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2lfkj2 | what is liberal (democratic) economic policy? | If I had to summarize Conservative economic policy it is pretty simple low taxes, and low regulation. That being said I have never seen Liberal economic policy easily explained, or the theory behind it elaborated. I mean I assume that its more nuanced than being for higher taxes and more regulations. Any insight is greatly appreciated. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lfkj2/eli5_what_is_liberal_democratic_economic_policy/ | {
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"The general idea is that the free market isn't perfect because the economy doesn't operate in a vacuum. When the market fails, the government needs to step in to correct incentives. \n\nAs an example, spewing carcinogenic chemicals from a manufacturing plant may be good for the business (cheaper for them) and the people who buy from them (cheaper for them too), but it's bad for everyone else even though they aren't involved in the sale. In cases like this, the government should step in and make the manufacturer stop polluting or pay for the damage their plant is causing (which is pretty darn high if people are literally dying from the toxic waste you're spewing out).\n\nExtending from this idea that the societal impact of our actions is important, progressives also generally believe that having people dying in the streets is a bad idea, hence the support of welfare programs and medicaid to help people who are unable to get a job for whatever reason. ",
"From the liberal perspective, more regulations are necessary to protect workers and the environment from corporate greed, and higher taxes are needed to pay for government social programs."
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fgpgue | how does a nicotine patch work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fgpgue/eli5_how_does_a_nicotine_patch_work/ | {
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"It delivers nicotine \"transdermally\" (across the skin barrier). Nicotine is small and can get to your bloodstream through your skin. This allows you to maintain a level of nicotine - the most significant cause of addiction - without having to smoke a cigarette. The idea is that you'll be assisted in breaking the smoking habit by having another method of getting nicotine. This allows you to divorce the physical addiction from the habit (which is complex - social, a way of passing time, nice rituals, etc.)."
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2vyxl7 | will two baseballs a foot apart in deep space be attracted to each other by gravity? will it be fast or slow? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vyxl7/eli5_will_two_baseballs_a_foot_apart_in_deep/ | {
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"Two baseballs any distance apart anywhere are attracted to each other by gravity. In deep space, far from other influences, and very close together, their mutual gravity could easily be stronger than anything else. They would drift towards each other very slowly.",
"Every thing in the universe that has mass is attracted to every other thing in the universe that has mass. The strength of this attraction is dependent on the mass of the two objects.\n\nTwo baseballs a foot apart in deep space will be attracted to each other. The gravitational force however is really really weak (it's absurd really. You can lift your sandwich from the table despite having an entire planet underneath it pulling it down). If the attraction forces from the rest of the universe are ignored then the balls will move towards one and other really really REALLY slowly. ",
"Yes they will! In fact, gravity stretches clear across the universe! Everything in space is attracted to everything else! Now for the slow/fast part.\n\nWe can use Newton's equation for gravity to see how quickly they'd come together (warning, incoming math):\n\nF=GmM/r^2\n\nF=(6.673×10^-11 )(0.141748 * 2)/(0.3048)^2\n\nF=(6.673×10^-11 )(3.05152)\n\nF=2.0362793x10^-10 N; this number means that they accelerate veeeeeerrrrrry slowly towards each other",
"All objects in the universe are attracted to all other objects. The closer they get the stronger the attraction.\n\nI was a Physics major in college and you literally would not believe how good this line was at picking up girls.",
"Yes they would. However, gravity is pretty damn weak so it'd be very slow.\n\nElectromagnetic force is on the order of 10^36 times stronger than gravity.",
"As others have said, yes absolutely. As they have also said, it doesn't particularly matter if the baseballs are in deep space or not. \n\nHowever I don't think anyone had adequately answered yet the question of how strong the attraction is. It may surprise you (and many others in this thread) to know the attraction of two small balls in a moderately sized laboratory facilitated the first measurement of the mass of the sun!\n\nThe experiment is very simple and you can replicate it yourself.\n\nTake a string/rope and hang it from the ceiling. Take a long rod(as long as will fit in the room), and tie the middle of it to the rope, ie hang it balanced horizontally. Attach a heavy ball to each end of the rod, but keep it balanced. A baseball should work, (although something heavier would give you more precision). You need another heavy test object, eg a bowling ball, which you can place near one of the masses at the end of the rod, preferably by fixing it atop a slender rod with a reasonable base that you can just place on the floor. Finally, you will also need to fix a small mirror to the center of the rod, a laser, and a ruler. \n\nWith this simple apparatus in place, you can start making measurements. First, you need the masses of all the objects involved. Preferably, the weights of the test masses should be much greater than the support rods because it will simplify the math if you can ignore the gravitational pull of the rods. You should also eliminate all other masses from nearby the apparatus, such as yourself, and turn off the A/C so the air is not blowing the delicate apparatus around. You also need to know exactly how the rope reacts to being twisted and stretched. For example if you twist it by one revolution, it might shorten by an inch. If you hang an extra weight, it might stretch half an inch. \n\nFinally, you are ready to measure the mass of the sun. Remove the test mass (bowling ball) from near the rod and baseballs. Fix the laser on a wall and point it at the mirror on the rod. Make sure the apparatus is allowed to come to a complete equilibrium, and mark the reflection of the laser on the wall. This gives you the initial angle of the rod. Now bring the test mass close to one end of the apparatus (eg bowling ball near baseball). Again, the test mass should be raised off the floor so that it is level with the mass hanging from the rod. It should be placed so that the rod can twist toward it (ie, not in line with the rod). Measure exactly where the masses are in relation to each other. Then again remove yourself from the vicinity and allow the apparatus to come to an equilibrium. The attraction between the test mass and the baseball will twist the rod towards the bowling ball, and the laser's reflection off the mirror should move. Compare the old and new position to know how much the rod twisted. Compare the twist to how much the rope shortens if twisted a full resolution, and use the elasticity of the rope to compute the force between the two masses. Knowing the weights of the masses and the distance between them, compute the gravitational constant. Knowing the mass of the earth, distance from the sun, and now the freshly computed gravitational constant, compute the mass of the sun!! "
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bja370 | why do you see little squiggles in strong led light? | Getting our nails done & the small nail dryer is a strong group of LED lights & you are able to see small little flying “bugs” in the light. Why?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bja370/elif_why_do_you_see_little_squiggles_in_strong/ | {
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"They’re white blood cells moving through the blood vessels in your eye. White blood cells let light pass through better than red blood cells, making them visible. It’s particularly noticeable with bright lights and blue lights in particular. The proper name for this is blue field entoptic phenomenon."
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lftpy | what is stoicism? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/lftpy/eli5_what_is_stoicism/ | {
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"Stoicism is a way of approaching living with the aim of having a positive and tranquil life. It originated in ancient Rome with a philosopher named Seneca, who started a school to teach his approach to life, called Stoicism. \n\nThe basic idea in stoicism is to seek out a tranquil and positive way of living by training oneself to appreciate the things one has. This training takes several forms, when people think of stoicism they often think of putting up with misfortune without complaint, or deliberately seeking out hardship. \n\nA simple example: Imagine your favourite toy, let's say it's a ball. Now imagine that your brother borrows your ball and loses it. This might make you sad and angry but if you think about it, there are plenty of ways for you to play without having a ball; you could run around in the park, or learn how to do cartwheels! The ball isn't really so important after all! Now because we were imagining this, you still actually have your ball - this is great because you haven't actually lost anything but hopefully have a new appreciation for your ball and how great it is to play with, but you also know that, should worst come to worst, you'll be ok without your ball and you'll still be able to have fun. \n\nSo a stoic is calm and ok when bad things happen to her, she knows that she'll be fine because she's learned how well she can cope in rough situations as she has imagined (and sometimes put herself) in bad situations as practice so she really appreciates all the important things she does have. \n\nHopefully, if the practice is successful, a stoic enjoys all moments fully: genuinely appreciating all good fortunes, and weathering bad fortunes with a calm joy and lack of regret.",
"Stoicism is a way of approaching living with the aim of having a positive and tranquil life. It originated in ancient Rome with a philosopher named Seneca, who started a school to teach his approach to life, called Stoicism. \n\nThe basic idea in stoicism is to seek out a tranquil and positive way of living by training oneself to appreciate the things one has. This training takes several forms, when people think of stoicism they often think of putting up with misfortune without complaint, or deliberately seeking out hardship. \n\nA simple example: Imagine your favourite toy, let's say it's a ball. Now imagine that your brother borrows your ball and loses it. This might make you sad and angry but if you think about it, there are plenty of ways for you to play without having a ball; you could run around in the park, or learn how to do cartwheels! The ball isn't really so important after all! Now because we were imagining this, you still actually have your ball - this is great because you haven't actually lost anything but hopefully have a new appreciation for your ball and how great it is to play with, but you also know that, should worst come to worst, you'll be ok without your ball and you'll still be able to have fun. \n\nSo a stoic is calm and ok when bad things happen to her, she knows that she'll be fine because she's learned how well she can cope in rough situations as she has imagined (and sometimes put herself) in bad situations as practice so she really appreciates all the important things she does have. \n\nHopefully, if the practice is successful, a stoic enjoys all moments fully: genuinely appreciating all good fortunes, and weathering bad fortunes with a calm joy and lack of regret."
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45tdsz | how do you "teach" a computer the duration of a second? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45tdsz/eli5_how_do_you_teach_a_computer_the_duration_of/ | {
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"You have a quartz crystal which can quite easily be persuaded to vibrate at a stable frequency. You then divide this again and again until you get to the interval you want.\n\nAlmost all clocks and watches (including the Real Time Clock on computers) use a 32768Hz crystal. Why? Well, divide it by two each time...\n\n32768 per second\n\n16384\n\n8192\n\n4096\n\n2048\n\n1024\n\n512\n\n256\n\n128\n\n64\n\n32\n\n16\n\n8\n\n4\n\n2\n\n1 per second.",
"/u/skipweasel is quite correct. Additionally, not all computers have a real time clock (RTC), and not all operating systems use it for tracking time anyway. Most do, some don't. But it is very common for the RTC to be battery powered, and to keep track of time while the computer is powered down -- then the operating system sets the current time by reading the RTC on bootup.\n\nThe point being that the RTC is important during power off and on bootup, but often after that the OS counts time intervals to update the current time.\n\nEither way, the key thing is that computers aren't taught about seconds, they necessarily have an electronic clock of one or several kinds.\n\nA common thing for computers to do is to keep track of, for instance, milliseconds, and to note that one second has passed after there have been 1000 such.\n\nThey do this via \"interrupts\", which is a whole 'nother technical topic. The current time is adjusted to fix drift over time via the Network Time Protocol, when internet access is available -- yet another topic.\n\nThe reference standard for time in the U.S. is kept by the NIST (National Institute of Standards), and is relayed to other computers from there, to keep them all more or less in sync."
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2d4hxi | do animals such as a cat have a way to tell the opposite sex apart, or do they just look to see if it has a wiener or not? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2d4hxi/eli5_do_animals_such_as_a_cat_have_a_way_to_tell/ | {
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"Im thinking they go by scent. ",
"Female cats, when in heat, will spray. Which is urinating with hormones in it to say \"Line up boys, the pussy's ready\"\n\nAnd even then, you will see females going at each other and males going at each other if they can't find the opposite sex, or if they get confused (cat orgies).",
"Certainly. Why do you think dogs sniff your crotch when they first meet you? They're trying to tell what sex you are. Both dogs and cats probably use a combination of scent, sight and the sound of the voice to determine a person's sex.",
"Most animals use scent or pheromones"
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bfoyb2 | how are we able to analyse dna that is thousands of years old? how do we even find it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bfoyb2/eli5_how_are_we_able_to_analyse_dna_that_is/ | {
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"All living things are made of cells. Inside each cell is DNA. If the cell is preserved, regardless of age, then we can extract the DNA to analyze. Longer it's been dead the more likely it's decayed and broken down. Finding tissue that's thousands of years old means conditions were perfect to preserve it."
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9vd7u7 | why do humans live in seemingly uninhabitable places? | Like the coldest town of Oymyakon in deep Siberia or Himalayas or Andes.What made the early humans settle there on the first place and why haven’t they moved even after having option to? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9vd7u7/eli5_why_do_humans_live_in_seemingly/ | {
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"They werent there in the first place, and/or they werent aware there was better climate elsewhere. \nHumans migrated towards less populated places in order to thrive, some went south when they got into europe, some north etc...",
"For most of human history, there was no transportation other than walking and no phones or internet. People who were born there probably never journeyed more than a few miles from home unless they were hunter-gatherers, and even then not far by today's standards.\n\n They might not even have known that different climates existed, and if they did, they were still too far to walk and the journey would be risky. Maybe upon arrival the natives would be aggressive. Maybe they'd starve on the way there. It just wasn't worth it. \n\nFast forward to more modern times. Even now, moving to a different climate is difficult. The food is different, and so are the germs, which foreigners have no immunity to. Moving is extremely expensive, and crossing borders means either a long and expensive legal process or a risky and difficult life under the radar. \n\nI suspect, however, that the biggest reason of all is family and friends. People don't want to leave their loved ones. Also, as the saying goes, the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't know.",
"Even though those area may seem inhospitable they are probably the most hospitable areas compared to others nearby.",
"Humans do quite well with issues they can prepare or accommodate for, this includes environmental issues, like extreme cold, and thin air. If a group of people can survive somewhere, why would they move? They are used to their normal problems and can mitigate them, moving to a new location would introduce new potential ways to die that they aren't prepared for. If you have lived in the mountains your whole life, and move to the coastline, you don't know to run when there is an earthquake because there might be a tsunami coming."
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74wni8 | why do brits fly the union jack, rather than their own flag? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/74wni8/eli5_why_do_brits_fly_the_union_jack_rather_than/ | {
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"It depends what we’re celebrating. Around World Cup time you can see thousands of England flags (Red Cross on a white field) all over the place. I suspect the same would be the same if the other countries teams ever made it through the qualifiers!! (It’s just a joke!!)\n\nA lot of the time though, our celebrations are national (e.g. Queens birthday, VE Day, whatever) and so the UJ applies. The same for military displays etc. The military is made up of people and units from everywhere and so the union flag is used.\n\n",
"I think it's pretty common to fly their own national flags in Scotland and Wales.\n\nBut in England, many people don't really make much of a distinction between the British and English flags. It's fairly common to use the union jack to represent England. It was even used to represent the English football team before 1996.\n\nI guess there's also the fact that the English are the majority. Flying the English flag can be seen as needlessly excluding the rest of the UK. Of course the Scottish and Welsh flags are also exclusive, but the fact they are minorities within the UK it makes it a bit different. \n\nI haven't mentioned Northern Ireland because I know flags are a thorny issue there. They don't actually have an official flag of their own.",
"Because as a country we are a \"United Kingdom\" made up of smaller countries (Or Kingdoms). These smaller countries come under the umbrella of the United Kingdom because the united aspect of these seperate smaller countries is what makes the UK the UK.\n\nTo put another spin on it, most US states have their own flag. Just as it would be unnatural for someone from Texas to fly the Texas state flag internationally rather than the US flag, the same sort of thing applies in the UK.\n\nThat being said there are exceptions. Some sporting events allow Wales and Scotland to compete on a national level because they are still recognised countries. Like the World Cup.",
"The Union Jack *is* the flag of the Brits. If you're asking why the *English* don't fly the *English* flag... some do. In fact, many, probably.\n\nUnfortunately, a lot of groups with rather controversial views such as the English Defence League have used the flag prominently, as well as football hooligans. This has led to many people associating the flag with violence and racism: one survey in 2012 found that a quarter of English people felt the English flag had racist connotations; only 10% felt the same about the Union Jack.\n\nFor that reason many English people avoid flying the English flag, as they don't want to be associated with racism or violence.\n\nA couple of years ago Labour MP Emily Thornberry tweeted a photo of a house in Rochester that had English flags draped over the walls. Although she didn't comment explicitly in the tweet, a lot of people felt she was trying to imply that the occupant was a racist, and as a result she was forced to resign from her post (she was at the time Shadow Attorney General).",
"Unfortunately, both the union flag and St. George’s Cross has been co-opted by the far right. There are also connotations of an association with past imperialism with the union and George’s flags. \n\nI’m from wales and the red dragon is everywhere and to a lesser extent the union flag. I’ve lived in England and I rarely saw the St. George’s Cross, as others have pointed out many in England see the union flag as interchangeable with the cross. this I think is also the thinking in the Celtic nations with many people associating the union flag with England.\n\nI have family in Yorkshire and I’ve seen the white rose flag a lot there. Again I guess it doesn’t have the same extremist or imperialist connotations. The white rose is fairly romantic with its link to a tragic war and ultimately failed cause and most importantly from a series of events that was so long ago that it doesn’t cause any anger with people - I think that kind of notion of supporting the underdogs gets a lot of traction with British people. The same can be said of the Celtic flags in comparison to the English flag.",
"In Northumberland there are Northumbrian flags in a lot of places and often on car stickers. Being the last Kingdom to join England there’s still an undercurrent of loyalty towards Northumbria.",
"Personally, I don't like the St. George's Cross as I see myself as a citizen of the U.K. first and a citizen of England second, and I think it needlessly excludes other parts of the U.K. "
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548kob | why is the gold standard touted as being real money and fiat currency as fake? | Basically, both of these things (paper vs a metal) have no inherent value. For example, a currency based on food or water would seem like a better store of currency because those things actually have real life value. Is the only difference between the two that you can only mine a finite amount of gold thus controlling supply? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/548kob/eli5_why_is_the_gold_standard_touted_as_being/ | {
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"Basically you're right. Previous metals need to be mined and they aren't easy to come by. Fiat is just paper, which can be obtained anywhere. You're right I'm that food/water would be more valuable in a post apocalyptic setting but in the case that the dollar crashes or just goes down in value, the metal will retain or increase in value.",
"A major difference is who controls the supply. The supply of gold is controlled by factors owned by a wide enough variety of unrelated people and companies that its roughly uncontrollable by any single entity and increases at a roughly predictable rate.\n\nThis makes it popular among paranoids and small-government proponents. Additionally, this would theoretically give it more weight compared to fiat currencies controlled by less stable countries, who do not have the stability and size for their currency to be stable and valued as well.\n\nOf course, it's this very factor which makes it undesirable. The ability for a country to quickly shift its monetary supply in reaction to economic circumstances is very powerful, as can be seen the Depression and recently in Greece's case.\n\nThere's also a psychological effect. Gold is perceived as more solid than a IOU from the government, however untrue that statement may be.",
"I think lack of understanding of economics, and being generally unfamiliar with world history contributes to this belief. People have been using various types of metals, stones, and even pebbles as currency. The reason currency backed by gold is touted as supreme currency, is due to its rarity, and a false perception of relative stability. There many downsides to gold standard as currency, I will list a few here, but not necessarily in the order of importance.\n\n * Gold generally increases in value, which means your currency suffers deflation. Deflation as a rule is much worse than inflation as it hampers growth. At high level of deflation, you no longer need to risk your money, to increase your purchase power, you just need to wait, thus taking away from the economy. Now imagine you have a mortgage, in an inflationary environment, your house increases in price, but your payment stays the same, and lower in real world terms. With deflation, your house is worth less, but your payment stays the same, think 2008 economic crisis.\n * Gold value is not so stable as it seems, in the past 50 years it both rose from 400 to 1800, and went back to 400 and back to 1800 again when adjusted for inflation. \n_URL_1_ \n * Rapid infusion of gold is unhealthy to the economy, and can hamper economic growth for centuries. Very interesting article on effect on Spain from all the Inca gold, I think it increased supply of gold in Europe several times. \n_URL_0_\n * The main reason modern economies went to fiat currencies, is they provide tools to control the economy, i.e increase/decrease money supply. Unlike gold, you can actually print more money if economy needs it. It took the fed (i.e. economists at central bank) 60+ years get better at stimulating economy, while keeping hyperinflation at bay, with mediocre results, but better than before. Prior to 19th century, rate of growth of 1% would be superb, 0.1-0.2% would be normal, hence the prices didn't change much. Authors would reference price of something, and 30 years later the price seemed reasonable. In the 19th century, they've stopped doing that, as it didn't age well:). \n * Currency based on food and water suffer the same fate as currencies based on paper. In the past 50 years food became a lot cheaper to produce. The yields on corn, wheat, and pretty much any fruits/veggies increased dramatically. You would prolly need to work 3-4 times less number of hours to feed your family today than 50 years ago. If you need to increase the money supply, do you grow extra food that will just rot away? Even if you can conserve it, can you do that for decades?\n * Among other arguments, fiat currency existed since the advent of banking system or IOUs, but that's a bit more involved to explain. \n\n",
"The fallacy of the logic concerning the gold standard is why would anyone who values gold so much, sell it in exchange for fiat currency no matter what the value? Why would you buy gold at $600 an once and sell it for $1,300 an once in fiat currency? That huge fiat profit has to prove they value fiat currency just as much as gold; and that they benefit from the volatility and uncertainty they promote for their agenda. And if gold is such a good deal, why aren't the gold mining companies the world's the central bank?\n\nThe reason why is, gold is way too heavy to make doing business and commerce efficient. So we store it in a central bank and use its paper equivalent to do transactions. And even paper currency is being replaced by electronic money in the form of credit cards and automatic payment and paycheck transfers. Thus we have entered an age of the \"non-physical currency\", where electronic digits have value in exchange for labor and the purchase of goods and the value of those digits are determined by speculators on FX exchange."
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2bbry1 | why can humans develop resistances to things like cyanide or other poisons, but not to allergies or things that induce anaphylactic shock? | How can someone become immune to cyanide or snake venom through exposure in and doses, but not cure their allergies in the same way? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bbry1/eli5_why_can_humans_develop_resistances_to_things/ | {
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"Some allergies can by overcome that way.",
"who is resistant to cyanide?"
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cbki1t | what function does “good bacteria” have in our bodies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbki1t/eli5_what_function_does_good_bacteria_have_in_our/ | {
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"So “good bacteria” mostly in our stomachs and intestines help us digest food granted there can be good bacteria elsewhere (There’s one I simply can’t remember the name of that has become so ingrained into us that every single one of our cells have it by default) which if I recall correctly also deals with helping cells turn things that can be made into energy ... into that energy \n\nThere may be others that aren’t coming to mind but for the most part good bacteria helps process food down into actually usable energy"
]
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8rgdfh | is the economy really messed up? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8rgdfh/eli5_is_the_economy_really_messed_up/ | {
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"Well the complaint is they always voted to lower their taxes , increase spending, all fueled by debt.\n\nThat debt is going to come due as while they are in retirement so they won't be paying it back.\n\nOh also now they retired they will fight tooth and nail for social security, and Medicare all while trying to take away any entitlement spending that helps young people.\n\n\nIt's not that they ruined the economy, they racked up a ton of Debt, and now that they are retired they expect young people to pay back their debt as well as pay for their retirement .",
"So to start, let's talk about what an economy is. An economy is kind of like an ecosystem, but for money and trade. All things have value, and the value of these things in relation to each other is an economy. What it boils down to, ultimately, is what do we value our own time and the rarity of certain goods or services at? This is the most simplistic explanation that I can possibly think of, although I invite anyone to offer an alternative.\n\nNow that we've established WHAT an economy is, we address how it works. I need something you have, but have nothing to offer you in exchange that you want. This is where currency comes into play. I wanted your cow, and offered chickens, but you need hogs not chickens. In lieu of hogs, and since you don't want chickens, here's some money! Go buy the hogs you need from the guy who has hogs and needs horses but you don't have horses. I have horses, so hog man takes your money, and comes to me for horses. I don't need his hogs, since I got your cow already, so I'll take the money instead. I'll need something else later. This is how an economy works, an exchange of goods or services for a pre-valued \"middle man\" which in this case is money.\n\nNow that we've established HOW an economy works, we'll addressed why it doesn't work the way it used to. Or rather, it works exactly as it always has, we just haven't adjusted values to keep things fair.\n\nThe Boomers are a generation which were born after World War II, typically coined as the generation between 1944 and something like 1972, I don't remember and don't frankly care. What's important here is that between 1956 and 1968, as the boomers were in the height of entering the job force, Minimum Wage was pretty significantly increased. Minimum wage laws first introduced in 1938 guaranteed that everyone would receive at least the same base pay no matter what work they performed, ensuring everyone could afford to live by being able to purchase the necessary products to do exactly that. However, as time went on and things got more expensive (see Inflation in relation to economics for a breakdown of this concept if you aren't familiar with it), the minimum wage wasn't correctly adjusted. The height of buying power for the minimum wage in the U.S. was in 1968, and every year after that the wage became less effective than it was at that time. This is due in part to the generation preceding the boomers, who saw a huge opportunity to make money by raising the price of goods and services to meet the money everyone was now promised they would make. Eventually these same people raised the prices more, and people began to struggle. As a result of charging more money for products, companies had more money in their pockets. The minimum wage was adjusted, companies paid their employees more money since they had earned more through higher prices, balance in theory was achieved yet again. In addition to this, the government continued to print new money despite having nothing to keep its value stable (money is valued according to how much precious metal the government holds as a lean against the dollar, which is to say that if one pound of gold is equal to one dollar, then one hundred pounds is one hundred dollars. But if you add another hundred dollars without adding a hundred pounds of gold, you have a 2 > 1 ratio, and each dollar's value is effectively halved because it isn't equally represented by gold). As a result of over-printing money, it became worth less overall. Companies raised prices again to make sure they had the same percentage of gain, but wages were not adjusted. People struggled again.\n\nThe minimum wage, established in 1938, started at $0.25/hr. It was increased in 1939, 1945, 1950, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1997, 2007, 2008, and finally again in 2009. It has not seen an increase in nine years now, which is fast approaching the largest gap in history between 1997 and 2007, of ten years. And yet, prices keep going up even though our wages aren't increased. Here's where we get into the conversation about the Boomers \"ruining\" the economy.\n\nBoomers now control the government, and the economy, by and large. They are currently, and for the last thirty years or so have been, the force deciding the way this country is going. Specifically, the rich boomers in direct power financially and politically. It's these people who have driven the costs of education through the roof, horribly inflated the value of property and housing, and tried their very best to increase the gap between the production cost of a product and what you or I pay to take that product home. This is an idea they inherited from their predecessors, but they took it to an extreme. First they became the generation to embrace college education and capitalism, then they became the generation that \"achieved\" the american dream. Then, they repetitively told every generation to follow that going to school was absolutely necessary, while increasing its cost far over the ability for anyone in the middle class to conceivably afford it on their own. They effectively forced people to take out loans to cover the cost, which they are then forced to pay back or else ruin their credit and the ability to do other financially important things later in their future. All while increasing the minimum wage enough to cover the cost of food and shelter, barely, but not anything outside of that without either multiple incomes or other outside assistance. Women joined the work force in full swing as they embraced social equality, and they were paid less for the same work than men (and still are). Yet it costs the same for them to live as it does a man, more in fact once you consider certain hygiene products they are essentially forced to buy and use. This drove individual debt per capita (debt owed per person x an area or population, represented by percentage of the total group) up as women owed the same money men did but made less money and had to spend more of the less they earned to live in the same comfort as men in their same field. Again, prices for school and housing inflated as their \"value\" increased, and we received little to no compensation to offset these increased costs. Only new programs for borrowing money we still can't afford to pay back.\n\nAt no other point in the history of any nation has an epidemic of debt to income ratio ever been this severe, and it's happened under the guidance of the Baby Boomer generation. So when people blame the Boomers for our economy being \"ruined\", what they're really saying is that it's the fault of the Boomer generation for setting expectations for certain paths in life, and then simultaneously inflating the cost of those paths while offering us nothing extra to help with the cost, except a promise that we can pay them over time instead of all right now. We haven't even tackled the issue of interest on debts, that's just a ten kiloton bomb on top of an already deep crater. It was the Boomer generation who made these changes to our economy, and they are responsible for the impact their collective greed and social pressure has had on our country as a result."
]
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5w0xc7 | what colours are beyond infrared and ultraviolet? | What colours could potentially exist when you keep going further along the colour spectrum? I imagine there could possibly be an infinite amount of colours, like there could be an infinite amount of radio frequencies. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5w0xc7/eli5_what_colours_are_beyond_infrared_and/ | {
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"Colour only makes sense as a quality which our brains interpret. One cannot *imagine* a new colour, although some people and animals might be able to perceive more colours owing to things such as having more colour light receptors or other physical adaptions. \n\nIn terms of the electromagnetic spectrum, the limits are essentially infinite. You could make arguments for the longest wavelength radio wave having a wavelength on the order of the Observable Universe and highest energy gamma ray having a wavelength just small enough such that the energy concentration does not spontaneously form a black hole. ",
"\"Color\" is just how our human brains interpret different wavelengths of light within the visible spectrum. Light outside that spectrum is invisible to humans, so by definition it has no color.",
"You'll get to a point where Wifi, Radiosignals and X-Ray are colors. If you're okay with that, I can't see any boundaries whatsoever. Be creative with names but don't expect to actually see them since our eyes can't perceive these wavelength. That's why we have names for the colors but not far beyond.",
"Light and radio waves are both electromagnetic radiation. So are x-rays and gamma rays. \n\nInfrared and ultraviolet have wavelengths outside our visual range and in the psychological sense they have no color. \n\nSometimes we use the term \"color\" to refer to invisible colors. There is an infinite number of visible colors, but you can only distinguish maybe 200 wavelengths or \"spectral colors\". With different combinations of spectral colors, you can see maybe 10,000,000 colors",
" > infinite amount of colours, like there could be an infinite amount of radio frequencies.\n\nWell, visible light and radio waves are the same thing: they're both forms of electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves are just a different color of light. So what exists when you go along the colour spectrum? Go up in frequency (shorter wavelength) and you go visible > ultraviolet > X-rays > gamma rays, going down in frequency it goes optical > infrared > microwaves > radio waves. [Here's a neat chart](_URL_0_)\n\nThis should make intuitive sense if you think of examples of how we utilize some of these things. For instance, when you take an x-ray, you use film. It's essentially a camera, it just uses a 'color' of light that goes through people instead of bouncing off of them. We get images from microwave, x-ray, and radio telescopes. We then change those into images that look like they could be made with visible light. We're just taking some color of radio wave or microwaves or whatever and turning it into some visible color for color in the image."
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5shqjn | why do the sounds of alarm clocks make most people feel anxious or upset? | Everytime I hear one, I feel anxious. I've talked to multiple people who feel the same way and experience this similar feeling. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5shqjn/eli5why_do_the_sounds_of_alarm_clocks_make_most/ | {
"a_id": [
"ddf68cj"
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"text": [
"We often set our alarms to go off as late as possible, maximizing the amount of sleep but minimizing the amount of time we have to get ready for work/school in the morning. It's not only the shock of being jolted awake suddenly, it's knowing that we have to jump out of bed immediately and race against the clock to be ready on time. "
]
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|
32mv66 | why is it that blasting the a.c. in your face helps prevent you from vomiting while nauseated? | Sitting in front of the A.C. on full blast usually helps keep me from throwing up. Is this a medical thing or is this only helpful to some? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32mv66/eli5_why_is_it_that_blasting_the_ac_in_your_face/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqcob6f"
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"text": [
"Its a medical fact. Changing the temperature of your body has other affects depending on what you are attempting to accomplish. By blasting cold air into your face, you are relaxing and relieving stress from your face and throat, allowing your body to more easily relax and focus on controlling its autonomic functions more readily and less prone to loosing control of its systems.\n\nSay you are trying to prevent yourself from throwing up by placing cooler air crossing along your face, it will allow you to slowly become more relaxed, instead by distracting you and taking away excess heat. There are other things such as introducing fresh air, circulating away other odors that can be causing nausea and some other actors as well."
]
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|
5scap5 | how do elite athletes recover (relatively) quickly after playing at a such a high level? | I'm surprised at how well Rafa and Roger recovered after their respective 5 setters in the Aus Open semi finals to play a great final.
I also see pitchers recovering in 4 days, cricket wicketkeepers keeping wickets all day and then come in to bat etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5scap5/eli5how_do_elite_athletes_recover_relatively/ | {
"a_id": [
"dde17ab"
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"score": [
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"Fitness has a lot to do with it. An out of shape person might get winded climbing a flight of stairs. A top tier marathon runner can run for 26 miles. Their heart and cardiovascular system, lungs and muscles are all in good shape, and can quickly expel the lactic acid and other byproducts of aerobic and anaerobic activity. \n\nThey also have access to top tier trainers, therapists and doctors to make sure they use the optimal form for their sport, and help them massage their soreness away.\n\n"
]
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1wj81n | why windows has to search for drivers every time i plug in a device i have used hundreds of times before | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wj81n/eli5_why_windows_has_to_search_for_drivers_every/ | {
"a_id": [
"cf2i3jk"
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"text": [
"This should not be happening.\n\nOnce you have plugged it in once, it should activate much quicker.\n\nI am assuming you are talking about a USB device? Sometimes when you plug it into a different port. It sets it up again. Try and plug the device into the same port."
]
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||
a7ikev | why can't we manually enter in volume levels? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a7ikev/eli5_why_cant_we_manually_enter_in_volume_levels/ | {
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"There are plenty of smart remotes and other systems that let you do this. I can even talk to my Google home, tell it to set the volume to 20% on Gizmo (my television) and never lift a finger. \n\nLook up logitech harmony, I'm sure they have a remote with the option."
]
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||
f9yfsy | how do grenade launchers work? why doesn’t an uncooked grenade just come out harmlessly when it is shot? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f9yfsy/eli5_how_do_grenade_launchers_work_why_doesnt_an/ | {
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"Grenade launcher grenades typically have some sort of arming fuse that enables the explosive to detonate after it has left the barrel of the launcher.\n\nFrom my understanding, the common 40mm grenade uses a fly-wheel which allows the spinning hull of the grenade to generate a certain number of rotations before the impact fuse is lined up to detonate the grenade.",
"A grenade launcher doesn't use an hand grenade, it's specialized greande with a propulsion charge. It's basically like a gun, you press the trigger which hit a percussion cap, this will ignite a propellant at the back of the grenade, just like with a bullet. But instead of pushing a bullet out of a long barrel, it propulse a large grenade out of small tube. This mean that the grenade is going at a relatively slow speed and its trajectory will do an arc to the target. Usually there is a system inside the grenade that arm it after it travelled a certain distance to make sure you don't kill yourself with it.",
"What type of launcher and grenade? \n\nSome set off a fuse after it’s fired similarly to a bullet. It goes off like a regular grenade.\n\nSome have trigger tips, so when it’s activated and then smashes into something it’s like pressing the boom button.\n\nSome are smart and can have the fuse be controlled to detonate at adjustable times or when impacting. These can be set to go off distance as well, so you could make it explode just as it enters a window to impact people taking cover. No more throwing the grenade back or jumping on it."
]
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1z7772 | if i were to shoot a gun out of a moving car going 50 mph, would the bullet go in a straight line from where i shot it, or would it continue in a diagonal line resulting from the velocity of the moving car? | Basically what the title says. I'm just curious about the physics behind shooting a gun out of a moving car window (no, NSA, I am not going to be trying this at home.) What brought this question up was I was driving on my daily commute and a bird was flying right beside my car window at almost identical speed. I started thinking where I would have to aim in order to hit the bird. I understand that if you are standing still and a bird flies in front of you, from left to right, you have to aim in front of it to account for its speed and the time it takes for the bullet to get there. With this in mind, if you and the bird are perfectly still, you don't have to accommodate for those things. Would it be the same if you and the bird are both traveling at 50mph, or would you still have to accommodate for the speed and distance? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z7772/eli5_if_i_were_to_shoot_a_gun_out_of_a_moving_car/ | {
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"From a purely Newtonian perspective, yes it would fly out in a diagonal line. The angle wouldn't be that different though, because you're talking about a forward component of 50 MPH and a muzzle velocity of say a .22 is over 700 MPH, but yes there is an angle.\n\nFor your bird question though, you would have to deal with windage. The moment the bullet flies out the window, even though it has a 50 MPH forward component, it hits a 50 MPH wind blowing it backwards."
]
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2wwsn4 | canada's bill c-51 on anti-terrorism | I'm trying to figure out what is fact and what is blown out of proportion. How bad actually is it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wwsn4/eli5_canadas_bill_c51_on_antiterrorism/ | {
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"The bill can be broken down into 2 points. The first is that they want to expand the powers of the intelligence services. The second is that they don't think there is any additional oversight needed. I'll address the second part first.\n\nBEFORE this bill was tabled, there were calls that the current oversight is not adequate. Canada has taken an approach that no other western nation has taken and many people feel that it's not enough. So, there are many people out there who don't like our current intelligence oversight even if we are not expanding intelligence's powers. Given as we are doing that, it only makes the oversight problem worse. \n\nRecently several former supreme court justices and several former prime ministers (along with many other experienced people) have come out and said the current oversight is not enough for the current powers. It's interesting to note that none of these PMs decided to do anything about it when they were in power.\n\nIn terms of the actual powers given. The main problems stem from the fact that they are exceptionally vague on exactly what those new powers will be and what they can be used for. What exactly will they be investigating and what tools will they be using to do so. \n\nSome of the language in the bill is so vague that we could end up in a situation where the intelligence services are used as a political tool. So, for example, where is the line between environmental terrorism vs being an environmental activist. This bill is worded in such a way that the intelligence people can spy on the activists.\n\nThe counter argument is that we don't know exactly what the future threats are and that who is investigated and who is not should be in the hands of the people doing the investigating. It's concerning because in the past, in our country as well as others, that kind of investigative power was used to stop political descent. "
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3mrnof | why is it that when you spin around in a swivel chair with your legs out you can gain a quick burst of speed by pulling your legs in towards yourself? | And if you've never done it before, seriously, grab a swivel chair and try it. It's VERY satisfying. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mrnof/eli5_why_is_it_that_when_you_spin_around_in_a/ | {
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"text": [
"Conservation of angular momentum. For simple situations like this, angular momentum can just be written as a number times the moment of inertia times another number called the angular velocity. The equation is L = Iw, where L is angular momentum, I is the moment of inertia, and w is the angular velocity.\n\nAngular momentum is conserved in this situation, so L is a constant. Moving your arms and legs inward decreases I, so w must increase in order to keep L the same. So you speed up.\n\nIt's the same for ice skaters.",
"Conservation of angular momentum.\n\nA large wheel spinning slowly and a small wheel spinning quickly have the same momentum. If you go from large to small, you'll speed up.\n\nYou can see a truly extreme example of this when large stars collapse. The remnant can spin hundreds of times a second to conserve the momentum of a star millions of times larger."
]
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39sq3l | what is actually happening when a gps device is "searching for satellites"? | There is no moving antenna and as far as i know from personal experience if I'm moving the device needs more time to lock on satellite signal. If there is an available signal from satellites (e.g. no large buildings blocking it) shouldn't the device be able to immediately receive the signal and calculate my location?
Thanks in advance. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39sq3l/eli5_what_is_actually_happening_when_a_gps_device/ | {
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"The signal each satellite transmits is at a very low data rate, ensuring that you can make sense of the data with a small receiver and a poor signal. That means that you have to listen to each satellite for up to 30 seconds to hear all the details of its orbit which allow you to work out your position. Once you've heard those details once, you only need to hear the latest time signal to update your location."
]
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4i7ot4 | why aren't all land masses considered islands? aren't they all surrounded by water? | Or are they? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4i7ot4/eli5_why_arent_all_land_masses_considered_islands/ | {
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"text": [
"You *could* call them islands, but the whole point of the word was to differentiate the small ones from the really huge ones. So personally I don't call the continent sized ones islands. ",
"Generally, it's considered an island if it's a single entity or country surrounded only by water.\n\nBritain, Hispanola, and New Guinea are some of the few islands that have multiple countries on them, but they're considered one entity, so it counts as an island.",
"The definition of an island is basically \"A landmass surrounded by water that is not a continent.\" \n\nSo what's the definition of a continent? \"Landmasses we called continents and thought were big and important for a long time.\"\n\nIt's not really scientific, and in fact different schools of thought recognize different continents. "
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1uo5tm | why my beard doesn't grow as a full beard. | I know this isn't a 5 year old problem, but yea.
I have a goatee, but upon closer inspection, I still see little soft hairs where the rest of a full beard would be.
Why does the hair there grow so weakly, and why does it instead only focus on my goatee zone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1uo5tm/eli5_why_my_beard_doesnt_grow_as_a_full_beard/ | {
"a_id": [
"cek1gaa"
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"text": [
"Lame answer, but that's just how your genetics played out. Everyone's varies slightly. I can grow a full chin strap, but I get almost no growth on my cheeks, and if I grow a moustache it doesn't come anywhere close to connecting with the rest of my facial hair. "
]
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|
b4cgq6 | why are the two sides of the bronchial tree structured differently if they both go into lungs that are functionally the same? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b4cgq6/eli5_why_are_the_two_sides_of_the_bronchial_tree/ | {
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"text": [
"They are not structurally the same shape because of the heart that is a not in the center of the chest but a bit to the left. So the left lung is smaller and is missing a lobe so the heart can fit. The result is that the bronchial tree structure is different.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nLook at a chest x-ray [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) and can see the difference. The heart is in the white area on the left lung. The X-ray id as if you look at the chest from a third person perspective so right and left is flipped.-"
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5ozvyx | how is the cast system of india affecting indian's lifestyle? (job opportunities, education,money, etc) what does it do exactly? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ozvyx/eli5_how_is_the_cast_system_of_india_affecting/ | {
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"This is a rather complex issue with a lot of nuances and it'll be hard to keep this brief but I shall try. \n\nComing from a so-called high caste family, I was told that being a Brahmin (high-caste) was historically more about your educational attainment and not much to do with your genetics. My grandparents tell me that the problem of casteism was actually exacerbated by the British, who used it as a tool to divide and conquer, however I cannot comment on the legitimacy of this statement. \n\nThere is some basis for the very existence of caste, I don't believe that the concept is based on nothing. A Brahmin can only marry and procreate with a Brahmin hence after years of this practice, there is subtle difference in castes on a genetic level. If you can imagine, a group of clever people reproducing, the offspring is highly likely to also be clever. So very generally speaking, even today a higher caste student will achieve higher grades. \n\nAs for how it affects the Indian lifestyle, it can vary depending on your location. In medium sized towns to cities, people are well aware of the fact that it is morally and legally wrong to hold someone's caste against them (although even in cities, bigotry can creep up from time to time). From a legal standpoint, the Indian society strictly prohibits oppression of lower castes. That said, the law may not be rigorously enforced in the most remote parts of the country where caste based discrimination may still be rampant. \n\nOn the other hand, the education system gives quite an edge to lower caste students. A percentage of seats in many colleges are reserved for students from lower castes. My brother who got 90% in his year 10 exams was rejected by a tier 1 college, but his BC (Backwards Class) friend, who got 65% was accepted in the same college. Many argue that this is unfair and was causing the top universities and colleges to produce sub-par graduates. Objectively, it is unfair. You cannot punish the innocent people of today just because their ancestors might have been casteists. It would be like blaming an innocent German today for the crimes of his/her Nazi ancestors. Many people argue that the very idea of a caste, should be completely removed. But this won't ever happen because politicians use caste to appease these groups, they can earn a ton of votes by targeting these groups and promising entitlements, reservations being one of them. \n\nHope this answers at least some of your queries. There is a lot more to this issue that what I am describing, but it would take forever to write that essay",
"It doesn't affect anything except education and marriage as far as I'm aware. As /u/throwawaytissue97 indicated people from lower castes tend to be denoted as \"less educated\" than the Brahmins.\n\nI'm actually from a lower caste so perhaps I'll be able to give an additional perspective.\n\nIn terms of education, the argument for lower caste getting easier access into selective institutions of education is that their parents were not well educated and thus to make it easier to get a job the Indian government must allow them to get a degree with more value.\n\nThough in my opinion this is legitimately stupid because no matter what degree of education a person holds, he won't be able to get a job unless he proves to be a individual who's hardworking.\n\nFor marriage people tend to specify their caste - /u/throwawaytissue97 got it pretty spot on in his answer.\n\nMy parents got a pretty good education though - I grew up in a western country, my dad has a bachelors from a National Institute of Technology (one of the most prestigious engineering institutes in India, second only to the Indian Institutes of Technology), got a MS and MBA from the United States/Canada, my mother has a bachelors, masters and PhD.\n\nI guess I could add in my slight experience with casteism, but it wasn't at all severe:\n\nWhen I was in middle school (this was at an expensive private school in a small Indian city), I was at the top of my class and even often correcting the teachers on mistakes they did in mathematics - in other words people thought I was really intelligent. \n\nOne day, people in the class were speculating my caste and thought it was Brahmin. I told them I wasn't but they shooed my answer away by saying that I didn't understand the caste system since I was born and brought up in a western country. I didn't bother arguing the point since I thought the caste system was archaic and stupid at that age. But I will say this: even if they did believe me, I don't think my classmates would have been more negative towards me as a result."
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7uzfr2 | what does baking powder actually do in a baking recipe? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7uzfr2/eli5_what_does_baking_powder_actually_do_in_a/ | {
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"When you add water to baking powder, the dry acid and base go into solution and start reacting to produce carbon dioxide bubbles. Single-acting baking powder produces all of its bubbles when it gets wet. Double-acting baking powder produces bubbles again when it gets hot",
"Baking *powder* is a mix of sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar.\n\nSodium bicarbonate gives off carbon dioxide when it gets wet. This is an additional raising agent, because it make additional bubbles in whatever you're baking. \n\nCream of tartar is a stabilizing agent. It holds things in solution in your recipe, stops the liquids from splitting, end generally acts as a binder whilst everything's a batter.\n\nThey also sometimes have folic acid, vitamin c, or other flour improvers added to improve the elastic qualities of flour"
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fe2bim | if whispering doesn’t use your vocal cords, then how can you still hear someone’s unique voice/tone/pitch while they’re whispering? | I’ve lost my voice from having a cold, but heard myself whispering and it still sounded like my own voice. It made me wonder how that is possible if you don’t use your vocal cords when whispering. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fe2bim/eli5_if_whispering_doesnt_use_your_vocal_cords/ | {
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"The recognizable sound of your speech doesn't just depend on your vocal cords. You're using your mouth to form the words that you say. Your lips, tongue, palate, teeth & throat are all working together to do this, under the control of your muscles. The shape of your mouth and the way you control it are unique to you. So some of the recognizable qualities of your way of speaking are preserved when you whisper. However, it's still harder to recognize someone by their voice/speech when they whisper vs. when they use their vocal chords.",
"You got several sound boxes in your head, all with their own properties. These interact with reverberations differently then each other and other people's sound boxes. Albeit the muscles impact the sound of the first few boxes, the others are not -or not as - malleable. The brain remembering and filling in is also probably a factor.\n\nEdit; intelligence agencies/police and so on actually try to use this to identify voices even if the person is trying to sound not like himself.",
"I’m pretty sure it still must mildly use the cords. My grandpa had his voice box removed due to cancer, and couldn’t even whisper. He carried around paper and pencil for the rest of his life. They even tried one of those electronic things you put against your throat, and it “talks” for you in a mechanical voice, based off of vibrations. It didn’t work because there wasn’t anything to vibrate the air.",
"I'm a singer, and have been told by vocal coaches that whispering makes your vocal cords tense, which strains them. If you can whisper without forcing - just breathing out, it is less harmful, but talking softly and seldom is best.",
"What? No? Of course you use vocal cords while whispering. Who told you that."
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jb323 | the exact job of a hollywood movie producer | Just how much shit do they have to go through and why is it that they seem to get a lot the credit for the film/musical? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jb323/eli5_the_exact_job_of_a_hollywood_movie_producer/ | {
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"Simply put, a producer, like Scott Rudin (who has produced No Country For Old Men, Greenberg, The Social Network, etc.), is the person who first reads the original screenplay, decides it's good enough to be made into a film, gathers up funding from various production houses and investors, and recruits the director and other very important figures to work on the film. Basically, the producer is very often the jumpstarter of the film, helping to bring everyone together to create it. ",
"Also, producing is different in TV and Film. In TV the producer is much more involved in the creative aspect; Executive Producers are often head writers/creators of the show. In both TV and film, a \"producer\" credit can go to someone who has either given significant financial backing or backing with their name (ie, a major star or celebrity). ",
"bhanks is totally correct about what an *actual* producer does, but there are usually a lot of people who get some kind of \"producer\" credit and didn't do any real producing. Lots of times they're studio executives and production company executives and agents who are involved in getting a movie off the ground, but didn't do a lot more than take some meetings and lend their names to a project. ",
"If a film were a startup then the producer would be the CEO.",
"Every movie is run like its own small company, along the same lines. The Executive producer provides the money. The Producer is Like the owner, jumpstarting the venture. The Associate producer is like an office manager, getting everyone organized. The assistant and Co producers work with the associates. The Co-ordinating producer makes sure all departments are working together and work is flowing from one to the other. [eg. pre, production, post, distribution, marketing, etc] And finally the line producer is crisis control. \nTip from a pro- if someone offers you an \"assistant producer\" credit in their movie, that's about the same as being called a secretary. \n",
"I learned all about this by watching the movie \"The Producers.\" Both the old and the new.",
"Simply put, a producer, like Scott Rudin (who has produced No Country For Old Men, Greenberg, The Social Network, etc.), is the person who first reads the original screenplay, decides it's good enough to be made into a film, gathers up funding from various production houses and investors, and recruits the director and other very important figures to work on the film. Basically, the producer is very often the jumpstarter of the film, helping to bring everyone together to create it. ",
"Also, producing is different in TV and Film. In TV the producer is much more involved in the creative aspect; Executive Producers are often head writers/creators of the show. In both TV and film, a \"producer\" credit can go to someone who has either given significant financial backing or backing with their name (ie, a major star or celebrity). ",
"bhanks is totally correct about what an *actual* producer does, but there are usually a lot of people who get some kind of \"producer\" credit and didn't do any real producing. Lots of times they're studio executives and production company executives and agents who are involved in getting a movie off the ground, but didn't do a lot more than take some meetings and lend their names to a project. ",
"If a film were a startup then the producer would be the CEO.",
"Every movie is run like its own small company, along the same lines. The Executive producer provides the money. The Producer is Like the owner, jumpstarting the venture. The Associate producer is like an office manager, getting everyone organized. The assistant and Co producers work with the associates. The Co-ordinating producer makes sure all departments are working together and work is flowing from one to the other. [eg. pre, production, post, distribution, marketing, etc] And finally the line producer is crisis control. \nTip from a pro- if someone offers you an \"assistant producer\" credit in their movie, that's about the same as being called a secretary. \n",
"I learned all about this by watching the movie \"The Producers.\" Both the old and the new."
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18bumm | why is there such a large variance in which day chinese new year is celebrated on each year? | Here are some examples:
2012 date: Monday, January 23, Dragon
2013 date: Sunday, February 10, Snake
2014 date: Friday, January 31, Horse | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/18bumm/eli5_why_is_there_such_a_large_variance_in_which/ | {
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"The traditional Chinese calendar isn't the same as the Gregorian calendar. So the same date on the traditional Chinese calendar doesn't always land on the same date on the Gregorian calendar.",
"It's pretty much the same reason Easter falls on different days each year - it's based around the cycles of the sun and the moon (second new moon after the winter solstice for the Chinese New Year, first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox for Easter)."
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57gtts | how exactly do toxic mushrooms kill? | Do the fungi spread like an infection, or are toxic chemicals released, or is it something else? Is it possible to survive once a toxic mushroom is ingested/ is there an "antidote"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57gtts/eli5_how_exactly_do_toxic_mushrooms_kill/ | {
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" > Do the fungi spread like an infection, or are toxic chemicals released, or is it something else?\n\nIt is toxic chemicals. The specific chemicals and mechanism of death very though; some might be neurotoxins while other cause liver damage or kidney failure for example. Ergotamine affects the vascular system as a vasoconstrictor.",
"Most toxic mushrooms cause liver and kidney toxicity. The way they do this, is when the toxic mushroom is eaten, the toxic chemicals are carried from the stomach/intestines, via the a group of arteries named the [hepatic portal system](_URL_0_), to the liver, where they essentially poison the liver cells. For some toxins, they are also flushed into the kidneys, which then poisons them. \n\nUltimately, these result in liver and/or kidney failure. ",
"In short, toxic fungi kill due to the presence of toxins in their flesh, which get into the blood stream when they are eaten. They do not 'infect' the victim; any living fungal cells are likely to be destroyed by stomach acid. Even if they survived this, they would not be well adapted for growing within a human anyway.\n\nThe toxins are present in the mushrooms as an evolutionary adaptation to avoid being eaten.\n\nAs to the specifics of how mushroom toxins work, this depends on the species. \n\nSome mushrooms, for example, contain a toxin called muscarine. This interferes with receptors found in the nervous system, which distrupts the body's ability to control things like heart rate.\n\nThen there's the species containing amatoxin, such as destroying angel and deathcap mushrooms. These kill by interfering with cells' ability to make proteins, which damages internal organs (maily the liver, because that's the first place blood goes after it leaves the stomach and gut).\n\nThese are just two major examples. There are many different toxins that can be found in different species of mushroom.\n\nAs for antidotes, again that depends on the specific species. I guess antimuscarinic drugs such as atropine would work for muscarine poisoning. AFAIK though, treatment of mushroom poisoning tends to be largely supportive.\n\nMushroom poisoning is not invariable fatal. It depends on the amount consumed, species, individual victim, etc.. ",
"The most dangerous kind of mushroom you can eat is Amanita phalloides, also known as the Death Cap. It resembles edible mushrooms and is usually eaten by people who are out camping and mistake them for the regular button mushrooms or puffballs that you can eat. Rarer causes are psychonauts out looking to get high on psychedelic shrooms, but that's a story for another day.\n\nToxic mushrooms kill because of the toxins they harbor. The Death Cap carries two types, Amatoxins and Phallotoxins.\n\nThe Amatoxins are what really kill you, even though the phallotoxins do a lot of damage to your liver. Basically, what the amatoxin does is, it enters your cells and interferes with a very specific cellular machine called the RNA Polymerase 2. Now, this polymerase is needed by your cells to construct all of the essential proteins from RNA that your cell requires for normal functioning. These proteins are things like enzymes your cell needs to break down glucose to generate energy, or stuff that the cell uses to move things from one corner of the cell to the other.\n\nA simple analogy is to think of RNA Polymerase 2 as the factory machine that builds all the products that the factory needs to keep working. Think of amatoxins from the mushrooms as the proverbial monkey wrench that's thrown into the machine and breaks it.\n\nIf you can't build the tools you need to repair the broken machine, you can't fix the machine, and the entire factory falls apart. Same thing with cells in the body/\n\nThe first organ to get affected is the liver, as /u/JimmyL2014 pointed out. Though it's actually the veins that transport the toxin from the gut to the liver.\n\nAfter the liver it can circulate to everywhere else in the body, and can really screw up kidneys because they get a lot of blood every minute from the heart.\n\nYour gut can also be damaged, since this toxin can affect pretty much any cell, so it starts out with a bit of diarrhea and abdominal pain.\n\nBut it's the liver failure and kidney damage that will really kill you.\n\nAs you can surmise, there's really no antidote for something like that, since it affects cellular machinery on a very basic level. The only thing you can do is try to support whoever has been poisoned, which means taking care of their blood pressure, liver, kidney and watching out for any possible complications that can occur because of that.\n\nTL;DR\n\nMushrooms have amatoxins which are like monkey wrenches that destroy cellular machinery needed to keep the cell alive.\nIt can affect every cell in the body, but the liver and kidney bear the biggest brunt.\nThere's no antidote for it, you just have to wait until the other cells can pick up the slack."
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av8kn0 | universal healthcare. (please try to keep it objective as opposed to telling my why it's good or bad) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/av8kn0/eli5_universal_healthcare_please_try_to_keep_it/ | {
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"Taxes pay for all medicine and hospital or office care. ",
"For an extra tax, you would guarantee the ability to never have to worry about going to the hospital or paying a bill from a hospital. At the hospital you would be treated the same - the most severe cases are first. It probably won't include drugs that are prescribed or dental if it were to follow the Canadian way. ",
"Universal health care either is or is not a legitimate effort by government to \"promote the general welfare\" as prescribed in the Constitution.\n\nWe pretty much have universal health care for US citizens over 65 years old, have for decades. Are younger people legitimately part of the general welfare? That's the issue we're struggling with right now. In a wider sense we've been trying to get at universal health care for more than 100 years. ",
"Universal healthcare is basically the idea that it is the governments job to provide for the common welfare of its citizen, and their healthcare is an extension of that. You can go about doing that in a wide range of ways, and for the most part every 1st world country does it with the exception of the U.S. There are multiple systems used all across the globe ranging from a lot of government control like the U.K's NHS to less government control like a public option.\n\nThe NHS is incredibly popular in the U.K, but is pretty unlikely to happen in the states because politics. Basically the government owns a lot of the hospitals and doctors are government employees paid with tax dollars. Healthcare is just another public service like the police or firefighters. Currently the NHS has had some staffing issues, mostly due to budget cuts but also due to brexit making it more difficult to get European medical staff to immigrate. \n\nNext we have the system that Germany uses, which is probably what the U.S will end up with eventually. The government basically offers a baseline level of medical care to everyone. If you pay taxes or are a minor you are covered by the government. If you want, you can then buy insurance on top of this baseline level of care to get nicer rooms, elective surgeries, ignore triage, things like that. The hospitals and doctors are still privately employed under this system, the government just picks up your bill for you. I say this is the likely system for the U.S because this is basically what medicare is. Basically the idea is that \"hey we already do this for people 65+ and it works great, lets just do it for everyone\".\n\nFinally you have a public option system. Basically the government sells insurance that you can buy. Since it is a non-profit the government option will be significantly cheaper than private insurance, and since the government is much bigger than a private company they will be able to negotiate even lower prices than a private company could. It generates a light monopsony which is the opposite of a monopoly, and are great for the consumer. \n\nThe downsides are all sort of psychopathic. Basically the healthcare industry would take a major hit and would make WAY less money. So if you are a person making a lot of profit off the suffering of others, then a universal healthcare system might be a bad thing for you. Really if you aren't super rich right now there are now downsides. This is why the U.S is the only first world nation that still utilizes this method of healthcare. "
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ta9dn | theodicy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ta9dn/eli5_theodicy/ | {
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"Understanding it is kind of the point. Theodicy is the debate and philosophy around the nature of God. It's an old question: If God loves everyone, and he knows everything, and he can do anything, why is there evil in the world?\n\nEven one of those three things by itself can be tough. The old question: If God is all powerful, can he make a rock that even he cannot lift? This paradox is cited by some to say that the idea of an all powerful is impossible.\n\nThe real issue is with all of them together. Why would God let people suffer if he loves us, and he knows exactly how to fix it, and he has the ability to do so? In the end, there is no real answer to questions like this, and any attempt to do so requires people to make up theories they cannot prove. ",
"In Christian traditions, God is believed to be an all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good being. The problem is that we know bad things happen. Why does a perfectly good god, who has the power and knowledge to make whatever they want happen, *not* stop bad things from happening?\n\nTheodicy is the answer to that question."
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3t40af | how are individual us states able to prevent syrian refugees from settling there? aren't refugees free to move anywhere once they enter the united states? | Not trying to make a political point here -- I'm just genuinely curious since there aren't really any border controls between states. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t40af/eli5_how_are_individual_us_states_able_to_prevent/ | {
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"Constitutionally they do not have the authority. The Federal government controls immigration and free travel across state borders. ",
"They can't prevent Syrian refugees from moving throughout the United States, but there's more to refugee resettlement than just being let into the country--the federal government tries to find accommodation so that refugees can get started with education, jobs, etc. The states cooperate with this settlement process, but the federal government cannot compel them to.\n\nBasically, the state governments can make it more difficult for the federal government to initially settle refugees in their state. They can't prevent refugees who are settled elsewhere from eventually moving to that state, though.",
"Governors can make it difficult by influencing local HOA's to rent to people who have verified residency (background checks)"
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avifvm | where did budgets in business begin? | So most businesses use budgets today, many forward thinking ones have ditched them. So my question is, WHEN (not why) did the use of budgets get popularised in business? What drove this? I've found nothing on the Google machine!
EDIT: I'm not asking why they're done, but when were popularised. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/avifvm/eli5_where_did_budgets_in_business_begin/ | {
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"Forward thinking business don’t have budgets?"
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6qssva | why people who suffer from epilepsy taste metal right before a seizure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qssva/eli5_why_people_who_suffer_from_epilepsy_taste/ | {
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"That's not the case for all cases of epilepsy. Events like this are what's called auras - to our current understanding, in people with epilepsy, the start of the 'feedback loop' that causes the seizure activates certain areas of the brain that can cause hallucinations. These include visual auras, olfactory auras, auditory auras, anything. Not every person with epilepsy gets auras, either. Some people don't know anything.\n\nThey are most common in people with focused seizures, where it's a particular part of the brain essentially blue-screening. If it originates in the visual cortex, people will tend to have visual hallucinations before the other effects of the seizure set in, etc."
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395r9q | why doesn't africa, with all of its abundant sunshine and open space, use solar energy to desalinate and distribute clean water? | Reading about desalination techniques, the biggest hinderance is the cost of energy to heat the water.
Wouldn't solar panels on the hottest continent make sense? Is it just our apathy for starving people that is keeping this from happening, or is something else at play here? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/395r9q/eli5_why_doesnt_africa_with_all_of_its_abundant/ | {
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"Money and technology. At the moment, no one wants to invest in a project like that with little return value and there are very few places that are a: stable enough and b: wealthy enough to afford a project like that. There have been some projected plans that say a solar farm in Chad could power the whole planet, but that is just an estimation. I read an article yesterday that said some rapper was going to invest some amount of money into a solar farm, but that is about it.",
"even if you did have the solar energy and desalination plants, you would still need some way to bring the water from the plants at the coast and to where people live."
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vxzia | what barclays bank have been up to. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vxzia/eli5_what_barclays_bank_have_been_up_to/ | {
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"[My answer to this in an ELI5 from yesterday](_URL_0_) Hope that helps."
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9jqez0 | why do train wheels not slip on a smooth track, given that they have no grip like tyres do - especially going up a hill or in the wet! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9jqez0/eli5why_do_train_wheels_not_slip_on_a_smooth/ | {
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"The wheel contact area is really small compared to the area the train takes up, and the train is very heavy.\n\nThat means the weight is concentrated in a small area increasing friction. \n\nAlso train tracks are very carefully laid out and are basically no hills. ",
"They do. In fact trains have sand spreaders on them that throw sand on the track for traction. ",
"The contact area of an engine's wheels to the rails is about the area of a half-dollar. It's entirely possible for these trains to spin their wheels in place. Traction is low, but it's not zero. As you may have observed, a heavy freight rail, pulling, say, a mile of coal cars, takes a long time to get the whole train moving, because it has to be done slowly and there's all the slack between cars to take out. Metra light rail and even commuter rail is a lot lighter and they accelerate a lot faster, but even they start out at a crawl, then a walk, then a jog...\n\nAs for going uphill, a grade of 1.2% under ideal conditions is approaching the upper limit of what a train with multiple engines in a train can do. Notice that rail lines are very flat, and why trains either go around or through mountains; and if they have to go over, it's a very, very, long and winding prospect indeed.\n\nBack to the low rolling resistance, this is why some freight lines can claim they average ~470 ton-miles per gallon, which is to say they can move 1 ton of freight ~470 miles on 1 gallon of diesel. Rail is some of the most efficient means of shipping cargo over land.",
"The deeper you look into it the more complex it gets, but the one sentence answer is that even though iron on iron has less grip than rubber, it still has enough grip to move a train. \n\nTrain wheels do slip sometimes. It's especially visible on an old steam powered locomotive with the one really big wheel. When they first start out, the wheel slips a bit as it starts. It's all about friction. As long as the friction between the powered wheel (the rest of the wheels are free rolling, and so won't slip) is greater than the forces turning the wheel and holding the train back (momentum), the wheel will grip. There is a bit of math involves but to put it simply, the more downward force on the wheel, the more friction the wheel experiences. Trains are very very heavy, and so they create a lot of friction, even with iron on iron. Also, as they move, the momentum changes such that it's not holding the train in place. This means that the wheels need much less friction to maintain forward traction. \n\nSo, the answer is that going up a hill does not increase the force holding the train back enough to overcome the friction of the wheels and track. If you notice, trains never go up steep hills. They always keep a fairly shallow grade just for that reason. Water decreases the friction, but not enough to matter in most cases. I'm not an engineer, but I would guess that if you tried to start from a dead stop while headed uphill on a wet track carrying a heavy load, you would see some significant slippage. Eventually, though, the friction of wheels sliding over track would start changing the train's momentum and it would start moving forward. As that happened the equation would change, and eventually the forces holding the train back would be overcome by the friction. At that point the wheels would stop slipping, and move as normal. \n\nNow there are also other factors involved. For example, the friction of a sliding object is less that the friction of one standing still. As a train wheel rolls, it is, in effect, standing still with respect to the track, so the friction is as high as it can be for those two materials. \n\nThis, incidentally, is why when you hydroplane in your car it can be so difficult to get control of your car. As it slides, the friction coefficient is decreased, and the tendency is to keep sliding. If you let off the brake, your wheels become free spinning, and eventually they will match the speed of the road, at which point the friction coefficient is increased and you regain control. "
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1ujf6d | why do my teeth feel sore and/or loose right after i wake up in the morning? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ujf6d/eli5_why_do_my_teeth_feel_sore_andor_loose_right/ | {
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"You might be grinding your teeth in your sleep. Might want to talk to your dentist.",
"Sounds like clenching. They make a bite pad for when you sleep to alleviate the pain and potential damage",
"Grinding your teeth. Have your dentist make one of these [bad boys](_URL_1_). Yes, you'll probably use one the rest of your life (or until your stress diminishes, mileage will vary). \n\nA good way to tell is if you can see wear on the top edge of teeth where they come together. Should fit together like a puzzle. Look in the mirror and move your jaw back and forth with your teeth together, and see if there is a spot where the fit together a little [too perfectly](_URL_0_). \n\nIf you ignore it long enough, you can really [mess up your teeth](_URL_2_).\n\nSource: My father is a dentist; fiance a hygienist in training.",
"You were dreaming about eating a tough juicy steak. ",
"I get the same thing but I don't think it's grinding like others here have said. (But I'm no dentist.)\n\nI have a habit of sleeping with my face down and the weight of my head resting on my front teeth. I suspect it's years of sleeping like this that has slowly pushed my one front tooth back a little bit.",
"Dentist Here: The pain/loose teeth feeling is likely due to the inflammation of the periodontal ligament (PDL) of your teeth. The PDL is a ligament found between all your teeth and the jaw bone. It functions to hold the teeth to the bone.\n\nThe inflammation is likely being caused by a parafunctional habit (i.e. you're grinding/clenching your teeth together at night, unknowingly). \n\nTo treat this issue, I would highly recommend going to see your dentist for eval and treatment with a custom made night guard.\n\nDO NOT USE A DO IT YOURSELF KIT! I have seen some reply that there are kits for impressions/guards on amazon. I cannot express enough how bad of an idea this is. If the guard is made incorrectly, you can put the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), the muscles that open and close the mouth, and the teeth in a bad position causing irreversible damage. Just think... if you broke your leg and needed a cast, would you just try to make one yourself?... nice leg bro. \n\nHope this helps.",
"I have this same problem, but I seem to catch myself clenching my jaw really tight throughout the day as well. My teeth always hurt... ",
"As others have said, it's teeth grinding. I have bruxism, it's caused by anxiety. I went to my doctor, he sent me to the dentist, and the dentist recommended a plastic mouthguard to wear while I sleep. I asked him \"ok so how long do I have to wear the mouthguard for?\" and he responded like in that Louis CK sketch \"Uhh... forever. That's just something you do now.\"\n\nI said fuck it and I continue to grind my teeth. I'm trying to solve the problem at its root-- my anxiety. I'll let you know how it goes :)",
"A couple of things: In general, your teeth should never touch unless you are chewing. You just realized your teeth are touching right now didn't you? People who clench are often unaware that they do and will almost always do it more in their sleep. A night guard is helpful to not damage your teeth but sometimes finding the underlying reason (ie stress, anxiety) can help with the associated sore muscles in your jaw.\nSource: both of my parents were dentists. I grind and clench. I'm also not Hermione but I wish I was. ",
"Why the fuck do I always clench my jaw while drying my hair?"
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92c92m | why do lights have light rays that glare all around them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/92c92m/eli5_why_do_lights_have_light_rays_that_glare_all/ | {
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"[like this?](_URL_0_) You have astigmatism. Your eye is not round and it causes this effect. It's pretty common, comes in varying strengths but not everyone has it. "
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pok6n | what makes some people more 'likeable' than others? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/pok6n/eli5_what_makes_some_people_more_likeable_than/ | {
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"I think some people are good at making other people feel good about themselves and are more easily able to put them at ease. People like to feel good about themselves and like when other people can do it. Being encouraging and optimistic help as well.",
"Don't be a bitch or a douche bag. Be a people pleaser. That's how I strive to live."
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1r6h1x | what is bpa and why should i be scared of it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1r6h1x/what_is_bpa_and_why_should_i_be_scared_of_it/ | {
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"BPA is an abbrevation for bisphenol A. It's a molecule with a structure very similar to estradiol, a hormone important in a number of processes. The similarity is what caused initial concerns (things that mimic but aren't exactly like normal biological molecules can often be deterimental because they clog up the enzymes that would normally process the actual biological molecule). You don't have any particular reason to be afraid of it. The research on it's potential health effects have been scattered in their results, although the large consensus is that the amount of BPA present in common commercial containers is not enough to pose any sort of threat to your health. It *may* potentially affect young children and babies, but this hasn't been solidly established either.",
"It's a chemical called Bisphenol-A and is used in making certain plastics, including those used for liners of canned food and plastic bottles. The chemical has the ability to act like a hormone receptor in the body, which can potentially lead to problems with the nervous system and endocrine systems. \n\nThere's some controversy over the risk of exposure (the EPA and FDA don't consider it a significant risk, e.g.), however some studies have reported that exposure can increase the likelihood of various cancers. Several countries (not the U.S.) have banned its use for food-contact plastics."
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3uk1gr | why are truffles such a big deal? | What makes them so sought after, and subsequently so expensive? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3uk1gr/eli5_why_are_truffles_such_a_big_deal/ | {
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"They taste very good, and even a very small quantity is enough to flavor a whole dish because the taste is so concentrated.\n\nThey are very expensive because they are extremely hard to grow. Most of them are found in the wild, rather than farmed, so they are few and far between and it's a fair bit of work to find them.",
"They're difficult to farm, and take a long time when done that way. Found in the \"wild\" requires extensive, expensive, training of a dog or more commonly, pig. \n\nThey provide a rich, complex flavor that isn't easily replicated with other ingredients.",
"They're known for being extremely delicious. That's why they're sought after, at least.\n\nAnd expense is a combination of two things- high demand, and low supply. Truffles are EXTREMELY hard to cultivate. Truffles can't really be grown on their own- they grown among the roots of specific varieties of trees, under very specific circumstances only.",
"They are extremely difficult to cultivate at best with only a few \"farms\" capable of taking the time and money for meager and often unsuccessful results. The vast majority are wild-foraged. This is because they require a very mature and specific ecosystem of trees/climate to grow, and are basically the fruit of this rare mycelium (underground fungal root network). They only grow underground and the people that harvest them need a well-trained dog (originally a pig) to sniff them out. Not mention very seasonal items as well. The best of the best are from the south of France or Northern Italy, and to get into even more detail the most highly prized are white winter truffles. And their smell and taste is so uniquely earthy and unlike any other piece of produce you'll ever have the pleasure of trying. This makes them the world's most expensive vegetable.",
"They are nearly impossible to farm and so much be gathered from the wild. That makes their supplies unpredictable and small, which makes them expensive. ",
"Truffles have a distinct flavor that is difficult to reproduce, they're hard to cultivate, don't store well and have a very seasonal presence.\n\nIt's not really all truffles, but right now you're hearing more about it because it's white truffle season (November-January) in Italy. Alba/piedmont are the premier truffle sources in the world because they produce white truffles (the most expensive) which are very delicate, clean and distinct in terms of bouquet and flavor. You can get French summer truffles, Australian truffles, black etc. They have a chemical... Nail polish/acetone thing going on and a more subtle truffle aroma. It's not super noticeable until you experience white truffles. Truffles are very much a \"once you experience the best, you'll be disappointed in anything else\" kind of thing.\n\nIn addition to them being hard to grow, their \"root\" systems are very delicate. Traditionally they were found using pigs because their smell mimics some female pigs pheromones when they are breeding. However, pigs are very destructive as they try to eat them/root them out. It's actually banned in many places and dogs are used instead.",
"Ok so, Why are they hard to grow? ",
"For anyone that's never tried truffles and is curious, I recommend [this stuff](_URL_0_) ($16, amazon link). \n\nHas a strong truffle aroma/taste, more concentrated than the actual 'fruit'... I'd spread it conservatively on some good quality buttered bread. \n\nIt's made up of mostly mushroom pate but thats just filler for the truffle essence to ride on. The truffle cuts right through and its all you can taste.\n\nAlternatively, drizzle some of [this stuff](_URL_1_) on top of some chopped tomatoes with black pepper and rock/sea salt, also on some nice bread... or just pour a little on top of your bolognese/pasta.",
"Was at Central Market the other day and they had both black ($399.00 a pound) and white ($1,422.00 a pound). I also wondered this. ",
"I had fresh shaven white truffle over fettichini yesterday. The flavor is not hard to describe. Its like funky blanched garlic. Freshy fungusy. Just like a male pig smells. They are very strongly flavored, small bit flavores everything. They have the consistancy of a dense muchroom stem. Has a snap to it. They suck. Like anchovies, best used to lightly flavor. Dont eat a chunk. Morells are vastly superior.",
"Costco has black truffles sitting in black liquid, inside a small jar for like 20 bucks. Worth it?",
"I spent my entire life (until now) thinking truffles were chocolate. Good lord I am a fool. Obviously I have never seen or eaten one but still... idiot.",
"Thy provide 4 happiness when worked and are quite a rare luxury, akin to whales and pearls. Quite useful for early expansion and trade with other civs."
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"http://www.amazon.com/Roland-Black-Truffle-3-4-Ounce-Bottle/dp/B005AK89UI/ref=sr_1_4?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1448715936&sr=1-4&keywords=truffle+oil"
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3vsn8x | monsanto and the international criminal court | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vsn8x/eli5_monsanto_and_the_international_criminal_court/ | {
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"I get even find a reputable news source (although infowars is covering this) reporting about this. The only things I've found have been no name sources citing RT that quoted a bunch of people from anti-GMO NGOs bringing the case of \"ecocide\" against Monsanto as saying things like:\n\n\"Monsanto is largely responsible for the depletion of soil and water resources, species extinction and declining biodiversity, and the displacement of millions of small farmers worldwide.”\n\n\"Monsanto has pushed GMOs in order to collect royalties from poor farmers, trapping them in unpayable debt, and pushing them to suicide.\"\n\n\"Monsanto promotes an agro-industrial model that contributes at least 50 percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.\"\n\n\"The time is long overdue for a global citizens’ tribunal to put Monsanto on trial for crimes against humanity and the environment.\"\n\nWhat is Monsanto *actually* on trial for? Why are only fake, conspiracy driven outlets covering it? *Are* they even on trial? I couldn't even find anything on the ICC's site.",
"Nothing is happening with the ICC. Activists are holding a crowdfunded \"tribunal\" they set up themselves in the city of The Hague, so that headlines can read \"Monsanto to be tried in The Hague\" or the like and people will assume it is the real court that people generally mean when they say that.\n\nIt is like saying \"I just got off a call with the president\" by which you mean \"the president of the local anime club\" instead of \"president of the country.\" It isn't technically lying, but it sure as heck is misleading.",
"This false story has been making the rounds of conspiracy theory and anti-GMO subs for a couple of days.\n\nWhat is actually happening is a bunch of anti-GMO groups are putting on some mock-trial / protest. They are purposely misleading people by calling it a 'tribunal' in 'The Hague' like it is a 'War crimes tribunal'.\n\nI doubt that they like most anti-GMO people can put together a factual list of these \"crimes against humanity\". Most of these anti-GMO marches are filled with laundry lists of conspiracy theories, misinformation and deep ignorance of basic science issues.\n\n\n\n*** \n\nList of recent postings of this false claim. The posters are a whose-who of anti-GMO conspiracy theories.\n\n\n_URL_33_\n\n_URL_32_\n\n_URL_25_\n\n_URL_12_\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_23_\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_27_\n\n_URL_18_\n\n_URL_10_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_21_\n\n_URL_5_\n\n_URL_9_\n\n_URL_13_\n\n_URL_22_\n\n_URL_24_\n\n_URL_20_\n\n_URL_7_\n\n_URL_17_\n\n_URL_31_\n\n_URL_19_\n\n_URL_29_\n\n_URL_28_\n\n_URL_6_\n\n_URL_16_\n\n_URL_4_\n\n_URL_26_\n\n_URL_30_\n\n_URL_14_\n\n_URL_8_\n\n_URL_11_\n\n_URL_15_",
"Thank you all for the informative replies. It's all over Facebook and is one of the \"trending\" stories on there. I'm glad you were able to clear it up for me. ",
"Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 25(1), it has jurisdiction only over human beings. Monsanto cannot be charged for crimes there, because the sole function of the ICC is to prosecute *individuals* for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. What's *actually* happening is a self-appointed group of people has decided that they are the \"International People's Court;\" their decision is around as binding (in *any* country) as my pet dog's ruling that she shall be entitled to treats whenever she is a Good Dog."
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianLeft/comments/3vkge2/international_monsanto_tribunal_in_hague_oct_2016/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/RIPworldnews/comments/3vndsc/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/longtail/comments/3vndqy/57925391_monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/undeleteShadow/comments/3vndtv/6_monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for/",
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChristiansAwake2NWO/comments/3vc3fw/gmo_monsanto_to_be_put_on_trial_for_crimes/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/EverythingOrganic/comments/3vjfgd/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/unfilter/comments/3vlloc/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/uncensorship/comments/3vc3f1/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3vnude/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Monsanto/comments/3vjeft/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/HippieLife/comments/3vdkd7/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3vc3dh/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/environmentaljustice/comments/3vh8yp/monsanto_will_be_sent_to_hague_tribunal_for/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/anarkickagg/comments/3vj4t7/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/unremovable/comments/3vn41a/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/socialanarchism/comments/3vj4qu/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/organic/comments/3vje74/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/3vjt38/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/worldpolitics/comments/3vjef2/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Nudelete/comments/3vndtc/57725391_monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/TruthfulNews2/comments/3vjebf/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/3volms/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/longtail/comments/3vg5vi/5101495_huge_monsanto_going_to_trial_for_crimes/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/worldpolitics/comments/3vn9s1/monsanto_to_be_sued_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/3vj0us/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/besteurope/comments/3vj16o/monsanto_to_face_%C3%A2tribunal%C3%A2_in_the_hague_for/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/GMOfaiL/comments/3vez2v/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchism/comments/3vj4r0/monsanto_put_on_trial_for_crimes_against_humanity/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/betternews/comments/3vpman/monsanto_to_face_tribunal_in_the_hague_for_damage/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/betternews/comments/3vrb0j/a_citizens_tribunal_will_investigate_monsanto_for/"
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348q7n | how does math.random() work? | How is it possible for a computer to generate a "random" number? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/348q7n/eli5_how_does_mathrandom_work/ | {
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"It has an algorithm that can generate a wide variety of random looking numbers given small changes in the input value. It then takes a few different numbers from your system (I don't know which numbers Math.random() uses specifically, but a lot of random functions use the time and date) and puts them into that algorithm which gives you seemingly random numbers",
"It is pseudorandom. It uses a seed value and an algorithm to generate numbers that appear to be random, but that are in fact predictable. Also Math.random() is only random numbers between [0,1). To get a larger selection you have to multiply by a length. ",
"The super simple answer is that it picks a number on a really big list of numbers. The list is created to be as random as possible . This list is called the random number table.\n\n The more complicated answer, as other people mentioned, is that if you know where on the list that you start looking for your number (AKA, the seed) then the output is the same everytime. This property of being somewhat predictable is called pseudo-random. Unless you are doing encryption, it rarely is considered to be too predictable. Most applications (like minecraft) change the seed based on some numbers elsewhere on your computer. (minecraft uses the time in milliseconds, making it practically impossible for duplicates).\n\n Since it is really hard for the average user to figure out not only the seed but what the outcome of picking from your random number table, Math.random() returns a fraction between zero and one that has an even distribution of values that can't be easily predicted, creating the illusion of randomness while technically being perfectly predictable (which computers need to be).\n\n\n\n",
"It's pseudorandom, as someone else mentioned. But it's not purely random. It's basically a function that is wildly unpredictable, but it's still a function. So f(x) = y, always equals the same y for the same x value. But it's so unpredictable that f(x+0.00000001) -- basically just a tiny change to the input value -- makes a huge change in y that's hard to predict. So generally, the computer generates some seed number (the initial x), which is usually from the system time in milliseconds (which is very small increments enough to be near random) unless you specify it yourself and plugs it into that pseudorandom function.\n\nHow does the random function work? It varies, but generally by bitwise and bitshift operations. You know how binary works, generally speaking right? 10 in binary is 2 in decimal numbers, and something like 210 is 11010010 in binary. Well instead of using math on our decimal system, or even binary numeric, it just shuffles around the binary somehow. So going back to 210 is 11010010 in binary, assuming we just shift the numbers to the right (and rightmost circle back to left) so 01101001 - converted back to decimal that's 105. Try that with another number, say, 72 which is 1001000 then shifted to 0100100 which 36. There seems to be no pattern (except that they both decreased but that's just because last bit happened to be 0 on both), because it's not exactly a math operation. Now imagine a series of these processes and more complicated than just a uniform shift (like say splitting it into chunks, shifting chunks individually, then reassembling chunks but not necessary in same order), and you can see how they can get near unpredictable results.\n\nHowever some random functions are better than others. The biggest test is that all possibilities are uniform. That is, if you did a distribution of 1,000 random numbers, it should be a flat distribution curve between 0 and 1 (since most functions output a number between 0 and 1), not favoring any number or higher/lower values or middle values or whatever. Thus the functions while giving unpredictable results, should be well designed to ensure this is as true as possible."
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64xjz8 | how can we see full moon if the earth is blocking the sun from sending light on moon? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64xjz8/eli5_how_can_we_see_full_moon_if_the_earth_is/ | {
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"The scale of that drawing isn't even close to reality. The enormous distance involved and size differences are difficult to comprehend. This isn't comparing a bowling ball to a tennis ball. This is more like a grain of sand in New York and a bowling ball in LA. ",
"That picture is not to scale. True scale for Earth and Moon is more like this\n\nO______________________________.\n\nThe Sun is about 25 yards away, the size of a football.\n\nAnd the orbit of the Moon is slightly tilted, so it usually passes above or below the shadow of the Earth. Roughly every six months does it pass straight behind, and then there is a lunar eclipse.\n\n",
"The universe is in three dimensions. \n\nThat picture is in two dimensions. \n\nThat explains your confusion. \n\n[This](_URL_0_) might help. (Note: image not to scale.) "
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4ox31q | why can't computers normalize sounds when switching between speakers or headphones? why do headphone users often have audio played at a higher volume (all the 'rip headphone users' comments)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ox31q/eli5_why_cant_computers_normalize_sounds_when/ | {
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"Normally audio output is just that - a carrier signal - the computer has no idea where or in what way that output will be used. You can plug regular speakers into the headphone slot.\n\nIt's the audio device's job to transform the audio signal into sound. This is simply something the source device (the computer) takes no part in.\n\nHeadphones usually don't have a volume setting. So while you would listen to an audio source on speakers at 20-30% volume, when you plug that same source into your headphones, it's suddenly 100% volume (in the context of the headphones), which is loud.\n\nTry using your speakers at 100% constantly, see if it's any more comfortable than the headphone thing."
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207w39 | black friday.. | I'm from England and we don't really have Black Friday.. why is it such a big deal? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/207w39/eli5_black_friday/ | {
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"Normally, when you go shopping, a few items will be discounted in hopes of increasing sales. Black Friday (and other \"big\" sales) is when tons of different items are discounted all at once. \nThe deals are about as good as they are every other day (like 25% off their regular price), but since so many items are marked down at one time it is perceived as a big deal. Also, I guess *some* items are marked down substantially, but it's pretty rare for those items to be worth the hell you go through to get them on Black Friday. ",
"It's like boxing day, just a bit bigger."
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8s0549 | how do america's laws on immigration compare to other countries? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8s0549/eli5_how_do_americas_laws_on_immigration_compare/ | {
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"It's not right to think of the process as easier or harder. There's no skill based component; you either meet a requirement or you don't. Every country has its own sets of requirements for whether a person is allowed in. For a specific individual, they may meet the requirements of some countries but not other countries, and a different individual may be the opposite.\n\nAs far as comparing sets of requirements, in general, the US has more choices to pick from when it comes to which set of requirements you want to meet. Because there are more options for how to get in, it may be considered \"easier\" than other countries. Alternatively, for example, Canada has far fewer sets of requirements to choose from, and so it could be considered \"harder\" than the US. ",
"The US is about on par, if not slightly easier than most Western nations to immigrate into with a few caveats. The Commonwealth nations can immigrate into the UK easier, and the EU nations can immigrate with each other easier. France and Spain may also have some immigration deals with former colonies, but I am not sure about them. \n\nMost people who think that the US has too difficult of an immigration process are comparing it to South America, or are comparing it to the ease that the EU nations immigrate with each other which lead to unequal comparisons. "
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1vqasg | what is the argument for and against the disney movie "frozen" being racist? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vqasg/eli5_what_is_the_argument_for_and_against_the/ | {
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"Ok, so this is one of those \"arguments\" that's really rather pathetic.\n\nThe Sámi, the native people in Scandinavia, are not white. \n\nBasically, some bloggers with too much time are saying that Disney \"whitewashed\" (meaning made everyone white) the characters of Frozen who (based on the location of the movie) should have darker skin color. \n\nThe absurdity is that A) The Sámi are not offended and are actually heavily involved in the making of the film and B) They are not all that dark. They would pass for tanned in the States (where the \"controversy\" is) at best.\n\nReference: _URL_0_",
"Well why should black people be in a movie located in a place where there is no black people? This is kinda like with resident evil 5. Where it was rasist to only have black people.",
"People are stupid, thats why.\n\nDon't know if you remember the Resident Evil 5 racism controversy.\n\nIt was like \"hey, you are killing black people even though you are in an african village\".\n\nPeople are offended by everything because they are simply putting it: stupid.\n\nThey are so concerned by racism and making up for the errors of the past that they can't put things objectively and do/say stupid things."
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5ty4zj | how did television studios make words like show titles appear on screen before computers? | Sorry if that's worded poorly. I mean like when the words "I Love Lucy" or "The Honeymooners" or screen credits would appear over the live action footage. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ty4zj/eli5_how_did_television_studios_make_words_like/ | {
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"Movies have had titles since the 1880s/90s. Lots of methods. Shoot bright titles on a black background with one TV camera. Combine that feed with a feed from another camera and you've got titles over, which you can fade up & down, zoom in and out, roll, whatever. Before computers were used in TV there were devices like Chyrons which substituted for the bright letters on black background and the second camera and gave producers a lot more variety and flexibility.\n\nBut the basics: 2 feeds and one can be a computer or just a piece of paper. ",
"Heynony is correct for more recent live TV titles, but older TV and movies, they used optical titles. These are titles that are combined with the base footage as part of the printing of the film, basically think of cel animation, where the negative is exposed by light passing though multiple layers of film. The title layer or layers can be hand drawn cels, just like in animation, or photographed text. And of course many complex combinations of these ideas to achieve complex effects.",
"To maybe add some insight, old tv is made with analog signals, which is basically a voltage going up and down. Connecting voltages in series adds them up (physics does that for free for us) and in parallel averages them out. Now since that source signal is synched to a certain frequency which has a predetermined start, you can do all kinds of things to the signal with variable resistors, capacitors and coils for interesting results. \n\nA friend of mine recently disclosed that his grandfather used to do this type of thing for a hobby, and there is still some old gear stored somewhere. I can't wait to try it with our FPV signals, which are basically wireless analog tv transmissions :)",
"They would have long scrolls of black paper on which they would mount words made of white letters. They would have two cameras, one focused on the scroll and another focused on the scene in the studio, and they would electronically combine the two images. This technique was used into the 1970's. Source: I once knew an artist who was employed to make these long scrolls.",
"I actually worked in TV before computers. We would make the titles with press-on letters (I forget the brand name) and shoot them with a camera. The title camera would be combined with the live camera in a device called a \"luma key\" that would switch the live camera off and the title camera on everywhere that the lettering appears, based on the brightness. This was with monochrome cameras. With color cameras there was a device called a \"chroma key\" that would switch based on hue, usually tuned to blue. The same device was used for example to put graphics behind the weather man. You had to be careful the talent didn't wear any blue clothing.\n\nEDIT: found a web page that shows a switcher with built-in luma key, and explains how it works: [Switchers](_URL_1_). Scroll down to \"Keys - Internal, External, Matte.\"\n\nEDIT 2: I remembered what the letters were called; Tactype. You can buy a sheet of it here: [VINTAGE TACTYPE Lettering 12 x 8 Sheet Dry Transfer 5514 Futura Medium](_URL_0_)",
"I remember some time around 2002, Fox had a baseball game where each inning represented how TV broadcasts looked in each decade. For the 30s, I remember seeing a \"floating hand\" place a card showing the ball and strike count. ",
"The first live television graphics(commonly called 'supers' or superimposement at the time) were created at a national political convention(iirc Republican National Convention) in the late 60's. They were trying to figure out a way to announce the speakers without having an announcer say the name of every speaker that came up. The director and technical director were at lunch at a diner that had a black menu with white letters. They came up with the idea of using a luminance key to overlay the names. They bought the menu and all of the letters off the diner for less than $100 and that's how the first 'supers' were done before computer graphics. Other ways discussed in other posts were used but as far as I know that was the first. \n\nSource: Technical Director for 18 years. \n\nEDIT: [Mr. Hewitt swept into the early medium of TV with a series of bold editorial and technical ideas. He was a leading champion of location shooting to cover spectacular breaking stories. He introduced cue cards that forced anchors to look directly into the camera, only after his experiment with Braille went nowhere.\n\nAt the 1952 national political conventions in Chicago, he created a way of superimposing people's names under their images on camera. The idea came to him at a diner that had a menu board with rearrangeable letters.\n\nWhen the waitress came to take his order, he replied, \"I'll have the board.\" It cost him $45.](_URL_0_)",
"Imagine producing the words as an animation. Frame by frame drawn. These words would be drawn on a completely clear piece of film. That film is then placed over the film of the TV show. \n\nThink of them as several film strips layered on top of each other. When you look at that, you can see words and other animation or effects on top of the live filmed scenes.",
"IIRC, they also occasionally used reflections on glass, similar to heads-up displays or teleprompters. They would film a scene with an angled glass pane between the camera and subject. Another image of very bright text on a dull background would be projected towards the glass. Only the brightest part, the text itself, would reflect off the glass - the rest would remain transparent. Thus, you'd see the text appear to be floating in front of whatever was seen through the glass.",
"Another technique that you'd probably appreciate is matte painting - literally painting an exotic landscape on a glass slide, then putting the slide over the camera lens.\n",
"But what about live tv? I remember they displaying the score in soccer matches",
"Many shows were made on film and used the same method as movies did. The Honeymooners was done live and titles were keyed in from a special camera which pointed at a scrolling paper roll. \n\nEven before the personal computer, the Chyron Corporation made special-purpose computer based character generators for TV production in the 1970's. They took up an entire rack and used core memory and 8\"floppies. They had very high quality characters.",
"Now, I'm not answering your question directly, as many have posted great replies above. \n\nInstead I thought I'd show you what happened in between the changeover between the old analogue world and digital. When video was still analogue, and computers took care of the digital part.\n\nSomething called genlocking was a technique used to overlay computer information onto a live analogue source.\n\nHere's a really old video but it explains the principle really simply.\n\n_URL_0_",
"TL;DR basically what your teacher did by stacking multiple overhead projector slides, only in front of a camera lens instead of a lightbulb",
"When betamax video first came out my dad bought a camera and set up to film weddings. He used a notice board with these pop on letters for the titles. Holding the camera very very steady.",
"I worked on TV, The standard Character Generator was the Aston:\n_URL_0_",
"I remember seeing the machine used to make star wars' intoductions at a museum. It's like a big box with a camera pointed directly in it, and something physically turns the part with the introductions. ",
"I was disappointed when I went to a taping to The Price is Right years ago. The flashing ring of lights around the screen during the introduction was just a string of Christmas lights that was mounted to the perimeter of the camera lens. \n\nAfterwards, all I could focus on was how I didn't notice that for years while watching the show.\n",
"An interesting side note; Disney used a camera system that had a series of clear plates layered on top of each other. This is how they accomplished the amazing depth effect in their movies.",
"The tv studio I used to work at had an old barrel/drum that had been used 'back in the day' for credits. Sheet after sheet of credits were taped to it and a camera was aimed at it while a production assistant would slowly turn the crank. You know, to \"roll the credits\". ",
"I've seen plenty mention luma or chroma keying, and the source of the titles being shot with a second, synchronized camera.\n\nHowever one part nobody's mentioned: the system I saw at a local college studio had two slide projectors aimed into an optical setup with the tv camera coming out the other side. (There was a 16mm film projector facing into this setup, too, so I guess it worked for film transfer as well). The titles would be shot onto the slides (white letters on a black background), and divided between the two slide projectors so the first slide was in projector A, second in projector B, third in projector A, and so on. Only one projector showed at a time through the camera, and each time you switched between projectors, the projector that wasn't viewable changed to the next slide, so the change appeared instantaneous.\n\nSo that's how it was done, or at least one way it was done, for successive titles that didn't scroll.\n\nLater the same college got a color system, and a computerized character generator. The character generator was still black and white, though. Another device created a full screen of any color you want (using analog knobs, probably Hue, Saturation, Value or something like that) and Luma Keying off of the generated characters was used to switch between your live video and the full screen color device; resulting in the letters being colored. You could also make the full screen color device do a range of colors across the screen, giving your titles a rainbow effect.",
"sorrta similar...\nMy uncle worked as a technician in the early cable days (1960's) in a small eastern Ontario town (Pembroke) and I remember in the back of the cable office, there was a rotating drum in front of a camera. It was about 2' around, 6\" wide drum that rotated about 4\" every 30 seconds or so. There was a camera in front of it. \n\nThey would place advertiser cards or typed announcements on recipe cards, attach those on the drum and that was one of the cable channels! If you snuck in there and placed your finger in front of camera, you were on channel 6! fun times...",
"It's worth noting that in between the era of shooting titles on cards on camera and computer-based television graphics, there were dedicated devices called Character Generators. You could type text into them with a keyboard and they'd be stored in arrays of analog capacitors that could replicate what you typed earlier on command and insert the text into the video signal.",
"Another method I haven't seen listed, they'd coat film in wax and then press away some of the wax with letter molds, then dip the film in acid. Everything not covered in wax (the letters) would be burned white. ",
"I worked in a school studio before computers. We wrote our titles and credits etc with a rapidograph pen with white in on black paper. WE had an easel witha camera on a bench. We'd load in the first card, then superimpose it over the live picture from that cams slider. Then we'd fade it out, switch to the next card and wait for the directors cue to switch again...",
"There is a really great example and explanation of how they made the HBO intro in the early 90s without computers. This example is especially neat because the final result looks CG.\n\n_URL_0_\nThe making of the logo starts here 5:18",
"Another interesting thing is during the Apollo flights the computer screens in mission control were actually television screens showing a feed from a camera which was pointed at a projection screen, the various words, etc were projected on the screen and displayed on the tv screens, in this way they gave the illusion of much more advanced computers than was actually available at the time",
"This might be interesting\n\nDon't know if it already been told\n\n_URL_0_",
"Here is a behind the scenes look at the giant real metal HBO logo they used for their logo _URL_0_\n",
"Oddly, i just came across a Vimeo video talking about this subject - Scanimate. A motion graphics system that was analog, but was flimed \"live\", and then transferred to the client. Lots of switches, dials, knobs and MacGyvering:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n",
"The Honeymooners was done in the first card, then superimpose it over the footage that way.",
"That's really cool. As one of the other users said, this story is in the book, Tell Me A Story(Don Hewitt). It's a great read about television news(60 Minutes). I haven't read it in 15 years or so but I remember enjoying it. Find the things that interest you and keep learning. You will make a career out of being a leader not a drone. Good luck with finding out more about your father. "
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7000ge | why do most people look and feel so terrible upon waking if sleep is renewing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7000ge/eli5_why_do_most_people_look_and_feel_so_terrible/ | {
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"We look bad because our hair gets messed up during sleep. Our face muscles are relaxed, changing the way we look. Dehydration is an issue with a lot of people after waking up.\n\nFeeling terrible can have a few causes. \nInterrupted sleep is a common one. If our sleep gets interrupted we have a difficult time going through all the necessary stages of sleep to be renewed.\nAnother common one is, that we wake up at the wrong phase of sleeping. Especially during the week if you get woken up by your alarm clock. But even without an alarm clock your inner clock might tell your body to wake up even if the body isn't at the right sleep phase to wake up.\nToo little sleep, if you wake up after too little sleep your body wants to continue sleeping and your just not fully renewed. \nToo much sleep can be a reason but I don't know why/how.\n\nIn general the way we sleep is not the best way for our bodies. I still remember back when I was in school one summer I only slept when I was tired and got up when I woke up on my own. My sleep rhythm was all over the place and I frequently woke up at 4AM and took a nap during the day. I never felt tired/terrible the entire summer. It was glorious but impossible to imitate today due to not being able to sleep when I want and having stuff to do at specific times. But I still know going to bed super early (6-8PM) and waking up between 2-4AM makes me feel much better in the morning and I try to this as much as possible.\n",
"It's not fully understood, but here are two potential reasons why:\n\n1. Slightly less blood flows to your brain during sleep. It takes about 15 minutes to reach daytime levels after you wake up. \n\n2. The sleep neurotransmitters are still bound to the receptors in your brain when you wake up. It takes a little bit of time for them to be replaced.\n\n_URL_0_"
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10zqsx | the significance behind certain common tattoos (spiderweb, teardrop etc.) | I know that there is meaning behind some of these tattoos. I've heard that a spiderweb tattoo on the elbow means jail time. Or is it drug addiction? I keep hearing different accounts. I know that a teardrop tattoo on the cheek means jail time, I learned that from reading *In Cold Blood.* Of course I could also be horribly wrong about that as well. There's usually very personal stories attached to tattoos so I'm not about to just walk up to someone with one and ask them what it means.
Can anyone explain to me the significance behind these common tattoos? Are there any other common tattoos with significance that I should know about? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10zqsx/eli5_the_significance_behind_certain_common/ | {
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"A lot of the ones you're describing are gang or prison related. The teardrop for example can have many meanings based on which eye its placed under and if its filled in or not. I believe this can vary from region to region. Here's a discussion from /r/tattoos \n_URL_0_\n\nThe web on the elbow is also supposed to represent time spent in jail, like a bug caught in a spider web. However, there has been a rise in people getting those just because they think its a cool.\n\nHeres a guide to prison tattoos. Sorry about the clickable gallery format _URL_1_"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/tattoos/comments/zr9qo/hey_rtatoos_what_do_teardrop_tatoos_mean_near_the/",
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67vfw3 | what happens to hybrid car batteries when they are replaced? | I'm assuming that hybrid cars that use batteries, such as Tesla, eventually need to be replaced like any other battery. What happens to the old batteries once they are replaced? I also assume they are 'recycled' but what does that mean exactly? Surely some waste ends up rotting in a landfill? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67vfw3/eli5_what_happens_to_hybrid_car_batteries_when/ | {
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"text": [
"Hey i was thinking the same thing, some is reusable but think about this issue in 20 years.. Hopefully things become better. ",
"Not much waste is going to end up in the landfill, a Tesla battery is actually a giant battery pack, containing thousands of 18650 batteries, [this really](_URL_0_). It is going to have a steel case, plastic coating, a rubber seal, a graphite cathode and a lithium cobalt oxide anode. Then there is some ethylene carbonate and lithium hexafluorophosphate (or similar stuff, I'm getting this from the wiki, it varies and Panasonic doesn't want to tell me). Most likely \"recycling\" means destroying the batteries, probably into little bits, removing the steel and plastic for recycling, and then mixing everything else up and refining it into some other type of Lithium for sale, along with some of the higher value metals, the rest is burned off (things that make CO2 and/or water, like graphite, are frequently just burned off)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-NCR18650B-3400mAh-Rechargeable-Battery-Green/dp/B00DHXY72O"
]
] |
|
1vr4du | how do major players in the digital piracy arena (e.g. yify) not get caught? | Just curious how they remain so elusive to anti-piracy agencies/departments. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vr4du/how_do_major_players_in_the_digital_piracy_arena/ | {
"a_id": [
"cev4r1d"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Hi !\n\nTo understand this, you need first to know what YIFY is exactly so there is no confusion.\n\nYIFY is just a group of \"messengers\" or \"posters\". They don't actually steal the material, they just get it from the Scene [(Warez Scene)](_URL_0_), which is a **very developed underground network/community** that steals and distributes copyrighted material.\n\nYou could sum up YIFY's and others piracy release groups work in 4 points :\n\n* First, they know how to get reliable material quickly from the Scene.\n* Second, they use scripts to transcode the files down while trying to keep quality\n* 3rd, they must respect [the standards](_URL_2_) in the Warez groups so not to get [nuked](_URL_1_) (Which means that the Scene would take them down for not following it's standards).\n* Finally, they must not get caught by anti-piracy agencies and at that point it's pretty easy to do, let me explain why :\n\nBasically there are two risky parts for piracy release groups :\n\n* First one, when they get the material from the Scene, they must not get caught. But again the Scene does all the work, all YIFY has to do is download an encode (that has been taken ouf of a bluray without DRM). To protect yourself from download is pretty easy using VPN at repetition, tor's, and proxies. Plus they only download it from real deep backend sources that are really hard to track by agencies. And since they only have to download it, they don't need to be in the US. For exemple, extremezone that is also a really prominent piracy uploader lives in Eastern Europe.\n* Second risky part comes when they release it. Again it is simply upload on torrents sites and the same rules that apply on download, apply on upload for a P2P connection (not in US soil, VPNs, proxies, etc..)\n\nThe real hardwork is to get your hand on the DVD that has the copyrighted content. At one point or another, a human being has to lay his hands on a DVD. They generally do it in DVD-printing warehouses where production starts way ahead of release. With all the money in this network (through publicity mainly), I'm sure they can easily corrupt someone.\n\nHope you understand it better like this.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warez_scene",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuke_%28warez%29",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_%28warez%29"
]
] |
|
1anir5 | why does it cost so much (per year) to incarcerate a prisoner in california? | I saw [this post earlier](_URL_0_), and was taken aback by it. I know there are people who live in CA making around 20k/year, and they work full time, pay for bills, rent, etc. I know it's not much, but it's enough to support yourself. Why such a high price for prisoners? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1anir5/eli5_why_does_it_cost_so_much_per_year_to/ | {
"a_id": [
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"For starters, jails and prisons are expensive to build. \"To ease jail overcrowding over 10 counties every year consider building new jails\" (Wikipedia).\n\nThen you have maintenance. Feeding the prisoners, paying for the employees (1 in 9 state government officials work in prisons), benefits and insurance, etc. Lots to cover.\n\n\n([Wikipedia](_URL_0_))",
"Because A person does not require a staff looking out for them. They do not require dozens of trained guards per 8 hours shift (24 hours a day, mind you) looking after them. They do not require camera systems to monitor their movements nor secured doors nor alarm systems. They do not require an on-site medical practitioner to handle emergencies. They do not require a staff of cooks to prepare meals. They do not live in buildings with several hundred thousand square feet that need to be heated and cooled. They do not require specialized transportation to go to court, nor specialized rooms in which to meet lawyers. \n\nA person has only themselves to look after themselves, cook their own meals, and relies on emergency services for medical transportation. If they need to go to court, they drive themselves or take regular public transportation and can meet a lawyer in their office. It's reasonable to assume that a person is not carrying a homemade knife on their person and does not mean violence towards anyone they meet."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1amnuw/til_it_costs_44563_to_incarcerate_a_prisoner_for/"
] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States#Cost"
],
[]
] |
|
8xgwbc | why does hydrogen peroxide/alcohol/soap sting when it gets in cuts, but not when it touches the skin? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8xgwbc/eli5_why_does_hydrogen_peroxidealcoholsoap_sting/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Your skin, or better, the most superficial part of your skin forms a barrier that prevents damaging substanves to enter your actual body. Its made up of a couple of layers of dead skin and it prevents loss of water. All of the sensory elements of your skin (your ability to feel cold/warm, the pressure of someone physically touching you, and the sense of pain (there are many more senses)) lie beneath that superficial protection barrier. As soon as one of those substanves you mentioned (or any substance that damages cells) reach that alive-non-superficial layer of skin (dermis and if even deeper, subcutis) they interact with the cells that are there. One of those sensors registrates the penetration of your skin through those substances, and gives out a stimulus that you eventually feel as a pain-signal (sting). Its just your body telling you that something from 'outside' is getting into your body anf you should prevent that, as its possibly damaging. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4dc5sf | why certain foods stink up a microwave when heated up | Pizza vs. popcorn vs. some kind of seafood. Why does the smell stick around and become so potent? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4dc5sf/eli5_why_certain_foods_stink_up_a_microwave_when/ | {
"a_id": [
"d1pum7q"
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"Well a microwave works by using radiation energy to vibrate the molecules of WATER in your foods to warm them up. The warming water is what makes your food cook / heat up. And water of course evaporates off the food, and onto your microwave itself. With it, it brings particles of food, sometimes oil in your food will bubble and splat onto your microwave walls, and other odor particles will get around and circulate. Odor particles leave your food and stay in the microwave just like how they leave your pizza and fill the kitchen with its smells. It just so happens that your microwave is a tiny space (often closed), so the smells just stay there and are concentrated (as opposed to a kitchen where they spread out and eventually dissipate). This is especially true if you don't leave the microwave door open for a bit or clean it regularly and it just starts to get gross."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
7fje5p | can countries do the opposite of a state seceding? for instance, could the us "kick out" one of its' states and force it to become its own country? | Couldn't find anything about this upon searching. Thanks in advance! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7fje5p/eli5_can_countries_do_the_opposite_of_a_state/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"There is no mechanism to do that laid out in the US Constitution. So while the US has never tried to expel a state, it is likely not possible legally. There is nothing stopping any country writing such a provision into its laws, but to my knowledge no country has.",
"Yes. In fact there have been nations that have been formed because they were kicked out. Singapore is an example - they got kicked out of Malaysia. \n\nIn the context of the US, there is no way in the US constitution for a state to be expelled from the union. Any attempt to do so would require an amendment of constitution. Actually, if the circumstances were ever such that a state needed to be kicked out for some hypothetical reason, it's likely that there would be a constitutional crisis. "
]
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[],
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|
6palmz | why do vultures and other birds of prey circle dead animals instead of just going to eat them right away? | It just seems like a waste of energy to me. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6palmz/eli5_why_do_vultures_and_other_birds_of_prey/ | {
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"They don't actually circle over their food source. When they're circling, they're riding thermal pockets, possibly in search of food, but if there's food on the ground, they're there.",
"For one thing, it actually doesn't waste that much energy. Birds of prey can glide great distances without flapping their wings, so by gliding in a circle they can linger around one position without exerting themselves too much. It's even better for them if there's a \"thermal\", an updraft of warm air - they can actually gain altitude by gliding in a circle inside a thermal. These often occur above asphalt roads out in the country, which is coincidentally a great place for a vulture to spot some roadkill.\n\nSecondly, they're probably watching to make sure that their target is actually dead, and that there aren't any other predators in the area. Birds are very fragile, and they don't want to get smacked by their prey's death spasms or attacked by a coyote.",
"It takes very little energy for a larger bird to circle. They are not flapping their wings, they are gliding.\n\nSometimes people say they are waiting to make sure the animal is dead. Sometimes people say they are checking out to see that other predators are not around. Both are false. Many birds of prey will actually start eating an animal as it lays dying and will try to eat it even if an other predator is eating it too (as long as the other predator isn't trying to chase them away).\n\nIt's a myth that they fly around in circles waiting for something to die or whatever. In reality they go right in to eat, and will eat as much as they can. Some birds, after eating will rise up and circle around waiting to catch a different thermal and may be mistaken for hovering waiting to eat, but they don't piss around when it comes to food they go straight in unless another predator is there chasing them off, but even then they tend to land and hop around trying to get closer. "
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2506ex | where did the whole crazy cat lady thing come from? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2506ex/eli5where_did_the_whole_crazy_cat_lady_thing_come/ | {
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"text": [
"There's a podcast about this, that goes into a ton of detail. Men become stronger and women start dressing up everyday, like they're going to a ball. I think they both exhibits symptoms of schizophrenia."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
9jpi49 | what just happened with the kavanaugh hearing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9jpi49/eli5_what_just_happened_with_the_kavanaugh_hearing/ | {
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"OK, so the judicial committee is 11 R and 10 D. In order to advance to the next step in the process, the committee needed to pass a resolution by simple majority. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona who is not seeking reelection, agreed to vote yes in committee with the agreement that the full vote of the Senate, which is needed to confirm Kavanaugh, would be delayed to hold an investigation into the allegations.\n\nNobody in the committee itself has the authority to guarantee this happens. It depends on Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky who is the majority leader and in charge of the Senate, and, as I understand it, the White House, who would actually have to direct the FBI to conduct the investigation.\n\nSo, why would anybody agree to this? The threat that Flake implied is that he would vote no in the full Senate vote if the investigation is not conducted. The Senate is split 51-49 Republican to Democrat and, again, a simple majority is needed, and Republicans would win a tie by dint of Vice President Pence's tie-breaking vote. Therefore, if 2 Republican Senators defect and vote no (assuming all 49 Democrats vote no and there are two who have not committed publicly), Kavanaugh will not be confirmed.\n\nFlake's threat is legitimate and concerning to Republicans. If he votes no, that means that only one of Collins from Maine and Murkowski of Alaska, both uncommitted pro-choice Republicans, also needs to defect to shoot down Kavanaugh.\n\nEdit: Murkowski just joined Flake in asking for further investigation by the FBI. That's the two that are needed to upset the applecart. This puts McConnell in a difficult position. An expanded investigation is unlikely to help Kavanaugh even if nothing comes of it. I think there will be no investigation. The two most likely outcomes from here are, in my opinion, Kavanaugh withdraws (under behind-the-scenes pressure from McConnell) or McConnell calls for a fast vote which will result in the Senate failing to confirm Kavanaugh."
]
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[]
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||
n249h | the recent situation when belgium had "no government" | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/n249h/eli5_the_recent_situation_when_belgium_had_no/ | {
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"Think of it like a club. You and some of your friends are elected to the 'management positions' of that club. You're president, your friend is treasurer, somebody else is VP, etc. Let's say there's a guy who owns the clubhouse. He doesn't really do anything but he's a figurehead and technically he's the top guy - even above you.\n\nNow lets say that something happens and the club is really pissed off at you. They don't have confidence in your ability to run things anymore, so you and your 'government' resign. Obviously the club still exists and can still have meetings and do stuff, but there's nobody at the helm who's in charge and directing things. Because everybody is pretty level headed, things continue as is, but no new decisions can be made. Nobody new can join the club. Nobody is able to say, 'hey, let's have a pizza party' because there's no treasurer. Things really won't fall apart because while you were president, you still had the guy who owns the clubhouse to watch over things.\n\nNow, some other kids decide they can do a better job. If they can get the support of a majority of the members of the club, they get to try to be in charge for a while. Then things can get going again, but under new management. However sometimes nobody can agree and nobody gets enough support to take over.\n\nThis is basically what happened in Belgium.\n\nSomething similar happens in Japan and Italy fairly regularly. The only difference there is that they're usually pretty quick to decide they're willing to let somebody else have a go.",
"Basically, Belgians elect a new parliament (like Congress in the US) every four years. When a new parliament is elected, they get to tell the king he has to fire the government and appoint new guys, who parliament basically gets to select (the King doesn't really get a big say in any of this, he has to listen to parliament). In between the new parliament getting elected and parliament deciding who they want in government, the old guys stay in the government, but they're not allowed to make any big decisions anymore as there's about to be a new government who are supposed to make the big decisions from now on.\n\nWhat's been happening recently, is that the Belgium parliament has been unable to come to a decision about who should be in the new government, so the old guys stayed in charge, but they weren't allowed to actually do anything, which is kind of a problem as there's lots of big decisions that need to be made about the economy.",
"Think of it like a club. You and some of your friends are elected to the 'management positions' of that club. You're president, your friend is treasurer, somebody else is VP, etc. Let's say there's a guy who owns the clubhouse. He doesn't really do anything but he's a figurehead and technically he's the top guy - even above you.\n\nNow lets say that something happens and the club is really pissed off at you. They don't have confidence in your ability to run things anymore, so you and your 'government' resign. Obviously the club still exists and can still have meetings and do stuff, but there's nobody at the helm who's in charge and directing things. Because everybody is pretty level headed, things continue as is, but no new decisions can be made. Nobody new can join the club. Nobody is able to say, 'hey, let's have a pizza party' because there's no treasurer. Things really won't fall apart because while you were president, you still had the guy who owns the clubhouse to watch over things.\n\nNow, some other kids decide they can do a better job. If they can get the support of a majority of the members of the club, they get to try to be in charge for a while. Then things can get going again, but under new management. However sometimes nobody can agree and nobody gets enough support to take over.\n\nThis is basically what happened in Belgium.\n\nSomething similar happens in Japan and Italy fairly regularly. The only difference there is that they're usually pretty quick to decide they're willing to let somebody else have a go.",
"Basically, Belgians elect a new parliament (like Congress in the US) every four years. When a new parliament is elected, they get to tell the king he has to fire the government and appoint new guys, who parliament basically gets to select (the King doesn't really get a big say in any of this, he has to listen to parliament). In between the new parliament getting elected and parliament deciding who they want in government, the old guys stay in the government, but they're not allowed to make any big decisions anymore as there's about to be a new government who are supposed to make the big decisions from now on.\n\nWhat's been happening recently, is that the Belgium parliament has been unable to come to a decision about who should be in the new government, so the old guys stayed in charge, but they weren't allowed to actually do anything, which is kind of a problem as there's lots of big decisions that need to be made about the economy."
]
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||
7ld6bs | - why do people with ocd get obsessive about negative experiences but not positive ones? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ld6bs/eli5_why_do_people_with_ocd_get_obsessive_about/ | {
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"Do we only get obsessive about negative experiences?\n\nI'll pace up and down a hallway for six hours, stepping on every other tile or every 5/2 of a tile, for a joke that I told in ninth grade that people laughed at. That is, a positive experience."
]
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||
2s7zu5 | burqa vs hijab vs niqab | Are they three different garments, or three names for the same type of garment? If they're different garments, do you wear them all at the same time? Can they be worn separately, or are they like "a set"?
What with the recent China news, I thought it would be good for me to understand what I was reading, and Wikipedia has failed me. I feel like all of the wiki pages just said another version of, "garment worn by Muslims to cover things above the waist."
Sorry if I've offended. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2s7zu5/eli5_burqa_vs_hijab_vs_niqab/ | {
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"Burqa is what the Taliban forced Afghan women into wearing, it's basically a huge sheet with a cap sewn in the middle and mesh at eye level to see out of. \n\nHijab in general is just a headscarf. If you see a Muslim women wearing a headscarf with otherwise normal western outfit then she's wearing a hijab. \n\nNiqab is what Saudi women wear outside their homes. They are generally a all black long robe with a face veil that covers everything but the eyes. \n\n[Here's an illustration](_URL_0_). "
]
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"http://knuz.is/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/H%C3%B6fu%C3%B0b%C3%BAna%C3%B0ur-b%C3%BArkur-niqab.jpg"
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494a9k | the physics of aerodynamics and wind in the context of cars. | In other words, what makes some cars less resistant to wind than those that can just cut right through it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/494a9k/eli5_the_physics_of_aerodynamics_and_wind_in_the/ | {
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"Next time you're in the car, open the window and hold your hand out into the airstream. \n\nHold it edge-on to the wind and you can feel little push backwards. Hold it flat to the wind and you get a lot of drag.\n\nYour hand is the same as any other object. The shape and size affect how much wind resistance there is, and this is expressed as [Drag Coefficient](_URL_0_). This relates the theoretical drage of some measurement of the object (often its surface area, but in vehicles usually its cross-sectional area) to the actual drag.\n\nThe lower the coefficient, the more \"slippery\" the shape and the more efficient in terms of wind resistance (though not necessarily in other measures)."
]
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6d22mv | why do 5-year-olds (and under) like to watch the same movie every day for months at a time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6d22mv/eli5_why_do_5yearolds_and_under_like_to_watch_the/ | {
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"Young children love repetition, whether it's watching a video or listening to song lyrics, because it's the best way for them to acquire and master new skills. In order to learn something well, children this age practice it until they get it right, hence the repeated watching.\n \nWhat is your child practicing by repeatedly watching a video? It depends on the video, of course, but it could be that he doesn't yet understand the story line. And the more he watches, the better he's able to understand. Maybe he's fascinated by programs that feature songs and dancing and wants to practice the movements while singing along. Young children are almost always in the process of mastering basic skills while they play.\n \nOnce your child has mastered a video's dialog or song lyrics or movements, he/she wants to celebrate his/her success by participating in what he's/she's seeing, so he/she'll continue to watch. She/He'll probably announce the next plot sequence or song (in his head or out loud); for children this age, making correct predictions is the ultimate form of mastery. Since life is fairly unpredictable for them, they especially relish feeling competent and in control of what's coming next.\n \nSoon they see it and recognize it from the diaspora of the rest of their experience. That feeling of recognition is comforting because the brain wants it that way.\n\n__________________________________________________________________________________________\n \nSource - _URL_0_",
"I don't have the sources but I have read a while ago some article that said little childrens likes to see the same movie over and over again because they would speak along the character very aften, making them proud and secure and they would make sure that the adult who is with them realize of that.\n\nBtw, sorry of I didn't explain myself correctly, im not a native english speaker.",
"It's comforting for them. They already know what is going to happen,and watching their favourite characters succeed or you know, do whatever it is they do makes the kid happy. ",
"I remember doing this with The Emperor's New Groove. I recall being amazed every time I saw it. I dunno what people are saying about repetition; I just loved the heck out of the movie and its novelty never wore off.\n\nI guess the desire to see as many new things as possible just wasn't a thing that had occurred to me at the time; I didn't know life had a time limit...",
"Repetition brings unity to the mind in a way that humans find very pleasurable. Even as adults, hearing a familiar song to or watching a movie we've memorised is very pleasurable. I would imagine that children are experiencing a particularly chaotic and confusing world, so something familiar can be bring order to the chaos. ",
"I've read that young children don't perceive as much on the screen as adults, so when they rewatch a movie they catch a lot of things they didn't the last time.",
"One of the things that \"Fun\" is, is being able to predict a result, and see that prediction be validated. \n\nAs a child, they're still learning a lot of things, so much is not understood and unpredictable. A movie or a show gives them the ability to think about what is going to happen, and then have the show confirm the result. \n\nAs an adult, we have learned a lot of things. Our ability to predict the result is not fun because it's not surprising. The kids shows are simple and predictable, and the joy that we get from confirmation of that prediction is minor because it's a certainty. \n\nAs an adult, I find myself watching the same shows with my daughter over and over. I find myself looking for details, whether it's trying to build a map of the island in my head in Puffin Rock, or pick out the individual theme songs of the various creatures in Dinosaur Train. Or finding patterns that show changes in the show's production. I do this because I'm searching for fun, though it's a bit more work on my behalf, but it's essentially the same thing that my daughter finds fun in on the surface. \n\nI have a method of guessing what the result is going to be. I know early in the season the production is less regular about playing the theme music for the characters, but has more location and mood based music, while later in the season the character music is dominant, less music is written, and it's generally more thematic. So early in the season they have music for watching the sun set or walking around on the train, or exploring a new place. Later in the season the music follows the person talking, or it's the intro theme to the type of story it is (under the sea for instance), but you rarely see music that imparts mood or minor activities, and there's less music written for a specific incident in a single episode. \n\nI like watching shows with my daughter, I've never been the person to just sit her down in front of the TV and go and do my own thing. This means I get to see this, and struggle to find something that interests me. But I still do the same thing, recognize the pattern, predict the result, and feel good when I'm right. For my daughter, it's the same, but the pattern that she recognizes is trivial to me.\n\nI think it's very similar to how you develop a taste for music. If you're unfamiliar with a genre of music, it's the more 'pop' type of music that is appealing. The more popular music is generally simpler, so the patterns are easy to see and predict and get validation for quickly. These kinds of songs are catchy and easy to sing along to even the first time you hear them. It's kind of fun when a song has a part that you can sing along to, because you can quickly make the prediction that the next verse is going to sound like this one, and get validated. You're smart, you figured out the pattern.\n\nBut as you get more interested in the genre, that catchy music gets dull. It's predictable. It's boring. There are other genres of music that have more complex elements to them, but which are common to the genre or the artist. You start to learn these elements and can predict them, and that's exciting and fun, and you're understanding it in a deeper way than you could before. As you get deeper into the understanding of these mechanics, you start to appreciate things that a naive observer wouldn't even have the basis to understand. \n\nThis results in things like appreciation of art that is like 4 bands of color but people are willing to buy it for 75 million dollars. Because the people who are looking at it and appreciating it have so much more background that they're using to evaluate the piece. The naive observer can't start to even relate to the people who love it. At the same time, the people who love it can't really relate to the people who appreciate much more accessible amateur art. \n\nThe child likes the same movie every day because there's a lot for them to get out of it. \n\nThe adult is just way past the child in terms of what is filtered out and what is remembered and how easily it's remembered, and how predictable the outcomes of the characters in a children's show will be that they run out of that excitement quickly, and essentially can't appreciate it at the same level as a child. \n\nIn the same way, many adult shows, with their level of complexity and nuance, can be very boring and confusing to a child because they don't have the tools to learn and make these predictions and be rewarded for them. \n\nLayering it can help. For instance, if my daughter were to watch a television show that had in the background a bit of a backstory that took a bit of work to put together, created out of hints and things at the periphery of the action, then it would be kind of fun to watch it over and over. The first time through the series you might pick up on some of those subtleties, and then over the course of watching it a few times you might be able to put together what's really going on behind the scenes. Meanwhile, the child might not even be aware of that deeper story, they can enjoy the basic story. \n\nPeppa Pig does this a bit by cheekily using Ms. Rabbit for pretty much every odd job out there. In something like Paw Patrol, my wife and I have made up backstories to explain away Ryder's resources, and Mayor Goodway's incompetence. One idea is Ryder is a juvenile god who is practicing at creating his own world. Another is that it's a bit of a Coma dream where Ryder fell into a coma during the messy divorce of his parents, represented by Mayor Goodway and Mayor Hummdinger. \n\nBut what I'm searching for by playing these little games and taking note of these meta-details is basically the same thing as my daughter gets. And it's a lot of the same types of content that is directly served to me by a show like Westworld.\n\nNote that some of the movies or shows that you as an adult might like to watch multiple times are typically because there are new things you might learn every time you watch them. Consider also that kids are just a lot less skilled at picking up on those things in the same way, so they can watch the same thing over and over and continue to build on their understanding of it. \n\nIt's not every video. Give a child a show that is a simple 3 minute video and try and have them watch it every day for an hour. You'll still have a hard time keeping their attention for the first hour. They'll get bored because there's nothing new for them to figure out. ",
"Yeah! \n\nThose kids watching the same thing...what a simplified mindset...\n\n*as I watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch for the fourth month in a row.*",
"ELI5 - Kids find them fun. When they find something that is fun and/or exciting they watch it over and over again. Even if you have seen the movie 5+ times a day, they're still amused by it. It's not too different that teenagers today being obsessed with their spinners. It amuses them, it becomes addicting, and then turns into repetitive behavior.\n\nThey begin to find their own preferences, and build up a tolerance for some things, while having no time what-so-ever for anything deviating from the others. Some kids force their family to watch frozen morning, noon, and night. Others force their family to watch Dora the Explorer.\n\nDeep down I think they know how hearing the song \"Let it Go\" kills us each and every time it begins playing. Especially at that n^1000 time during the day.\n\nMy nephew watches Elena of Avalor, and Frozen on repeat. He is three, and it absolutely in love with having the TV blaring while he screams every song at the top of his little lungs. It's how they seek approval from adults, and figure out the way that the world operates. It's basic trial and error at it's best.",
"Maybe the question should be, \"Why don't we?\"\n\nIf you've watched a film and got a lot of enjoyment from it, laughed at it, got scared at the scary parts etc. why wouldn't you just watch it again and get the same good feelings? The answer, of course, is that with adults, the enjoyment diminishes. The joke stops being funny having been heard again and again, the scary parts stop being scary the 10th time. We get jaded.\n\nYoung children don't. If you've ever seen a baby laugh at something, they will laugh at the same thing again and again and again. The feelings don't diminish in the same way - they don't get jaded. So the enjoyment the 5-year-old gets from the movie remains even after multiple viewings, so *of course* they will want to watch it again and again.\n\nAlso if we're really explaining this as if you were five-years-old, the response should really be, \"Well, you tell me!\"",
"I'm 28 and I do this with TV shows I've seen dozens of times. How I met your mother, parks and rec, and friends are my go-to shows if I want something on but I don't feel like investing 100% of my attention in something new. It's relaxing and comfortable.",
"I watch Twitch streamers do Trials of Osiris on the weekends and my 8 year old gets upset because they're \"doing the same thing over and over.\" I said you know how many times I watched Cars over and over again for you? ",
"Every top-level post seems to either describe others doing the same thing, or guess.\n\nHere's the current, scientific understanding - excuse me, my 5yo friend, here's what scientists tell us.\n\n[Young kids learn best this way!](_URL_1_) It's fun, but it also allows them to repeat things until they sink in. Lots of fun play is really just practicing skills you'll need as a grownup!\n\n[Also, they are learning how to control their world.](_URL_0_) With storybooks, they are learning how the pictures tell the story, and before they start reading they discover that those funny groups of ABC shapes *mean* something special to Mommy and Daddy. Of course, nothing ever changes with videos - except it does! They can notice new things. Ever watch a movie, and not realize something that went on in the background, or miss a character's quick reaction until the second viewing? Little kids are doing that, only with the main character's exaggerated reactions. They're absorbing social and emotional clues from the \"people\" on the video. But since they aren't as good at it as older kids, they keep practising. So, they're not directly learning to control their world, but they are studying how others provide important clues to what others are thinking and feeling.\n\nThis can be taken to an extreme. The great animal researcher Dr. Temple Grandin is autistic, and in her autobiography she says the other kids called her \"tape recorder\" because she would repeat a single phrase over and over and over and over - any phrase. She wasn't \"dumb\"; as an autistic person emotional clues in voice inflections were especially hard for her to understand, and she *might* have been rehearsing the word, trying to find clues to those emotions she had problems detecting.\n\nFinally, the kid's show [Blues Clues was based on this research](_URL_2_). The originators learned that kids learned best with lots of repetition, and proposed a kind of kid show that would repeat the exact same episode every day for a week. Kids could tune in on Tuesday through Friday, and practice everything they learned on Monday. It was a HUGE hit because of this! Little kids loved it.",
"This is sooo true!!!! My 8 and 7 year olds make me buy movies for them from sky box office and watch them continuously! They know more or less all the dialogues and even act out the whole movie! ",
"Right now my 4 year old is into \"The Planets Song\" by Bemular on YouTube Kids. My god, she replays that video over and over and over again. The video itself has millions of views, and I'm sure my daughter is responsible for at least half of that number. The song gets stuck in my head and replays itself throughout my whole work day (it's actually stuck in my head as I type). My husband wants to scream in anguish whenever he hears it. It's been going on for at least 3 weeks in our household (even this morning to be exact). It's pretty sad and hilarious all at the same time.\n\nEdit: And to add positivity to my post, she now knows all of her planets in order from the sun! :-)",
"I did this with pretty much every VHS I got as a kid: Snow White, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Rescuers (both the first and Downunder), and The Adams Family.",
"Let's add the fact that children don't have as strong a concept of \"time\" as an adult does, nor enough experiences to compare and contrast, so they don't easily experience the thought of \"let's move on, I've seen this before and there's other things to do\".\n\nWhen you're a child, you don't really realize that there's been thousands of movies and television shows/episodes created since the advent of these technologies in the previous century. You just know, \"Hey, there's that brightly colored show with the animated animals that make me laugh, let's see that!\" And since your perception of time is slower as a child, a movie or TV show will make for an awesome afternoon. You don't (or rarely do) hear kids say, \"well, there's an hour I'll never get back\" when bored by some experience, that's because adults are more likely to be aware of time spent during an activity -- the kid either knows bored or non-bored, for the most part.\n\nAs an example, I saw the Star Wars something like twelve times in the theater, Empire Strikes back another four to seven times, and Return of the Jedi probably five times. As much as I love Star Wars, I've only watched the following movies once in the theater each (at most, some I believe I waited for video but memory escapes me there), with a follow up viewing when friends wanted to re-watch it to refresh their memory for the upcoming movies. Why? Because 90-120 minutes of my adult time is viewed as much more valuable and not worth spending on a repeat activity. There are still things I'll gladly re-watch, but it takes time for the desire to return, not a matter of days.",
"I have worked with kids before, and my wife is a preschool teacher/has a college education about this, so I have a little more experience than most seeing a wide variety of kids learning.\n\nI think you and some of the other commenters have hit the nail on the head with the repetition idea - kids have this innate desire to master and learn skills, and one of the best ways is to repeat over and over and over (i.e. learning numbers, times tables, etc.). What I would add is that many people forget what it was like to be 5, and what your attention span was like. Kids sit down to watch a movie, and it takes them more time to absorb and think through reactions. One of the key skills they are learning here is cause and effect: this character did this, so this happened. By the time these connections are made, the movie has moved on, or an exciting scene happened that made the child lose their grasp of what was going on, etc.\n\nIt is actually pretty easy to test this: ask a kid about a movie they just saw for the first time, and what it was about. Most of the time, they can tell you vaguely what happened, or some of the major story points, but often they can only repeat their favorite actionish parts, or little bits that they remember. \n\nAsk them about a movie they have watched more, and often they can tell you more and more connected plot points, or actually tell you the story of the movie. They will even use the word \"because\" more - Nemo's dad goes to find Nemo BECAUSE Nemo got stolen by a boat, and the sharks attack BECAUSE of the blood.\n\nAnother key element is that kids don't have the mental shortcuts and patterns stored that adults do, and so they have to learn everything as a new pattern. To take the Finding Nemo example above: Kids don't know that blood draws sharks. In that scene, even though an adult can look at that and either know what is happening, or guess from context clues, a kid doesn't have that same frame of reference. ",
"I feel like the top posts are a bit too cerebral. Kids that age are basically little hedonism bots. X feels good, so I do it. Y feels bad, so I don't. If I do A thing, B result happens. Etc. In their mind, it is simply \"This movie made me happy, so it will probably continue to make me happy. Let's keep watching it, ad nauseam\" It's the same reason they will eat sweets until their stomach hurts. Lots and lots of dopamine.",
"I honestly think most of these posts are psychology circle jerk bullshit. Everyone is going on about children learning and mastering a thing and seeing something new everytime, etc. Kids don't want to watch frozen for the 500th time to \"practice memorization\" or because they are critically analyzing the plot. \n\n\nThe fact is things aimed at kids are tailored for kids to enjoy so design, characters, story, music, etc are all more enjoyable to kids in a kids movie than something like North by Northwest. \n\nI think a more significant point is that when a kid sees frozen for the first time, its literally the best thing they have seen in their entire life. They want to experience it over and over because they have experienced so little that it isn't considered repetitive and it is so enjoyable to them.\n\nWe get bored of movies, often ones we havent even seen before, because we can predict the plot based on other movies. Maybe it is very similar to another movie and it just isn't interesting because it is going through the motions that to us are very old hat based on the fact we have been watching films and TV for decades. Even a small change can be radically different to a kid, the music or \"set\" design are all incredibly unique in their eyes.",
"Even as adults we tend to prefer familiar or relatable stories to stories about new, exotic, and foreign things. We are creatures of habit. \n\n_URL_0_",
"I didn't read that long post at the top so he/she might have mentioned it but I believe it has something to do with kids crating a connection with a character. They cannot easily understand that those characters are acting/not real (in the case of a cartoon) so the bond between characters are much stronger. This is why kids love buying action figures or dolls, or toys in a more broad sense. The kids treat the characters as friends and they want to talk/meet with them every day. ",
"I don't remember who it was, but a comedian once explained this by saying when you know you like something, you don't want to change it and wind up not liking the other thing. If the kid knows he likes Monsters Inc, he'll want to watch it. He might not like Finding Nemo so he doesn't want to watch and have a crappy time if he winds up not liking it. Like getting the same meal every time you go to a restaurant.",
"Are people supposed to grow out of that or something?",
"Sure. Continuity, and reinforcing story telling. \nIt also simulates social interaction. It's almost like we live in tribes or villages again. \nStorytelling is part of our ability to use memory and explain the way the world works. \n\nWe also relate to characters or feel what they do, as if they're family. \nWe bond to them and don't want it to leave. \n\nIf you have a good experience, people form behavior loops by seeking the sensation from that behavior again. \n\nWith Each run of the movie, we are able to gather more from what it's made of. \n\nEventually we find other things to love and associate with. \n\nThen you have nostalgia, or pleasure of reliving memories. ",
"While many other users have referenced learning via repetition, I'm not convinced that this is the primary reason kids like watching the same thing over and over again. Unfortunately, I only have my own recollection of my childhood to go off of, but it was something like this:\n\nWhen I was very young kid, I definitely did not see the world as I see it today, particularly in regard to the passage of time. It wasn't only different, but really another kind of \"human experience\", one which unfolds almost entirely in the present. The concepts of seconds, minutes, hours, even days were still inchoate and not yet a part of how I understood the world. When I started Christmas or Summer break, for example, I never would have thought about how long it would last, about how many weeks were left in it - this was completely outside my awareness. In fact, I can remember about when I started thinking in terms of hours/days/weeks and dividing my life, and it seemed the more I tried to measure my time, the shorter it became. \n\nAnyway, when watching movies as a kid, there wasn't much thinking ahead going on, so I was always delighted by the same things over and over again because they were always at least a little unexpected. It was more like the movie was actually happening right before my eyes and I was along for the ride, and therefore there was sort of an abstract sense that events could play out differently this time, which preserved some of the tension of the story. Naturally, as I grew older, I was better able to grasp concepts such as duration, and the \"realness\" of movies began to fade. ",
"For the reason I do as a 27 year old probably lol. Whatever they're watching is super dope. ",
"It's new and exciting, because a child can only see and understand but so much at a time. Re-watching it, they get to relive the excitement while finding and figuring out new things each go around.",
"For little kids it isn't so much about the story of the movie as the space that the movie puts you into. \n\nThey are getting high off the movie. It doesn't matter if they've seen the movie 100 times it still works.",
"I'm gonna throw in what I've noticed with my little ones. To echo what a few have said, repetition and correctly knowing the outcome is very important to them. Also I've noticed mine tend to get sidetracked so sometimes they miss key parts of an episode. I counted one week and it took them 4 days to see every part of an episode of Super Mario Brothers. My gf and I know the episodes word for word but every time they watch, they see something they didn't see before.",
"I'm 19 and still love to do this with movies and tv series. Currently on my 5th watch-through of IASIP in 2 months",
"man, I remember my sister watched Ice Age 4 (or one of the ice ages I've no clue) 25+ times. I'd walk over to her room, and whatddya yknow she's watching Ice Age. Wake up at 3 AM to take a piss? She's watching Ice Age. Get up to get ready for school? She's watching Ice Age.\n\nThank god that phase is over.",
"I was just having this conversation with my oldest today, because he kept complaining about my youngest wanting to watch the same thing repeatedly. I think I got the basic idea across, but it was great to open up Reddit 20 minutes later and find this. Which gave us some more to talk about, and I think honestly helped him understand his brother a little better. ",
"For the same reason they can eat cake or mac and cheese every day!\n\nKids care more about enjoyment than variety. If they really enjoy that movie, they'll just want to watch it over and over.",
"Young children cannot differentiate between real and make-believe. Therefore, they get to hang out with their friends every time they watch the movie. \n\nThis is why experts say young children cannot handle scary or gruesome movies because in their brain, the friend actually dies. ",
"Oh lord, my nephew did this with Air Bud, burned through 5 dvds of the same movie. My dad gets mad when anyone mentions Air Bud or the even more unmentionable Air Buddies....",
"Children grow so rapidly that repetition soothes and comforts them. That's why they love reading the same book, watching the same movie, doing anything over and over. It's not only soothing but it's something that can rely on not to change. ",
"I'm not sure, but I remember when I was pretty young, I did the same thing with Peter Pan and Christmas movies. It was just a phase, I guess! ",
"Man I'm 40 and watch the same movies and tv shows over and over. I smoke cannabis and I seem to notice new nuances to the shows or films when high. ",
"I'm going to disagree with the top comments. I was watching WALL-E for the umpteenth time and I began to notice the same questions. Is he going to make it? Is EVE good or bad? Etc. Same thing with Star Wars will R2-D2 be ok when the Jawas take him?\n\nKids think that the movies will end differently or different things will happen, they don't understand its a recorded thing, that its set in stone.\n\n",
"As a experiment we put the Spanish language on for the movie Cars, which my niece watched at least 3 times a day. \nDidn't even phase her. (She was about 4 at the time)",
"Young people do this , not only for movies but for everything.\n\nFor example; If you've ever been around kids, I.e. your children or nephews or something like that.... you might do or say something moderately cool and they'll be so impressed they'll drive it into the fucking ground through hardcore repetition. [Catch phrase, or exaggerated gesture for comedic effect, or pretty much just anything that they might find funny or cool]\n\nAnd they'll keep going.... to the point where you'll be like \"Oh god why did ever do that\"..... that's just kids. \n\nBasically like this, except not a joke or looped, that's literally how kids are ;\n_URL_0_",
"Isn't that what were doing with Reddit?",
"God, my 27 year old son and most of his friends and associates ALL STILL do this!\n\nI think it's less and age thing and more of an ease of consumption and the fact humans by nature are lazy (not kidding, by nature we are).\n\nIt's also an evolution of past media consumption. Take my parent's for example. Their parents were heavy into reading books, because that's how most people were entertained at home (live theater costing too much and radio being rare, with TV even more so). As radio became affordable, people read less and less... why spend all that time to read when you can listen to things.\n\nThen as TV took off, it soaked up more and more time people my parent's age spent going out or listening to the radio. Why deal with going to a sporting even when you can watch it on TV.\n\nNext is my Gen, the 70's kid, 80's early computer users. We spent LOTS of time watching TV and reruns because we could. And all sorts of nature, history and science shows (the real kind, I'm talking to you \"History Channel\"!) and they would repeat them because there wasn't really much unique content yet. \n\nThen cable hit, WOW! And the VCR, then DVD player... so now we could get our favorite show at home and watch it over and over... without having to take up Dads TV time. Only had to worry about mom and dad making us clean or heaven forbid, go outside :) \n\nThen all those tapes and DVDs we loved and still had, went to our kids. And since we watched them we let them watch them. Well some of us, I saw what too much did to my friends so my kids were limited on TV time (yea, yea I'm a mean dad). But hell, even with limited time, my daughter was a Land Before a Time FREAK. She wore through FOUR tapes of the first movie. Only when they were dead did she want to read or go outside or touch a computer.\n\nMy son buys just about every season of every show he watches and keeps them. Movies too. God he has more discs than I own even including all the burned media I had. \n\nHe would rather stream then go to the movie. He's more than happy to wait the three months for a new movie to come to digital. \"It's just too much work to go to a real movie\".",
"I don't know but I watched The fellowship of the ring on a 25 hour drive when I was 9 back-to-back-to-back. I think I have every word memorized...",
"Went camping with my family when I was younger. We had a portable DVD player in the car. My sister was 5 and played Frosty the Snowman 14 times in a row. I never wanted to scream so much in my life.",
"It's because they're ~~stupid~~ not as smart as everyone else.\n\nWatch the really intelligent kids - they don't have the same affinity for watching the same thing over and over again that the dumber kids do...",
"This is just anecdotal but I remember enjoying watching the same movies over and over again as a child because it is what I knew existed. There was a period of time where I didn't really know other things existed so when I did find something I liked I indulged in it.",
"I am 28 and I still do this. I've watched all 4 seasons of orphan black like 6 times by now. It's one reason I'm pretty sure I have the ass burgers",
"I miss my nephew. I'm not sure if I'll ever see him but he would watch the first 15 minutes of Tarzan over and over (while Tarzan was a baby, he couldn't accept him as an older character) and he had this weird obsession with toy unboxing videos. Miss that kid. ",
"I have kids and I tell all my friends without kids this all the time. Kids like watching the same movies over and over and over because to a kid, life is crazy and they don't understand much of what is happening around them. \n\nRemember, to them, they are experiencing something new every fucking day. And it's fucking exhausting. \n\nThink about how scary a giraffe is to a kid who has never seen one. Or an airplane. It doesn't make sense. How the hell is it staying up in the air? And just try telling a kid that those nuggets they are eating are actually chickens. \n\nWhen they see something that they know and remember (like a movie) it's comforting knowing what is going to happen next. It's like an hour and a half of comfort. An hour and a half of no surprises. An hour and a half that they can predict. And that's cool for kids. They are finally in control. ",
"Because they like making me sing that goddamn song from moana. It's when they realize who's really in charge and that I am merely a puppet here to do their bidding \" what can I say except you welcome\" 🎶🎶. Kill me kill me kill me \" when your staring at a demigod\" 🎶🎶🎶🎶",
"There is comfort to be found in ritual. Same reason people go to church. They hear the same thing over and over and it comforts them. Even if it's scary.",
"Awesome ELI5! Now can you tell me why she won't let me take a shit in peace.. ?",
"Children's brains aren't as developed as adults and watching something multiple times or reading the same book multiple times is as if they're doing it for the first time as they can comprehend something new within it each time. Whereas we adults grasp most things the first time.",
"Did you ever see a kid “watch” a movie? They pay attention to about 10% of it because they're too busy talking, coloring, running around, etc. They probably feel like they're watching for the first time every time.",
"When I was young, I used to be fully engrossed in a movie to the point that I was the main character. What happened to them, happened to me. I see the same thing with my kid. \n\nSo when I watched Bambi, I was the deer. Or when I watched sword in the stone, I was newt. \n\nThis is why kids also zone out. Their brain is on autopilot and they are taking it all in. \n\nSo if they want to see bing bong, they need to watch inside out again. It is the same reason I still reread Harry Potter or Jurassic park. Or watching Star Wars over and over. I love being transported back to those universes and being immersed. Having the characters talk to me and visit those places over and over. \n\nVideo games are a better mechanism for this, but are usually out of the age range for really young kids. \n\nI think one or two other comments have also touched on why kids can't handle scary / violent movies. It is surreal to them and causes stress (not sure I'd call it PTSD). Being engrossed, it's hard for your brain to differentiate between real and fantasy. And this why nightmares can be so horrific. \n\nI don't think we \"know\" why kids like to rewatch movies, but there are a lot of theories. Kids may not know everything, but they are not dumb. I don't think they need 50 viewings to understand Frozen or Moana. ",
"Lack of experience, they have limited options.\n\nIf you've only had 5 different things to eat, the chances of you wanting to eat the same thing in a row for 5 days are much higher than if you've had 10,000 things to eat.",
"Whilst OP's comment has some merit, I personally believe that my kids want to watch the same thing everyday because they want to torture us parents. \n\nI enjoyed the Trolls movie the first 5 times, now I have lost count, now I have lost the ability to feel, to taste, to love.\n\nSomeone, anyone please make the pain stop.",
"WE can't watch the same movie everyday because we have completely understood the movie and had the run of emotions the movie brings out in us. Watching it again is just redundant and boring. But kids don't really comprehend things in the first go. Besides, they choose their movies based on what looks the most colourful/attractive. It's hard to get bored of something when you haven't really experienced it in the first place.",
"Land before time: something about the intro pizza commercial that got me.. also the movie got me too.. ",
"my 3 year old every day for the past 5 months:\n\n*holds up some toy resembling a hook, kisses it*\n\n**IT'S MAUI TIME**\n\n*proceeds to turn into a hawk and flail about the house*",
"Adults like to do this too. God knows how many times I have watched and re-watched Harry Potter. ",
"I can confirm this with groups of Autistic kids, to an extent. My sister did this to an extreme growing up (there we instances of us seeing movies multiple times while in theatres) and of her destroying VHS tapes by consistent viewings. \n\nThank goodness for iTunes and Netflix.",
"As a 33 year old, I can still do this except with work and adult commitments, I cant do it daily for months. I do it for two reasons-adds background noise that I can ignore. If there is a new show, radio, news I can easily get distracted from whatever cleaning or sorting Im doing. The other is because Im going to a rough patch and need the escapism to lift my mood. ",
"Its operant conditioning in its pure form. The trend to repeat when something is pleasurable, is like the first time they slide on a big sledge, they are going to tell you you \"again\". Trying to repeat that same \"reward\" feeling.\n\n_URL_0_",
"At it's most basic level, if you watch a movie and take in and remember lets say, 60% of it. The main plot, characters and main cinematic moments. You may forget minor details and general talk scenes or links, but overall, you remember the entire story, the order in which things occur and the protagonists. \n\nA child by comparison may only take in 5-10% of a kids movie. They'll usually remember their favourite character and favourite scenes, but they'll forget everything else and the order it occurs.\n\nChildren aren't jut learning how to be a person, they're also learning how their brain works on a basic level, repetition aids that development by keeping consistency and familiarity. \n\nThis is why it's enjoyable for them as well, they don't pick the whole story up, so they learn more about the film on each watch through, as well as helping their memory development it's like learning about a game or storys universe, fleshing out small information they gained on watch through 25.",
"I was an adolescent psychiatric nurse for twenty years. I worked mainly with adolescents, but for six years I worked at a free-standing psych hospital that had a children's unit and worked with children part of the time. The youngest patient I ever had was four years old. (He tried to kill his parents by burning down the house.)\n\nKids do things for a lot of different reasons, but one reason they enjoy watching the same show over and over is that predictability lessens anxiety and gives the child a feeling of mastery and control. (\"If I play this Robin Hood cartoon video for the hundredth time, it will deliver the exact same dialogue and songs and the cartoon foxes will still be like people.\")\n\nFor a child who has experienced unpredictable psychic trauma, anything that is predictable from their \"old life\" (before the trauma) can be comforting-- a favorite stuffed animal, a special blanket, a favorite picture book, a certain type of juice box, etc.\n\nChildren who grow up in traumatic circumstances will often try to re-create their traumatic home life inside the hospital. If they argued with their alcoholic mother and were seductive with their father, they may try to re-create this with members of the staff, because it feels familiar and \"normal.\" We often had to move staff members to another unit until a patient who was inappropriately focused on that staff member was discharged.\n\nI also saw situations where the child screamed, fought, threw things and overturned furniture when his parent was present (usually the mother) but calmed down and was polite, obedient and cooperative when the parent left the unit. (\"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I WANT YOU TO DIE!\" Mom leaves. \"Mister Kevin, can I have a cookie?\")\n\nThe kids called staff members \"teachers.\" The unit was decorated to mimic an elementary school classroom, with bright colors, alphabet letters along the top of the walls, white boards, child-sized tables and chairs, \"activity areas\", an American flag, pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, etc. Staff members read books to the children in groups, supervised things like \"coloring\" or pasting up collages with colored construction and paper pictures from children's magazines. Art therapy, slipped in among the other activities, was very revealing. There's nothing like a cheerful six-year-old coloring a piece of paper solid black and purple or drawing depictions of monsters and gruesome violence to set off your internal alarm bells."
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"http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/never-ending-story-how-repetition-helps-a-childs-vocabulary-2220647.html",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%27s_Clues"
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35942x | how do you calculate depreciation recapture tax? | I just need it broken down, I understand how to calculate depreciation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35942x/eli5_how_do_you_calculate_depreciation_recapture/ | {
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"I assume this is capital gain from 'real property' you are calculating the tax on? If so, you will apply the 25% tax rate to the entirety of the amount that was depreciated over the course of the ownership of the asset. Then, subtract the same total depreciation amount from the total capital gain from the sale to calculate the tax on the remainder."
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675bjm | how does your brain decide if something looks edible or not? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/675bjm/eli5_how_does_your_brain_decide_if_something/ | {
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"Your brain compares it to other foods you've eaten. It looks at the coloration (bright fruits can be poisonous), shape (if it's got sticks and dead leaves in it, it's probably not edible), etc."
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2jzwgx | sometimes i see a tiny dog being a bully/ aggressive to a huge dog. does it not realize that the other dog is much bigger and could kill it if it wanted to? | Why does this happen? I feel like most animals have an understanding that you shouldn't mess with something 5 times your size. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jzwgx/eli5_sometimes_i_see_a_tiny_dog_being_a_bully/ | {
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"Animals tend to define their safe distance based on their own size, so a small dog might not realize it's entering into the 'personal space' of a much larger dog, because to him and his small scale world view, he's still in a neutral space and a safe distance.\n\nSo when the larger dog starts to subtlety defend its territory, the small dog reacts as if it's unfairly provoked and gets hyper aggressive. \n\nLarger dog is just defending its space which it perceives as being invaded; small dog thinks it's in neutral zone and being provoked. That's why you see much more agitation in smaller dogs when they get too close.\n\nThey certainly can and do get harmed or sometimes killed. I used to work in an emergency section of a 24/7 animal hospital, and a lot of our emergencies have to do with small dogs inadvertently entering space of larger breeds.",
"Okay, ELI5 why small dog owners think it's cute to let their little, aggressive dog run up to my GSD?\n\nThen they get all bent out of shape when my GSD reacts.",
"I don't remember where I read it, but I believe it has to do with pack hierarchy. \n\nSmall dogs are more likely to be aggressive because their aggressive behavior is more likely to be seen as \"cute\" by their owners and therefore not curbed. That gives them the sense that they are the alpha and they try to act dominant as a result. \n\nLarge dogs, on the other hand, can really hurt someone when they are being aggressive, and so are more likely to be curbed. As a result, they know they are not the alpha and are more submissive. \n\nTake it with a grain of salt - this is the internet, after all. ",
"Small dog syndrome! It happens in humans too :)\n\nI belive the small dog knows it's is at a disadvantage straight away so immediately becomes aggressive in an attempt to dominate the other dog to obtain the alpha status. \n\nIn most cases the bigger dog has never felt the need to act this way as his appearance usually does the job, so is usually more chilled out. \n\n",
"If the owners weren't always so close, this kind of behavior might have been worked out of a the smaller breeds. As it is now, it seems like people actually encourage this behavior. At least, it's a behavior I see too many times hanging around the dog park.\n\nI'm a big supporter of cute & fuzzies of all sizes and shapes. However, one really shouldn't yap so much when one can be kicked for yardage.",
"Dogs get aggressive when they think they're under threat. Little dogs see threats where big dogs do not, just due to size. I had a lab mix who was totally calm around people and other dogs, but freaked out like a scared mini yorkie around bears. She really did look like a giant version of a tiny yappy dog, it was kind of hilarious (there was no danger, we were in a car). And if you think about it, mini yorkie is to lab as lab is to bear, so that makes sense.",
"I'm no expert, but I think that is exactly the reason they act aggressive: fear. Cornered animals get as scary as they possibly can to try and deter a threat, so the little shit head rat dogs are probably trying to ensure their own safety. Also, people don't ever train small dogs because bad behavior is seen as \"personality\". ",
"Twice in my life I have owned a small dog and large dog at the same time. In both cases, the small dog asserted himself as the alpha over the large dog. Both were treated equally, no preferential treatment as far as sitting on the furniture or feeding. \n\nIt's pretty funny to see a 75 pound bulldog crying like a baby because the 7 pound little dog took it's chew toy and won't give it up. \n",
"I think this is a hell of a good question and a situation I have personally encountered. I am not particularly pleased with the answers so far though. \"Small dogs are nasty\", no, my middle \"child\" is the sweetest thing around people but let him see a dog, he is off and attacking. He isn't defending his space because the other dog isn't in his space, he will actively run down the street to attack it. Doesn't matter if it is a chihuahua or a husky, he's off if he gets out. Personally, I think it goes back to \"puppyhood\". I know when I brought him in, he attacked my older dog the same way. Viciously. They worked it out, older dog taught him his place and they are now the best of friends. I've always wondered if it came from fighting for food from mom. I don't allow aggressive behavior or jumping on people and he is well trained, unless he sees a big dog within a block. (Napoleon complex?)",
"This happened the other day while playing ball with my 80lb intact male german shepherd. Thankfully he doesn't need to throw his weight around. This 30lb pit comes zipping across the field. I notice and recall my big boy to leash him. What ensues borders on hilarity. This dog tries fervently to latch on to his shoulders. My dog just spinning and pushing it away with his paws. I don't intervene because I doubt this dog is up to date on the vaccines and frankly I don't want it put down due to a rabies test. Eventually the owner comes apologizes profusely and takes the dog away. My dog on the other hand is eyeballing the tennis ball for some more throwing. I think it's a territorial thing mixed with bad training. Very few Dog owners correct small dogs. I have groomed dogs, trained, and worked at animal shelters. If my dog acts innapropriately towards any dog it's an immediate correction. He's learned that a neutral or indifferent approach is the best way to avoid a correction. He's had small dogs numerous times try and bite his face. I can't correct fifi fluffy butt but I can prevent my dog from murdering yours. My mom grooms dogs and she has fallen into the habit of babying the small dogs. I never been bit by a big dog. Save huskies. But small dogs have tasted my blood many times. I think it also has to do in the way people correct. Saying a million words and giving attention to the animal plays into the fixation. A simple pincer grab to behind the ears on the neck and a firm no seems to work well for small dogs. It's not pain you're trying to inflict. It's a redirection of it's mind. Intact males will test you more but coming to me when a dog is trying to attack him is a good indicator his mind is focused on what I'm telling him. Hope this helps a little. ",
"1. Terriers, they are like that.\n2. Old lady lets it sit on her head, pillow, arm, it is the sexual master of the house and all must submit to it's yapping.",
"tiny humans do the same thing, some call it short-mans disease :-)",
"Small dogs are treated like babies so they assume that they are the alpha and every other dog even the big ones are their subordinate. It is made worse by the fact that most dog owners will stop the big dog from challenging the smaller one because he might injure the small one and that adds points to his \"alpha-ness\". Repeat that everyday and you'll have yourself a whimpering 80 lb dog that's afraid of a 5 lb dog. However there are other factors but this one I believe is the main cause of it.\n\nIf you are a new small dog owner (or just a new dog owner)and you're afraid of hurting/disciplining your small dog, try my method which usually works(but if you have several dogs, you need to do it for all of them in one-go which is harder I know but its not impossible from my experience). Lay your dog in his side while gently but firmly holding him in that position with your right hand in his neck and your left in his stomach area. Let your dog stay in that position for 30 seconds to a minute and if he resist, force him gently into that position until you achieve 30 seconds to a minute of him not struggling but submitting to that position. After the 30 to 1 minute mark, let him go and if he stays in that position then your job is half-done which means the dog already knows you're the alpha but still resisting however if he excitedly stands, then you're far from over.\n\nDo this method everyday and/or whenever he gets aggressive. And if you ask me when to stop, then stop after you notice a difference.",
"Owning a rotweiller and dog sitting for a lot of friends, I personally think it comes down to training. \n\nMost owners with small dogs in my experience don't train them strictly if at all bc they're too small to really hurt anyone. Which is why I think little dogs bark so damn much for no reason. \n\nWhereas my dog being 90 pounds can easily maul any human. So I've been very strict with her. She won't do anything without my consent. ",
"Big dogs are afraid of small dogs biting their genitals and underbelly... at least thats what i was told.",
"Years ago, The Oatmeal put out a comic: [My Dog, the Paradox](_URL_0_)\n\nFrom the comic: *My dog does not fear automobiles, garbage trucks, or airplanes, but he is terrified of hair dryers. He does not fear bears, moose, or other dangerous fauna but he won't make eye contact with cats. ... My dog has many fears: fireworks, bathing, staring contests with cats, which is funny because none of these things present any real harm to him. But the real dangers are things he actively tries to embrace, things like disease, large predators, and automobiles.*\n\nDogs are loyal and usually socially intelligent, but often they are stupid when it comes to risk assessment.",
"I'm 6'5\". My boss is 5'6\". He should listen to what you have to say.",
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.",
"My wife and I own one of these little terrors. His case may not be typical, but after getting to know him and talking to some experienced trainers, I really believe that in some dogs it comes down to anxiety. Nanak doesn't act aggressively towards big dogs because he thinks he's tougher than them; he acts aggressively because he is **pants-wettingly terrified** of them and barking, snapping, even biting is an almost uncontrollable fear response for him. It's irrational but it's the only way he knows how to cope with his feelings. I think he believes on some level that if he *acts* tough enough the other dog will be intimidated and forget how tiny he really is.\n\nAlso worth noting is that of all the dogs he's done this with, the vast majority either barked back, ignored him, or tried to play (mostly puppies). One time we were visiting a friend who has two usually chill Dobermans, and one of them got a little sick of it. I didn't see what happened, but she apparently lunged at him and all of a sudden he was booking it to the other room. If he's gone over a line and put himself in real danger, he knows, and he stops. For a while, until the anxiety overrides his reason again.\n\nHe's still very young and he's made a lot of progress with cats and small dogs since we got him. We're putting him into a reactivity class later this fall to help learn some better coping strategies.",
"Have 95lb pit bull. He is a giant whiney baby and will cry if he doesn't get attention. \n\nMy grandmother's 3lb teacup chihuahua on the other hand is a demonic being. ",
"Dogs become arrogant dicks when you always let them sit in your lap and pick them up.",
"You know how sometimes you met a really large man that is just a teddy bear, and then you meet some really short guy and he's a total douche nozzle? Dogs are like people that way, some are cunts.",
"Tiny dogs that are aggressive are still allowed to breed. Big dogs that are aggressive are not permitted to breed. I have a twelve pound daschund-maltese cross, and if a big dog went into the kind of full rage mode she displays, it would be just plain terrifying. It would also be extremely dangerous, and would probably result in a mob with torches to have it put down as a threat to mailmen. But at twelve pounds, and since I can just lift her right off the ground with her leash/harness if she tries to snap at someone, it's just cute so she and her breed get away with it.",
"this is insecurity. The smaller dog is insecure about its size, so it barks at the bigger one to intimidate it.\n\nSame in our world. If you are tiny and confronted by a big guy, you either run or just make tons of noise and throw yourself around at him.\n\nBut dogs who are confronted in close spaces cannot run, so they bark instead to show off how powerful they are, but they ain't foolin' no-one.\n\nEdit: spelling",
"My parents watched a friend's small terrier for a couple weeks. My parents owned a 120 lb golden retriever, Max.\n\nFor a whole week that terrier, ahem, terrorized the retriever. Then one day Max gets tired of his shit. Max was sleeping on the floor when the terrier comes up and nips at his front paws.\n\nMax lunged forward with his mouth open wide and shut his mouth when the terriers head was inside.\n\nNow, Max was a gentle dog so he didn't even hurt the terrier; he just held its head in his mouth for a few seconds as it yipped franticly. Then he let it go. \n\nThe terrier just stood there for a minute shaking as if it had just realized Max could kill him at any time. For the rest of the time he just followed Max around and would sleep next to him peacefully.\n\nMy theory here is that most larger dogs just put up with it as they would from a puppy because a lot of them look like one. But eventually they get tired of it and try to manage the situation.\n"
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1p5bpg | - why is it that if i'm sleeping on my own it can take ages to fall asleep, but if i'm with my girlfriend we both drop asleep almost instantly? | I don't mean after sex or anything. Is it because I'm more relaxed, or is it some kind of hormone? I've heard about a "Cuddle chemical" before, is that it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1p5bpg/eli5_why_is_it_that_if_im_sleeping_on_my_own_it/ | {
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"I sleep better with my boyfriend because then I don't have nightmares and he can keep the shadow people away.\n\nMaybe you just feel safer?",
"I can guess, but I don't have a clear answer so please don't bash me. I think it's related to our survival instics. So, what does sleeping means? Back in the days, when we used to hide from predators, we had to work hard in order to survive. Sleeping was a huge negative thing for us, because our body is exposed to all kind of threats from the outside world. This made us develop the ability of being paranoic (is this the right term?) about it. Unless the enviroment is totally safe, our paranoia would not let us sleep. Of course, the more trusted people are there with you, the safer you feel and the easier you fall asleep. We don't need this paranoia nowadays since we got rid of most of the threats, but we can't get rid of our instics, and when we are with someone we trust and love, sleeping is easier. And better."
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3f6kjo | how do 'salted-water powered' lamps work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3f6kjo/eli5_how_do_saltedwater_powered_lamps_work/ | {
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"They do not. The description is utterly misleading. They are powered by the materials in the electrodes; the salt water just provides the connection medium between the electrodes."
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5nrz8h | why is it possible for germany to be such an integral part of the european union despite its track record of wwi and wwii? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nrz8h/eli5_why_is_it_possible_for_germany_to_be_such_an/ | {
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"After WW1, punishing and shaming Germany was tried, this (debatably) caused WW2, after WW2 helping Germany was tried, seems to have worked better.",
"After WWI the allies basically left Germany in ruins and forced them to pay reparations to make up for the destruction from the war. It was similar to putting them in jail, it was meant as punishment. We quickly realized this caused WWII so after the war the allies tried to actually prop up Germany for various reason, to combat the Russians or to actually help out etc. This was more like rehabilitating Germany compared to punishing them. To add to that the German people themselves have gone through great efforts to fix what they could. They have immense amounts of Holocaust museums and I believe their schools even teach the Holocaust in an effort to prevent it from happening again compared to just a history subject. \n\nToday they have a very powerful GDP especially for how small their population is which is in part to the post-war efforts. If memory serves they also played an integral part in establishing the EU (possible to prevent another Holocaust). So having money and being a founder also help get you a seat at the table of power.",
"The main wrongs were commited by the regime in power, the wider population were not to blame outside of certain groups. \n\nWould you blame every North Korean for their leaders bizarre oppression and terrible actions? \n\n",
"It wasn't 100% intentional, I'll avoid the important but already mentioned factor of German rehabilitation and focus on the practical issues. The predecessors of the European Union were founded as a way of rebuilding Europe and to avoid another war between European states, based on the idea that by increasing dependence between countries and allowing them free access to resources without the need to go to war, peace could be maintained. West Germany was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952 because not in spite of its track record, that plus the Soviets on the other border. Cut to the 2000s, European integration progressed into the EU, West Germany was allowed to absorb the East in large part due to their post WW2 rehabilitation but was still called the 'Sick Man of Europe' in comparison to states such as France and the UK. This situation changed after the 2008 crisis, the power of states such as Italy, Spain and eventually France collapsed and many others were dependent on Germany money as they were left with the largest and healthiest economy on the continent. Economic power led to political power and from several roughly equal states the situation changed into germany being a cut above.\n\n**TLDR: Everyone else collapsed in the crisis they got stronger**\n"
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5sqi37 | how can cloud cover intensify sun rays, so we have to wear sunscreen even when it's cloudy, yet also block the sun, so we shouldn't bother with solar panels in cloudy places? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5sqi37/eli5_how_can_cloud_cover_intensify_sun_rays_so_we/ | {
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"I have never heard that you need to wear sunscreen when it is cloudy. Do you live in a unique climate where that is the case? Somewhere, I dunno, ozone-y? I've never gotten a sunburn on a cloudy day.\n\nEXCEPT when it snows, because the snow reflects the sunlight so you get a double dose you might not expect.",
"You may be thinking of something called: the ‘broken-cloud effect'. Where on a partly cloudy day, the UV rays are stronger than on a clear day. Scientists don't know exactly why this is, but its thought that the cloud reflect uv rays through the 'broken' parts of the cloud, making any given shaft of light have more UV rays than normal",
"Basically, clouds are opaque for visible light, so it can't pass through. It is however, transparent for UV radiation, which has a higher frequency and is the actually damaging EM wave. Elon musk brilliantly answered the second part of your question, he said that in the UK it's always cloudy, but it's still very green and teeming with life. 70-80% of the light that plants need can still penetrate through the clouds. The same goes for solar panels. "
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3sxypd | why they replaced the lime flavor in skittles with green apple when almost nobody asked for it or wants this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sxypd/eli5_why_they_replaced_the_lime_flavor_in/ | {
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"I'd imagine their product and market study are a little more thorough than your personal preference and that of your friends.",
"I buy it more often now because they taste better. I am not alone. It sucks that they changed the flavors and you don't like it, but they made the change to increase sales and it looks like it has since they haven't undone it.\n\nBut man, Skittles tastes so much better now. I'll go buy some today!"
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6vj5bl | how do glasses help our eyes focus on faraway things, no matter how we turn our eyes? | I also noticed how our focal depth can change while wearing glasses (i.e. background becoming blurry when looking at foreground) when it doesn't when we don't wear glasses.
Actually, how does myopia even work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6vj5bl/eli5_how_do_glasses_help_our_eyes_focus_on/ | {
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"The lens in your glasses only works correctly if it's a precise distance from the center of your eye. That's accomplished by the frame of your glasses. That distance is known when the lens is shaped, and the lens shape reflects the correction needed at that distance, in all directions.\n\nDepth of field is only a function of the width of the pupil. You only have so much, and pushing the focus out means losing simultaneous focus near. The muscles inside your eye allow you to switch between near and far focus, until you get old.",
"I'll take a stab at the myopia question. \n\nThe simplest explanation I've been given is that with myopia, your eye is abnormally shaped - like an oval - which causes light (things you see) to be focused in front of your retina (the image sensing/conducting device of your eye), making them seem further/blurry. \n\nThis is why myopia (near-sightedness) typically gets worse until mid 20s for males, but earlier for women, because their eyes are still actually growing and the image keeps getting focused in front of the retina. \n\nThe way that glasses/contacts help with this is by providing a lens that can essentially bend the light and make it focus on your retina, instead of in front of it. \n\n"
]
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69jtl9 | why do movies usually use real brands/products but tv shows use obvious fake ones? | I know that when there's a crappy product that doesn't work in a movie or TV show it's often made by the fictional Acme company. It makes sense that a company wouldn't like their product appearing to fail in a movie or TV show. That could lead to a lawsuit. But what's wrong with using the real product working normally.
Whenever I watch a movie, a character seems to use an average product, such as an iPhone or a Samsung phone. A MacBook or a well known PC brand. Drink Coca Cola or Pepsi. They use Facebook. They make a Google search.
I'm know that when they use something like Bing or Google+ it's probably part of a product placement or promotional agreement.
Why do TV shows not do that? In some TV shows when they're using a product that is obviously Apple's, they replace the Apple logo with [another fruit](_URL_0_) (I've seen other fruits like a banana being used but I can't recall which ones). They use a fake search engine with the same colour scheme as Google. They drink a dark soda from a red can with a different name than Coca Cola.
It's obvious what product they're supposed to be using and it can be pretty distracting to see a fake name.
Would Google, Coca Cola, Apple or any well known company sue if a TV show used their products? Do movies have to get permission to have their character use a product or service with a real logo? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69jtl9/eli5_why_do_movies_usually_use_real/ | {
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" > Do movies have to get permission to have their character use a product or service with a real logo?\n\nFor the most part, it is not a legal thing or a permission thing. Brand names are protected by trademarks, but unlike a copyright or patent, they don't stop other people from using that name. What they do is prevent people from using that name deceptively. If you have a popular restaurant, I can't open one with the same or a very similar name, hoping to trick people they are related. Trademarks are only about making sure consumers aren't fooled. There are a few other legal restrictions, you can't slander a brand, you can't make it appear the brand is endorsing you, but beyond that, they are fair game.\n\nHowever, there are a lot of good reasons a TV show might choose not to use brand names.\n\nBrand names complicate the networks' advertising model. If an episode prominently features Coke, Pepsi isn't going to want to pay for commercials...and Coke no longer has to. Using generic or fictional brands allows the show to maintain neutrality. Similarly, it preserves the value of product placement..why give it away if someone is willing to pay? And when a company arranges for their products to be featured on a show, they don't want it to play second fiddle so another brand.\n\nCustomers often have strong loyalties, aversions, and preconceptions about brand name products. Your Chevy fan might scoff at a Lincoln shown in a good light, while your Budweiser drinker might be insulted when the show's buffoon is always holding a can. A TV show runs less risk of alienating their viewers if the lead drives a Vista Cruiser and the comic relief drinks Duff beer. Fictional brands also can allow for more plot creativity. You want a major corporation to crumble, or have your favorite coffee chain be a front for a secret government agency? It works much better if you aren't tied to a real brand.\n\n \nFinally, avoiding brands keeps shows from becoming dated. A show that is 10, 15, even 20 years old can still seem plausibly modern...especially if no one ever makes a phone call. But one look at Kramer drinking a Crystal Pepsi, you might as well be watching The Dick Van Dyke Show. Even when the brands are the same, the logos and packaging can change, and that can hurt a show's value in syndication."
]
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"http://imgur.com/gallery/omTT4"
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36tl94 | why are elite american colleges permitted to discriminate against asians on the basis of race? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36tl94/eli5why_are_elite_american_colleges_permitted_to/ | {
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"text": [
"Because white guilt only applies to black people?",
"It is immoral in my opinion. They aren't supposed to, but laws aren't very definitive due to affirmative action which basically makes it legal to give preference based on race. When whites were the only race getting screwed it wasn't PC to talk about it. But now that Asians are perhaps it will change.\n\nThe problem seems to be that universities in an attempt to pre-determine their diversity set goals for the amount of students of each race it wants to accept. Since Asians tend to be better candidates and have higher test scores coming in their cutoff to get into the limited number of slots can be a lot higher than someone of another race. So in essence if you are Asian and want to get accepted you need at least a score of X. But if you are a different minority you need a score of X-Y%.\n\nIt is a shame. If an Asian kid lives next door to an African American kid in the ghetto, both poor, parents work at the factory, same money and chances in life. Asian kid studies harder and does 10% better on his SATs. A university could tell him to fuck off, he isn't good enough, but the African American who slacked off is accepted because they gotta fill that quota."
]
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||
1xf4jx | i heard nasa is working on a warp drive. how can they bend space? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xf4jx/eli5i_heard_nasa_is_working_on_a_warp_drive_how/ | {
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"text": [
"Where did you hear that?",
"That's what they're trying to figure out.",
"They'll get back to you when they figure it out."
]
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[],
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||
3ik82l | the relationship between monks and beer | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ik82l/eli5_the_relationship_between_monks_and_beer/ | {
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"Monks need money, people like beer, beer making is a lot sitting around in silence, monks do a lot of sitting around in silence. It's a match made in heaven.",
"* monasteries often cultivated a craft that helped them raise money...some made honey, others made beer \n* many monasteries had a tradition of fasting...beer is a fairly nutrition and filling drink that can replace food for a while"
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[],
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2bvr8d | how can there suddenly be a one or two inch long hair on my arm without me noticing until its that long? | It doesn't seem like it could just grow that long overnight. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bvr8d/eli5how_can_there_suddenly_be_a_one_or_two_inch/ | {
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"text": [
"You don't tend to notice the small things like that. ",
"I have wondered about this for a long time. After extensive Googling and reading all previous threads I could find on this topic on both ELI5 and AskScience, I found 95% anecdotes (\"I don't know, but I get these too!\") and maybe 5% attempts to answer this.\n\nThe only concensus seems to be:\n\n-It is most likely caused by a mutation in your hair follicle that causes the hair to grow out of control (and often, to be very thin and white) similar to what happens in cancer cells, but fortunately benign.\n\n-Most people who tried to explain this said that they didn't think the hairs could be growing that much faster than a regular hair and we must simply not notice them until they are very long.\n\nConclusion: I think we need someone to research this phenomenon so we can get some answers.",
"I have one of these! His name is Rupert.",
"Sometimes hair (from my head) falls out and reattaches on my arm. ",
"Idk but every once in a while I get one in the middle of my forehead, my record is 2.5 inches before I noticed"
]
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9uoanf | what just happened in the new brunswick provincial election? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9uoanf/eli5what_just_happened_in_the_new_brunswick/ | {
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"In governments that follow British rules and conventions (i.e., Westminster systems), the Prime Minister or Premier is not an office that is elected directly by people but instead is the leader of a party that controls the house (the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in this case). In order for a government to form the leader needs to be able to pass legislation through the house (i.e., control it) and that requires a majority of legislators to vote along side the government. This is what is meant by confidence of the house, a government has the confidence of the house if they can pass legislation, and they can pass legislation if 50%+1 of legislators will vote with the government. If the government does not have the confidence of the house, then they cannot govern effectively. At this point the Lt Governor General can either call another election, or can ask another party to form government if they believe that other party can obtain the confidence of the house.\n\nTypically obtaining the confidence of the house isn't a problem because the voting systems that we use tend to allocate more than 50% of the seats in the legislature to one party (in 2014, the Liberal party won 27 of 49 seats). However in this most recent election there was no clear winner, no single party has more than 50% of the seats. In fact the Progressive Conservatives lead by Higgs, won one more seat than Gallant's Liberals. However convention (or tradition) is such that in the case of no party winning a majority the previous governments gets an attempt to form government. So they attempted to do so and created a throne speech (which I believe is tradition for when a house sits for the first time after an election and outlines the governments aims for that session). The opposition added a motion of non confidence to the throne speech which basically signals that this government cannot pass legislation. This means that the Lt Governor General has to act as stated above (either giving another party the chance or calling an election), almost certainly giving the progressive conservatives a chance at governing. \n\nBoth British Columbia and the United Kingdom both had similar election results in 2017, and so if you are interested in what your future may hold you can read a little more about those cases. \n\n & #x200B;"
]
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||
6fp9ki | why are coins in the u.s. not sized according to their values? | Would it not have made sense for the coins to have been sized from 1-5-10-25 instead of 10-1-5-25? Do other countries also do this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6fp9ki/eli5_why_are_coins_in_the_us_not_sized_according/ | {
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"They generally are sized linearly proportional to their value, in each metal class (originally copper, silver, and gold). Ideally, the size of the country would be close to the value of the metal the coin was made from. However , as time went on a few problems with this idea led to replacements. \n\nA 5-cent coin half the size of a dime, or five times the size of a old or modern penny both were impractical. Instead a new coin with a unique composition was issued. \n\nSilver half dollars and dollars with a proportional mass in metal to the quarter were impractically large. A smaller dollar was introduced (well after the phase-out of silver), but it's size was impractical, and a new metal composition was used starting around 2000. \n\n\nNow that coins do not have a significant metal value, there is no reason why a single size progression couldn't be used, and I believe the Euro has implemented that idea. Be t for the US, we are largely stuck with what we have been using unless we come across a reason to redefine our coins. ",
"Because their values used to be based on their metal content. Quarters and dimes were silver, nickels were nickel, and pennies were copper.\n\nThat became too expensive, so all the silver-colored coins were switched to copper-nickel and the penny was changed to zinc, but they kept the old sizes so the new coins would look the same.",
"They are sized according to value based on their original metal contents. \n\nPennies were one cent worth of copper, dimes ten cents worth of silver, nickels five cents worth of nickel, Quarters 25 cents worth of silver (or silver coated copper I cannot remember), and so on. After we got off the metal standards we phase the expensive metals out of the coins but kept their sizes due to it being well established as that being their size. Changing it would destroy economies that use them such as vending machines and would cause havoc for the blind. "
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27ftkc | professional bodybuilding, how does it work? | How do they make money and how much?
How are they judged in competitions?
This is all very confusing to me. They all look the same. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27ftkc/eli5_professional_bodybuilding_how_does_it_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"ci0e5p1"
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"text": [
"First step, steroids. The rest you will figure out as you go. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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|
3iuq1s | why do (some) christians accept some biblical rules, e.g., the ban on homosexuality, but not others, like kosher rules? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3iuq1s/eli5_why_do_some_christians_accept_some_biblical/ | {
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"text": [
"Tell me if I'm wrong, but for some reason, Christians like to say that stuff in the old testament doesn't really apply anymore. Since the new testament, when Jesus came and got rid of everyone's sins. ",
"The bible seems to have gone from a book to live by, to a book to tell others how to live by..",
"The general theological justification is that the laws of the old testament can be divided into two categories: \"ceremonial\" laws and real laws. \n\nThe \"ceremonial laws\" are the persnickety ones about ritual purity and include things like keeping kosher and not wearing two different threads together. These laws are no longer in force post Jesus, since he fulfilled the law and these laws were focused on ritual purity for the jews, pre-Messiah (according to Christianity, obviously). \n\nThe other laws, though, are viewed as moral laws, that continue to apply as a guide for people's behavior, and as indicators of sin. \n\nOf course, not all Christians accept these distinctions or agree on which ones can be distinguished from the others. [here](_URL_0_) is a nifty article from a \"progressive christian\" discussing one aspect of this debate. ",
"The Kosher rules were part of the [Old Covenant](_URL_2_). Some of these are overwritten in the [New Covenant](_URL_1_) and some aren't. At least according to the Christian denomination of a lot of my family, their position against homosexuality is stemmed from the [New Testament](_URL_0_).",
"IIRC the kosher laws were part of the old covenant basically a deal between God and the Jews that they would follow his rules and he would send the messiah. Jesus fulfilled that so it no longer applies. There is also a scene in the new testament where one of the disciples is offered non-kosher food; he refuses saying it is unclean but God insists and in doing so repeals the kosher laws. \nHomosexuality is addressed separately and never repealed. \nThere are, however plenty of laws in both the old and new testaments that are pretty much only followed by the most orthodox of Jews and some that are ignored or taken less literally: people are no longer stoned or burned for crimes such as sleeping with in-laws, rape is not punished by a fine in silver sheckles etc. because the view of morality and justice has changed. Personally I don't see why the same shouldn't happen for homosexuality but not everyone shares that opinion. \nThe day of the Sabbath changed because the church wanted to prove it was more important than the scriptures."
]
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"http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2014/11/10/god-hates-shrimp-picking-and-choosing-among-abominations/"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_New_Testament",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Covenant",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_the_Old_Covenant"
],
[]
] |
||
2rkwho | why do my cats have different colored eyes when reflecting light? | One of my cats with blue eyes reflects the color red, and my other two cats with green eyes reflect the color green. It doesn't make much sense. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rkwho/eli5_why_do_my_cats_have_different_colored_eyes/ | {
"a_id": [
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"Cat eyes have a colored, mirror-like surface behind the retina called the tapetum lucidum (TL). The TL reflects light which is what allows them to have a sort of night vision. When it's dark out, the black part of the eye (the pupil) expands, revealing more of the TL and resulting in the majority of their eyes reflecting back a colored light.\n\nAs for why different eye colors reflect different colors: the majority of cats reflect back a green or yellow light because the TL contains the minerals zinc or riboflavin (Vitamin B2). (Riboflavin appears yellow because it absorbs blue light and reflects back red and yellow light wavelengths.)\n\nMeanwhile, cats with blue eyes usually lack a TL and thus the red glow is due to light reflecting not off the yellow/green TL, but the red blood vessels.",
"Cats have a reflective surface at the back of their eyes called the tapetum lucidum so that they can see better in low light. Most cats have these because they eat/hunt during the night (yes, even though they're domesticated), so they need to have good night vision. In short, this reflective surface makes it so that more light is detected by the eye, resulting in better night vision. The color of the tapetum lucidum varies from cat to cat, but it typically reflects green or yellow light.\n\nSome cats, however, don't have these, so their eyes reflect red, like humans'. This red reflection is the reflection of the red blood running through the blood vessels in the back of the eye.\n\n(Source: I dissect cow eyes and explain the properties to visitors at a science museum. Cows also have the tapetum lucidum.) If this is unclear, please ask questions. :)"
]
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[],
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|
1rrtzr | hume's law | Hey ELI5 i've searched hume's law on google and such but i can't seem to grasp the meaning of it. ELI5 ?
edit: and what does this has to do with hume's law ? _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rrtzr/eli5humes_law/ | {
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"Hume's Law states that it is impossible to arrive at statements about how the world *should be* from statements about how the world *is.* In philosophical terms, we say that you can't arrive at a normative statement from factual ones. This is called the *is-ought distinction*, which explains the picture.\n\nThis is was a very significant change in moral philosophy. For centuries, people had asked questions about how we could decide what's right and what's wrong, and how we should live our lives, and had come up with a whole variety of answers and justifications for those answers. Most of them claimed to have constructed these on firm philosophical ground. What Hume did was sweep that all away.\n\nAs an example, let's take the doctrine of Utilitarianism. It states that the right thing to do is what provides the greatest good for the greatest number. Aside from practical issues though, if we think about *why* that's the best thing to do, we come up with another *normative* (ought) statement - something like \"utilitarianism is the best because we ought to try to provide the highest overall happiness for everyone\". If we ask why again, we get another ought statement - \"because we ought to be happy\". This is a fundamental moral assumption that is not supported at any point - it's just taken as a given.\n\nFrom an opposite perspective, Hume himself noted that often moral philosophers would begin their work by using facts about what *is* but would then suddenly change to *ought* statements, which is something you can't really do according to him.\n\nWhat Hume is saying is that to get an *ought* from an *is*, we have to accept that fundamental moral assumptions have to be made.",
"Not Penny's Boat."
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"http://www.ranum.com/linkedimages/morals/is-ought.jpg"
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4dyflw | new department of labor fiduciary rule | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4dyflw/eli5_new_department_of_labor_fiduciary_rule/ | {
"a_id": [
"d1vneyo"
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"text": [
"A fiduciary duty means you have to act in the best interest of whomever you hold that duty to. \n\nThere are two kinds of financial planners, fee-based financial planners means you pay them a set fee and they advise you. Commission-based financial planners are paid a commission for getting you to invest in that particular fund. Without a \"fiduciary duty\" to their clients a commission based adviser could (and did) advise you to invest in things that aren't in your best interest because they would get more money for doing so. Now they aren't allowed to do that anymore. Their advice has to be in your best interest.\n\nETA: It is important to remember that this new rule only applies to people advising on retirement accounts (401(k), IRA), not to all financial advisers."
]
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|
1lv2o3 | what is light, and how can it be used to transmit data? | Help me out here. Learning about fiber optics. Need layman's terms. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lv2o3/eli5_what_is_light_and_how_can_it_be_used_to/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"All you really need to know for fiber optics is that light is a physical phenomenon that propagates through space and can be absorbed and/or reflected by any objects it hits.\n\nYou can transmit data by selectively turning a light on or off, or altering the properties of the light you emit over time in a way that can be detected by the person receiving the light at the other end.",
"Think of it like using signal lamp and Morse code,\nonly a different code and really, really fast."
]
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6xw12o | how does wooden objects, such as a door or a table, not rot even though it's a dead organism ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xw12o/eli5_how_does_wooden_objects_such_as_a_door_or_a/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Wood rot requires a mold or fungus to break it down. Molds and fungi require moisture to grow. A wooden object in a home has too low a moisture content for that to happen.\n\nLeave that same object outside, exposed to the rain, and it will begin to rot. ",
"On Earth, where there is water, there is life. If you look at something like a table or a chair, the wood is just far too dry for anything live inside of it. Along with it being too dry, a lot of wood is also pressure treated with specific chemicals to preserve it. The chemicals used to pressure treat are extremely toxic, often using arsenic. So it's also incredibly difficult for organisms to grow surrounded by toxic chemicals. \n\nHowever, as you may have heard with Hurricane Harvey, mold is a very large problem right now in Houston. When water gets introduced to previously dry wood, mold can grow and rot the wood. But as long as the wood is dry and preserved properly, it wont rot. "
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2w4adh | why is the letter h in the spanish alphabet? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w4adh/eli5_why_is_the_letter_h_in_the_spanish_alphabet/ | {
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"I assume that you are asking because the letter H is almost always silent in Spanish. \n\nOf course, as with almost all weirdness that happens in language it's because of history. \n\nSpanish didn't just spring into being all on its own. Spanish is descended from Latin with some parts of nearby Slavic and Germanic languages mixed in. Those languages used 'H' in them to represent a sound. Even when the sounds changed until in modern Spanish we don't really use the sound at all, the spelling didn't change as much* so the H is there. Sure, people could probably get rid of it but changing the spelling of everyone's Spanish would be a lot of effort and cause a lot of confusion to solve a problem that isn't really a problem. \n\n*Spelling rarely changes as much as the verbal sound because spelling always has less variation than the spoken word. You learn a spoken pronunciation based on the small number of people that you talk to. That means you can your friends can start to pronounce things differently very easily. If you don't believe me go to a high school and talk to some kids. Writing is more standard across people who talk differently and so it doesn't change every time one small group of people starts to say something differently. "
]
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[]
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||
6v2m25 | why we can't just put removable batteries in electric cars. | I mean, if a household inverter battery can be plugged in and out, a car battery shouldn't be much of an issue
Imagine "petrol stations" just being these huge battery warehouses where you pull up, take out your battery, put another fully charged battery in, and drive off. The old battery is then charged up in the warehouse
Wouldn't this work if we're able to standardise the kind of car batteries being used? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6v2m25/eli5why_we_cant_just_put_removable_batteries_in/ | {
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"This is something that's been discussed. The problem is that the battery costs ~1/2 of the price of the car. They take up a bunch of space, and it would take time to switch them. The \"gas station\" would be a very expensive business to set up, you'd need several batteries for each type of car. If changing them takes 20 minutes, like an oil change, it's going to have to cost $50 for the technician time. When a supercharger can put 50% charge in the car in the same time for $5, it's hard to see this becoming popular.",
"It's easier to charge your phone when you get home than replace the battery. Unless what you're getting at is that it'd save you money in the end to have multiple batteries than charge up every time. From what I've seen people who drive electric cars have that kind of time and money to charge them up before they go anywhere. I'm guessing companies and electric car owners are banking on gas stations having charging stations for hybrids and electric cars in the future. ",
"Elon Musk:\n\nWe have, basically, the LA-to-San Francisco pack swap capability in place, and I believe all Model S owners in the California area have been invited at this point to try it out. And what we're seeing is a very low take rate for the pack swap station. So we did an initial round of invitations, where we did basically, like, 200 invitations, and I think there were a total of four or five people that wanted to do that, and they all did it just once. So, like, okay, clearly it's not very popular. And then we said, okay, let's expand that invitation to all customers, but I would expect that all customers behave roughly like that initial sample group.\n\nIt's just, people don't care about pack swap. The Superchargers are fast enough that if you're driving from LA to San Francisco, and you start a trip at 9 AM, by the time you get to, say, noon, you want to stop, and you want to stretch your legs, hit the restroom, grab a bite to eat, grab a coffee, and be on your way, and by that time, the car is charged and ready to go, and it's free. So, it's like, why would you do the pack swap? It doesn't make much sense.\n\nWe built the pack swap into the car because we weren't sure if people would want to choose the pack swap or not. We thought people would prefer Supercharging, but we weren't sure, so that's why we built the pack swap capability in. And, you know, based on what we're seeing here, it's unlikely to be something that's worth expanding in the future, unless something changes.\n\n_URL_0_",
"A commodity is something that is interchangeable with something else. One ton of Grade B wheat is the exact same as any other ton of Grade B wheat in the world. I can trade you my ton for your ton and never give it a second thought.\n\nA battery isn't like that. A battery has a different lifespan depending on how it has been treated in the past (both how many charges it has been through, and how quickly it has been charged/drained). You wouldn't want to go to a \"gas station\" and swap your brand new Tesla battery for a three year old gas station battery.\n\nA gallon of gas is a commodity. You buy a gallon anywhere and its the same thing. Same with electricity. That's why its a lot easier to charge the car instead of replacing the battery.\n\nThat said... If you don't own the car, say it was an Uber, the battery could be swapped out at a station and be charged outside of the car.",
"There have been attempts... there was a company called Better Place that attempted pilot runs in some locations a few years back but folded. Tesla has also explored the idea.\n\nThe issues are that the batteries are huge, incredibly heavy, and unique size/shape for each model.\n\nThe batteries weigh over 1000 pounds and are the size of a queen mattress. Not exactly easy to swap without a giant crane and storage for waiting batteries and actively charging ones.\n\nAnd a Tesla Model S battery is different from a Leaf, or BMW i3, etc. so do you have to keep a dozen different types of batteries on hand? Have brand/model-specific battery swap centers? Could you imagine having BMW or Ford specific gas stations? Where would we fit all the different stations?\n\nThe other option would be to get all electric car makers to create a standard... but given all the R & D spent already and timeframe for designing vehicles and getting them to production, that could take a decade or more.",
"As others have explained, there's the issue of coming into a charging station on the way home from a car dealership and getting a 10 year old battery swapped in. One proposal is you'd be obligated to take the same route home and eventually pick up your old battery. Another proposal is you'd own the car but rent the battery pack. However the direction things are moving are more and more efficient batteries and quicker and quicker charging times. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/news/a25872/elon-musk-tesla-battery-swap/"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3hgusk | why does the oval office have a door which is flush with the wall? | Proof of what I mean: _URL_0_
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hgusk/eli5_why_does_the_oval_office_have_a_door_which/ | {
"a_id": [
"cu792n4",
"cu7uecm"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Just a design feature. There are a couple regular doors and windows, and a couple of the concealed ones. Just saves wall space and doesn't draw attention to them.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"It would be rather gauche to put a big sign saying \"Presidential shitter\", wouldn't it?"
]
} | [] | [
"http://i.imgur.com/Wi98Ng6.jpg"
] | [
[
"http://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-the-Oval-Office-have-normal-doors"
],
[]
] |
|
aegn5z | why is china so bad at football (soccer)? | Most populated country on Earth, and it’s a popular sport there, yet, they’ve only qualified to the World Cup once. Nearby countries like Japan and South Korea are miles ahead of China when it comes to football, but why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aegn5z/eli5_why_is_china_so_bad_at_football_soccer/ | {
"a_id": [
"edp4j3m",
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"score": [
7,
3
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"text": [
"Because other sports are more popular and have the framework for players to learn and develop.\n\nFor example, how good of a Sepak takraw player can you be in Canada? You can play all you want, but since it isn't popular and there isn't much competition or training, you won't be as good as say, the Malaysians or Indonesians, where it is very popular.\n\nFootball/soccer is fun, but there is a plateau as to how players can develop because it just isn't as popular compared to say, badminton or table tennis, where they are significantly more popular and China is successful at.\n",
"As others have already pointed out, interest is very low in China. But to echo what another commenter posted, there's only about 2000 professional clubs in China. What does this mean? It means that there are very, very few places to get **consistent, professional training**.\n\nTraining and youth development is always going to be the most important factor in how good a nation does in the sport. \n\nOkay I know you're thinking about Brazil. Brazil has an *intense* passion and culture of football. That can always offset the lack of development (which Brazil still has very extensively btw), so Brazilians in the past tended to be very good dribblers (they still are) because of the conditions in the favelas where they play soccer.\n\nSo to recap, two things are necessary: interest and professional training. Professional training is far more important but can be offset by a very, very high amount of interest, but professional training must still exist. China has quite a low interest and their professional training and youth development is not high quality nor very extensive."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
26300d | why do musicians not release official lyrics of their songs? | I know that some bands do it, but why is this not a common thing to do between musicians? Is there any particular reason for this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26300d/eli5_why_do_musicians_not_release_official_lyrics/ | {
"a_id": [
"chn5srj",
"chn64wi"
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"score": [
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6
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"text": [
"Back when CDs were relevant was there not the lyrics in the booklet on the reverse of the cover art?",
"I think the rise of the Internet has something to do with it.\n\nBefore the internet the booklet that came with the album would have the lyrics. Today, an artist can upload the \"official\" lyrics to a website, where it's free to access.\n\nThere's no reason artists need to do this, though, because the fans can generate the lyrics themselves through crowdsourcing."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
7dqghq | why do some things melt when heat is added, such as ice, and others harden, such as clay? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7dqghq/eli5_why_do_some_things_melt_when_heat_is_added/ | {
"a_id": [
"dpzou3l",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Your premise here is incorrect. Clay will melt just fine if you add enough heat to it. Of course, for water the melting temperature is 0 degrees celsius. For clay that temperature can be well over a couple thousand (depending on what type of clay you're using). \n\nIn fact, *most* substances will melt when you get them to their melting temperature. Again, water's just happens to be an easily accessible one. ",
"Clay hardening is due to water leaving it. Ice melting is a state change, where the material changes state from solid to liquid.\n\nIf you take clay to a high enough temperature, it's insides will melt too (barring any chemical reactions)",
"The two things arent exactly the same.\n\nIce is just water in a different state of matter. Applying heat to ice makes it melt, turning it into water, its liquid form. This works fine for a homogenous solution. \n\nFor something heterogenous, like clay, it isnt all just one thing. There are different amounts of water molecules, carbon-based molecules, and who knows what else! Given that clay, and other solids you may have in mind are a big mixing pot of stuff, each of these different compounds in the mixture reacts in different ways.\n\nAs for clay, it contains water molecules, which help it to be pliable and mold into things, without that water it would be rigid and stiff. Applying heat evaporates the liquid water in the clay mixture leaving nothing to maintain the clay's pliable nature, and making it hard. \n\nThe heat I'm sure reacts with the other components of the compound, but those reactions I am unsure of and am not fit to discuss."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
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