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24929o | aside from the obvious social stigma of eating another person, is there any biological/chemical reason that we can't? | Just something I've always wondered. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24929o/eli5_aside_from_the_obvious_social_stigma_of/ | {
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"You're more likely to pick up whatever diseases the person had. A germ that makes cows sick will not necessarily make people sick, but if you eat a person who was sick (or had germs that their body could handle), you 100% will get sick if you don't have the antibodies.\n\nThere is no other inherent reason why you shouldn't eat other people, though. Cook 'em right, it's fine. Cannibalism is insanely common in nature, really.\n\nedit: People are mentioning that there are human-specific hormones that may cause damage. That's just not true. Cooking demolishes all but the most generic mammalian hormones, so that's just not true. Kuru is transmitted by a misfolded prion, which denatures (falls apart) when properly cooked.\n\n*Mishandled* human flesh can make you sick, but so can mishandled pork or beef or chicken. It not so coincidentally happens that the people who are cannibalistic are insanely desperate and hungry, so yes, they eat rancid mishandled meat and end up sick. If you eat a raw rotting pig because there's no other food, though, guess what, you're gonna get sick.",
"Yes! There are some types of diseases called “prion diseases” that are a bit weird because their germs don't reproduce using DNA or RNA, they're all protein. A lot of them are easy to catch from cannibalism, including [kuru](_URL_0_) which was discovered that way, and [variant CJD](_URL_1_), which you can also get from eating cows with Mad Cow disease, which the cows get from eating other cows that have Mad Cow.",
"Also avoid the liver unless you want vitamin A toxicity.\n\nThe rule is, if the animal eats meat, don't eat its liver. If it DOESN'T eat meat,the liver should be the first thing you go for."
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y8t48 | is there water anywhere as long as the well is deep enough? | I always wondered in the drought ridden areas of the world can they find water. There are a lot of missionary projects to drill wells. Is all the world needs is deep enough wells? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/y8t48/is_there_water_anywhere_as_long_as_the_well_is/ | {
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"Yes, but the water will become saline and non-potable.\n\nAlso it costs more and more to drill deeper so after a while it will become uneconomic to reach a certain depth - you would never be drilling that deep for potable water, though.\n\nSource: I work in oil and gas where we drill deep wells to find oil and gas. "
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5pmmxz | why does the media refuse to call "alternative facts" outright lies? | I keep watching news anchors discussing "alternative facts" and doing everything they can to explain that they are lies without actually saying it. Are they afraid of being sued? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pmmxz/eli5_why_does_the_media_refuse_to_call/ | {
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"there are very few incontrovertible facts outside physics and related disciplines. they're probably just being careful.",
"Entertaining the possibility that false statements *might* be true, and bringing on panels to speculate and debate whether or not they're true fills more airtime than immediately dismissing them as false.",
"Every major media outlet has been caught lying by the ones they are calling liars.\n\nThey are afraid to go on record calling them \"liars\" because as soon as they do that becomes a youtube compilation video element along with a ton of things they've all lied about.\n\nEvery single year this happens they have lost TONS of viewers who cut off cable for good, stop watching those/all news stations PERMANENTLY because the lies were so egregious.",
"This is a complex situation, and all media outlets are different. They might not know if the statements are false, they might have sponsors who will get angry if they call out lies, they could be trying to avoid being *part* of the controversy -- there are a load of reasons why they would do it but most of them can be traced back to \"the company wants to be safe and not lose money and/or influence.\"",
"It's because when the term \"fake news\" was used to describe false facts it got carried away, and eventually got turned against several mainstream media outlets (CNN and BuzzFeed, mainly).\n\nSo now they use that terminology in hopes it won't get out of hand, I guess.\n\nThey also don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, since feelings have so much emphasis nowadays for some reason.\n\nIt's also a way to deconstruct an opponent's argument. Or disable a completely valid source in the case of misusing the term once the term gains weight.\n\nThat's the way I understand it, at least."
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1pu7i0 | why can companies place advertisements on websites that are clearly illegal? | This has bothered me for a couple years. It doesn't make sense. How can they place ads on websites that are not legal websites? (i.e. torrent websites, passwords for websites that require passwords [mostly porn sites], including porn, illegal sports streaming sites)
I DON'T GET IT. HELP ME UNDERSTAND! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pu7i0/eli5_why_can_companies_place_advertisements_on/ | {
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"Providing a URL (clickable link) is not illegal. Neither is porn, nor providing a password (against TOS probably!)\n\nTo answer your question though, they work with advertising networks, not individual websites.",
"Many of those sites are hosted outside of the US/Europe and generally have much looser laws regarding the sale and advertisement of such things. Because the internet connects us all these ads appear in locations where they normally would be illegal."
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2g37dq | what exactly does the bank do with my money when i deposit my paycheck? | I realize they credit my account with the money (after waiting a stupidly long period of time) but that money is still in their possession until I withdraw or spend it. What are they doing with that money in the mean time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g37dq/eli5_what_exactly_does_the_bank_do_with_my_money/ | {
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"We utilize it for other customers and the economy. Setting up loans so people can buy property, cars, businesses, etc. We take in the money to disperse out to other people.\n\nEdit: Source: Teller",
"When I was 5 I just assumed [this.](_URL_0_)"
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9ujfsn | how does a wireless signal travel between transmitter and receiver? how is it not affected much by rain or snow or wind? or even obstacles like walls and trees? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ujfsn/eli5_how_does_a_wireless_signal_travel_between/ | {
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"It *is* affected by all of those things. \n\nWiFi signals deteriorate a lot when travelling through walls for example. Which is why they say put the router in as open an area as possible and as high as possible. ",
"it travels via radio waves which are part of the Electro Magnetic Spectrum, like light and x-rays, amongst other things",
"Wireless is radio waves. Radio waves usually pass through non-metal materials, but are absorbed / blocked by metals (so, building frames, elevators, etc.).",
"Things like rain and snow and even fog effect radio waves. But usually the radios are powerful enough at a certain distance so that it doesn’t effect it enough to drop packets. Source: I work with point to point microwave dishes.",
"Think of it like talking, and you would feel silly thinking the rain drastically changed your ability to talk within reasonable distances. Going through walls usually causes some degradation to its quality and potentially muffles the sound a bit, but usually it's still good enough to carry a conversation successfully.\n\nCertain types of walls and materials can quickly ruin the wireless signals. Common issues are competing signals that can over power, or confuse your signal enough to impair it. Hand held radios, baby monitors, microwaves, and other wireless devices for example.\n\nOther problems can be due to thick concrete walls and floors, these are often reinforced with rebar and disrupts signals. Additionally, any Metal pipes or steel like surfaces will similarly ruin signals very quickly. A good example is a small layer of Tin Foil will stop most radio waves and other signals.\n\nThe weather impacts the airs pressure and humidity. While the effects are minimal up close, as you go further away it will be more pronounced or rather the signal will no longer be useful for your Applications.\n\nTrees, such as a wooded area or even within some neighborhoods will similar create barriers for the waves to travel through. It usually only takes about 3 feet of wood to stop a Wifi signal for example. However, waves are able to propagate around objects fairly well. This allows us to enjoy our radio devices, even if we are in the woods with minimal worries."
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6z5yaj | how does a bluetooth know what device to send data to. | For example: how does my portable Bluetooth speaker know to send and receive the music data from my phone? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6z5yaj/eli5_how_does_a_bluetooth_know_what_device_to/ | {
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"All Bluetooth devices come with a passcode that you have to enter to connect it with another device. Although most updated devices do it automatically with the \"pairing\" feature.That passcode is the \"glue\" to making the Bluetooth device connect only with your phone. Once it's connected it flows through radio waves to play whatever information is being sent",
"Each device has a unique serial number. When you pair your Bluetooth device with your computer, it records that serial number so when it sends out data packets to your headphones, it sends it with a tag that includes that serial number. Then your headphones say \"ah, this packet is mine\" or if it sees someone else's computer sending to another set of headphones, it ignores those packets. "
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3cm7bf | why is alcohol aged in barrels? | You often hear of Alcohol like wine aged in barrels. Why isn't is just aged in a bottle? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cm7bf/eli5why_is_alcohol_aged_in_barrels/ | {
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"As far as Bourbon... The whiskey expands and contracts into the wood as it ages and with seasonal changes. This mellows the whiskey and imparts the oak flavor. The longer it ages the more mellow the flavor. This process creates longer molecular chains which aid in a better flavor. I drank some 23 year old bourbon yesterday... that was so incredibly smooth as opposed to a 5 year whiskey that is very rough."
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csev1c | shouldn't all viable organs from the deceased be used for organ transplants without having them to have been a donor. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/csev1c/eli5_shouldnt_all_viable_organs_from_the_deceased/ | {
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"Many countries make it so everybody is a donor and you have to opt out of it if you don’t want to be. The United States is behind the 8-ball on this"
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9iw5u1 | why is it that some metals like zinc and iron are essential for our bodies while other metals like lead and mercury are toxic? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9iw5u1/eli5_why_is_it_that_some_metals_like_zinc_and/ | {
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"We have enzymes in our body called metalloenzymes that contain metals to catalyze chemical reactions or maintain the enzyme's structure. These essential metals include iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, copper, cobalt and a few others. \n\nMost metalloenzymes work only with their original metal in it. For instance if you replace the zinc atom in the enzyme *Carbonic anhydrase* with another metal, it can't function anymore. Some of the toxic metals you mentioned are similar in e.g. size or charge to these native metals, which means they 'fit' in the same spaces. So when lead or mercury enters a cell, it can replace the 'natural' metals inside the enzyme. (In many cases it even binds more strongly to the enzym than the original metal, making it harder to get out of there as well.)",
"Since we can't see how the human body was created, we can only guess, really. However, facts about metals and the body can give us hints about this. Both Iron and Zinc are common, being the 6th and 24th most common elements on earth, so any organism that could be poisoned by them likely wouldn't last long, and if the organism used the metals to be more robust, there was enough around to reliably have a source of it. Lead and mercury, on the other hand, are much more rare in the earth, so the need to deal with these elements is not as extreme. \nIn terms of why the human body developed with a specific risk to these elements rather than just having them be inert (like titanium), I can't comment, other than the fact that with so many bodily processes with so many elements in the universe, the likelihood of having a few interact badly is not that unlikely. \n\nI am not a biologist nor a chemist, I only took a few classes and did some quick research on Wikipedia, so this could be completely wrong. ",
"It’s probably easier to explain in a case by case basis... but most metals that are toxic shuts down important processes... like lead inhibits red blood cell synthesis, and mercury inhibits our ability to fight oxidative damage. Iron is necessary for red blood cells to bind oxygen and zinc is an important component of many ligands which is basically when a metal attaches to another molecule and kind of activates it... that new molecule helps in things like DNA replication as well as a huge list of other things.\n\nWhy is it that way? God/evolution/coincidence whatever flavor you want. Why do metals interact in a certain way? Electrons get real crazy when they’re close to each other sometimes it’s good sometimes it’s bad.",
"At an ELI 5 level, IIRC (science teacher but I haven't covered this stuff in a while) our tolerance for different materials can be compared to how much of the materials exist, in an accessible form, in nature. In other words, the more of something that's part of our environment, the more likely we are to tolerate it.\n\nBy way of example, we have a really high tolerance of water, a medium tolerance of iron, and almost no tolerance for iodine but we need a little bit to prevent goiter. Water is everywhere in the environment, iron is fairly common, and iodine is rare. Lead and Mercury, by comparison, are rare to begin with and tend to be locked up in rocks. When they get released, usually by people, our bodies are not prepared to deal with them.",
"I’m currently a junior getting a Biomedical science degree and am taking a class on environmental health, the book/info we are using has been pretty reliable so I’ll try to help if I can!\n\nFirstly, zinc is important in the body but the exact pathways weren’t covered in our text. Some just aren’t known at all. However, it is possible to OD on both iron and zinc, much like it is with mercury, lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals. The main difference is the dose needed to be lethal or hurtful. \nHigh levels of lead in the body will lead to neurological diseases and complications, Mercury metal is very prevalent except if you break a cfl and don’t clean the surrounding areas properly, methyl mercury is the one you need to look out for! It is inhaled and will lead to loss of function of your lung if untreated. Cadmium is Cd2+ and is confused by the body for Ca2+ because they are both divalent and makes weak bones. \nNow your essential metals like zinc, iron, and copper are needed for survival because they all have homeostatic mechanisms. Iron as many people have said is a key part in a hemoglobin molecule and is used in binding of oxygen, copper is needed for the production of hemoglobin. \nOther metals like aluminum and magnesium are also used and consumed. \nAluminum is added to vaccines to trigger the immune response so the uptake of the actual vaccine happens faster. \n\nIt seems that most of the heavy metals are “confused” by the body for other metals because of similar chemical properties and that will cause problems for certain mechanisms and ion pumps on a cellular level. I hope this isn’t too much rambling and maybe was kind of helpful!",
"Very simple:\n\n & #x200B;\n\nA lot of metal ions are useful for the chemistry that takes inside your body.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nOther metal ions can interfere with or stop certain pieces of this chemistry with harmful effects.",
"And now you know what its like to live in a world without Zinc, Jimmy.\n\nDear God what have I done?\n\nZinc...zinc...come back zinc...zinc WHA?",
"Chemistry. At any one moment there are millions of chemical reactions ongoing in order to keep your body in balance in alive. Everything from your cells reacting glucose for energy (the Citric acid cycle) to CO2/O2 gas exchange in the lungs is ultimately a chemical process.\n\nMany metals are required in small amounts because they participate in those reactions either as an ingredient, a catalyst, or as a component in an enzyme.\n\nMany other metals are acutely toxic because their chemistry allows them to substitute in to some of the millions of reactions nessecary to keep you alive. For example Arsenic reacts with an ingredient key to the Citric Acid Cycle in a way that prevents function and energy generation.",
"one mandatory car analogy could be:\n\nyou have a fire station with a garage where you can fit all the fire trucks (essential metals) you would need in case a fire breaks out. now if you put omnibusses in there instead, they may fit as well but don't have the same function meaning they will block the space for the real deal."
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3xdhai | how police ankle bracelet works. and why it's impossible to quietly remove this bracelet? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xdhai/eli5_how_police_ankle_bracelet_works_and_why_its/ | {
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"bracelet has constant communication with a base station.\n\nThe bracelet also detects that it is closed, any action of opening or cutting the bracelet will open the circuit and signal the base station.\n\nBlocking the signal will also be taken as a reportable event.\n\nI suspect you could get around it by jumping the loop before you cut the closed loop, but it would be very difficult without alot of time and effort. (and maybe it has sensors to detect grinding or cutting anyway)"
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4kdbn4 | how do filmmakers make this effect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kdbn4/eli5_how_do_filmmakers_make_this_effect/ | {
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"[Here is exactly how that scene was made.](_URL_0_) \n \nThey film them standing still, since its hard to be completely still, they edit it to make it stabilize their bodies, and then they add in effects such as popcorn frozen in mid-air and muzzle flashes.",
"I'm a bit disappointed that it's mostly CGI.\n\nOn a budget, would it be possible to take a series of large frame photos, splice them together, and scroll it past a camera, or with editing?",
"One key to making things like this is motion control - you have to program a camera mount to follow the exact same path every time.\n\n[Here's a great tutorial/making of for one such scene.](_URL_0_)",
"You edited the post...everyone here talking about how they used CGI and stuff but it's of a girl singing...trololol",
"Soooooo... OP edited his post.\n\nThe original was asking how the Other Guys scene was made. \n\nHe edited it to ask about little girls.\n\nBecause of reasons?"
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20wp4x | why does the military have its own justice system? | And why aren't crimes in the military just prosecuted in a "normal" civilian court? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20wp4x/eli5_why_does_the_military_have_its_own_justice/ | {
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"Military members are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in addition to the \"normal\" civilian justice system. Meaning military members can be tried for crimes under the UCMJ which are not crimes for \"normal\" civilians. In addition to more restrictive rules, there are different requirements for the trials and the sentencing as well as different punitive options available. \nAlso, prosecutors can circumvent double jeopardy rights if the accused is a member of the armed forces. So, even if a military member has already been tried for a crime by a civilian court, they can still be prosecuted for the exact same crime by a military court. \nThe UCMJ does not exist to allow soldiers to break foreign laws or exempt them from civilian laws. There are Rules of Engagement (ROE) and Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) that outline specifically exactly what a military member may or may not do for every country they operate in. The UCMJ and the military justice system is an extra line of punitive measures to ensure that military are held to military standards. ",
"This is a great ELI5 post. It's one of those things that people might not normally think to ask, but has a lot of interesting and complicated nuances.",
"In the military (21 years Army for me so far) we have different rules that don't exist in the civilian world. For instance, in order to maintain order and discipline required, we don't have the option to tell a commanding officer to go screw himself as we are turning in our two weeks notice. The members of an officer's command are legally bound to follow his lawful orders, otherwise face UCMJ punishment. The reason for that is that during combat operations, the commander's decisions must be obeyed and carried out without his subordinates rebelling, disobeying, or otherwise \"going on strike\" which are all things civilian workers are allowed to do. During combat, it's not the time for any of that.\nIf a service member commits a crime in the civilian world, the military can take responsibility for trying and convicting that person, or they can allow the civilian authorities to proceed. Never both. "
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6u80ti | with skyscrapers being built so high, is the air inside them pressurized? and what happens if a window is broken? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6u80ti/eli5_with_skyscrapers_being_built_so_high_is_the/ | {
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"No the air is not pressurized, some of those windows even open. You have to go significantly higher than the worlds tallest building to have pressure be an issue. Its not even an issue on most mountains. Cold is a lot more of an issue.\n\nBut no they are fine.",
"I don't think that any building reach a height of 1000 meter. But let's take that as a value. \n\n1000 meter is the height of high hill and/or valley in mountain area (i.e. if you skying your hotel will be higher) . \nLast week-end I was hiking between 1000-2000 meter it's still accessible for everybody. With my little alpine experience I start feeling the lack of oxygen over 3000 meter (but as you can guess you are doing things which are physically hard at this height). \n\nSo there is no need to control air pressure in a skyscraper. The only reason why they lock the window is to prevent suicide... \n\n",
"No skyscraper is yet a mile high, yet people live in Denver at a mile above sea level. The city of La Paz in Bolivia is at more than double that elevation above sea level. People don't need sea level pressure, they can adapt to pretty high elevations. (I've personally lived on the Highveld in South Africa at about the same elevation as Denver, and it was no biggie.)"
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2am2t9 | the difference between a mechanic, technician, engineer, etc. i hear the terms used (seemingly) interchangeably. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2am2t9/eli5_the_difference_between_a_mechanic_technician/ | {
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"Mechanic generally only means someone working on engines. Technicians are doing practical work with something at least vaguely technical. You could call a mechanic an auto-mobile technician or something if you want to.\n\nAn engineer generally mean a university-trained professional that designs new systems; they often leave the actual act of installing things to technicians. An engineer designs a plane, a technician/mechanic actually puts it together and makes sure it's going according to plan.",
"A mechanic often times works solely on things that are already made, but broken, and focuses mainly on mechanical operations, such as engines, motors, etc. For instance, an auto mechanic doesn't design my car, he just fixes it.\n\nA technician more often is used for systems, and is someone who is skilled with the technicalities of something. There are automotive technicians, who specialize in the computer system, but while mechanic is almost exclusive to cars and machinery, technicians exist in almost all fields. A radiology technician, a veterinary technician, a computer technician, etc.\n\nAnd an engineer is someone who engineers, they are the people skilled in the designed and construction of something. Or there are railroad engineers, people who work on and run the locomotive.\n\nSo, it's like this. An Engineer designs the car. Once the car is made, a mechanic will service it, if there is a specialized problem with a certain part, a technician might be called in to look at it."
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cmau3y | how is the asian diet so high in sodium, but so much healthier than the american diet? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cmau3y/eli5_how_is_the_asian_diet_so_high_in_sodium_but/ | {
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"Less fat and many asian cuisines are based on a share or small plate style dining. When you go to most asian restaurants you order a dish for the whole table to share not just for yourself. This style of eating actually helps with portion control. Additionally most asian dishes are not heavy in butter, fats, and they try to fill up of veggies rather than meat. I'm not aware of any steak and mashed potatoes type of asian meals.",
"\"Asian\" is a very broad category for one. China alone has eight or nine different cuisine types and their dishes vary widely in flavor, ingredients, and nutritional value. \n\nSecond, even if we assume the premise that \"Asian food has a higher salt content than American food,\" as truth, nutrition is measured by more than sodium. For example, take Japanese miso and Korean daenjang. Both are fermented beans with garlic and have relatively high sodium contents. They're both still very good for you thanks to the other nutrients that build up in the fermentation process.\n\nMost Asian cuisines are also very heavy in vegetables and fruits. If you're only familiar with pho, sushi, and Korean bbq, you might be forgiven for thinking it's all carbs, meat, and salt, but most of our meals aren't like that. For example, a traditional Korean breakfast my mom might make me is a bowl of rice, grilled mackerel, and two or three types of \"banchan,\" or sides, usually pickled vegetables like cabbage kimchi and cucumber kimchi.",
"Veggies, it's all the veggies.\n\nSodium content isn't necessarily high, sure there are some foods that overdo sodium with the soy sauce, but that's far from \"all\".",
"Firstly, our ideas about health problems related to sodium have changed. Most people do not have the health problems from sodium we thought they did just 10 years ago. There are specific people who have negative health reactions to large amounts of sodium, but it's a small minority of the population.\n\nAt this point we'd almost never rule out a food as \"unhealthy\" because of its sodium content, unless we knew something about the person eating it AND - most importantly - what else was in the food. In american cuisine, the very high sodium content foods are almost associated with processed foods and fast foods, which is not the case in many places in asia (asia is a big place, so super hard to generalize)"
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359dlx | how do tv stations generate video and effects on-the-fly? | Video like the charts shown by BBC during the UK General Election. How do they generate those fancy charts without previously rendering the video? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/359dlx/eli5_how_do_tv_stations_generate_video_and/ | {
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"Considering a video toaster could do it they probably use a knackered 486dx machine coated in dust they found at the back of a cupboard. In all seriousness they'll do it on the fly parsing the video through a computer before broadcast.\n"
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38qqfh | considering that kidney stones are notoriously painful (as well as common), why is it so difficult to develop a painless method of extraction? | Furthermore, why can't they use some form of anesthesia? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38qqfh/eli5_considering_that_kidney_stones_are/ | {
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"The stones are inside part the kidney, which is a very delicate organ with a great deal of major blood vessels going into and out of it.\n\nIt's a dangerous area to mess around with, with the amount of blood moving through it.\n\nNicking an artery can lead to some serious damage.\n\nAdditionally; once they leave the kidney they have to pass through a muscular tube which conveys urine down to the bladder. That's something you really want to avoid the damage surgery will do to it, as scar tissue is potentially dangerous if it blocks the tube.\n\nI can't answer the anaesthesia part, though!",
"Kidney stones reside deep inside the body and treatment is an issue of managing risk. Often the least invasive and lowest risk treatment is to let the patient pass the stones naturally (though painfully) rather than surgically remove them. ",
"Almost everything a doctor does is to decide between the risk of doing something verses doing nothing. As has been mentioned, messing around with the kidney is very risky, far riskier than letting the stone pass naturally. Similarly, anesthesia is far riskier than letting the stone pass naturally.\n\nIn some cases the stone is to big or there is some other complication which prevents it from passing. At that point doctors do intervene because the risk of doing nothing is now greater than doing something.\n\nAnd from personal experience, a good pain killer does wonders for the pain. I'll take a prescription pain killer over the risk of not waking up the next time I have a stone.",
"It is not difficult to have a painless method of extraction. There are ways to break up the kidney stones, namely using shock waves, to help disintegrate the stones to let them pass easier. Alternatively, patients can have a procedure done where they go under anesthesia, a urologist will put a scope up the urethra and ureter, and break up the stones using laser and extract them that way. All else being said, you always have to weigh the risk of surgery, which is a traumatic procedure on the body, vs the risk of not doing anything and letting it pass. In some situations, it is less risky to just let the stone pass on its own with some oral pain medications and drugs that help widen your ureters/pass urine. But in some situations, these procedures are more beneficial. It all depends on the patient and the case.",
"I've put plenty of people under general anesthesia so urologists can break up and remove kidney stones. These are usually large stones that won't pass on their own, so they obstruct the ureter and may be a source of infection. Smaller stones that pass may be painful, requiring pain medications, but usually don't warrant the risks of anesthesia and surgery.",
"I was put under, and they did a scope thingy and \"lasered the shit out of it\" (my doctor's words). That wasn't painful at all. I was asleep. \n\nThe month the stone was lodged in my ureter was painful. The internal bleeding inside my shaft from the procedure (and subsequent blood-pee for 2 days) was painful. The stent they put in for 10 days, to keep my ureter safe, was intolerably painful. The removal of the stent, while I was awake.. through my penis, with only numbing gel on the tip (of my penis), that was super uncomfortable, painful, traumatizing, etc etc.",
"Well I had a stone block my kidney last summer, and it was too big to pass through my ureter. So I went in and had shockwave lithotripsy done which I was put under for. In case you don't know, this is a completely non-invasive procedure.\n\nMy side was a bit sore afterwards, but it was pretty relatively painless...way less pain than the kidney stone itself.",
"My cousin had one a while ago and his doctors recommendation was euthanasia. Never heard from him again. ",
"My story of \"painless\" kidney stone removal might be relevant here. \n\nA few years back I woke up to some blood in my urine, a trip to the doctor and an x-ray showed a rather large stone in my left kidney. Surgery was planned for two months down the road, so I had to go about my day to day life while having these random episodes that felt like someone had just walked up and stabbed me with a spike made of salt. \n\nThe surgery day came, I was told they were going to attempt to used a high energy sound wave and explode this evil bastard, but if the stone had moved they would have to do a more invasive surgery. So of course the damn thing had moved and they shoved a laser up my dick hole with a camera and zapped the little asteroid into 8 little asteroids so that I could easily pass them.\n\nI know what your thinking, \"wouldn't passing eight stones be torture?\" The answer is yes... but they thought of that, they're doctors, not morons. So they put this midevil device called a J stint in my pee-hole. Think of the J stint like a water slide at a water park. The stone passes through the center of it protecting you from the trauma and pain. So I wake up from surgery and after saying inappropriate comments to the anasthesiologist (one comment my wife tells me was \"hey you saw my dick, now I get to see yours) I go home to find two strings coming out of my wee-wee hole, It looks like green dental floss and it's taped around the base of wee-wee it's self. I'm told that inside of me on the end of that string is the J stint... the string is for its removal.\n\nSide note: I'm convinced it was freezing in that room because there wasn't much slack on that string, and any variation in size of my no-no part led to it being sawed in half from the inside out. On several occasions I woke up in the middle of the night in more pain that can be described. \n\nOk, so I deal with the stint for a number of days and go in for its removal. I asked the nurse moments before he started if this hurt, he replied \"it's not going to hurt ME at all\"... This thing gets yanked out of me like he was starting a lawn mower. The pain from this removal caused my vision to narrow and when I eventually tried to stand up I almost fell over. I could not believe the size of the stint, probably 18 inches. And, you feel every inch of that snake as it comes out.\n\nI left the doctors office feeling like a new man. I honestly felt like a new person, the stint was out and the stone was gone, I had dealt with all the nonsense pain for months, all was right with the world.\n\nWrong... when I got home I was crippled to the floor by the worst pain I have ever felt. And when I say pain, I mean pain so bad that I truly understand why people with chronic illness/pain kill themselves (this is morbid, but it's honestly how intense the pain was). I would have taken any illegal street drug to end the pain. If you told me drinking bleach would end the pain, I would already drunk the shit by the time you'd finished saying it.\n\nSo I laid on my bathroom floor in the fetal position, binging myself with water while chewing up vicodin (they taste horrible, and this did absolutely nothing for the pain). After an hour I started peeing out sections of the stone. Oh you thought the stone was gone? Nope. That bastard J stint didn't act as a water slide, it dammed the stones up in my kidney. So over the course of two and a half hours I ended up passing eight stones. And each one felt like a giant chuck of molten hell carving it's way out of me through my most cherished place. \n\nI'm convinced passing the stone the natural way would have been far less painless that all of that bull shit. ",
"There are many different methods of kidney stone extraction depending on the size and location of the stone. Most are done under anesthesia and should be \"painless\" for the most part.\nThe pain from stones come from obstruction in the ureter, the small tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. When the stone occludes the ureter, the kidney \"swells\" and this stretches the capsule of the kidney, which hurts. \nOptions for treating stones include: \n- \"trial of passage,\" usually reserved for smaller or more distal stones (closer to the bladder). For this we give pain medicine, a medication to relax the ureter and make it easier to pass (Flomax or something similar), and sometimes a medication for nausea. \n- ureteroscopy, where we go in with a very narrow but long camera which we drive through your urethra (pee tube) and in to the ureter. When we find the stone we can either pull it out or break it up with a laser and then pull it out. You are under anesthesia for this \n- extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), which uses focused sound waves to break the stone up. You're also asleep for this, and once the stone is broken up you have to pass the fragments on your own, which are hopefully small enough not to hurt too bad coming out. Not all stones are amenable to ESWL. \n- percutaneous nephrostolithotomy (PCNL), usually reserved for very large stones that are still up in the kidney. We basically create a hole in your back to go straight in to your kidney and break up/remove your stone. Obviously you're asleep for this and it's a much bigger deal than the other methods, with higher risks but also a higher chance of getting all of your stone out. \n- if a kidney is not functioning and making stones, we sometimes do a nephrectomy, or removal of the entire kidney. \n- the old fashioned method of removing a ureteral stone was called a ureterolithotomy, where we do a traditional surgery with a big cut, find the ureter, and cut it open to remove the stone. This is not commonly done these days. & nbsp; \nTo help just with the pain, we sometimes place a stent, which is a thin, hollow plastic tube that allows the urine to drain around the stone. These can also be uncomfortable for some people, but it does help the kidney drain. These aren't necessarily to help the stone pass. \nHope this helps \n",
"I was given anesthesia (morphine drip) till mine passed. It was relatively small, and only took an evening once it dislodged, but they definitely can and do give you drugs for them."
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1wjt82 | what is needed in order for me to write a mobile (android and iphone) application | I've been dumstruck on getting precise info with all these "make your own app" websites, they just give you templates and you're pretty limited with options.That being said I've spent hours on google with no avail. I'd like to create an app for personal use between friends, where one can create a event, the app will invite you, you can sign in with Facebook\create an ID, can link photo's to the desired event and comment on them. but what is required in the background to make the app work, ie. inviting friends, enabling communication and upload of photos\video's, keeping it secure between yourself and who ever is invited to said event. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wjt82/eli5what_is_needed_in_order_for_me_to_write_a/ | {
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"For Android you need the Android Software Development Kit\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIt is completely free, and awesome. It's basically Java with special libraries. \n\nFor iPhone/iPad you need the iOS SDK, but it isn't free, you have to pay Apple for it. iOS SDK is basically Objective C with custom libraries. You can find it at their store. "
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6x1is7 | how are we so much smarter than the next-smartest apes? i mean it seems like a truly huge leap. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6x1is7/eli5_how_are_we_so_much_smarter_than_the/ | {
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"We killed off the neanderthals and denisovans...so is it that hard to imagine that our early ancestors killed off other yet discovered species who stood as potential rivals in intelligence? I mean look at how much we like to kill each other over variance of melanin content or mere differences in mythology. ",
"I actually don't think we're individually as much smarter than other apes (for example) as the differences between human and chimpanzee culture suggest. Everything we have built has been incrementally built on top of the work of millions of other people.\n\nRemember, it took us 250,000 years to learn even basic agriculture.",
"There was smarter apes. Neanderthal, Homo Erectus, Homo Habilis, etc. But they are all extinct, either by natural causes, or because of Homo Sapiens intervention. We killed or interbreed with some of them, human have a small percentage of Neanderthal in their DNA.",
" > I mean it seems like a truly huge leap.\n\nEverything closer to us in intellect is dead now. In no small part because, being so similar to us, they had to compete with us, and someone was going to lose that particular issue when it comes to large resource hungry animals capable of spanning the globe.",
"We really aren't that much smarter, when you consider the range of intellect in the animal kingdom. To a clam, we the difference between humans and apes and even squirrels is negligible. \n\nWhy it seems there is a bigger gap is humans were the first to discover the watershed technology of language that serves as an intelligence multiplier. By being able to exchange ideas without the trial and error, we no longer have to literally reinvent the wheel every generation. \n\nThat's where the gap comes from. You put an untrained human and a chimp on an island and come back in 10 years, you are not going to see a lot of difference."
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3r4kis | the workings of share price? | What are share price defined for a company? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3r4kis/eli5the_workings_of_share_price/ | {
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"The market decides the price of a stock, the company does not, except during their IPO (initial public offering), but even then its sorta market decided anyways.\n\nThis is actually one of the fundamental aspects of the stock market, that the market is the thing that decides the price, not any individual company or set pegged rate. \"Everyone\" decides the price collectively.",
"Share price is determined by three main factors: the number of shares that exist, the amount dividends the firm is expected to pay out in the future, and the riskiness of the firm. The price at which a share is traded is essentially the market's \"best guess\" for the future value of all future dividends from the firm, given the firm's systematic and idiosyncratic risk. While idiosyncratic risk can be \"diversified,\" systematic risk--risk to the entire economy--cannot. That said, different firms have different levels of systematic risk. The more risky the firm, the higher expected dividends will have to be to garner the same share price as a less risky firm (all else equal)."
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bzspuz | what causes needles (injections, drawing blood) to hurt? it's a very tiny piece of metal. what is the mechanism to cause so much pain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bzspuz/eli5_what_causes_needles_injections_drawing_blood/ | {
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"That all kind of depends on nerves, what part of the body it's going in, skill of the person doing the sticking, and how big of a baby you are.",
"\"so much pain\" is very relative. Personally, needles don't bother me, there's a minor prick and slight discomfort and it's done with. If you are feeling excessive pain, it's most likely due to the anxiety you are feeling about it. You are psyching yourself into it being worse than it really is. Stubbing your toe hurts WAY more than a needle should.\n\nAs far as why you feel pain in the first place, pain receptor nerves tell your body when it's in danger. If you're getting stabbed by something, anything, you need to know about it because it could threaten your survival. That's why these responses were evolved. Sure, the stabbing today could be a needle administered by a skilled doctor or nurse in a sterilized, safe manner, but as far as your body evolution is concerned it could also be a venomous snake or bug, a dirty shard of rock or wood, or anything else that could have at one time meant disaster for your ancient relatives. A sharp pain makes you alert to the threat so it can be addressed."
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16pd2p | what is private equity? and how is it different from investment banking? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16pd2p/eli5_what_is_private_equity_and_how_is_it/ | {
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"Private equity is when you have a bunch of money, and then you say \"I want to invest this money into something.\" So, you go out and meet a bunch of budding entrepreneurs and say \"Hey, I'll give you $100K for a 10% stake in your new company called Facebook.\" You can it yourself or go to a private equity firm who will do it for you, and charge you a fee in return for their investing prowess. \n\nIt is private because such acquisitions occur for companies that are not publicly traded (and, therefore, privately held), and it is equity because you own equity in a company (instead of merely lending them the $100K with interest). That's the difference between loans and ownerships. These types of transactions usually take place between a venture capital firm (private equity firm) or an individual angel investor. \n\nInvestment banking is a more general term, and investment banks offer a lot more services. They help with mergers, acquisitions and do a bunch of other financial/corporate services. They also can do private equity and hedge funds, and everything else under the sun that has to do with investments and finance.\n\nAt the end of the day, though, there's no strict definition to these things. It usually has to do with how they \"generally conduct business,\" and people \"in the know\" generally have an idea of what this entails."
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4j4lar | in the army, can an order be disobeyed if the order is to massacre civilians? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4j4lar/eli5_in_the_army_can_an_order_be_disobeyed_if_the/ | {
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"Yes. One can ignore an order they deem unlawful, though a tribunal may determine later that you're wrong and you'll be punished anyway.",
"If the order is illegal, you can disobey it. However, you should be damn sure the order is illegal, as disobeying a legal order will get you in deep shit, even if you disobeyed because you thought it was illegal.",
"You not only can, you are required to. \n \nAfter WWII and the Nurenburg trials of Nazi officers, it was accepted by most countries that \"I was only following orders\" was not a valid excuse for committing war crimes. \n \nUS military training now includes the instructions that if given orders to commit war crimes, the soldier is required to refuse. "
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3bfqem | if speakers have magnets, and magnets can mess with hard drives, then how can they put speakers in computers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bfqem/eli5_if_speakers_have_magnets_and_magnets_can/ | {
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"The magnets in speakers aren't powerful enough to disrupt a hard drive from further than a few centimetres, if even then. If you want to mess up a hard drive, you need a pretty powerful magnet. Problems would possibly arise if the speakers were installed very close to the hard drive.",
"Speakers have *very small* magnets, and hard drives aren't *that* sensitive to magnets. Also, the internal layout of the computer can be designed so that the speakers aren't too close to the hard drive.",
"This actually was a problem back a few years ago. Having a powerful bass box next to yozur pc could wipe your hard drive. Both the shielding of the drive and of the box should be better today. hopefully."
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68yf70 | why do people look away from the point of focus to think? | Example:
1. Looking up at the ceiling during a test
2. Looking away from someone during a discussion to think | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68yf70/eli5_why_do_people_look_away_from_the_point_of/ | {
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"If you look away there's no stimuli trying to get your attention. You can look at a blank wall and not have anything stimulating you while you search your head for the answer."
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3n8ccm | how does audio play from a cd, tape, vinyl, or digital file? how does the recieving side make the sound it's told to ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3n8ccm/eli5how_does_audio_play_from_a_cd_tape_vinyl_or/ | {
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"Sounds is a pressure wave in air. It's particles moving back and forth, vibrating. A microphone captures sound when the moving air pushes and pulls against it, which moves a coil of wire around a magnet inducing an electric current. The amount of current is analogous to the amount of pressure changes in air, which is why it's called an analog signal. \n\nThe opposite is true as well. If you send a current through a coil attached to a cone that can push air, when you send electric signals through it they produce acoustic waves that are analogs of the electric signal. ",
"I might cut a couple of corners for simpleness sake ;)\n\nSound is air that moves. In your ear waves in a particular range of frequencies (between roughly 20Hz and 20.000Hz) are turned into nerve signals that your brain processes as sound. So, what you need to create is a vibration in the air. \n\nYou do this with a speaker. A speaker is essentially a cone on an electromagnet. When you put electricity on the electromagnet it pushes the cone forward (because of a stationary magnet inside), moving the air forward. If you do that many times a second, the cone starts moving the air in waves that our ears can hear. Also the amount electricity (voltage/amps) decide how much the cone moves, just a little or all the way creating different amplitudes.\n\nNow we come to the different media. An LP is easiest to explain. On the LP there are grooves of different frequencies and amplitudes. A needles follows these grooves and an amplifier turns these movements into an electrical signal. Send this signal to a speaker and voila, sound. This is analogous sound. Digital sound has another step in between: it consists of 1's and 0's like all other digital materials. Software can interpret these 1's and 0's, read them and calculate wave patterns from them. These waves get send to the amplifier etc. CD's are a digital medium, they have microscopic pits and every pit counts as a 1. \n\nSo, a lot of steps involved but I hope this gives you a beginning of an answer. Ask away if things still aren't clear or you come up with follow up questions!"
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84rjhr | we have two ears, so surely two decent headphone drivers and some good software on the part of the game or film can perfectly replicate surround sound? why do headphones come out with "virtual surround sound"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/84rjhr/eli5_we_have_two_ears_so_surely_two_decent/ | {
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"You can certainly get really really close, yeah (though earphones tend to be unidirectional per ear, so realistically you'd need to cram a couple speakers into each cup since they aren't actually inside of your ear).\n\nThe big issue is with the basic formats:\n\n1) Many things aren't recorded/generated in surround sound. Obviously if they aren't then it can't be played well in surround. This is one of the big features of \"virtual surround sound\" software; turning dual channel into surround by guessing where things are (or knowing in the case of some games with good software interfaces).\n\n2) If something is recorded in surround them it doesn't always transition well back to dual. Often dual will just play the left/right channels and ignore the others, which can make things lose quality because that information gets lost. Some sound cards can work backwards, but notably it's an issue.\n\nAll that said you certainly can get very good recordings if they are done right with the right recording equipment; check out the \"virtual barber shop\" for a good example of this, it's just that most people don't necessarily record in that particular format because they aren't aiming to produce surround sound for headphones, they're aiming to produce surround sound for theaters.",
"It is possible to have more or less \"perfect\" surround sound with headphones - it's called binaural recording. But it requires the recording to be made live and in a special way: two microphones are placed inside a dummy head complete with dummy ears to simulate exactly how the sound would reach our eardrums. Binaural recordings also have to be played back on headphones or earbuds - not speakers - for optimal effect.\n\nMusic and movie soundtracks are engineered for optimal playback on home theater/stereo systems, where some of the sound from each speaker always reaches both ears, but after reflecting around the room and getting \"filtered\" through your ear structure. Virtual surround sound on headphones simulates this effect to convey the illusion that the sound is actually coming from speakers all around you instead of the typical \"inside your head\" sound from headphones."
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16kbe5 | what exactly happens when someone transfers money between two different banks? | Is there any physical cash being taken from Bank A and being given to Bank B to account for the transfer?
To me it seems as if money is just represented by figures on a computer screen. Are there vast amounts of physical cash being transferred on a daily basis between banks? How does this work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16kbe5/what_exactly_happens_when_someone_transfers_money/ | {
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"I second this ELI5. I really wanna know.",
"I can give a partial answer:\n\n > Is there any physical cash being taken from Bank A and being given to Bank B to account for the transfer?\n\nNo\n\n > To me it seems as if money is just represented by figures on a computer screen. \n\nIt is, why this would seem much stranger then money being represented as just pieces of paper is interesting.\n\n > Are there vast amounts of physical cash being transferred on a daily basis between banks? How does this work?\n\nThere is not.\n\n\nThe mechanics how how one bank actually credits one account while removing money from the other... someone can follow up with.",
"This is hard to ELI5, because 5 year olds don't deal well with abstracts, but I'll give it a shot.\n\nPeople want to keep their money in a safe place so bad guys don't take it. When people take their money to the bank, it's all put in a big pile, but the bank has to keep track of who brought how much, so they have a big book where they write down everyone's name, and how much money they brought. Then if they want to take money out of the bank, the bank checks this book and if the book says that they brought $100, then that's how much they can take out.\n\nSometimes people want to pay money for something really expensive, like a TV. It would take a lot of time to go to the bank and get the money, then take it to the TV store to buy the TV. Then it would take even more time for the TV store to take the money to *their* bank and put it in that pile of money. Plus, bad guys could come and take that money at any time it wasn't in the bank. So instead, people can write a \"check\" which is basically a promise that if you go to my bank, they have my money and this check that I sign says you can have some of it (what ever number I put on the check). When you take my check to the bank, they check their book, and if it says that I brought in enough money, they will give you whatever number I put on the check.\n\nBut let's say you don't want the money in you pocket, you just want to put it in your bank account, so you can write checks to other people. Well then you can take the check I wrote (with your name on it), and take it to *your* bank. Your bank will then call my bank. This used to be done by telephone, but now they do it super fast with computers. My bank will check it's big book to see how much money I gave them. If I gave them enough they tell your bank \"OK\" and the write down in their book that I have less money now. Your bank does the opposite - they write down in your book that you have more money.\n\nOccasionally, people might go into your bank or into my bank and get some dollar bills out of their account, but this doesn't happen all that often anymore. A bank might have $1000 in it for 10 different people, but they'll only keep a couple hundred dollars in dollar bills in case people come into the bank to get some. Mostly, all the money is just kept track of in each banks big book, which of course is now just a computer program.",
"If you are *really* interested in this matter, This American Life did an hour-long radio segment called [The Invention of Money](_URL_0_). It's about how money is not always physical and how the value is achieved and maintained (or destroyed).\n\nThis isn't quite explained like you are 5, but it is fairly simplified."
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202726 | feminists and rape | So you've probably come across [this post](_URL_0_) already. I wanted to know what the OP meant about how feminists **trivialize** rape and consider everything to be rape. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/202726/eli5_feminists_and_rape/ | {
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"When you use the same word for slapping a girl's ass at a bar and brutally forcing her to have intercourse in a back alley after drugging her, you start to devalue the word \"rape.",
"I don't quite understand the post either, as a rape victim myself. That being said, my guess? It's talking about how someone claims to be a feminist but will use the word rape very casually-- i.e. \"I'm going to rape that sandwich man I'm so hungry\" or something. Or someone will be \"attacked\" (tickled, whatever) by their boyfriend and they'll say, \"Stop raping me!\"",
"Consider two instances: In the first a woman is picked up for a meal at a nice restaurant, a movie, and then later goes back to the man's house to have sex. In the second instance a woman on the street corner is grabbed and with a knife to her throat unwillingly has sex with the man behind a dumpster.\n\nIf a feminist equates the social structures and expectations of the woman in the first instance with rape, then they trivialize the significance of the lack of consent in the second."
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2dw9c4 | why can't we harness plasma like the weaponry in halo? | Dusted off the old Xbox and wondered how the covenant could launch massive balls of plasma at me but we can't do that today | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dw9c4/eli5_why_cant_we_harness_plasma_like_the_weaponry/ | {
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"Because plasma requires a ton of energy. If you were to shoot a ball of plasma at someone, any device capable of doing so would be too big to carry, and the plasma would cool off significantly before reaching its target.",
"This is simplified, but think of plasma as super hot, glowing gas. Imagine you had a little cylinder of gas and shot it into the air at high speed. It would almost immediately slow down, disperse, and basically do very little damage. \n\nThe hard part isn't making the plasma (well, okay, it is hard, but it's not the *near impossible* part), it's firing the plasma and having it maintain its shape in such a way that it behaves as one solid thing travelling through the air (like a bullet).",
"Same reason almost every cool sci-fi technology is difficult to implement - we aren't able to store large amounts of energy in small amounts of space.\n\nIf someone can come up with an insanely dense power storage unit, it would open up the way to come up with plasma rifles, lightsabers, Iron Man suits, etc."
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7bh7m3 | how does pressing down on the gas-pedal result in faster piston movement? | So when we accelerate, what happens in the engine, to move the pistons faster, is it brake related?, physics related? fuel related? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7bh7m3/eli5_how_does_pressing_down_on_the_gaspedal/ | {
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"Fuel. Pressing the throttle opens a valve, allowing more fuel which creates a bigger combustion inside the engine, pushing the pistons harder and resulting higher rpms. \n\n(Agreed, more fuel and air). ",
"The throttle controls the [Butterfly Valve](_URL_0_) which allows more air to move past it the more it is opened. Or in other words, pushing down on the throttle causes the valve to open more, allowing more air to the engine. The way more fuel is added is either a fuel injection system which measure the airflow rate and adjusts the fuel flow accordingly or, in the case of old cars, a carburator which uses a creates a vacuum with the intake air that sucks fuel from a nozzle. "
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3qrr7p | huntington's disease question | My 26yo daughter just tested positive for Huntington's Disease. Both her grandmother and great grandmother died from Huntington's Disease. That being said, does that mean that my daughter's mother also has Huntington's Disease or could it have skipped that generation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qrr7p/eli5_huntingtons_disease_question/ | {
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"Huntington's disease is dominant, unlike most genetic conditions. Hence it does not skip generations; it is either passed on or not (50%). The age of onset does vary, but it is very likely your daughter's mother also has the gene for Huntington's disease even if she is not symptomatic yet. I'm surprised she did not get tested, considering her family history."
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1utjyb | the origin of the phrase: quitting cold turkey. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1utjyb/eli5_the_origin_of_the_phrase_quitting_cold_turkey/ | {
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"[The Word Detective](_URL_0_) is smarter and funnier than I am, so I will just send you there rather than paraphrase his answer.",
"I quit cold turkey years ago. Heat it up now, tastes better."
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"http://www.word-detective.com/2008/11/cold-turkey/"
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41cvct | how do the different kinds of food we eat power our bodies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41cvct/eli5_how_do_the_different_kinds_of_food_we_eat/ | {
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"It all comes down to a structure in every cell of our bodies called the mitochondrion (plural mitochondria).\n\nIn this structure, carbohydrates, fats and proteins (the basic calorie-containing entities) that come from digestion are broken down and used to produce a chemical called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). This chemical, then, transfers energy within the cell to power its functions."
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2ndikk | why do musicians and authors seem to do their best work when they're younger but their work seems to become "stale" as they get older? | I understand that taste in music and books are completely subjective, but it seems to be a common sentiment that artists produce their best work when they're young and not so much when they're older. For instance, I love both Steven King and Paul McCartney and their earlier works have this edge and magic to them. But when I experience their later works they seem dull in comparison, like they're lacking some essential spark that used to be there. I know I am not alone in this and in fact most fans of these artists feel the same why. Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ndikk/eli5_why_do_musicians_and_authors_seem_to_do/ | {
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"1. You've heard their style before, so it's growing stale to you.\n\n2. They used all of their A material when they were younger and trying to break into the scene.\n\n3. As musicians become more popular, they have to give up creative input to please producers.",
"I've heard it's possibly just that they've begun to take their work less seriously. Not to say they aren't geniuses, but once you're at the top of the world there isn't much motivation to get better, even as some of your original fans start to surpass who you were only a short few years ago.\n\nAside from that, people usually put a hell of a lot of work into their first work - it's difficult to consistently pull something new out.\n\nI'm not a particularly experienced author like them, of course, but from what I see they just stop improving after a certain point.",
"As well as the comments before this one, it also goes along with what the current generation wants. Take Aerosmith, for example. When they started out, the generation wanted the sweet sounds of rock, but when times changed, the people's taste did as well. The band tried something new to fit in with the times and the definition this generation gave rock and it wasn't as great as it was before.",
"Experiencing new things is always more exciting than experiencing them for the 100th time. The more you get to know a certain artist or author, the more you get used to their quirks and style, and when they end up releasing new albums/books, you immediately recognize these little things, making the whole experience a little less exciting.\n\nWith that being said, up-and-coming creators tend to have more creative juice because they are put in a situation where they have to prove their worth to the world. Also, many musicians and writers lived in poor conditions at the time when they created their best work so they definitely were motivated by a need to improve the quality of their lifestyle and their financial situation. However, once they gain enough recognition and eventually become rich, they lose a bit of their edge because they don't feel pressured to prove their worth anymore.",
"I forget who said it, but you have \"your entire life to write your first album\". So after that, all your \"best ideas\" are essentially used.\nHowever, this doesn't apply to everyone - I just thought that fit this subject.\n"
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3vajvn | why do neurons have a synaptic gap between them? | Our biology professor asked us to find out why neurons have a synaptic gap between them? As always....I searched on Google. But the stuff was way more than I could understand. So, can someone please explain it to me? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vajvn/eli5_why_do_neurons_have_a_synaptic_gap_between/ | {
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" Because if they didn't, there'd be no option of transmitting a signal or not.\n\nCrudely, the synapse is a switch, conditional on other things it can allow or block a nerve impulse. If it didn't, there's be no choice, no option, no conditionality.",
"Neurons transmit signals down their axon electrically. The main way for them to influence another neuron is to release neurotransmitters into the synapse between itself and another neuron. Why do this step chemically instead of just allowing the voltages to propogate directly into the next membrane? Because it affords more variety in the kinds of connections you can make. For example, some neurons will 'fire' and excite other neurons. Others will fire and inhibit neurons down the line. This would be a lot harder if the only tool available was electric fields. Since neurons send chemicals to interact with the membrane of another neuron, it makes sense to leave a little room for the interactions to occur. It also helps the network's ability to adapt, a phenomenon called neuroplacticity."
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4q7fkk | why does molten cheese stick to things so effectively? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4q7fkk/eli5_why_does_molten_cheese_stick_to_things_so/ | {
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"Cheese is mostly protein and fat suspended in a little bit of water. Protein molecules are like long chains that have been coiled and twisted, and then coiled even more. Fat molecules are usually like straight chains but may have some branches. \n\nWhen protein molecules get heated, the chain begins to uncoil and untwist, and all these misshapen chains begin to clump to each other and may stick on to other surfaces (like the surface of a pan or a chip). \n\nWhen fat molecules get heated, they can relax and move around and flow just a little bit more, allowing them to get into porous surfaces and, if it's the right kind of surface, stick to them. \n\nAt the same time, heating the cheese evaporates that little bit of water, allowing the proteins and fats to come together and flow and become gooey and sticky. "
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fdallz | google search working | How google is able to understand everything I type even it has spelling mistakes. Whenever I type something in browser i see that each word will be seperated by a '+' what is the significance of that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fdallz/eli5_google_search_working/ | {
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" > How google is able to understand everything I type even it has spelling mistakes.\n\nBasically Google creates lots of large dictionaries with lots of words. Because Google constantly crawls the web to find new pages, it can see how popular every word is, so it can easily see if you entered an unpopular word, and check if there's a similar word that is much more popular.\n\n > Whenever I type something in browser i see that each word will be seperated by a '+' what is the significance of that?\n\nThe URL specification doesn't allow URLs to contain spaces, as well as certain other characters. Browsers and servers use \"url encoding\" which replaces these characters with other, allowed characters. Most of these characters are encoded with [percent encoding](_URL_0_), and as such a space can be encoded with %20, but space was given a special encoding '+' because it is so common (if you want an actual plus sign you need to encode it as %2B).",
"In addition to the existing answer, there's a good chance that spelling mistakes are repeated over time by multiple people. Search engines have that history, and they can see that a bunch of people searched for \"restauarnt\", and then moments later, searched for \"restaurant\". This then is a clue that \"restauarnt\" is actually a misspelling of \"restaurant\"."
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9a4mr3 | how did hurricane lane weaken so quickly? | So, for the past week, Hawaii has been preparing for the impact of Hurricane Lane, which was measured at its worst as a Cat5, which basically means catastrophic damage will occur.
Over the past few days, the hurricane has quickly lost speed and has devolved into a tropical storm. Besides some flooding in certain areas and some power outages in random spots, everything seems to have settled down quickly.
How is this possible? Is it something in the geography of the Hawaiian Islands? What happened that made this life-threatening natural disaster lose its power so abruptly? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9a4mr3/eli5_how_did_hurricane_lane_weaken_so_quickly/ | {
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"I've heard it described as wind shear, and that a hurricane is like a spinning stack of dishes and when there are different speed winds at different altitudes, it starts to topple and then it spins out of control.\n\nI like the ruler demonstration here: _URL_0_\n\n"
]
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r7xil | the different main branches of islam | I mean like Sunni, Shia, Sufism... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/r7xil/eli5_the_different_main_branches_of_islam/ | {
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"We just began discussing this in my Comparative Religion class today! I still know very little about it, but since there aren't any other answers here, I'll go for it.\n\nThe Sunni/Shia split occurred very early in Islam's history. The disagreement was around the structure of the leadership of Islam after Mohammad's death. All I know is that the Shias supported a group of twelve people in charge, and the Sunnis supported a group of seven people. Since then, I know there have been more disagreements, but I couldn't tell you what they are. \n\nSufism is the mystical sect of Islam, comparable to Quakerism in Christianity. They emphasize that God lives in the world and in each of us as a sort of essential goodness that they try to connect with further.\n\nSorry I'm not more informed, but that's all I got.",
"Good answer by eeshugerman, I'll expand\n\nThe split between Sunni and Shia came after the Prophet's death. It's important to note that in the *beginning* it was a political difference, not religious.\n\nThe Sunni's believed that the next leader (Khalifah) should be chosen through character and how close they were to the prophet. This would be a person by the name of Abu Bakr. Full disclosure, I am Sunni and there is a lot of evidence to show that the prophet chose Abu Bakr as the next leader.\n\nThe Shias believe the leader should be passed down through the bloodline of the prophet. Ali ibn abi talib, the prophet's cousin, would have been the first Khalifah. \n\nAbu Bakr became khalifah, and Ali was fine with it and accepted it. For the sake of completeness, the four first Khalifahs were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. \n\nHere is were it gets sad. Today, the actual religious practices and basic theology are pretty different. As time went on, the political difference led to a religious one and now the Shias have some practices that are pretty radical.\n\nIt is important to note: Sunni Muslims love and have great admiration for Ali ibn abi talib! He was the fourth Khalifah and was respected by all. But, it doesn't go the other way. Many Shias hate, and hate is a strong word, Abu Bakr, Umar and their families. \n",
"By definition you cannot get branches. It is better to think of it as a river, not a tree. The sub-streams have rather switched directions. It is essentially a matter of term selection. This is the correct approach to be applied to religion studies.\n\nIf you make sure to put attention to the hidden implication of the terms in use in the various explanations, that would help you a lot. The key words here are 'fork' and 'division/part-alike'.\n\nAs a matter of fact it all goes back to the background of the speaker. Non-religious people and Shia, they in general would prefer using the word 'divisions', whereas Sunnies would rather go with 'forks', when dissecting this material. That is roughly because non-religions are either not really interested in knowing the true size of the splits, or are rather quite happy with the bigger sense of controversy that 'divisions' implies, thus perfectly serves their purpose somewhat. Shia would be more interested in the indication of bigness. As to Sunnies they already think of themselves as majority (which they are) so for them 'fork' would just do the job. It would actually also imply correctness if you happen to think that majority does mean correctness. Aside note on that, it does NOT. Nonetheless what I personally do believe is that Sunna has unarguably been the mainstream of all Muslims (i.e., the real river) and as Sunnies themselves do believe, Sunna is what Prophet Mohammad had taught (which is revealed through the literal meaning of the term Sunna itself.)\n\nWhat adds more to the complexity of such manipulation is the fact that Time matters. Throughout the history everything has changed so that the terms have replaced their formal meaning/definition several times. As a result the modern reference to Shia pints out to something different from what it originally used to. It is all about history really.\n\nSufism is another example in which the term is no longer addresses the same definition. Originally Sufism was all about devotion (and asceticism), which is convenient in one sense, considering both religious and nonreligious general principles. The Prophet himself could easily fit this definition since he never joined parties in his youth and he used to keep private cogitation solitudes even before he was revealed to (though Islam is different from Catholic practices in this regard, i.e., it doesn't impose monkness, for example). Along the way this - Sufism - has occasionally changed someway to be related to pantheism (which is very non-Islamic and arguably quite non/anti-religious). While a lot of things happen in terms of religious and political formation of the nature and development of these cults, there is even other simpler aspects of it, such as when it merely becomes just of social connotation. Think you have got the big picture.\n\nThe dynamics is rather complex. The development is too. You are out to understand how advancing works. It is quite accepted that there are sects in Shia that might claim that the Quran was corrupt because it has to have special parts exalting the status of Ali ibn abi talib (Prophet's cousin). Note that regardless of the status of the Quran, which could whether be checked through its historical authentication, or its miraculous nature, or whatever else - whoever does claim such thing is no longer Muslim by definition (so they are neither 'division' nor 'forks', consequently they are to be ruled out). Some groups of Sufiees present offers to the dead, which is an act of worship, so whoever does is no longer Muslim (basics of Islam) as well.\n\nSumming everything up: you have to correctly interpret each term used to outline the real content. In general while you are investigating such an area there are other things you have to watch for, such as to make sure the timeline is preserved, and that practices and core principles are NOT mixed or mistakenly equally weighted. Also not to forget that some analogies made for the sake of simplicity could be harmful more than useful if overused and/or misused."
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6z77uu | is there a way to distinguish a polar and non-polar compound when given models of each? | I'm a Middle Schooler so please actually explain like I'm five | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6z77uu/eli5_is_there_a_way_to_distinguish_a_polar_and/ | {
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"\nYou have to look at two things:\n\n1 - are there any polar bonds in the molecule? (is one atom more electronegative than another, which means there will be a dipole)\n\n2 - is the molecule symmetrical ? (if the molecule is symmetrical then any dipoles from the polar bonds will cancel out)\n\nIf yes to 1 and no to 2 then it's probably polar, if not then it's probably non polar.\n\nA couple of examples of where there are polar bonds but the molecule is non polar due to symmetry are [carbon tetrachloride](_URL_1_) and [carbon dioxide](_URL_0_)"
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43ojyy | why do fruits like pinneapples and kiwi leave a rough feeling on the tongue? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43ojyy/eli5_why_do_fruits_like_pinneapples_and_kiwi/ | {
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"Human skin contains oils which aid in blocking out the absorption of chemicals which would harm or irritate the skin. Those oils contain proteins. Pineapple contains a chemical compound called bromelain which has the ability to break down these proteins. This enzyme is called a protease. Kiwis also contain a protease called actinidin.\n\nBecause these enzymes readily breaks down proteins, bromelain is frequently used as a natural meat tenderizer. In addition, they may also induce a prickly sensation in the mouth when consumed.\n\nIn pineapples the enzyme is present in all parts of the plant, it's most concentrated in the stem, the hard piece in the middle of the fruit, which is much more fibrous and chewy but still edible."
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6wv9ad | why do americans put their parents in nursing homes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wv9ad/eli5_why_do_americans_put_their_parents_in/ | {
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"Well, nursing homes are for adults who are unable to take care of themselves anymore, and for whom living alone has become dangerous. Since it's pretty standard in the US for both spouses to work, an elderly parent living at home would still potentially be in danger since they will be home alone most of the day. Plus, most people are not qualified to give the type of medical care that is provided by nursing homes.\n\nAdd to that the fact that the US has a culture where independence is *extremely* highly valued. It's considered a mark of pride for a child to stop living with their parents and move out on their own, and is often embarrassing to a parent to have to be taken care of by their children.",
"One huge aspect is the social needs of the elderly. Between their limited mobility, probable inability to drive, and family members' own lives seniors can be incredibly isolated if living with family. In a nursing home/assisted living center there is a whole social calendar of on-site events, group meals, planned outings with transportation, and so on so they are socially engaged and active -- which helps them live longer and more fulfilling lives.\n\nIn addition to the social needs, many seniors require care/assistance and that's not always possible 24/7 if both husband and wife work, they want to travel, and so on.\n\nAlso, many Americans' homes just aren't practical/safe for seniors because of things like stairs to second story bedrooms, lack of handicap bathroom and so on. \n\nAnd there's the issue of fairness -- if one sibling takes in the parent then they end up offering the vast majority of the care while the siblings don't lend much of a hand. "
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7tsqh8 | why are local politicians trying so hard to get amazon to move their 2nd headquarters there? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7tsqh8/eli5_why_are_local_politicians_trying_so_hard_to/ | {
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"In the end, governments want more money in the form of taxes, and Amazon is a huge monster when it comes to potential tax revenue. \n\nHaving the new headquarters could mean a few thousand jobs created in the general area, which is a huge goal for any city. \n\nFor some cities like Atlanta and many others, the housing and traffic situations are already beyond sanity, so one more large company headquarters can't make any huge change. (Amazon has also stressed the desire for public transit access to help mitigate the traffic issue)."
]
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[]
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||
3i85uy | why does weed show up in drug tests for almost a month after you're smoked it but more harmful drugs only show up for a few days after you've done them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3i85uy/eli5_why_does_weed_show_up_in_drug_tests_for/ | {
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"THC stores itself (binds to) in fat cells. Your body generally burns away fat at a slow pace. You can actually speed up the process to pass a drug test if you burn off fat beforehand (just not immediately beforehand). \n\nOther drugs work in different ways. Most don't store in fat deposits. But even then, some drugs in the same class remain in your system for varying periods of time, IE Xanax vs Valium. ",
"While there are multiple ways to test for drugs, the most common is a urine analysis. Urine is primarily water, and as such, the things found in urine have to be able to dissolve in water (to some degree). THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis is extremely lipid (fat) soluble (the more fat-soluble something is, the less water-soluble it tends to be). So, when you smoke or ingest THC, it will absorb into the fat in your body and then over time, be released back out. Prolonged use of THC will cause it to build up in your fat tissues, significantly increasing the amount of time that it is detectable after you quit using it (up to 2 months!). A single use will only be detectable for [2-7 days](_URL_0_) depending on your body and the dosage.\n\nOther drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine (which usually come in salt forms) dissolve in water more easily, and as such, they are more easily eliminated from your body, and thus are detectable for shorter amounts of time.",
"The fat cell thing is the main factor. Some kinds of tests can detect weed up to 3 months after the fact. Other drugs (which don't bind to fat cells) all have different half-lives, But you can 'flush' them out of your system faster by using diuretics, or just drink buttloads of water. allowing you to pass urinalysis. I dn't know of any trick to speed up metabolism of THC though. Maybe you should start using heroin- much easier to 'flush'.",
"Different drugs metabolize at different rates. Also, many drugs tests are \"binary\" tests: they either detect the presence of drug metabolites or they don't. (It's not that the test detected 0.5 g/ml, and the cut-off point is 0.1, so you're definitely positive. It's that the test can only detect concentrations higher than 0.4 and it did.) The concentration of metabolites that the tests can detect varies from drug to drug. So, either weed stays in higher concentration in your body for longer than other drugs, or the test for weed can detect lower levels than other tests, or both."
]
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[],
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1p6xqt | why does anyone care about the kardashians? | They don't act or sing or even have jobs. How do you become a celebrity when there is no apparent reason for it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1p6xqt/eli5_why_does_anyone_care_about_the_kardashians/ | {
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"Sextape was wack..",
"I have wondered about that for a long time, the only answer I can offer is that the media producers have run out of real entertainment and are offering the bottom of the barrel to masses of fools who can be hypnotised by ugly women with fat asses and bad attitude.",
"Society has always made celebrities of notable whores. Whichever slag that was being fucked by the nobility or king would have a place at court.\n\nKim Kardashian is nothing more than a court whore. She's fucked her way to notoriety, and now she (and her loathsome family) is going to milk it for everything it's worth.",
"I'm not huge into celebrity worship but my thought is its kind of a self catalyzing cycle. You have a wealthy attractive girl with no traditional talents that merit celebrity but she comes up in the 2000s in an era of unprecedented celebrity worship, constant internet/media contact and the rise of social media. She attends parties in LA and orbits the celebrity culture. Making friends and eventually climbs the social ladder into the Hollywood inner circle despite not being famous. Now this is relatively small scale but still in the field. Now she releases a sex tape when sex tapes were a big thing, think Paris Hilton. It was scandalous in the best way and everyone downloads a copy myself included. This kicks off the cycle that feeds into itself and perpetuates and branches out into reality shows and relationships with celebrities. She literally is famous for being famous.",
"My gym has a lot of their TVs tuned into E!. After passively watching this show while on the treadmill for two years I have to say a lot of people watch to live vicariously through the Kardashians.\n\nKim is attractive and wealthy. She jet sets around the world and always stays at the most luxurious places, buys the most extravagant accessories. A lot of people are never ever going to get close to this type of lifestyle so they do the next best thing they can.",
"Because we are fucking stupid.",
"I am so tired of hearing this tired bs line. The Kardashians *can* act. Their \"reality\" show is anything but \"reality\" and they do a pretty fucking fantastic job of transforming relatively ordinary situations into entertaining television. The vast majority of us lack the kind of charisma, narcissism, and emotional-manipulation tools that the Kardashian family appears to possess in abundance.\n\nThese people aren't stupid, they worked very hard and very strategically to maneuver themselves to get where they are today and the vast majority of us totally bought into that myth.\n \nThe Kardashians didn't just \"become celebrities\" with \"no apparent reason.\" Despite what you might have been disillusioned to believe, that isn't possible. This family, for decades, has aligned themselves with the right people and done all the right things to, quite rapidly, build a very successful corporation/brand.\n\nThe reason that \"anyone\" cares about the Kardashians is the same reason why you care so much about Reddit - it's all just a part of the great distraction we reside in. Just as Reddit has provided a community for people like the, so too do the Kardashians foster a community for a different segment of people. \nI can tell you this, the people who are part of the \"Kardashian\" community find this stupid corporate website and the vapid, recycled memes here just as meaningless as you seem to find them.\n\nIf you have such a huge problem with these people's success, how about (instead of sitting in a basement and bitching about it) you go out and try to impact the world in a way that you see fit?"
]
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1mmmd3 | explain why time is dependant on the mass of an object | I watched The Stephen Hawking Time Travel episode on Netflix, and I couldn't find any sufficient answer. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mmmd3/explain_why_time_is_dependant_on_the_mass_of_an/ | {
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"It's tough to give a simple explanation, but here it goes...\n\nImagine that you have two points, A and B. Now imagine that we connect these two points with two different paths. One path is a straight line, and the other is a curved line, [as depicted in this image.](_URL_0_) If you wanted to travel from point A to point B, the fastest path would be the straight line, because it covers a shorter distance, while traveling on the curved line would take longer because it covers more distance. \n\nNow imagine that we have a river, and we throw a big rock right in the center. The rock displaces the water, and now water traveling past the rock needs to move around it on a curved path. Because the water is traveling by the rock on a curved path, it will be moving slower than water that is traveling on a straight, uninterrupted path. \n\nThrowing a body of mass into space is very similar to throwing a rock in a river. The body of mass is displacing space, causing it to bend around the body. Not only does the body of mass bend space, but it bends time as well. Time passing near the body of mass must travel on a curved path instead of a straight path. Just like the water, because time is traveling on a curved path, it travels more slowly. \n\n"
]
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3ry6fm | recently the video of yale students showed people snapping instead of clapping; how and why does clapping trigger people? | I'm definitely not trying to have an argument about triggering, I'm wondering what could clapping possibly represent that triggers such a severe emotional reaction?
EDIT: I'm saying I understand how reading a long passage graphically describing rape can cause a survivor some grief. Accepting the concept of "triggering" isn't new to anyone, it's just been bastardized by the SJW movement to mean "anything I feel uncomfortable about". That's not what I'm referring to.
What I found was [here](_URL_0_) and it still only says it might cause anxiety. Triggering usually is connected to a prior experience, so can anyone give me some kind of legitimate explanation? What does it trigger?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ry6fm/eli5_recently_the_video_of_yale_students_showed/ | {
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"It doesn't unless they have severe PTSD, and if that is the case they need to be getting treatment. Changing societal behavior is not needed and coddling them rather than helping them deal with the trauma helps no one. ",
"It's basically because SJWs are nuts.\n\nThey like to claim that things are inappropriate and \"trigger\" them.\n\nThey have claimed clapping and even *colors* can be triggering.\n\nLook [here](_URL_0_) for examples, most of the stuff on this sub is serious.",
"I don't know about snipping vs. clapping but I've seen people use [sign language clapping](_URL_0_) (kinda like jazz hands) instead of actual clapping because it is\n\n* silent and therefore does not interrupt the speaker\n\n* inclusive to deaf people.\n\nSnipping might be used because it is not as loud as clapping. The only way I could imagine clapping triggering people is maybe in veterans due to the noise. But what do I know."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.returnofkings.com/60130/uk-feminists-ban-clapping-at-conference-because-it-triggers-anxiety"
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[],
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2sfj69 | how do homeless people get fat? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2sfj69/eli5_how_do_homeless_people_get_fat/ | {
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"text": [
"Because cheap/crap food is usually high in fat and will make you fat.\n\nObesity is more prevalent in the poor demographic because of this.",
"Cheap food is not healthy food. And as homeless have told me, there's plenty of food. They're not begging for food money. If it's not going to drugs, they spend it on transportation, supplies, and temporary housing (hotel rooms). There's shelter, too, but it's not great and some try to avoid it as much as possible. That's about the extent of my knowledge and what I'm told."
]
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[],
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||
4yzdg1 | why do you taste blood in your throat when you overexert yourself? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4yzdg1/eli5_why_do_you_taste_blood_in_your_throat_when/ | {
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"text": [
"First off, you shouldn't, and if you are I recommend going to a large hospital where they can run some tests on you while you exercise.\n\nNow that that is out of the way, the reason is MOST LIKELY (but not 100% sure) that when you're overexerting yourself, small tears in your lung tissue could cause minute amounts of blood to enter into your respiratory system, which would then be exhaled with the CO2. Even tiny particles of blood would be noticeable as a flavor against normal breath, as copper has a fairly strong taste. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1p29xx | what does it mean to verify permissions in a unix system and, if you are a grandma on a mac, do you need to repair them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1p29xx/eli5what_does_it_mean_to_verify_permissions_in_a/ | {
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"text": [
"Each file and folder in a UNIX system has a list of permissions, which are a list of rules describing \"who is allowed to do what to this file\". \n\nFor example, Bobby can read, modify, or delete a particular file but Charlie can only read it (won't be allowed to modify or delete it) and Danny can't even read the file.\n\nRepairing permissions on a Mac tells the computer to scan through every file and folder looking for any odd permission settings. For example, if no users are allowed to read a file then that's strange (you'd expect at LEAST one user to be able to or else the file is useless). Or, if a file says that Frankie is allowed to edit the file but there is no users named Frankie, and so on."
]
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[]
] |
||
5cr2t9 | how can we have pain index scale? | My girlfriend and I have completely different measurements of pain. I saw something on YouTube showing animal stings that are on the top 5 of some universal gauge or index scale. I know that I am a total wimp when it comes to pain compared to my girlfriend so how can we measure something that is so relative to each unique person. That's like having a yummy to bad flavor index. Sure there are generally bad tastes that common majority would dislike since we're all genetically similar but how does this work for pain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cr2t9/eli5_how_can_we_have_pain_index_scale/ | {
"a_id": [
"d9ynjek"
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"text": [
"From my understanding the scale is just an aggregation of individuals subjective ratings of various different insect stings. The entomologist behind it, Justin O. Schmidt, set the scale from 0 to 4 with no real empirical justification, it was just him ranking bee stings the way critics rank movies.\n"
]
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[]
] |
|
1wggz8 | how do they make chains? | Particularly small, delicate ones used in jewellery. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wggz8/eli5_how_do_they_make_chains/ | {
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"text": [
"they start with a short metal bolt that is being bent into the shape of a single chain link. Then they push another metal bolt through that link and bent that again. Rinse and repeat. If needed the gaps in the chainlinks can get welded together later.\n\n[See](_URL_0_)",
"Like this:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n"
]
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"http://i.imgur.com/lgCDCa0.gif"
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5dh0l8 | what has india done with its currency and how does that help fight the black market. the news hasn't made it very clear. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dh0l8/eli5_what_has_india_done_with_its_currency_and/ | {
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"text": [
"People using black markets or are trying to avoid taxes are paying in cash. This is normally kept in high value notes because it's easier to keep 10 x $100 bills than 50 x $20. The government is taking 2 of the highest value notes out of circulation. People are forced to either lose their money or bring it to banks to convert at which point they are questioned over high deposits/exchanges.\n\nThis isn't just people buying a few cartons of milk it's people paying half of the payment for a house via cash to avoid the costs etc. It's a lot of money going untaxed."
]
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[]
] |
||
5rhqgw | how can the senate go about invoking a nuclear option? | I understand a nuclear option allows the Senate to vote on something with a simple majority. However, how does this get invoked if generally you need 60 votes to approve something. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5rhqgw/eli5_how_can_the_senate_go_about_invoking_a/ | {
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"text": [
"The 60 vote thing is regarding bills and SCotUS appointments and is due to long-standing rules that the Senate created fo itself (granted, these are pretty old rules). However, it does not apply to the rule making process itself, which only requires a simple majority.\n\nThe particular rule in question is called \"Cloture\" which means a vote to end the floor debate over a bill and bring it to a formal Yay/Nay vote.\n\nTherefore, to invoke the \"Nuclear Option\" in this context means that the Leader of the Senate starts proceedings for a rule change that removes the 60 vote requirement for Cloture on a SCotUS appointment and/or Bill.\n\nWhile this rule *can* be put back in place by a similar rules procedure, it is really only held in place by a sense of tradition, which means that once it has been removed and the tradition is broken, it will simply keep getting removed whenever the Majority has < 60 votes, thus rendering the whole thing useless."
]
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222io0 | how come you never see baby crows? | I see crows all over the place, but how come you never see any baby crows around or at least younger ones? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/222io0/eli5_how_come_you_never_see_baby_crows/ | {
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"The baby crow is almost always confused with a furby.\n\n_URL_0_",
"You undoubtedly see very young crows, but don't realize it. The tiny ones are still in their nests, and by the time they are able to fly/explore, they are about the size of an adult. They are a bit duller and their beaks are a bit stubbier, but they are easy to recognise if you know what to look for.\n\nBaby for animals isn't necessarily what we view as baby for humans. \n",
"The baby outside of our building stayed deep in the bushes, constantly making the baby crow \"feed me\" noise. It had a very stubby tail and pinfeathers all over its head.\n\nBy the time it was flying around and chasing the parents to beg for food, it looked just like a slightly small adult.",
"Check your wood burning stove.",
"Bad luck?\nI've seen many\n[Baby crows](_URL_0_) \n\nThese guys fell out of a tree during a nasty storm. Their mother never returned so we brought them to a wildlife rehabilitation place. ",
"This would be a perfect question for /u/Unidan.",
"I'm a researcher studying the Torresian crow (Corvus orru) in Australia. Like others have said, a crow fledgling is a similar size to its parents. However, there are some distinguishing features.\n\nIn most species, the mouth flaps (on either side of the beak) will still be pink, not black like with adults. The young will also likely be emitting a constant, and perhaps annoying, begging call (for TC's it's a high-pitched \"waah, \"waah\").\n\nFinally, the young crow may also have differently coloured eyes to its parents. I know that American crows have blue eyes when they're young & amp;amp; black when they're adult. Torresian crows have blue eyes for their first month or two, then brown for about a year, then hazel, then they'll develop the adult white eye with a blue ring. This is the same for the other four Australian corvids, though the age of each stage differs slightly.\n\nEdit: should add that there are 60 species of Corvus, so without knowing where you live it's hard to explain how to ID juveniles. I suggest checking out Crows of the World for more info.\n\nI know it's not very ELI5 but yeah.\n\nTldr: I fucking love crows",
"I've seen teenage equivalent crows, and they do hilariously behave in a manner pretty consistent with their human counterparts. They have different shaped beaks, look scruffy due to immature feathers, constantly hang around in groups of at least three and are pointlessly loud.",
"Men of the Nights Watch give an oath not to have intercourse with women, therefore eliminating the possibility for baby crows.\n\n",
"I once saw a bald eagle eat two baby crows from their nest. When it was done it pushed them out of the nest onto the ground. The parents were hovering around cawing helplessly. Nature is brutal.",
"Because. Crows hatch a murder at a time, simultaneously bursting from their eggs as fully formed adults ready to foreshadow evil from minute one.",
"Uk here. I found a baby crow when I was a teenager. It had fallen out of its nest. I took it home and fed it on bread soaked in milk. Crows have like a backward shaped v attached to a sort of tongue stem in their mouths. You put the food on the end of your finger and it kind of scrapes/hooks it back into its throat. It grew to be very affectionate and would sit on my head and shoulders when we went out. Problem was that it wouldnt fly. It was just happy to sit there. So in the end I would go out in a field with a friend and basically throw it at my friend. Archie would flap its wings while airborne then just plummet to earth. I couldnt figure out how to get it interested. Then I realised how to do it. By this time the bird considered me, a teenage boy, to be its mother. And it had a huge fixation on me, maybe because it had been abandoned. So what I did was to get my friend to throw the bird at me. And then it really began to make an effort to fly because it wanted to come to me. This went on for a while and it could sort of half fly. Then, unfortunately I had to move away for a couple of months and couldnt take it with me. Archie knew I was going and somehow broke free from my friend. He tried to follow the car but kept flying then landing, flying then landing. It was cawing really loudly and obviously in distress. Got left a second time I guess.\nWhen I came back my friend told me that Archie carried on living for a few weeks and then died. I still dont know whether I did the right thing, but if I had left him under the tree he fell out of, he would have gotten eaten or starved to death.",
"Just for future reference: \n \n [This is what a crow's nest looks like from above.](_URL_4_) \n [This is what a crow's nest looks like from a typical human perspective.](_URL_7_) Crows usually build their nests *very* high up in trees, and they are very cautious about drawing too much attention to their nest location; they will keep an eye on humans and will often only go to their nests when the humans are not looking. When crows nested in my backyard, even though I knew roughly which area they were nesting in, I still had a really hard time finding the nest because the crows were so sneaky! \n \n [These are freshly-hatched crow babies.](_URL_8_) \n [These ones are a little older: you can see the dark fuzz of feathers starting to develop.](_URL_0_) \n [These ones are even a little older - see the little feathers?](_URL_2_) \n [Their eyes are starting to open now!](_URL_6_) \n [Now they're starting to look like crows.](_URL_5_) \n [Oops! This one fell out of the nest a bit too early. It is only a little bit smaller than an adult, but you can see it's \"baby\" features: blue eyes, dull fluffy feathers, stubby tail, pink \"gape\" (the fleshy extensions at the corners of its beak), and pink inside the mouth.](_URL_1_) \n [This one's almost ready to fly!](_URL_3_) \n \n [This is what baby crows look like when they've left the nest, and this is when humans typically see them. The baby crow is on the left: it has duller feathers, bluish eyes, a pink mouth, and a bit of a pink gape remaining, plus it's constantly begging for food an making an annoying \"eh, EH!\" call.](_URL_9_) \n \n There are three reasons that you don't see baby crows around. Reason 1: you aren't looking in the right places - crow nests are high up and parent crows do their best to hide their nests from you, so you have to actively search for them. Reason 2: baby crows don't leave the nest until they are essentially adult size, unless they accidentally fall out too early. Reason 3: you don't recognize older baby crows as \"babies\" because you never learned how to identify them. I bet if you pay close attention this year, now that you know what to look for (pink mouths, blue eyes, short tails, and lots of noisy begging), you'll see lots of them!"
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|
a6sfqt | why, in a fan, the push feels much stronger than the pull? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a6sfqt/eli5_why_in_a_fan_the_push_feels_much_stronger/ | {
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"I'm pretty sure it's inertia. In the pull, stationary air is drawn from all angles. But on the push, the particles continue in a straight path, rather than blowing equally out to the sides.",
"Without getting too complicated: The forces acting on the air above and the air below a fan are the same, but the distribution of that force is different. A fan is pulling air from a large pool of air, so the force is very spread out, and then the fan is compressing it into a more compact column as it pushes the air out, so the force is much more concentrated.\n\n"
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7jzzwl | us election fraud | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7jzzwl/eli5_us_election_fraud/ | {
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"Voter fraud is an almost unmeasurably small part of US elections.\n\nMany places do not require photo ID. This is because poor people are unlikely to have ID, since they cost money. Not all poor people, mind you, but the 1% of people without photo ID tend to skew to the poor side of the economic spectrum.\n\nRolls are mostly made from \"the people who voted last time\" since there is just a form to get on the roll the first time. That means that if you move to another state nearby, and you've an evildoer, you might be able to register in your new state and still vote once in your old state before the rolls are updated. Similarly, if you die the voting people might still have you on the list and an evildoer could come along and say they are you and vote.\n\nMail in ballots have your name on them. They check your name (actually a bar code in almost all places) before they feed the ballot into the counting machine. As a result, you can't just run off a bunch of photocopies of your mail in ballot to vote a bunch of times.\n\nFraud is possible, but it's dozens of votes out of millions cast. Statistically, it's not relevant. It's mostly a political excuse to do things that make it harder for poor people to vote - if your party doesn't have as much appeal to poor people as the other party.",
"You are right in that the system you described is pretty secure, which is why virtually no voting fraud happens that way - this is often called fraud by impersonation and there have been less than 50 documented incidents of this in over a billion votes cast.\n\nFraud does happen, but it tends to be done in other ways. If you can compromise a ballot box, you can change the vote count inside said box and there is no way to track it. If you can get people registered that won't vote, then you can insert false ballots in to the box and the total ballot count will still look accurate. If you can get your hands on legitimate mail in ballots, you can fill them out however you like and mail them in."
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1y7wz5 | what is happening when you slowly turn your neck sometimes and it feels like it squeaks? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1y7wz5/eli5_what_is_happening_when_you_slowly_turn_your/ | {
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"It's tissues stretching. Ligaments and joint capsules that surround your spine stretch and move across other tissues creating the sound you describe. Most likely comes from C0/C1/C2 as they are closest to your ear, and are responsible for a lot of your neck's overall movement."
]
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33u10w | why do redditors prefer the term "so" over boyfriend/girlfriend? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33u10w/eli5_why_do_redditors_prefer_the_term_so_over/ | {
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"\"SO\" is gender neutral and doesn't allow the reader to jump to any conclusions.",
"Well, it's faster to write out, for one. It's also more all encompassing. I mean, boy/girlfriend carries a connotation of a a \"just dating\" relationship, but what if you've been seriously involved for years and aren't ready to get married yet? Or if you don't want to get married at all? Additionally, what if your SO doesn't fit into the binary gender categories? SO is nice, all-inclusive and simple, but no one will care what term you use. ",
"Also, it doesn't say if you are married or not, if you live together or not. Also, if you are 50, it can feel a bit stupid using 'girlfriend' or 'boyfriend' to describe your fully adult partner...",
"\"SO\" is gender neutral and status neutral. It designates them as being in an important relationship with you that is romantic but it does not indicate their gender or your gender, it does not indicate if you are married or not, it does not imply your ages. It is a neutral term that is all inclusive and does not carry the baggage other terms have to a relationship. ",
" - Easier to type\n - Gender unspecific saves time and confusion\n - Inclusive of committed and de-facto relationships\n - \"Spouse\" is a gross word. It's like \"moist\"",
"I used to see it used by gay couples on reddit. Everyone else adopted it, now it's the cool slang to use.",
"I preferred it when I was dating a girl because it's gender neutral and I'm a girl. Whenever I would say girlfriend people would assume I'm male, and sometimes it's important for the sake of the story that my gender be known. Plus it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine to refer to people/pets as the wrong gender, including myself. So when in doubt, gender neutral is better.",
"Its gender neutral. The English language should really find a better gender neutral term for someone you are in a relationship with. for example, boyfriend/girlfriend in Norwegian is literally translated to \"dearest\"",
"\"Boyfriend\" does not sufficiently express the relation. We have no plans to get married at this point, not for lack of commitment but rather for financial reasons, so \"fiancé\" is inaccurate. \n\nI also *hate* the way \"boyfriend\" sounds coming out of my nearly 30 year old mouth. It sounds trite and immature given the nature of the relationship, and I feel like using it in conversation minimizes the amount of consideration I would be socially expected to have for that person.",
"Because we are not \"boys\" and \"girls\" at 25+yrs old. We are not engaged. We are not nessesarialy getting married. She's my SO.",
"Because in 2015 despite inherent biological certainties, gender specification is considered to be not politically correct, and political incorrectness is considered a mortal fucking sin. \n\nThe western world really is fucked and out of control.",
"Significant Other raises their spouse to a higher tier than those insignificant others they are cheating with on the side. ",
"It's a catch all that covers all of your bases. Do you really want to say, \"There is a great park for taking your SO to.\" or do you want to say, \"There is a great park for taking your girl/boyfriend husband/wife lesbian/gay partner to.\""
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d6891k | is the head the locus of consciousness because that's where most of our sensory organs are, or because that's where our brain is; and if the latter, what is it about the brain (a silent, unseen, and inanimate organ) that creates a sense of physical location of the consciousness? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d6891k/eli5_is_the_head_the_locus_of_consciousness/ | {
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"You are your brain. Nothing you do is not your brain. It doesn't matter what it is, really we could exist as we are with a brain in a jar if all other vital organs were simulated at their natural capacity.",
"Short answer: We don't know.\n\nLonger answer: There are so many fields of knowledge that tries to understand what consciousness is that it would take a lifetime to know what the speciffic problems in every field are. You could say that all we see is a simulated reality that arises from actions of the whole neural network. How does it exactly work - There is still a lot to understand here.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nEdit: As a specific example why the problem of consciousness is so hard - There is a rare type of blindness - [Patient TN who has no visual awarness. He can't see colours, objects, movements etc the way we see them, but presented with an obstacle course he navigates it perfectly.](_URL_0_)",
"My uneducated guess, with no science or fact back up is that you think you are there cuz thats where your eyes are.... not because its impossible to feel otherwise, just that it would take extra brainwork to do the translation from input data from eyes to another locus... so kinda a brain power saving feature."
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5xcui5 | why does it hurt when you fall in water? | READ FOR VITAL INFO:
I've read in scientific videos that when you fall "lying down", you spread the impact damage, and thus you will get the least damage when you impact the ground. If so, why does it hurt so much more if you fall flat on water than if you fall with your toes in water? (Assuming there are no obstacles and we don't impact the water floor) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xcui5/eli5_why_does_it_hurt_when_you_fall_in_water/ | {
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"You push the water out of the way when you fall into it.\n\n\nThe ground is a harder surface or it's more difficult to push out of the way so you want to just spread the impact.",
"This is better as a biology question. Your feet are tough and not very sensitive to pain so putting them first hurts less than putting everything first because the rest of you is sensitive to being hit. A slap on the bottom of your foot hurts a lot less than one on the back or the stomach."
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6bmy6u | how do atms give you your money? | When you get cash out from an ATM, where does all the money come from, and how does it get put in there in the first place? Does someone open up the actual machine and throw notes and coins in there? Also, how come do they never seem to run out of money to give you? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bmy6u/eli5_how_do_atms_give_you_your_money/ | {
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"to answer the question first: yes, some bank employee opens up the machine and fills in the notes.\n\nmachine DO run out of money - there is an atm close to where i live that frequently runs out of 20 euro notes. its annoying.\n\nanyway - i live in ireland now. whenever i need 50 or 100 euro from the machine, it will always give me the money in 50 euro notes. that sucks.\n\nin germany, where i lived prior, there is a thing called \"haushaltsmischung\". translates to \"household mix\". so when you want 50 bucks out of an atm, it wont give you a 50 euro note, it will give you two 20's and a tenner, or one 20, 2 tens and 2 fives, something like that.\n\nwhich is why in ireland when i want cash, i only dispense 40 or 60 or 80, because that results in the money being dispensed in 20 euro notes.\n\nbecause i dont want to look like a fool for paying a pack of reeses with a 50 euro note."
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1ujsgq | what problems do cockroaches and other "household pests" create in our homes? | Why do we need to exterminate them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ujsgq/eli5_what_problems_do_cockroaches_and_other/ | {
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"These pests, such as cockroaches, leave feces which can attract or carry pathogens. And when they dry out, disturbing them while cleaning may result in parts becoming airborne.\n\nA deadly example is the hantavirus which is carried by rodents and can infect humans who come in contact with their feces."
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7czt8v | why do cash advances on credit cards carry so many restrictions? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7czt8v/eli5_why_do_cash_advances_on_credit_cards_carry/ | {
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"Its what you are more likely to run away with. People are way more likely to take out cash, dump the card and run then they are to go through the buying and reselling process. Thats why they charge a lot more for it",
"If you need to do a cash advance against your credit card that implies you don't have funds available in your bank, that means you're a risk for them so they're going to make you pay for it. If you're willing to pay for it then at least they'll get something to cover their potential losses\n\nWhen you buy something on the card there is still a thing, there is an asset that you can liquidate to cover their costs if you declare bankruptcy.\n\nPeople put items on their cards all the time, that's the point of a credit card. If you're pulling cash off your card something weird is going on and they want to cover themselves",
"One thing to understand is that when you buy a $1k TV with your credit card, the store only gets paid about $970 or so. Those 3% transaction fees that you might see are to cover the costs they would normally get when you buy a TV (the bank gets to keep $30 normally, and maybe $15-20 of that goes to their points program, and they use the other $10-15 to cover their actual business expenses), so if they gave you cash advance for free, they are probably losing a little bit unless they charge a fee.\n\nAnd second, as others pointed out, when you do a cash advance you're making a bad decision, agreeing to a 20% APR for a no question asked loan is always a bad decision. So it's 20% because that's clearly what you need to help discourage it. When you buy the TV for $1k you're basically agreeing to pay the bank $30 to let you pay in 4 weeks, and the bank is all for that (36% APR? Before taking on interest? Yea they want that)."
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2ebw2p | why is produce at ethnic stores so cheap? | **Edit**: Cheers! So, some combination of tiering in the quality of produce, in which 'ethnic' stores buy the least pretty but otherwise totally fine stuff (TLDR; Japanese will kill you for a pretty watermelon), and maybe also non-food factors, like non-union labor, greater share of revenue from cash-based transactions, little expenditure on marketing and aesthetics, and use of loss leaders. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ebw2p/eli5_why_is_produce_at_ethnic_stores_so_cheap/ | {
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"I think this may have to do this what they actually purchase for the store to sell, when they are ordering their produce I believe they have a choice of what quality they buy, so if they are purchasing lower grade apples then they will be cheaper for the customer as opposed to buying the better quality of the same fruit. It goes for meat as well, better the grade the more cost at the counter.",
"I don't know the actual answer for this, but two things that likely bring down costs in ethnic markets:\n\n- Overhead/advertising costs: ethnic markets don't usually put out the same expenses in terms of marketing and advertising expenses. They often have a de facto loyal customer base and don't have as much competition as mainstream markets. They also don't put a whole lot of resources into all the frills like fancy displays or interior decoration, or esoteric techniques like paying consumer psychology consultants to figure out the best placement of products. There are also fewer \"support\" employees like customer service, baggers, cart guys, greeters etc.\n\n- Availability: ethnic markets usually carry what's in season and available, and also don't always have the same selection from day to day. It's a weird, freak of nature thing to have nearly every fruit and vegetable available nearly year-round like you see at the big box supermarkets. It costs money to keep this big selection all the time (often at the expense of quality too).\n\n",
"Produce is what draws customers, but cheap produce is what draws their target audience. Ethnic markets sometimes do sacrifice quality for pricing, but majority will not. They tend to buy in bulk and choose sizing and shapes that isn't \"perfect.\" Nothing is wrong with it, but its not something most stores can push. ",
"They could possibly be selling second tier fruit and/or produce is their \"loss leader.\" \nThey sell produce at little to no margin to get the customers in the door. The customer will then probably pick up some higher margin grocery items which will net out a profit for the smaller mom and pop store. \nSource: I used to sell produce to grocery stores. ",
"MOST chain grocery stores buy produce that looks pretty. There are cheaper options available, such as fruit and vegetables that have some visual or cosmetic flaws. Largely, this \"second tier\" fruit tastes the same and has no difference other than appearance. That combined with smaller overhead allows for lower prices.",
"They don't mark up the price as much as a supermarket does. ",
"They don't have contracts with the farms. The big chains where I live no longer even have local produce. If I want something grown locally and cheaper I go to a small local store. No idea why this is since the local stuff also tastes and looks better.",
"I used to work at a produce outlet (not ethnic per se but mostly Mexican employees and workers). the supplier we got most of our stock from supplied to all the big super markets. what we sold were the left overs. what wasn't unwanted by the super markets sold close to the same price. we also sold most of our produced in preweighed bags. 3 lbs of empire apples for $3. chances are a few of those apples would be in an undesirable condition. ",
"So i work at a fruit packing company and can further explain what some of the others have said. There are different tiers of quality for produce when it gets packed, they are called classes. The three classes are: Class 1 which is export market(Japan, korea, China etc.) Class two is domestic market (Safeway, Costco, Target) and class three; peddler. For class 1's the fruit must be perfect in the box, zero defects and sizing must usually be accurate at no more than 6% error. Of course because the labor is more intensive the price is premium. Class two standards are usually at 8% defect and sizing error. Class three is peddler quality, sizing errors are okay, weird shaped fruit and so on, but as long as it passes USDA inspections were okay. The fruit for class three has the most visual defects, not really affecting the quality of the fruit but not the most visually pleasing. Most ethnic markets/flea markets/roadside fruit stands buy class three. A box for class three might sell for 20 dollars depending on what fruit it is, whereas a class 1 might sell for upwards of 100 dollars. ",
"I just know the Asian Markets are the best, and the number one markets i like going to, and once i go to college i'll go there - i'll get a more traditional better and healthier ramen diet in college compared to everyone else",
"I live in SoCal and a lot of the Mexican grocery stores have the option to use a credit card but at a fee. Most of the patrons pay in cash (you can make guesses as to why). Credit cards take 2-3% in transaction fees. While this is small, if the grocery store doesn't pass this on to the consumer, it could account for a marginal lowering of prices.",
"Because non ethnic markets buy produce no matter what it costs. Want plumbs or peaches in winter no problem we'll ship them from half way around the world. Ethnic markets buy what's in season this week and cheapest. Plus they sometimes buy more obscure fruit that a supermarket wouldn't bother with."
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b1fgw2 | how does arch support in shoes work and should the average person get it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b1fgw2/eli5_how_does_arch_support_in_shoes_work_and/ | {
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"as someone with very flat feet I can really advice against getting arches. They MUST be tailor made for you to not blow your knees.\n\nBasically as you don't have the arch your feet tilt inwards sort of giving you X leggs as your knees come together. A lot of muscles in your back and what not have to compensate and this will hurt after a period of standing. The extra support when done right can help with this but it MUST be Taylor made to your feet. I bought running shoes once with a support inside and i could literally not run for more than like 100 yards before my knees would start hurting like ceazy"
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1zguzk | is there any way the u.n. can hit back at russia diplomatically? | Would they be able to suspend Russia's presence at the Security Council, in the P5+1 talks, or Syrian Peace talks? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zguzk/eli5_is_there_any_way_the_un_can_hit_back_at/ | {
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"Nope, Russia could just veto it since they are on the security council. It's a fundamentally broken system."
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6m8up2 | why was the idea of a currency for the eu (the euro) conceptualised? | When and why did the EU start thinking about this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6m8up2/eli5_why_was_the_idea_of_a_currency_for_the_eu/ | {
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"The idea of a common european currency is fairly old. It first started appearing after WWI in the hopes that it would unite countries and prevent another world war. Obviously, this didn't get very far, what with world war II breaking out and all.\n\nThe idea was partially revived in 1969 by the [European Economic Community] (_URL_1_) (Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Luxemburg & West-Germany) which led to the [Werner Plan] (_URL_2_) to prepare for an economic and monetary union. This failed however due to pressure from the USA, which led to France backing out. Between that and the oil crisis, the Werner plan went ~~nowerner~~ nowhere.\n\nJump about a decade, and finally there came agreement for moving towards an European economic and monetary union (EMU). This was set to happen in three stages. Most important for the foundation of the euro is the [Treaty of Maastricht] (_URL_0_) in 1992 which formally conceptualised the three pillars of the European Union and the creation of the Euro. \n\nThen, on the first of Januari 1999 the Euro was formally introduced into our wallets.\n\nInteresting fact, originally the common coin was supposed to be called the Ecu (European Currency Unit) but Germany thought that was a dumb name, so at the last moment they switched to euro instead. \n\n\nAs for the why. The Euro and all the various european institutions (EEC, ECSC, EMU, EU, Euratom) all were based on the idea that the best way to prevent more wars from occuring within Eruope was to basically make it so that war was the least profitable option for the member states. When your economy is closely intervowen with that of the rest of the EU, when cooperation is creating more profit than fighting, that is when they argued wars would stop from breaking out. Additionally, by creating a singular strong european block, they would be able to stand up better to outside forces / world powers than they would be able to do if they were divided. They believed a single currency would help achieve this unity. "
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4h9tk1 | how was that buddhist monk able to self immolate without showing/feeling pain? | Im sure you have heard of the famous event where a Buddhist monk burnt himself to death. There are several vids on youtube of Monks self immolating. Apparently their meditation allows them to detach themselves to an extent from the pain.
But I still dont understand how it is possible to be so calm during such extreme pain. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4h9tk1/eli5how_was_that_buddhist_monk_able_to_self/ | {
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"I believe the nerves are very quickly destroyed. When your body goes into pain overload it goes into protective mode and can no longer process anymore. People who have suffered full body burns of explosions recount that after the initial shock they feel nothing but heat, but only feel pain later during recovery. \n\nThe brain processes the feeling of pain, if you give it too much pain info it gets back logged. So you only have to endure a certain amount.",
"Did the monks medicate themselves in any way before immolation?",
"Pain is like an alarm system for the body. When a part of the body is damaged, it sends a signal to the brain via the nervous system to signal us to react. We experience this signal as pain. We regard it as an unpleasant feeling because our brain and body are signaling that we need to do something to stop whatever is causing the damage. \n\nThrough the practice of meditation, you can develop the ability to not react to what you are feeling. If you know what is causing the damage you can ignore the signal. \n\nThink of it in terms of a fire alarm in your house. If you are sleeping and the fire alarm goes off, you will jump up and immediately react. If you are cooking something that smokes too much and sets off the alarm, You will still open the windows, turn on a fan etc., but you will not react to the alarm as quickly because you know what is causing it. \n\nNow imagine you have decided to burn your house down. You will not react to the alarm, because you know what caused it and you know that it is simply part of the plan. \n\nThe monk still felt every bit of the pain, he just had the ability to not react to it. ",
"People who meditate for a long time can gain the ability to disconnect their senses for some time due to their degree of concentration. \n\nEveryday example - When you are watching a good movie and totally zoning in on the screen, you may not notice when someone calls your name and has to shout to get your attention. This is because your attention is so engrossed it doesn't register other things happening even though you are awake.\n\nA yogi or monk may be able to do this at will, and to a very strong degree, in order to ignore pain or discomfort. So remember the key word to this is concentration.",
"just to put in a bit of a side-question, how can they suppress reflexes?\n\nIf I touch a hot pot on my stove, my hand flies away from it before I can consciously register the pot as hot.",
"They probably did feel pain. The point is that he's so fed up with what's going on that he's willing to set himself on fire to bring attention to his cause.",
"There are people, most notably Czechs, who were not monks experienced in meditation that immolated themselves as a protest. Maybe the meditation helps, but I very strongly suspect it only helps supress any sense of panic and is is not necessary to supress the pain. While minor burns hurt like hell, major burns quickly overwhelm your system and don't feel them until much later. I've been in fire, it didn't hurt. I wasn't burned badly, but I had 1st degree over the whole left side of my face and 2nd degree on my nose. I never felt it at all. It was nothing like the horrible pain of a fingertip burn or other small area burn.",
"While your body has different nerve endings for different things, pain and heat use the same ones, meaning you can only feel pain or heat, not both. Our brain chooses heat first to get us out of danger, it later changes to pain to tell us we are injured.\n\nThis is the reason heating pads work, but only for a limited time. Heat will overtake the pain, but only for a while then it will change back to pain. Check it out next time you get burned. You will notice at first you only feel heat. And after you start feeling pain, you will feel heat as pain instead of heat."
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28tn5i | what is licorice made from? and why does it taste not like candy | I personally think licorice is gross | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28tn5i/eli5what_is_licorice_made_from_and_why_does_it/ | {
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"It's made from the liquorice (or licorice) root. It tastes not like candy because it was created back in the day when candy tasted not like candy. "
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212mph | the new satellite photos of the object in the indian ocean that could be wreckage of the missing malaysian flight were taken 4 days ago, why can't the satellites be used to take live surveillance? | I don't understand why someone can't just sit behind a computer and aim the cameras to search the seas. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/212mph/eli5_the_new_satellite_photos_of_the_object_in/ | {
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"Most satellites aren't in a geostationary orbit - they're not sat above a fixed point; and the ones that are take time to move to where you want to look, and are seriously limited in exactly what they can see and how quick you can follow it- especially when you take into account weather. It's not at all like a camera mounted on a helicopter. ",
"My Satellite class is a few days back so correct me if i am wrong:\n\n* You cannot control Satellites like you can do with a remote controlled car, a satellite just goes around the earth in it's on rhythm so you have to wait until it is at the position you want to see\n\n* The Surveillance satellites are usually designed to fly over parts of the world (like Russia and the US) the more interesting places for governments to look at\nso there may be long times with no coverage of an place in the middle of the ocean. \n* Surveillance satellites usually are in low earth orbit, they are not pointed at one place at all time. They fly in a big circle around the earth (one round takes about 90minutes)\n\nSo you could take one picture and afterwards you'd have to wait 90 minutes to see the place again. And Changing to another place isn’t easy. Afaik most (if not all) Satellites are not equipped to change their route, they just do the same circle over the same places over and over again.\n\nThat is because it would be very expensive to bring an Satellite with enough fuel, to change it’s Orbit on a regular base, into Orbit. They are equipped with a small amount of fuel to do small corrections, those are used to keep the Satellite in its Orbit. \n\nTogether with the fact that the ocean is a really big place (like unimaginable big, just check out Google earth and try to find a ship in the middle of the ocean) that makes it very hard to locate a specific ship or plane.\n"
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6igx07 | why can we move? | This is a stupid question and you can tell right away that the brain sends the signal so the muscles move, and i know that it should be taken as granted but, what makes the muscles be able to move? This question is so stupid that im afraid nobody will understand what im trying to ask | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6igx07/eli5why_can_we_move/ | {
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"The muscles themselves are composed of lots of long cells. They contain proteins that are structured in a way that allows them to contract. The specifics are a bit complicated, but picture the proteins able to \"pull\" themselves up a rope made of filaments that run lengthwise in the muscle cell. Muscles only pull, but your body has muscles placed in opposites so that moving an appendage one way uses one set of muscles and moving it the other uses a different set. The contraction process is triggered by an electric pulse, typically sent by the nerves (but can also be triggered when shocked by an external source)."
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1owoil | why are people upset that ceos make so much more money than low level workers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1owoil/eli5_why_are_people_upset_that_ceos_make_so_much/ | {
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"A lot of people don't understand the amount of work it takes to become a CEO. All they see is a (presumably) older white man who is making a lot more money than they are when he appears to be doing much less work. They don't understand the amount of work it takes to be the CEO of a company or how long these CEOs spent as low wage workers like them to reach that position.",
"Because at a certain CEO to employee compensation ratio, the compensation of CEOs is better explained by greed and corruption than the natural rewarding of talent and hard work.\n\nTake Japan for example: their CEOs on average only make sixteen times what the lowest worker makes. That's a model we should strive for. Some would say even this pay is too high but when we compare it to the US where CEOs on average make 100 times what their workers make, it's a huge improvement.",
"There is a certain amount of understanding, and misunderstanding. \n\nThe CEO / President has a lot to lose if the company tanks. He is stressed, most likely works from wake up to bed time. He / she most likely had to work extremely hard to get to where they are today (a lot of this can relate to luck as well)\n\nBUT, In the company I am working with right now, the average employee works 11 hour days, making $32K a year, and has a lot of stress much like the CEO, with a ridiculous amount of load placed on them. Luckily for me, I do not have this issue, and am part of the \"Management\" here, so I do OK.\n\nWhen you see 30 employees making well under what they are worth, sometimes a single mom/dad struggling to put food on the table - and a CEO taking home millions, it will really frustrate you.",
"It's a matter of proportion. CEO's should make more money than lower level workers. The problem is that CEO's in the United States make a MUCH higher percentage of their average workers than in any other first world country. Over time this gap keeps growing while the growth of lower and middle income salaries have barely kept pace with inflation. In the United States, the average CEO makes $12 MILLION a year, where the average worker makes $34,000 a year. \n\nIn Japan, CEO = $2.3 million a year, worker = $35,143. In France, CEO = $3.9 million, worker $38,000/year, In the UK, CEO = $3.7 million, worker $44,700/year. In Canada = CEO $8 million and average worker $43,000. In Germany CEO = $ 5.9 million, worker $40,223.\n\nBear in mind, all those countries also enjoy socialized medicine so they pay nothing for health care and enjoy a lot of other social services and quality of life that we do not have here in the U.S. including more paid vacation in the European countries per year among other things.\n\nIt's not that CEO's should be paid more. It's that it should be more fair. $3 million a year is more money than most people even know what to do with, you can live an incredibly lavish lifestyle with that much money. It is immoral to be paying CEO's $12 million, $20 million, $50 million, $100 million when their workers can barely afford their health insurance and most live paycheck to paycheck.\n\nThe conservative excuse that we have to pay CEO's $10's of millions to attract the best talent is bullshit. No other country does this and we pay our CEO's absurd salaries regardless of performance. They run the company into the ground, lose employee pensions and they still get a huge salary, plus a golden parachute lump sum payment of $10's of millions or $100's of millions on their way out. ",
"It's not that they make more that upsets people really, it's the ratio. I know people don't like HuffPo, but here's an example: \n[\"CEO Pay: Highest Salaries Equal 3,489 Years For Typical Worker\"](_URL_0_)\n\nAdditionally, a significant portion of CEO Pay is in the form of stock, which is taxed at a lower rate thanks to the GOP constantly pushing down Capital Gains tax rates. Any economists may feel free to chime in with more accurate data if I'm wrong here, IANA Economist, but that's my understanding of it.\n",
"It's not so much that CEOs make so much more than regular workers, it's that salaries for CEOs have increased at a much faster rate than regular workers over the past 30 years. Since probably the 1970's, we've seen a shift in the worker/employer relationship. Whereas before, there was a certain 'unspoken agreement' between worker and employer that meant the worker would be loyal to the company (put in his 30+ years) and the employer would take care of him by offering a livable wage and benefits. In the 70's/80's, that started to change. Obviously, the most visible thing was a lot of companies closed their factories in America and outsourced their production elsewhere. So the relationship changed. Now there is a more adversarial relationship between the two. (I acknowledge that it never has been perfectly hunky dory, but now it's worse)\n\nWages for workers have stagnated since the 80's. Partially, this is thought to be due to outsourcing. (Why pay Americans when you can pay foreigners a fraction of the cost). But, while wages for workers have stagnated, CEO pay has increased dramatically. While obviously, CEOs provide intangible benefits to companies, it is difficult to accept that these businesses have become so much more efficient over the past 30 years in thanks solely to senior officers. \n\nAnd additionally, in the past 15 years, several high profile companies have been found to be committing fraud or other crimes perpetrated by senior officers. Enron was a big one 13 years ago. Then, WorldCom and Tyco had big accounting scandals. Then of course was the banking crisis a couple years back. This has given corporate officers a bad reputation, as if they are all glad-handing crooks more likely to line their own pockets than try to play the game honestly. Whether that reputation is well-deserved or not is up for debate, and is beside the point anyway. The high pay they give themselves is just another example for the general public to believe they are in it solely for themselves.\n\nThese are just a couple reasons. ",
"My biggest issue with it, personally, is that CEOs in general make large amounts of money regardless of how they perform. If the company tanks and they get fired, they often still receive millions as some strange corporate consolation prize.",
"There are a lot of people ITT talking about how unfair it is (and bad for the country) that a CEO makes 380 times what his Average employee makes. With people making counter-arguments about bringing in more value than the average worker. That's all true. \n\nI think the biggest issue however is that in many cases CEOs are making millions or even tens if millions while the company tanks around them. Or they are pumping up short term gains (to inflate the stock price) at the expense of long term investment in the company. It's a rigged game. The CEO and top investors seem to make money no matter what happens to the company. While average employees are doing more work, for less pay, while constantly under the threat of layoffs. ",
"i think that michael lewis (who wrote the book, *moneyball*) explained it pretty well in his [2012 commencement address at princeton](_URL_0_):\n\n > Forget baseball, forget sports. Here you had these corporate employees, paid millions of dollars a year. They were doing exactly the same job that people in their business had been doing forever. In front of millions of people, who evaluate their every move. They had statistics attached to everything they did. And yet they were misvalued — because the wider world was blind to their luck. \n\n > This had been going on for a century. Right under all of our noses. And no one noticed — until it paid a poor team so well to notice that they could not afford not to notice. And you have to ask: if a professional athlete paid millions of dollars can be misvalued who can't be? If the supposedly pure meritocracy of professional sports can't distinguish between lucky and good, who can? \n\n > The \"Moneyball\" story has practical implications. If you use better data, you can find better values; there are always market inefficiencies to exploit, and so on. But it has a broader and less practical message: don't be deceived by life's outcomes. Life's outcomes, while not entirely random, have a huge amount of luck baked into them.\n\nhe then switches tacks to explain why this might happen, and why the lucky tend to congregate, and increase their luck. he describes a psych experiment that happened at UCB in which three people are assigned a simple task and randomly assigned a leader:\n\n > Exactly 30 minutes into the problem-solving the researchers interrupted each group. They entered the room bearing a plate of cookies. Four cookies. The team consisted of three people, but there were these four cookies. Every team member obviously got one cookie, but that left a fourth cookie, just sitting there. It should have been awkward. But it wasn't. With incredible consistency the person arbitrarily appointed leader of the group grabbed the fourth cookie, and ate it. Not only ate it, but ate it with gusto: lips smacking, mouth open, drool at the corners of their mouths. In the end all that was left of the extra cookie were crumbs on the leader's shirt.\n\n > This leader had performed no special task. He had no special virtue. He'd been chosen at random, 30 minutes earlier. His status was nothing but luck. But it still left him with the sense that the cookie should be his. \n\nthe main message of his fantastic address comes down to this:\n > Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck — and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your Gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky.\n...\n > All of you have been faced with the extra cookie. All of you will be faced with many more of them. In time you will find it easy to assume that you deserve the extra cookie. For all I know, you may. But you'll be happier, and the world will be better off, if you at least pretend that you don't. \n\n**tl/dr**: *moneyball* author michael lewis describes why with two incredibly simple anecdotes derived from statistics research and psychology research: people a whole don't understand chance and contingency, leaders think they earned the fourth cookie.\n\nedit: tl/dr and formatting",
"Basically because CEO's pay went up a lot while the average workers pay stayed the same/went down. \n\n_URL_0_",
"Not to mention when you hear of a company going belly up, closing it's doors but still giving fat bonuses to the CEO's",
"I don't think its so much the wages that aggravate people but rather the ridiculous bonuses and pay offs they get. I suppose lower level workers see themselves as the people doing all the work and they have incompetent line managers. And this is compounded by the fact that many of these pay offs are after a CEO was fired or screwed people over. The banking crisis was a big issue. Those fuckers robbed the world of hundreds of billions and then had the nerve to give themselves massive bonuses.",
"Low level employee here:\n\nin addition to everyone else and their great answers, I can add this; Companies pay minimum wage because \"its not cost effective\" or \"the company cant afford it\", we have to wait 6 months, sometimes even a year to get a .25 cent raise to our hourly rate, ontop of that... companies hire you under 1 job title but expect you to do the work of 3 to 5 job titles while being paid for 1 title. This is very scumbag. \n\nSo when it takes a year to get a quarter of a dollar raise, and the CEO is getting million $ raises sometimes a couple times a year, it tells the low levels that \"we actually have the money but fuck you, your just slaves\"",
"Because the gap is enormous nowadays and these same CEOs refuse to give their employees healthcare that they could easily afford. Xkcd had a great chart explaining the difference between back in the 60s and today. It used to be like a 350x difference. Now it's something like 3500x. \nThe other reason is that when the company starts doing badly, they never think to cut their own salary. No, their first reaction is to fire people and cut everyone else's salaries instead. Oh and there's that golden parachute. ",
"If you've worked at any company or in the government for the last 30 years then you have been hit with budget concerns. Companies are always looking for ways to save money. Every year, your department is expected to find X number of dollars in savings to bring your department budget down. People get laid off or overworked to make this happen. Your entire department may begin to exist in a state where the work always gets done, but there are no resources, financial or otherwise, left to make improvements in policy or procedure.\n\nEmployee salaries are often the largest single expense category in running a business. Yet CEO salaries exist outside of the gravity field of financial responsibility. It's hard to not resent this fact while you are getting the financial squeeze at work and at home every day. Cutting CEO salaries would be the simplest and most effective way of meeting a budget, but that initiative is always off the table.",
"Most of you here seem to be missing the most important part and it makes the answer very simple:\n\nWhy does a CEO make so much more money than low level works? Because they are that valuable to the company.\n\nSimple as that. If they were not that valuable, they wouldn't be paid what they are. Someone who can act as a (foreseeably good) CEO is in high demand, and there is a limited supply. If any person off the street could be a (foreseeably) successful CEO then a company would say \"hey let's pay joe schmoe $100k, he can do what this guy can do for $1m\".\n\nI'm not saying that a random person could not do the job, but it's like anything else: you have to prove yourself. No one is going to risk their company to someone without the credentials and experience to be in that kind of position.\n\nBottom line is the very fact that the CEOs are paid high reinforces that their pay is justified. Circular logic you say? More like a stable economic fact.\n\nTo answer the OPs original question: people are upset because they don't understand what the position entails and don't understand the lifetime of work they had to do in order to get that position. The CEO earned the right to be in that position and they earned whatever people are willing to pay her."
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n878c | the big bang theory. | Explain the Big Bang Theory and what is believed to have happened. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/n878c/eli5_the_big_bang_theory/ | {
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"If possible, add what went into creating the Big Bang.",
"The whole universe was in a hot dense state...",
"[Can someone explain to me the Big Bang Theory LI5?](_URL_0_)",
"A show which documents the shenanigans and trivial quibbles of a group of nerds and their unlikely friendship with an attractive female.",
"It's basically nerd blackface. Oh, you didn't mean the show?",
"The universe is likely infinite. The presently most popular shape of the Universe found to fit observational data according to cosmologists is the infinite flat model. \n\nIf something is infinite, then it must have always been infinite. You can not have something finite, and make it infinite without adding something that is infinite to it, and if we are talking about the universe then there's nothing else to add, so the universe is infinite and has always been infinite. \n\nIf we look at all the stars in other galaxies no matter how far away they are and measure how they are moving we see that the galaxies are all moving away from us, and they are going faster and faster. \n\nThat doesn't mean that we are in the middle, because they are all moving away from each other as well. If you were standing on any other planet you would still see that every other galaxy is moving away from you. \n\nWhich means that yesterday every galaxy was closer to us than today. And a year ago they were even closer. And if you go back long enough (which we now know is around 13,72 billion years), they will be so close to us that we are practically in the same spot. This is called a singularity and time stops running here, similar to what happens inside black holes. But as we know, I am explaining it in reverse; so in reality time actually *started* here. \n\nRemember, the universe is still infinite because it has always been infinite. At the moment of the big bang the universe was still infinite. \n\nI'm going to add something to this that may be hard to grasp for someone who's not used to thinking about the universe in grand scales. When you look at something, you don't see it instantly. You only see it after the light from it has had the time to reach your eyes. \n\nSo when you are speaking to your mother, you don't see her instantly - because it takes time for light to reach your eyes. But light is ridiculously fast. It is the absolutely fastest thing that can travel through space. So you won't really notice it here on earth when talking to your mother or catching a ball that's moving that light has a speed, everything here just seems instant. \n\nBut when you look at the moon, you are not looking at the moon as it is right now but as it was 1,3 seconds ago. And if you feel the warmth of the sun on your body, that energy has been travelling through space from the sun to you for about 8 minutes! That also means that if you look at the sun, you are watching what happened 8 minutes ago. No matter what you do, you can't change what happens on the sun in 4 minutes if you start now to plan something. Because you can't travel faster than this speed of light. \n\nNow think about the universe that is infinite. Do you think you can see the whole universe? No you can't, because it takes time for light to reach you. If something is billion billion billion billion billion billion billion light years away then it will take billion billion billion billion billion billion light years to get here, and the universe just isn't old enough for light to have reached all that way. \n\nSo if you look around you into space, there is a limit to how far you can see, until you can't see further. We call this the \"observable universe\", which is simply how far we can yet see. Our observable universe is like a **huge** bubble around us, and it contains everything that we can see. \n\nBut all that was once closer together, at the big bang. It was so close together that it was just condensed in a tiny little dot. Our whole observable universe was once just a dot. And around that dot there was even more stuff. We don't know what it was, but we assume that it was just like the stuff that our 'dot' has. \n\nSo there you have it. An infinite universe that was infinitely dense and time was stopped. Then for some reason expansion started, it happened incredibly fast, so fast that space expanded faster than the speed of light and now there are parts of the universe we actually just can't see. \n\nThen the expansion slowed down, but later it picked up speed and is now going faster and faster. Eventually, physicists think, other galaxies will be moving away from us faster than the speed of light - which means we won't be able to see them any more. \n\nThat also means that any future alien civilizations will not be able to see other galaxies move away from each other, and they are just going to have a completely wrong picture of the universe because they don't know how it all started. The only reason *we* do is because we can observe galaxies moving away from us faster and faster. And this is the only time in the history of the universe that we are able to do that. So we are pretty lucky to be living in the time where we can know this for sure, because this information will be lost forever to everyone else who will be isolated in their galaxy in billions of years. ",
"If possible, add what went into creating the Big Bang.",
"The whole universe was in a hot dense state...",
"[Can someone explain to me the Big Bang Theory LI5?](_URL_0_)",
"A show which documents the shenanigans and trivial quibbles of a group of nerds and their unlikely friendship with an attractive female.",
"It's basically nerd blackface. Oh, you didn't mean the show?",
"The universe is likely infinite. The presently most popular shape of the Universe found to fit observational data according to cosmologists is the infinite flat model. \n\nIf something is infinite, then it must have always been infinite. You can not have something finite, and make it infinite without adding something that is infinite to it, and if we are talking about the universe then there's nothing else to add, so the universe is infinite and has always been infinite. \n\nIf we look at all the stars in other galaxies no matter how far away they are and measure how they are moving we see that the galaxies are all moving away from us, and they are going faster and faster. \n\nThat doesn't mean that we are in the middle, because they are all moving away from each other as well. If you were standing on any other planet you would still see that every other galaxy is moving away from you. \n\nWhich means that yesterday every galaxy was closer to us than today. And a year ago they were even closer. And if you go back long enough (which we now know is around 13,72 billion years), they will be so close to us that we are practically in the same spot. This is called a singularity and time stops running here, similar to what happens inside black holes. But as we know, I am explaining it in reverse; so in reality time actually *started* here. \n\nRemember, the universe is still infinite because it has always been infinite. At the moment of the big bang the universe was still infinite. \n\nI'm going to add something to this that may be hard to grasp for someone who's not used to thinking about the universe in grand scales. When you look at something, you don't see it instantly. You only see it after the light from it has had the time to reach your eyes. \n\nSo when you are speaking to your mother, you don't see her instantly - because it takes time for light to reach your eyes. But light is ridiculously fast. It is the absolutely fastest thing that can travel through space. So you won't really notice it here on earth when talking to your mother or catching a ball that's moving that light has a speed, everything here just seems instant. \n\nBut when you look at the moon, you are not looking at the moon as it is right now but as it was 1,3 seconds ago. And if you feel the warmth of the sun on your body, that energy has been travelling through space from the sun to you for about 8 minutes! That also means that if you look at the sun, you are watching what happened 8 minutes ago. No matter what you do, you can't change what happens on the sun in 4 minutes if you start now to plan something. Because you can't travel faster than this speed of light. \n\nNow think about the universe that is infinite. Do you think you can see the whole universe? No you can't, because it takes time for light to reach you. If something is billion billion billion billion billion billion billion light years away then it will take billion billion billion billion billion billion light years to get here, and the universe just isn't old enough for light to have reached all that way. \n\nSo if you look around you into space, there is a limit to how far you can see, until you can't see further. We call this the \"observable universe\", which is simply how far we can yet see. Our observable universe is like a **huge** bubble around us, and it contains everything that we can see. \n\nBut all that was once closer together, at the big bang. It was so close together that it was just condensed in a tiny little dot. Our whole observable universe was once just a dot. And around that dot there was even more stuff. We don't know what it was, but we assume that it was just like the stuff that our 'dot' has. \n\nSo there you have it. An infinite universe that was infinitely dense and time was stopped. Then for some reason expansion started, it happened incredibly fast, so fast that space expanded faster than the speed of light and now there are parts of the universe we actually just can't see. \n\nThen the expansion slowed down, but later it picked up speed and is now going faster and faster. Eventually, physicists think, other galaxies will be moving away from us faster than the speed of light - which means we won't be able to see them any more. \n\nThat also means that any future alien civilizations will not be able to see other galaxies move away from each other, and they are just going to have a completely wrong picture of the universe because they don't know how it all started. The only reason *we* do is because we can observe galaxies moving away from us faster and faster. And this is the only time in the history of the universe that we are able to do that. So we are pretty lucky to be living in the time where we can know this for sure, because this information will be lost forever to everyone else who will be isolated in their galaxy in billions of years. "
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3o6iyt | why is the audio for police radios still so poor? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o6iyt/eli5_why_is_the_audio_for_police_radios_still_so/ | {
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"The third comment in the post you linked addresses your question. Under the right conditions radios sound just as good as, if not better than, phones."
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4csx8d | how can people post pictures of themselves smoking weed on instagram and not be arrested? (in states that do not have medical exemptions...) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4csx8d/eli5how_can_people_post_pictures_of_themselves/ | {
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"No way to prove it's weed. No way to prove it is in a jurisdiction where it's illegal. Pictures can be fake. \n\nAlso, because nobody gives a shit about weed."
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2knm72 | in conjoined twins, who controls the arms, legs, etc? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2knm72/eli5_in_conjoined_twins_who_controls_the_arms/ | {
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"It depends on each individual case - where the individuals are joined is a huge factor in this."
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143rif | why don't they make 2 liter soda bottles rectangular? | If they were rectangular they could be stacked, take up less room and stop rolling around in the back of my car after grocery shopping. A little modification and they could have a handle too. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/143rif/eli5_why_dont_they_make_2_liter_soda_bottles/ | {
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"text": [
"Storage containers for items under pressure (soda, propane), are round because the items inside are pushing outward. Corners and seams are weak points, so a round shape minimizes those places, to help prevent blowouts.",
"Because it would take more plastic, it would be more expensive to make and squares are not really good when it comes to pressure and resistance to damage. ",
"They start out looking a lot like a small cylindrical test tube. And they are inflated in a round mold.",
"Well that makes sense...",
"Costco does this with milk. I read someplace the amount of truck fuel they saved due to more compact shipping methods and it was astounding. \n",
"additionally _URL_0_ is what a 2 liter bottle looks like when it is shipped to the bottler. They used compressed gas to expand it, and then they use the syrup shipped to them to mix the soda and fill the bottles. You wouldn't be able to expand the containers if they weren't round",
"Go fill a milk jug with soda, then hold the cap on and shake it.",
"They are round because the cheapest way to make a container is blow molding. Basically the negative of the bottle is cut into two halves and a continuous tube of plastic is extruded. The mold closes over the plastic tube and air pressure is applied. The bottle is formed. Now the mold could be any shape but as others have mentioned a sphere, or cylinder in this case, is the most energy efficient shape. This translates into a container which uses less material and does not sacrifice strength. So they recycle the holders they transport the bottles in, which I have only seen in 6pack capacity."
]
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[],
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"http://imgur.com/gallery/4bxIJ"
],
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|
5c9cb5 | why do things off in the distance start to get a white tint to them? | When ever i'm looking at something farther away, such as a town when i'm on a mountain, the town has a white tint to it. Why does this happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5c9cb5/eli5_why_do_things_off_in_the_distance_start_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"d9un74h"
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"score": [
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"text": [
" > Why does this happen?\n\nBecause there is air and various things suspended in it which is reflecting light as well. This tends to wash out the colors of what you see through it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
fx9lqf | what is different about the insides of wires that transmit power (charger), data (aux, ethernet), or both (usb-c)? | Basically what is inside that allows wires to transfer only energy, only data, or both? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fx9lqf/eli5_what_is_different_about_the_insides_of_wires/ | {
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"fmsxpl8",
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"text": [
"It's more about the connections between the two ends of the cord. Cords that are only for power only have connections at the pins that carry power, so a power only cord will have less individual wires inside it than one that can transfer power and data. That's why the power only cords are generally cheaper. They also don't have to conform to the data speed standards that data cords have to conform to.",
"There are gonna be exceptions, but in general...\n\nWires for carrying energy tend to be thicker to minimize loss and heating. They also tend to be unshielded and unbraided - just straight wires. Wires that carry data tend to be braided or shielded, as this reduces noise and interference. Wires intended for both may be thicker *and* braided/shielded.",
"There is a different number of copper wires inside them. Power wires have only 2 or 3 wires inside them (+, -, and shield). Data wires have even more wires inside. Dual purpose wires like USB-C have data and power wires inside.\n\nAll copper wires inside a wire can be the same.\n\nIt's what's before and after the wires that change. You need to encode and decode the signals differently, and emit/reception power.",
"One aspect is the thickness of wires. The more power you want to transmit, the thicker a wire has to be (compare the cable of your kettle to the one of your phone charger). Data is similar, but uses very little power, so the cables can be fairly thin."
]
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[],
[],
[],
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|
9hw560 | what is wax and why does it burn the way it does? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9hw560/eli5_what_is_wax_and_why_does_it_burn_the_way_it/ | {
"a_id": [
"e6f0nod"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Wax is basically made up of a certain type of organic molecule.\n\nThe reason it burns so slowly is that it generally is not flammable as a solid or as a liquid. However, it is flammable as a gas.\n\nSo, for wax to burn, it first has to melt, and then evaporate, and THEN it can catch on fire. This is why it's so slow and generally won't ignite directly."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2056gz | how does everything fall at the same speed? if i drop a feather and a book, they don't fall relative to eachother. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2056gz/eli5_how_does_everything_fall_at_the_same_speed/ | {
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"text": [
"Everything falls at the same speed *in a vacuum*. The reason things in our atmosphere fall at different rates are due to friction between that object and the particles of air in it's path. Take away those air particles, and things fall at the same rate.",
"Gravity influences them the same way, but air resistance does not. A feather is far more sensitive to air resistance - being very light and having a large cross-section - than the book.",
"They would fall at the same speed if you dropped them in a vacuum. Aerodynamic drag slows the feather down more, since it's surface is bigger compared to its weight than the book. ",
"Do you why *doesn't* everything fall at the same speed? Because it patently doesn't, due to air resistance. Hence the experiment on the Moon, where there is no air, whereby a hammer and a feather were dropped at the same time and they hit the surface, at the same time.",
"You're missing the crucial component. The end of that sentence is \"in a vacuum\". Gravity is a constant, it affects everything the same. Different objects have different amounts of air resistance, however. So in real life, if you tossed these two items off the roof of your house they would probably not hit the ground at the same time.\n\nIf these two items were dropped in a vacuum, where there is no air, they would fall at the same rate.",
"They actually tried this on the moon. It was [pretty cool](_URL_0_).",
"here is some more that i think is awesome...\n\nthe larger the mass of the object, the more it will \"pull\" towards the earth, so the acceleration due to gravity is greater than a lower mass object - however the larger mass of the more massive object will also resist acceleration more because of it's own larger inertia trying to keep it in place\n\nthese 2 different forces exactly equalize the movement of the 2 differently massed objects...soooo kool"
]
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[],
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[],
[],
[],
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"http://youtu.be/5C5_dOEyAfk"
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||
mb13f | what is so revolutionary/what is happening in iceland's economy right now | I know that Iceland is handling its debt in a very unconventional way, but I don't quite understand what's happening. Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mb13f/eli5_what_is_so_revolutionarywhat_is_happening_in/ | {
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"text": [
"Basically, Iceland was in a similar situation as the rest of the world. Large banks held a lot of the money, and the government owed money elsewhere. The banks bet against their loans, much like banks did in America, however, unlike in the US, instead of bailing them out when things went ass end up, they simply allowed them to go bankrupt. They also held the heads of the banks directly responsible for this, instead of letting them off with a slap on the wrist or a measly fine.\n\nBecause of this however, Iceland defaulted on it's loans, and as such the economy took large a hit, and decreased the value of their money quite considerably. They also decided to rewrite their Constitution, to bring it more in line with modern society, and prevent happenings of the sort in the future.\n\nThe fact that the general population decided to take the default on the loans, and rewrite the constitution defies what every other country in a similar situation has done thus far. However, Iceland is a very small nation ~400k total population, so while this may work for them, its unlikely that it would work for much larger countries like the US.",
"Basically, Iceland was in a similar situation as the rest of the world. Large banks held a lot of the money, and the government owed money elsewhere. The banks bet against their loans, much like banks did in America, however, unlike in the US, instead of bailing them out when things went ass end up, they simply allowed them to go bankrupt. They also held the heads of the banks directly responsible for this, instead of letting them off with a slap on the wrist or a measly fine.\n\nBecause of this however, Iceland defaulted on it's loans, and as such the economy took large a hit, and decreased the value of their money quite considerably. They also decided to rewrite their Constitution, to bring it more in line with modern society, and prevent happenings of the sort in the future.\n\nThe fact that the general population decided to take the default on the loans, and rewrite the constitution defies what every other country in a similar situation has done thus far. However, Iceland is a very small nation ~400k total population, so while this may work for them, its unlikely that it would work for much larger countries like the US."
]
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[],
[]
] |
|
1tii2f | how can infomercials offer me 2 blenders, 5 cake pans, 3 choppers, a soda creating device and a small child all for a limited time offer of 1 payment of 39.99(normally 10 payments of an arm and leg) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tii2f/eli5_how_can_infomercials_offer_me_2_blenders_5/ | {
"a_id": [
"ce8bi1u"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Sometimes the extras they throw in are products that were already produced and marketed on their own, but have a surplus. If company x has a bunch of knives left over that they aren't able to sell, but they think they can boost sales of their new blender by throwing them in for free, they can recoup some of the loss they incurred on the excess knives."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1mjep9 | conway's game of life and gliders | I've tried to comprehend the point behind Conway's Game of Life but I am truly dumbfounded with its complexity and meaning. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mjep9/eli5_conways_game_of_life_and_gliders/ | {
"a_id": [
"cc9swj0"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Conway's Game of Life is an example of a finite state automaton. Finite state automata are examples of how very simple sets of rules can create emergent complexity. So in conway's game of life each cell only has one of two states, and there are only 4 rules on how cells change on and off. But out of that simple set of rules we see all kinds of interesting patterns form. Some of these patterns are simply stable, where there is no change unless acted upon by an outside force. Others flip back of forth between two states. But gliders are an example of a pattern that repeats while moving. The glider shifts between 4 patterns in a cycle, but when it ends it's cycle the pattern is in a different space than it was prior. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1ubhcg | why do we enjoy killing people in video games or think it's "cool" when we see people die in movies? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ubhcg/why_do_we_enjoy_killing_people_in_video_games_or/ | {
"a_id": [
"cegd98q",
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"text": [
"Play fighting is a natural thing. Watch puppies for a while and sooner or later they'll start biting at eachother. The winner is usually the one that wraps his mouth around the other's neck first or at least the one that commands a submissive gesture from the other.\n\nOften this includes a chase as well.\n\nIt's not a coincidence that what they're doing mimics hunting and going in for the kill. \n\nHumans do this play-fighting too. Give two kids some sticks and before long it's a sword fight or a some mock guns. \n\nIt's instinctual to train in this way for what evolution thinks we will have to face. Video games, movies and to a degree story telling generally, though, are relatively new and not something evolution has ever really had time to account for. It's just sort of our weird human mixture of these instincts and our great communicative powers that we enjoy sharing it in art as we do just as we enjoyed making a game of it as kids.",
"If you want to get really deep there's a part in human psychology known as the \"Id\" (yeah, not I.D., but Id). The Id is responsible for giving us cravings for stuff, not necessarily within any moral standing. Sometimes we have the craving to dominate others and show that we're #1 in more barbaric ways, killing each other. However another part, the \"Super Ego\", is responsible for morality and values, that tries to get in the way.\n\nThe Super Ego knows that if you give into the killfest cravings of the Id and kill someone in real life you'll be locked away in prison and you're gonna give a lot of people a bad day, but through a video game you can give in to the wants of the Id, and the Super Ego doesn't have to get in the way since you won't be arrested for killing someone in Battlefield 4 or anything."
]
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[],
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||
435aud | siri's very good at understanding what i say, and yet youtube's auto-generated subtitles are incredibly wrong. how so ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/435aud/eli5_siris_very_good_at_understanding_what_i_say/ | {
"a_id": [
"czfocbs"
],
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"text": [
"When using Siri, Cortana, etc. they use two microphones, one to listen to you, and another to listen to background noise, by comparing the two recordings, it's able to better isolate your vocals so no/little background noise is present. \n \nWith automated subtitles, they only have the audio source after it's finished, so they program has a harder time. \n \nAll this being said, I've found YouTube's automated captions to be pretty accurate as of late, mainly using them with videos with no background music/noise, like Youtubers who do news channels. \n \nFor instance the automated captions in [this video](_URL_0_) (breakdown of the Suicide Squad) is ~90% accurate."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://youtu.be/05ic8Jvou1I"
]
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||
495dpy | in hawaii, how did spam become one of the staple foods to that island state? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/495dpy/eli5_in_hawaii_how_did_spam_become_one_of_the/ | {
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"text": [
"Spam is a vestige of the massive Naval operations on the islands during WWII in which there were tens of thousands of sailors coming and going along with their supplies which consisted of many canned/packaged food products including Spam. Hawaii also has relatively little land to raise livestock, so the more meat they can import the better. The fact that Spam keeps forever, doesn't need to be refrigerated, is surprisingly versatile, and is also inexpensive all contributed to it becoming so popular. ",
"Spam was shipped overseas with the US soldiers during WW2, you'll find most islands with a big US presence developed a taste for spam. It was just abundant and taste good because it's incredibly bad for you.",
"They gave it to the military to eat as it lasts really long. They have military bases/compounds in Hawai`i. Also, due to the heavy Asian population, it can be used in many dishes. \n \nI was raised in Hawai`i and it is used by [McDonald's](_URL_0_), [7-Eleven](_URL_2_) (for musubi), to make [fried rice](_URL_1_), [saimin](_URL_4_) (near identical to ramen, [McDonald's also sells it](_URL_3_)) etc. \n \nTo any one who doesn't eat Spam, please try it fried, and use the Lite version."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://tastyislandhawaii.com/images12/grindz_of_the_day/mcdonalds_hawaii_breakfast.jpg",
"http://www.cookeatdelicious.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Spam-Fried-Rice-14-500x407.jpg",
"http://media4.popsugar-assets.com/files/upl2/0/3986/22_2009/DSC_0099_1/i/Spam-Musubi-From-7-Eleven.jpg",
"http://www.tastyislandhawaii.com/images10/mcdonalds/mcdonalds_saimin_kamaboko5.jpg",
"http://www.trippyfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2013-09-13-SPAM-Rutts-02.jpg"
]
] |
||
97du7x | why are video-game fan art commissions sold for money not affected by copyright issues? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/97du7x/eli5_why_are_videogame_fan_art_commissions_sold/ | {
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"text": [
"They absolutely are affected by copyright issues; technically they are all infringing on the copyright of the owner of that IP. But in most cases the single fan art sale isn't worth the time of the company to pursue legal action if they are even aware that it occurred. ",
"Unless the fan artist has express permission, which is crazy rare, then they're in violation of copyright. \n\nIts up to the copyrights holder to spend money to file legal action against the fan artist. Most holders don't becauss they want to culture their fanbase. Disney does...with a vengeance.",
"Companies care about their IP because it will make them money. They will permit infringements in their IP and turn a blind eye if they think the infringement will make them money. For example no one sells fan art of their video game characters. They might however sell action figures and plushies (or imagine that they can licence the rights for others to do so).\n\nTwo big examples. You remember a few years ago there was a meme where hitler was giving this speech and then his staff gave him some bad news and he got all sad about it? And people put in captions for him being told all sorts of different things about current events? That was from a movie Downfall that had a HUGE increase in sales because of the meme. Insanely they tried to police the copyright. No one thought that was a good move on their part and sure enough sales fell. \n\nSecond example, 50 Shades of Grey was originally Twilight fan fiction. It got changed up to avoid copyright issues. I bet the Twilight owners are to this day wondering if there wouldn't have been some way to include an erotica side to their business to reap the licence fees that would have flowed."
]
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[],
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||
a7yp5k | how are skyscrapers able to bend and sway without breaking? | For clarification, I read about how they stay steady- but haven't found how something on a concrete foundation can move without cracking and crumbling apart. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a7yp5k/eli5_how_are_skyscrapers_able_to_bend_and_sway/ | {
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"text": [
"The movement is (relatively) very small. \n\nThe sears tower can sway about 2' at the top, which sounds crazy, but... that is over the entire length of its nearly 1500' - this means that at 10' above ground, the movement is about 5/32\" of an inch. which is pretty small. at 3\" above the ground, the sway is less than 1/256\" of an inch. That is tiny. The typical deflection (how much downward movement) of any beam/floor slab at its center of any building (column bay) is often designed to move about 1/4\" to 1/2\" at its center even for your everyday building - so 1/256\" at its base is negligible. \n\nConcrete can handle compression on the far side of the sway pretty good, that's what its best for, and the tension on the near side with internal steel rods (rebar) that hold it together. \n\nAll buildings of every size move and sway, its just not perceptible at the scales we are accustomed to, and only over the huge lengths of that kind of building is it noticeable. \n\nThis is why buildings have expansion joints and the like, which allow the building to kind of shift. \n\n(the sears tower is about 8\" taller in august than February, due to the expansion of its steel from heat)\n\n\nSo yes, it the concrete doesnt crumble because the movement at each point is tiny, and in the foundation, there are other things governing it. \n",
"The question has already been answered quite well, but I wanted to add a concept that is often taught in engineering classes, and probably also to machinists: \"Everything is a spring.\"\n\nAlmost every solid material known to mankind has, to some extent, the same property that makes a stereotypical spring do what it does. The property is called elasticity, and it describes the amount which the material can stretch or bend in response to a force and still return to its original, unchanged state. It's most obvious with something like a rubber band or a Slinky, where you can push or pull very gently and the object can move a huge amount without damage, but it still applies to things like glass, concrete, and ceramic. For these materials, you have to push much harder and you might not be able to see the movement by eye, but they're still measurably changing as you push on them.\n\nNow, if you use those same materials in something the size of a building or a bridge, then all the small movements can add up to something easier to see. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse is an extreme example of this, both of the principle that things can always flex, and as a really good demonstration of why it's taught to engineers. [You can see](_URL_0_) how much the steel and concrete are able to move without immediately crumbling to dust. Now, spoiler alert, in this case the bridge did collapse. But it had been flexing and moving like that every time the wind picked up for 6+ months before the day it failed. The bridge had been open to the public for four months, and prior to the public opening the workers building the bridge had already been experiencing the movement."
]
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[],
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"https://youtu.be/j-zczJXSxnw?t=125"
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|
2gtwb2 | why do people feel the need to use a "throwaway" account if reddit accounts are anonymous anyway? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gtwb2/eli5_why_do_people_feel_the_need_to_use_a/ | {
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"text": [
"Because they're only anonymous if you put forward to make them anonymous. (or are a hermit)\n\nMost of my friends and family know what my reddit username is, so if I'm going to make a post saying \"I totally want to sleep with my sister\", I might want to pick a different account for that.",
"Because little clues add up, and if you piss off one nut-job, they can cause a lot of real-world problems.\n\nAlso, throwaways have less importance on points, so you can ditch it and go outdoors and do other stuff instead of staring at this dumb website. ",
"It's because with some digging and overbearing curiousity, one could still figure out a lot of information about a user based on past comments that might hint at/outright mention where they live, where they work, how old they are, etc. Dependent on how open that person was in their comments, one might pinpoint the ownership of that account to a specific person.\n\nIt may also be that friends and/or family know of your reddit account, and your confession is something you do not want them to know either.\n\nAlongside that, even if one were to ignore the above points, having some sort of weird confession on your main account may tarnish one's online image/reputation, if that's something they care about. \n\nEdit: another point"
]
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[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3bvz72 | what would happen if you placed a spherical magnet on a flat magnetized plane? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bvz72/eli5_what_would_happen_if_you_placed_a_spherical/ | {
"a_id": [
"csq04pn",
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"text": [
"I don't think there is enough information here. A flat magnetized plane isn't really a thing. \n\nDo you mean that the whole magnet is the flat top of the N side of a large magnet that extends below it? In that case the sphere would orient itself so that the south side of the sphere were pointed at the N plane. \n\nIf you mean that the plane is flat and thin and the N side of the magnet is in front of you and the South side is behind you then I don't think that there would any field at all. Nothing special would happen. ",
"I agree with /u/lohborn's answer, the spherical magnet would reorient itself to be attracted to the plane. If you wanted to create some sort of levitating magnet scenario, you can do that provided there is some force which prevents the magnetic sphere from rotating it's magnetic axis. A [levatron](_URL_0_) is a device which accomplishes this by using the angular momentum of a spinning magnetic top to keep it from flipping. The magnetic field of the base isn't \"flat\" but designed to have a minimum in the center so that the top doesn't move side-to-side."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc629U1NyzQ"
]
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||
2v8iln | how do films get their funding? who pays 3 millions up front so easy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v8iln/eli5how_do_films_get_their_funding_who_pays_3/ | {
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"text": [
"A production company. Sometimes a private investor or group of investors.",
"Films are an investment, just like any other. They can be funded by a studio like Fox, or by particularly wealthy individuals that want a way to make money.\n\nLike any investment, success means that you get your money back plus extra, while failure means that you only get some or non of your money back.",
"If you're interested in the details, my tip would be to watch Entourage. It gives a good understanding of Hollywood, filmmaking and investors."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5cxx9o | why is it so hard to make a totally 'clear' or 'transparent' powder? | Specifically in terms of makeup/cosmetology. When pressed or loose powders are advertised as 'clear' or 'transparent', they appear to be white in the pan and leave a white layer on the skin. Why is it so hard, or impossible, to make a clear powder? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cxx9o/eli5_why_is_it_so_hard_to_make_a_totally_clear_or/ | {
"a_id": [
"da083tr"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"In order for something to be transparent, light has to be able to travel through it without getting reflected, bent, or scattered too much. Sharp corners or curved pieces scatter, reflect, and/or bend light really well. A good example of this is a piece of glass, like a palm-sized rectangle. Looking at it flat, light travels through it just fine, but if you try to look at something through the edges or at a sharp angle, the image gets distorted.\nPowders are made up of tiny bits of stuff, and each bit has edges. That means that, statistically, almost every photon of light that tries to travel through a powder will encounter an edge or a reflective surface and get reflected, bent, or scattered.\nHope that helps!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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1tzyha | what is the thought process of someone who was born both blind and deaf? | I'm wondering this since it occurred to me that a standard person's thought process is comprised of mainly of words and images. In this case, if someone who cannot see anything in addition to not having heard a word; what do they think in? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tzyha/eli5_what_is_the_thought_process_of_someone_who/ | {
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60aow7 | how can it be cheaper for nasa to contract spacex instead of running their own missions? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/60aow7/eli5_how_can_it_be_cheaper_for_nasa_to_contract/ | {
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"One big advantage Space X has is the ability to fail publically. This allows both quick innovation, but also simply lowers the bar and cost on safety mechanisms. Not saying that Space X wants to blow up rockets. But the public generally is more okay with watching a private company blow up some rockets, and then pay for the successful launches (even if those successful launches build the failures into the tax payer bill) than they are willing to directly see their tax money blow up.\n",
"To generalize a fair amount, NASA has always been where the scientists worked while defense contractors were where the engineers worked.\n\nSo in the glory days of the Apollo missions, you had NASA scientists figuring out the environmental conditions and then companies like Rockwell and Grumman actually designing the vehicles.\n\nIn the modern day, all of the science necessary to build space vehicles is largely done and all that remains is the engineering. Since the engineering has always been handled by private companies rather than the government and operations isn't a particularly complex task, it makes sense for private companies to take over most of the task.",
"Nasa is not a financially efficent organization. As it's a governmental organization, it has priorities other then profitability. For example when deciding where it's going to place a new facility, factors like local unemployment and political agendas are as much a factor if not more, then where the most cost effective location is.\n\nbecause of this everything Nasa does is a lot more expensive then a private company could do it. Of course the country as a whole recieves many benefits as 'spin offs' that they wouldn't get if private corporations did everything.",
"NASA paid people to make their rockets, and those people paid other people to make smaller parts and so on. Everyone added more to the price to get their profits.\n\nSpaceX does it all by themselves.\n\nEdit: I have learned that SpaceX only does *most* of it by themselves.",
"SpaceX does an amazing amount of vertical integration in their assembly process. That is to say, nearly all of the parts that make up a Falcon 9 rocket/ Dragon spacecraft are manufacture \"in house\". This allows for cheaper parts without sacrificing quality. \n\nNASA hasn't done this. They contract parts to the cheapest bidder no matter the location of he company. This results in an increase in manufacturing costs. \n\nOnce SpaceX starts re-flying their Falcon 9 booster rockets, I would expect their prices to drop even further. Already, they've given their customer for the first booster re-flight a 30% discount on the launch price! ",
"Remember: space X took on a lot of debt in order to finance themselves. That debt was used to engineer a new solution to reuse their first stage boosters. That is a huge cost saving. NASA would likely not have done this as it would have required short term increased government funding for a non critical part of the mission.\n\nThe free market is often much cheaper than government. They are much more agile and can take more risks. Risks can go bad but they can also yield amazing results. ",
"The reason it costs so much to go into space is because the rockets are destroyed when coming back into earth. SpaceX can do what was believed to be impossible. It's able to land the rocket in 1 piece. The fact that SpaceX can reuse the rockets makes space travel much cheaper for NASA to contract SpaceX.",
"Really, it comes down to politics.\n\nOur politicians all want their states to get a piece of the pie. Back in the heyday, it was still more of \"Make AMERICA the world leader of space\". \n\nNow it's one politician screwing over others and the country just so their district might get money from it.\n\nI had many relative working at NASA in the 60's-80's and they all left because the politics ruined it. \n\nAlso, citizens don't want to accept that there are people willing to die to advance space technology. Not saying they plan on dying, but they know it's possible.\n\nThe average joe can't grasp that anyone would be OK taking that much risk. They think those people must be forced into it. Or that when an accident does happen, it HAD TO BE A MAJOR screw up, not just a \"honestly we thought of everything, but missed that one tiny detail\". \n\n ",
"Consider that Rockwell International, not NASA, built the space shuttles. Building things under contract means that there has to be a very, very detailed statement of work, and that time and resources are required both to create that detailed statement of work, farm it out to contractors, have each contractor put together a bid, select the bid and award the contract, manage all of the above, and have a system in place at both the manufacturer and the receiver to very that the delivered product meets the design requirements. That's all extra work over what could be required if a company makes a product internally and then sells it. \n \nThis is one reason why it's cheaper to buy almost anything off-the-shelf instead of having a custom one made. This is true even for large, expensive things for which there are few made, ever. Customizable (i.e. custom-off-the-shelf) things are a compromise between the two, where off-the-shelf products are made to support plug-ins or a range of options so that different customers can make minor changes to better fit their needs.",
"I think it has to do with what projects are profitable for a private corporation. The government is not in the business of taking jobs out of the private sector, they have to be very careful with how they influence other industries. That being said, there are a lot of scientific projects that are not profitable, so a private company would have no interested (other than possible personal interest as a hobby) to create scientific missions. NASA lays the groundwork for these projects and contracts out the work as much as possible I believe.",
"There are different kinds of government contracts. One option is called a cost plus type where the government pays the contractor's costs plus a fee. This can be costly to the government as the burden for overruns is borne by them. It's typically used when the scope of the effort is somewhat unknown and subject to changes or unpredictability. Another type, though, is firm fixed price, which as the name suggests, is where the government pays the contractor only a firm fixed price for the work they do. Any overruns in the cost are borne by the contractor. Any underruns become extra profit for the contractor. The government likes this approach the best as it minimizes their cost risk. This could be how the government is paying Tessa. ",
"Not to take anything away from SpaceX or Blue Origin or the like but I think it is important to remember that these new companies are building upon decades of experience before them.\n\nIf they were all starting from scratch I doubt the costs would be much different. At least for quite some time.\n\nAs has been mentioned, one of the big problems with NASA and many other government programs (like much of the DOD) is all the politics involved in trying to spread as many jobs as possible across as many Congressional districts as possible. Keep in mind NASA does not build stuff itself. Subcontractors do and subs need to make a profit themselves. Too often there are few incentives for them to worry too much about the costs/profit equation. Much of that can be dealt with by better contracts but there is always the mostly negative influence of lobbying politicians which can make that difficult.\n\nI don’t recall offhand but I’m pretty sure SpaceX and the like also receive tax incentives (aka corporate welfare) when they hunt for and decide to locate a facility somewhere. Those sorts of incentives/subsidies generally run into the tens of millions of dollars and aren’t usually tallied in the total costs of service.",
"The answer has nothing to do with private vs government. In fact private companies contract out projects all the time. Even contractors sub contract.\n\nI can also tell you NASA's board takes its budgeting very seriously and tries to cut costs wherever it can. Any money used improperly hinders the organizations goals.\n\n\nThe answer is that it is actually cheaper for NASA to contract out these projects than to build all the facilities and obtain the resources to complete them on their own.\n\nNASA isn't and can't be a factory that specializes in producing every single component that goes into space. This is especially true, since the science and components change all the time. Rather, when NASA is in need of a particular thing, it makes much more sense to find a company that can build it for them.\n\n",
"In addition to what everybody else said, sometimes in engineering scrapping processes and technology and starting new streamlines everything because hindsight is 20/20. We have no idea what kind of technical infrastructure NASA has to build their systems but maybe the overhead costs of restructuring for a particular objective or updating technical infrastructure is too costly in time or money and SpaceX is just in a better position to do it right now and much faster.",
"This is a wonder of the market system! It's the classic story of an upstart finding a better way of doing things and thereby getting ahead of competitors (in this case, ULA, not NASA). \n\nNASA and other suppliers have decades of set practices from which they do not like to deviate. For instance, they used custom made electronics for their space vehicles. However, those practices were first introduced in the 60s and 70s but electronics have come quite a long way since then. SpaceX realized this and conducted lots of experiments proving to NASA that commercial, off-the-shelf electronic components were precise and reliable enough to be used in spacecraft. Using these parts dramatically lowers the cost to SpaceX, and this lowering of cost is passed to the customer, NASA. I'd recommend reading \"Elon Musk\" by Ashlee Vance, which is Elon's biography. It touches on just how much cheaper SpaceX really is, and why it is so (including the example cited above).\n\nThe argument you're making (decades of experience in something) can be made in every single field - Walmart has decades of experience in retail, but Amazon still came out ahead, Ford has decades of experience in building cars but Tesla still got to electric cars first, and so on. The beauty of the market system is that in order to succeed against an incumbent with more experience, the competitor **has** to find a better way to do things, thereby improving things for everyone! ",
"Not wanting to be too glib about this but I can tell that by asking this question that you have never worked for a government department. The sheer waste that goes on should be criminal.",
"I worked at Cape Canaveral as a range engineer from 2009-2013.\n\nFor starters NASA is full of government civilians with more strict labor regulations. \n\nSpaceX is full of a wave of new, brilliant, passionate *exempt* engineers willing to work over a hundred hours a week, especially with a launch coming up. Not that many of the NASA workers aren't brilliant/passionate etc.",
"Robert Zimmerman on John Bachelor's show addressed this last week. NASA essentially engineers things twice. It has a staff of engineers on hand who design a mission which is then handed off to a company to build who then has to engineer it again to get it to work.\n\nThat's not to mention all your normal government waste, congressional district kickbacks, corruption, etc.",
"ELI5 Version: Think of it this way - its a LOT cheaper to pay a taxi to go somewhere than buy a car yourself. \n\nR & D costs. NASA would have to sink a lot of money into development of a vehicle - all the previous ones have been retired. In the LONG run it may save money, but in the short term (next decade or so) its cheaper to go with an already developed solution. ",
"From an economic point of view, government agencies tend to become more and more beaurocratic over time. Private companies have a strong incentive to care about the bottom line, while government agencies generally don't. \n\nIf a private company can save millions, it goes into the pocket of somebody, say the CEO or shareholders. If a government agency saves money, nothing happens. Actually if government agencies don't see all their money this year, next year they will likely lose that money since \"it doesn't look like they need it\"."
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cl2puz | how big is tree(3)? | Like seriously, Im so stupid I can't comprehend the formula explanation. Can you please explain as simple as possible that it's going to make sense to a 5 year old brain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cl2puz/eli5_how_big_is_tree3/ | {
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"ELI5: What is Tree(3)?",
"Actually there isn't a formula for Tree(3) because we have absolutely no idea how big it is. All that's known about it is that it's finite and that it's unimaginably bigger than other ginormous numbers such as Graham's number (and [this article](_URL_0_) explains just how big Graham's number is)"
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20zybf | when a civilian ship is asked to aid in a search and rescue operation, who covers the costs? | I.e. gas, salaries of seamen, possible shipping delays, etc | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20zybf/eli5_when_a_civilian_ship_is_asked_to_aid_in_a/ | {
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"Its considered an ancient tradition and responsibility of all seafarers to provide aid to vessels in distress, in recent times this has been enshrined in international maritime law.\n\nThere is no payment, just the knowledge that others will help you if you get in trouble",
"Generally, unless the rescuers make a claim for salvage compensation, the extra costs fall on the ship. However this will mostly depend on the ship's contract.\n\nWhenever a ship carries cargo, there is a contract, which is called the charter party agreement. It is an agreement between all the people involved in the transportation of the cargo. There are many types of charter party agreements and they have many different clauses. For example, some times the ship is only paid for bringing cargo from one port to another. The shipper puts a 1000 tons of a cargo on the ship, the ship only gets paid for 1000 tons. The ship has to cover the rest of the costs. This is similar to how taxis operate. In some agreements, the charterer rents the ship for a period of time. The charterer covers the running costs such as fuel, but the ship covers the cost of crew wages and maintenance. Think of this like a chauffeur. Sometimes, the ship owners supply a ship, but nothing else. The charterer has to pay for crew, fuel, supplies, and most of everything. This is like leasing a car. On top of this, there are many clauses. These clauses outline when someone has to pay for certain events that occur.\n\nSo, who pays for what really depends on the contract the ship has."
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