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4mbrg3 | how come most people who grew up poor/lower socioeconomic, usually stay that way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4mbrg3/eli5how_come_most_people_who_grew_up_poorlower/ | {
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"Two main reasons\n\nFewer opportunities. This sounds like a cop out, but it's true. It's harder for the lower classes to afford college, and many don't have the ability to finish highschool before they need to find a job to help cover bills. Of those that do go to college, not many can afford unpaid internships and therefore don't have the resume necessary to break into higher paying \"white collar\" jobs. This means that even those with degrees sometimes end up with blue collar jobs where their education is almost useless.\n\nPoor habits. Because many grow up living paycheck to paycheck, they get bad habits like spending excess money as soon as they get it instead of saving. They immediately try to upgrade their life by getting a better car or better apartment instead of saving their money and living frugally. This means that they don't usually end up with the money to be able to afford real improvements like buying a house.\n\nTLDR- It's a combinations of too few opportunities and too poor of habits.",
"Because their parents can not afford to put them through college therefore they were probably not pushed to go right away and just have that extra hurdle of trying to work and pay their way through an education. ",
"Poverty is known to be perpetual for one pretty huge reason; the available opportunities. \n\nIt is repeated time and time again, but basically those born economically struggling area, in a \"poor\" family, and such forth have less immediately available opportunities to succeed upwards compared to those of the upper 10% and more opportunities for failure downwards than those of the upper 10%. \n\n For example:\n A child growing up in a poverty-stricken lifestyle will most likely have easier access the drugs, gangs, and other influences. As well as less access to positive influences such as a good school, a supportive and educated family, great role models for advice, etc. \n\n Meanwhile, a child growing up in a well-off family will have access to better schools, educated individuals, and would most likely know no one in a gang. As for drugs, a well off child's parents will probably have the proper resources to help any problem, however, drugs will not too apparent in his environment to influence him. \n\nThat is merely just growing up. In adulthood, many of the same problems exist, however, more are tacked on. The key to success is having an education or marketable skill, those are usually tied. A poor working full time and barely making it will most likely face constant stress and anxiety around just surviving. He most likely will struggle to save enough to get an expensive education or won't have enough time to work on a skill. \n\nOn the other side, a very well-off person can afford to pay people to do his/her chores there for freeing up time to work on a skill, or they can have enough money to go get an expensive education. They are not stressed or living check to check, and there for can focus on further their education, bettering them. \n\nThe list can go on and on, but pretty much it comes down to opportunities. ",
"One underappreciated factor is that poorer individuals simply aren't as well connected as richer ones. You can take two students same in all traits except how they grew up. The rich student will have friends, family, etc, who can point him towards opportunities - say, a job vacancy that isn't even advertised, etcetera. The poor student will have to rely on publicly available information, which is usually... second-rate.\n\nWho you know and who your family knows matters. Unfortunately.",
"Some people do not stay that way. Immigrants can accumulate more wealth than native born residents of their country can become more affluent over twenty years. This is true all over the world.\n\nThey will work extra hard, not spend anything unnecessary. They will live in small cramped quarters. They will invest their savings wisely. It is an attitude they have. "
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49iy49 | historically, does socialism work long-term? why or why not? | Citing historical examples, not hypothetical, does a socialistic system of government really work in practice over the long term?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/49iy49/eli5_historically_does_socialism_work_longterm/ | {
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" Nearly every socialist country has given it up after experiencing a string of economic failures. The most notable example is the Soviet Union. Another interesting example is China, which still calls itself communist but is in fact a large percentage capitalist. Both of these countries experienced not only poverty, but even starvation of millions of people, as a result of their failed economic policies during socialism.",
"Pretty much every democratic country that collects taxes and uses tax money to fund things like infrastructure, healthcare, public education, etc is socializing the costs of all of those things, so I would argue that some socialist principles work out pretty good in the long run.",
"There has never been a long-term socialist government. I highly doubt there has ever been a short-term socialist government on any real scale. (As in, more than a few hundred people.) Plenty of governments have attempted to be socialist, but none have accomplished it. \n\nThe fundamental core of socialism is the obliteration of the concept of value, both of people and material items. Which goes against basic tenets of rationality, (at least, for the long foreseeable future.) This manifests in various contradictions and hypocrisies which prevent a society from properly functioning.",
"Social policies mixed with capitalism have been proven to work very well together. This includes the United States, Canada, and many European countries. Pure socialism (public ownership of *all* means of production) has never been properly implemented.\n\nCapitalism comes with many inherent flaws, and a \"mixed\" approach which applies social control over some aspects of the economy seeks to remedy those flaws.",
"This ends up not being a topic that lends itself well to an ELI5 explanation.\n\nThe reason for this is that we're discussing a political entity who who has at its core a tactic of controlling the definitions and names for things through propaganda.\n\nOne of the better examples is the Bolshevik party in Russia (originating in 1905, coming to power as part of the 'October' revolution)... they eventually formally became the party of Vladimir Lenin. At the time, they called themselves officially the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. But that's long and hard to remember so they called themselves the 'Bolsheviks'. Bolshevik in Russian literally means ' of majority'. Note that they called themselves this before coming into power, long before they would have been considered a majority party. Also note that their opposition party (Menshiviks) literally translates to 'of minority'. Even though, at the time, they were actually the majority.\n\nIt's a propaganda tactic, used in amazing effectiveness. Quite an interesting history study actually. They basically called themselves the majority and the masses started thinking of them in that light.\n\nRelevant Point: discussions on the topic you're asking about is steeped in a history of propaganda. You'll be lucky if anyone even agrees on what the difference between \"socialist\" vs. \"communist\" is.\n\nHow do I know all this? Well I speak Russian. I am not Russian, but have read many, many books on this history. It's fascinating.",
"There has probably never been a proper implementation of socialism on a large scale. Certainly all of the historical examples, like the Soviet Union, are not examples of socialism. In all of these traditional historical examples, the government wasn't actually socialist, or it sacrificed its socialism pretty quickly for something else, like fascism, but continued to call itself socialism, confusing the world to this day.\n\nSo we really don't have good information to say whether or not socialism can work long term. Someone needs to really try it for real."
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1g1b3l | what are the main differences between sunni and shia islam? | There seems to be a lot going on between these groups and a lot of violence and hate towards each other. Why is this happening? Can this be viewed like the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1g1b3l/what_are_the_main_differences_between_sunni_and/ | {
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"Orthodox vs Roman Catholic is kind of a workable example to a point, but it misses the huge political factor.\n\nTo delve into it a bit more, you need to know why they're different. Islam follows on from Judaism and Christianity with a fellow named Muhammad, who around 600AD, proclaimed that he was receiving revelations from God and that he was the next great prophet (Christ being the last one). He gathered followers, eventually raised an army, and conquered the crap out of the Middle East, giving conquered people options between converting to this new religion of Islam, paying tax, or dying (some debate on this in posts below). Then he chilled out for a bit and eventually died.\n\nNow, let's get to the point differences:\n\n1: A large part of Islam has been based around those who knew Muhammad but weren't recorded in the Quran, and what they claim Muhammad said, meant, or did off the record. Called Hadiths, these are Islamic laws or suggestions based around such anecdotes. It could be as simple as a man who once observed Muhammad treat a beggar in a certain way declaring that this way of treating beggars is the one true way all Islam should follow, through to rather complicated arguments of how to interpret Islamic law written in the Quran based on what was implied by something Muhammad was once recorded to have said. Sunni and Shia Muslims believe in and accept different Hadiths, as do various smaller branches within those two factions.\n\n2: The more concrete divide is the matter of a chap named Ali, and the matter of who would succeed Muhammad upon his death. Ali was Muhammad's first cousin and closest living male relative, and also married Muhammad's daughter. Shia Islam believes and accepts that Ali was the rightful heir to Muhammad, stating that only God has the right to choose such leaders, and had appointed Ali caliph and all round #1 guy in Muhammad's wake. The Sunni, by contrast, whilst holding him in high regard still consider him one of FOUR caliphs, rather than the one and only. It's a bit more complex than that, but it'd be stepping out of ELI5 territory and into a major debate (Llama Labia made a post below that does go into those details a bit more. Scroll down and go look!). At the time, there were battles over this.\n\n3: Sunnism puts a LOT of emphasis on Sharia, Islamic law. Shia aren't as strict about taking law solely from the Quran, and have several other ways of defining Sharia law (such as Mantiq, which is argument of traditional logic, or proclaiming a change to the law to be in 'public interest'), for better or for worse.\n\n4: Different beliefs on what will happen at the end of the world. Both believe some kind of redeeming figure will appear as prophecised, but its nature and actions are disputed by both sides. The Sunni view him kind of as another of God's prophets who will arrive to rule the world and re-establish Islamic rule and law. The Shia view is more akin to a Biblical rapture, with a great host of badasses showing up to kick the hell out of everything bad and wicked and wrong.\n\nClarification by SuitedPair below: \"Sunnis also believe in Jesus and the Mahdi returning for the end of days to fight off Dajjal(the antichrist)\"\n\nDouble-clarification by LlamaLabia below, go read a big long post!\n\n5: Lots of different practices. Praying is done slightly different between branches, how much of a woman should be covered by hijab is debated between branches, those kind of things.\n\nSo now we know where they came from and how they differ.\n\nWhy they commit acts of violence and hatred against one another? That's where it all gets very political. Traditionally, Sunni has been the more dominant, anti-revolutionary branch, and in the last 30 years this has been challenged. Shia has been on the rise, foreign interests such as America have gotten involved, the Gulf War and the War on Terror have all contributed. Most of these attacks are explicitly Sunni attempting to supress Shia uprising, or Shia attempting to destabilize Sunni rule.\n\nIraq and Pakistan are the most notable. Much of it stems from the balance of power shifting away from Sunni towards Shia. Sunni proclaim Shia to be rebels, troublemakers attempting to start a civil war. Shia proclaim Sunni to be an unpopular, corrupt dictatorship and lackey of the American government. Iran is a bee in everyone's bonnet as it's the only country (edit: see TheWierdSide below) with a huge majority Shia population (around 90% Shia, most Muslim countries are closer to 80-90% Sunni) which makes Sunnis grumble and point at it as a bad example of what Shia rule is like. People don't like losing power and influence, ostensibly because it stops them being able to enforce their version of Islam in the form of Sharia law, banning of western influence, etc.\n\nExtremists constantly wade into the mix to do whatever they can for a personal power grab. Accusing the opposition of Zionism and collaborating with western forces is a great way to gain support and discredit political opponents, which is largely rooted in Sunni vs Shia political parties. The Taliban for instance explicitly supported anti-Shia groups in Pakistan in order for Sunnis to give political support in return, helping escalate the violence in the region.\n\nHell, some Al-Qaeda have called for all Shia to be treated as heretics and put to death.\n\nAll in all, it's a bit of a mess. The differences between the groups are in the minutae of religious texts. The violence between the groups really stems more from pure politics of who is in control.\n\nEdited to add: Check out the [ELI5 about Syria](_URL_0_) for a good breakdown of such a conflict playing out in detail right now. Though it's between Sunni and a tinier minority called the Alawites rather than Shia.\n\nAlso edited to add: I'm not a muslim myself, just have a friend who converted a few years back, and I made a great effort to understand. Also generally fascinated by theology but no formal education in it. So feel free to correct the hell out of my layman's understanding. Double edit: People have! Read the rest of this thread, there are a few practicing muslims correcting me or adding to what I wrote in more detail if you want that.\n\nFinal edit: Read the fucking sidebar. ELI5 has not literally meant \"something a five year old can understand\" for a longass time.\n\nDouble-final edit: Thanks for gold! Between that and a couple of PMs saying I've genuinely opened some eyes and educated people, this discussion has made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.",
"My knowledge of this is a bit rusty, but I'll have a go.\n\nIn the most basic, ELI5 sense: the main thing that separates Sunnis from Shias is that Shia Muslims believe the heir to the prophet Muhammed should be related to him by blood, and Sunnis do not. A man called Ali, who was Muhammed's cousin, is regarded as the first Shia Imam (Islamic leader / scholar). Shias believed he should be the one to succeed Muhammed as the first caliph (Leader of the Islamic state), while the Sunnis voted for, and eventually elected, a man called Abu Bakr. He was soon succeeded by Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, a close companion of the prophet. Sunnis generally view Umar as a strong and just leader, while many Shias see him as a traitor and usurper.\n\nIt's also important to remember that there are many different sects of Sunni and Shia Islam, who all believe slightly different things, but the roots of the separation between the two all stem from the disagreement over who would lead the Muslims after Muhammed, and all the events that occurred because of this.",
"I can go into the details if you want about the actual differences between Shia and Sunni.\nHowever, to help you direct your thoughts in the right direction, you should know that there is little to no violence or hate between the actual Sunni and Shia Muslims.\nWhatever violence we see and hear of is brought forward by extremist groups that use the religion to serve their own purposes.\nThey have extreme, violent, and sectarian views that call for violence and annihilation of the other group, and they have followers who are usually simple-minded people who are easily convinced and forget to use their reason to identify and stay away from this extremism.\n",
"Muslim dude here, will try to keep a simple explanation.\n\nProphet Muhammad is the main prophet (the last prophet) according to the Quran, which is the word of Allah (God).\n\nAfter the Prophet's death there were 4 main caliphs, all people who the Prophet had known. \n\nSunni people believe all these caliphs to be equal, while Shia people believe that since Hazrat Ali was related to the Prophet he was the rightful heir and caliphate. \n\nThe divergence started from there and then became a bit.. strange. So now you have Sunni people and a lot of sunni sects, and Shia people now do [matam](_URL_0_) (Note: Violent). Note, the pics are mostly of violent matam, most people just do it lightly with their hands but you can see the swords and knife stuff happening on streets here in Pakistan on relevant days.\n\nBecause this is historical talk, people have different interpretations and knowledge about the history and both Sunni and Shia people disagree with many things which happened. \n",
"To put it simply, one group believes direct descendants of muhammad are the most holy and should be the Islamic Leaders. The other group thinks the man \"closest\" to god should be leader, this caused a big dispute about 1500 years ago.",
"I spent a year teaching in Saudi Arabia. It was the Shia who worked and were more open minded. I don't know if that's because they're the minority or if it was cultural. ",
"Shi'ites believe the new Muslim leader should be a descendant of Muhammed (Which is difficult because it has to be male, and Muhammed only had a daughter; son in law was newest leader after Muhammad's death). \n\n\n\nSunnis believe they should elect their new leader. ",
"When the old boss died, there was a disagreement over who should be the new boss. Each of the two contender said they were the one true descendant of the boss and they should be telling others what to think and do.\n\nThey never resolved their disagreement so there has been those two lines of descendants ever since",
"They disagreed about who should rule a long time ago.",
"Muslim here. Lot's of answers. Some great, some okay, some poor. No one really gave the ELI5 answer. So here is my attempt:\n\nAfter Prophet Muhammad died, Abu Bakr became the leader of the Muslims. After Abu Bakr, then came Umar ibn al Khattab. After him was Uthman ibn Affan. Then it was Ali.\n\nThe Sunnis accept all 4 leaders while the Shia only accept Ali. They believed Ali should have been the leader of the Muslims after the death of Prophet Muhammad."
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2wl98d | how people get graffiti in ridiculous places | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wl98d/eli5_how_people_get_graffiti_in_ridiculous_places/ | {
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"However they have to. Ladders, are common, as is standing on your friend's shoulders. They climb, jump, or hang as necessary. Some even bring rope and rappel down to where they need to get.\n\nIf you have Netflix, the documentary \"DamNation\" has a scene where protesters painted a dotted line and scissors on a dam they wanted removed. You can watch them do it, and it's one of the biggest and most ridiculous places I can think of. \n\nHanging from a rope with a bucket of paint. That's all there is too it.",
"Filmed with a potato, but my stomach still gets queasy watching [this] (_URL_0_)",
"There is a guy here in New Orleans that goes by the name \"Pyro Lies\" and he gets into some ridiculously crazy spots. I've always wondered how he pulls it off as well. One of his more recent ones is on a 24/7 lighted billboard above Superior Seafood, which is a super popular restaurant located on St. Charles Ave, easily the busiest and most iconicly famous street in Nola, other than Bourbon St. There are constant police patrols in the area, I have no clue how he did that one without getting caught. It's giganticly artistic, not just a scribbled name, and basically covers the entire billboard. It had to have taken a pretty long time to do. Shit is nuts. "
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fdxmui | why do cribs get recalled all the time? | How hard is it to make a safe bed for a baby? Why do manufacturers not know how to do this by now?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fdxmui/eli5_why_do_cribs_get_recalled_all_the_time/ | {
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"Usually because the dimensions between parts (a rail and a mattress for example) can, in rare instances, cause an infant to get caught or suffocate. Decades ago, there were many recalls because of really dangerous designs like latches that are easily opened or will allow a rail to fall on a baby or pinch their fingers.",
"It's easy to make a safe crib. Take hard, dense wood, shape it to fit snuggly, and use high quality fasteners.\n\nThe problem is that this is expensive. Given the choice, most people will buy the cheaper option if the product performs the same function. To chase sales, companies have to find ways to make things cheaper.\n\nSo companies try to reduce the cost of their products with cheaper materials and labor so they are barely functional. This generates the most profit (cheaper = more people buy it over expensive options and they make more money per sold piece). Often times, this sacrifices safety because they didn't need to test for it (no regulations) or they didn't want to test for it due to cost. For more unscrupulous companies, recalls cost less than the lost profit if they didn't make the product.",
"In many cases, the issue was convenience vs safety.\n\nMost cribs have an adjustable mattress height. For tiny infants that barely move, you can keep the mattress high so it's easy to reach them. But when they get to around 9 months and they can pull up and try to crawl over the side, you have to lower the mattress.\n\nThe problem is, in order to lower the mattress enough that the baby can't escape, it's now so low that many adults can't easily reach the baby - especially if the baby is squirming and doesn't want to come out of the crib.\n\nOne solution was the drop-side crib - one of the sides could slide down to make it easy to reach the baby. Unfortunately it was extremely hard to build a mechanism like that and also make it 100% foolproof. [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\nThat wasn't the only solution. Dozens of other types of cribs had mechanisms to make things more convenient for parents that compromised safety.",
"Also, some defects only become apparent after years of wear and tear, but would still result in liability to the company. New safety standards might also force the recall of certain older models.",
"I've often joked that they are making newer model babies that aren't compatible with the old models. The same thing about cribs can be said about car seats (they even have a six year expiration date stamped on them now).\n\nI wish I knew the answer too. Who wants to chance anything and put their baby at risk?",
"Former news producer here. One issue is you likely just hear about cribs getting recalled a lot more often than the thousands of other products that get recalled all the time. The only time we put recalls in our newscast is if it was particularly spooky, things involving food, babies and medicine are top of the list. \n\nNew mothers get scared about anything that could harm their baby, share it all over Facebook, then you hear about it.",
"For everybody saying that making a safe crib costs money, that's not really the case.\n\nMaking a crib that is suitable for safe sleep for infants is actually incredibly easy and cheap to do. All it's all the extra shit costs money, and presents issues. Infants need a flat surface, with a semi-firm mattress, and some walls. It needs to not easily tip over. That's literally it. It's all the extra options that present issues, like trying to make it convert into a toddler bed, have a mobile hanging from it, drop down sides, etc. Those things can present safety issues. These companies spend lots of time on these things, because it appeals to parents. Having these features makes parents feel like they are getting the \"best\" for their baby. But it's really just added cost and possibly even less safe.\n\nA thin mattress in a cardboard box is likely as safe as most popular cribs. Many babies in Finland sleep in government issued boxes, and they don't have problems with SIDS.\n\ntl;dr Cribs are easy and cheap to make. Recalls are usually because of overcomplicated bullshit that was added to market toward anxious parents."
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2g5yle | why do laptops use fans -loud, annoying fans- while an iphone/ipad can run processor heavy apps for hours with no fan and not get hot? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g5yle/eli5_why_do_laptops_use_fans_loud_annoying_fans/ | {
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"cause laptop cpu's are more powerful than ipad processors. tablet and smartphone cpu's sacrifice processing power for less heat dissipation. ",
"Laptops and desktops have more powerful processors, graphics cards, memory and usually mechanical storage. More powerful processors and graphics can do more, but use more power to do so, more memory requires more power to use, and mechanical storage devices need to spin, which uses power and generates. An average laptop probably *idles* at 20-40W, and a desktop at 50-150W, and that's just when they're sitting there not really doing anything; they'll use more power when they're in use. All that energy being used has to go somewhere, and it's put out in the form of heat. We use fans to move air to move that heat away from the computer.\n\nMobile devices use far less power. They have solid state memory, which requires less power and generates less heat, far less powerful processors, which again generate less heat, and less memory which uses less power. Overall your phone probably uses around 5W, which means far less energy has to be dissipated.\n\nSo your phone/tabletonly has to get rid of a fraction of the heat that laptop/desktop can put out, which is can do by using small heatsinks and just radiating it away, whereas computers usually need far larger heatsinks and decent airflow.",
"Desktops / laptops use processors with much more power and features but this comes at the price of the high power usage and more heat output. These computers also need that extra power because the run more complex programs and more of that any any single given time. The os is generally much more robost as well which requires more power.\n\n Phones use much smaller and weaker processors that only use a little power and can get by off passive cooling. They can get away with this because the programs / apps are much more simple than their desktop counter parts + the os they use is much lighter."
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4f9jkj | if a company has a labor strike, why can't they just fill their positions with temporary workers and let the strikers just continue to strike in perpetuity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f9jkj/eli5_if_a_company_has_a_labor_strike_why_cant/ | {
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"Those temps are called scabs, and it is not an uncommon occurrence. It definitely undermines their relationship with their regular work force, and often times results in violence, especially towards the scabs. ",
"The whole point of a union is that if everyone acts together it's really hard to do stuff like that. \n\nLike if one guy walks out you just fire him and get a new guy, but if every single person walks out all at once the company really needs to do something and get people to come back because totally replacing the entire workforce isn't simple and likely is going to be a huge problem if no one is there to train them or anything. ",
"Typically the guys who train the replacements are in the union too. If not then it's a really weak union. The white collar guys often have no clue how to operate the machinery and even if they did, they'd be striking too if their bosses told them to operate the machines. So then if everyone who has the knowledge to keep the plant running walks out, there really is no way for the management to produce anything during the strike.\nThere's real life experience to what happened. Ask your friends who are 50 and above who tried to fly in the 80s after the [PATCO strike.](_URL_0_)",
"They often try to, and if successful, they can destroy the union. \n\nWhy it doesn't work is the stronger unions have members who are skilled. You can't just take someone off the street and have them drive a semi or operate heavy machinery. Training them takes time, so the company is losing money while they are coming up to speed.\n\nThat is why companies like Walmart and McDonald's have largely avoided unionization, their work force isn't very skilled, and could be replaced with people off the street."
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2vom0g | why is it so hard for reddit to keep the site from crashing | Why am I buying gold if they are still having serious issues? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vom0g/eli5_why_is_it_so_hard_for_reddit_to_keep_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cojjmxd",
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],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Buying gold more often keeps it from crashing. And if you've noticed they don't often meet the daily goal.",
"My guess is that they aren't making enough money to pay for the server time required for the number of users. The vast majority of redditors don't ever pay a dime to use the site and judging by the relatively low cost of advertising on reddit users here must be more difficult to convert into sales.",
"Not hitting the daily Gold goal often + Less ads = less revenue = worse servers + heavy load = more crashes. \n \nTL:DR bad servers"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
bslycj | what is the core of the earth made of, how does it stay molten, and what would the impact of it cooling be? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bslycj/eli5_what_is_the_core_of_the_earth_made_of_how/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"It has a solid iron and nickel core surrounded by a liquid outer core mostly of the same metals. It stays molten due to the immense pressure of all the mass above it, generating heat.\n\nThe liquid core is believed to be the source of the planet's magnetic field. If you were to magically cool it and harden it, the planet would lose much of its magnetic field which would expose the surface to significantly more solar radiation, likely resulting in the planet becoming much less if at all habitable.",
"As best scientists can currently tell, the core is made up of a nickle-iron alloy. There is a solid inner core and a liquid outer core.\n\nThe liquid outer core stays molten simply because it lacks an easy way to cool. The Earth's mantle and crust doesn't provide very effective heat transfer from the core out to space so the outer/liquid core stays hot simply because the heat has nowhere to go.\n\nAs far as what would happen if it cooled, well it's actually a question of when. The earth's core is already cooling, and has been for billions of years. When the core finally cools fully, many things will happen, basically none of them good. The earth would lose its magnetic field and tectonic plates will stop moving are among the two biggest, both would essentially make the planet uninhabitable in the long run.\n\nFortunately we still have several billions years before this occurs.",
"The outer core is liquid iron and nickel (mostly). The inner core is solid and believed to be made of an iron-nickel alloy with some other elements (it's never been directly measured).\n\nIt doesn't \"stay\" molten, it simply takes a long time to cool down. We're talking billions of years. This will likely never happen though, as our Sun will probably turn into a Red Giant and engulf everything up to Mars long before Earth's core manages to cool.\n\nIf it did cool down however, we'd all be dead. The core is what creates Earth's magnetic field, which protects us from things like cosmic radiation and solar winds.",
"The solid core was deduced by seismologists studying earthquakes in New Zealand in the 1930s, because sensitive seismographs around the globe picked up the earthquake, but not as though the shockwave traveled directly point to point in a straight line, but instead it took longer to arrive than that. The delay made sense if the shockwave had to travel across the surface of the solid core as a reflection, and the delay suggests a core of 2400 km in diameter.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe inner Earth, outside the core, is molten due to two sources: primordial heat from the formation of the Earth, and radioactive decay."
]
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[],
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||
68eeh5 | why do we still laugh at jokes we have heard before? | One of my favourite movies is Hot Fuzz even though I've watched it more times that I can count. In life, movies, tv, or any kind of entertainment -- why are many jokes still funny even if you've seen or heard them before? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68eeh5/eli5_why_do_we_still_laugh_at_jokes_we_have_heard/ | {
"a_id": [
"dgxtwig"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"If I hide behind your dresser and pop out and scare you, why would I be able to repeat that effect? Your mind or body still transmit information, whether it's new or old information is irrelevant. It still triggers those emotions in the same way. Not to mention mediums of entertainment are usually enjoyed with a heavily suspended disbelief - so we allow ourselves to forget we know what will happen the same way we allow ourselves to forget Johnny Depp is an actor and not actually a pirate or a guy with scissors for hands."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
o6j0o | how does clicking a pen to the "closed" position prevent it from drying out? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o6j0o/eli5_how_does_clicking_a_pen_to_the_closed/ | {
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Ball point pens don't dry out. Are you talking about ball point pens?",
"They're put in the \"closed\" position to prevent them accidentally writing all over you. The ink comes out when the ball (in the ball-point) rolls and exposes it.",
"Other than protecting the ink from getting all over the place, I believe having the pen in the closed position only serves to prevent anything from clogging the ball-point mechanism.",
"As people have mentioned, ball point pens don't dry out (quickly anyway). Pens that are effected like gel, have a lid. Markers also have a lid, but are basically a sponge in ink",
"It doesn't. However, the sound and feel of clicking a pen is enjoyable. \n\n\n",
"It's just there so the ink doesn't go everywhere. Ballpoint pens don't dry out because they use oil based ink. Other kinds of pens-gel pens, markers and fountain pens- do dry out because their inks are water based (though sharpie markers are alcohol based). ",
"It's because there are tiny, invisible-to-the-eye pen goblins in the body of the pen. They continually lick the tip of the pen, which keeps it moist and lubricated.",
"Ball pens don't dry. Cool huh? \n\nIf you open a ball pen of any kind, you'll see that the other end is open too."
]
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[],
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||
1rw1gf | what is a "mainframe" and why are people always trying to hack into it in movies? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rw1gf/eli5_what_is_a_mainframe_and_why_are_people/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdriud9"
],
"score": [
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],
"text": [
"Mainframes are what we'd think of as big corporate servers or supercomputers. \n\nIf you roll the clock back not that many years anything important was stored on a company mainframe - usually they were custom built for big database applications. The same basic role still exists and IBM and HP and Dell and a few others sell equipment for this, but it no longer requires custom hardware to run on, so the terminology has largely fallen out of use. Now we just call them 'servers' because they're just a particular case of 'server', of which there are many varieties. \n\nThe IBM zEnterprise series are still occasionally branded as 'mainframes', or called servers, and then run in the 100k - > multiple millions price range. \n\nedit: Big database servers don't *require* custom hardware, but IBM produces custom CPU's and there are things like custom casings and cooling for it. That's generally beneficial, but you can get by using generic server parts too. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4v6h8y | how do sea creatures manage to live in water that others regularly poop in, without getting sick or dying? | Edit: My vacation to Florida last week and the recent Rio 16 Olympics had me wondering the difference between humans swimming in human poop-water vs sea creature poop-water. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4v6h8y/eli5how_do_sea_creatures_manage_to_live_in_water/ | {
"a_id": [
"d5vvvm5"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"As an analogy how do we manage to not getting sick breathing the air that someone somewhere is sneezing in?\n\n\nThere are creatures in the water who eat that poop and break it down so eventually the poop becomes harmless. \n\nIn the short time : there is dilution (even humans swimming in the river that collects poop water ) don't get sick. \n\nAnd there is biochemistry. Bacteria in human poop isn't as damaging to some sea creatures as it is to humans."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2lfwln | human consumption of other animal's milk. | Has the scientific process behind making milk ready for consumption just afforded us another choice of beverage? Is this an okay thing for humans to do? Is this why some people display symptoms of lactose intolerance? The literature is so biased that I cant decide my opinion on milk. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lfwln/eli5_human_consumption_of_other_animals_milk/ | {
"a_id": [
"cluek4u",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"\nWe've been eating animal milk far longer than any \"scientific process\" existed. For most of our history it was milk the goat/cow/buffalo and then drink the milk, period. Notably, milk is the _only_ thing that we eat that _is_ from humans, so...it seems strange that we'd call out a special case of a food-product that is externally generated, just because we have an internally generated analogue. \n\nThe vast majority of evidence suggests that animal milk is good and nutritious. Lactose intolerance would apply to both human milk and animal milk - it's the lactose in the milk, not the cow-in-the-milk that we have trouble with if we are lactose intolerant. \n\n",
"Yes, cow milk (and other milks that aren't human) is really just another choice of beverage if your body produces the right enzymes to digest them. \n\nHumans used to all lose their ability to produce lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose) once they got older, though the mutation to allow for continuous lactase production occurred multiple times in different human populations in the past. \n\nThere's nothing \"special\" about the milk that makes it harmful in the way that people going \"oh, it's *unnatural*! We weren't meant to do it!\" say, though excessive milk consumption does have negative effects for some people. In children, too much milk can sometimes cause intestinal bleeding, for example. ",
"Milk is pasteurized (heated quickly to kill germs) before being sent out to market. This has nothing to do with lactose intolerance. Lactose is a type of sugar naturally present in milk, and it's that sugar that gives some people stomach problems when they drink it. \n\nFor most of history, all mammals became lactose intolerant after being weaned. Several thousand years ago some human developed the ability to keep drinking milk after being weaned, which gave them a new, calorie rich food source that decreased their chances of starving, therefore increasing their chances to reproduce. \n\nSo milk isn't bad for you, but it's also not necessarily good, especially whole milk, which is high in fat. If you're eating a balanced diet you don't *need* milk, but if you like it and budget for the calories it's fine.",
"Just to provide more information, the genetic mutation (natural) that allowed certain human populations to continue to produce the enzyme lactase (natural) into adult hood are known as [lactase persistent](_URL_0_). This particular mutation was selected for in cultures which already consumed milk and milk products (naturally part of the peoples culture) and arose about 10,000 years ago (way before modern food industry got involved in milk production).\n\nIt is natural for some people to be ABLE to consume milk into adulthood without any consequence, it is equally natural for some people to be UNABLE to consume milk into adulthood and they typically experience the symptoms associated with lactose intolerance.\n\nIf you are concerned about the by-products associated with modern industrial milk production (e.g. hormones, pus, contaminants) then try different brands which advocate for better animal welfare and alternative milk production practices. It is really important to understand that these human production issues are inherently different then those associated with milk itself (e.g. being unable to digest lactose sugar in milk). "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase_persistence"
]
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|
2kb1ex | how are new "4k" tv's able to plat 4k content with old processors, but my new i5 computer lags with 4k content? | I have a pretty good machine. i5,16GB ram and 1TB SSHD but it lags at 4K. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kb1ex/eli5how_are_new_4k_tvs_able_to_plat_4k_content/ | {
"a_id": [
"cljkdax",
"cljkfro"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"My guess would be graphics performance of the chips. On your computer your GPU rather than your CPU will handle, by and large, the rendering of the images whereas TVs will have chips designed for rendering images and little else. If you set them both to find the billionth prime number your laptop would win hands down. If you had a animators/video editors' PC then the rendering would be no problem. \n\nThat's my guess anyway. ",
"The same way consoles run games years after they release after the hardware becomes inferior to their PC counterpart, dedication.\n\n\nYou see there is no clunky windows to run and the programming is lean and streamlined. Thus the most is made out of the power that's at hand."
]
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[],
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|
2r7f1r | why can't divers fly after diving? | I read somewhere that it is to prevent Decompression Sickness, but I'm not so sure I grasp the idea of it. I mean, what happens when bubbles form then the diver decides to ride an airplane? Do gases mix? Does Nitrogen have any integral effect since air is mostly comprised of this gas? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r7f1r/eli5_why_cant_divers_fly_after_diving/ | {
"a_id": [
"cnd4tq6",
"cnd916w"
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"score": [
11,
2
],
"text": [
"You're right: the main gas involved is nitrogen. Basically, when we dive very deep, there's more pressure on our entire body, including our blood. More nitrogen dissolves into our blood than it would at a lower pressure (e.g. at sea level). If we come up too quickly from very deep, we can get \"the bends,\" which is a syndrome of pain and potentially organ damage from all that extra nitrogen un-dissolving and forming bubbles in our blood vessels. Blood has trouble flowing past those bubbles.\n\nThe problem with flying is that it lowers the pressure much more than just being at sea level (our ears popping is another effect of the pressure drop). This means there's another chance for nitrogen to un-dissolve and create bubbles in our blood vessels and tissues. Basically, you're creating a situation just like if you went from very deep in the water to the surface too quickly.",
"I read that question completely wrong... I was imagining a high diver jumping and then soaring off..."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
1qgxok | the revolutionary war; what caused it, and how was it regarded from an english perspective? | I was very intrigued by the new WW2 askreddit post, and was going to post there but I felt more like it was a question that I didn't understand so figured it fit better here! (I basically know the American side, just not the Brits). | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qgxok/eli5_the_revolutionary_war_what_caused_it_and_how/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdconyc"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"It started because King George was taxing the colonies above and beyond reason. The English people thought the colonists were being ungrateful."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
7ftzoq | how does germany not have a crazy high rate of alcoholism and related crime when it has relaxed liquor laws? | Travelled to Germany and I could buy all sorts of beer in many stores and even drink in public. There does not seem to be more alcohol related incidents, violence or crime either | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ftzoq/eli5_how_does_germany_not_have_a_crazy_high_rate/ | {
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"dqeczw0",
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"score": [
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4,
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"text": [
"People who are happy and secure generally don't drink to excess, or when they do, don't commit crimes. Germany has a strong economy, a strong social safety net, widely available substance abuse treatment, and a rather effective police and judiciary.\n\nAs various attempts at alcohol prohibition worldwide have proved, people will always get alcohol if they want it. It's a simple chemical any idiot can make at home. The way to reduce alcohol-related crime and health problems is to attack the things that cause problem drinking. Namely insecurity, anxiety, and untreated mental/psychological disorders.",
"Because they’re responsible about it. Germany is like the weird uncle who likes brandy after dinner while the US is your underage little brother getting hammered on Colt 45",
"An important aspect of this is that young people are introduced to alcohol as a perfectly normal thing, and are taught to drink responsibly. Since you don't have to hide away and drink in secret, it's much easier for people to keep an eye on you -- a bartender can say, \"I think you've had enough sir, and I'm going to call a cab,\" which your rebellious friends at your secret party probably won't.\n\nAt 16, you're allowed to buy beer and wine, but not spirits. The thinking here is that beer and wine have much lower alcohol content, and it's far more difficult to give yourself alcohol poisoning. It's not even possible to drink enough beer to become ill: you'll throw up first, and unless you're unfortunate enough to choke on your own vomit, you'll simply wake up feeling terrible and smelling bad, having hopefully learned a lesson before you develop a dependency.\n\nThere is also a prevailing cultural attitude that approves of drinking, but not of drunkenness.\n\nA few years ago, there was some concern about what appeared to be a fashion among youngsters for binge drinking. Those fears were probably exaggerated, but it was a hot topic for quite some time. The government and police responded not by clamping down, but with a PR campaign: ads featured graphic pictures of teenagers passed out in pools of their own vomit and urine, and they were even printed on beer mats -- [here's an example, not for the faint-hearted and probably NSFW](_URL_0_). The subliminal message was: \"Are you sure this is a cool thing to do?\"\n\nI don't have any statistics on how effective this campaign was, but I haven't seen any discussion about binge drinking for ages. But it demonstrates how the focus is always more on awareness than demonization: notice the slogan, \"Don't drink too much,\" as opposed to \"Don't drink.\"",
"The causality runs the other direction. Stricter alcohol laws are usually the result of widespread alcohol abuse, not cause of responsible drinking. They also rarely work.\n\nIts economic stability, cultural focus on beer rather than harder liquor, and any number of other reasons, Germany has not had enough of a problem to have to enact such laws."
]
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"http://p5.focus.de/img/fotos/crop722580/2932716551-w1200-h627-o-q75-p5/fit-komasaufen-dpa.jpg"
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|
31m1nh | what does it mean to "soft reboot" my android device? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31m1nh/eli5_what_does_it_mean_to_soft_reboot_my_android/ | {
"a_id": [
"cq2syoo"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Soft reboot is when you actually go through the OS and choose the \"Reboot\" or \"Restart\" option, as opposed to a hard reboot, which is physically(or using the 5 second switch that is standard on most computing devices now) cutting the power and then turning it back on again."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
a9wpjp | tesla’s fascination with the numbers 3 6 9 | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a9wpjp/eli5_teslas_fascination_with_the_numbers_3_6_9/ | {
"a_id": [
"ecn3zzu",
"ecn4vnz"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"I remember from my studies that in middleage the 3 was a link to Catholic God (the trinity) and so 6 because is two times 3 and 9 because is three times 3, You can find this obsession with number in Dante's Divina commedia.",
"Because it leads to a quite attractive female per se Little Jonathan and the East Side Gentlemen"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
3ipu5g | why do dogs like tummy rubs but cats tease you with it but then attack you? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ipu5g/eli5_why_do_dogs_like_tummy_rubs_but_cats_tease/ | {
"a_id": [
"cuij46g",
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"text": [
"A lot of cats (not all - I've got one that rolls on her back and meows at me if I *don't* rub her belly) don't like having their belly rubbed.\n\nThem rolling on the back is a trust thing - they're exposing their most vulnerable parts to you and trusting you not to take advantage of that.",
"Cats are usually attacking things that enter that area of their body. They jump on prey, bite around the head and kick with their back feet to quickly damage the prey. Dogs don't attack in that way. They tend to bite and cause trauma by shaking their heads. That's why dogs like play tug-of-way with their toys. ",
"Because dogs are fully domesticated pack animals that touch each other naturally and have also learned/evolved to appreciate the touch of a human. \nCats are not as \"domesticated\". They are basically a really lazy wild animal. They are supposed to live the majority of their life alone and so they have instincts to kill any food that comes by (because nobody else is going to feed them). The only reason cats are pets is because they are too small to kill us and they are good at rodent extermination. \nA full grown 500lb tiger acts EXACTLY like a house cat. The difference comes when you make your hand look like a dying bird, the tiger will murder you and eat your corpse. The house cat will just bite and scratch until you are in too much pain to keep \"playing\". "
]
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||
cb1tcq | why can cows and other animals constantly produce milk but humans cannot? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cb1tcq/eli5_why_can_cows_and_other_animals_constantly/ | {
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"text": [
"They can. That's what a wet nurse does. Milk supply stops when the demand stops, same for all mammals.",
"Dairy farmer here: cows reach peak production generally within 60 days after calving. From there continued production depends on a number of factors. She needs adequate food. She needs to be milked out 2+ times a day. Another pregnancy will reduce production, and it will usually slowly decline over the next seven months. Then there's a two month 'dry period' when the cow produces no milk. \n\n\nWoman (and cows) can lactate for years on end, however there will be ever decreasing amounts.",
"They don't. They only produce after becoming pregnant, and produce until the demand stops. This is true for all mammals. While a mother nurses, the draw of milk produces hormones which continues milk production. When she stops, these hormones are no longer released and milk production ceases.",
"All female mammals only produce milk after being pregnant. If you're thinking of dairy cows, they \"constantly\" produce milk because they are constantly being inseminated, going through pregnancy, giving birth, then having their babies taken away (and killed if male), and being artificially milked for human consumption. Then the cycle repeats until they aren't seen as being productive anymore, then they're killed. The same thing *could* be done to human women, but it would break a whole bunch of different laws (plus, you know, ethics) ....",
"They don’t, milk supply eventually dries up and have to be forcefully impregnated to keep the dairy industry afloat. Even wet-nurses eventually dry up."
]
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[],
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||
2no258 | what happens when a banana is bruised | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2no258/eli5what_happens_when_a_banana_is_bruised/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"When part of the fruit starts to decay it releases a chemical called ethylene which signals other parts of the fruit that it's time to die as in the natural process of nature. Bananas also contain an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, and the oxygen present in the air readily reacts with the enzyme found in the bananas. This oxidation reaction is seen as a rusting or browning of the banana's surface."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
5l7vbp | are fabrics like linen really anti-microbial? | I've seen claims on websites selling linen that the fabric is anti-microbial or anti-bacterial. Is this true, and if so, how? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5l7vbp/eli5_are_fabrics_like_linen_really_antimicrobial/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbw882k"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"An educated guess is that either the fabric has been treated with something, or that the fibers are woven tightly enough together that bacteria and microbes have difficulty passing through it. So while it is \"anti-bacterial\" it doesn't kill them on contact. \n\nHere is an album of someone showing the difference of a lab coat's weaving and a shirt, with enough magnification that you would be able to see individual skin cells. You can see how bacteria would have difficulty passing through something finely woven. \n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://imgur.com/gallery/nBO8G"
]
] |
|
3mk7x0 | why is it still not commonplace to install antivirus software on on mac computers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mk7x0/eli5_why_is_it_still_not_commonplace_to_install/ | {
"a_id": [
"cvfoqfv"
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"text": [
"Simple. It's already integrated in the OS.\n\n All versions of OS X since 10.6.7 have been able to detect known Mac malware in downloaded files, and to block insecure web plugins. This feature is transparent to the user. Internally Apple calls it \"XProtect.\"\n\nRead [this](_URL_0_) thread on _URL_1_ for further information."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6624843",
"apple.com"
]
] |
||
2bez16 | what happens to a wasp when i hit it with raid? | Also, I sprayed a small beetle at the same time as I sprayed a wasp just now, and the beetle took about 2-3 minutes to die while the wasp died in seconds. Any reason for that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bez16/eli5_what_happens_to_a_wasp_when_i_hit_it_with/ | {
"a_id": [
"cj4nsos",
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"score": [
5,
5
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"text": [
"You must have hit the wasp with RAID 0, which is why it worked so fast. RAID 1 was still effective on the beetle, it just didn't have the same level of performance (but was safer for you, incidentally). \n\n...I'm so sorry.",
"Insecticides are neurotoxins, they're the insect equivalent of satin of VX. They work by interfering with the operation of the insect's nervous system. In addition to the actual neurotoxins, insecticides will also include compounds that break down the insect's waxy coating, allowing the neurotoxins to enter more quickly and compounds that inhibit enzymes that would break down the neurotoxins, making the required amount tof neurotoxins smaller.\n\nWithout knowing the composition of the spray, it's difficult to say, but it's almost certain intentional. Spraying a wasp and having it die minutes later is not good, because that allows time for the wasp to attack you, while battles can't do that much. It could be that the wasp spray is more concentrated or contains a neurotoxin that is more effective on wasps or could be any number of variables in the formula. "
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2korzl | why does netflix regularly remove movies instead of increasing the size of their library when adding new titles? | As you can see in this link, come Nov. 1st, Netflix is removing some great titles. So why, instead of increasing the list of available movies and dominating the industry, would they remove movies? ALL FOUR seasons of The Magic School Bus?? Heartless.
_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2korzl/eli5_why_does_netflix_regularly_remove_movies/ | {
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"When Netflix buys the rights to distribute certain content they are ALWAYS time limited. Meaning, Netflix has the rights to a show like The Magic School Bus for a certain period of time. Once that time is over, Netflix must renegotiate the contract with whomever owns the rights to The Magic School Bus. \n\nIf it were fully Netflix's choice, I'm sure they would never remove content. but it's not. So most of the time this happens it's because the rights holder wanted more money than Netflix was willing to pay for the content. They could not come to an agreement so the old contract was allowed to expire. ",
"Netflix doesn't own the movies we see there it \"rents\" them from the companies who do, so they are removed when the contract is over. In most cases these are renewed when the contract is over, but not every time, and not immediately ",
"When Netflix \"gets\" a movie or show what is actually happening is they are buying a contract that grants them the privilege of showing it to their customers. Sometimes when the contract expires they do not re-negotiate so they are no longer allowed to air that show. ",
"Netflix pays for a license to provide a show for a set amount of time. So if for whatever reason they don't renew the license, they can no longer legally provide it. It's definitely annoying, as a parent with young kids, they lost Sesame Street just as my 3-year-old was starting to enjoy it.",
"They removed all of their Discovery channel content earlier this month (because Discovery wants to do their own streaming service). No Mythbusters (except for what ends up on youtube before being DMCA'd)"
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6qkbd9 | if frozen yogurt comes from cow dairy and ice cream comes from cow dairy, how is frozen yogurt "healthier"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qkbd9/elif_if_frozen_yogurt_comes_from_cow_dairy_and/ | {
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"It's not really. Yogurt is viewed as a healthy snack, so people assume frozen yogurt is healthy, when frozen yogurt is just as full of sugar as regular ice cream. ",
"Traditionally, yogurt is made with less fat than ice cream. That's really the only way in which it could be described as healthier."
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6dw9vx | as people get older, why does it become harder to consume large quantities of food in one sitting? | Maybe this isn't actually a thing, and if it is, it probably depends on the individual, but I know that, personally speaking, I used to be able to scarf down massive plates of food when I was a kid (probably a serious contribution to my current weight issues). But nowadays, eating as much food as I could as a child is damn near impossible, and I've met people who say the same. Is there actually a reason for this, or is it just a case of me coming to my senses as an adult? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6dw9vx/eli5_as_people_get_older_why_does_it_become/ | {
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"It's not a hard and fast rule, although *appetite* tends to peak during and shortly after puberty. What can certainly alter your ability to eat a lot in one sitting would be obesity; you have less room for your internal organs, and that includes stomach and intestines. "
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1o51gn | how come perfect eyesight is 20/20? | And how come the grade increases as eyesight capability decreases? Do they use the same system for nearsightedness and farsightedness? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1o51gn/eli5_how_come_perfect_eyesight_is_2020/ | {
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"Eye doctors have decided what a \"normal\" human being should be able to see when standing 20 feet away from an eye chart. If you have 20/20 vision, it means that when you stand 20 feet away from the chart you can see what the \"normal\" or average human being can see. In other words, your vision is \"normal\" -- most people can see what you see at 20 feet. \n\nIf you have 20/40 vision, it means that when you stand 20 feet away from the chart you can see what a normal human can see when standing 40 feet from the chart. That is, if there is a normal person standing 40 feet away from the chart and you are standing only 20 feet away from it, you and the normal person can see the same detail. 20/100 means that when you stand 20 feet from the chart you can see what a normal person standing 100 feet away can see. 20/200 is the cutoff for legal blindness in the United States.\n\n\nSource\n_URL_0_",
"20/20 isn't perfect vision, it's average vision. What it essentially says is you can see something at 20 feet what the average person can see at 20 feet. \n\nIf you had, say, 200/20 vision, you would have amazing vision: you could see at 200 feet what the average person could see at 20.\n\nLikewise, if you had 20/200 vision, you'd have terrible vision, because you could only see something at 20 feet what the average person could see at 200 feet. ",
"great explanations from others, so I won't add much other than 20/20 can't be perfect since people have the capability of eyesight such as 20/15, which would be 'better' eyesight than someone with 20/20",
"It isn't perfect, it's normal.",
"Ophthalmologist here. \nFrom 20 feet, or 6 meters, the light rays entering the eye are essentially parallel. There is no need to accommodate (change the focusing power of the lens of the eye). That is why we use the 20/20, or 6/6. Light rays that are from a closer object would be diverging when they hit your eye, and would require focusing effort. Light rays from farther than 20 feet are indistinguishable from those 20 feet away.\n\nThe limit of human vision is calculated to be around 20/08. If you think of it in terms of pixels, the cone photoreceptors are packed most tightly in our fovea (center of our retina). If the rest of the eye were perfect, i.e. no cataract or refractive error, you could see 20/08. \n\nThose young adults who can read the 20/10 line without glasses have close to perfect vision.",
"20/10 Vision Master race reporting in. \n",
"I've got 20/10, pretty much double vision. The world to me is completely flat with no blurred vision of anything at any distance. From a personal standpoint I think its 'perfect vision' just because almost anyone with any other vision can't even see what I'm talking about or describing. You'd be surprised at how many people have terrible vision and can't even read fine print off the tv.\n\nEdit: For the down voters, I can walk back an extra 10 ft (30 ft total) and still read the bottom line of an eye chart. ",
"20/10 after lasik. Feels good man.",
"So if my right eye is -5.50 with contacts and my left eye is -3.50 what does that make me?? Other than blind as shit.",
"I think 20/20 actually means that you have normal / average vision.\n\nThe ratio means: You can see something at 20 feet away, that the average person would have to be 20 feet away to see.\n\nI can't remember which way round the ratio works, but say you were almost blind, your eyesight might be 20/200 for instance. This would mean:\n\nYou have to be 20 feet away from something that the average person can see at 200 feet away.\n\nThat means that you can also have eyesight that is better than 20/20. If you had 20/15, it would mean you could see something from 20 feet away that somebody has to be 15 feet away from.\n\nI may have gotten the ratio the wrong way round, but the principle is right I believe.",
"Just out of curiosity OP, did you listen to the JRE with bryan callen? I just listened to it on my run and thought to myself \"I am going to look up how 20/20 vision works when i get home\", and then this is the first reddit thread I see.",
"Maybe this is *slightly* above a \"five-year-old\" level, but I'm just adding info for anyone else interested.\n\nYou know the Snellen eye chart:\n\n E\n F P\n T O Z\n L P E D (etc...)\n\nThe letters above the red line, \"D E F P O T E C\" 8 lines down, that's 20/20, and each little branch of each letter (like the middle line of the E) is one second of arc, if you're standing 20 feet away.\n\nWhat's a second of arc? Well, you know if you look all around you, that's 360°? Each degree is broken up into 60 minutes, and each minute is broken up into 60 seconds. (For comparison, the Moon is about 900 seconds big).\n\nSo, the idea is that if you're seeing 20/20, if means you're able to see something as small as one second of arc. That's also why you can go \"under,\" like 20/15. It means you can see even smaller detail. If you are 20/25, that's still pretty \"clear\" vision. You can be up to 20/40 before the DMV says you needs glasses to drive.\n\n > \"Do they use the same system for nearsightedness and farsightedness?\"\n\nYes and no. For a farsighted person, we can put a miniaturized eye chart at the proper distance away from them (say 18 inches), and measure their visual acuity in terms of 20/20 (can the differentiate 1 second of arc from that distance). Although the whole \"twenty feet\" application doesn't fit, you would still describe a patient as having 20/20 acuity at 18 inches.",
"Optometrist here. This topic is confusing because people use the word \"perfect.\" 20/20 eyesight is not \"perfect\" vision. It is just what vision specialists have \"standardized\" as being normal. It is a useful convention for eye care specialists, because If you are seeing less than 20/20, there is almost always a reason (whether it be need for glasses, a problem with which you were born, or some disease process). Some people have better than 20/20- that is 20/15 or 20/10. The differences for these higher levels of vision can be accounted for with the size and density of the photoreceptor layer. In humans, this maximum ability appears to approach a limit around 20/08. You could call this \"perfect,\" but as soon as we create a way to more densely pack your photoreceptor layer, a new \"perfect\" will be created. Interesting fact, eagles crush human resolving ability as they see somewhere around 20/05. ",
"Hey, studying optometry at the moment in 3rd year. \n\n20/20 eyesight is a measurement of the smallest objects you can see. The first 20 stands for the distance you are reading the chart/object, where in America it's 20 feet but in Australia we call it 6/6 since it's 6 metres. The other 20 is used to describe the size of the letter, but it's essentially something to do with seconds of arc subtending over a 1m (if you have done trigonometry it's like the triangle with the 20 corresponding something with the angle [sorry I forgot about this part, might have to look into my notes about this]\n\nThe grade increases as eyesight capability decreases since as the second number gets bigger, something like 20/40, the letters get bigger. So if you are only able to resolve larger letter, obviously your vision is poorer.\n\nNearsightedness also known as myopia, is when you can't see things far away and Farsightedness, hyperopia is when you can't see things up close. Since 20/20 is an measurement of visual acuity, resolving power of your eyes it will be used for both. However your condition being nearsightedness or farsightedness will be noted by the type of lens you need for your spectacles, -ve lenses for myopia and +ve lenses for hyperopia.\n\nI would also like to note that 20/20, or 6/6 in Aus is the general standard of visual acuity that the average individual should have or be corrected to. So it's a standard optometrists follow to know if we are giving the correct prescription. It's not especially good vision or anything special, just a norm we use. It can be seen that some people have better than 20/20 vision, like 20/10 which are a small percentage of the population but isn't that strange since there are fluctuations in almost everything\n\nHope this clears this up for you,\n\nCheers. ",
"If I have -5.00 on each eye, what would that make me? The different systems confuse me",
"When my son finally got glasses in fourth grade, he said he had no idea that people could actually see farther than 3 feet away from them. I felt like the worst mom ever.",
"What does -5.25 for both eyes for contacts what does that make me and can I get laser eye surgery for that? I'm 18 btw.",
"Well, look at the ratio.\n\n20/20 = 1 = normal\n20/40 = 1/2 = 0.5 = your vision is worse than normal.\n20/10 = 2 = really good - you see twice the detail of a normal person.\n",
"20/20 means \"you can see at 20 feet what a normal person can see at 20 feet.\"\n\n20/20 is not \"perfect,\" but \"normal\". \n\nThe value 20 is arbitrary, though probably based on the practical dimensions of optometrists' offices.\n\n20/10 is actually better than normal. 20/1 would be astronomically good.\n\nNearsightedness is indicated by the numerator being less than the denominator. 20/40 means you must be 20 feet distance to see what most people can see from 40 feet, therefore, \"near\"sighted. Meanwhile, a numerator higher than the denominator, e.g. 20/10, means you can see at 20 feet what most people see at 10 feet (the implication being that you can't see it at 20 feet), therefore \"far\"sighted.\n\nAn eye exam starts from the expectation that you (that is to say, your eyes) are 20 feet away from the chart, and should be able to read everything from the 20/200 line to the 20/20 line. If you can't read the 20/20 line from 20 feet, but you can read the 15/20 line, you're nearsighted.\n\nOn the other hand, if you can see from 20 feet what most people can see at 15 feet, but *cannot* see at 20 feet what most people can see at 20 feet, you have 20/15, which is farsightedness. The idea here is that the number you get is the closest you can get to 20/20. If you can see 20/20 *and* 20/15, then you have better than normal vision.",
"Actually, 20/10 vision is perfect vision. I have 20/15 vision.",
"Personally, my hindsight is 20/10",
"Human visual acuity follows a bell curve. The curve is shifted past 20/20 however. Most people think that 20/20 is perfect vision. 20/20 is the norm that we look for, otherwise we look for an explanation for the decreased vision. People can see much better than 20/20 though. Many younger people, if not most are capable of 20/15 (which is effectively an ability to an object at 15 feet where someone who is 20/20 could only see the same object at 20 feet). There are also some, but fewer people cable of seeing 20/10 or even 20/8.\n\nThe above is all in reference to with an optical correction (glasses or contacts for example). Without it, then people's vision is much more all over the place. Several factors come into play when looking at the best vision possible. First is the optical correction above. Next is to make sure the neurological connections are capable of good vision. eg. Amblyopia is when the eye itself is healthy, but the neurological connections never developed for one of several reasons, so the person is not capable of 20/20. The next is how tightly packed the photoreceptors are in the eye. The closer the spacing, the more capable that eye is holding all other factors equal.\n",
"Its not perfect. I have 20/15 vision. \nWhat normal people see at 15 feet. I can see at 20. \n",
"that's not perfect, it's normal."
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5jrty1 | does earth appear as a bright planet? | Since Earth has a lot of water to reflect light, does it appear really bright from far away compared to other planets? If a telescope looked at our solar system from a few million light years away would they easily see Earth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jrty1/eli5does_earth_appear_as_a_bright_planet/ | {
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"[Here is a picture and a speech](_URL_0_). The answer is no - the earth is not particularly luminous. No more than the other planets in our solar system. You lose sight of us before you leave the solar system. Long before then, we're nothing but a pale blue dot.",
"A few million light years away? That is an insane distance. Our entire galaxy is only ~100,000 light years in diameter. Even one lightyear away would be too far, not only is our planet not that bright, it is minuscule in comparison to the sun so anyone trying to look for us would just see our big, bright sun. This is a struggle we have in our search for planets outside of our solar system, no telescope is powerful enough to see them, however we are able to detect them by other methods."
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7coqv6 | thinking about probability, how is it possible that one and only puzzle piece fits in another in a jigsaw puzzle? | A "difficult" jigsaw puzzle has, say, 1,000 pieces, each made the same way - circles and holes for circles. It's interesting to me that each piece has one and only one other piece that it works with, given that there are 998 other pieces in the set that look almost exactly like it but don't quite fit. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7coqv6/eli5_thinking_about_probability_how_is_it/ | {
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"That's not probability that's design. Jig saw puzzles arent random. Someone actually sat down and drew out the lines specifically so that they only fit one place.",
"If you have a discrete probability space, then you would have a non-zero chance that two or more pieces would be the same, but when you have a continuous probability space (like the shape of all jigsaw knobs), then the chances that two random pieces would have the same knob shape is zero. \n\nprecisely, the subset of all similar pieces has measure zero in the probability space. To break down that jargon a bit: what is the length of a point on a line? Zero. What is the length of two points on a line? Also zero. If we make that idea more precise (which is not easy, and outside the scope of this comment, but this is what I mean by \"measure\"), we can have an infinite number of points whose length is zero. For example: rational numbers between 0 and 1. Now, the interval from 0 to 1 has length 1 (we haven't gone that crazy), but the \"length\" of all rational points added up is still zero. That's a set of measure zero.\n\nOf course, things get more complicated when you allow for tolerances. What defines fit? How far off do those shapes need to be before they don't fit?",
"A puzzle isn't really a good example, since a piece is obviously wrong if the details on that piece don't make the details of its neighbors.\n\nImagine a picture of a rainbow. You're not going to try and fit a blue piece in the red band. It *may* fit there, but it doesn't *belong* there.\n\nThere really aren't that many different shapes for the pieces. The number of images on the pieces can be anything you want, but a manufacturer is going to have a limited number of dies that cut out the shapes.\n\nA \"truly\" difficult puzzle would be a 5,000-piece puzzle, and each piece is a the same solid color.",
"The inserts and the holes are each unique. \n\nAnd while some prices can fit within a certain tolerances they are not the perfect fit. It's actually fairly common for pieces to be able to be set together so that not \"one and only one\" piece fits into another - but here you might have to \"force\" the two together. \n\nFurthermore, perhaps two pieces do match identically, that is only 1 of 4 sides, so would their intended boarder pieces also match so that 4 or 6 of the two sets would still match? Afterall, each piece has 4 sides of its own. And then each boarder piece will have its own boarder pieces and so on. \n\nEven furthermore, each puzzle is limited to a set number of pieces. In a 10,000 piece puzzle, your chances of finding a perfect fit between two unintentionally fitting pieces is higher than in a 100 piece puzzle. \n\nBut in terms of \"possibility\" so that \"one and only one piece\" could fit perfectly, one would need to make a computer algorithm to adjust the size and shape of each piece. Then a wire electronic discharge machine could easily cut some metal pieces that have tolerances well under half of a millimeter, meaning the variance between pieces only need to scale by the tolerances. Easily and realistically done. \n\nBut since most puzzles are paper products, we can't have this precision. "
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7d1xda | if carbon dioxide is bad for you to inhale, and people provide it when you breath out, wouldn't the carbon dioxide do any damage to the person getting mouth to mouth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7d1xda/eli5_if_carbon_dioxide_is_bad_for_you_to_inhale/ | {
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"It's not enough to cause harm. Your exhaled air is still quite high in oxygen, and is *much* better for the other person than no breathing.",
"Carbon dioxide doesn't hurt you. A lack of oxygen hurts you, and carbon monoxide hurts you.\n\nYou don't convert all the oxygen you inhale into carbon dioxide, so CPR is still effective. However, these days, heartsaver CPR is recommended (unless you have special training and two people). This uses the chest compressions to move some air through the lungs while also working the heart. It doesn't involve breathing into the person's lungs.",
"Pure carbon dioxide would be bad to inhale, especially for a prolonged time. OTOH, if a person is not breathing, the air you exhale contains carbon dioxide but it also contains some oxygen, which is good. So, some oxygen is better than no oxygen (i.e., no air at all - they're not breathing). If you could arrange to blow ordinary air (or even oxygen enriched air) instead of what you are exhaling, that would be better, but probably would require a hospital or some such. So, net, net, using your exhaled breath is better than nothing. Still, when they can breathe on their own, let them.\n\nBTW, pure nitrogen, pure laughing gas, pure helium, are all unsustainable for breathing. But you can do them for a bit. In the case of helium, folks do it since their voice sounds strange."
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8zmn0a | what is chemotherapy, and what happens during it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8zmn0a/eli5_what_is_chemotherapy_and_what_happens_during/ | {
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"The elimination of fast cell reproduction. \nHair cells grow at a quick rate and is the reason why your hair falls out as well. ",
"It kills a LOT of cells in the body. As another comment mentions, it effects fast-growing or fast *reproducing* cells the most. Cancer is cells reproducing quickly (out of control), so it kills cancer cells.\n\nHair is affected which is the most visible side-effect. The digestive system also has cells that are quickly/often replaced so that's affected too. Skin can become irritated or more susceptible to injury.\n\nIt's basically nasty poison which badly harms or kills people. The idea is that it kills the cancer first. ",
"it's chemical treatment to combat (usually) cancer growth. most are in liquid form and are administered intravenously (through a drip in your arm). a single treatment of chemo may involve receiving several different chemicals in one session, commonly over quite a while (an hour or more). usually you sit on the ward with others while receiving it or there are some you can receive at home. depending on the length of course this may be done weekly or fortnightly for several months. on ward most people chat / read / watch tv while receiving treatment. the combination of chemicals are designed to slow down cell reproduction in your body. others are designed to kill cancer cells or types of cell in your body. there are lots of different kinds of chemo for lots of different kinds of cancer. the side effects usually stem from the slowing cell growth and killing of certain cells : hair loss, nausea/vomiting, constipation, thirst and so on. it's common to have additional courses of medicine that combat the side effects specifically.",
"Chemotherapy involves giving you drugs that inhibit DNA replication. If the DNA of a cell cannot replicate, the cell cannot divide. Do this to enough cells and the cancer growth can be significantly slowed or even stopped.\n\nChemotherapy drugs sometimes target the DNA directly. They might alter the chemical structure of the DNA so it can't be unwound. Or they might block the end of a growing DNA chain so it can't grow any further.\n\nSometimes the drugs target the enzymes involved in DNA replication. If the enzymes can't even attach to the DNA in the first place, or are altered so that they don't work properly, then no replication can take place. \n\nIf you are targeting cell division, then it makes sense that cells which divide quickly are the ones most heavily targeted. Cancer cells grow and divide quickly, which is why chemotherapy does more damage to cancer cells than to most of our 'normal' cells. However, a few types of 'normal' cells do actually grow very quickly, and so chemotherapy will sometimes accidentally target them too. These cells include:\n\nBlood cells: which is why anemia and immune suppression are common side effects.\n\nCells of the stomach lining and digestive system: which is why vomiting, diarrhoea, and nausea are common side effects.\n\nHair cells: which is why hair thinning and loss is a common side effect.\n\n",
"chemotherapy is like nuking your own body (literally nuking?) in an attempt to kill cancer cells faster than you. it can work.\n\nsometimes they kill all the cancer cells (as well as doing lots of damage to your human tissue) and you are cured. sometimes they kill all the noticeable cancer cells. in which case the cancer remains and reproduces again, but this time it is much more resistant to chemotherapy (because the only cells that survived are the ones that can survive lots of radiation).\n\nsometimes they don't even shrink the cancer but just slow its growth a little."
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flxqj0 | how can plants turn sun and water (and dirt) into wood, leavies and pretty much anything they need? | Inspired by the cow post. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/flxqj0/eli5_how_can_plants_turn_sun_and_water_and_dirt/ | {
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"You are actually missing out a critical part: air\n\nYes, most of a mass a plant actually comes from carbon dioxide within the air. They can convert it into plants with the Calvin cycle, which is a cycle made up of several chemical reactions that takes in carbon dioxide and converts it into glucose, which is essentially sugar\n\nThe energy to do this comes from the sun, chloroplasts receive solar energy and store it to be used for the Calvin cycle \n\nLots of molecules of glucose can then be chained together in order to form more complex molecules like cellulose that makes up most plants",
"The air is full of CO2, Carbon Dioxide. The ground is full of water.\n\nPlants use the energy of the sun to strip the Oxygen atoms and replace them with hydrogen from Water. This creates sugars (C6H12O6). \n\n6 molecules of CO2 + 6 Molecules of H2O = 1 sugar and leaves 3 Oxygen molecules (O2).\n\nOnce the plant has sugars it has energy the same way we do. Instead of changing sugars to fats the way animals do for storage it can also change them to starches. Starches are chains of sugars usually stored in roots, or seeds for the new plant to get started.\n\nPlants also need Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. Farmers sometimes add this through fertilizer, but these and other minerals are common in soil and absorbed by the roots. \n\nPlants have a very strong cell wall with very tight bonds between them for stability. They do this with either rigid walls or high internal water pressure. You can tell the difference by what happens when you take away the water. The plant either stays rigid or it wilts. Rigidity is done with wood or at the cellular level, Lignin. \n\nLignin is made up of the same types of atoms as sugars, but instead of being easy to take apart, the molecules are big and bind tightly together. \n\nThe cells that form wood are also very long fibers like our muscles, except the plant grows these cells with the intent that they die every year leaving another layer around the branch of the plant so it can support itself getting bigger and longer next year."
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61gsol | welfare and food stamps | What are they, who can apply for them, and what exactly do they provide? I've heard the term thrown around, but what does it actually mean? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61gsol/elif_welfare_and_food_stamps/ | {
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"Welfare is sometimes called TANF or temporary assistance for needy families. Those who fall under federal guidelines for poverty may apply and are given money for rent, bills and other necessities. Typically, there is a work requirement and the recipient must comply to continue to be eligible. Food stamps are similar although the money can only be used for food. There is usually a misconception that people that receive the benefits are lazy but many have jobs and use these programs to stay afloat so to speak.",
"Anyone can apply for government assistance(welfare/foodstamps), but I assume you mean who can actually receive them. In many cases, if you can't get one form of assistance, you an get some other form of assistance. There are other forms of assistance not typically associated with welfare and foodstamps, like disability benefits, that serve a similar role but require medical examination.\n\nFor SNAP(food stamps) in my state you need to make less than 15k a year as a single person with no dependents. My family of 5 could get these benefits making less than 36k. The amount you receive scales on income and dependents, here's the WA state calculator.\n_URL_0_\n\nWelfare is broader and can cover things like heating during winter, rent, emergency housing for people displaced by abusive households, and many other services. All these are needs based and can for some people provide too little benefit to offset the effort in maintaining the flow of information to these various groups to continue gaining these benefits.\n\nThere are also some really niche ones that are mostly the gov helping itself, such as paying people to live in rural areas rather than congesting cities.\n\nShort answer: people that have dependents, make little money, live in undesirable locations, are at risk of harm due to environment, or are incapable of helping themselves."
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dlj8bw | why are some atoms "easier" to become ions than others? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dlj8bw/eli5_why_are_some_atoms_easier_to_become_ions/ | {
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"Because of their Electronegativity (hope thats the right translation) and their size. The Electronegativity basically is a force (Noted in the Periodic table) which defines how strong they are able to \"suck\" other electrons to themselves.",
"Ionizing an atom is adding or removing electrons. The position of the electron you want to add or remove is very important. Electrons are arranged in an odd way similar to seats in a movie theater. The front row has 2, the second third and fourth row have 8 which are partitioned into sets of 2 and 4, and as you go down the periodic table you add more partitions. The ionization energy depends on which seat you're trying to add or remove an electron from."
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3squye | what's the difference between a $10 bottle of wine compared to a $100 bottle? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3squye/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_a_10_bottle_of/ | {
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"A person who has developed the palette for it could tell the difference, and appreciate it. \nI think the subtleties of the $100 bottle would be lost on me, but I have tasted some $30/bottle wines, and they have been far richer and better-tasting than the $10 ones.",
"There are four different issues in wine pricing.\n\nDifferent people like different things about wine. Some people like a specific set of flavors that you can really only find in wine, and other people like wine that is, #1, very sweet and #2, alcoholic (yay booze). It's very easy to make grape juice ferment into a sweet alcoholic beverage but very difficult to make it produce those special flavors. As a result, the wines that produce the special flavors are much more expensive.\n\nSecond, even people who know what they are doing (kind of) can't get grapes that will make nice wine every year. Most fancy vineyards will sell thousands of gallons of bad wine at rock-bottom prices to wine factories every year. The owners taste what they have to work with, decide that it's not up to their standards and selling it will damage their brand, and sell it to a factory which mixes it with bad wine from a million other vineyards to produce a nice, generic, sweet wine that is inexpensive.\n\nThird, while you judge the quality of the wine early on from the tannins in it, you continue to age it in the bottle. Every year you age a wine, you have to raise the price proportionately to account for the rate of return you need on your investment, the cost of storage (you can't just chuck it in a cardboard box in a back room like at the local liquor room), and the fact that the longer you age it, the more bottles will be lost due to storage problems.\n\nFourth, buying wine is a little complicated. It's hard to store and expensive to ship. That makes it relatively easy for retailers to charge a markup, and for restaurants to charge a huge markup.",
"You are paying for particular flavors and other qualities that you expect of the particular region, grape or style. The biggest houses have their signature styles. \n\nBecause they have particular styles, they might not be quite what you wanted or expected so price is not a good indicator of what you're going to like. My recommendation is to start off cheap. Once you figure out a broad category of wines (red/white, dry/sweet, fresh/aged) you can explore slightly more expensive wines in that category. There are lots of great wines at almost every price range. "
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84slxr | animal pain, human pain | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/84slxr/eli5_animal_pain_human_pain/ | {
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"Other mammals experience pain pretty much as humans do. But they don't have language or facial expressions to describe their suffering. And they need to get up and walk away, if the alternative is to sit around forever and die. No paramedic or doctor is coming.",
"Adrenaline.\n\nSame reason people can walk away from a car crash or a fall and not realize they've broken something right away.",
"Humans are definitely capable of this behavior. You don't go anywhere or do anything when injured if you are in safety, but people who suffer serious injuries don't just wait around if their stranded away from safety. Your survival instict tells you to relax and rest if you have food and shelter while injured, but if you don't have food and shelter your survival instict tells you to ***get off your ass and find some or die***."
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4nv0it | why did linux get more popular then unix? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nv0it/eli5_why_did_linux_get_more_popular_then_unix/ | {
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"It was free. It had no support guarantee, but the lack of cost made up for it. And because it was open source it could be ported to anything it could be compiled for, and there wasn't a big company making budgeting decisions based on volume sales potential keeping that from happening.",
"Unix was expensive (usually expensive as hell), and most variants required expensive (usually expensive as hell) hardware.\n\nThen, Linux cane along, and it was free or cheap (depending on which flavour you prefered). It gained a huge amount of traction, and soon become the leading Unix variant (yes, Linux is a full Unix).\n\nNow, there is no reason to go for some other Unix, as Linux has, by far, surpassed them.",
"Unix wasn't one thing, but a family of operating systems based on the original operating system developed by Bell Labs (Later AT & T). In the 80s/90s there was BSD, AIX, Solaris (SunOS), UnixWare, Xenix, HP-UX, IRIX, A/UX among others. There was the 'unix wars' where each vendor struggled to become the 'standard' unix. Compatibility between unixes was poor and each unix implementation was usually tied to a specific brand of hardware.\n\nNot only was Linux free, but it promised compatibility between hardware. Programs would need to be recompiled, but the tools etc would be the same, so it should just work.\n\nFreeBSD was also free, but it came too late. By the time all the legal issues were resolved, Linux had already 'won'\n\nHere is a good chart that shows the history of the unixes: _URL_0_"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Unix#/media/File:Unix_history-simple.svg"
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36h00f | how come i can remember a certain moment from my childhood, yet i can't remember a maths equation i learned today? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36h00f/eli5_how_come_i_can_remember_a_certain_moment/ | {
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"You have two forms of memory - short-term and long-term. The first is far from perfect but can get better with the proper training. So just after you learn it, your math equation is in short term memory.\n\nWhen you sleep, some of the long-term memories are created from the short-term memory experiences you had during that day, particularly when it really stood out. (For example, an afternoon playing will likely not be as long-term memorable as a trip to Disney). But if you got swamped with new information that day, not everything is permanently written down and so you forget some stuff like your equation.\n\nWhen you're younger and learning lots, you're pretty good at this conversion process, so many long-term memories exist and can be recalled well into adulthood. But the short-term ones that didn't get transcribed into long-term form are lost, just like that equation."
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2vp22s | why do mobile video games have so many commercials on tv all of a sudden? | Also, getting a sponsor like Kate Upton, that seems so out of place | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vp22s/eli5_why_do_mobile_video_games_have_so_many/ | {
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"Mobile phones, and thus mobile games are so popular now that it makes financial sense for big-name games to spend the big TV money in order to sell more games.",
"Mobile games have the best potential to be profitable because they cost far less to develop than traditional PC or console games and everyone has a phone. A few companies have figured it out (including those people at Candy Crush who sue anyone that uses the word \"saga.\" They're the new monster cable of frivolous lawsuits)",
"\"Free to play\" is a very effective advertising tool and the \"cinematic\" aspect of these commercials are much better lures than screenshots. Of course once you are in the game, you quickly realize it's not so free. But I am sure they have a target retention rate, so even with the loss of players, they are making more than enough money to offset the cost of Kate Upton."
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476t1w | how can a person have 8 pack abs when theres only 6 rectus abdominis? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/476t1w/eli5_how_can_a_person_have_8_pack_abs_when_theres/ | {
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"It's partly genetics and partly an illusion. Without the right genetics the illusion is much harder to give off and thus would need intense exercise on your lower stomach & having an incredibly low body fat %, but it's not something that can be real without having the genetics for it.",
"Actually you just have 1 rectus abdominus muscle, which is split in the middle longitudinally by linea alba (white line). And there are tendinous insertions horizontally that gives the impression that you have 6 different muscles. There are normally 3 of these insertions, hence 6 bulges, but some have 4 of them making a 8-pack."
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bk9mrg | what are stocks and what is insider trading? how are they related to each other? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bk9mrg/eli5_what_are_stocks_and_what_is_insider_trading/ | {
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"This is VERY ELI5\n\n & #x200B;\n\nStocks are a share of ownership in a company. Insider trading is when someone close to or with connections inside a company know of a large move (either positive or negative) the company is about to do that is going to effect the stock price. They then act on this information to either buy a bunch or sell a bunch of the company's stock before the information becomes public.",
"A stock is a part of a company simply speaking. There is a limited amount of shares, if you have more than 50% you basically have the say in that company.\n\nInsider trading is if someone with inside knowledge uses that knowledge in order to gain an advantage for making money.\n\nAs an example you have a lot of stocks/shares in a company but you also know internal stuff, e.g. a lawsuit or another problem that will kill the price of the share. They then sell before it's known to the public so they don't lose money. It also works the other way around, buying a lot of shares because you have inside knowledge that the price will skyrocket (new invention hitting the market for example)",
"Stocks are fractions of ownership in a company. If you own a stock in the company you can vote on certain decisions of the company. If you own 50.1% of all the stock issued you can make controlling decisions of the company.\n\nInsider trading is making stock trades based on information that is not yet known to the public. For example if the CFO knows company A is about to buy company B that will likely impact the stock price of both companies once the info is released. So if he were to make a trade beforehand he could make money based on this “inside information” - thus it is not allowed.",
"Stocks are shares in a company. \n\nIf there are 100 shares of a company, and you own 10 of them, you own 10% of that company.\n\n\nInsider trading is the use of information not available to the public to make stock trading decisions.\n\nFor example: Say a CEO knows that his company didn't get approval for the drug it produces and the stock price is going to fall. He calls up Martha Stewart and tells her to sell her shares *before* the news of the denied approval hits the media and causes the price to fall.\n \nThey have made an illegal insider trade because her sale was based on inside information.",
"They definitely can and this is the most typical case. Senior execs have windows that they are and are not allowed to trade. It is all public information and must be filed with the sec. big swings outside of their normal trading is investigated."
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8a43ua | why does skipping five seconds of a video often take longer due to buffering than just sitting through the five seconds? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8a43ua/eli5_why_does_skipping_five_seconds_of_a_video/ | {
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"The way online video is compressed, you're receiving data that represents incremental updates from the last frame. If you start playing the video at the beginning, it all works as intended.\n\nHowever, if you start playing in the middle, you need to process incremental updates for some time period prior to the frame you want to see before you can display it. It takes time to download both the incremental data and process it."
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9jbopb | how does a gym's business model hold up? the equipment is insanely costly and the memberships cost next to nothing in most cases. how does it pay off the investment and become a stable income source? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9jbopb/eli5_how_does_a_gyms_business_model_hold_up_the/ | {
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"I think a lot of it relies on people paying for gym memberships that they never or rarely use. ",
"It's like planet fitness cheap membership so everyone and their mom signs up, but then they literally never go. So tons of $20. A month payments and if you forget a yearly fee but noone uses it. ",
"Although the equipment is costly, some gyms (like mine) keep the same equipment for a very long time. Once it is paid for, maintenance costs are small compared to membership income. \n\nEdit: missing word added.",
"Relevant to add that in many cases, the business model just doesn't hold up. Especially in smaller towns with few potential members they can barely be breaking even, if they are even doing that, and just keep going in a hope that enough people will sign up. \n",
"A lot of budget gyms don't actually pay their staff.\n\nYou get a job as a Personal Trainer and work as a receptionist and a cleaner and you take fitness classes that are generally free for the gym users.\n\nYou then use this to recruit people as clients for your personal training business and charge them $40 an hour and the gym lets you use their facilities for your classes.\n\nThe trainers don't need a studio and the gyms don't need to pay their staff.",
"The only example I can speak of from experience is a local council-operated gym system that last year effectively made a small loss. By far the biggest expense is employee salaries, which account for most of the operating costs. These salaries include maintenance, but the annual expenditure on new equipment is comparatively small. Income comes from three main sources: memberships, fees and hiring out their facilities.\n\nIn simple terms, the business model is \"charge people enough for memberships and one-off visits to pay for most of the running costs of the gym, then hire out gym facilities on slow days to make up the rest\". This year, they will increase all the fees a bit to make up for last year, when the fees were slightly too low to make a profit in pure economic terms. Overall, the system makes the local area money by improving general health, providing employment and taking virtually no tax subsidy. ",
"TLDR: The gym only has 10 machines in it, but that can actually support 200 memberships easily.\n\n\\-----\n\nThe model depends upon people paying for a membership and only occasionally showing up to the gym, plus the low depreciation/maintenance of the machines.\n\nThis is why gyms emphasize \"don't bang the weights.\" There isn't much risk of you hurting yourself, but there is a risk of you breaking equipment.\n\nThat's also why gyms emphasize year-long contracts and auto-pay systems when you join. If you use the gym often you will be willing to remain a member. If you don't use the gym often, you will likely forget about the membership. Some gyms also have a termination fee, or require you to quit in-person so that a sales rep can talk you out of it.\n\nAlso, lots of people join around New Year's with the idea of getting in shape. Next year rolls around and the gym membership expires, but hey, I should start going to the gym again as my resolution so I won't cancel.\n\nSo there is a really high members-per-machine ratio, with most members not using the machines often (or at all).",
"Already some great answers here. I would also like to add that it's likely that national chains especially and probably some other gyms arrange bulk discounts. Let's say a treadmill costs 2000 dollars if you go to the store and buy one, when the manufacturer sells them for 1200. But the store is getting a cut and you're only buying one.\n\nBut a national chain might go straight to the manufacturer and buy them for 1200 rather than 2000, and if they're buying hundreds at a time and warehousing them for building new locations or expanding or having reserves, they might strike a deal at 1000 per treadmill. This is very common in industry where a discount can be struck for making a large order, because it is still a huge amount of money and it guarantees the manufacturer some work for a time.\n\nNow a small-time gym might instead go to the store selling for 2000, and make a deal where they will buy say 10 treadmills at 1800 each. The store is still making money by selling 10 treadmills at once just less profit *per*, and the gym saves a bit of money on equipment.\n\nIn both cases it is hoped that the purchaser will come back to them for replacement parts, which is also a handy source of revenue.",
"Also it might have something to do with some gyms making it very difficult to cancel a membership with an automatic payment "
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48zmpw | how do the inner leaves of cabbage perform photosynthesis? | From what I know, it grows from the inside out, the inner leaves never actually being exposed to sunlight. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48zmpw/eli5_how_do_the_inner_leaves_of_cabbage_perform/ | {
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"The inner leaves may not see the sunshine but the entire plant acts as a \"unit\". Much like kindergarten, sharing is important for the success of everything involved ",
"You need to remember that cabbage, as we know it, is the result of centuries of selective breeding. The plant you see isn't something that evolved naturally. [There's many different food crops in the same family](_URL_0_) - cabbage, broccoli & mustard are among them.\n\n[Quite a few of the varieties](_URL_1_) have the inner leaves exposed and [the wild form](_URL_1_#/media/File:Brassica_oleracea0.jpg) doesn't even bunch up into a ball."
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3j5wwy | how does applying toothpaste to a cd to help fix scratches work? | Is it just a hoax? I've tried before and never could get it to work, but my fallout 3 disc is scratched all to hell and I want to play it before 4 comes out. (I know 4 comes with a copy of 3 but I don't want 4 sitting on the shelf for a month before I can play it) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3j5wwy/eli5_how_does_applying_toothpaste_to_a_cd_to_help/ | {
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"Toothpaste is a very fine polish, so it helps to polish out the scratches. There are a number of potentially abrasive ingredients potentially even silica (sand).",
"The lasers in a CD/DVD drive can read through scuffs & dirt. What they can't read through is a big scratch because that'll cause the laser beam to reflect off in wild directions & not back to the sensor.\n\nOne of the key ingredients in toothpaste is a fine abrasive - sort of a polishing compound. You can use that to lightly grind down the edges of the scratch, leaving just a scuff that the drive can read through.\n\nMetal polish, like Brasso, is also good. I think it's slightly more effective but *everyone* has toothpaste in their house already.",
"The data on a CD, DVD, etc is stored on the label side, on the surface of a thin sheet of metal that can be seen through the plastic. The top of a CD is usually pretty well protected by being a nice hard surface, but the bottom is just a plastic that is prone to being scratched.\n\nIf you have scratches on this side of the CD then it can deflect the laser that's trying to read the information. Polish the scratch off of the surface and the data can be read.\n\nToothpaste just happens to be a pretty good mild abrasive. Off the shelf CD repair kits work similarly and may have a clear compound to fill the scratches. ",
"You make a scratch that's bigger than visible lights wavelength into little scratches smaller than the wavelength of visible light.",
"It's basically polishing the scratches out of the protective plastic shield. The data is on the metal part in the middle and/or what forms the top/label of the disc.\n\nAnd if you are serious, some car polish or cutting compound will work as well. (heck even fine sandpaper if the scratch it deep enough). Start with cutting compound, then polish. Should get it going well enough to at least rip the disc."
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8imcpc | why is it that 8:30-5 or 9-5:30 seem to now be the most common working hours? growing up i was always told 9-5 (thanks dolly). is there a reason for the extra half hour? i work in the u.k. if that helps. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8imcpc/eli5_why_is_it_that_8305_or_9530_seem_to_now_be/ | {
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"Usually it's that you're entitled to a break by law, but they don't have to pay you for your break. So the shift is 8.5 hrs even though you only get paid for 8. Doing it on 8s is usually easier for HR/payroll to deal with",
"It's basically whether or not you get a paid lunch. These days most companies opt for not giving you a paid lunch so an 8.5 hour day would have a half hour unpaid lunch, 9 hours day with an hour unpaid lunch are also common. 9-5 is a 7 hour workday with an hour paid lunch."
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2je5pj | why does your body want to keep changing position at night? | When I'm lying on my right side in bed at night after a while I feel as if the world will end if I dont switch to my left side. Why is this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2je5pj/eli5_why_does_your_body_want_to_keep_changing/ | {
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"I too would like to know this, because apparently I'm not the best cuddler after I fall asleep.",
"'Cause the right side of your body has a fricken body lying on top of it, so it's like \"alright, this is getting a bit heavy now, left side you can take over.\"",
"Lying in one position for a long time can cause pressure points on certain areas of the body which may then cause the tissue to break down from lack of blood flow. The wounds are called pressure ulcers and you see them frequently in people who are not able to reposition or move around while in bed. I believe your body A) moves around to try to find a comfortable position that also reduces pressure areas and B) once you have been in one position for too long your body will signal you to move and thus put the pressure on different areas of the body. I am sure there are other mechanisms involved as well, but this plays a large part. ",
"The amount of times I have smacked my self in the face with my asleep arm.."
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2s4ty1 | what is a "thinktank" company? | How do this work? What do they do? How do they get paid? How is it a viable business? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2s4ty1/eli5_what_is_a_thinktank_company/ | {
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"\"Thinktanks\" are in the business of generating solutions to problems - basically, they are like a consultancy, but admittedly the scope and type of problems they work on can be unusually difficult and very specialized. For instance, whereas consultancies e.g. Aon-Hewitt; Bain's Co, for businesses, may instruct or advise customers about company restructuring, marketing strategy and the like, \"thinkthanks\" in the form of non-government organisations work on say, how to prepare and best structure Afghanistan for a viable democracy, or how to raise popular awareness of seasonal drought in some third-world country. Thinktanks may also often have a visible bias, which may in fact be packaged as part of their company mission to attract customers, versus consultancies which front a more transparent, objective image - for instance, in the US you'll have publicly \"Conservative\" thinktanks which try to study government policies and criticize them specifically from a Conservative POV and think about how aligned they are with Conservative practice.\n\nPeople attached to thinktanks then are luminaries who typically have had loads of experience in the field they are working at - like politicians, scholars, and they make use of a great deal of interdisciplinary thinking from the sciences to humanities to construct solutions for scenarios and crises. There are for-profit and non-profit thinktanks, so they may be paid per-assignment by clients, or exist by generous academic grants and private donations. As I mentioned earlier, the people who run thinktanks may themselves already be well-recognized in their original fields of specialties - this means that money ain't as much a concern for them so the need for a \"viable business\" part is diminished. They may run thinktanks as a \"hobby\", a \"side interest\" of sorts - to provide themselves a public platform for their political and social views, or they may just be wealthy enough to fund it themselves."
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1kwyhx | how do people get stuck inside of fridges and freezers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kwyhx/eli5_how_do_people_get_stuck_inside_of_fridges/ | {
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"The first refrigerators that were produced for home use had actual latches on the door. This was decades ago. People would throw them out and, apparently, kids would climb in and lock themselves inside. But, for the last 40-50 years, refrigerators haven't had the latched doors. It's an old wives tale about kids getting locked in refrigerators now. "
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dfj0zo | why does most graffiti have the same generic style/look that we have come to expect from vandals | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dfj0zo/eli5_why_does_most_graffiti_have_the_same_generic/ | {
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"Speed, if you take too much time spraying it on the walls you will be caught doing it so speed is essential.",
"It's a lettering style designed to take up as much space as possible with color, leaving as little blank space as possible. And it's fairly easy to make with spray paint."
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62oki0 | why do android phone manufacturers not force carriers to use the same software like on ios? | For example with Samsung, each carrier has their own version of the software. Would it not be more efficient to make all carriers have the exact same software and just update that like on iOS? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/62oki0/eli5_why_do_android_phone_manufacturers_not_force/ | {
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"Because the manufacturers have very little power. If Samsung gives the carriers a hard time, they can immediately switch to HTC or another brand that's quite similar.\n\nBy contrast, if Apple gives the carriers a hard time, there is no very similar substitute they can choose, so they tolerate it."
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j4y4n | explain how 0.999 recurring = 1 (li5.) | This was explained in class when I was younger. Never got my head around it.
Edit: Well and truly explained. Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j4y4n/explain_how_0999_recurring_1_li5/ | {
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"Do 1.00000000... minus .99999999...\n\nYou'll get 0.00000000... which is a neverending string of zeroes. You will naturally want to put a 1 at the end of all the zeroes, but there is an infinite amount of them. There *is* no end to stick a 1 onto.",
"A simple way is this: (let's assume the 0.333 and 0.999 are infinite)\n\n1/3 = 0.333 repeating\n\n1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1\n\nTHEREFORE\n\n0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 = 1\n\nAND ALSO\n\n0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 = 0.999\n\nThere are other, more complex ways, but this is probably the simplest.",
"All the numbers can be ordered on a very, very big line, like on a gigantic ruler. Now, if two numbers are different, that just means that there is some space on this ruler between them. That space is full of numbers, too. So, for example, 2 is a different number than 4, because (for example) 3 is between them. In fact, you can find more numbers than you could write a piece of paper between *any* two different numbers. Try it!\n\nNow, 0.99999... = 1 is just another way of saying that there are no other numbers between them. It makes sense once you try to come up with such a number yourself: Obviously it would have to start with 0.99999 as well but then be a little bit higher. But there is no such number that's still smaller than 1. ",
"I have a pretty simple algabraic proof that obviously a 5-year-old wouldn't understand, but you might:\n\nx = 0.999...\n\n10x = 9.999... (both sides multiplied by 10)\n\n9x = 9.999 - 0.999 = 9 (the small number subtracted from the big number)\n\nx = 1 (dividing both sides by 9)\n\nIt's just confusing because of the ways we represent numbers in various bases and as functions (i.e. fractions).",
"People who study math for a living (we call them \"mathematicians\") tell us that decimals (0.999, for example) can be transformed into fractions (1/4, for example) while still being the exact same thing. Say, for example, that you have a quarter — You can say that you have twenty-five cents (0.25) OR that you have 1/4 of a dollar, and BOTH ways are correct.\n\nMathematicians discovered long ago that there are some fractions that look really funky when converted into decimals. The fraction 1/3, when converted into a decimal, is 0.333333333... (the threes repeat forever). So let's imagine you have a loaf of bread, and it is cut into three equal pieces. The first slice is 1/3 of the loaf, the second slice is 1/3 of the loaf, and the third slice is 1/3 of the loaf. When you put them together, you get 1 loaf (1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 3/3 = 1). But if we take the decimal counterparts, it looks like this: 0.33333... + 0.33333... + 0.33333... = 0.99999... \n\nWe didn't actually LOSE any part of the loaf of bread when we counted with decimals instead of fractions, so instead, mathematicians tell us that 0.999 recurring equals 1. ",
"If 0.999... did not equal 1, then there is a number between it and 1.\n\nWhat could that number be?",
"Do 1.00000000... minus .99999999...\n\nYou'll get 0.00000000... which is a neverending string of zeroes. You will naturally want to put a 1 at the end of all the zeroes, but there is an infinite amount of them. There *is* no end to stick a 1 onto."
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1jhgju | why do some tennis players grunt loudly whenever they hit the ball? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jhgju/eli5_why_do_some_tennis_players_grunt_loudly/ | {
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"Tensing the torso allows maximum rigidity and power transfer to the strike. This tends to push air out of the lungs and produce a grunt, and grunting can be a way to focus on maintaining that form."
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19ma6e | what is the point of rooting android products and jailbreaking apple products. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/19ma6e/eli5_what_is_the_point_of_rooting_android/ | {
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"Rooting on Android gives you administer access to the device, letting you install custom software, overclock the hardware, delete built in apps, and allow apps to have functionality they otherwise would be denied.\n\nJailbreaking on iOS installs a second app store known as Cydia that lets you download and install software not approved by Apple. These apps also do things normal appstore apps dont, such as allowing you to tweak the functions of the OS and customize it. "
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5nhwtc | how are we able to sense where our body parts are in space without actually looking at or feeling them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nhwtc/eli5_how_are_we_able_to_sense_where_our_body/ | {
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"That's called proprioception, or kinesthetic awareness. It's also somewhat tied into reflexes, like catching or dodging a ball. You can increase the sensitivity with practice, too. Sadly, though, the “spider sense” is just for comics and movies for now."
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68sv33 | is there any situation in which the mathematical median can be higher than the mean? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68sv33/eli5_is_there_any_situation_in_which_the/ | {
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"The relationship between the mean and median are based on how skewed the data is, and in what direction the skew is. Generally speaking, things that we are familiar with tend to be skewed right, so we get that the mean is greater than the median. But if the data is skewed left, then the median will be greater than the mean. Consider the following data set:\n\n{1,100,101}\n\nWhat is the median? 100. What is the mean? 67-ish.\n\nIt is just that data tends to not really look like this in most familiar situations."
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28s3il | can someone explain whether obesity is only present in humans or other mammals too have this disorder within their species? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28s3il/eli5_can_someone_explain_whether_obesity_is_only/ | {
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"I've seen some fat ass cats and dogs. ",
"Other animals can get fat, too. Pets often become obese; lab animals can gain too much weight if their diets aren't carefully adjusted. Among wild animals, morbid obesity isn't particularly common, because animals that are too fat to run away from predators usually either lose weight or get eaten."
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2dt6u1 | do/can animals in nature outside of human contact get fat or even mordidly obese? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dt6u1/eli5_docan_animals_in_nature_outside_of_human/ | {
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"Pandas are the only one I can think of. All animals can become obese but they dont.",
"They don't become obese due to limited food resources. Even if they could eat all they wanted, being fat would slow them down and increase their chance of becoming prey to something bigger and faster. Bears are the only thing I can quickly think of the eat to excess, but that is because they are storing energy for their winter hibernation. That, and they are an apex predator. The only thing that hunts them are humans. ",
"I have seen obese animals in the wild. It just depends on the readily available resources. If they don't have to forage much and have little competition they'll get fat. ",
"Depends on what you mean by \"fat\". As mentioned, bears bulk up for hibernation. Ocean going mammals have a layer of blubber. They are literally fat, but not unhealthy. Morbidly obese is a better term, meaning fat to the point that you are killing yourself. No, I don't think wild animals can get to that point without human contact, because they do not have access to enough food to get to that point, and if they could, they themselves would be food for something else. ",
"Many marine mammals are extreemly fat. Elephant Seals, Whales, Walruss, etc. \n \nAnimals that hibernate fatten themselves up first. \n \nAnimals that hunt or get hunted cannot afford to get fat as it leads to an inability to hunt or avoid being hunted so the problem takes care of itself. \n \nMany birds get fat such as penguins an puffins. This is partially to insulate against the cold and partially because it is easy to catch fish for them so getting lots of food is not a problem. ",
"I'm not sure about morbidly obese, but there's a 17 year cicadas invasion in a few places that results in some very full animals. EDIT :not sure why the down votes but ok.",
"This question reminds me of this video. \n_URL_0_\n\nEdit: added original creator. ",
"I know this isn't exactly what you asked but I saw a documentary recently about some people who keep moneys as pets. It said many pet monkeys are becoming sick, overweight and getting diabetes when they are being fed human food. There are no known cases of a monkey in the wild having diabetes. ",
"I don't think morbidly obese, but many animals get fat for the onset of winter. Studies have shown that even if hibernating animals are DENIED FOOD when fall comes around, they still grow fat and simply move less (due to less energy from less food); the fat growth is a biological imperative that won't be circumvented, apparently. Then, despite what they are fed after winter is over, they will shed that fat like crazy and return to their normal weight. \n\nThere might be some instances of animals being born that do not have hormone regulation and thus become fat or even morbidly obese in the wild. I've personally never seen anything like that, though. Scientists have mucked about with hormones in animals for testing purposes and the animals have become fat or stayed very lean accordingly, though.\n\nBut in most instances, not really. The growth of fatty tissue is usually brought about by eating simple carbohydrates (which raise your insulin levels, which promotes fat storage), and most animals do not target those as the main source of their food (carnivores eating meat, most herbivores eating grassy shit, etc).",
"There used to be a really fat squirrel that came around. Yes people feed them, but he was a lot fatter then the rest. He would also eat things the others wouldn't, like salt and vinegar chips.",
"Not sure if this qualifies as human contact, but I have seen rats in a pet food warehouse eat themselves essentially to death. They would tear open a 50 pound bag of dog food and eat so much there legs would no longer work. Their stomachs got so fat that their feet didn't touch the ground anymore. \n\nAlso remember that old youtube video of the squirrel that got into the bird feeder and ate so much he could no longer get out? This is what those rats did.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nSo there are two examples of animals getting to obese it became morbid.",
"Yes. As elephant seal pups enter the weaning period they will sometimes choose to start nursing on a different mother that recently had her pup, pushing the much smaller pup to the side. Elephant seal milk is very rich, 60% fat, so this pup will become morbidly obese. By doing this the pup loses out on the crucial period where it learns to swim and hunt. Ironically it will eventually starve to death.",
"Diddly do yes they do.",
"At the very least, I know there are animals that have suffered brain damage in a way that keeps them from knowing that they are full; this results in them eating themselves to death, if they can. (You could argue that humans are often to blame for serious injuries to wild animals, but theoretically it's possible without humans.) Similarly, though perhaps not quite what you meant, there are certain domesticated species that will supposedly eat themselves to death *without* humans to stop them--such as sheep--but again you could blame humans for making those species dependent on them in the first place.",
"There are vultures who have gotten morbidly obese after terrible events that led to mass deaths. The vultures got fat to the point that they can't even fly.",
"[sure](_URL_0_). All it takes is an overly abundant food supply, but those are hard to come by in nature.",
"Some animals have genetic condishuns that make them beautiful no matter how obese they are, shitlord.",
"University of Michigan squirrels.\n\nEnd of story.",
"The problem is that it's already difficult for any creature to get the calories it needs to function and to breed. Having an excess intake of calories will almost never happen. Humanity itself had only (widespread) access to plentiful calories in the last century or two. Being overweight was a sign of great wealth in all of humanity's history before that.",
"The raccoons behind the pizza Hut I work at are. ",
"The limiting factor for most animal populations is the availability of food. If a food-limited population of animals had access to enough food that they could become obese, their numbers would increase until that was no longer the case. \n\nIn a population with a different limiting factor (e.g. crowding) you might see some weight gain, but it's hard if not impossible for most species to become obese by eating the diet they're adapted to in its natural form. You usually have to feed them a more energy-dense mix of foods than they're adapted to."
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1vt1bg | why do i keep getting acne when i have showered every day for 4 years and have a healthy diet/work out? im a 18 year old male | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vt1bg/eli5_why_do_i_keep_getting_acne_when_i_have/ | {
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"Not a doctor here, but maybe you should see a dermatologist if you haven't already (not that this is strange, but they can really help).\n\nA lot of acne in adolescence is caused by androgens being released in the body, such as testosterone (this is released in *everybody* during puberty, regardless of sex). Sometimes acne is deep in the skin tissue (cystic acne). Sometimes, acne can be caused by bacteria in the skin, not just hormones or unhealthiness or uncleanliness. If this appears to be the case, a dermatologist might prescribe an antibiotic such as Minocycline, or Isotretinoin (Accutane). However, a doctor would not prescribe Accutane unless you had severe acne and they'd tried basically everything else. It has nasty side effects. If the acne is not caused by bacteria, you will probably just be using some sort of topical cream (versus using a cream and an antibiotic).\n\nRemember that there is no cure for acne -- there are only things you can do to prevent it."
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2o5t9x | what exactly the 10nm, 14nm, 22nm, etc nodes mean in semiconductor processing | I am having trouble understanding what those nodes represent. At first I thought they wetr the size of transistors but more research shows it has something to do with photolithography. Can someone explain it please? Thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2o5t9x/eli5_what_exactly_the_10nm_14nm_22nm_etc_nodes/ | {
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"Well, it's a bit confusing even to people in the industry. The devil's in the details. \n \nIn the distant past, the geometry of the \"node\" meant the size of the smallest transistors. But a while back it started to refer more to the pitch of the tightest metal layer (usually metal 1), where \"pitch\" means the width of the line plus 1/2 the space on either side. It was claimed that this was a better metric for how tightly things could be packed together. Marketing had crept into the engineering domain. \n \nThere is no single accepted standard now; different companies use different ways to measure their process geometry, and one company may change their definitions a bit at different process nodes. All are a bit deceptive, because *both* the transistor pitches and the metal pitches are important in determining how many circuits can be put in some area. \n \nTo really know about any fab's geometries, you need to dig into the details of all the different layers. For example, a process might have very tight pitches for transistors and metal 1 and 2, but very loose pitches for the higher layers of metal. So in theory you can pack transistors tightly...you just can't very efficiently hook them up to each other. It is possible for one company's 16nm process to be better at getting transistor density than another company's 14nm process. "
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mizm8 | what generates the messages in computer errors? | Not being great at computers myself, I've always wondered where some of the strange error messages come from. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mizm8/eli5_what_generates_the_messages_in_computer/ | {
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"I'm not sure what you mean by this. Each individual program has the ability to throw an error message. The operating system can throw them, as well. Can you be more specific with your question?",
"Error messages are usually for the programmer, not the user. This means they use jargon and probably only make sense in the context of the code.",
"Computer programmers write the error message into their software. \nSometimes they do so for their eyes only as a way of fixing their code.\n\nIt's like walking in a forest and making a mark on each tree.\nIf everything goes right, you will not ever see the mark again.\nBut if you are lost, you can look for the mark that you made to see where\nyou went wrong.\n\nComputer programmers make lots of marks in their code, so they can \nfix/debug their code later.",
"I'm not sure what you mean by this. Each individual program has the ability to throw an error message. The operating system can throw them, as well. Can you be more specific with your question?",
"Error messages are usually for the programmer, not the user. This means they use jargon and probably only make sense in the context of the code.",
"Computer programmers write the error message into their software. \nSometimes they do so for their eyes only as a way of fixing their code.\n\nIt's like walking in a forest and making a mark on each tree.\nIf everything goes right, you will not ever see the mark again.\nBut if you are lost, you can look for the mark that you made to see where\nyou went wrong.\n\nComputer programmers make lots of marks in their code, so they can \nfix/debug their code later."
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48yb5a | how did scientists first hypothesise that an meteor killed the dinosaurs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48yb5a/eli5_how_did_scientists_first_hypothesise_that_an/ | {
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"It was proposed by [Luis Walter Alvarez](_URL_0_) after he noticed a thin layer of clay in the geologic record between the Cretaceous and Tertiary (now called the Paleogene) periods. After further investigation of the composition of the clay (in particular, the high-levels of iridium), Alvarez and his team proposed it may have originated from an impact from space.\n\nLater, finding evidence of an impact crater in Mexico along with the relatively quick demise of many species (including the dinosaurs) led credibility to the theory.",
"The fossil record tells the story. Rock layers deposited before the iridium layer contained fossils from many large dinosaurs. But the layers of rock above (the younger layer) contained none. His conclusion was to associate the dinosaur extinction event to the iridium. \n\nThe theory wasn't popular until a crater from an asteroid impact was found in the Yucatan by oil companies drilling in the Gulf. The impact event coincided with the iridium and the abrupt change in the fossil record. In addition, there were some serious volcanic events from that time period that may have exacerbated the situation. The extinction event wasn't simply an overnight affair - it actually may have taken more than a million years (relatively short for geology but a little long if you were looking for a knock-out punch). \n\nThe theory of an asteroid the size of Manhattan crashing into the sea off the coast of Mexico 65 million years ago remains the best explanation we have to date of what happened to Mister Rex and Miss Triceratops. Twas ever thus.",
"The start of it all was the discovery and study of the [Cretaceous–Tertiary](_URL_0_) (K–T) line. It's a visible layer between the cretaceous and the tertiary earth layer. Every dinosaur fossil ever found was under this layer. The exceptions are fossils that get found because of the constant moving underground layers piling up which brings those fossils back to the surface or close to it. \n\nThe scientists then asked themselves what happened. What caused this relatively abrupt end to the dinosaurs? Why do we find every dinosaur under this visible line? They studied the layers before and after the event and came up with the first theories.\n\nThat said, it's still a mystery how it exactly went down. If it was for example caused by the meteorite impact itself or more the aftermath of the impact."
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2yowba | what is going on in your brain when you stare? why are you so focused on one thing you can't look away? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yowba/eli5_what_is_going_on_in_your_brain_when_you/ | {
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"I am not a psychologist, but generally it is because you are seeing something your brain considers valuable or possibly dangerous. If a man stares at a woman with large breasts, then it is because his brain considers it something valuable and wants it. You will focus more easily on something or someone that you find inherently valuable compared to something you consider important like math. Your brain wants the large breasted woman so it will encourage you to focus on that object and retrieve it.\n\nNow if you see something out of the ordinary like a kid wearing some crazy braces with a head set for their jacked up teeth, then you brain is assessing it for possible danger. You inherently won't trust it even if you consciously know that the 12 year old with extreme dental issues is not a threat to you. \n\nEither way you are assessing whatever you stare at and your brain considers it too important to just glance at and look away."
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5lb3ld | why do humans need to be taught about sex while other animals just know what to do? | So a rabbit reaches sexual maturity, he knows exactly what to do. However, if a human reached sexual maturity and has never been exposed to anything of a sexual nature, he would have no idea what to do with another human being. To be clear, the question is not why humans aren't naturally good at sex, but why humans wouldn't know the basic mechanics without "taught" about them first. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lb3ld/eli5_why_do_humans_need_to_be_taught_about_sex/ | {
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"This is a very vague and not conclusive answer, but: Humans instinctively know more about sex than you think, and animals instinctively know less about sex than you think.\n\nHave you seen those videos where dogs or cows or turtles or whatever are just humping away at random inanimate objects and also even other species of animals? ",
"Humans don't *need* to be taught about sex. In fact, sex education is hardly *at all* about the mechanics of sex. It's about safe sex, and other bodily functions that are peripheral to the actual act. \n\nSome of it is stuff that people *would* figure out on their own, but why not take a short cut and learn about it *before* it's an issue? ",
"It's a recent development. For nearly all of human history, humans learned about sex the way rabbits or any animal would: Seeing it happen. Plenty of mammals mate out in the open, allowing anyone to figure out how it works. Even after humans moved indoors, the one-room dwelling was standard, and parents weren't likely to stop having sex for fear of offending the kids. It's only with modern social customs that sex was hidden from the view of young people, requiring them to learn about it some other way.",
"Humans don't need to be taught about sex any more than a rabbit does...if you want humans to have sex like rabbits. The rabbit, however, is not going to be concerned about things like consent, contraceptives, STDs, and pregnancy, while humans are. Humans need to be educated about those things more than about how to just make sex happen.",
"My understanding is that hiding sex behind closed doors and teaching it is recent. Centuries ago (decades? - someone correct me) people were having sex when they hit puberty. \n\n14 for Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, for example.\n\nAnd did Romans not have their own boys and girl prostitutes. ",
"We *are* naturally competent at sex. We just want to do it in a way that is more civilized and controlled than animals do. Animals don't use consent and birth control, they use estrus cycles and genital arms races and other such evolutionary tactics. Many animals are pretty much forcing themselves on each other, and the female just has to have some biological filter of sorts. (Keep in mind humans are one of the few species to be able to get it on anytime, anywhere. Most animals go into heat or lay eggs or some such.) Even the animals who dance or otherwise impress a mate into sex often don't care past having babies. \n\nWe have a sense that we can't just try to take a mate; we have to obtain permission for it to be moral, and so on. We are curious creatures as well and want to know not just how sex works, but why. What we teach isn't how to have sex, like how to put the penis in the vagina -- we can figure that out just fine -- but rather why it feels good, what the biological parts are doing, how to know proper consent, how to control when you have a baby, etc."
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4ccfgg | what is ethereum, and how does it have a monetary value? | I understand basically that it's a cryptocurrency, but what exactly is my GPU doing that is worth actual value to someone? I used to do Folding@Home, but that was more research purposes than anything else. How is this different? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ccfgg/eli5_what_is_ethereum_and_how_does_it_have_a/ | {
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"I can't speak about Ethereum specifically, but I can give you a generalized explanation of bitcoin and hope the information is useful to you. The processing power used to generate a new coin is not *useful* or *practical* to someone in the same way as Folding@Home. The processing requirement to creating new coins is a means of creating and regulating scarcity. If each coin requires a certain amount of work to be produced, and there is a finite amount of work available, then the amount of new currency entering the market is restrained, which is extremely important for a currency. Cryptocurrencies do not have inherent value. Their valuation is merely what other people are willing to value it at, similar to other FIAT currencies used by nations around the world.\n\nThe American dollar's availability is controlled by the FED and the willingness of the public to purchase US bonds, and its value stabilized by the petrodollar. Bitcoins' availability is controlled by inherent restraints in software, and their value is somewhat intentionally not stabilized to encourage the development of a commodity trading economy. I reiterate that I don't know much about Ethereum, but I imagine it's quite similar."
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729yma | - what makes peanut butter stick to the roof of your mouth, and throat? | I’ve always wondered why I got that split second feeling like I was gonna choke on a peanut butter sand which, but don’t get that feeling with Other foods . | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/729yma/eli5_what_makes_peanut_butter_stick_to_the_roof/ | {
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"Peanutbutter is viscous. The viscosity of peanutbutter means that it will take longer to flow than other fluids. Aside from that, peanutbutter is not only viscous, but is able to squish between nooks and crannies in a surface, allowing it to act like a glue. It's a good adhesive.\nOn top of that, peanutbutter is made mostly of fats, so it's not very soluble in water, and water doesn't want to interact with the fats in peanutbutter, so it takes time to go down with the help of friction from your tongue and esophagus.\n\nAlso, peanutbutter should be one word. It's one thing, and it's easier to type it that way. I vote 'yes' on *peanutbutter*."
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3ojels | does location determine skin color? | My camp counselor said that dark skinned people are dark skinned because they settled in hotter places (e.g Africa). However I disagreed because a white person in South Africa over generations and generations will never have black offspring. Vice versa. Who is right in this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ojels/eli5does_location_determine_skin_color/ | {
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"Dark skin protects against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. But solar radiation is also necessary to stimulate production of vitamin D. In the higher latitudes, where there is less solar radiation, there is both less need for protection and more need for the radiation. Accordingly, there is a natural selection pressure (meaning people are healthier and more likely to have children) toward darker skin near the equator and light skin further to the north or south. This is also the reason that you get tanned after lying in the sun.\n\nHowever, this takes tends of thousands of years to have any real effect on the genes of a population. Light-skinned people living in South Africa today are descendants of people from Europe. Maybe if they and their children live in South Africa another 10,000 years, they'll get darker skin.\n\nSo you're both right, in a sense. In the short term, where you live doesn't really matter. But in the very, very long term, it does.",
"The camp counselor is closer. The color of your skin is determined by the amount of melanin it contains. The more melanin, the darker the skin. Melanin protects you from UV rays emitted by the sun. However, some of those rays also need to get through to aid in vitamin D synthesis. So in sunny regions darker skinned people are selected for because they need to block out most sunlight to shield against harmful UV rays emitted by the sun. In darker regions pale skin is selected for because there's much less sunlight, so you need to let it through in order to synthesize vitamin D.\n\nIf you gave it enough time, and if that white colony in Africa was significantly reproductively disadvantaged by sun exposure, they would eventually have darker skinned offspring. And vice versa. Of course, they may not be reproductively disadvantaged because we can correct many problems today using things like vitamin D supplements or sunblock, in which case there'd be no advantage to gaining or losing dark skin color. ",
"You're right, if white people in South Africa only ever interbreed with other white people, they'll almost all still have white skin after any number of generations.\n\nBut that's not how natural selection works, though. Dark skin helps protect against harmful UV radiation, which is helpful in very sunny places (like the tropics). Light skin does the opposite, it absorbs as much UV radiation as possible in order to synthesize vitamin D, which is necessary in places that don't get much sun (like northern Europe).\n\nSo even though white people might live in South Africa, they won't be well-adapted to its climate. We humans are smart and have invented things like clothes and umbrellas and sunscreen to counter those effects, but absent those factors, over the long run all the white people in South Africa will die off from skin cancer or severe sunburn, and only dark-skinned people will be left. As it happens, some of those dark-skinned people might actually be ancestors of the white South Africans who have developed genetic mutations to produce more skin pigment. Because they're better adapted to the African climate, they've survived, so in that sense in the long run location will determine skin color."
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2selxp | why is it better to eat actual sources of protein (eggs, fish, meat etc.) than consume protein powder? | what are the negative side effects of consuming protein powder | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2selxp/eli5_why_is_it_better_to_eat_actual_sources_of/ | {
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"It isn't the protein itself that is bad. It is the other stuff that comes with it. You aren't consuming pure protein when using that powder, and a lot of that is things like instant milk which contains oxidized cholesterol, which is very very very bad. And there are many more issues, such as your body requiring certain balances of things in order to absorb the protein properly. When you eat things like meat, the meat itself comes with things like specific minerals and vitamins and amino acids that your body needs so that the protein can be used properly. They always say that animal meat is 'complete' protein.\n\nGenerally speaking, it is always better to eat natural things over artificial things. Protein powder is a good supplement, not a replacement."
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36m2kz | how long does it take to be a professor? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36m2kz/eli5_how_long_does_it_take_to_be_a_professor/ | {
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"Depends largely on the school, faculty, and discipline.\n\nThe typical route is:\n\n- Undergraduate (bachelor's).\n\n- Postgrad (Master's).\n\n- PhD.\n\n- Lecturing and getting published.\n\n- Getting tenure.\n\n- Associate Professor.\n\n- Professor.\n\nTimescales vary - a bachelors and a masters can take anywhere between 5 and 10 years to do, depending on whether it's done full time, and by thesis or coursework. A lot of places also count first class honours in a bachelor's as part credit towards a masters.\n\nPhD is typically 3-7 years, again depending on how you do it and what the research and publishing is based on.\n\nTenure usually takes about ten years to get between lecturing and getting published. As academics get more senior, their role usually shifts to less teaching, and more getting publications and grants for their faculty.\n\nAssociate professorship to full professorship largely depends on the school and the discipline. I'd say 5-10 years on average between one and the other.",
"There is a lot of variation across fields. I can only speak for science.\n \nBachelor degree: 4 years\n\nMaster's degree: 2-5 years\n\nPhD: 4-10 years. Some schools let you start a PhD program without having a master's degree, like mine did. I spent 6.5 years in graduate school getting mine, but I never got a master's. The average time to get a PhD in science is about 7 years. \n\nPost doc: the average time people spend doing post docs is about 10 years these days. A classmate of mine got a tenure track position after only two years of post docs, but he had over 30 publications before he finished grad school, so he was an anomaly. I know another guy who spent 15 years as a post doc before getting a tenure track position. \n\nHere is where your question gets a little bit vague. When you begin a tenure- track position, your title is \"assistant professor.\" Given this, you are a professor at this point. Sometimes post docs are given the title \"research professor\" or some variant of that. I spent a couple of years as an \"adjunct research assistant professor.\" After you get tenure (which is usually 7 years) you are an \"associate professor.\" To become a full professor, where your title is just \"professor\" takes many years after tenure. Some people go their entire careers without making full professor. \n\nThis time line assumes that you make it through each step. At my school, about 10-20% of people who start a PhD program do not finish - maybe they weren't smart enough, maybe they didn't work hard enough, maybe they couldn't handle the stress, maybe they got sick of it or life got in the way. Lots of people don't make it through the post doc stage. Only a few percent of people with a PhD in a science ever get a tenure track position - there are just way more people who want the jobs than there are jobs. The percent who eventually get tenure is even lower. I know of at least one school that hires more assistant professors than it has tenure spots for. The lucky few get those spots and the rest probably never get tenure anywhere. Even if you are smart enough and creative enough, you have about the same chance of making it big in Hollywood as you do becoming a full professor. \n"
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297rkb | when a mosquito is sucking blood from my arm, where does its proboscis go after i kill it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/297rkb/eli5_when_a_mosquito_is_sucking_blood_from_my_arm/ | {
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"you probably pull it out when you brush the body away. otherwise it's still in there. not a big deal, though. the things are as thin as hair and your body has ways of dealing with stuff like that. "
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p1u97 | the drug enforcement administration (dea) | How exactly does this agency work and whats the controversy behind the DEA's policy of raiding of medical marijuana dispensaries? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/p1u97/eli5_the_drug_enforcement_administration_dea/ | {
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"The DEA is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice tasked with enforcing federal laws (primarily the Controlled Substances Act) on the use, manufacture, and smuggling of drugs in the United States. In some ways like the FBI, the DEA has \"special agents\" who they employ and who must pass a rigorous background check—if an applicant has *ever* used drugs, they are excluded from employment by the DEA. These special agents investigate, arrest, and detain drugs and those suspected of selling drugs.\n\nIn states where medical marijuana dispensaries are legal under state law, the DEA has been enforcing federal drug laws to shut them down. In the past, the federal government has been reluctant to enforce federal drug laws in states which chose to legalize medical marijuana. Pro-MMJ advocates say that the federal government has no authority to regulate the use and sale of medical marijuana that is fully within the state's borders. More broadly, the argument is that federal drug policy towards marijuana is shutting down legitimate businesses that help sick people, and that treating users and sellers of medical marijuana in states where it is legal like they are criminals is enormously bad policy."
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1v6y6h | how would brass instruments be different if they were made from different metals such as steel? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v6y6h/eli5_how_would_brass_instruments_be_different_if/ | {
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"The timbre would be slightly different, and they would be much harder and more expensive to manufacture.\n\nWe already have some instruments that are made in different metals - one example that comes to my mind is the flute. Leaving aside wooden types and thinking only of modern flutes with keys and all that, it's very classy and good-sounding to make a flute out of solid silver. It's also expensive as hell. A less expensive and less good-sounding option is a silver-plated brass flute, and the budget option is made from (I think) nickel-plated brass.\n\nBut the flute is straight, and the brass instruments are all bendy. One of the reasons brass instruments are made from brass is that it's soft enough to bend the tubes reasonably easily. I saw an episode of \"How It's Made\" about brass instruments, and it was pretty fascinating. If the tubes were made of steel, it would be harder to bend them, and the bells and such would be harder to spin (although it could be done).\n\nAnd I have seen (and even played for about five minutes) a silver cornet - it sounded beautiful.\n\nAnother thing to think about is that any kind of steel which is ductile enough to bend well is also going to be prone to rust - and playing brass puts a LOT of moisture into the tubes.\n\nLong story short, brass is easy to work with, comparatively inexpensive, resistant to corrosion, and traditional. There are other options, but they are much more expensive, although they do sound lovely.",
"We already have silver (usually plated, as far as I'm aware) instruments... which many think have a warmer tone. Mostly just tone / timbre would change, for better or worse.",
"A flutist named Georges Barrère had a platinum flute made in the 1930s. He asked Edgard Varèse to write a solo piece of music for the first performance.\n\nVarèse called the piece \"Density 21.5\", since platinum has a density of 21.5 grammes per cubic centimetre.\n\nI think it's fair to assume that the platinum flute has a good sound.",
"My band teacher had a collection of war time instruments that were made out of tin or other common metals because brass wasn't available at the time. They all sounded terrible and were very hard to play. ",
"I don't see it mentioned yet, but the brass composition and plating affect the sound tremendously. High copper content \"rose brass\" is reported to produce a much warmer sound as opposed to silver plating and is often seen on flugelhorns and such. Not that I've ever played one, but gold plated instruments are also available. See Canadian Brass, who use gold plated instruments exclusively. \n\n[_URL_0_]",
"One thing that people are missing is that brass vibrates very easily and produces a very musical sound and can quickly change between frequencies.\n\nI have seen (and played) \"brass\" instruments made from different things; plastic, wood, glass, steel, have all been tried. Most of the \"alternative\" materials don't have a good balance between resonance and tone. The amount of air required to get the glass trombone I saw to resonate is ridiculous.\n\nBrass is just a nice balance for all the criteria. Within Brass though you can have different types of brass that offer different tones. (Rose brass, yellow brass, gold brass, silver plated brass, gold plated brass, etc.)",
"your band is going to have bigger arms than the football team."
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3nrw9i | what is the point of unmarked police cars if they are still very easily spotted? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nrw9i/eli5what_is_the_point_of_unmarked_police_cars_if/ | {
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"This is a form of confirmation bias sometimes known as the toupée fallacy. Take the following sentence:\n\n > All toupées look fake; I've never seen one that I couldn't tell was fake.\n\nSuch a phrase can only be said about bad toupées — ones that look fake — and not actually all toupées. Put simply, if you saw a convincing one you wouldn't have noticed it, because you think it isn't one.\n\n",
"What you're thinking of as \"unmarked\" police cars are the ones driven by plainclothes detectives and such. They're not actually making any attempt to conceal that it's a police car, they're just not *marked* like a patrol cruiser. If nothing else, the car is identifiable by having a government license plate.\n\nThe *real* undercover cops drive cars that are indistinguishable from civilian cars, they may drive beat-up old vans, juiced-up pimpmobiles, whatever the assignment calls for. They have ordinary license plates, and if the assignment is critical enough, the plates are not traceable back to the cops.\n\n\n",
"I did a community patrolling class a couple of years ago, and here is how the chief explained it. \n\nThe cops have three types of cars. Undercover, unmarked, and marked cars. The marked cars have wrap and light bars put on them so you can clearly see they are cops. It makes the public feel better when the public calls for a cop, and lights and sirens are going when a car arrives and you see the wrap on the car telling you what department the cop is with. You can even get the car number and call in and comment about the cop.\n\nThen you got unmarked cars. These may be used by patrol supervisors, detectives, police sergeants, etc. These are the guys that usually don't do traffic patrols or are the first responders. They don't need the markings and wraps because busting speeders isn't their primary purpose. They show up to your house if you are making an insurance claim or need a damage report. No need for lights or sirens then.\n\nFinally, there are undercover cars. They may be cars from the impound lot or seized vehicles and are used for a specific purpose. ",
"Think of it as higher managers or an undercover store cop. By wearing the employee uniform, they would always be asked about where the toy section is or if they sell X stuff and by refusing to help, they would give the store a bad image.\n\nUnmarked cars don't have the letters so the cops can focus on other tasks than showing police presence. They can focus on violations that are harder to catch like cellphones, or other offences that need more discretion while not being hailed or approached for by distracting people. \n\n\nComplete undercover cars that aren't botched usually are not the usual cop car and is fitted with radios and lights that are hidden so even while walking by, you should not recognise them. \n\nOf course some PDs are cheap and will be having the lights at the base of the windshield and back glass as discreet enough.\n"
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3exkem | how come man made light (leds, etc) can't really replicate the way the sun or fire lights up stuff? | I've seen all kinds of lights (LEDs, florescent, incandescent, etc), and none of them really accurately light up stuff the same way the sun (or even fire) does.
Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3exkem/eli5_how_come_man_made_light_leds_etc_cant_really/ | {
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"Sunlight contains all colours of the spectrum, and artificial lights don't. There are actually light bulbs that radiate the full spectrum that are available on the market, but the main reason why you don't see this type of bulb everywhere is because they're expensive to make. It takes different materials in the bulb to produce different parts of the spectrum, and the cost and feasibility of building a single bulb that can produce the entire spectrum would be costly and impractical since most people only want the visual part of the spectrum :)",
"We can do this. There are full spectrum fixtures of nearly all bulb types available. The most common is fluorescent but I have seen metal halide bulbs in particular that can do \"full spectrum\" lighting At that point it's about adding enough bulbs to replicate the intensity. As I understand it, LED bulbs just require an array/combination of different colored bulbs to mimic full spectrum lighting. \n\nI've had experience with both metal halide and fluorescent bulbs in saltwater aquaria/reef keeping. ",
"The Sun and an incandescent bulb both produce light based on the same principle of [thermal radiation](_URL_2_) - the spectrum of thermal radiation depends on the temperature of the object generating it - see for example [here](_URL_0_). The surface of the Sun is at around 5800K, while the tungsten filament in an incandescent bulb heats up to around 3000K.\n\nThey both produce a full spectrum of light, but with a different distribution across the wavelengths, which we perceive as a shift in the color of the light - an incandescent light will produce a warmer light than the Sun, due to its lower temperature. \n\nHowever using thermal radiation is not a very efficient way of generating light for illumination, as a lot of the energy is wasted generating light outside the visible part of the spectrum (between 400 and 700 nm on the graph above) - especially in the infrared (IR) part above 700nm which you can feel as the heat radiating from the incandescent bulb (or the Sun).\n\nThe alternatives like LEDs and fluorescent lights use different phenomena which generate light with much more narrow spectrum, often with one or several distinct narrow peaks around certain wavelengths (a typical fluorescent spectrum might look like [this](_URL_4_)) - but without much energy being wasted outside the visible spectrum.\n\nSo really the fact that energy efficient light is not full spectrum is a feature - it is what makes it energy efficient. We don't really currently have an energy efficient process that can generate only the full visible part of the spectrum. We cheat by combining different specific methods (gases, phosphors, etc.) that each produce a peak of light at one specific wavelength to fill in as much of the visible spectrum as we can (an example spectrum from such \"full spectrum\" fluorescent bulb looks like [this](_URL_1_))\n\nThe reason this works reasonably well is that human vision is not actually capable of sensing the full visible spectrum either - we have what is called tri-chromatic vision, with only 3 types of cells (cones) in the eye, each capable of [detecting light in a relatively narrow range of wavelengths](_URL_3_) - typically identified as red, green and blue. So if your source of light can generate some wavelengths in all 3 areas, it will appear as reasonably white to us - although there will be noticeable differences in certain colors illuminated by any light that is not full spectrum. You can see the 3 main peaks in the fluorescent spectrum I linked above around 440, 550 and 610 nm)"
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weu2b | the us system of government | So you have a president, but he's not the leader of a political party and he can't nessessarily pass the laws he wants? What's the difference between the senate & congress? And then each state has it's own governor and senate?
Could someone give me a run down of what all these pieces are and how they relate to each other? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/weu2b/eli5_the_us_system_of_government/ | {
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"The US Government is best viewed as 3 branches.\n\nThe executive branch is in charge of carrying out laws and running the government's operations. The President is the head of the executive branch. He is elected by the people.\n\nThe legislative branch is in charge of making laws. Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives) is the legislative branch. Senators and Representatives are elected by the people.\n\nThe judicial branch is in charge of resolving disputes and challenges to laws or government actions. The Supreme Court is the head of the judicial branch. The Supreme Court is appointed by the President, subject to Congress's agreement.\n\nAll three branches have checks and balances that make it hard for another branch to sieze power. Each branch has a way to override another branch's powers.\n\nThe President can veto a law passed by Congress. The President also appoints Supreme Court justices. Congress can override a President's veto, with a 2/3 majority. Congress can override a Supreme Court decision, by passing a constitutional amendment (with help from the state governments). Congress can also impeach (kick out) the President or a Supreme Court justice. The Supreme Court can strike down a law passed by Congress, and can prohibit the President from doing certain things.\n\nThat's how it works!",
"In most democracies, the person in charge of the legislature (the group of people who pass laws, like a Parliament or Congress) is also the \"head of government,\" meaning that person is in charge of the details of how laws get enforced.\n\nIn the US those two rolls are separate. The Congress can pass laws, but does not have the power to enforce them. The **President** must follow the laws Congress passes but is in charge or filling in the details about how it is enforced. All the bureaucracy and government agencies report to the President, not congress.\n\nNow **Congress** is made up of two parts, the **House of Representatives** (made up of 1 Congressman/ ~720,000 people) and the **Senate** (2 from each state no matter the state's population). For a law to \"pass\" both the House and the Senate must pass the exact same law with the exact same language. Each chamber does that a little differently but it can not be \"passed\" unless every word is the same between both sides.\n\nThen, because the US is based on common law not civil law, there is a **judicial branch** made up of judges that can change laws and policies. If someone gets arrested for a law they think is unconstitutional, they can bring the case to a judge and they decide either yes the law/government action goes against the constitution or no the law/action is within the power of government. The only time judges can stop laws is if it violates the constitution or if there are two laws that violate each other. They can not pass laws and the can not enforce them, but they can clarify which ones are constitutional. The Supreme Court is 9 people and it is the final word on what is and is not constitutional, there is no way to appeal a Supreme Court decision to another judge.\n\nThese three parts (the President, the Congress and the judiciary) are known as the **three branches of government**. They each have their own kind of power, but they are set up so that no one branch can overpower the other two and take complete control of the government. Each has at least one way of overpowering the other, and each has at least one way of being overpowered by another.\n\nFor example; after Congress passes a bill, the president must either sign it (when it instantly becomes law) or veto it (where none of it becomes law). So if congress passes something the president doesn't like he can veto it, but he must veto the whole bill (that's why small projects sometimes get bundled into more popular bills). But, if Congress *really* likes the bill, they can vote again and if they get 2/3 to vote yes the veto is removed and the bill is law. There are dozens of ways like this that the branches interact but the important thing is that it is designed so that the different branches stop any one from becoming an all powerful branch.\n\n**States also have these three branches** at the state level (except they call their equivalent of a \"President\" Governor), each independent and accountable to their state's constitution. There are some small differences but mostly they are based on the same model as the federal government. There are some things states can not do because only the national government can do it (raise an army, print money, and others). But there are some things that *only* states can do, things the federal constitution say is up to the states (education and others).\n\nSo that's basically it. **President, two-part congress, and judiciary**. One enforces laws but can't pass them, one writes laws but can't enforce them and the other judges if the actions being taken in writing and enforcing the laws is constitutional. States have the same basic system and power between states and the federal government is split up so that one can't dominate the other in everything."
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30ru5r | when someone asks if i've seen a particular movie or not, most of the time i can answer yes or no with extreme accuracy, so why can i not accurately remember every movie i've ever seen when not prompted with a title? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30ru5r/eli5_when_someone_asks_if_ive_seen_a_particular/ | {
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"Psychological term called priming. When you hear something your brain activates or \"primes\" related topics. Hearing the title of a movie usually activates the memories associated with that movie."
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2bq5zj | if women make up near equal percent of gamers, why are more games not being directed at female or neutral gender audience | As a marketing major, and with many feminists and gamers in my life, I've often had it brought up how unfair and biased gaming can be towards women. I assumed it was because it was more profitable to market towards males. After all, if it was equally profitable to market to females surely this would be happening, but I was directed to statistics claiming it's about a 50/50 split. So Reddit, why are so many games targeted at males as opposed to females? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bq5zj/eli5if_women_make_up_near_equal_percent_of_gamers/ | {
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"I'd like to see those statistics. I'm fairly confident that among FPS-style games, males outweight females fairly heavily. But, if you take into account a similar gender skew in favor of females and puzzle-style, browser, and mobile games, perhaps, then you can end up with a statistic that says it's a near even split.\n\nBut, I think you're imagining FPS-style console and PC games, and I'd really like to see some of those 50/50 statistics if you have a link to them.",
"because these statistics count in people playing farmville, candy crush and the like.\n\nif you leave casual games out the audience is much more male dominated.",
"I dunno if I necessarily agree with the games being targetted to males. Cars, guns, violence, sports yes stereotypically very male but certainly not anti-woman. \n\nWomen like these types of things just like men do. "
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bqr01c | if exercising makes your heart stronger why are amphetamines and anxiety bad for your hear? | Increasing your heart rate makes it stronger. But drugs like cociane, meth and disorders like anxiety that increase your heart rate are bad for your hearts health. Shouldnt it make the heart stronger? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bqr01c/eli5_if_exercising_makes_your_heart_stronger_why/ | {
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"Increasing you heart rate is like a car going faster: through exercise is like using the gas pedal normally to control the acceleration of the car; amphetamines, anxiety, drugs like cocaine is like your car going off a cliff to go faster. You’re going faster, but you’re probably going to die in the end.\n\nCheers.",
"When exercising, you’re not just increasing your heart rate. The blood vessels throughout your body also dilate to allow better blood flow to your heart muscles and other organs\n\nUsing cocaine and amphetamines, even though your heart is beating fast, the drugs causes arteries to constrict, restricting blood flows. So your heart is made to work harder without good blood flow. On top of that, the blood pressure exerted in your brain is vastly increased which can lead to a stroke."
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16b7l9 | what does alzheimers do to the brain? if a "cure" was invented would it help current sufferers remember? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16b7l9/eli5_what_does_alzheimers_do_to_the_brain_if_a/ | {
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"As I understand it, Alzheimer's causes proteins to take the wrong shape in the brain. To put this in context the majority of proteins need to be the right shape in order to work. \nFor instance, enzyme's are used to break down your food much more quickly. Biologists describe the process using either the lock and key model, where only one shape of key can fit into a lock, or the hand in glove, where the enzyme changes shape to fit the hand. If what is required to be broken down doesn't fit nothing happens. \n\nThe protein in question is required for brain repair, as you age every part of your body slowly gets damaged and without the ability to repair you quickly accumulate damage. \n\nThat's about as simple as I can get it, if anybody can improve upon that please do. ",
"Well there's many theories, but one of them is that plaques form in the brain. These plaques are caused by the protein known as Beta Amyloid (hence why they are called *amyloid* plaques) and form the plaques by depositing tangled amyloid fibers into the brain. Thus causing the brain to start losing its ability to 'talk' to the other various parts of the brain, especially those involved with memory. ",
"Alzheimers disease is a form of dementia. A dementia is a \"wasting\" illness of the brain. The brain is made of billions of special brain cells called neurons. The neurons connect to each other in many complex links to form pathways; this is a little bit like the connections between roads at a very complicated crossing. On a road when you come to where 2 roads cross, you have 2 or 3 choices of pathways to take. In the brain when neurones meet there be many pathways to take, and after each crossing there will be another crossing. Very complicated pathways can be formed. In the brain, pathways of connections and crossings are used to store information such as memories. \n\nIn Alzheimer's disease specific parts of the brain break down and waste away. As the brain breaks down, it can do less. Memory is one job of the brain that is particulalry affected. Memories are kept by the brain like a computer stores files, you can save a memory today and come back and see it again tomorrow. The brain stores memories by creating those specific pathways of brain cells. So if you eat ice cream in the park, the brain will create a special connection of neurons to form a pathyway which will be where the memory is stored.\n\nWhen a pathway breaksdown, the memory is also lost - so if you have that memory of eating ice cream in the park, you will \"forget\" that memory if the special brain pathway storing it goes; so if the brain cells in the area die or waste away the memory is lost. This is what happens in alzheimers - the memories are lost because the brain cells are wasting away and those complex pathways are being lost.\n\nThere is no cure for alzheimers at present. If a cure is found, it is unlikely to undo the damage and bring back all lost memories. A cure would stop the wasting disease. The brain may be able to repair itself a little, and some memories (where the damage to the pathway is not too bad) may come back, but other memories will be lost forever. The key to curing alzheimers is finding a way to find the disease very early on and stop the disease progressing. There is alot of research going into this now and it is hopeful a cure will be found in the future.",
"Ok I'll try to explain it as simply but not nessarly as accurately as I can manage:\n\nThinking and memory relies on flashes of electricicty traveling along highways called neurons. these are very small and thin. they need to be supported and usually they're suppored by the right substance. \n\nSometimes your body starts to malfunction and starts making the support for these highways out of Taffy rather than concrete ( a more appropriate support for highways). As these highways are so tightly packed all the taffy starts to stick together and create yucky sticky balls that the electrical signals struggle to drive through. That's why it's hard to remember things.\n\nCurrent treatment relies on making the signals stronger, but treatment cannot untagle these taffy-based sticky tangles of neurons that prevent signal transmission. So the treatment can slow the memory loss but not prevent it. \n\nHope my clumsy analogy helps!",
"[Here](_URL_0_) is a very accurate short video about Alzheimer's.\n"
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5c771z | how does a ship force a submarine to leave an area? | [This article](_URL_0_) says that a Dutch submarine was detected spying on the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean. Without using weapons how can a ship force a submarine to leave an area? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5c771z/eli5_how_does_a_ship_force_a_submarine_to_leave/ | {
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"The only thing a submarine has is stealth. It uses the depths, different thermal layers and silent operations to hide in the background ocean noise.\n\nGetting detected means the submarine is pretty much a sitting duck. It reflects either a mistake made by the submarine crew, or the skills of the surface fleet at anti submarine warfare. Attack submarines following or monitoring enemy fleets, even during peace time is common.\n\nWhen they get detected, enemy attack subs do things like blast their sonar, surface ships and aircraft drop sonar buoys over the location of the detected submarine. So the detected submarine gets chased away, and will most likely try to follow again without getting detected again.",
"Find it, ping the area, get in position where you could drop a depth-charge, and if they haven't freaked out and GTFO'd yet, you drop a depth-charge and send their souls to the depths. ...depther depths? \n\nThe sonar ping is not subtle. It's essentially shouting \"HEY\" on the surface and seeing if anything bounces back. The sub knows the boat is running active sonar pings, and knows exactly where the boat is. If they hear a ping, and then they hear a closer ping, they know the boat found them and could kill them all in short order. "
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2ct2zo | how can a pc game be developed for years? don't the constantly emerging new hardware capabilities far outrun what the game (engine) started out with? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ct2zo/eli5_how_can_a_pc_game_be_developed_for_years/ | {
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"Developers don't design for the cutting edge. The aim for the middle of the market. So they aren't worried if hardware changes (assuming its still compatible with their game/code) because the cutting edge doesn't matter.\n\nAll that matters is what the average or majority are using. ",
"Most game engines are fairly independent of hardware. That's why things like the Unreal engine are still in use today. As hardware improves, you can just keep telling them to render at higher resolutions, giving them models with more detailed polygons, giving them higher quality textures, etc.",
"There is a lot to a game besides it's interaction with hardware, essentially everything about game design is independent of hardware, save for things like user interface or graphics.\n\nBut you can write an entire game which outputs with blocky models and low resolution textures in a boring 3D world, but then relatively easily replace all those with better models/textures/lighting later in development without a huge cost. Add to that the fact that most development machines are very powerful and you have a situation where it's not hard to develop with the expectation that hardware will be able to do more in 2-3 years.",
"Generally speaking its much harder and takes longer to make the actual game than it is to spice up the graphics such that the graphics are cutting edge. Any PC upgrades other than graphics will make the game faster but these days PCs are fast enough already that video games don't max out the CPU or anything anyway. Those that do max out the CPU could be optimized to be faster, but since the hardware is so good the devs don't bother. Basically, they make the game first and then see where the hardware is and adjust accordingly. Also note that big companies can afford to have all the latest gadgets on a single test computer whereas most consumers won't have the newest stuff until years after it comes out. Most gamers probably have a gaming PC that is 2 to 5 years old and can still run new games that come out today. Until we see the next generation of gaming (I'm talking about you Oculus Rift) we've kind of peaked in terms of video games in that computers have more power than devs know what to do with (without being wasteful).",
"Short answer: you are only thinking the short-term.\n\nLong answer: you have to factor in (in no particular order):\n\n* Planning\n* Base Sketching\n* Pre-development\n* Casting and Acting (these two if voice actors)\n* Architecture/Hardware available\n* The actual development of the game\n* Funding\n* Marketing \n* Several other things that may be mentioned by other users\n\nMuch of the planning in there may take 2 years, or even 3+ in the worst of cases. The first three cases can be the longest if gone unchecked.\n\nOften, companies will work with the stuff they already have, and may build up from there. In prominent cases, like the Crysis series, they may get extreme-end PCs to work on so they can see how the engine will work, and then go the end-user. I do not think it is a matter of whether or not the market will catch up and pass them quickly; I believe that is an exercise in futility.",
"New hardware capabilities\" aren't as \"constantly emerging\" as you think. Compare, say, the most common consumer processors for gaming this year to the one from last year: they're all Ivy Bridge quad-core Intel x86-64 processors in the i5 or, less commonly, the i7 range.\n\nBefore the Ivy Bridge products, the market was dominated by Intel processors with the Sandy Bridge architecture, which from a casual standpoint is almost identical.\n\nOn the AMD side of the processor market, the story is the same: every few months we get a brand-new AMD offering that's almost a carbon copy of the one before it and the one that will come after it.\n\nThis is because improvements in spaces like the PC hardware market are incremental. Anecdotally, I often hear persons unfamiliar with technology opine about how brilliant engineers are breaking new ground on a daily basis, advancing computing at a breakneck pace. Obviously that isn't the case, or else your one-year-old laptop would bear no resemblance to the one you just bought.\n\nShort version: Hardware doesn't move as quickly as you might have been lead to believe, and the hardware from a few years ago pretty much does all the same stuff the new gear does.",
"Ever wonder what madman would buy 3 $2500 video cards for SLI?\n\nA game engine developer, getting ready for what will be in a single $250 card/console in 3-5 years.",
"Graphics are usually one of the last things nailed down for a game in development. Case in point, it is not at all unusual for alpha footage of Blizzard games to end up on the box art for their games. The Warcraft 3 box featured catapults being pushed by peons and a highly polygonal human tower which would never make it into the actual game. \n\n\n\nFurthermore, very few games represent a coherent *cutting edge* of graphics. In any given year you might see three titles that become *the* benchmarking title because they typically don't represent the kind of financial success a game like World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Farmville, Pokemon, ect, represent. Take a look at the 20 most profitable games ever made and most simply did not feature graphical fidelity as a selling point. Games like Starcraft and WoW intentionally chose graphical styles that were inferior in terms of hardware usage but looked *good.*\n\n\n\nBut yes, the constant evolution of hardware and engines do put games in early graves. Blizzard's Starcraft: Ghost title was canned, even though Blizzard acquired Swinging Ape Studios just to develop the game, because by the time it was getting close to that end phase the GameCube / PS2 / Xbox era was drawing to a close. Unwilling to commit new resources to translate the games into stronger hardware, and partially because the game was just, \"meh\", the game got postponed indefinitely. \n\n\n\nGames *do* tend to look their best near the end of the life cycle of a particular piece of hardware for a reason though. ",
"Everquest 2 used to have a pop up when you set it to the top two graphics levels warning you that even todays best gaming rigs would have trouble running at those settings.\n\nThey planned for the future.\n\n",
"I make 3D models, and I can tell you that it takes for EVER to make a realistic model like the one in videogames, and I make single, non animated object, I can nearly imagine how hard and time taking It is to make hundreds of thousands of single animated objects and converting them into an enjoyable environment. The only thing that limits our creating a better and realistic models is the size and how powerful a computer is, if you make a game that is too big the computer might not be able to render it or make your computer lag, which is not a very enjoyable problem to have while playing a game that you've put so much work into."
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ca0qxb | what is it that causes cysts/spots to rupture with such force? | When you squeeze toothpaste, it doesn't squirt out. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ca0qxb/eli5_what_is_it_that_causes_cystsspots_to_rupture/ | {
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"The spot is visible because of pressure build up so when you pop the skin the small amount of pressure that there is, forces the gunk out. With toothpaste the only pressure comes from your fingers so it will come out as hard as you squeeze"
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24app5 | why are people scared by and fascinated with seemingly supernatural occurences? | I just spent the better part of an hour reading people's personal supernatural stories. I am thoroughly freaked out, but at the same time, I plan on going and finding more stories once I post this question. Why do people believe certain occurences are supernatural (i.e. they perceive something to be a monster in a dark room) and why are people so fascinated by these occurences? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24app5/eli5_why_are_people_scared_by_and_fascinated_with/ | {
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"Basically? Evolution. Back in the day (the era of evolutionary adaptation) our ancestors that heard noises in the dark and assumed the worst (that must be a predator!) outlived the ones that just went back to bed. Long story short, we confuse correlation for causation, and draw connections where there are none. ",
"The evolutionary response by /u/thesnack is the most direct answer. But abstractly, as far as the fear is concerned, people fear what they don't understand. Fascination is a positive, constructive, response. Supernatural conclusions are illogical and out of ignorance."
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2w9aqa | why does cheating in a sport, i.e. the biogenesis scandal, deserve a 4 year prison sentence? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w9aqa/eli5why_does_cheating_in_a_sport_ie_the/ | {
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"It doesn't necessarily. However, falsely posing as a doctor and distributing a controlled substance, in this case testosterone, is a crime. Similarly, winning a game by murdering the entire other team would also likely give you a lengthy prison sentence, but not on account of cheating to win."
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6w8490 | how do aircraft stabilizers actually "stabilize" the aircraft? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6w8490/eli5_how_do_aircraft_stabilizers_actually/ | {
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"Aircraft wings create a force perpendicular to the chord of the wing, called Lift. They also create a nose down torque. Both of these change with airspeed. \n \nTo keep the wings from rotating forward you can either:\n \n1) apply an upward force ahead of the wings by using a small set of wings called a canard. This was the configuration of the Wright Flyer, and is more efficient, but is also difficult to design because the aircraft will tend to be dynamically unstable in pitch. \n \n2) sweep the wings/ delta configuration\n\n3) apply a downward force behind the main plane by using an tailplane. This is less efficient because the aerodynamic force is downwards, meaning that the main plane has to lift the weight of the aircraft + the downward force from the tailplane. However, this is inherently dynamically stable. \n \nMost aircraft are of the latter design; modern airliners reduce the inefficiency, which ultimately equates to higher fuel burn, by pumping fuel into the tail so that the downward force required is kept to a minimum. \n\nTailplanes also help to damp out short term pitch oscillations, and provide a convenient way for the pilot to change the angle of attack of the wings in order to manoeuvre the aircraft. "
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6a95xy | why does the usa seem so obsessed with race more then other countries? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6a95xy/eli5why_does_the_usa_seem_so_obsessed_with_race/ | {
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"Because of (1) yes slavery and (2) the USA has a more mixed population, with more immigrants from more countries and backgrounds, than nearly any other country.",
"Many countries don't have multiracial populations nor did they have the kind of legalized discrimination that the US did. I see you slinking away, South Africa....",
"Because, back in the 1600's, when North America began to have a large population of indentured servants (white) and slaves (black) these people noticed that neither group was being treated very well. \n\nThey banded together in what's been Bacon's Rebellion (after their leader Nathaniel Bacon) If Nathaniel had not died of an intestinal disorder, they might have captured much of the eastern seaboard.\n\nAfter the rebellion was put down, the rich landholders had a meeting, and decided to set the indentured servants against the slaves. Over time, they made the lives of slaves harder, and made laws that prevented Blacks from rising in society. They also made an effort to elevate the White servants, by reminding them constantly that they were \"better\" than the Blacks, their former allies.\n\nSo, now the lower classes of Whites put all their effort into putting down people of African heritage, rather than try to elevate themselves. (Look at statistics. The most racist states are also the poorest.) \n\nIf you want to learn more, read the book White Cargo. Bacon's rebellion is near the end. It will turn your world around. ",
"It's not as bad as you might think. The media is horrible and makes more of than what is really going on. ",
"There are many reasons for this listed already, but allow me to add my two cents in.\n\nThere are people who benefit from having high tensions between people of various races and groups. \n\nThe media is one of them. They get viewers by covering every single potentially racially charged situation. A black man is shot by the police? Wall to wall coverage. Some blind girl accidentally leaves dog poop on the steps of a Black Cultural center in a college? Instant scandal and around the clock coverage. More people watching means more ad revenue for networks, and sensational race-related stories get people to tune in. \n\nThen there are individual activists who thrive on racial animosity. The likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have made themselves filthy rich by hyping up every real and perceived injustice faced by blacks in America. If blacks no longer saw themselves as victims of white oppression, they would have to actually get real jobs and earn their money.\n\nAnd then there are Democrat politicians who continue to enjoy 90% of the black vote and a majority of the Hispanic (and other minorities) vote. They have convinced blacks and other minorities that white people are all racist and that the only ones who are going to protect them from being put back in chains are the Democrats. \"Vote for us because we'll protect you from the racist Republicans\" is their mantra. Former VP Joe Biden even told a group of black voters, \"Republicans will put y'all back in chains.\" \n\nIf a magic wand was waved and racial tensions went away in America tomorrow, there would be a significant portion of people in positions of power who would find themselves without a job or at least have a harder time making money. When people gain from promoting unrest between racial groups, they have every incentive to continue to stoke the fire of racial tension, and unfortunately this message is well received by groups who want to see their collective failures as caused by external evil instead of any self-destructive behaviors within their own community."
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6xgjzi | why is it that every lighting bolt is shaped differently? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xgjzi/eli5_why_is_it_that_every_lighting_bolt_is_shaped/ | {
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"A lightning strike is basically an electrical charge in the air trying to reach the ground. Electricity always tries to find what's called the *path of least resistance*, or the easiest way down. That's going to vary based on lots of different factors - air pressure, humidity, finding a nice tree or an unwitting golfer to zap... the charge is always [searching for the best path to take](_URL_0_) until it can find the best one and hit ground.\n\nAnd since there are millions of tiny variations that can affect that path, every lightning bolt will be a little different."
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"http://i.imgur.com/e9cPao4.gif"
]
] |
||
bv23rd | how does decriminalization of drugs reduce drug abuse and crime in the countries that have done it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bv23rd/eli5_how_does_decriminalization_of_drugs_reduce/ | {
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"text": [
"Decriminalization or legalisation allows drug sales to be more controlled, meaning you know what is going into the drugs and people are more informed about safe drug use. It also means that drug supply can be more easily controlled, and you can more easily limit how much people get. It makes people more likely to seek help if they have drug issues and makes help easier to get. Addiction levels fall, which makes drug related crime fall. \n\nDecriminalization also allows police to focus on more pertinent issues, while also removing the violent crime that goes with illegal drug supply. It also reduces organised crime which is largely funded by drug supply.",
"if you’re looking purely at statistics, think of any crime that is done by many people legal all of the sudden. that would obviously instantly bring the number of people doing something illegal down because now the people that used to be doing something illegal are only doing something legal.",
"Instead of giving people jail time, therapy is offered to drug abusers. This gives a more open environment in a populace to accept that drug abuse is a disease that can be cured and not a crime that can easily be solved by jailing all drug abusers. When offered jail time, drug abusers would just go underground and the state will exert more effort in rounding them up. However, once you treat it as a disease, people can voluntarily submit themselves to therapy for cure.",
"Jailing addicts doesn't actually do anything for them. Being in prison doesn't make them want to use less, and usually they will go back to using once they get out. Except now they have no community, money, and likely cant find a job.\n\nBy decriminalizing you can bring the market out of the shadow and into the light, where it can be monitored and controlled. You can do things like set up clean needle dispensaries and places they can get their drugs checked for impurities. This essentially gives addicts a safe place to get high around medical staff instead of ODing in a bathroom somewhere. You can then take all that money that you spend on funding drug policing and put it into state sponsored rehab programs and mental health therapy instead.\n\nAddicts have problems outside of being an addict, and as long as those problems persist they are going to keep on using. Throwing them into jail just adds more problems and results in them being fearful of looking for help when they actually want it."
]
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[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
9mnuma | why do you continue to try and vomit/dry retch when you have drank to much, even after your stomach contents have completely vacated your body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9mnuma/eli5_why_do_you_continue_to_try_and_vomitdry/ | {
"a_id": [
"e7fz02r",
"e7fzx3x"
],
"score": [
10,
3
],
"text": [
"The vomiting is your body’s response to an excessive amount of alcohol in your system, not just your digestive tract ",
"It's not just when you've drunk too much but when you're sick as well you also dry heave after vomiting that's because the nerves that cause you to vomit are still coated in what cause you to vomit in the first place."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
9va4v4 | do rgb led's have the ability to display a wide range of colors. what causes the color to change, is it the voltage? | I am planning to build an Arcade Cabinet and I have been thinking of wiring up led's to the Joysticks and Buttons. For the life of me, I can't understand what makes the led's change colors. There is so much information out there but I seem to be having trouble understanding it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9va4v4/eli5_do_rgb_leds_have_the_ability_to_display_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"e9ahd8b"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"An RGB LED is actually 3 LEDs in one package. One each of Red Green and Blue. But changing the intensity of each of the 3 LEDs you get a unique color from the single bulb. The human eye doesn’t see the individual colors but a mix into a single color.\n\nLots more details: _URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://randomnerdtutorials.com/electronics-basics-how-do-rgb-leds-work/"
]
] |
|
3kfd05 | apple airport express shows xbox one speed 270mb, xbox network stats says 30mb. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kfd05/eli5apple_airport_express_shows_xbox_one_speed/ | {
"a_id": [
"cuwxwt7",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"I'm not sure, but maybe the units are different.\nApple airport express must be showing in Mb(Mega-bits) and Xbox network stats must be using MB(megabytes).\n8bits=1byte!\nSo that explains 30MB=240 Mb.\nLeft 30Mbs in apple express is just a difference of 3MBs.",
"You're confusing M**b**ps (mega**bits** per second) with M**B**ps (mega**bytes** per second).\n\nThere are 8 bits to a byte, so 270Mbps = 33.75 MBps."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
4y93pl | a presidential pardon decades after death | What is the purpose of someone asking for a presidential pardon for someone who died 76 years ago? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4y93pl/eli5_a_presidential_pardon_decades_after_death/ | {
"a_id": [
"d6lz9bb",
"d6m4igb"
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"score": [
11,
3
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"text": [
"Basically it's just to officially acknowledge that the person was innocent. It brings some justice to the family",
"Well, it officially acknowledges an injustice was done. Otherwise, there will be people out there who will still be insisting that the person is guilty, I guarantee it. For example--HUGE scandal in France in the late 19th/early 20th century. A military officer, Alfred Dreyfuss, was accused of treason. He was tried and imprisoned. He was Jewish and his alleged guilt was used to condemn the whole French Jewish community. All kinds of attacks against Jews were made. The thing was, Dreyfuss was innocent. The guilt was with another guy, not Jewish, who framed Dreyfuss. Those wanting to minimize the scandal thought Dreyfuss would be a great scapegoat. Blame Jews, not corruption in the army! This controversy tore French society apart. Eventually, Dreyfuss was freed. He's pretty much universally considered to be innocent...except that the French army has never exonerated him. It would be an embarrassing admission. It would affirm not only his innocence, but the guilt of all those who attacked him and attacked Jews. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
b97ri2 | when something breaks the sound barrier. what is the visible cone shaped thing behind it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b97ri2/eli5_when_something_breaks_the_sound_barrier_what/ | {
"a_id": [
"ek2udz6"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Are you talking about [this](_URL_0_)? If so, it's called a vapor cone or a shock collar. It's a cone of water vapor that can form when a plane flies at high speeds (transonic but not necessarily supersonic, although some airflow will be supersonic) through moist air. The area behind the shock wave has a low air pressure, and if the pressure drops below the dew point, water will condensate out. It's conical in shape because that's the shape of the shockwave itself.\n\n & #x200B;"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/FA-18_going_transonic.JPG"
]
] |
||
bodfxl | how does oxygen reach the brain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bodfxl/eli5_how_does_oxygen_reach_the_brain/ | {
"a_id": [
"enesweh"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"The red cells in your blood pick up oxygen in your lungs, then the heart pumps the blood around your body, including to the brain."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3zs7kn | what is mb/s and how is it related to mb/s | In terms of data transfer speeds. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zs7kn/eli5_what_is_mbs_and_how_is_it_related_to_mbs/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyoleqx",
"cyolx89"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Mb/s is Megabits per second. MB/s is MegaBytes per second. A Byte is 8 bits, so MB/s is faster by a factor of 8x.",
"In addition to what others have said. Mb/s is typically used when referring to network speeds, where as MB/s is referring to file transfer speeds."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
5npdnp | why are us troops being deployed to poland? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5npdnp/eli5_why_are_us_troops_being_deployed_to_poland/ | {
"a_id": [
"dcdaexr"
],
"score": [
17
],
"text": [
"Because Russia. Like it or not, NATO is primarily the Club of Countries the US Promises To Protect. Its ludicrously massive military is what everyone wants on their side.\n\nAfter Russia's adventures in the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, there are suspicions within NATO that either Poland or the Baltics might suddenly find an [oppressed Russian minority](_URL_0_) within their borders, joined by \"vacationing\" Russian officers, and suddenly Russia's border will shift westwards. While Ukraine isn't NATO, those other states are, hence NATO (i.e. US) troops are pooling into there.\n\nRussia of course denies ties to the rebels in Eastern Ukraine and claims that it's Crimea's democratic choice, while blaming the West for the \"Nazi junta\" in Ukraine and the thoughtless Kosovo precedent allowing such democratic choices. Hence Poland has nothing to fear... for now."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://imgur.com/a/ujFhp"
]
] |
||
5hfedt | how do people build programs inside of minecraft? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5hfedt/eli5_how_do_people_build_programs_inside_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"dazqzsq",
"dazr8vh"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Practically the same question was posted less than an hour ago: \n_URL_0_",
"Early computers were basically a bunch of switches that were either ON or OFF. By arranging some amount of switches ON, you would store that information.\n\nIn MineCraft, you can build circuits using RedStone -- a powder which you can form lines of, that carry power from a RedStone Torch, or some form of trigger (pressure plate, switch, etc) for a certain distance, and can be used to trigger effects like pistons, doors, explosives, etc.\n\nWhat people do to build a computer in MineCraft is, they have a bunch of switches which they can set either ON or OFF, like an early computer. A lot ([a LOT!!!](_URL_0_)) of RedStone goes through a bunch of Logic Gates (I'll explain those in the next comment for formatting) and ends up doing whatever the creator wants them to do, such as turning on a bunch of lights (like pixels on your computer screen) to make an image."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5hf59l/eli5_redstone_in_minecraft_to_make_calculators/"
],
[
"http://i.imgur.com/OCDXAhO.jpg"
]
] |
Subsets and Splits