape. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://m.imgur.com/2ETHibU"
],
[
"http://i.stack.imgur.com/dohgO.png"
]
] |
||
410rno | why do dogs always want to be with you and play fetch etc. while cats just lay around all the time and don't respond to commands? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/410rno/eli5_why_do_dogs_always_want_to_be_with_you_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyynz0f",
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"cyypmou"
],
"score": [
2,
6,
5
],
"text": [
"Cats can be trained. How do you think they are taight to use a litterbox? Most owners just don't bother past that because an untrained cat can't kill humans or other peoples pets.",
"When you play with or give food to a dog, the dog thinks \"This is great, the person must be a god.\"\n\nWhen you play with or give food to a cat, the cat thinks \"This is great, I must be a god.\"",
"Probably due to the fact that we as a species *created* dogs through thousands (I think ~30,000 years but I may be wrong) of years of domestication. For this amount of time, the only dogs (originally wolves) passing on their genes were the ones who were loyal to us and helped us survive.\n\nIn general dogs are also just a much more social species than cats, they would live and hunt in packs before we domesticated them. I don't know much about wild cats but I think they're far less social.\n\nOur relationship with dogs was also symbiotic, we depended on each other for survival. Cats we just domesticated for shits and gigs. "
]
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[],
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||
vhdbu | - how is an oil well drilled? | Vertical and horizontal. I get how the drill bit works, buy how do they get pipe down there? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vhdbu/eli5_how_is_an_oil_well_drilled/ | {
"a_id": [
"c54kqkn",
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"text": [
"When they are drilling a well they have the drill bit at the very end with holes/ports in it. There are mud tools and such that are the first sections of pipe to go down. They will drill down a section, pull the pipe back up a bit, set slips in to hold the pipe, break the connection, connect to a pipe waiting in the mouse hole, pull it up, and connect it to the pipe that is in the drill section. \n\n[Here is a video showing roughnecks making a connection](_URL_0_)\n\nAt 0:30 you can see them setting the slips to hold the pipe.\n\n:35 they are breaking the connection and the table spins the threads out\n\n0:55 they are connecting to the pipe waiting in the mouse hole\n\n1:30 they are connecting back to the drill pipe\n\n1:40 pulling the slips back out\n\nThey drop the section back down and it's back to drilling. These guys are't the fastest crew. It typically should be done a lot faster than that.\n\nThey continue to drill sections and add a new lengths of drill pipe. They pump mud down the inside of the drill pipe all the way down to the drill bit. It acts as lubrication for the bit and also circulates anything that they drill back up to the surface.\n\nWrote this up quick. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.\n\n",
"Petroleum engineer here...\n\nOn land, first they pound out a huge \"conductor\" 30-50' into the ground. Then they bring in a drilling rig to drill a 24\"-36\" \"open-hole\" down to the target zone - maybe 6000' into the ground. The target zone is where the oil is suspected to be. The drill bit is attatched to drill-pipe which has \"mud\" running through it pressurized to go down the drill bit, through the tip and back up inbetween the drill pipe's OD and open-hole's ID. This mud is a miracle fluid, engineered for this specific well even. It acts as a lubricant for the drill bit, a sealant to keep mud/water/oil from coming into the open hole, a jet to help the drill-bit drill, a conveyor belt for shavings of dirt/bedrock/earth, hydraulic fluid to keep the immense depth and pressures from collapsing the open hole, and a money-sink for the well producers. When the mud returns to the surface it goes through a process to remove impurities and goes right back in - it's expensive stuff you'd want to recycle it. They can change the specifications of the mud while they drill depending on what they think is going on down there. Things rarely go as originally planned. \n\nOnce the open hole is drilled, the drill and drill pipe is pulled out. A 12\" diameter \"casing\" (for instance) is then sent down almost to the bottom. Now they want to cement this casing in the open hole leaving the inside of the casing clear. To do this they have \"centralizers\" put in every 3-10 stands (for instance). A stand is a section of casing. The centralizers will keep the casing in the center of the open hole while they cement it in place. At the bottom of the casing is an open plug. When they are ready to cement they send the cement down the inside of the casing. They've calculated exactly how much cement they need, and pump it in. Trailing behind the cement is a plug that will block the open plug at the bottom. Trailing behind the plug is water. Once they start getting feedback from the water they know (or think they do) that the plug is set after some amount of pressure is given back through the water they are pumping in. \n\nOnce the cement is in, they just wait for it to dry. Once it's dry they only need to perforate the target zone so that the casing can take in the oil/water/gas at the target zone. They send down a wire with basically hundreds of guns at certain points in the wire. Once that is reached the target zone they shoot the guns which blow holes in the casing and cement and mud into the target zone. Now they need to bring the equipment back up, shut it all off, and run production tubing (3\" perhaps). Once the production tubing is set they run rods into the production tubing which will be attached to the well-head (the signature rocking horse thing) which will help pump the oil out of the target zone.\n\nThis is actually OVERLY OVERLY simplified. Worth noting that most wells have 2-3 sets of casing of different diameters inside of eachother, so you have to do that cement job 2-3 times, then do it again at a deeper portion.\n\nBasically you end up with a 6000' of telescoping piping.\n\nThey drill directionally with special drill bits that are cocked in one direction and spin separately from the drill pipe (as opposed to conventional drilling). "
]
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[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSOh6GX6LZM"
],
[]
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|
6pkm0w | why does a movie in cinema have a different aspect ratio than the same film released to the public on dvd, blue ray, or itunes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6pkm0w/eli5_why_does_a_movie_in_cinema_have_a_different/ | {
"a_id": [
"dkq1fmm"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"Generally films on DVD and Blu-ray are in their original format. However, your TV that you watch such movie on is NOT the same format/size as how movies are shot, so you will have black bars on the top and bottom to correct for this (movies are more long than they are wide, even more long than your TV), so the actual movie will only fill up a portion of your screen. Some films don't like how this is, with the bars and such, so they alter the format of the film to fit your TV better.\n\nI will repeat though, generally, for most current and recent movies, they will be presented in their original size format.\n\nA lot of times when you see movies not in their original format, its because they were released in a time where 4:3 SD TVs where still common, and TV screens were generally smaller. In today's age 16:9 HDTVs are the bare standard, and many people have large TVs as the price of a large TV is drastically smaller than in the past. Having bars is no longer really an issue, because its not particularly bad in a 16:9 TV, and the larger size of TVs means you still get a really nice big picture even with using only part of your screen"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
558jkd | why do we get homework if all we need to do to retain knowledge is study? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/558jkd/eli5_why_do_we_get_homework_if_all_we_need_to_do/ | {
"a_id": [
"d88fao6",
"d88fg73"
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"score": [
3,
3
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"text": [
"Homework is a way of ensuring you do, in fact, study. ",
"Before anything goes into long term memory, it has to pass through short term memory first.\n\nSo lets say you study something in class, then het homework on it that day, its just to increase the chances of you retaining the memory in long term too. But in order for it to be put in long term memory, you'd have to recap it quite a few times in order for it to stick to long term.\n\nThe way I see it is: If you can't teach students what they need to learn in the lesson, then it's pointless going in the first place... considering thats why we have education to begin with."
]
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[],
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||
2n19em | how do radio djs have such impeccable timing? | How do radio DJs consistently end their announcements and banter just in time for the lyrics of the upcoming song to kick in? DJs often talk "over" the first part of the song, but seem to always end just in time for the singing to start. If I tried this, I'm sure I would either have to accelerate or truncate my announcements. That, or I would end up with a period of "dead air." Either way, it would be obvious to listeners. DJs seem to be able to effortlessly fill the entire period. Is this just the result of practice, or is there some special technique or technology being used? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2n19em/eli5_how_do_radio_djs_have_such_impeccable_timing/ | {
"a_id": [
"cm9ey96",
"cm9f27f"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"When I worked as a dj, we would have the time of the musical intro listed for some of our popular songs. This was back in the day when we actually spun records and would have to estimate the time with an analog clock. I wouldn't be surprised if today there is a countdown timer for the songs. It's easy to fill that time if you practice it for a bit. ",
"Practice practice practice. Good jocks don't walk on the front of the song because 1. programs are used in studio that show you when the lyrics of the song start so you can literally see your timing & 2. most radio jocks in major markets actually voice track in studio, they're not on air live, so if you mess up you can do it over easy peasy. I spent over a year interning with Clear Channel. \n\nEdit: voice tracking is when they give you the list of songs that will be playing at a certain time so you can record yourself going \"wheeew love that song! Linkin Park will be in town this weekend, my name is Dolly & I'm gonna have your tickets to that show coming up in a few minutes!\" Save. Insert voice file into a certain spot in the computer program. Next voice track."
]
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[],
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|
3y4qj9 | miss universe and miss worlds have been equally populair competitions for over 60 years. how didn't one of them become more populair? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y4qj9/eli5_miss_universe_and_miss_worlds_have_been/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyaid7y"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Because they are largely irrelevant except for a tiny minority of people neither gained sufficient weight in society for anyone to really care"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
54i9an | why haven't we made an acid-free soda? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54i9an/eli5_why_havent_we_made_an_acidfree_soda/ | {
"a_id": [
"d822zys",
"d8233cq"
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"score": [
2,
2
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"text": [
"Carbonated water is naturally acidic. In order to make soda not acidic, you would have to not have the bubbles--the gas. Then it would not longer be soda, but kool aid or something similar.",
"For one thing, anytime you dissolve Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in water (H2O) you produce some Carbonic Acid (H2CO3); you're never going to avoid that and still have a fizzy drink. You could carbonate it with Nitrogen, but you'd lose all of your fizz when you first cracked the bottle. \n\nSome soda's don't use added acids, such as phosphoric acid (typical in cola's) because they don't need the \"bite\" in the mouth feel. Adding acid is more typical for caffeinated soda though, because it helps to mask the bitterness of the caffeine both directly, and indirectly. The indirect portion is that adding acid allows you to add more sugar without the whole concoction tasting absolutely disgusting. If you want to test this, dissolve 39 grams of sugar in 12 ounces of water, and then take a sip. Compare that to a can of Coke.\n\nIn general a lot of processed foods use this trick to achieve what flavor scientists (yes they exist) call \"Amplitude\". They don't want a flavor profile to emerge, so much as hitting a few notes like a jackhammer. In a Cool Ranch Dorito for example, the experience is supposed to be intensely salty-sweet-savory, and that's achieved by adding a lot of sugar (which would make it disgusting), balancing that with a ton of salt (which would be disgusting without the sugar), and then adding MSG to get that savory taste that hits you in the back of the mouth. \n\nThe truth is that without all of that salt and sugar, a lot of foods off the shelf would taste like cardboard."
]
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[],
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||
fd90x3 | how the ‘rubber pen’ trick works when you hold a pen loosely in your fingers and move it up & down rapidly that it looks like it bends | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fd90x3/eli5_how_the_rubber_pen_trick_works_when_you_hold/ | {
"a_id": [
"fjfy5vn",
"fjh71ry"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
"Your brain lies to you. Vision isn't as neat and ordered as you think. There are gaps in our perception, and the brain just fills in the missing information.\n\nIf you wiggle the pencil fast enough, your brain can't make out exactly where the pencil is, so it estimates. This is how most optical illusion work. They exploit blind spots, or weaknesses in our perception of reality.",
"The way it was explained to me. \n\nWe do not see \"in video\" but in numerous still photos. The moving pencil trick works in the same way as wagon wheels with frame rates in older movies. Check it out. \n\nThink of our vision as a giant, live, flip book. Look in a mirror and try to see your eyes move."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
cp6gj5 | why do people’s eyes move when they’re asleep? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cp6gj5/eli5_why_do_peoples_eyes_move_when_theyre_asleep/ | {
"a_id": [
"ewnim48",
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"score": [
5,
4,
2
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"text": [
"Dreaming. People are still thinking while they’re sleeping. Also REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is a stage of sleep with ore dreaming and eyes movement — the brain is more active then.",
"When we dream, our nerves and muscles act as if we are really experiencing what we are dreaming. The only reason we aren't walking around and such is that our bodies actually paralyzes itself to prevent that, but it doesn't paralyze the eyes because there's no reason too. BTW, sometimes this paralyzing goes wrong. If it doesn't work as well as it should, you get sleepwalking. If it fails to turn off when you wake up, you get sleep paralysis.",
"Portions of the eye do not have direct blood supply. They rely on diffusion for nutrient exchange. While awake, the constant movement of the eyes aids in nutrient exchange. Eye movement while asleep replicates this movement and allows for nutrient transport."
]
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[],
[],
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||
egn2hn | - what is the difference between ham radio and how cel phones work? | ELI5 - What is the difference between HAM radio and how cel phones work?
How similar are they, and how are they different? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/egn2hn/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_ham_radio_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"fc7u1di"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"In the US and most countries, amateur radio transmissions have to be public, they cannot be encrypted, anyone can listen in. Cell phones, one the other hand, take great pains to ensure only the intended recipient has access to the information being broadast. Amateur radios can transmit at higher power, up to 1500 W in the US, while cell phones are usually less than 5 watts to limit interference. This also means cell phone signals don't travel as far and have to be handed off from tower to tower. Amateur radio is usually going to be point to point, although there are various repeaters and gateways available. Finally, many amateur frequencies can skip off the atmosphere and reach hundreds, even thousands of miles. Cell phone frequencies specifically avoid this to limit interference.\n\nBesides that, they have lots in common. They both transmit using radio waves, they both can be analog or digital, and both can be used to transmit voice or data."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
36a8bx | why do rattlesnakes have rattles? isn't it a disadvatntage to warn your prey of your presence? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36a8bx/eli5_why_do_rattlesnakes_have_rattles_isnt_it_a/ | {
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"text": [
"They do not rattle their prey. Production of poison and striking use energy. It also means that they may be stomped on or stepped on. The rattles are a warning to large animals. The rattle says, I am here. Avoid me. Go your way and I will go mine.\n\nIf this works the snake can resume hunting which will result in a strike on a small animal without the rattle warning.",
"When they hunt they don't use the rattle. When they are faced with something bigger or dangerous they use the rattle to send a warning. They will only attack as a last resort. There's more to it but I'm no Steve Irwin.",
"The rattles aren't for warning their prey but rather to deter predators and to let others know of their presence, i.e. an elephant who might step on them by accident.",
"They don't rattle them when hunting. They rattle them to scare away creatures they view as a threat. \"Don't mess with me I can fuck your shit up\""
]
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[],
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||
4o496b | do free porn sites make any money? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4o496b/eli5do_free_porn_sites_make_any_money/ | {
"a_id": [
"d49hor9",
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"score": [
3,
3,
2
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"text": [
"While I can't answer your specific question, I can tell you they make a considerable amount from ad revenue.",
"That depends entirely on what they charge for ads. Their rates for ad placements are based off how many users on the site there are.",
"This isn't a conceptual question, because each business would have it's own unique cost structure and revenue model. So the breakeven and profitability point would be different for each business. \n\n"
]
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[],
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||
33kwto | why is the world blaming the eu instead of the oppressive leaders that cause the migrants to flee their countries? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33kwto/eli5_why_is_the_world_blaming_the_eu_instead_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqlvf1f"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"Probably because there's comparatively little we can do about the oppressive leaders. What do you want to do to those regimes? Sanctions have limited effectiveness (some say no effectiveness, for interesting reasons I won't go into here), those leaders don't care about international condemnation, and a military invasion would be both politically impossible and quite possibly cause more harm than good.\n\nWhat the EU can do (and what citizens of those countries can influence), however, is help the people fleeing those countries. I guess you could say that people expect the democratic west to be \"better\" than the dictators. Unfortunately, most EU countries don't want to take in poor migrants. What people are complaining about is horrifying number of people who are drowning attempting to make it to Europe, and, in their view, the EU not doing enough."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2nok9e | what did the developers of html5 do to make things so much faster? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nok9e/eli5_what_did_the_developers_of_html5_do_to_make/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmfert0",
"cmfezwj"
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"score": [
3,
16
],
"text": [
"Can you be a little more specific? My guess is what you're noticing is improvements to the layout and JavaScript engines of browsers, and not anything to do with HTML.",
"Nothing.\n\nHTML is just a set of instructions telling a browser what it should display. There are different versions of HTML, the latest one being HTML5, but the differences between them are mostly a matter of a few new instructions (browsers are designed to ignore instructions they don't understand, so older browsers will still make an attempt to render an HTML5 page), and maybe some minor changes to the syntax.\n\nHow fast a page renders in a browser depends on how fast your computer is, how fast your internet connection is, how well-written your browser is, and what sort of content it's being asked to display (too many graphics will slow down a browser quite a lot).\n\nIf you're talking about HTML5 *video*... technically, there isn't actually such a thing, but for marketing reasons that's what it's been called. HTML5 has a new tag which instructs the browser to display a video. Previously, the only way to do this was to use a plugin, usually the Flash player; HTML5-conformant browsers now have a video player built-in, so they don't have to go through the whole business of firing up a plugin, a process that can take... well, a second or two, let's be honest: it was never a big deal. This video player can use a codec that can be easily compressed, meaning you have fairly high quality video with a smaller file size, so it's more likely to stream better.\n\nThat, at least, is the theory."
]
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[],
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||
a53w6a | pulse pressure (blood pressure) what happen when it's too narrow or too wide ? | Hello ! I would like to know why the pulse pressure seem more important than the blood pressure itself, what is actually happening to the body when our pulse pressure is too narrow or too wide. For exemple it seem like a huge deal if the pulse pressure is at ~20 for exemple
Thank you | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a53w6a/eli5_pulse_pressure_blood_pressure_what_happen/ | {
"a_id": [
"ebjpkaw"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Imagine you are squeezing a little balloon filled with water into a long narrow balloon. If the long narrow balloon is really stiff and you have alot of water to push into it, the long balloon will burst because of the pressure. If it is able to relax to accommodate the water, then rebound to go back normal when there is less water, the pressure difference will be minimal.\n\nLets say the little balloon allows water back into it too easily (aortic insufficiency) then there will be no pressure after the squeeze is done: ie wide pulse pressure: maybe 120/50. This is also true if the long balloon is very leaky (sepsis). \n\nIf you take a deep breath and block the incoming water (blood) into your little balloon (heart) and you are dehydrated your pulse pressure will be wide and then narrow when you breathe out. This is pulse pressure variation, an indicator of dehydration (volume depletion is a better term)\n\nI am not aware of a pathologic condition that causes a narrow pulse pressure. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
23zira | how does my car know when i am drifting into the other lane, especially when the lanes shift due to construction | My car alerts me anytime I start to drift from one lane to another and it erks me that I have no idea how this works. Does GPS really have that great of pinpoint accuracy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23zira/eli5_how_does_my_car_know_when_i_am_drifting_into/ | {
"a_id": [
"ch241a0"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"My lorry does this. There are sensors under your car that know when you stray over a series of lines or cats eyes. My lorry beeps like crazy if I change lanes without indicating first as it thinks I'm falling asleep and drifting across lanes. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3l8xbm | why do people keep saying that wind turbines are so bad? | So I live in Canada and I came across a documentary about how wind turbines are so bad and people saying they get sores and get sick and how wind doesn't really contribute to the economy and how they wreck peoples property value but no one explains exactly what is causing the reason why they are so bad for humans and why the property value drops? Like is it the vibrations coming off the machines, the noise, the batteries that are making people sick? This documentary really doesn't explain a whole lot of it... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3l8xbm/eli5_why_do_people_keep_saying_that_wind_turbines/ | {
"a_id": [
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2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It has to do with people not liking their beautiful rural views destroyed by the neighbouring farmer deciding to allow what are in my opinion reasonably ugly structures on their land. People love wind power elsewhere, but are not so keen on it being next door. As far as I am aware there is no reputable study backing the many claims of illness and discomfort coming from those that live near wind turbines.",
"They have done studies and most concluded the illnesses are in people's heads. and as far a land values it's sort of like living next to the run down house in a neighborhood. And since wind farms don't run thru cities but in the country the view they want to see is trees not some whirling mass.",
"I don't know about people getting sick, sounds kind of ridiculous, but it does effect property value. For some reason or another people don't like living near them and they effect the view of the landscape. Some people like seeing them, but that's just some, It's not enough to keep values from sinking. On top of all that it isn't super reliable. Compared to other alternative power options it just doesn't have the same power to price ratio as others. The wind doesn't always blow and it takes a lot of them to get any good output, furthering the land value problems and the further need to take up land.",
"There are conditions that doctors call the symptoms of life. Sometimes you are tire, sometimes you get achy, sometimes you get muscle fatigue. This is especially true if you don't sleep well.\n\nThere are also some people who are slightly delusional who decide these symptoms are cause by something specific. There are who myths about Lyme diseases, fluorine, WiFi, fluorescent lighting, power transformers, and wind turbines where people with fiercely claim they are making them sick.",
"So for starters Wind turbines have a low capacity factor so on average wind turbines operate at less than 25% nuclear now operate at about 90% so for every 100 Megawatts of available capacity a nuclear plant would make 90 Megawatts and a wind turbine would make 25 Megawatts, over a long period of time. So you already have to have much more available capacity built into your system.\nWhile a wind turbine does not produce any exhaust when it is running it does produce a fairly large amount of exhaust in its creation. Wind turbines are made mostly of steel, concrete and copper, all of which are made using coal. To build a wind turbine that produces 1 Megawatt of capacity (not production) it takes about 300 tons of coal. To offset 1 Megawatt of power you have to now have almost 4 wind turbines or 1200 tons of coal.\nA wind turbines life expectancy is only about 15 years while other plants are build to last 40 to 60 years on average. Most experts now think that the current generation of nuclear plants that were designed to last 40 years when they were first licensed believe they will last up to 70 years. \nI have run out of time to continue this but wind is a novel idea but not as environmentally friendly as people would lead you to believe.\n \nFurther information can be found at _URL_2_ , _URL_1_ , _URL_0_ "
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2m3k07 | why and how did america become so celebrity obsessed? | I mean compared to any other country in the world, it is absolutely astonishing how much attention America puts on famous people, no matter what they are famous for. It's interesting for me because I moved here from my home Venezuela to study and I have encountered countless people that are up to date with what their favorite celebrities have been eating, but are unaware that there is a civil war in Syria. Thoughts? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2m3k07/eli5_why_and_how_did_america_become_so_celebrity/ | {
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"If you look back in history, it's not a new phenomenon. Typically cultures, once past a certain level, give \"celebrities\", entertainers and professional sports-people exalted status. Weird really. "
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bgirno | why is coconut oil considered healthy, even though it is so dense with saturated fat? | I hear so many people say that coconut oil is healthy, but when I look at the macros, this makes no sense to me. Can someone ELI5? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bgirno/eli5_why_is_coconut_oil_considered_healthy_even/ | {
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"Nutrition organizations, actual medical science places do not say it's healthy. Antivaxxer middle age moms say it's healthy.",
"It's not healthy. Some people just believe it is likely because they read a random blog on the internet.",
"The saturated fats in coconut oil are in the form of “Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT)” - this basically means your body burns the saturated fats found in coconut oil in the same way it burns carbs.\n\nCarbs (and the sat. fats in coconut oil) are used directly for energy rather than being stored as fat in your body. However, just like carbs, if you eat more than your body is able to burn then the excess will indeed be stored as fat.",
"coconut oil contains a good portion of MCT. \n\nYou can make your own mind up if this is good for you or not.",
"Coconut oil is a fad and its benefits have no scientific backing.\n\nPeople are welcome to use it as much as they want but it would be dishonest to say it has proven benefits. There is a very limited knowledge base investigating its benefits.\n\nIt may be beneficial or may be harmful. There is just not enough evidence to back either claim.\n\nThis may not be the most sexy answer but I come from a medical background and in medicine, we have to acknowledge when we don't have the answers.\n\nI'm happy to back this up with research if people are interested.",
"Because people are scientifically illiterate. There's no evidence at all to suggest that coconut oil better for your health than any other saturated fat. It's a fad driven by ignorance, nothing more.",
"Best thing about coconut oil is that it's naturally antimicrobial and makes a great massage oil so you can use it *anywhere*. Sure it's messy and you'll end up smelling like a mix of pina coladas and sex but few things make for better foreplay than a full body massage.",
"it has so many uses beside eating.\n\nhigh cooking point and it tastes good\n\nso why not.\nif u use more than 10g oil per cooking dont even consider thinking about how healthy something is",
"Actual experts on nutrition (independent researchers who are tenured profs at Harvard etc.) believe that coconut oil is NOT GOOD FOR YOU.\n\n[\"A Harvard professor busted the myth that coconut oil is good for you, calling it 'pure poison'\"](_URL_0_)\n\n[_URL_1_](_URL_1_)\n\n[_URL_2_](_URL_2_)",
"It's apparently good for skincare, but when it comes to consumption, I'd lump it in with other oils such as canola or olive oil. Like all those oils, coconut oil has a unique boiling point and flavor, so it's good for cooking different things.",
"A large portion of people consider saturated fat to be healthy. Coconut oil is a healthy oil due to this. Monounsaturated fat like olive oil is generally considered healthy as well, while polyunsaturated fats like canola oil and margarine are known to be terrible for you now. This is also why butter has again became popular.",
"Probably because there is a vast untapped source of coconuts coming in from South East Asia that needs selling.",
"It’s not. It’s bro science. \n\nThey are ‘healthier’ than other saturated fats, but it’s still saturated fat and you should limit your consumption of them to reasonable levels. It’s like saying cane sugar soda is ‘healthier’ than HFCS soda. \n\nSure, it’s BETTER for you in some small way, but the bad outweighs the good. \n\nAs an aside, studies are starting to come out contesting the benefits of coconut oil. An adjunct Professor (Karin Michels) at Harvard Medical School claims coconut oil is terrible for you and the pseudo-science claiming it is healthy is a concerted disinformation campaign by the coconut industry.",
"Because marketing.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe original transition to palm oil was accompanied by many of the same unsupportable claims as have now migrated to coconut oil.",
"So much inaccurate and just plain wrong info posted here. The truth is, saturated fat is not bad for you. Saturated fat was vilified by “research” by “Dr.” Keys (I think that is his name). It is well known that he cherry picked his data to get the result that fat consumption is associated with higher risk of heart disease. It is also well known that the inclusion of the rest of his data actually shows the opposite... increase of saturated fat in the diet is associated with lower rates of heart disease. Unfortunately, big lobbyist and big money are so invested in the current agricultural system (humongous money is at stake) that they control the narrative through media and by funding biased “research”. \n\nIf you look at research that is neutrally funded, conducts the experiment properly (accounts for healthy user bias, does not rely on participant memory, properly and correctly accounts for macronutrient intake), you will see consistently that saturated fat is not associated with increased heart disease. In fact, it is associated with a decreased risk. \n\nLook at heart disease rates in the US. In the 70s and 80s, as Keys false “research” began to influence how people ate, saturated fat intake drops to present day, sugar (carbs) intake rises to present day, and heart disease rates rises to present day... yet fat is still to blame...\n \nUnfortunately, our medical professionals our trained incorrectly when it comes to diets. Across the board, doctors do not have time to read research, let alone sift through and find the quality papers. They are also afraid of getting sued. So if they go along with the narrative they were given, they avoid risk. \n\nSaturated fat is actually less prone to oxidative damage than monounsaturated fats (polyunsaturated fats are the most prone to oxidative damage, and are ironically recommended for your consumption. Most polyunsaturated fats are produced in extremely harsh environments because it’s cheap, so right out of the bottle you are getting extremely oxidized fats). Oxidative damage in lipid proteins is a huge factor in heart disease, as it leads to inflammation. Inflammation is linked to every single modern disease (cancer, heart disease, etc). \n\nThere is an asterisk here. The quality research does suggest that people that have metabolic issues (caused by eating too many carbs and processed foods) may not be able to properly handle higher quantities of saturated fat. \n\nThink about this. Your body has evolved to store excess energy as fat. Not just fat, but saturated fat. When you go a few hours without eating between meals or when you are sleeping, your body is metabolizing saturated fat in the same manner it would as if you were eating it from a meal. If that caused heart disease, humans would not have made it very far..."
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"https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/cracking-the-coconut-oil-craze-2017041011513",
"https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-there-a-place-for-coconut-oil-in-a-healthy-diet-2019011415764"
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3ie2ft | wrestling, is it rehearsed like a dance or is it done on the spot? | Do the referee and the commentators know the outcome of the match before hand as well? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ie2ft/eli5_wrestling_is_it_rehearsed_like_a_dance_or_is/ | {
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"It's done kind of like porn.\n\nThey have a general gist of what's going to/supposed to happen and they just do their best to make it look good.\n\nAnd yes referees and commentators know what's going on. They have scripts in front of them so when situation X happens they are supposed to say Y."
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lsv2i | why bp (or any of the other companies affiliated with the oil-spill) was not prosecuted for criminal negligence? | So according to Jay M. Feinman of the Rutgers University School of Law, "The core idea of negligence is that people should exercise reasonable care when they act by taking account of the potential harm that they might foreseeably cause to other people". If we agree that BP didn't "exercise reasonable care" then shouldn't that duchebag Tony Hayward be rotting in jail right now? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/lsv2i/eli5_why_bp_or_any_of_the_other_companies/ | {
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"Once upon a time, the bad guy had a lot of money. He lived happily ever after.",
"The graphic designer part of my brain:\n\n > Have you seen their logo?\n\n > Totally makes up for everything.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nThe rest of my brain:\n\n > Money",
" > On April 21, 2011, BP filed $40bn worth of lawsuits against rig owner Transocean, cementer Halliburton and blowout-preventer manufacturer Cameron. The oil firm alleged that failed safety systems and irresponsible behaviour of contractors had led to the explosion, including claims that Halliburton \"negligently\" failed to use cement-modelling software OptiCem properly to analyze safe well requirements. Part of the modelling concern was about the number of stabilising devices, known as centralisers, the well required: 21 called-for v. 6 used.\n\n > In May, 2011, MOEX Offshore, which owned a 10% stake in the well through a subsidiary and which in turn itself was majority-owned by Mitsui & Co., agreed to pay US$1.07 billion to settle BP claims against it over the accident. Some analysts had thought BP would realize a larger settlement from MOEX but there was also relief to have a first step toward resolving the multiple claims. BP’s most recent estimate at the time was that the spill would cost $41.3 billion. Anadarko Petroleum held a 25% stake in the Macondo well and was an immediate focus of attention with MOEX's agreement. Also the Department of Justice was still at the time investigating whether BP was \"grossly negligent\" in the spill. Such a determination could lead to a \"much larger liability under the Clean Water Act,” a financial analyst said. With MOEX agreeing to share in the financial burden—though \"the agreement isn’t an admission of liability by either party\" -- the possibility of such a ruling by DOJ seemed to some to be perhaps lessened.\n\nFrom [wikipedia](_URL_0_). So, it seems it's still ongoing. BP are blaming the companies that actually operated the rig. The US government is still deciding if BP were negligent. Courts take a long time. To be fair to BP they have paid an awful lot:\n\n > The US Government has named BP the responsible party, and officials have committed to hold the company accountable for all clean-up costs and other damage.\n\n > BP has agreed to create a $20 billion spill response fund\n\n",
"Once upon a time, the bad guy had a lot of money. He lived happily ever after.",
"The graphic designer part of my brain:\n\n > Have you seen their logo?\n\n > Totally makes up for everything.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nThe rest of my brain:\n\n > Money",
" > On April 21, 2011, BP filed $40bn worth of lawsuits against rig owner Transocean, cementer Halliburton and blowout-preventer manufacturer Cameron. The oil firm alleged that failed safety systems and irresponsible behaviour of contractors had led to the explosion, including claims that Halliburton \"negligently\" failed to use cement-modelling software OptiCem properly to analyze safe well requirements. Part of the modelling concern was about the number of stabilising devices, known as centralisers, the well required: 21 called-for v. 6 used.\n\n > In May, 2011, MOEX Offshore, which owned a 10% stake in the well through a subsidiary and which in turn itself was majority-owned by Mitsui & Co., agreed to pay US$1.07 billion to settle BP claims against it over the accident. Some analysts had thought BP would realize a larger settlement from MOEX but there was also relief to have a first step toward resolving the multiple claims. BP’s most recent estimate at the time was that the spill would cost $41.3 billion. Anadarko Petroleum held a 25% stake in the Macondo well and was an immediate focus of attention with MOEX's agreement. Also the Department of Justice was still at the time investigating whether BP was \"grossly negligent\" in the spill. Such a determination could lead to a \"much larger liability under the Clean Water Act,” a financial analyst said. With MOEX agreeing to share in the financial burden—though \"the agreement isn’t an admission of liability by either party\" -- the possibility of such a ruling by DOJ seemed to some to be perhaps lessened.\n\nFrom [wikipedia](_URL_0_). So, it seems it's still ongoing. BP are blaming the companies that actually operated the rig. The US government is still deciding if BP were negligent. Courts take a long time. To be fair to BP they have paid an awful lot:\n\n > The US Government has named BP the responsible party, and officials have committed to hold the company accountable for all clean-up costs and other damage.\n\n > BP has agreed to create a $20 billion spill response fund\n\n"
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1zjd7p | how cloud cover is making the air warmer | Nor California, if it matters, but it always feels warmer when it's cloudy vs when it's clear. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zjd7p/eli5_how_cloud_cover_is_making_the_air_warmer/ | {
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"I would imagine that warmth radiating from the ground would be contained much longer, just as being covered by a blanket keeps your body warmth in bed and keeps you much warmer in comparison to sleeping without a cover."
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5bbkmk | why do people shrink as they age? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5bbkmk/eli5_why_do_people_shrink_as_they_age/ | {
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"There's also some spinal compression as you age. The discs between your vertebrae compress from gravity over time.",
"Osteoporosis can cause compression fractures in vertebrae, leading to \"dowager's hump\" and reduced height.",
"Gravity. It's pulling on you and it's pulling on me. It also gets harder to resist as you get older.",
"There are cells in your body called chondrocytes. They secrete a liquid that solidifies into cartilage. As an individual ages these cells make less cartilage that isn't as spongey. This results in the spaces between joints to decrease and overall height to decrease as well. Also, bone becomes softer, particularly in women. This is due to osteoporosis.",
"Your muscles weaken at the same time your joints get stiffer. Your muscles try to compensate for the stiffer joints, but often can't - so people don't actually \"shrink,\" but they are bending over because they can't straighten their joints and their muscles are not strong enough to help. \n\nWhich is why you need to stay off your couch and worry about flexibility and strength training your entire life. ",
"Doc here. There's a few different reasons why. The discs between your vertebrae thin as you age, resulting from in height loss. Many elderly will develop excess curvature in their neck and back, which leads to height loss. Some elderly patients lose height through a common injury known as compressions fractures, a complication of osteoporosis. Elderly people tend to have poorer nutritional intake as well, which contributed to muscle loss and other really loss of body mass.",
"Also, a poor posture brought about by trauma and/or a life time of forward shoulders. Fun experiment. Round your shoulders really far forward and watch your head in a mirror. Now do the opposite and squeeze your shoulder blades together and roll them back wards. \n\nSurely there will be SOME degeneration over many years in the gaps between your vertebrae, but that comes from the spine losing its shape. Years and years of that, causes degeneration, but can DRASTICALLY be slowed down and minimalized by returning the spine to its proper shape.",
"So what can we do to combat shrinkage? My mom insists I take a calcium solenoid supplement to avoid becoming what we call a \"pretzel person\" (an older person who is all bent and twisted).",
"Bunch of good answers here - thought I'd chip in\n\n- Your intervertebral discs make up approximately 20-30% of your spinal column height. Normal daily activities result in compression of your discs (which are basically fluid filled sacs) which squeezes fluid out. As you sleep/recline, fluid fills back in so you're taller in the morning than you are at night!\n\n- Normal wear and tear will also exacerbate curvature that already exists in your spine - namely in your thoracic spine. \n\n- It's also possible to damage the anterior portion of the body of your vertebrae, which typically isn't as strong because of load distribution being distributed between middle/posterior portion of your vertebrae. (Bone is constantly remodeling and getting stronger in response to force, so when you suddenly apply force to an area that isn't typically load bearing, you risk fracture) - at least as I understand it. ",
"Nurse here! Variety of reasons really. Some of it is just wear and tear on the joints and losing some small measure of height to the loss of fluid in various buffer zones between joints. A lot of it however is the loss of both fat and muscle that come with the aging process and by extension the lack of ability to retain fluid as well as a younger person can. It's why often times old people can look so damn skinny around the rest of their body. There's also a general depletion of minerals from bones which can lead to some actual reduction in bone size/length). Of course the final thing is posture, because of that reduction in muscle tissues to support a lot of older people will generally assume a far more slouched posture than their younger self. "
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55nsxv | why did ancient rome use a solar calendar instead of a lunar one? | Lunar calendars seem like they make more sense from an ancient standpoint, in that the phases of the moon are a natural indicator of the passing of time. Solar seems to make much less sense in that the months have inconsistent days and don't really track to anything external.
So I'm curious if Rome always used a solar calendar, or if there's a lunar one that predates the Julian calendar. If the latter, what motivated the switch from lunar to solar? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55nsxv/eli5_why_did_ancient_rome_use_a_solar_calendar/ | {
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"The solar calendar is important since it tracks the number of seasonal cycles.\n\nFor example, it is one year between plantings and between harvests.\n\nThe monthly cycle is useful to help gauge how long it will be until the next season (since it is good to know how long you have before it is time to harvest).",
"Solar calendars are ~365 1/4 days long. They exactly track something external, the position of the Earth relative to the Sun.\n\nThe problem is that accurate measurement is essential, and 365 days is a long time to measure. The Moon has a ~27 1/3 day period, which is a much smaller period and seems simpler.",
"Solar calendars are better at tracking seasons. People in regions that get the 4 standard seasons tended to develop solar calendars. People close to the equator who tend to get wet/dry seasons instead tended to make lunar calendars. Some cultures made both, and the Maya had very complex calendars that were lunar and solar as well as calculating things are longer cycles of a few years, dozen years, centuries, and thousand years. ",
"A Lunar calendar really only works in places nearer the equator, where seasonal changes are either mild (e.g. Arabia) or non-existent (central Africa). Further from the equator, crop growing seasons are defined by seasons, and not by the moon, so following the seasons was more important. "
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l2inm | how does privatization of state-owned companies help the economy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l2inm/eli5_how_does_privatization_of_stateowned/ | {
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"On a utilitarian (as opposed to idealistic) scale, there's theoretically no difference. A capitalistic economy is based on private corporations, so that should be considered the norm - assuming you're American, a better question would be how state-run programs help the economy.\n\nThere are a lot of answers to that question - one is that they can be run under rules that would overstep the bounds of a capitalistic government if they were applied to corporations. For example, the government of a capitalist system arguably wouldn't be justified in setting a maximum premium rate that private health insurance companies could charge. It could, however, set up its own health care system and cap premium rates, possibly subsidizing the insurance with taxpayer money so as to make those caps financially feasible.\n\nThe flip side is that a system in which the government controls and subsidizes a privatized portion of the health care field is inhospitable to new, private health insurance providers. Without the ability to reasonably start up a health insurance company that could compete with the government's rates, there is no competition and no incentive to innovate in the health care field.\n\nFor the record, this applies to pretty much all industry; I only used health care as an example.",
"The basic concept would be that private companies have to compete against each other so the theory is that they are inherently, due to this competition, more stream-lined and efficient, faster, etc. They evolve to function against outside factors.\n\nA government run \"company\" is in a no-compete arena and thereby will evolve slower and be less efficient.\n\nIn real life the difference isnt that dramatic in most scenarios as even without competition the government agency doesnt exist in a vacuum and can easily see Company A doing X and adopt that procedure as well.",
"On a utilitarian (as opposed to idealistic) scale, there's theoretically no difference. A capitalistic economy is based on private corporations, so that should be considered the norm - assuming you're American, a better question would be how state-run programs help the economy.\n\nThere are a lot of answers to that question - one is that they can be run under rules that would overstep the bounds of a capitalistic government if they were applied to corporations. For example, the government of a capitalist system arguably wouldn't be justified in setting a maximum premium rate that private health insurance companies could charge. It could, however, set up its own health care system and cap premium rates, possibly subsidizing the insurance with taxpayer money so as to make those caps financially feasible.\n\nThe flip side is that a system in which the government controls and subsidizes a privatized portion of the health care field is inhospitable to new, private health insurance providers. Without the ability to reasonably start up a health insurance company that could compete with the government's rates, there is no competition and no incentive to innovate in the health care field.\n\nFor the record, this applies to pretty much all industry; I only used health care as an example.",
"The basic concept would be that private companies have to compete against each other so the theory is that they are inherently, due to this competition, more stream-lined and efficient, faster, etc. They evolve to function against outside factors.\n\nA government run \"company\" is in a no-compete arena and thereby will evolve slower and be less efficient.\n\nIn real life the difference isnt that dramatic in most scenarios as even without competition the government agency doesnt exist in a vacuum and can easily see Company A doing X and adopt that procedure as well."
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cc5kjx | why are vehicle engines measured in miles but lawn mower and other small equipment engines measured in hours? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cc5kjx/eli5why_are_vehicle_engines_measured_in_miles_but/ | {
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"The following link essentially states that, since engines like this spend a significant amount of time idling, the engine hours are more useful for determining maintenance requirements: \n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"A lot of commercial/industrial equipment is also measured in equipment-hours as well, because milage isn't a useful measurement of much the equipment has been used. \n\nTake example of a bulldozer/shovel type equipment you'd see at a construction site. It might move back and forth around the job site all day long, only moving a few hundred feet at a time, so if you measure the actual mileage traveled, it might be a few miles, which by car standards is insignificant. You might do that mileage just going one way, from your house to your job, in 10 minutes. The bull dozer was running for 8 hours under high work load. \n\nIn other cases, like a large pump or generator, it doesn't move, so mileage is illogical. But running the pump motor for 50,000 hoours is a better measure of how long it's been used.",
"All the answers here are great so far. Another thing to think about is how that engine is used when working. Car engines have a much wider range of RPMs than work equipment. Your car engine may stay under 2000rpm when driving around town, ~3000rpm on the highway, and 4000-5000rpm when acceleration hard. So distance is a decent measurement of how much work the engine has done. The small tractors that I occasionally use on my family farm have a hand throttle. You set the rpm with the hand throttle and just leave it. All driving is then done with a [hydrostatic transmission](_URL_0_), which has a forward pedal and a reverse pedal. These pedals feel more like a clutch pedal than an accelerator in your car. This is more like a how a lawnmower engine is used. Once you start it up, is just sits at its operating speed. Measuring the hours of this is much more useful. \n\nAnother thing: your car also has a lot of other components that need regular maintenance. Tires, brakes, transmissions, suspension and more all require regular service. Distance traveled is a really good measurement for the lifespan of these things. The engine in those tractors gets a regular oil change like your car, but the rest of the components are not really comparable and have very different lifespans."
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4jl7tk | is there a correlation between a full moon moon and odd behavior? | My friend's mom works as an emergency room trauma nurse. She told me she sees the oddest cases on nights where there is a full moon. She didn't go into much detail, but she said people seem to act more oddly in general resulting in all sorts of strange injuries. I was somewhat skeptical, and asked a friend of mine who is also an ER nurse and he told me the same. Is there any science backing this up? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jl7tk/eli5_is_there_a_correlation_between_a_full_moon/ | {
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"No. There is no correlation. However, there is confirmation bias, so when you hear the rumor that the moon affects behavior, you pay more attention to odd behavior on the full moon and forget odd behavior that isn't on the full moon. ",
"My girlfriend works as a midwife and says the same thing. She hates working night shifts on a full moon, \"because it is madness\".\n\nI don't believe it actually makes a difference, there is no scientific proof.\n\nAlthough I'm aware that these old wives tales, and a lot of folklore regarding full moons does stem from odd behaviour at these times.",
"There has been a bit of research done in this area for quite some time. The phenomenon (if you can call it that) is called \"The Lunar Effect\". It refers to a change in animal behavior that coincides with phases of the moon. The belief that the phase of the moon affects behavior has been around centuries if not millennia. The research into the effect especially in regards to humans has come back indicating that there really is not much of a difference in behavior nor is there a noticeable change in violent behavior. [A meta-analysis of 37 papers performed in 1985 indicated that any prior indication of the effect can be accounted for by errors in the experimental procedure or interpretation.](_URL_0_)\n\nIf I were to speculate, I would say that your friends might be falling prey to the confirmation bias and are more inclined to notice the behavior of patients when it is a full moon rather than when it isn't. ",
"I work in the ER, often night shifts.\n\nThere are just as many crazy nights with crazy patients on dark nights as there are full moon nights. Craziness just comes and goes."
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6c1t2b | why is solar energy economically beneficial? | I was just wondering why solar and renewable energy would be so economically beneficial. It is definitely better for the environment, and it saves money, but don't the costs of oil, coal, and natural gas make up a major portion of the economy? If the US moved to 100% renewable, wouldn't they plummet economically? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6c1t2b/eli5_why_is_solar_energy_economically_beneficial/ | {
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"Well think of it this way. With stuff like coal and natural gas, you need a physical item (ore or gas, respectively) to produce energy. Therefore, you need to pay for it continually to produce power in this system. Now think about it in terms of being a nation where you buy these resources from a nation like the US or China. Now all this is dependent on diplomacy with nations and the sorts.\n\nWith green energy like solar, you \"technically\" do not need a unit for producing energy as the sun still has a lifetime of about 5billion years (science currently estimates our sun is half-way through its life). You essentially gain independence from nations that supplied your power (US/China/Russia/etc.) if you can go green. This is why many developing nations are currently making 100% renewables pledges to break these dependencies on other nations in the long term.\n\nFor the US to go 100% renewable, one of the first things that would happen is that we would lose massive dependency to the Middle East when it comes to Oil (at least for the most part as more and more cars in the US are going renewable - Chevy, Ford, Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, etc.). If the US were to lead the charge in developing new renewable tech, then the US would still be fine at the end of the day... however, that is not whats going on in terms of what the current president is encouraging (keep in mind, he said global warming is a Chinese hoax... an idea that only sours the public's interest in these matters) meanwhile nations like China and India are funneling massive amounts of money to these technologies. What the US needs to do to be fine in the event of a Green Tech overtake is to have a continued and possibly stronger investment in these technologies.\n\nEDIT: Forgot to mention, I only really focused on Solar (photovoltaic); so if you have questions about others, I can explain those to the best of my ability if needed.",
"YES, the oil and gas companies would be royally fucked. Major losses. Stock dropping. People laid off of work. Companies folding. Material and tools being sold-off at a fraction of the price. Some weird yuppies would turn an oil-rig into a renovated loft or something trendy. \n\nAnd all that sounds bad right? And it is. FOR THEM. \n\nMeanwhile, the companies making solar cells would have boom season. Stock prices would soar, they're hire a ton of people, they'd buy a bunch of stuff and get a lot of customers. Almost, but not entirely, completely inverse of how bad it was for the oil & gas companies. \n\nBut not entirely. Because the alternative will be better and cheaper. And who reaps the profit of new technological innovation? Hopefully everyone. The energy USERS. The end-customers. The people choosing to give money to oil & gas or the solar industry. And that's.... everyone. Other than some Amish. Oil & Gas might lose BILLION. Solar companies might make MILLION, and the MILLIONS of users will save... $5 or something. \n\nThese sort of gains are spread about through the rest of society in the form of better, cheaper energy. Also less polluting, but companies typically don't give a shit about those sort of externalities. \n\n",
"There are some solid info with other posters here, but I haven't seen the mention of ***social capital***. \n\nSimply put, it's the incurred expense that is not really tangible and most people will simply not have enough care/understanding about it. I'm going to place my dollars for the former.\n\nThere are a lot of things already put in place by the government to regulate the different companies operating within the US. For example, the companies who produce a lot of waste will have a \"gas-tax,\" so-to-speak. Meaning Company A has been allotted X amount of waste (CO2 or whatever waste) so if they are found exceeding that allotted limitation, they will be fined heavily to help curb the social capital they induce.\n\nOn a similar topic, if Company A does not produce enough waste but Company B does; the two companies can actually buy/sell these \"Gas-tax\" tickets so that Company B can get by with producing more waste *legally*. \n\nThe thing about social capital is that it's usually seen as a long-term effect versus the immediate financial gains for different companies/corporations/people. The reason why social capital is still important as a society is that it impacts basically everyone else around.\n\nI will not lie though. If I ran a major manufacturing business that produce toxic waste as a byproduct, I will likely look at the immediate gains via production capability by emitting waste versus \"I should really keep this under X before I get fined.\" I will not be thinking about the *environment* or the *social capital*. I'll have my eyes on the prize (money) and I believe that is the general trend for majority of this world.\n\n---\n\nBecause these large oligopolies are major players in the US economy, they will likely have a huge ripple effect in the economy. I can safely assume that it will be nothing short of an economic catastrophe for the near future and likely take a very long time for it to recuperate **if** they switch 100% right away. According to the free-market logic, eventually, the *green* energy companies will slowly rise to fill the gap left by the oil giants, but it's questionable how long that process will take and how much damage it can potentially cause to the economy.\n\nIf the switch is gradual, I believe it will be much more feasible. And I personally do not believe it will \"crash\" the economy if the process was dealt with accordingly. I'm a firm-believer of free-markets and someone will always fill the gap given the chance.\n\nI think the major factor behind the whole oil-drive versus green is mostly played out by large corporations that has a vested interest in keeping it oil-run.\n\n-edit\n\nUpon actually reading the comments, there are inferences here and there. So social capital was somewhat mentioned, but not expounded on."
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b965nt | where does the remains of livestock used in mass industrial farms go? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b965nt/eli5_where_does_the_remains_of_livestock_used_in/ | {
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"What remains?\n\nI’m not really joking, they use as much as they possibly can. Bones and other scraps are ground into byproduct meals that are often used in pet foods and the like. \n\nWhen there’s money on the line, you can be sure that they squeeze every last cent out of every animal. ",
"Its rendered into pet food mostly. Skin and fat and cartilage and ligament are used for gummy bears and other gelatin products. ",
"There really are no remains. \n\nThe bulk of the meat is harvested for human food. \n\nScrap cuts are animal feed (such as dog food). \n\nHides are made into leather. \n\nBones are made into fertilizers and food supplements for pet food. \n\nFeathers from poultry are used for pillows and fertilizers. \n\nHooves and cartilage materials make glue and gelatin. \n\nBasically everything is used for something. "
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efrdhf | how are muscles developed in the human embryo ? | Hi everyone.
(First, excuse my mediocre English.)
I was wondering which comes first in the baby's development : the bones or the muscles.
Online, I read several times that neither come first, as they develop in the same time. Buuuut I also found this statement :
"The bones, more precisely a mesoblastic axial column\* precedes the formation of the muscles, which is logical since the muscles are formed from their bone insertions."
(\* Feel free to explain like I'm five what this term means.)
Any thought ?
Thank you. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/efrdhf/eli5_how_are_muscles_developed_in_the_human_embryo/ | {
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"In a way, both are true. I will try to give a simple way of looking at it. Let's assume that humans are made of three things: organs, bones and muscle\n\nAt first, there is just a mess of organic matter, that is neither bone, muscle or organ. But as the fetus continues to develop, different cells starts to specialise in the three different categories. Whilst some start becoming muscle fibre, some become bone. This is simultaneous. However, for actual muscles to form, these fibres need to combine and attach to bone to form the regular muscles of a human. In this way, the bones need to be roughly finished, at least in a smaller version, for the muscles fibres to be able to attach in the right way and grow. In this sense, the bones need to finish before the muscles can finish.\n\nDoes this make sense?\n\nEdit: Oh, and the axial column is basically just the spine, head and ribs. Like the central bone structure. I'm not really sure what mesoblastic means."
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36843f | why is it that i can memorize the lyrics to hundreds of songs but can't remember simple phone numbers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36843f/eli5_why_is_it_that_i_can_memorize_the_lyrics_to/ | {
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"Music is especially made to be memorable and enjoyable. Phone numbers aren't. Listening to it over and over again plays a large part. It's also generally easier to remember words rather than numbers. That's just how the mind is. ",
"Listen to Tommy Tutone's 867-5309 song 3700 times or so and you'll probably never forget that phone number. "
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elzz3m | what does prince harry and meghan markle stepping away as senior royals really mean? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/elzz3m/eli5_what_does_prince_harry_and_meghan_markle/ | {
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"It just means they will not be making public appearances, as much or at all for that matter, on behalf of the Queen. The Queen actually has work she has to do but the other royals do charity work or appearances or state visits. Harry is now sixth in line for the throne so no chance he will be king one day so he is stepping away to just do what he wants.",
"It means they will be stepping away from public duties and ceremonies and will be a lot less in the public eye.\n\nIt will also likely mean resigning ceremonial offices such as head of military units or government charters.\n\nEven then, they can attend national ceremonies as in Rememberance Day, events that will require the entire Royal family. But not events like state visits. \n\nThey are then not required to represent the country home or abroad and cannot interfere in government protocol.\n\nHowever it does mean they have more freedom to pursue a career and other projects conflicting state interests. Harry already has a number of charities and trusts he can still direct. Megan can even go back into acting.\n\nMy best guess is the two will set up a media company of some type, much in the same manner as their friends the Obamas Netflix deal. Harry apparently had a great time as a BBC guest editor.\n\nFair play to them."
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20d1op | why, if concerts and big events like coachella sell out so quickly, don't the people running them raise the ticket price so, for instance, it sells out in 5 days instead of 2 hours? | All the time big events get sold out in the blink of an eye. Sure, some tickets are reserved by companies like radio stations to give out, but if most are gone so quickly, why not just raise the price to the point where it will still sell out, but not so qu | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20d1op/eli5_why_if_concerts_and_big_events_like/ | {
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"The artists usually want to remain accessible to their fanbase.\n\nYou could charge $1500 per ticket and sell out a small venue to wealthy locals but the vast majority of the fanbase might feel alienated.",
"Imagine you went to the store to buy a gallon of milk and the price was $60. You ask the guy at the checkout and he says it's so there's enough milk for everyone. How would that make you feel? Does that seem like a sound business model to you? ",
"I disagree that raising ticket prices, especially at one of the most popular festivals on the planet, would result in slower sales. You might get a different demographic/class of people, or you might get LESS sales (because people past a certain tax bracket generally won't be huge TV on the Radio fans).......but I really don't see why the actual sales themselves would occur at a slower pace. I think that's a fundamentally flawed way of looking at the \"problem\". \n\nYou probably just should've titled this \"ELI5: why do concert festivals sell out so fast\"\n\n",
"Since no one really answered the question, I will have a go at it. Let's say we are talking about Ultra festival or Bonaroo, or whatever. If tickets for the event sell out extremely quickly (a few hours), then every following festival will have increased demand for tickets. This is because of the perceived notion that things that sell quickly are under high demand by the public. This may lead to higher prices in future events. It's good for marketing and determining size of future events. Also, those that have tickets that were \"sold out\" by the promoters now can increase selling price of their ticket if they decide not to go. Individuals holding these tickets won't benefit promoters, however, if a group of event coordinators bought a certain amount of the tickets on presale, wait for a sold out show, then put them back on the market for sale at a higher rate for those that missed the original sale, then there is money to be made.\n\nI could be dead wrong. Also, typed this in a hurry; please excuse typos/grammatical errors."
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8ubx0o | how are people able to override self preservation and kill/ sacrifice themselves? | Whether it be in war and people jump on grenades or someone hanging themselves. What happens in the brain that allows people to self destruct? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ubx0o/eli5_how_are_people_able_to_override_self/ | {
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"Your body is really good at reacting/letting you move away from negative stimuli. If the world and everything around/happening to you is viewed bad enough then suicide is easy because its not nearly as bad as continuing. Plus we have more control than we think, its hard but you can still do things to hurt yourself regardless of instincts.",
"If you experience enough pain for an extended period of time, then you can eventually reach a point in your mind in which not being a live is the fastest solution to end that pain. Most people with suicidal ideation don't truly want to die, that's why there are often red flag posts, or notes. The cry for help and choosing to end your own life are the solutions that overshadow everything else.\n\nThink about how alluring it is to fall asleep after an awful day. When all is said and done, when you slip into bed and close your eyes, everything goes dark. It's not so much the experience of sleeping that is a reprieve, but having a window where you experience very little or nothing at all.\n\n I can't speak for everyone, only from my personal struggles.",
"It's generally worth approaching the brain, like the body, as a bunch of sorta-specialized parts that work together but also sometimes fight. The fact that one may have an ingrained fear of death and self-harm from one region may not be enough to prevent another region from overriding it.\n\nSo, let's say a person has been socialized in a nation's schools, told by their loved ones their entire lives that their nation is the best and worth dying for, until it becomes a core belief. Then, they go through rigorous military training which drills habits of acting in unison and not panicking at frightening events. (This last part is really important, because millennia of experience have taught us that untrained militia will absolutely run for their lives if they get spooked. A big part of military training is replacing that instinct.) The grenade example is a good one in that it stresses a snap judgment. A three-second fuse doesn't give you enough time to weigh pros and cons, or even to consciously process some information. \n\nSuicide in the general population is primarily associated with mental illness. While significant suffering is generally involved, suicide remains a generally impulsive act, associated with mental states of great restlessness and drive to action. Intoxication and substance abuse are often involved. Suicide in terminal conditions may be somewhat different and more deliberate, particularly when death is inevitable, but that's a growing field."
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213pdq | how can children's tv stations get away with blatant sexualization of their shows? | For example: _URL_0_
Don't regulations exist like they do for violence and swearing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/213pdq/eli5_how_can_childrens_tv_stations_get_away_with/ | {
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"I can't answer you over the sound of my boner. ",
"Because they know parents watch with their children, and as long as they don't cross the line (nudity) noones going to stop them cause \"it's just fun and games\"\n\nI'm not saying for a second thats right, but when all is said and done these shows are driven by ratings and ratings only, and there will always be a certain kind of person that wants this on air.\n\n(google \"Lazy town\" for a kids show that did get talked a lot about for this kind of behaviour, but still stayed on the air for 3 seasons, with the producers defending it at every step)",
"I don't know that I would call most, if any of that \"blatant sexualization.\" Just because girls are hot and looking at them turns you on, doesn't mean it's \"sexualized.\"\n\nBut I suppose Nickelodeon could always institute a burka dress code so you don't have to be ashamed of your erection. ",
"For good or ill, part of being a teenage girl is letting the world know you are becoming a woman by, well, looking like a woman.\n\nWhile I am sure there are some creepy adult men who get off on that, every example I looked at seemed to be targeted to a young girl's wish fulfillment.\n\nAnd even if they weren't, regulations only cover overt sexual situations. All of those had plausible non-sexual situations. And they were also cherry picked out of context from hours of programming, and many had the playback speed altered to appear worse."
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1qhbry | how can a stolen collection, stuffed into a munich apartment, be worth $1 billion? how can so many obscure or forgotten paintings be worth $1 million on average? | > In early 2012, German tax authorities were searching the home of a suspected tax cheat named Cornelius Gurlitt, son of a Munich art dealer. They found and seized approximately 1,400 works of art valued at $1 billion that vanished during the Nazi regime.
source: [The Economist](_URL_0_)
Many of these recovered works are obscure or unknown, only of interest to museums or collectors. Yet, the *average* price has been estimated at $1 million! Gurlitt had a thousand paintings, so he had a billion dollars covertly stashed in his bureau (bear in mind, a billion dollars in gold would weigh 25 tonnes!).
I understand that some works of art are priceless. But how can something that was sold for a few hundred dollars in its day be worth so many millions only 60-70 years later? For that matter, how can a mediocre work by a 2nd rank painter that took only a few weeks to create be worth $1 million? A painting is not a patent. It's not a recipe or a going concern. Even Picassos are not rare. He made more than 50,000 works in his life. This aspect of the art market confuses me: surely, the Picasso market is saturated and yet no one seems able or willing to estimate the total value of Picasso's ouvre. Picasso's top ten paintings alone have sold for over a $100 million each. One concludes that the total value of Picasso ouevre might be $500 billion dollars or even more. It's all a bit beyond reason. How can one man's output compare to the GDP of a decent-sized country? With notable exceptions (certain popular photos or paintings) these works have little copyright or reproductive value. These are pure objects of fashion.
Is it just bragging rights among billionaires that inflates the market value? Or, are there darker questions: has inflation systematically undermined the value of everything else except status goods? Does the value of art perhaps reflect the worthlessness of everything else? Otherwise, how can a villa in Spain be worth only a fraction of a painting by Emile Nolde (found recently among stolen paintings in Munich)? How can Picasso's house be worth 0.001% of the paintings he made while he was there? Wouldn't you rather have a roof over your head and a 1/2 acre than a picture of a cow?
My head is spinning. Please, explain it to me like I'm 5. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qhbry/eli5_how_can_a_stolen_collection_stuffed_into_a/ | {
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"It's all based on the demand of this particular market, and the extremely limited supply of the product. \n\n > Wouldn't you rather have a roof over your head and a 1/2 acre than a picture of a cow?\n\nMore houses are being built every day, but Picasso isn't producing any more paintings. The super-high end art market is driven by the fact that no more of these works by famous, dead artists will ever be produced. Are they really *worth* millions of dollars? That's subjective. Things are worth what people are willing to pay for them. ",
"Think about what you would do if you had a $1,000,000 per year income: what would you spend it on? Sure, you could buy a mansion, but that would only use up 3 or 4 years of salary. You could buy new cars every year, but that's a drop in the bucket. Yachts? Nah, that's cheap to you. Rich people just plain *run out* of ways to spend their money.\n\nWhen that happens - when they have so much money that they literally don't know what to do with it - then this sort of thing can happen, where they start bidding for art and other things like that, and there's no limit to how much they might bid, because they just have no other use for the money anyway.\n\n"
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21x3id | why don't more people have lung cancer / respiratory issues (at least reported), since most people (until the 90's) smoked / experienced 2nd hand smoke? | I've seen old TV shows and ads where the doctor smoked while checking their patients! This may be US specific, since I believe the level of smoking has gone down in the US, along with better air quality (both points comparing to Asia). Thanks Reddit | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21x3id/eli5_why_dont_more_people_have_lung_cancer/ | {
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3kvm1p | what would happen to the american economy if china's currency was now as valuable as the american dollar? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kvm1p/eli5what_would_happen_to_the_american_economy_if/ | {
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"It depends how it happened.\n\nIf the US dollar falls to parity with the Renminbi, then the US would no longer be able to import manufactured goods. Factories would re-open in America, but although unemployment would drop, the American quality of life would drop substantially as well - $200 a month in welfare checks is worth 1300 renminbi, so even if you made $1000 a month as a factory worker you would be worse off than someone trying to live on $200 a month.\n\nIf the Renminbi rose to the value of the Dollar, all manufacturing would move to India, and things would continue as normal. There would be a brief goods shortage, but it would be over very quickly. This would be far more catastrophic for China than the US (at this stage)."
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8x753a | why does pasta have numbers on the box? i.e farafelle no. 65 | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8x753a/eli5_why_does_pasta_have_numbers_on_the_box_ie/ | {
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"Pasta is extruded through dis. The number on the box is referring to the di that was used to make that particular shape of pasta.",
"Think of a Play Doh pasta maker. Each shape requires a different plate/insert/dye. A pasta machine is just a larger version of that. You add your dough and it gets pushed through the dye. Each shape has a different number. It’s easier to keep track of things by number than the 100’s of names for pasta shapes and sizes. ",
"I did some research and it seems to be that the numbers are a model number in a way. Instead of having to learn complicated names spaghetti types were assigned a number that would stay consistent."
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st3zw | why was it so hard to prosecute old time mob bosses? | What I'm wondering is why did prosecutors have such a hard time convicting mobsters/mob bosses of murder? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/st3zw/eli5_why_was_it_so_hard_to_prosecute_old_time_mob/ | {
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"The higher up you were in the food chain, the harder it was to get convicted. In most cases, the mob bosses never kill anyone with their own hands. That means that there is no physical evidence, such as fingerprints, that ties them with the crime. Futhermore, they never directly order anyone to kill either. The order usually gets passed down through several people; the mob boss never actually talks with the hitman. Also, if any hitman did confess, and implicated the boss, there is a good chance they would get killed in jail by fellow gang members. So, there was a heavy incentive to stay quiet. Finally, these gangsters had a lot of money, enough money to bribe enough people to bury any evidence that might incriminate them, and get some top class lawyers.",
"They didn't convict them for murder, they convicted them for not paying their taxes. ",
"Before 1970 when the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) was passed, federal prosecutors could only charge individuals with crimes they themselves had committed. So if Don Corleone ordered Clemenza to kill Paulie Gatto, the Don can't be charged with murder because he didn't kill anyone. After RICO, the Don still couldn't be charged with murder, but he could be charged with racketeering. To be convicted of racketeering, prosecutors only had to prove that the Don had committed two RICO-type crimes (murder, drug trafficking, etc) within a ten year period.\n\nAlso, conspiracy law was not as developed as it is now. In the heyday of the mafia (say, 1919-1955), to be charged with committing a conspiracy, there had to be an overt act by the Don. Supreme Court rulings since then, like United States v. Shabani, have steered conspiracy away from requiring an overt act. Now all you need to do to be charged with conspiracy is to agree with another person to commit an illegal act. So now as long as prosecutors can prove that the Don and Paulie agreed to murder Paulie, Don Corleone can be charged with murder as if he himself had pulled the trigger."
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5crptx | how can animals do things which humans need to learn, for example walking or swimming? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5crptx/eli5_how_can_animals_do_things_which_humans_need/ | {
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"Humans do it naturally too... The basic skills almost all animals do, every brain can learn to some degree; but a lot of things are automatic."
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7pea7b | why do astronauts grow taller in during their time in space? | I recently discovered that there are many fully grown astronauts that go to space and grow taller during their time there. Hooooooooooow? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7pea7b/eli5_why_do_astronauts_grow_taller_in_during/ | {
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"They don't really grow taller, their spine just stretches out due to the zero G environment. They shrink back when they go back to Earth. The same thing happens every night when you sleep, actually.",
"The joints between the bones usually fill with fluid when gravity isnt acting on them, so they stretch the person out. Same thing happens to you when you sleep. You can be up to 1 inch taller or more when you wake up in the morning."
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70oz3r | do spiders have limitations on their silk? | Was just cleaning up some cobwebs and found myself wondering this. I assume it varies based on species, but in general do spiders have limitations on their silk? Do they have to wait for their silk to 'recharge'? I assume they must, but I'm curious to know how many feet of silk an average spider can produce before they're 'out' and then how long they'd have to wait to produce the same amount. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70oz3r/eli5_do_spiders_have_limitations_on_their_silk/ | {
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"Yes, they are limited based on the protein they consume. If they eat more insects, they can make more silk. The amount of silk that each spider can make varies based on the type of spider, too. The only figure I know right offhand is that it takes around 30,000 golden orb waver spiders to make about a gram of dragline silk without \"recharge\" since the thread is about 1/100th the width of a standard thread in your clothes."
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2nif44 | why consumers are still so terrified of genetically modified organisms (gmos), yet there is little debate in the scientific community of whether they are safe or not. (scientists are for gmos) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nif44/eli5_why_consumers_are_still_so_terrified_of/ | {
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"For the same reason that people think gluten is bad for you: People are stupid. Give someone something to fear and they'll happily hold on to that regardless of any evidence that contradicts it.",
"Fear. People fear what they don't know. It shows you how uneducated our society is. ",
"There are a lot of anti-corporate sentiments wrapped up in the GMO movement, and people who are against both corporations and GMO like to mix them together to stir up fear of both.",
"People associate GMOs with the use of powerful pesticides. Basically Monsanto decided to take the single stupidest and most dangerous approach to the technology by creating resistance to round-up (among others) and soaking all their crops in ridiculous amounts of pesticides. Long story short, misplaced rage and poor understanding of the situation led people to wharrgarbl against GMOs instead of foolish uses of GMOs. ",
"A lot of people (religious people especially) believe that anything man-made is inferior to natural things. GMOs are seen as man-made crops, and are therefore worse than natural crops.",
"People don't want to sit down to read the peer-reviewed science. However, they will listen to fear-mongers, charlatans and vested interests shouting \"GMO WILL KILL YOU ALL UNTIL YOU DIE FROM IT WHILE GIVING YOUR KIDS THE AUTISMS\".",
"GMO fits so neatly into the standard conspiracy narrative. Here's an interesting [article]( _URL_0_). I'm sorry the rest of it is behind a paywall but the bit you can read has a lot of the essential details. Basically it ticks all of the necessary boxes. \n\n(1) a group (typically in this case the Monsanto but 'science' as a catch-all is sometimes used as well.) \n\n(2) acting in secret (this one is basically satisfied because ignorance can masquerade as secrecy) \n\n(3) to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility (most anti GM folks just point to the corporation's profit as the motivation but some crazy ones go even further) \n\n(4) at the expense of the common good.” (this one speaks for itself). \n\nThe fact is that there are people primed to believe these bullshit theories and they will latch onto anything that fits the pattern. It's pretty rare for someone who subscribes to conspiracy theories to only subscribe to one. I think It's primarily a consequence of deficient reasoning abilities and ignorance (often willful). ",
"perhaps my annecdotal fear will provide you some insight.\n\n I just don't know what to believe. I grew up around an agri-research center and have seen some good things come about. Better resistance to drought, easier to pick fruit, etc....\n\nIt's on the last point that I don't have faith. It's the blurred line between GM for profit and GM for taste/health. I feel the research into GMO's is often for yield and resistance. While normally not an issue, I fear research about health isn't complete, or swept under the rug. What is the health trade-off, if any? And can I be certain that corporations who've invested heavily into this reaearch will balance health and profit the same way I would? It wouldn't be the first time in history that profit has been chosen, and approved by governments as safe; for example smoking, certain pesticides, etc.. \n\nIt's not that I don't trust scientists, it's that I don't trust those who write the cheques. When it comes to something I consume daily, like produce, I want it to be well understood. Something new is scary, and by virtue of being new - not FULLY researched. Besides, who even defines \"safe\" these days, and can that definition be trusted?\n\nWith big bucks on the line you can't just take someones word for it. The problem is, I simply don't know enough to do my own research, so I'm left checking both sides of the argument; as any rational person who doesn't have 4 years to spend getting a bio degree does. And as we all know, that leaves me wading through the propoganda of both sides deeping my confusion and further conflicting my opinion.\n\nIt's not that I'm a crazy anti GMO activist. I think I'd rather just not buy something that is GM until i'm confident it 's truely safe ",
"The approval of scientific community doesn't mean anything to people who believe otherwise.\n\nIf it did, we would've stopped arguing about global warming a long time ago.",
"Here's a literature review on GMO studies. The conclusion:\n\n > The number of citations found in databases (PubMed and Scopus) has dramatically increased since 2006. However, new information on products such as potatoes, cucumber, peas or tomatoes, among others was not available. Corn/maize, rice, and soybeans were included in the present review. An equilibrium in the number research groups suggesting, on the basis of their studies, that a number of varieties of GM products (mainly maize and soybeans) are as safe and nutritious as the respective conventional non-GM plant, and those raising still serious concerns, was currently observed. Nevertheless, it should be noted that most of these studies have been conducted by biotechnology companies responsible of commercializing these GM plants. These findings suggest a notable advance in comparison with the lack of studies published in recent years in scientific journals by those companies.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nTLDR: Most studies that say that GMO's are safe are done by the companies that make GMO's and other studies still cannot conclude for sure that they are safe.",
"Most people don't understand the science and sometimes listen to people who don't know what they're talking about.",
"People don't care / listen to the science community - they listen to the media when they pick/snip a science headline to made drama. "
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1jvkex | why do women lose their nipple(s) when they get breast cancer? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jvkex/eli5_why_do_women_lose_their_nipples_when_they/ | {
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"They don't always, it's just that sometimes when women have to have parts/all of their breast removed to get rid of the cancer, the nipple is part of what needs to be removed. ",
"A relatively straightforward (medically-speaking) and often successful cure for breast cancer is mastectomy -- removal of the entire breast. Plastic surgeons can then insert silicone implants to recreate the shape of the missing breast but obviously this doesn't recreate the appearance of a nipple."
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5vy2tb | are animals able to distinguish their own siblings if they grew up together, got separated (i.e. zoo or adoption), and if they're reunited in adulthood? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vy2tb/eli5_are_animals_able_to_distinguish_their_own/ | {
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"My Border Collie met her sister after several months. No indication beyond being another dog to play with.",
"I know that cats will not. Siblings who have been separated for any extended period of time treat each other as rivals.",
"I know there are some breeds of rats that are able to distinguish their relatives based on their smell. ",
"For dogs, I'm fairly certain they don't recognize each other as siblings, and I don't think that's anything that matters to them anyway... but they definitely recognize the familiarity if you've brought the siblings around each other. \n\nI know if a female dog is in heat, her brother will mount her just the same, but I don't think that's what you're asking right? I think is more the familiarity/family bond?",
"My dog lived for her first 6 months with her sister who she was identical to. They were very fond of each other. We had other dogs and plenty of mirrors but when we adopted her she would sometimes catch sight of herself in the mirror and immediately drop her ears and start wagging her tail the way she does when she greets dogs and people she likes. When she realised it was the mirror she would just sit and stare in to it and I am sure she saw her sister in her own reflection and missed and mourned her. We arranged for them to meet about eight months later and she recognised her. ",
"My dog was separated since he was ~2 months old and it's been 7 years since he last saw his siblings. The other day my gf was out with him and stumbled upon another owner with the same breed. They started talking and it turned out that the dogs were siblings. All My gf had to say about the reaction was that our dog was very playful with his brother and didn't get jealous when My gf went to pet the other dog. Usually when he sees other dogs he gets a little aggressive and assertive and he is also very jealous so I don't know perhaps, but then again it could also be that he just happened to like this dog which is about 1/25 dogs he walks by. ",
"Do a Google search for reunited elephants. There was a great story about a pair of elephants who were reunited after years apart. They clearly knew each other.",
"I think it depends on how young they were when they were separated and how long they were separated for. We got my old dog when she was 2 months old and when she was about 1 year old we ran into her sister at a park. They played nicely together but they clearly did not recognize each other. ",
"My dog and I ran into his brother from the same two parents, but a previous litter (the other owner and I figured it out). They both reacted with WILD enthusiasm, unlike anything I had ever seen my dog do, even though they had never met. Maybe it was a coincidence? ",
"I know that Elephants know and I know that allot of species of bird find back the same mates every breeding season.\nAnd I know that Horses and cows and dogs don't know. \n\nHyenas know who the pups of the alpha female are, and these pups have a higher rank in their group than other pups. And these pups will become the new alpha females like a royal blood line. \n\nIt must be relevant to their survival or else this trait would not be copied successfully into future generations. So this would most likely occur in more intelligent creatures that live in family groups. \n\nHumans however do not conclude that they are family by smell or behaviour clues, but they have language, genetic testing and pictures etc. So even if we conclude that elephants remain to know their relatives, we cannot know for sure what tips them off. ",
"[They seem to remember people.](_URL_0_) This clip talks about a lion who was bought in a London department store in the late 60's and later released into the wild. His former owners tracked him down and he greeted them warmly.",
"I had 2 cats for a while and one got locked outside accidentally and essentially ran away for a few days. when I found him and got him home, my other cat acted like he was a strange cat for a day or so. So maybe she didn't recognize him... or maybe she was just hoping she was rid of him... who knows... cats!",
"[Here's a great video about two elephants reunited after 20 years apart.](_URL_0_) Keep watching. The reunion takes place toward the end, but it's definitely worth watching from the beginning. You won't be disappointed.",
"We got my dog from a breeder. He had only seen his dad once when he was born. 7 years later we were in the area so we took Frank to see his dad, and after a couple minutes of barking at him, he realised who he was and would t leave his side. He did everything that his dad did.",
"My dog and his brother see each other about once every six months. They were both raised at our home, and separated at 10 weeks. When they see each other, they immediately go side by side like chariot horses and will do everything together. They stick next to each other like glue even on hikes. They do not seem to recognize their sister from the same litter. "
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cpt4dq | why are standard drinking cups shaped the way the are, wider on the top and more narrow toward the bottom? | Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the cup be a consistent width throughout? Or, even make the cup wider at the bottom to make it more stable when sitting on a surface? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cpt4dq/eli5_why_are_standard_drinking_cups_shaped_the/ | {
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"I don't actually know but I assume it to make the liquid easier to pour down your mouth without needing to turn your cup upside down to get something and potentially having everything spill because of how sudden it would be.\n\nAlso having a wider base and a narrow opening is bad for the environment. [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"It’s easier to stack a cup that’s wider at the top than one that’s the same width the whole way up or one that’s wider at the bottom. It also makes it a little easier to drink, but I don’t think that’s as much of a reason as the stacking since just making it wide enough to drink easily the whole way down would also work.",
"Cups are made that way so they are easy to release from the molds when they are manufactured. Also, it makes the cups stackable.",
"Slippery cup + wet hand = dropped beverage.\n\nSo, cups have this design so that as gravity pulls the drink downward, the flaring taper counteracts that effect keeping it safely in place inside your hand.\n\nIf the taper went the other direction, as you squeezed your hand tighter, you could actually force the cup through your closing fist (kind of like squeezing a slippery bar of soap and it popping out of your hand.\n\nAlso, it's WAY easier to store 100 cups if they all fit inside each other, than if they have to be individually placed on the counter. Uniform width, and fat bottomed cups can't stack inside each other.\n\nEdit: Typo",
"While some of these reasons are true, the main reason is that stacking the cups takes up less space during transport and storage, saving money for the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer.",
"When molding plastic it helps to have a \"draft\" or an angle, so when you pull the 2 halves of the molding tool apart, they separate easily without rubbing on the part being made, like the Cup. It simplifies the tooling and reduces the amount of time per mold cycle by speeding up the release. It also helps with stackability of the items.",
"Making the cups narrower at the bottom and wider at the top gives them a slight \"wedge\" shape, which makes it easier to put them into cupholders.\n\nWithout the wedge shape, if you try to fit a cup into a cupholder that's too small, you can't. With the wedge shape, even if the cupholder can't accommodate the whole cup, it can probably fit enough of it to keep it in place.\n\nThere's also the fact that it's more ergonomic. Your shortest finger, your pinky, is at the bottom of your hand. When you curl your hand, the area inside is roughly conical, hence the roughly conical cups."
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6xt6qi | how are nuclear weapons tests underground without destroying the land around them or the facilities in which they are conducted? | **edit** FP? ;o
Thanks for the insight everyone. Makes more sense that it's just a hole more than an actual structure underground | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xt6qi/eli5_how_are_nuclear_weapons_tests_underground/ | {
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"An underground nuclear test is essentially a bomb in a deep hole or mine shaft. It goes boom, a portion of the surrounding ground is vaporized, and a lot more is superheated. If the hole is deep enough (it should be, as we've done this sort of thing for a while) all the radioactivity and the blast is contained underground. Kind of like having a tiny balloon pop in your hands. The noise is muffled, the rubber doesn't go anywhere, and everything is cool. ",
"Underground nuclear tests are performed by buttering the bomb deep underground. Larger bomb tests, such as the one North Korea just performed, cause earthquakes and significantly deform the land around the test site. Here are some videos of nuclear tests that show their impact on the surrounding land.[1](_URL_1_) [2](_URL_0_)",
"Does every underground test create glass?",
"How far down are they buried? Is there any concern for radiation leakage in water, etc? ",
"Because it's not a little bit underground. Done (and depending on yield) correctly a underground nuclear test is several kilometers deep. \n\nThere's also no facilities around them, other than the shaft the bomb is put at the bottom off. The hole itself is a write off, a solid chunk of the rock at the bottom will be vaporized, and any tunnels nearby will collapse. This isn't some specially built, hyper reinforced lab setting, it's usually just a repurposed mineshaft ",
"Does this cause tremors nearby comparable to earthquakes?",
"Compacted earth is incredibly heavy, dense and strong. According to [this site](_URL_0_), 1600 kg per cubic meter. \n\n\"Cannikan\" was the largest underground test in the US at 5 megatons (equivalent to 5 million tons of TNT, or about 240 times more powerful than \"fat man\" which was dropped on Nagasaki. It was placed in a shaft 6,150 feet deep (nearly 1900 meters). \n\nSo essentially, imagine a rock wall 6150 feet thick, and even something as powerful as a nuclear bomb has its work cut out for it.\n\n",
"What can you learn from the test being underground vs above ground? What are they testing other than the boom.",
"Also, doesn't it contaminate the ground water?",
"I finally understood this when I visited the _URL_0_ in Las Vegas.\nAn atomic bomb is a source of intense heat, what we normally associate with the explosion is the expansion of the surrounding air. In an overly simplified explanation, if there is no air you only get heat but not an outward explosive force. Yes rocks vaporize and all that, but his is less of a factor.\n\nIn fact the area around the test device is keep in a vacuum, in the museum you can clearly see the vacuum vessel and vacuum pumps associated to maintain the neighboring area free of air and water. Water creates steam. It is important to keep water and things that can be vaporized away.",
"Are the EMP effects of the bomb diminished?",
"i read somewhere, (can no longer find it, but if anyone can, please post). there was a test where the shaft was filled with water, and a massive steel door was put on the top, perhaps to just close it, or whatever. but what happened was that alot of that was was instantly turned into steam, hyperpressurizing the shaft, the subsequent blast sent the steel door into space at a rate of (if i can recall correctly) at about 6MPS or could have been much faster. it set the record for the fastest/largest/heaviest projectile sent into space, i'm pretty sure its still going because it would weigh so much and would escape earths orbit within minutes if not longer. i can't find the story anymore. the steam acted as a buffer and did not vaporize the door.",
"What about the latent radiation to the surrounding soil, water, and microorganisms? I assume these factors are taken into account when choosing the site for detonation. ",
"On a related note, how do they scout these underground locations for testing? Are they all manmade? Seems like it require a lot of time and equipment to create a space large enough to be able to pass through all the equipment, material, and personnel needed to test a nuke",
"The basic idea is the same as burying yourself in sand. If you're covered in a little sand you can still wiggle your toes, or pull yourself out. Eventually you'll get to a point where all you can do is wiggle a bit. When you get to this point someone really has to be looking for you to notice that something underneath them is moving. That's the general idea behind underground testing. You cover it up with enough dirt that someone really has to be looking for it to notice it. In this case we detect it using seismic sensors.\n\nEdit: Doing it underground also masks the radiation signature, which is a big deal if you don't want to irradiate your population or be caught.",
"Can the hole be reused or does the radiation make it too difficult to set up the next nuclear bomb and they have to use another location?",
"Another question I'd like to know, did all the tests out in the ocean ever create Tsunamis?",
"Underground nuclear explosions destroy everything in the vicinity, how much gets destroyed depends on the yield. 100kT or 0.4 PJ is pretty big, but not that big. The energy is mostly absorbed by the surrounding rocks being pushed aside (rocks are heavy so it takes a lot of energy to move them even a little bit) and melting (rocks have a high melting point so it takes a lot of energy to melt rocks), a fraction becomes acoustic energy which travels through the Earth and can be picked up by remote geophones operated by geologists watching for for earthquakes, as well as more sophisticated instruments operated by various government agencies and the CTBTO.",
"For those interested:\n\nHere is the US nuclear test site:\n\n_URL_2_\n\nHere is where Pakistan tested its nukes in 1998:\n\n_URL_1_\n\nAnd here is the secret Syrian facility the Israelis blew up:\n\n_URL_0_",
"What does the vaporized rock look like after the test?",
"[This](_URL_0_) might not answer your question fully, but it does show test buildings with shock absorbers that seem to roll with the ground. Really cool to watch too.\n\n",
"[sometimes](_URL_0_) they did blow the shit outta everything. Looks like friggin DBZ.\n\nCraziest part is, it's only that big because they miscalculated.\n\n",
"Not sure if it's been said elsewhere, but basically, it does. The device is lowered into a shaft with a full set of diagnostic equipment, the whole assembly is called a canister or a rack, depending on which lab you're talking to. All that diagnostic equipment is set up to record remotely, so you still get the data from the time of detonation to the point your diagnostics are destroyed. The tests we do now don't require us to destroy a bunch of equipment, so it's much cheaper in that sense, though the equipment is certainly more sophisticated."
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"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ras+Koh/@28.4119353,63.97299,3228m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x3ec563454982f27f:0xdc6b3ca8b086315d!8m2!3d28.5102778!4d64.2547222",
"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yucca+Flat/@37.0698122,-116.0352283,7614m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80b874ac872347c3:0x1b4a6922a8155eeb!8m2!3d37.0688415!4d-116.0442026"
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v0l38 | why do plasma tvs not work properly or break in high elevations? | My cousin said he had to sell or give away his Plasma because he moved to 7000+ft in elevation and he said it would die at that elevation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/v0l38/eli5_why_do_plasma_tvs_not_work_properly_or_break/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nIn laymen's terms, as the air outside gets thinner, there's less pressure being exerted on the gases in the TV that produce the picture. So the gases inside heat up (more pressure = molecules bumping into each other more = more heat), so the TV's cooling unit has to work harder, and then fails more quickly.",
"Plasma screens have thousands of tiny little glass pockets which contain pressurised gasses, usually noble gases like neon and xenon.\n\nAnyway these pockets are pressurised to about the same pressure as atmospheric pressure usually is. So the pressure inside and outside is about equal. When you go to high altitude the low pressure outside causes the electronics to require more power to work properly.\n\nThis usually doesn't reduce picture quality but more power flowing through the screen means it gets hotter. That means that the fans have to work harder to keep it cool which leads to a buzzing noise. Also the lifetime is reduced as they're working extra hard."
]
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[
"http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-altitude.html"
],
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|
4p2c8a | why are celebrities invited to state dinners? | It makes sense for celebrities that are politically active or who are there to perform, but what about people like Kendall Jenner, who Obama even mentioned in his speech and said "I'm not sure what she does...". Why are they invited and who exactly invites them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4p2c8a/eli5_why_are_celebrities_invited_to_state_dinners/ | {
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"Probably just for ratings, since they started airing that kind of stuff, having people like karkrashians on it could draw people that never would have tuned in. Like when Beyoncé played the Super Bowl halftime show. ",
"A mixture of things, but he most likely (other than pure fandom) would be celebrities have massive audiences, who will often follow the shepered (aka the celebrity) if they can be turned on vocally for or against a political view, hey will often get millions of others on the same page. politicians use this to swing public opinion to or from something they need support on.",
"I think it's because the gov wants to look more attractive to different people and having celebs at a state dinner encourages more people to watch. Celebrities are our actual representatives. ",
"Isn't it also for fundraising?"
]
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2572cv | in terms of survival of the fittest, why would a duckling be yellow? | The genetic process that makes them eventually turn white has been discussed elsewhere. Rather, I'm asking if there's any reason as to why on Earth evolution wouldn't give them better camouflage at such a defenseless age. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2572cv/eli5_in_terms_of_survival_of_the_fittest_why/ | {
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"Ducklings aren't very good at surviving - they can't swim properly and are more or less defenseless. Sitting ducks, if you will.\n\nThat means that ducklings need to be constantly monitored by the parent duck, and should always be in the vicinity. It's feasible to imagine that the visibility of yellow plumage was helpful enough in aiding monitoring by parent ducks that it offset any disadvantage of being spotted by predators.\n\nAll of that said, white ducks (and yellow ducklings) apparently came about on trade routes in China - and were eventually domesticated - so they could be said to have coloration that isn't really for camouflage so much as for appeal to humans.\n\nOther species of duck have brown or black feathers and produce brown or black ducklings.",
"Yellow equals danger, you're about to be assaulted by a hissing mommy duck.",
"Mallard chicks are brown and yellow. If you look at a nest with them and squint, the camouflage works fairly well."
]
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[],
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|
3sesew | why isn't a one second video at 24 fps 24x the file size of a picture? | Example: If one photo is one megabyte, why isn't a one second video at 24 fps, which has 24 photos in one second, 24 megabytes?
I get that it's to do with compression, but how could you compress that without losing too much quality and pixels? Pls explain. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sesew/eli5_why_isnt_a_one_second_video_at_24_fps_24x/ | {
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"Video compression uses the fact that consecutive frames tend to be similar to each other. Instead of storing each frame separately, the file only stores the differences between the frames (except for some frames known as \"key frames\" which are stored in full), which takes up much less space."
]
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[]
] |
|
6928a8 | if we could genetically modify foods, then why can't we use them to make them taste good? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6928a8/eli5if_we_could_genetically_modify_foods_then_why/ | {
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"Generally, it's more profitable to engineer crops that are more resistant to loss (such as from blights or pests) or that can grow more successfully in a wider variety of environments.\n\nIn addition, people will usually buy foods that *look* tasty, even if they actually aren't that tasty. The poorly-named \"Red Delicious\" apple is a prime example of this. The Red Delicious *looks* like it would in fact be delicious, since it's shiny and red and looks nice and plump. However, it usually scores extremely low on any apple variety rankings based on actual taste. So we're more likely to genetically engineer *nice looking* crops, rather than tasty ones, if we ever bother at all.\n\nHowever, we *do* select foods that are tasty enough to begin with, and artificial selection via breeding and crop choice and so on already have a lot to do with the tastes of food we have available. All the breeds of apple that taste like garbage aren't particularly successful (except for potentially cider-making, which is what the original Johnny Appleseed apple trees were for, since apples grown from apple seeds tend to be widely variant in their taste. Only the tastiest apple trees from all of those grown get grafted into new trees to make more apples of that variety!).\n\n_URL_0_ APPLES"
]
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||
3cdipw | why do we pay sales tax on used (pre-owned) vehicles? hasn't the tax been paid already on it once (when it was new)? | Is there such a thing as a double taxing rule?
I know when normal items are purchased regularly, the business are tax-exempt and the sales tax is then passed and paid by the consumer. Why can a car be taxed and retaxed every time it is sold? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cdipw/eli5_why_do_we_pay_sales_tax_on_used_preowned/ | {
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"There are only sales tax exemptions for items bought for Resale. So when the car dealership buys the car from you, it doesn't pay sales tax on it (and you don't have to collect sales tax).\n\nWhenever anything is sold to a consumer, they pay sales tax.",
"Sales tax is a tax on the transaction, not the item. There's other sorts of taxes, such as a VAT (value added tax) that specifically target goods.\n\nThe item being secondhand makes no difference to sales tax."
]
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[],
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6wbi8j | does looking at certain colors have an affect on your brain/mind? if so, what colors associate with what effect? | I heard that looking at the color green boosts creativity so I was wondering if this was actually true and if other colors have any effects | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wbi8j/eli5_does_looking_at_certain_colors_have_an/ | {
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"It is still a very little known subject but we know that some associations of colors have huge impact on our brain. For example, you should check the Mc Collough which can change your perception of colors for months, just by showing parallel colored lines!",
"Yes they do. There's a reason majority of social media is blue. (Facebook, twitter, MySpace, Tumblr, linked In). It stimulates the mind to be more relaxed and appealing. I don't feel like looking it up and typing a book here but just google color theory and the importance/meaning of color. I'm a web Design major and I've learned all about. It's quite interesting."
]
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1fsefb | differentials in cars,what they do and why they're useful, and differential locks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fsefb/eli5_differentials_in_carswhat_they_do_and_why/ | {
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"Differential gearing allows driven wheels (those attached to the drive-shaft) to turn at different speeds while still remaining connected.\n\n[This video](_URL_0_) may be old, but it's without a doubt one of the best explanaitions I've seen about how they work. Worth a watch.\n\nLocking the differential prevents the wheels turning independantly, essentially making it a \"live axle\" (ie wheels connected by a solid rod). This is useful in certain situation such as offroading. If one wheel gets stuck against some hard terrain, but the other is free and spinning in the air, the engine power would go to the free spinning one if the diff wasn't locked (or some fancy shmancy computer didn't step in with all sorts of smart traction control..)."
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||
9u0gd5 | why are some cultures obsessed with skin whitening? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9u0gd5/eli5_why_are_some_cultures_obsessed_with_skin/ | {
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"In many Asian countries in the past only rich people would have pale skin as they didn’t have to do hard labor that would burn their skin like poor rice farmers etc. So having pale skin is seen as being higher class and more desirable. ",
"In many cultures, whiter skin is/was seen as a sign of wealth, as anyone with darker skin was assumed to be poor as they must have had darker skin from labouring outdoors all day, and therefore tanned, whilst the richer people how did not need to be outdoors all day.\n",
"It’s kinda the opposite in western, mostly white girls spend tons of money buying tanning sprays and stuff to look nice and tanned.\nIt’s just a human instinct we always want what we don’t have. \nLike the saying my grandpa once said\n“When it’s hot we want it cold when it’s cold we want it hot”",
"Yes, one reason is because traditionally only lower classes would labour under the sun, in recent times a big part is due to the huge influence of European / Western cultures and how white people are held as the peak of beauty, so darker skinned cultures from SA, to Nigeria to Thailand to Philippines to Hong Kong etc, try to lighten their skin to emulate this perceived ideal of white skin .",
"Generally, whatever takes work to achieve is considered attractive.\n\nIf it takes work, then that signals enough social status to out time, effort and resources into vanity.\n\nSame thing goes for birds with colourful feathers or animals that show off.",
"Apart from the white skin, it is also a status symbol to have long fingernails, again because this is not possible with manual labour as they would break."
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4ao3n7 | why do christian radio stations take donations? | I understand that radio stations are businesses. They need money to run and pay for their employees. However, I listen to several different Christian radio stations and about 2-3 times a year they all have "Share-a-thons." It's where they ask people for donations for a week straight, similar to how PBS does. I have only heard of 1 Christian radio station that I know of that does this, but also has regular commercials from local businesses and such on their programming. If Christian radio stations are really needing funds/funding, instead of asking for donations, could they not just sell their time slots to businesses to air their commercials and make enough money that way? Or is there a tax write off or some other tax cut that they can do if they accept donations instead of making money through commercials? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ao3n7/eli5why_do_christian_radio_stations_take_donations/ | {
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" > If Christian radio stations are really needing funds/funding, instead of asking for donations, could they not just sell their time slots to businesses to air their commercials and make enough money that way?\n\nThey could, but they choose not to run their business that way. They don't want to sell advertisements or sponsored programing, so they get their operating funds through donations. It's the exact same logic that PBS uses.",
"Radio stations between 88.1 and 91.9 mHz are reserved by the FCC for [non-commercial radio](_URL_0_), so they aren't allowed to run advertisements. Absent the ad funding model, most stations of this type (including secular public radio stations) use a sponsorship method, though other models are allowed (college radio is usually paid for by the college with no listener sponsor requests). Non-commercial radio is allowed to obtain corporate sponsorship, and can thank them, which means the sponsors can edge up to the line of being commercials but there are rules preventing regular advertising. \n\nThere are a few commercial, Christian radio stations that are ad supported (and in the for profit range of the spectrum (92.1 to 107.9) but they are rare because many Christian organizations are already non-profits so can access the less expensive licenses without a major organizational change that a for profit company moving into the space would need to undergo. "
]
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[],
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|
1ckhra | what is obama's reasoning behind drones, and why can't the us just pull its troops out of the middle east? what will happen? | I have very fragmented knowledge about the whole Middle East conflict and would love if someone could break it down for me (without going too far back, maybe as far as Clinton would be ok).
It would also be awesome if someone could explain WHY the US got involved in the first place.
Thanks, people who are way smarter and well-informed than me!
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ckhra/eli5_what_is_obamas_reasoning_behind_drones_and/ | {
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"Drones are typically used to target militant commanders in the hard to access tribal regions of Pakistan. They allow the US to conduct recon in the area for longer periods without the risk of losing a pilot. Drones have also been used in Yemen to target the growing influence of Al-Qaeda in the Arab peninsula. \n\nThe US troop influence in the region is propping up friendly Middle Eastern governments. The sudden removal of these troops would likely create a power vacuum in which a variety of factions would seek to challenge the weak US backed governments. If these governments fall you would see the rise of a variety of governments that could threaten the stability of the region for a variety of reasons. The destabilization of the region would have economic consequences for the Western world."
]
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psed2 | i have psoriasis. what does that mean? | what is psoriasis?
thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/psed2/i_have_psoriasis_what_does_that_mean/ | {
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"Your body is attacking itself. Your skin replaces itself faster than other people. It may feel better with some medicines, but there's really no way to stop it, and nobody seems to know much else about it. I have it, too.",
"just like ccnova said, your body is attacking itself. There are various auto-immune disorders, psoriasis is one of them. \n\nI have psoriatic arthritis. It attacks both my skin/soft tissue and joints. If you are curious i can tell you what works for me and what i've learned over the last 3-4 years.",
"I have it as well, I've tried tons of medication/OTC stuff, it all works *okay*. However, I have found the best remedy to keep it at bay: kombucha. Drink one bottled Kombucha (I make my own, but GT Dave's works too) per day, and it was gone within weeks. Just keep drinking it and you'll be good to go."
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403gzb | why do some races have higher tolerance for cold temperatures than others, regardless of where they were born? | My neighbors are Hmong and even in the winter they wear short sleeve shirts, shorts and sandals outside and don't seem phased by it at all. Meanwhile everyone in my family needs multiple layers and will still show signs of being cold. Please explain this to me as if I were 5 years old. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/403gzb/eli5why_do_some_races_have_higher_tolerance_for/ | {
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"What you've done is wrongly drawn a conclusion based on a very small sample size. Race has nothing to do with temperature tolerance. It's likely everyone in your family isn't exposed much to cold or rushes to cover up whenever temperatures are low, whereas the family next door allows themselves to be in colder weather without rushing to \"fix\" slight discomfort, and they've therefore gotten more used to the cold. "
]
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3bfqq9 | how do they make perfectly geometric rock walls that are pieced together from seemingly random stones? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bfqq9/eli5_how_do_they_make_perfectly_geometric_rock/ | {
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"They put the flattest side forward. They fill in the odd-shaped gaps with mortar, and the larger gaps with small stones and mortar. Ultimately the top is still a bit jagged, so they usually top it with more mortar and some carefully hand-cut stones.",
"I'm from new England, I've seen a lot of stone walls. \n\nAll the rocks they use are roughly flat on one side and peaked on another and all different sizes. they just match up the faces and fill up the square space. some times they cheat and split the rocks with a hammer. Think of it this way, with enough circles of different sizes, I can fill any shape you like. example: _URL_0_ thank you Vi Hart. ",
"The same way you can build a wall of tetrominos in Tetris with a one-unit gap, that you can then drop a straight piece into. There's a skill to seeing what piece fits where, it's just that with rocks there are more than seven different shapes!\n\nMost places in the world, walls will be made by roughly fitting stones, maybe knocking off a side here and there, filling the gaps with mortar as you go not unlike modern bricklaying. Other places the stones are still \"random\", but are more carefully shaped so that they fit together perfectly and can stand stably without mortar.\n\nI got to see some of this second kind of masonry in and around Cusco in Peru - the walls at [Saksaywaman](_URL_0_) are particularly impressive. Huge walls with massive blocks of stone, standing for hundreds of years against earthquake and weather."
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1usy07 | the christie bridge scandal | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1usy07/eli5_the_christie_bridge_scandal/ | {
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"It's still sort of developing, but here's what it appears has happened:\n\nChristie was running for reelection as governor. It was widely agreed upon that he would win easily (and he did).\n\nWhile the race was going on, the mayor of a town in NJ declined to endorse Christie. Shortly thereafter, a state agency closed some lanes on a bridge in that mayor's town without giving any real advanced notice. This bridge sees a ton of traffic, and supposedly is one of, if not the single busiest bridges in the world. The resulting traffic mess was very significant, and inconvenienced and angered many people. \n\nRecently, some emails have been discovered between Christie's staffers that basically show that they orchestrated the shutdown of these lanes on the bridge as a way of punishing that Mayor for not endorsing Christie in his reelection bid. This is, obviously, a serious misuse of power, not to mention a completely petty and vindictive and ridiculous act. \n\nSo now the big question is whether or not Christie himself had any role in the decision to do so, or knowledge of it, or what. Since the news of these emails has broke, he has apparently fired the staffer(s) in question, while denying that he had any knowledge of what happened. \n\nThis is all pretty significant political news because Christie has been widely considered one of the front-runners for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election.",
"There's a large, important bridge between New York and New Jersey called the George Washington Bridge. Like most places in the area, there are a lot of cars that pass through it on a regular basis. Last September, multiple lanes were closed on the part of the bridge coming from Fort Lee, NJ. This caused huge delays and traffic. To make things worse, some of the people who were blocked were emergency responders and children heading to class on the first week of school. \n\nWhat made this traffic jam particularly suspicious and inconvenient was that there was no advance notice of the lane closures, which was unusual. After the lanes were reopened, the official explanation was that it was part of a traffic study. That may have been a decent explanation except for the fact that there is no evidence of any traffic study existing using data from the lane closures. \n\nThis quickly resulted in people questioning what was going on and many speculated that the lane closures were ordered by the governor's office as retribution for the mayor of Fort Lee, NJ not endorsing Governor Christie. A couple of people resigned after this whole incident, but there was never anything directly proving that the event was deliberate. However, over the past few days, it has been reported that emails from people like Governor Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff directly suggested that there was some sort of plan to mess with traffic in Fort Lee. To make matters worse, some people even expressed joy at causing this inconvenience. \n\nIt's become clear that members of the governor's staff acted inappropriately. However, nothing has been tied directly to Christie. We don't know if the plan was ordered by the governor or if his staff acted independently of him. Any scandal related to Christie is considered newsworthy because he is a potential presidential candidate for 2016. ",
"The Daily Show gave a good overview of it. Check it out:\n\n_URL_0_",
"And let's not forget how idiotic this was -- it inconvenienced more average citizens (most whom were probably CC supporters) than the Fort Lee mayor.",
"The mayor of Fort Lee, NJ declined to endorse Christie during the recent gubernatorial election. Shortly after the election, lanes were closed on the George Washington Bridge which connects Fort Lee and New York, causing the mother of all traffic jams, including ambulances (in one of which a woman died) and school buses full of children.\n\nThe official explanation was a \"traffic study.\" However, emails and texts of Christie's staffers (NOT the Gov. himself) were found which show that the lane closures were orchestrated by them as an act of retribution against the mayor and the town.\n\nAt a news conference, Christie apologized for the incident, claiming that he had nothing to do with the lane closures and that he had fired the staffers responsible. He also said that he would co-operate with investigators. Naturally, many don't believe the Governor's story, especially given his reputation as a bully and an enforcer.\n\nChristie is the Republican frontrunner for the Presidential nomination in 2016. Polls show he's the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton. So the media, especially those outlets that lean left, are giving this story great attention (Fox News has barely touched it). Personally, I doubt that this issue is big enough to sink Christie's chances, unless he is directly proven to have ordered the lane closures.",
"\"I am not a crook.\" - Nixon\n\"I am not a bully.\" - Christie\n\n*Very* interested to see how this all plays out.",
"Voters have the memory of a gold fish. Even if he came out and said he ordered them to do it today by the time the 2016 elections came around a vast majority of voters would have totally forgotten about it or complaining that liberals are just trying to smear Christie and should move on. ",
"Emphasis on ridiculous. \n\nIf not for the e-mails, this story wouldn't be believable. How does Christie's office shutting down bridge traffic - something apparently outside the mayor's direct control - \"punish\" a mayor? In actuality, Christie's office was punishing an unlucky fraction of the electorate who chose a democratic mayor, who, predictably, being a democrat, wouldn't endorse a Republican, right? And the only way this traffic shutdown would have an impact on the electorate being punished was if the fact of the shutdown were broadcast so that these people knew that shutting down traffic was being done deliberately, in retaliation against them, so the point would be clear. But clearly, if they were caught shutting down traffic for revenge, they would be in trouble. In short: WTF were they thinking?!",
"I read the emails and have been watching this story unfold. I honestly don't think he had any part in this. It sounds like his aides were irked by the Mayor in Fort Lee and decided to do this on their own. Did he approve $60k for a traffic study? Probably. But I'm highly doubtful that he had anything to do with this charade. He's the governor and he's also been shown himself to be highly capable and responsible in times of crisis. Christie's style isn't to resort to some sophomoric prank that's going to inconvenience basically anyone trying to get into or out of manhattan. If he had a problem with the mayor, Christie would just tell the guy to eat shit.\n\n\nEDIT - Which he DID by saying he wouldn't know the guy if he was asked to pick him out in a line-up. Classic Christie. ",
"For those who need a visual, here you go:\n_URL_0_\nArrow is at the entrance, circled are the toll lanes. This is not during the days of the traffic backup.",
"[Here's where things stand after today's Christie press conference](_URL_0_) ... Just dropping some knowledge from Jersey for the ELI5",
"This has been designated as the official ELI5 thread on this subject. Please ask all questions about this topic here to avoid redundancy on the front page.",
"I drive under the GWB to go to work everyday. I don't even have to go into New York, just stay on the Jersey Side.\n\nThe traffic is insane around the bridge. I have to take River Road through Edgewater and it takes me 30-45 min to get to work on a normal day. \n\nI live 8 miles from where I work.\n\nI remember that Friday. I was really late that day.",
"He's going to have a lot of explaining to do when the FBI raids the Governor's Mansion and finds Han Solo frozen in carbonite. ",
"I think Mark Mardell of BBC said it pretty good:\n\n > So when it appears his staff gleefully, childishly, dangerously set out to punish a political opponent at the expense of ordinary people, it strikes a chord.\n\n > Even if he can prove his contention that he knew absolutely nothing about their folly, the suspicion will linger that they must have thought if he knew, he'd approve. \n\n_URL_0_",
"_URL_0_\nThis image shows the lanes that were closed in yellow. They lead to the lower level of the George Washington bridge. By closing these lanes it causes traffic to backup onto the roads marked in red. This included the road that the high school is on, which is already a nightmare at the beginning or end of the school day.",
"Gov. Christie apparently said at one point that the lane closures were part of a \"traffic study.\" This is hilarious because it not only sounds legit but is literally true. His staff was actually studying the effect of lane closures on the town of Ft. Lee. If it later comes out that Christie knew about the lane closures beforehand, nobody can accuse him of lying when he made the traffic study statement.",
"anyone know why the e-mails were subpoenaed? why were the staffers investigated in the first place? ",
"**I find it hilarious that all of his staff all around him, some who have been with him for years, did this and, 'Golly, I knew nothing about this!'**",
"[Buzzfeed explains this Game of Thrones-style] (_URL_0_)",
"Kids were hours late on their first day of school, emergency workers were late, shipping was slowed, and a 94 year old died while waiting for the ambulance to get to her. "
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"http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-8-2014/email-chains--lanes-and-automobiles---chris-christie-bridge-scandal"
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"http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/the-chris-christie-bridge-scandal-as-explained-by-game-of-th"
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efsqjv | moles to grams | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/efsqjv/eli5_moles_to_grams/ | {
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"Grams to moles - > divide the grams by the substance's molar mass\n\nMoles to grams - > multiply the moles by the substance's molar mass\n\nYou can find any element's molar mass on a periodic table, it's the number that isn't an integer. For a molecule or compound simply add up each element's molar mass taking account of the subscripts.\n\nThat's seriously it. moles = mass / molar mass, memorise this equation and you won't go wrong.",
"A mole is 602214076000000000000000, in the same way that a dozen is 12. If you have a dozen apples, you have 12 apples. If you have a mole of apples, you have 602214076000000000000000 apples.\n\n**Grams** is a way to measure how heavy (more accurately, how \"massive\") these apples are. For example, 12 apples might have a mass of 1250 grams.\n\nSuppose you knew that you had some Gold in your hand and you wanted to know how many Gold atoms you had. You can't count the atoms one-by-one because:\n\n* you can't see atoms, they're too small\n\n* there's so many of them, you'd get bored counting them all\n\nBut you can put that Gold on a scale. Suppose it comes out to 591 grams of Gold.\n\nThen you go into your textbook and look up that Gold has a **molecular mass of 197 grams**. You have 591 grams and each mole of Gold is 197 grams. Clearly you have 3 moles of Gold. You have 3×602214076000000000000000 atoms.",
"A mole is a count of how many molecules there are while grams is a measure of the mass. It just so happens that the protons and neutrons that make up atoms is about the same mass and is the only thing of significant mass in the molecule. So to make things easy a mole is difined so that a mole of protons is about a gram. But a molecule consists of several atoms which conists of several protons and neutrons so a mole of the molecule you have is likely many grams in mass.\n\nSay you have a mole of water. Water conists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. An hydrogen atom is a single proton while an oxygen atom is eight protons and eight neutrons for a molar mass of 16. So in total the molar mass of water is 18 meaning a mole of water is 18 grams. The exact molar masses is listed in the periodic table of elements.\n\nKnowing the moles in a sample instead of the grams is important if you want a chemical reaction between two elements to be balanced. A chemical reaction is explained by a single reaction between a few molecules. However you want to react a lot of them meaning you have to weigh the elements. But a single molecule weight different. So you make sure there is as many moles of each molecule as the reaction say which then gives you a different weight.",
"I believe the teacher meant if you want to manufacture drugs you need to know this conversion.\n\nIf there are two molecules required of one compound, and one required of another for a reaction this doesn't mean you just use 2 grams of one and one gram of the other. These molecules have different densities most likely.\n\nWhy this would matter is that if you do not properly match the amounts of *actual molecules* needed for the reaction you end up with material that has not reacted. This means when Walt White made meth of a very high purity it was because all of the reactions left very little material that was left over unreacted.",
"I feel like everyone forgot this is explain like im five so il try.\n\nAtoms are bigger and smaller, each has its number. And mol just means 6.02×10^23 atoms. For example the atomic number of carbon is 12, and if you have 12 grams of carbon you have 1mol of carbon, wich would be 6.02×10^23 atoms of carbon."
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42o1tf | why do people have to push the crosswalk button after they know its already been pushed? | They see someone push it, then they push it after them, or they have to push it like 5-10 times. It might be OCD, but why the crosswalk button. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42o1tf/eli5_why_do_people_have_to_push_the_crosswalk/ | {
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"There's no relationship of trust between you and the individual pushing the walk button for the second time so in their mind - you may have done it wrong, and the only way they can verify that the job's been performed properly is to do it on their own.",
"People know it won't make a difference, but they still feel the impulse. The effort to overcome the impulse is greater than the effort to hit the button, so they hit it."
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3iq6t7 | why aren't mental health checks a standard part of the gun purchasing process? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3iq6t7/eli5why_arent_mental_health_checks_a_standard/ | {
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"The main reason is that a mental health check is not quite as easy as a background check. Background checks are binary - you either have a disqualifying event in your history or you do not. They can be automated to scan relevant records, so they are easy and cheap.\n\nMental health diagnosis requires an experienced professional to examine an individual, often over a number of sessions, before they can make a diagnosis or assess fitness. Only the most extreme of conditions could be diagnosed quickly - a raging schizophrenic is easily spotted but a depressed person is much more difficult. \n\nMental health assessment also requires honesty on the part of the individual being assessed. If I was rational enough, I could easily tell a mental health professional what they wanted to hear so I could get a passing grade, regardless of my true feelings or intentions. Background checks can not be tricked like that.\n\nEdit: Spelling",
"(1) Gun control is a patchwork of state and federal laws. (Side note: Federal law applies *only* to people buying from a federally licensed gun dealer) \n\n(2) It is, sort of. Federal law prohibits people from buying guns if they have been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent. \n\n(3) [Some states](\n_URL_0_) have gone further than federal law in mental health screening for gun purchases. \n\nTLDR - mental health checks for gun purchases exist, but they're not great. \n\n",
"It's very hard to define in sound mental health (what if every racist county/state started rejecting all purchase requests from black people on grounds that they are in poor mental health--keep in mind there is a history of using reading tests to do the same with voting rights). \n\nWe have more objective means of showing people who aren't mentally competent, involuntary commitment, and that is screened on the existing background check--for someone who has been committed involuntarily it's a felony to buy a gun. And while that doesn't cover many unsound people, it's very hard to design a test to screen for them that doesn't allow the possibility of unjust rejections because of some other factor. ",
"Mental health checks should not simply apply to only fire arms. Cars are more dangerous, so are planes, chemicals, ect. We need a fucking license to catch a fish, maybe it's time we provided licenses to human.",
"Because mentally ill people are not any more dangerous than healthy people. They're more likely to harm themselves, but there's no difference in likelihood when it comes to harming others.\n\nThink of all the mass murderers in the last few years. With the exception of James Holmes, they've all been utterly sane. Terrifying, isn't it?",
"I would think it's because if your background check shows your not a criminal then it's your right to own a gun. Mental health checks might be a bit intrusive. ",
"I can't imagine many health professionals would want to be on the wrong end of a lawsuit. If you certify that a person is ok to own a gun, and that person goes on a shooting spree, you're going to get sued. \n\nAlso, gun ownership is a constitutional right. Putting limitations on people's constitutional rights doesn't go over very well. People who clamor for voter IDs run into this problem frequently.",
"They are for pistol permits here in NY. My pistol permit is currently being processed, and they checked my mental health records already.",
"SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED \n\nIt's pretty much impossible cause everyone who wants to buy a gun would need to voluntarily submit to a mental examination which would take lots of time and money and it would be a total load of bullshit, I just want to put holes in paper. ",
"People familiar with the system know how to game it as well. Once you've been around other mentally ill people and professionals often enough, you can learn how to manipulate them.\n\nYou don't have to be rational to accomplish this either. My exgf had three severe mental illness and she talked her way into discharge four times at two different facilities even when she was actively unstable and suicidal. \n\nAnd being Bipolar myself, you can be escalated and borderline delusional and still come off as \"alright\" to a lot of people, particularly mental health professionals that think they know every facet of your mental illness inside out.\n\nMany of us spend most of our lives faking like we're okay. Getting through an hour or two with a mental health professional isn't exactly a tall order unless you're REALLY unhinged. \n\nThat being said, I do believe additional screenings for gun purchases are a good idea. But this type of screening would be a laughable waste of money. ",
"As I understand the issue, gun violence isn't well predicted by mental illness. Mass shootings are currently usually painted in terms of mental illness but this hasn't always been the case. Some research has been done on the subject specifically this paper by professors in my department. _URL_0_\nThe abstract for a TL;DR\n > Four assumptions frequently arise in the aftermath of mass shootings in the United States: (1) that mental illness causes gun violence, (2) that psychiatric diagnosis can predict gun crime, (3) that shootings represent the deranged acts of mentally ill loners, and (4) that gun control “won’t prevent” another Newtown (Connecticut school mass shooting). Each of these statements is certainly true in particular instances. Yet, as we show, notions of mental illness that emerge in relation to mass shootings frequently reflect larger cultural stereotypes and anxieties about matters such as race/ethnicity, social class, and politics. These issues become obscured when mass shootings come to stand in for all gun crime, and when “mentally ill” ceases to be a medical designation and becomes a sign of violent threat.",
"You do not want to cross this threshold.\n\nI have mental illness, as does my wife, I strongly object to people wanting to violate HIPAA for any reason.\n\nMy mental health is none of your fucking business.\n\nWhat's next, metal health checks before starting a job?\n\n\"Why were you institutionalized? For how long?\"\n\nThis is a slippery slope that you need to stay off of, unless you want people to never again seek treatment for mental illnesses.",
"We are yet to create the definitive \"if you are crazy, tick box A\" test.\n\nThe idea that some people \"have a mental illness\" is kind of an oversimplification. Kind of. Mental health is a complex, spectrum; there aren't black and white, definite states. It's all very blurry; shades of grey. \n\nMental illnesses are difficult (read:expensive) to test for; multiple sit-downs with a psychologist at $80+ an hr.\n\nTick-a-box, written tests still take professional interrpretation, which is usually combined with interviews, or other techniques.\n\nAlso, the powerful gun lobby would not be happy with further barriers to gun ownership.",
"I think the real reason is that just because someone is mentally ill does not make them incapable of responsible gun ownership. Mental illness ranges from obsessive compulsive to gambling disorder to PTSD to schizophrenia.\n\nWhile people with certain diagnoses may be more likely to commit violent acts, that alone is not sufficient to essentially discriminate against them on the basis of mental illness. \n\nAdditionally, I think cost is a huge reason. Let's take schizophrenia for example. About 1/100 people will develop the disorder at some point during their life. Of that 1% how many will have prominent hallucinations out delusions? Then of that group how many go untreated? Then of that number how many are prone to violence as a result of their mental illness (and not other factors, since we're only talking about a mental health check)? Then of that number how many will try to buy a gun?\nI use this example to show that of all these people who have schizophrenia (a disorder commonly regarded as dangerous), only an incredibly small proportion of them will buy a gun and use it violently. But to catch that small group you need to run a background check on EVERYONE. Tying into my first point about discrimination you can't just make a blanket statement that people with schizophrenia can't buy guns because the vast majority would not be violent. So what you're left with is mass testing, minimal payoff (because you will prevent very few gun related crimes), and a huge bill that nobody is going to want to foot.",
"They are part of the background check already. There are certain criteria which must legally be sent to the NICS system. ",
"You have to remember the basis of the second amendment. It isn't about hunting or home protection. It's a final safeguard against government tyranny, which all governments eventually gravitate towards. The ruling elite are less likely to do horrid things to a well-armed populace capable of fighting back.\n\nOur founders knew this. Gun control by any measure can be used to prevent the populace from arming. Who decides who administers mental health checks and what the criteria will be? Why, the same people who want to control every aspect of the economy, what you eat, what you learn, where you go.\n\nCongress shall make no law...\n\nNever let well intended politicians pass a law that you wouldn't want your worst enemy to abuse.",
"Another problem that this would run into is: WHO, exactly, gets do decide if a person mentally qualifies? As an example, Mayor Bloomberg's team Vs. The NRA: the amount of 'passes' handed out between these two will vary wildly. Do we as the people get to vote on who deems worthy? Or is this person arbitrarily assigned? Either way, political whims will weigh heavily on your God given right to self preservation; as outlined in the 2nd amendment. ",
"Because it's useless.\n\n1) Being mentally ill does not mean criminal.\n\n2) People can be sane during a purchase and later in life become mentally ill but not a criminal, or\n\n3) People can be sane during a purchase and later in life become mentally ill and a criminal\n\n4) There are sane people who commit crime out of passion/anger\n\n5) Laws inherently do not stop crime (murder is illegal, people commit murder)\n\n6) We're not addressing laws that stop law abiding citizens from arming themselves wherever possible\n\n7) People can lie on mental health screenings\n\n8) How do you remove political/personal bias from a screener?\n\n9) Everyone has the right to bear arms, being mentally ill isn't a crime.",
"Historically mental healthcare has been abused by governments.\n\nThe government would love to take people's gun rights away because they're on anti-depressants. 1/4 women would have their gun rights taken away from them if the government had their way.\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"There are technical reasons laid out by other commenters that are correct. The root cause is simply that firearm manufacturers are a major economic force with powerful lobbyists that make sure legislation that might impact gun sales isn't enacted.",
"UK here. A mechanic I work with has somehow managed to get a high class of gun licence after years of target shooting, hunting etc. Apparently, he's authorized to euthanize farm animals and has permits with which he can travel on planes with the guns in the hold, or buy and import guns into the UK (for his own use). He has several handguns, as well as a good few rifles and shotguns. I'm not sure on all the licence details, etc, but the interesting thing he told me is that if he goes to the doctor for anything even tangentially related to his mental health, the doctor has been told to immediately inform the police, who will then go and remove all the weaponry. ",
"Mental health checks for law abiding citizens would not catch the people who steal guns or buy them on the black market. In other words - criminals or people who plan to do harm will find a way to do it.\n\nWe spend a lot of time focusing on the purchase by legal and abiding citizens. We need to fight the battle of fixing out mental healthcare in America and not just when guns come up. \n\nAnyone who would use a gun could have also used a machete, knife, explosives or even acids. \n\nWe need a system where people who have mental health issues can get to treatment. I bet if you tried to call doctors in your area you would find out how hard it is to be seen. I tried and couldn't get an appointment for three to six months because they were booked and not seeing new patients. \n\nWhen I did get in they prescribed me a drug not covered by insurance. It would cost $150 a refill even with the discount card from the manufacturer. I couldn't afford it. Then the doctor wouldn't prescribe something else without a office visit. My insurance covers those visits with about a $100 dollar copay. \n\nI ended up resolving my PTSD but the initial attempts were not easy and it took a couple different doctors to find one I felt comfortable talk to.\n\nIf my experience was even an exaggeration, it is too difficult for people to get help in this nation. \n\nWe need to work on the right problems. ",
"That gives the mental health professional a lot of power over others which can be abused. Remember in Batman Begins where the Scarecrow is a psychiatrist who more or less abducts people, calls them crazy, which causes everyone on the outside to never believe a word they say, and then performs experiments on them?\n\nThat kind of shit really happened. I can't remember the name of the experiment but there was a famous one where some psychologist submitted himself to a ward faking a mental illness. When he decided he had learned enough he tried to leave and they wouldn't let him. People on the outside had to strong arm for him to get his freedom back. As soon as someone labels you insane that's a wrap. So forcing evaluations on people is a terrible idea.",
"Mental health issues are not like the flu. You can't take a simple test and have somebody say, \"yup, there it is. There's the virus\". It's all one big sliding scale shade of gray. And who gets to determine where the \"you don't get a gun \"slider gets to stop? Suicidal tendencies? Depression? Hyperactivity?\n\nThis would end up being used arbitrarily and capriciously. People's constitutional rights would be abridged because of somebody's with him.",
"Because ...... this would illuminate the huge number of mentally ill Americans and the lack of adequate mental healthcare in the USA. And the cost of accessing and treating mental illness is prohibitive against the cost of litigation and out of court settlements by the gun industry.\n",
"Another question could be why isn't there a skill test for people to have a carry permit. We require people to pass a test to drive a car in public. We should require people to pass a test to carry a gun. ",
"We as a global community need to be open to the idea that mental health is just as important as any other health issue. Mental health checks should be accepted as a part of any persons regular health check ups.\n\nTL;DR - Sorry for soap boxing in ELI5. Don't slip. I'll clean up when I am done.",
"Simple. If you would try to do something like that every single gun activist would step forward shouting about how requiring that is somehow an infringement of their right to own a gun in the first place. Even if it's obviously not, that's how everyone would instantly see it.",
"I wish people would stop trying to tie together mental health and guns. The truth is, that mental health does not cause people to murder. **Being a wicked, evil, selfish son of a bitch does!!** There are thousands, maybe millions, of people with mental health issues, but they are not all, or even most, or even a lot of them going around murdering people. Stop trying to say that everyone with mental health struggles are automatically just a few bad days away from slaughtering people!\n\nThe people who want to eliminate or restrict or ban guns are the ones who put that together. This provides them a way to restrict who they want, and to allow who they want. All it takes is some bureaucrat with an agenda deciding that having gone through a time in life where you were severely depressed is all it may take to not be allowed to own a gun.\n\nThe issue is, even with mental health experts, people have biases. If mental health professionals were against gun ownership, it would be really easy for them to classify anyone or everyone as unfit. It is subjective.\n\nSo stop this bullshit about mental health. The people who do these things *may* or *may not* all have mental health issues, but they are also evil pieces of shit. THAT is why they kill! You could just as easily say, *\"They are almost always men who commit these crimes, so we should disallow men from owning guns!\"* You could put anything similar in place of mental health and draw some shitty conclusion. Come to think of it, I like to eat eggs for breakfast, and I have NEVER been attacked by a tiger, so I guess it is safe to say that chicken eggs are effective tiger repellent.",
"Where do you live?\nIt is in the most parts of europe.",
"Well to a certain extent, mental health records are included in the standard background check. The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 was passed as a result of the VT tech shooter passing background checks despite a history of mental illness. This act requires that district and county clerks to report information on prohibiting mental health adjudications and commitments to the FBI. \n\nHere is what is required to be reported:\n\n- Commitments for temporary or extended inpatient mental health services—this includes individuals committed to state hospitals, private hospitals, Veterans’ Affairs hospitals, etc.; \n\n- Commitments of a person determined to have mental retardation for long-term placement in a residential care facility under Chapter 593, Health and Safety Code; \n\n- Cases in which the court appoints a guardian of the incapacitated adult individual under Title 3, Estates Code, based on the determination that the person lacks the mental capacity to manage his/her affairs (adult guardianships of the person, estate or person and estate, including temporary guardianships); \n\n- Acquittals in criminal cases for reasons of insanity or lack of mental responsibility, whether or not the person was ordered to receive inpatient treatment or residential care under Chapter 46C, Code of Criminal Procedure; and \n\n- Cases in which a person is found to be incompetent to stand trial under Chapter 46B, Code of Criminal Procedure. \n\n\nHere is what is NOT reported:\n\n- Guardianships of minors\n- Emergency mental health detentions, admissions or warrants\n- Orders of protective custody\n- Voluntary commitments\n- Commitments for temporary or extended outpatient mental health services\n- Applications for court-ordered inpatient mental health services that are forwarded to another county to re-file or to hear your original filing\n- Court-ordered inpatient chemical dependency or alcohol services. \n\n",
"Why aren't mental health checks a standard part of the car purchasing process?\n\nWhy aren't mental health checks a standard part of the chainsaw purchasing process? \n\n Because they're common tools safely used by millions of people every day. It would be grossly impractical to do a mental health assessment for every purchase."
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emgy9b | - why is everything flipping out about meghan and harry leaving the royal family? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/emgy9b/eli5_why_is_everything_flipping_out_about_meghan/ | {
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"They aren't leaving the royal family. They are leaving the fish bowl thing where their job is basically to entertain and be scrutinized by people. It's big news because people like to scrutinize and be entertained by the royal family."
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6yjsxi | the sun's 11-year cycle and how it affects earth | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6yjsxi/eli5_the_suns_11year_cycle_and_how_it_affects/ | {
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"The sun spends 11 years tangling and untangling magnetic fields along its surface influencing its total number of sunspots, during maximum it will have more sunspots and at minimum it will go for an extended duration without any sunspots.\n\nThe sunspots are tight tangles of magnetic fields that can rapidly short circuit and untangle rapidly, releasing flares and coronal-mass ejections from the material caught within its loops that have varying effects on Earth, mostly on human technology and sometimes at high intensities as with a direct hit of a CME, it can fluctuate the entire magnetic field of earth enough to disorient animals that utilize that field for standard navigation. It's not a huge change but to their evolutionarily adapted senses, it becomes confusing and they are essentially having their radar jammed, aquatic mammals for one can accidentally beach themselves or smash into seamounts believing that the path is familiar due to other local cues.\n\nThose same CME's that disorient magneto-navigating animals are also capable of ruining satellites through that disruption of the usual magnetic field shape, making formerly safe orbits for electronics, unusually hostile. We're left with space junk that is left in one piece yet as useful as a pile of ash. If it is a large enough quantity of coronal mass, basically filaments of hydrogen loosely tied together instead of individual protons as with the regular solar wind, it can collapse the outer shells of the Earths magnetic field with its pressure enough to drop the aurora to lower latitudes, and the magnetic fluctuations will cause electrical induction in large enough structures of metallic elements. The Carrington event was in the most upper class of flare size we've devised yet and it allowed telegraphs to operate without power where they weren't burning down the stations at either end or the poles holding them up.\n\nBesides those factors, as far as I know its brightness remains the same(besides the random increases of intensity from each individual flare for their short durations) so it is highly unlikely that it influences the planet in other ways such as heat or atmospheric carbon-14 production. It's purely electromagnetic, and I think it is gamma radiation mostly from background deep space noise(intergalactic-distant supernova) that changes the nitrogen into carbon for that.\n\nDisclaimer: I have only a personal interest in this information and have zero institutionalized relations and did not google/wiki a single thing about it in at least a whole month. I assumed it would be nice to cover the basics and allow the real experts to focus on the fringe accuracy. I believe the 11 year cycle encompasses both the minimum and maximum periods but I'm not quite certain on that point(as when I was first learning of this, i thought it was 11 years maximum to 11 years minimum) and also I'm personally unsure about the specific conditions that allow the maximum and minimum conditions to occur but it probably has to do with intimate interstellar magnetic reactions or a lack of local magnetic interference on the sun's scale of intensity. Wish there was a nice subreddit where anyone can form a coherent dialogue on conjecture and extrapolated speculation, I'd like to see someone compare the Earths magneto-dynamo along with the suns to something like naked flames trading oxygen consumption and thermal channels, or maybe different densities of plasma interacting."
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6wzojl | how does cracking a whip make the tip move faster than sound? | I've always heard that cracking a whip makes a loud noise because the tip moves faster than sound, but all the explanations seem to stop there. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wzojl/eli5_how_does_cracking_a_whip_make_the_tip_move/ | {
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"The simple answer is that it doesn't. The taper causes the loop to accelerate causing the crack.\n\n_URL_0_",
"When you crack a whip, you're creating a loop in the whip as you move it. That loop travels down the whip like if you held a slinky and whipped it side to side.\n\nThe key here is that the whip tapers, so the loop accelerates as there's less and less material to be moved. By the end of the motion, the loop ends up moving faster than the speed of sound."
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1x90km | how are logos and markings applied to ice skating rinks? can they be modified, or would the entire field need to be redone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1x90km/eli5how_are_logos_and_markings_applied_to_ice/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nUnder \"Construction,\" it says that logos and decorations are painted at the same time as markings for hockey or curling on a thin layer of ice, which is cover by another 2-3 centimeters of ice. So changing it would essentially require the entire rink to be melted, painted, and then refrozen."
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ccdhp8 | why is a pin more secure than a password in windows 10? and why is considered a passwordless method? | Microsoft is promoting its "Windows Hello" login system as a passwordless login system, aside from the biometrics methods, there is also a PIN method which according to Microsoft website is more secure because:
PIN is local to the device
PIN can be complex (not only numbers)
Is not all this what a password has always been in Windows? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ccdhp8/eli5_why_is_a_pin_more_secure_than_a_password_in/ | {
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"PIN is tied to the device\n\nOne important difference between a password and a Hello PIN is that the PIN is tied to the specific device on which it was set up. That PIN is useless to anyone without that specific hardware. Someone who steals your password can sign in to your account from anywhere, but if they steal your PIN, they'd have to steal your physical device too!\n\nEven you can't use that PIN anywhere except on that specific device. If you want to sign in on multiple devices, you have to set up Hello on each device.",
"Many home users would set up their computers without a password of any sort, which is obviously insecure. Having them choose a pin is much simpler to implement and remember, so the average security posture increases. That said, you can certainly think of more secure models, but something is better than nothing here.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n/u/stay_gassy mentions pins being tied to machines. Apple takes a very similar approach with the T2 chip--your iPad/MacBook Pro will tie your biometric data to the chip on the specific device. On any other device, you have to log in with password and configure biometrics again.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe ease of using a pin, a fingerprint, or a scan of your face improves security across the landscape."
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1uuol5 | why is red the universal colour for rear lights on vehicles? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1uuol5/eli5_why_is_red_the_universal_colour_for_rear/ | {
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"Red light is the best for keeping night vision so you can see better around you at night even when there are cars in front of you.",
"Red is just naturally the color that humans associate with danger, we see red and think of blood, think of blood and think that something is bleeding, think of something bleeding and you think that there is danger near, think of danger being near then you stay away.\n\nthis has been testing, when people see red for a split second their heart rate goes up, people that have been put in completely red buildings go a little crazy because of the constant stimulation.\n\nhumans just naturally look over to something stats red to make sure that it isn't something that wants to kill us, so throughout history it evolved as the color we perceive as powerful and dangerous, the color for \"stop\"\n\nas far as the things about it being seen at a certain distance then yea that plays into it to, but my explanation is the general reason why we use red for these things and not yellow or blue or something.",
"Red is the colour the human eye can see from farthest away. Highest on the rainbow spectrum. It's not chosen because red = danger. Humans made it that way."
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c2xd4i | i've seen many articles that claim that our genetic information is the most personal information we have, and that by having our dna/genealogy tested, we are selling this information to third parties. but why is that a problem? what can companies and organisations actually *do* with your dna? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c2xd4i/eli5_ive_seen_many_articles_that_claim_that_our/ | {
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"The most concerning case (and by far the most likely) is that these gene sequencing companies will sell your genetic code to insurance companies, who will use that code to increase your premiums or deny coverage.\n\nIt isn't inconceivable that your insurance provider would look at your DNA and see that you have a gene marker for a type of cancer, then raise your rates because you are an \"increased risk\" based on that marker. Even worse, they might start claiming that the cancer is a \"preexisting condition\" due to the marker and refuse to pay **at all**.\n\nMost people feel that is an incredible invasion of privacy and very unfair, so they suggest not allowing insurance companies the potential option.",
"Your genetic information can be sold to insurance companies and used against you.\n\nOh you are a carrier for x disease? That’ll be extra $100/month for your health insurance, also since you’re pre-disposed to x, we can’t cover the cost if you eventually suffer from x."
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1npxuu | neon genesis evangelion, original series. from gehirn to seele, the events of the series and the end. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1npxuu/eli5_neon_genesis_evangelion_original_series_from/ | {
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"Well I first thought it was about giant robots killing aliens but apparently that's just a silly side plot of no consequence.",
"shinji is troubled.",
"No one understands Neon Genesis Evangelion.",
"If anyone is still reading this I'll be leading a panel talking about this at Anime Central in Chicago (2014)\n\nCombining most the discussion into one large post for clarity.\n\n > **NGE history**\n\nA group of aliens creates a race of bio-mechanical robots to seed the galaxy with life. There are 2 types of these robots \"Liliths\" which carry the seeds of wisdom, which will bestoy apon the race the ability to learn and grow. And \"Adams\" which bestoy the fruit of life which give the race the ability to basically never die and super healing powers.\n\nFast forward a few thousand years. \n\nA 'Lilith' lands on earth populating it with Lilith based life, see everything around us. An 'Adam' also lands on earth, but seeing a lilith is already present his 'spear of longinius' activates paralyzing him. Which is an emergency protocol to prevent Adam and Lilith life from combining in what would be a massive explosion. \n\nNow fast forward a few more thousand years. \n\nGEHIRN a secret research council is founded after scientists correctly decipher the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' which are basically a how-to guide on how 'Lilith, Adam, AT-Fields, Spears, moons' all work. \n\nGEHIRN launches an expedition to antiartica to recover adam. What they find is that ADAM was not paralyzed by his spear in an embryonic state, but in a fully developed state, as his spear had gone missing and lilith's spear was used in place. GEHIRN sets out to reduce adam to an embryonic state since its a bit easier to deal with then an EVA sized alien. But this 'contact' causes the First Impact.\n\nThe events of SECOND Impact are carried out by Misato Katsuragi father Dr. Katsuragi, she lives to see first impact and is saved by her father. \n\nAfter the second impact GEHIRN starts the EVA project, in preparation for the Human instrumentality project, and to defend the world from angels. During this project a lot of weird shit happens. Gendo's Wife 'contacts' EVA01 (which is a clone of Adam) which deliberately puts her soul within the EVA body in an attempt to achieve immortality. What remains of her DNA is used to form the bases of the clone Rei, who's soul is taken from Lilith. Multiple copies are produced and she is charged with piloting EVA unit00, which coincidentally is cloned from Lilith, like all the remaining EVA's, and has her own soul in it.\n\nFollow the Murder and Suicide of the Senior Dr. Akagi and Rei1, GEHIRN is shut down to appease the UN. But in reality all of its funds, projects, and personal it transferred to NERV, so basically just renamed. \n\nIn the next ~10 years after this the events of NGE take place.\n\n:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:\n\n > **The organizations**\n\nNERV is GEHIRN just renamed to appease the UN after Rei1's murder.\n\nSeele is a secrete society that 'run the UN' in order to achieve human instrumentality. \n\n:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:\n\n > **What is inside an EVA/How do pilots sync with EVA's**\n\nIn side an EVA normally (Unit 01/02, and I believe 03) is the soul of the mother of the 'child' this is why they use children inside the EVA's. Unit01 had the soul of Shinji's mother inside of it, it going berserk was the EVA's own soul attempting to protect its own child, the AT field is powered in part by the Mother attempting to protect their child, this spelled out very clearly in end (end of Evangelion). \n\nShinji sinks with 01 well because of his desperation and his mother attempting to protecting him from his father (we don't have a cannon reason for this just some side evidence). \n\nAsuka syncs decently with 02 because her mother is basically okay with being used as a puppet, hence the multiple Asuka dream sequences of her mother dying. But in End we finally see Asuka open herself to the Eva (which Rei suggested she do around episode 12-13 mark, its been a while) and emotionally bond with the Eva like she would attempt to bond with her mother.\n\nWhich the above is what Shinji did, and on several occasions I believe when he is caught within the Dirac Sea, Shinji calls out for his mother but instead you see a massive shadow creature, which is his mother inside the Eva. Shinji's desperate for anyone to bond with and what ever is inside the Eva comforts him at times so he'll take it.\n\nWe see this further when Unit01 rejects the Dummy plug and Gendo just growls, \"Why do you do this to me Yui.\" Because this is Yui basically saying, \"Stop treating our son like shit.\"\n\nSo why can Rei and whats his name sync with other Units? Because they're Angels (sorta).\n\n:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:\n\n > **Whats up with Rei/Unit00?**\n\nGenerally the Fandom believes Rei and Unit00's soul are the same but the evidence is indirect. This is naturally a theory not cannon.\n\nThe main evidence is when ReiII destroys an angle by self destructing, and ReiIII is 'born I guess'. You actually see Rei talking to the 'soul' that is within Unit00, which appears to Rei as Rei herself and she identified as being her.\n\nThis contact between ReiII and ReiIII also allows us to understand why ReiIII was different then ReiII because ReiIII's soul was taken from Unit00 which had contacted ReiII. Also why we don't see development between ReiI and ReiII since they had to go back to square one and talk another piece of the soul from Lilith.\n\nAs much as I hate people who do this, but I feel I have too thanks for gold :)\n",
"*spoilers, obviously* I really want to summarize this as best as I can but I'm busy...will edit more in later:\n\nAnytime you see GEHIRN just think ''old-NERV\", and whenever you see SEELE, just think ''the secret club that runs NERV\"\n\nSeele goes about social-engineering an end-world scenario in order to initiate the human instrumentality project which would essential skyrocket humanities evolution to it's ultimate peak. The whole point is to return every humans souls to the giant black egg of lillith, so they would all swim together in one consciousness.\n\nThey discovered this after the second impact, which the public believes to be a meteor that crashed into the planet, was actually from a ''contact expirement'' when Humanity interacted with Adam, the first angel, Adam created a devastating anti-AT field which created a massive explosion that melted the ice caps when humans poked him with a stick (See lance of longinus) \n\nSometime after this the world becomes devastated and NERV works tirelessly to cover up the story and to work on their super secret evangelions. They know that angels are going to be showing up at somepoint. Enter the 14 year olds, only the 14 year olds can pilot these evas and they go about saving the world from angels a couple of times. One of the pilots, Shinji Ikari, is an awful human being with some really messed up social issues. Because he is the one, blablabla, he becomes the sole chooser on the fate of humanity.\n\nHere's where it gets fun and the plot splits. \nIn the original episodes one could argue that Shinji chooses human instrumentality and every soul living and dead join together at the end of episode 26 because Shinji no longer feels the need to isolate himself from others.\n\nIn End of Eva (which is the much better ending) Shinji rejects human instrumentality and instead decides that a world of pain is still better because fleeing from reality already brought him pain. They mention something about the strongest souls returning and that's why Asuka is there right next to him.",
"This'll do it for you:\n\n_URL_0_",
"I'm still really really confused so I might as well watch the show...",
"I love this series intensely, and I feel like /u/valarauca is really fucking up the explanation. if anyone wants to really get it, check out some of the exposition from your own site's /r/evangelion, or look to the ultimate compilation of canon, _URL_0_.\nI'm not trying to be a hater here, it's just cringe-inducing how bad and half-assed his explanation is. \"whats his name\" is not a reasonable misnomer for a main character, which was Kaworu by the way.",
"TIL: There is no way to explain NGE for a 5 year old... ",
"I am by and large a lurker, but after seeing this sort of question being brought up again, and a continued lack of proper information given out, I thought I'd try a hand at clearing things up. Took quite a while, and I hope I'm posting this right.\n\nThe Origin of Life:\nIn Evangelion, the seeds of life were brought to Earth and spread across the entire galaxy by an ancient alien race. Two types of seeds are known to exist: the White and Black Moons. In each Moon is the material necessary to bring about life in vastly different ways. In addition, each Moon contains a fail-safe to prevent the progeny of a Seed conflicting with the progeny of a second Seed in the event that a planet accidentally be seeded more than once.\n\nThis is ultimately what happened on Earth.\n\n“First Impact”\nWhile a White Moon was the first to reach Earth, a Black Moon also managed to reach Earth before the White Moon could begin progeneration. The arrival of the Black Moon, in an event that coincidentally resulted in the formation of the actual Moon of Earth, is the event known as “First Impact”.\n\nIn most cases, the fail-safe protocols in the Black Moon would have rendered it dormant. But this fail-safe was damaged during First Impact, which resulted in the White Moon becoming dormant instead.\n\nThe Black Moon eventually released it’s contents, the primordial soup of Ancient Earth, which was the source of all eventual life on the planet. Humans were the ultimate result and became the dominant lifeform.\n\n“Second Impact”:\nSometime during the 1990s, the White Moon was discovered in present-day Antarctica by the Katsuragi Research Team. This team was sent out some time after the discovery of the Black Moon beneath the city of Hakone, Japan. While the Black Moon’s presence was made public, referred to as “the Geofront” structure (though its contents remained classified), the existence of the White Moon is never made public.\n\nGiant entities are eventually discovered within both structures: Adam of the White Moon, and Lilith of the Black Moon.\n\nExperiments are initially carried out by the Katsuragi Research Team on Adam. While exact details are unknown, it is revealed that it involved contact between an undisclosed source of human DNA and Adam. This resulted in two subsequent events: the birth of Kaworu Nagisa and the awakening of Adam.\n\nDuring the team’s experiments, they removed Adam’s fail-safe, an object dubbed “the Lance of Longinus” (depicted as a large, red spear). The combined acts of removing the Lance and physical contact awoke the being.\n\nNow fully aware again after millennia, Adam attempted to reclaim earth by eliminating any and all competing progeny of the Black Moon (the offspring of Lilith, man, often referred to as the Lillin), effectively leaving it a clean slate to begin the process of building life itself.\n\nThe Katsuragi Research Team attempted to stop Adam by use of the Lance, but it was too late and the event known as “Second Impact” began. This resulted in the death of much ocean life and the destruction of Antarctica, the subsequent mass flooding causing havoc across the planet.\n\nIn the end, while the team failed to stop Adam entirely, their efforts still managed to subdue Adam eventually. Adam was reduced to an embryonic state, his “soul” removed, and newly “created” Kaworu Nagisa became a vessel for this “soul”.\n\nWith the exception of young Misato Katsuragi, and key individuals who conveniently left the research site just prior to the event (specifically Gendo Ikari), the research team was killed during Second Impact.",
"This video does a pretty good job: _URL_0_"
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5wnf8c | how do military invasions actually happen (both land based and naval?) | I was just wondering how armies actually invade other countries/areas, surely when the military forces arrive there wouldn't really be anybody there - let alone an opposing army - especially in areas like forests/other rural locations. When does the fighting occur?
Similarly how do naval invasions work? How can ships in the sea influence the warfare on land and help military forces to capture cities/regions?
I'd appreciate if anybody could explain how this happens with examples? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wnf8c/eli5how_do_military_invasions_actually_happen/ | {
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"Army officer here.\n\nOne of the things we learn about in tactics is called movement corridors. Basically, to move a unit of a certain type and size effectively, you need a certain amount of space. Most places in the world have terrain features or man-man obstacles that restrict the size of these corridors, so it limits where an invading army can come through. There are only so many corridors where you can move hundred of vehicles and thousands of Soldiers. This, plus good surveillance / reconnaissance assets, allows a defender to predict where an invader will attack, and to pick advantageous defensive positions to prevent he invader from doing so effectively.\n\nBut that said, you're right: lots of a country isn't really of particular strategic value or tactical advantage. So, a defender might let the invader move unopposed through these parts until they reach somewhere where 1) a defender has an advantage, like high ground, a river crossing, a narrow pass through the mountains, etc., or 2) where the defender has some reason to mount a defense, like a major city, important bridges or roads, etc.\n\nA wise attacker will also be thinking about these things and looking for ways to force the enemy to fight on disadvantageous terms. A huge amount of strategy is trying to guess where the enemy will go and what he will do, which requires you to understand his motivations. Once you know what things he was has to defend (we call these centers of gravity), you can determine how to exploit them. That could be by forcing him to fight where he is outnumbered or on bad terrain, or by bypassing likely points of defense to get around the enemy and strike other objectives like his supply lines, cities, etc.\n\nThe other (and more important, really) thing to keep in mind is what both sides are trying to accomplish. War is politics by another means, as Clausewitz says. An invader with limited goals is going to fight different than one who wants to absorb the defender's territory. If all you want to stop local raiding across the border, you seize the border towns and the key terrain around them, and you stop. If you want to change the regime, you fight to the capital and try to snatch high value people. It's a little simpler for the defender: keep the enemy from imposing his will on you, stop the fighting, and exact a hard enough price to keep them from trying again.\n\nOf course, huge simplifications here, and that doesn't touch on the what all of that strategy looks like in practice. But hopefully that answers at least part of the question."
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4p5e1u | why can heroine users who inject 'run out' of veins? what happens? | Like the title says,? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4p5e1u/eli5_why_can_heroine_users_who_inject_run_out_of/ | {
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"They run out of *good* veins: veins that are strong enough to take a needle. The act of injection can damage the vein permanently, depending on the skill of the one doing the injecting - and it's not unfair to say that a self-injecting heroin user is more likely to do damage than a trained nurse. Over time, then, a heroin user's accessible veins can be damaged to the point that it's no longer safe to use them for injection. ",
"Injecting heroin requires that the user take a hypodermic needle and insert it into a vein. That means it pokes a hole in the vein and pushes heroin into the vein through that hole.\n\nOver time, that adds a lot of wear & tear to the vein. The vein will heal, eventually, but it will develop scar tissue making it harder to inject into again. Of course, this is exacerbated by *frequent* injections: Inject heroin once a year into the same vein? You'll be just fine. But the problem is heroin users are really bad at saying \"when\"! On top of all of that, heroin is bad for you. It suppresses the immune response, which makes health issues like vein scarring worse.\n\nThis is an issue for more than just heroin users. My mother is O-negative. She gives blood. A lot. (They LOVE her at the Red Cross. Every 8 weeks, they call, make an appointment. She's a rockstar.) And even getting a needle into her arm that infrequently, she's started to get issues with her left arm's vein. So now they alternate. Also when you go to the hospital they'll often fit you with a *peripheral venous catheter*. It's basically a semi-permanent needle stuck into the back of your hand. Why do they do that? So they can inject you a dozen times without *sticking you* a dozen times. It all goes into that one hollow needle and into your hand.\n\nAnyway point is heroin users don't take nearly as good care of their veins, and they inject often, and they're often less skilled than the nurses at the Red Cross or a hospital. So once they end up using up the veins in the crook of their elbows, they move on to other, less convenient veins, because they're still more convenient than doing without heroin.",
"Emergency Room nurse here: There are a lot of veins that can be used. Seasoned heroin users are quite good at finding something suitable. Once the arm veins are scarred they move on to other sites, legs, feet, neck and even the veins in the penis.\nThat being said, I've recently seen quite a few people who develop nasty abscesses because they injected heroin straight into the muscle, just like a vaccination you might get. So, to answer the question: Intramuscular injection seems to be what happens when they run out of veins. \n",
"- High-quality heroin is made in a lab, probably in Vietnam somewhere, supervised by your local Walter White. One of the steps in the process, the step that turns your raw morphine into heroin, requires *acetic anhydride*. It is essentially vinegar, but with the water removed. You can't make your own anhydride, and it is hard to get legally in the US because everyone already knows that you need it to make heroin. The \"gangs\" in Vietnam that make high-quality heroin have their own corrupt business ways to get these highly suspect ingredients. Pure, high-quality heroin is easier on your veins, because the anhydride is scrubbed before you get it.\n\n- \"Black tar\" heroin is made anywhere, probably in Mexico somewhere, supervised by your smartest friend who could read a chemistry text. The people who make this heroin can't get a hold of anhydride. They literally use vinegar instead. The vinegar does a worse job of making heroin, and it doesn't get scrubbed out nearly as well. The final product smells extremely pungent, like putting your nose right over a vinegar bottle. It is very acidic, and damaging to veins, even if you are good with a needle. You can remove the vinegar yourself, but hardly anyone takes the time to do that.\n\n- Heroin users tend to lead chaotic lives, and almost never have a \"fresh\" needle around when they really need one. Fresh needles can be purchased from a pharmacy, but some pharmacists will know what you want your needles for and not sell them to you (this has happened personally). Needle exchange programs are good, but many heroin users are leery about exposing themselves like that to society, even for clean needles.\n\n- Regularly changing the vein that you use for injection does a *lot* for your veins. Even with black heroin and bad needles, I preserved much of my vascular system by learning how to inject in different places and \"resting\" places that started to look overused. I have been quit for three years now and have no track marks to show for over 5 years of using. However, every user has a \"main\" vein that they use when they just want to get high and not worry about trying some other vein. This vein always gets more use than the other ones, even if you make the effort to rotate. Eventually, this vein becomes severely used and another one becomes the \"main\" vein...but you're never as good at injecting into that one as the first main vein. So this new one degrades a bit faster, since you aren't as good at using it...soon the main vein isn't very \"main\".\n\n- Let me just say firsthand, that I have done injections with some of the most beat-up needles, when I had no other needle. It is possible. But using a very bad needle does more damage to your veins than even the acidity of bad heroin.\n\n-----\n\nSo:\n\n- Bad injection technique\n- Relying too much on the \"easy\" vein.\n- Bad/ludicrously overused needles\n- The acidity of the heroin\n- Wanting to get high more than wanting to do it safely\n\nThese are most of the reasons why heroin users run out of veins. This is what I've seen from my own 6-year field research.",
"They run out of accessible veins that don't have scar tissue build up.\n\nWhen they get there, they often find \"alternate\" sites. I have heard of people using their penis. Bad idea. ",
"As a former heroin addict (56 days clean thank you very much), we're not professional phlebotomists (well, almost, but not quite) so being a girl, it's hard to find a big juicy vein and when I do, it doesn't last long. And it goes on like that until it's near impossible to find a big vein (like the ones muscular guys have all over) so we.need to poke and stab all over at non-visible veins and eventually they're all pretty damaged from trying to find them.",
"to take heroin you have to inject a needle into your vein. After youve put a hole in that area of the vein you cant poke a hole in the same spot. If you do it enough , all along all of your veins will be covered in scar tissue",
"Most of the basics have already been explained but I want to add a few things....\n\nReusing the same needle more then like 3-4 times will dull the tip and make it do more damage to your veins each time you reuse it. \n\nOther drugs can hurt your veins even more then just heroin, and usually IV users will experiment with other stuff. The big one is cocaine, which is known to be very bad for IV and will do lots of damage to your veins, causing them to collapse early. There is also pills, esp stuff like morphine pills which turn gooey in water (to prevent IV use, but people do it anyway) and this can cause your veins to get gunk all over them, which is bad for your heart as well as making it more easy for veins to collapse. "
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