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b2qiec | why objects smaller than the wavelength of visible light can't be seen by a regular microscope | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b2qiec/eli5_why_objects_smaller_than_the_wavelength_of/ | {
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"Imagine that you are tasked with building a realistic statue of a man. The only materials allowed are Legos. Done well, the statue will look fairly realistic. Now, build the same statue with concrete blocks. Can it even resemble a man? No, the pieces are too big. It's the same with light. If you are trying to resolve an image of something, what you are using must be smaller than the object being imaged. The closer the imaging medium's size approaches the size of the object, the resolution diminishes and disappears entirely when the sizes match. Electrons have a smaller wavelength than visible light, and therefore electron microscopes can resolve smaller objects."
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2qax14 | how do they count all those bees when news headlines say 37 billion dead bees? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qax14/eli5_how_do_they_count_all_those_bees_when_news/ | {
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"They send people out to count them all\n\nJust playing, Basically, they (whoever released the information) judge how many bees died by what they know about bees, and what they can observe. Bees act a certain way, weigh around a certain amount, etc. They would most likely find the rough area of where the bees died, and how close to each other they are on the ground. this would give you a rough amount, say, 37 billion. The headlines are estimates, and generally are exaggerated. I don't have many facts to back up my information, its mainly speculation based on the scientific method. I hope I made sense.",
"I can guarantee that people aren't counting dead bees on the ground and extrapolating from there. It's much easier to estimate based on dead hives. The big bee die-off lately is based on beekeepers' numbers.If a hive typically carries 30k bees (depending on the time of year), and beekeepers are reporting 30-80% hive loss, simple math can come to a total estimate. \n \nBasically, remember that bees are just barely individuals. The health of the hive is the important part. We don't care about individual bees dying, but rather whole hives dying, which is what has been happening lately. "
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62a2u4 | how do countries divide payments for sending mail by post? | Let's say I'm in Canada and want to send a letter to someone in Australia. I buy correct postage in Canadian stamps and send it on its way. How does Australia get its share of the money from the stamps to deliver the mail on their end? Both Canadian and Australian postal workers need to get payed. How are the costs split up? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/62a2u4/eli5_how_do_countries_divide_payments_for_sending/ | {
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"They are not, as the countries themself have little to do with it (unless we are dealing with state-postal-service - but they usually are still another entity).\n\nLets stay within your canada- > australia example.\n\nYou buy stamps from the Canada Post Corporation. put them on your evenlope to australia and give it one way or another to Canada Post. \n\nIn case of \"Canada post\" - > \"Australia post\" both have an explicit long term contract within the [international post corporaton](_URL_0_) and Australia post keeps record of how much mail (or packages) they delilvered for Canada post. How often they demand the money i dont know. \n\nWhile Australia post would not (paper)stamp your letter again, they will add their ink stamp for tracking.\n\nHow the mail gets there is differnt from contract to contract (UPS flies to the country and to the nearest/cheapest hub of the other company if they for example are not allowed to deliver letter-mail in that country, and DHL and La Poste have a joint-venture exchange point AFAIK)\n\n\n\nOther postal companies will have diferent contract-constellations to make it work. (DHL with itself in case of Germany- > USA for example)\n\nsource: Grandfather was in Deutsche Post (which became DHL), Father was in german division of UPS"
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cfsisu | why do cucumbers taste so mild while you're eating them, but taste so strongly when you burp afterward? | It's all I can taste when I burp for hours after eating a cucumber! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cfsisu/eli5_why_do_cucumbers_taste_so_mild_while_youre/ | {
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"It's the cucurbitacin in them. It's a chemical that they have to help prevent certain animals from eating them (too much and there wouldn't be any to make more-hey nature!)\n\nIt's mostly in the stem end so if you don't eat that part it will cut down on it too. Also can deseed them and they will help prevent excess gas from coming up. Also the \"American\" slicing cucumbers have more in it and the Asian/English types have less."
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ns3vc | how do password hashes work? | How do password hashes work? How can there be a 'one way function? ' It doesn't make sense to me. Why can't someone look at exactly what we should done to convert something to a hash and then do the same process backwards? Also, what's to stop someone from essential 'brute-forcing' hashes by starting with a and going through all the alpha-numerical symbols for 12 characters or so, and then have a just compare any given password to the compiled list of hashes? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ns3vc/eli5_how_do_password_hashes_work/ | {
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" > Also, what's to stop someone from essential 'brute-forcing' hashes by starting with a and going through all the alpha-numerical symbols for 12 characters or so, and then have a just compare any given password to the compiled list of hashes?\n\nThis is called a [rainbow table](_URL_1_). And if you just did something simple like one pass of md5 to make a hash, you could easily find out what the password is from a hash just by [googling it](_URL_2_). This is why you don't just do md5 once. You would use a hashing algorithm (like md5 or better yet SHA256) hundreds of times on the same password. \n\nYou would also use random [salt](_URL_3_) and store it with the hash. A salt is not an encryption key, and having the salt won't allow you to decrypt the hash. It is just some random text you append or prepend (or both) to the original password to make the result more unique. \n\nWhat the uniqueness of the salt and multiple passes of the hashing algorithm add are more time to generate all the combinations. This also prevents one rainbow table from being used for every password in your database. You would need to generate the table for each password which takes time. You want to add as much time as possible, such that the time it takes to brute force one password would take years (preferably centuries).\n\nThe number of alpha-numerical combinations of 12 length is ~3,226,266,760,000,000,000,000 ((26 + 26 + 10)^12 ). And a even rainbow table that size with just basic one pass md5 and a computer that could calculate a billion md5s a second would take a 100,000+ years to generate the whole table.\n\nSo, lets say you have a password. What you do is run it through your hashing algorithm, 1,000,000 times with a random salt appended each time. This process takes a half second to complete on your server. The user doesn't notice since the compute time isn't that long. You store the result, along with the randomly generated salt in your DB. Then the next time the user comes to log in, you take the new password they entered to check and run it though the same process. First you grab the salt from the DB though and use it as the same salt to run the 1,000,000 passes of your hash. If the resulting hash matches, the entered password is correct.\n\nWhat this has accomplished is two things. First, it slows down the server side validation of a password. A person trying to brute force their way into your server by sending random passwords to be validated would have to wait a half second each time to get an answer. Second, if your database and code was compromised and someone wanted to brute force their on their own super fast machine, they would know your hashing method (1,000,000 sha256 with random salt) and resulting hash, but that would get them nothing really. They'd still need to generate all possible combinations until they matched the password. Most importantly, they'd need to through the whole table out for each password they wanted to crack. As in, if they generated all 8 length combinations to guess the first password, they couldn't use all those generated hashes for the second. \n\nThis whole process will take them a really long to even crack one 8 character length password. Lets say they're machine can do the hashing of one guess in 0.00001 seconds (50,000 times faster than your server). It would take them ~70 years for one password. \n\nThe best thing to do if you are planning to generate your own client login system is to use an already built library for generating and validating hashes. For php, there is the (poorly named) [phPass](_URL_0_).\n\nSo is it one-way then? Well, the hash is. But using a hash on a password is not really one-way. Since passwords generally have an upper bound on length (say < =12 characters for reasonable password use) it makes it such that the space that a hash is mapping probably one have any collisions. Meaning, a generated hash for a password probably won't match another different password (i.e. the hash is unique to the password). But hashing algorithms aren't specifically designed for use in password encoding. \n\nThey are generally designed for checking data integrity and can take any length string. md5 for example can take a whole harddrive (say 1TB in size) and spit out a 32 length hexadecimal string. It can take an infinite length string and boil it down to a 32 length hexadecimal string. In that scenario, you couldn't take the md5 hash and run through some magic and get the harddrive image. There are millions of strings that would match that hash that are less then a TB is size. So in that sense, the hashing algorithm is \"one-way\".\n\n\n\n",
"You've stumbled across something big, actually. We have no idea if one-way functions exist, its one of the \"big picture\" unsolved problems in computer science. \n\nWhat we do have, however, are functions that given current levels of technology might as well be one-way, because computing the inverse would be ridiculously difficult for our hardware (effectively impossible). So we usually take \"one-way\" to mean these, unless otherwise specified.\n\nDo they get \"outdated\", then, as hardware improves? Yep. They also get broken when really smart people work out indirect or non-obvious attacks, flaws in the algorithm that weren't foreseen or weren't considered important.",
" > Also, what's to stop someone from essential 'brute-forcing' hashes by starting with a and going through all the alpha-numerical symbols for 12 characters or so, and then have a just compare any given password to the compiled list of hashes?\n\nThis is called a [rainbow table](_URL_1_). And if you just did something simple like one pass of md5 to make a hash, you could easily find out what the password is from a hash just by [googling it](_URL_2_). This is why you don't just do md5 once. You would use a hashing algorithm (like md5 or better yet SHA256) hundreds of times on the same password. \n\nYou would also use random [salt](_URL_3_) and store it with the hash. A salt is not an encryption key, and having the salt won't allow you to decrypt the hash. It is just some random text you append or prepend (or both) to the original password to make the result more unique. \n\nWhat the uniqueness of the salt and multiple passes of the hashing algorithm add are more time to generate all the combinations. This also prevents one rainbow table from being used for every password in your database. You would need to generate the table for each password which takes time. You want to add as much time as possible, such that the time it takes to brute force one password would take years (preferably centuries).\n\nThe number of alpha-numerical combinations of 12 length is ~3,226,266,760,000,000,000,000 ((26 + 26 + 10)^12 ). And a even rainbow table that size with just basic one pass md5 and a computer that could calculate a billion md5s a second would take a 100,000+ years to generate the whole table.\n\nSo, lets say you have a password. What you do is run it through your hashing algorithm, 1,000,000 times with a random salt appended each time. This process takes a half second to complete on your server. The user doesn't notice since the compute time isn't that long. You store the result, along with the randomly generated salt in your DB. Then the next time the user comes to log in, you take the new password they entered to check and run it though the same process. First you grab the salt from the DB though and use it as the same salt to run the 1,000,000 passes of your hash. If the resulting hash matches, the entered password is correct.\n\nWhat this has accomplished is two things. First, it slows down the server side validation of a password. A person trying to brute force their way into your server by sending random passwords to be validated would have to wait a half second each time to get an answer. Second, if your database and code was compromised and someone wanted to brute force their on their own super fast machine, they would know your hashing method (1,000,000 sha256 with random salt) and resulting hash, but that would get them nothing really. They'd still need to generate all possible combinations until they matched the password. Most importantly, they'd need to through the whole table out for each password they wanted to crack. As in, if they generated all 8 length combinations to guess the first password, they couldn't use all those generated hashes for the second. \n\nThis whole process will take them a really long to even crack one 8 character length password. Lets say they're machine can do the hashing of one guess in 0.00001 seconds (50,000 times faster than your server). It would take them ~70 years for one password. \n\nThe best thing to do if you are planning to generate your own client login system is to use an already built library for generating and validating hashes. For php, there is the (poorly named) [phPass](_URL_0_).\n\nSo is it one-way then? Well, the hash is. But using a hash on a password is not really one-way. Since passwords generally have an upper bound on length (say < =12 characters for reasonable password use) it makes it such that the space that a hash is mapping probably one have any collisions. Meaning, a generated hash for a password probably won't match another different password (i.e. the hash is unique to the password). But hashing algorithms aren't specifically designed for use in password encoding. \n\nThey are generally designed for checking data integrity and can take any length string. md5 for example can take a whole harddrive (say 1TB in size) and spit out a 32 length hexadecimal string. It can take an infinite length string and boil it down to a 32 length hexadecimal string. In that scenario, you couldn't take the md5 hash and run through some magic and get the harddrive image. There are millions of strings that would match that hash that are less then a TB is size. So in that sense, the hashing algorithm is \"one-way\".\n\n\n\n",
"You've stumbled across something big, actually. We have no idea if one-way functions exist, its one of the \"big picture\" unsolved problems in computer science. \n\nWhat we do have, however, are functions that given current levels of technology might as well be one-way, because computing the inverse would be ridiculously difficult for our hardware (effectively impossible). So we usually take \"one-way\" to mean these, unless otherwise specified.\n\nDo they get \"outdated\", then, as hardware improves? Yep. They also get broken when really smart people work out indirect or non-obvious attacks, flaws in the algorithm that weren't foreseen or weren't considered important."
]
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"http://www.openwall.com/phpass/",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_table",
"http://www.md5rainbow.com/2ab96390c7dbe3439de74d0c9b0b1767",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_\\(cryptography\\)"
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_table",
"http://www.md5rainbow.com/2ab96390c7dbe3439de74d0c9b0b1767",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_\\(cryptography\\)"
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55s4wh | airport economics | I have no idea how it works... Do airlines pay airports to run flights there? - or vice versa? Does any of my flight ticket$ go to the airport? Where exactly are the airplanes kept and how is that paid for? How are terminal slots distributed to airlines?
In general looking for a good synopsis of the economic interactions between: airport, airline, + customer. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55s4wh/eli5_airport_economics/ | {
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"Couple things:\n\n- Retail space. Airports generate a ton of money from retail. Renting space to specific stores/shops, selling products directly, etc. I would not be shocked to learn that franchise set ups inside airports are also owned by the airport directly (like burger king and mcdonalds)\n\n- Flowage fees for fuel placed into the aircraft\n\n- Usage fees from airlines for access to gates, the number of passengers they move through the airport, usage of terminals, etc.\n\n- Land leases to places like rental car companies and retail space outside of the airport but may still be on airport property\n\n- Landing fees\n\nThey can also generate revenue through federal funding to infrastructure and such.\n",
"Here's a nice video [with a breakdown of the costs](_URL_0_). On a short flight (the video uses JFK to IAD--New York to Washington DC). For a full plane, per person:\n\n* fuel is $2.50\n* Crew is $1.50\n* Airports get $13.50\n* Taxes and government fees are $15.60\n* the depreciation of the aircraft is $11\n* maintenance is $14\n* overhead is $10\n* insurance is $0.25\n\nThese add up to about $70 in total costs per person for a short flight that's likely to be full most of the time (the costs start zooming up if the plane isn't full or close to full). \n\nAirports also get from passengers: things like rent from retail services (compare the price of a typical fast food meal at the airport to near the airport to get an idea of the rent impact) and parking fees for airport affiliated parking services or taxi surcharges from car services. "
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40wi4d | the falcon9 landing. why is it cool? what does it get us closer to doing? | Yah. What direction is it a step in? What kinds of things can it lead to in 5-10 years. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40wi4d/eli5_the_falcon9_landing_why_is_it_cool_what_does/ | {
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"As you can probably imagine, one of the most expensive aspects of space travel is building a rocket to get there. SpaceX has been working to make re-usable rocket technology at an unprecedented scale, and the Falcon 9 landing tests are part of that goal.\n\nIf SpaceX are able to land their rocket boosters for safe retrieval, they can save a *lot* of money and resources.\n\nWe can already get to space. This would mainly make it easier and cheaper to do so, which might open up other opportunities that otherwise wouldn't be feasible."
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fkvcg5 | why do some noises produce a physical reaction in people? | When I hear scratching on a blackboard or polystyrene it gives me chills. Why does this happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fkvcg5/eli5_why_do_some_noises_produce_a_physical/ | {
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"Well, your body reacts to sounds by using your brain to resurface earlier instincts. For example, sudden high pitched sounds (such as writing on a chalkboard) will make you feel stressful and \"wriggly\" because your primal brain tells you to run from the nonexistent predator or natural danger that is suddenly screeching near or at you. Interesting fact- us humans are so horrible, that clanging, metallic sounds resemble war, and can cause legitimate, unexplainable (by them) fear in some people."
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abiy0x | how does putting food in hot oil fry it (like, how does the actual frying process happen)? also, what are those bubbles, is it water that leaves the food due to the high temperature or something else? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/abiy0x/eli5_how_does_putting_food_in_hot_oil_fry_it_like/ | {
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"Oil is active as a heat stabilizer and heat transfer fluid. As the oil heats various components begin to break down or evaporate (boiling does this rapidly). This takes energy and holds the temperature relatively even as the oil evaporates or smokes. This means that your food is cooked at a relatively stable high temperature evenly across the entire surface, which is what gives it the \"fried\" consistency (coupled with the residual oil).\n\nThe bubbles are steam. Usually."
]
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422bvb | what does it mean when a drug (cocaine, heroin) is cut? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/422bvb/eli5_what_does_it_mean_when_a_drug_cocaine_heroin/ | {
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"It means it's been cut *with* something in order to stretch the supply. Kind of like if you have half a can of soda, and you fill it up with water. You now have a full can, but it's much weaker soda. And if you sell it like that, whoever bought it might be pissed.\n\nWith drugs, it's not unusual to have them cut with something that's even *less* healthy than the drugs. ",
"Cutting means to dilute the drug by blending it with an inert non-drug ingredient (flour and powdered milk are common for light colored drugs along with potentially less healthy things like baby powder or powered drywall/sheetrock). ",
"It means it is mixed with another drug. This is done mainly to save money, so that people buy 1g of something but they are actually getting .9g of it and .1g of something else that's cheaper. \n\nIt can also be done to produce a different effect or to make a product more addictive."
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agt8aj | why do so many older people who are otherwise competent struggle to use computer technology (such as copying and pasting or attaching a file to an email)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/agt8aj/eli5why_do_so_many_older_people_who_are_otherwise/ | {
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"Something about technology scares them. It's so different than how things were when they were younger that they assume something horrible will happen if they do something wrong. They have heard so many \"horror stories\" from their contemporaries that they have just given up. \n\nCombine that with the fact that it's just harder to teach someone who's, say, over 70, something entirely new, and you have the situation we're all in now. They are capable of learning, they just choose not to try. Frustrating, indeed.",
"Biggest obstacle is they tend to use the computer very rarely. It's just not part of their mindset. They get news and entertainment from the television. Communication is through telephone, postal mail, or a walk down the street. \n\nThis lack of skill makes them nervous about breaking it. They grew up with announcements all the time about how your car, dryer, hot water heater, and the like could break down or even kill you if they weren't used and cared for properly. Elderly people also tend to be embarrassed/ashamed about their lack of skill so avoid facing that as much as possible.\n\nIf you happen to be in the position of helping an elderly relative in using their PC here are some tricks I've learned:\n* DO NOT TOUCH THE MOUSE OR KEYBOARD. Tell them how to do something, and only take control if they ask you to. It's **very** tempting to just do it yourself to speed things along, but they learn better if they actually do it themselves rather than just hear it. \n* Remind them (and yourself) that they're not incompetent, ignorant, a failure, whatever just because they don't know how to use a computer. They've accomplished a lot in their lifetime, and lots of people are uncomfortable with computers.\n* Reassure them that it's very hard to break a computer, and (usually) very easy to fix one.\n* let them move at their own pace\n* finally, don't touch the controls. Even if an error message or something comes up. They need to have the confidence that they can handle little hiccups like that. \n",
"The real answer here has to do with learning: specifically skills and generalization.\n\nA skill is something we can define. It can be broad but can be broken down into smaller categories, and the more specific the better. \"Use a computer\" describes both my grandmother and a programmer. It isn't until you get into more complex things and more complex ways of measuring use that we can see differences. Both my grandmother and a programmer can send e-mails but the programmer would understand more about the client and could write them faster.\n\nWhen we generalize a skill, we transfer what we already know to another area. If you can use a typewriter with a QWERTY setup then you can use a keyboard, though you don't immediately start off knowing every button or shortcut.\n\nIn short: people know what they know.\n\n**The biggest issue** is the layman's view on intelligence, being smart, or as you put it, being competent. You're asking why someone you perceive as competent (already subjective) would possibly fail at any given task. Same reason you're competent but if you were given a task you haven't done or don't need to do as often you would fail. There are remote villages around the world that do basic tasks you could never do, and they would consider you incompetent. People think that someone who doesn't speak their mother tongue are illiterate, when really they just aren't fluent. This is a major issue that doesn't get tackled. It's like if you think someone's an idiot and therefore define everything they do by those terms, when really you're taking a biased view and stereotyping it.\n\nWhy **should** someone who's competent not struggle to use computer technology in that case? I'm competent. I have a masters and live a full life. Doesn't mean I can do absolutely anything I want to. I would still have to learn how to do new things. There are going to be very smart people being born for a hundred years but if they never learn to drive stick, let's say, why would they suddenly know how to do it for no reason?"
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9ctn48 | why do companies doing an ipo need to "secure $x billion from y investors" and need z investment companies to "sponsor" them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ctn48/eli5_why_do_companies_doing_an_ipo_need_to_secure/ | {
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"They are sponsors in that they have committed to pay at least some amount of money to buy shares of the company. If there was no secured funding, the private owners of the company might have no bidders at all. The secured funding also sets a floor on the price so that they don't get unlucky and sell the whole company for peanuts. \n\n In addition, there are many rules in place for IPOs so that ordinary investors don't get defrauded by the current owners of the company or other bidders. If they weren't in place, the first bidders might pay 1 cent per share while everyone else paid much more.",
"It has to do with the logic of investing.\n\nWhen you invest in a company, you are gambling that they are gonna turn a profit and pay you back more then you invested.\n\nKeyword: Gambling.\n\nThere is ZERO guarentee that you are not throwing your money away. Have you been following MoviePass? Some people paid $20/share for stock. You can pick it up for about 2 cents a share today. Legally those people have very, very little ground to stand on. They are simply out that money. When MP declares bankruptcy it becomes even more difficult.\n\nWhen a company goes public typically that is the last tier of people given the opportunity to invest. So, as a joe schmoe investing seems like a smarter idea if there are already a bunch of people firmly committed with the company.",
"Finding the \"price\" of a stock before that company goes public can be very difficult. There often is limited historical information available and while the company needs to provide LOTS of disclosure for an IPO it's obviously not everything. So there's always uncertainty.\n\nYou are correct when you say that stock buyers give the company money for a share when the company is going public. The stock buyers can then resell that share to other buyers on the open market without the company being involved. \n\nOnly most people want a bit more security when they make that first buy from the company. And this is a service that investment banks provide under the role of \"sponsor\". The sponsor sets the initial price of the IPO and in so doing they agree to purchase a certain number of shares at that price.\n\nSo effectively, 1 second before the actual IPO happens, Goldman, Merrill and Morgan Stanley all buy a certain number of shares at the IPO price. It's their way of signalling to other buyers that the price is fair, they basically put their money where their mouth is. Those investment banks hold those shares for a short period of time then they resell them on the open market. Now, this can happen with all or a part of the total shares the company is selling on day 1. So sometimes the investment bank and the company are both out there at the same time selling their shares to the general public.\n\nThis leads to one of the main criticisms of the IPO process. It's all guided by an investment bank who's incentive is actually to underprice the shares. That way they won't wind up stuck with the shares that they purchase ahead of the IPO. When that happens the investment bank who advises the company has an incentive to provide advice that is counter to the companies actual interest. So the investment bank and the company negotiate to set the IPO price and the market takes over after that. When a companies stock goes up immediately after an IPO it's the investment bank who's the big winner, not the company itself.\n\nNow onto your first question. Often times larger shareholders can provide benefits that the general public cannot, particularly confidence in the company. So other investors can look at people who have agreed to buy large blocks of shares as a way to gauge the companies health without doing a detailed deep dive into the companies financials. In this case, Tencent is known in the gaming industry and them putting money into Meituan is a vote of confidence. It's like a celebrity endorsement. \n\nIt's also worth pointing out that the large investment banks also play a role in bringing these large share purchasers in. Often it's the investment bank that brings the 2 parties together. As such it's often the investment bank's own shares that are sold to the large investor to reduce the investment bank's own risk on the deal.",
" > Why do they need to secure billions from 5 investors? \n\nThey don't \"need\" to. They \"plan\" to. Those are different things.\n\n > Shouldn't the money be coming from the stock buyers? And why are Merrill Lynch \"sponsors\" of the IPO?\n\nThere are no stock buyers (not \"public\" ones, anyway) until after the IPO. Somehow, you have to get from \"no publicly traded stock\" to \"yes publicly traded stock\". The sponsors are how you usually bridge that gap. They buy the stock before the IPO, then sell to the public upon the IPO."
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||
5f1yh5 | why do some electronics not turn on while charging? | If it's not a full computer, it doesn't work while plugged in. My electric razor, an old mp3 player, my watch, even my battery powered vacuum. Why can't it work while it's charging, especially if it's already full and I just didn't bother unplugging it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5f1yh5/eli5_why_do_some_electronics_not_turn_on_while/ | {
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"Simply put, those things don't have a circuit that diverts power to the device as well as the battery. \n\nBatteries can't charge and discharge at the same time. When you plug something like your phone in, it has a circuit which directs the required power to the phone and the rest to the battery to charge. Some devices are simpler and the power can only go to the battery. ",
"Two possible reasons. \n\n1. Some cheap low power chargers don't have isolation from the AC line and use a capacitive dropper instead of a transformer. For safety reasons, they isolate the user while charging by disconnecting the battery from the device. \n\n2. More commonly, the charger is not powerful enough to power the device and charge a dead battery at the same time. The vacuum would fall into this category."
]
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5oy5bb | why are sodas made with such strong acids? | I've read before that the reason that, for example, a can of Coke has ~46 grams of sugar is because if it had less, you wouldn't be able to taste the sweetness over the sour/bitter taste of phosphoric acid.
So why are they made with such high concentrations of phosphoric and citric acid? What does that do for the soda? If they used less, surely they'd need far less sugar? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5oy5bb/eli5_why_are_sodas_made_with_such_strong_acids/ | {
"a_id": [
"dcmyhh5"
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"As far as I understand it, the do it to equalize the sweet taste of sugar. Now, you asked why they even add as much sugar in the first place.. sugar sells. Your body reacts to sugar well comparable to how it reacts to heroin, although significantly less drastic. You have the feeling of happiness and being energized. If they didnt add that sugar, coke would sell a lot less. If your body notices a lack of sugar or wants more of the energy/happiness, it usually forces you to drink coke or eat something sweet. \n\nCompare it to salt/umami tastes in chips. The umami is really beneficial for your body, it would normally carry lots of nutritients and minerals. The bad thing is, that umami in chips is usually just the pure taste without the extracts that you would have in natural umami taste.\n\nWell I drifted off-topic here, but in general, sugar makes you lets you more likely grab a coke than water/another soda, acid is used to equalize the sweetness."
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x1jzq | how does one secure venture capital funding? | I don't have an idea or plans to do so, I'm just wondering how this process takes place normally. The information I found online seems to be hype. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/x1jzq/eli5_how_does_one_secure_venture_capital_funding/ | {
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"Hype might not be the right word- but there is a significant preference to high-growth companies (usually young ones, since the maturity phase is relatively unlikely to lead to a high (risky) ROI-1). A mere business plan is usually not good enough unless you've discovered an untapped market or |the market is monopolistic * (low barriers to entry-2, basically). Competition often makes it too unpredictable for funders to just accept a business plan- initial results are greatly valued. After that, get someone with connection or approach companies yourself (your business career is truly aided by years of solid networking)- have a good presentation where you not only show some passion / strategy, but also give them some cold hard numbers and be the prize. (their initial offer will usually be near the minimum of what they're willing to give)\n\nFurthermore I suppose it's probably also important whether you want to give them equity (stock) or just have them be a glorified bank (debt).\n\n\n-1ROI = Return on investment, e.g. if they're going to invest 25.000, and their analysts say you've got only a 50% survival rate and no real assets to lay claim on if you do perish, they're going to want a lot more than a 25.000 return.\n\n-2barriers to entry = how easy it is for a new player to enter a market, compare a farmer's market (near perfect-competition, easy as shit) to e.g. the PC market (oligopoly, hard as shit). The uncertanties of competition will be very dominant in oligopolies.\n\n\nIt's a little late, so I might've been a bit incoherent, but these are some of the basics.\n\n\n*edit: Perfect competition, not monopoly. Dayum. Edit #2 Why the fuck would a venture capitalist fund a business in perfect competition? This is stupid, I apologise. (Made this post at like 04:00, wasn't thinking too straight.)",
"You put together a convincing case, and go ask for it. But you'd better know your shit, and have done your homework.\n\nThe trick is not just in building a convincing case, but identifying a viable business to base all this on. You have some idea, and you put together a plan for developing your idea. You identify who your customers might be, and how you will go about getting their money. You project things forward a bit, and anticipate assorted costs and difficulties, and upsides. You anticipate growth.\n\nBut let's turn it around. The venture capitalist is a gambler, evaluating your proposal, and trying to find flaws and so on. They aren't going to just write you a check, they will need convincing first, then there will need to be a series of constraints and evaluations along the way. They may only need to have a hit once in every ten investments, but they are still very careful about giving away money."
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6sx80m | how can companies like amazon afford to price things at such low margins? | Its common to see things on Amazon for prices listed much lower than on their manufacturer's site.
How can Amazon be so profitable with this mindset? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6sx80m/eli5_how_can_companies_like_amazon_afford_to/ | {
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"Amazon's margin is ~15%, it's not low. Really what you're seeing is that many manufacturers place their MSRP high enough that the moderate traffic mom and pop shop in a major city can sell it at MSRP and still make rent, and they can afford to mark it down for various sales. [Thus most industries have 30-40% gross profit margins](_URL_0_).\n\nAmazon however has worked out awesome shipping rates (due to volume), and has no sales people, and always operates from warehouses, usually located in the sketchy part of town, not main st. Their costs are much lower than most stores, and instead of marking things down on sales, they really just take the actual cost, add their ~15%, and sell it as is, which for many industries is a very large percent off MSRP."
]
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[
"http://research.financial-projections.com/IndustryStats-GrossMargin.shtml"
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2se5nw | why can't we use waste gas to create more energy? | So, everyone is complaining about how environmentally harmful power stations are because of their waste gas. Why don't we use those waste gases though? I don't really know how to explain what I mean to say since english is not my mother language but take a look at my [awesome paint image](_URL_0_) and you'll understand what I mean.
Thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2se5nw/eli5_why_cant_we_use_waste_gas_to_create_more/ | {
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"The 'gas' emitted from power stations is the bi product of combustion of their fuel, which could be gas, coal, whatever. A hefty amount of that is water vapour.\n\nFor a gas to be able to turn a turbine then it has to be expelled under pressure, which is of course how power stations work, usually by steam turbines. But the emissions from the plants are not usually under any significant pressure, not enough to turn a turbine anyway, so to attempt to put a turbine on the top of the chimneys would be pointless.",
"I am an engineer who works for a company that designs power plants. The most popular plants being built right now are called combined cycle power plants, it is a combination of using gas turbines and steam turbines. \n\nThey work by having one or multiple industrial (power) gas turbines that produce electricity at around 30% efficiency. Meaning that only 30% of the energy in the fuel, mainly natural gas, is used to produce electricity. The waste gas of a gas turbine has a lot of energy in it. Typically the temperature is between 1000 - 1200 F. This is where the \"combined\" portion comes into play. The hot waste gas is sent through a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (we call them HRSG, pronounced \"her-seg\"), where high pressure steam is generated and sent to a steam turbine to produce more energy. By including the HRSG and steam turbine the overall efficiency goes up to around 50%. \n \nWhether or not a company wants a combined cycle or just leave it at using gas turbines only (simple cycle) comes down to a number of things. A major factor is the cost of the combined cycle.\n\n_URL_0_\n"
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86gjhj | why are smartphones vertically oriented screens by default and design, yet all other forms of screens and displays are all designed horizontal? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86gjhj/eli5_why_are_smartphones_vertically_oriented/ | {
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"Have you ever tried holding your phone horizontally with one hand to use it?",
"Smart phones go into people's hands and a vertically oriented screen is much easier to hold and operate than a horizontally oriented screen. Just try holding a phone horizontally with one hand and see how it works out."
]
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faqhp6 | the difference between pressure and compression? | As I understand it fluid can't be compressed, but they can be pressurized. How is this possible? What's the difference?
I get how a fluid can be pressuring a tank containing air. But what about, as an example, in a pump where there is no air? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/faqhp6/eli5_the_difference_between_pressure_and/ | {
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" > \tAs I understand it fluid can't be compressed\n\nAnd that is where you went wrong, any fluid can be compressed. Any material at all can be compressed of course.\n\nFluids are often said to be incompressible because they take a lot of force to compress even a little bit, but it is a simplification which isn't strictly accurate. Many engineers new and old take such simplifications to heart and don't understand which are approximations to make calculations easier under normal conditions.",
"pressure is force per area and compression is a change in volume. Air which is a fluid can absolutely be compressed and pressurised. But water which is a fluid can be pressurised and can also be compressed but at very miniscule amounts so it's just taken as not compressed at all. Liquid is pressurised by fitting as much of it as possible into a tank and seeing how hard it is pressing against the walls.\n\nIn a pump, it is pushing liquid as hard as it can. So if you were to stand in front of that jet of liquid, it is how painful it will be. So the pressure is determined by how much force is used to push out the water to cause that pain.",
"Pressure is a force over an area, whereas compression is squeezing of something. Compression is a byproduct of pressure.\n\nHowever when it comes to a tank, how the pressure is applied will determine if you get compression or expansion.\n\nPositive pressure inside of the a tank will cause it to expand. Negative pressure inside of a tank (otherwise known as a vacuum) will cause it to compress/collapse."
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6qr25h | how do other countries come to know if a nation has conducted a missile test? | Nuclear and non-nuclear. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qr25h/eli5_how_do_other_countries_come_to_know_if_a/ | {
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"text": [
"In the case of North Korea, the US probably has a satellite pointed at the country 24/7 to detect missile launches. Maybe some other detection equipment based in Japan and South Korea too"
]
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[]
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3za2p6 | how do thermal optics pick up heat signatures from such large distances away? | Weapon sights, tanks, aircraft etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3za2p6/eli5_how_do_thermal_optics_pick_up_heat/ | {
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"if i understand this correctly, its basically just shifting the infra red spectrum so it can be seen. (electronically, with a sensor and a screen)\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\nits always there, we just are not equipped to see it.\n\n\nlife would be weird if we could see somewhere up to fm frequencies.\n\n\n_URL_1_\n\n\nsuprisingly eli 5",
"All objects are glowing all the time due to the temperature they are at. It just so happens at room temperature they are too cold to emit light we can see. If you heat an object, it will eventually glow a colour you can see. You can see a candle or light bulb or molten metal or the sun. You can see these glowing from a large distance away, as can a camera designed to see what a human sees. All thermal optics are is cameras that pick up light we can't see, they can see heat signatures from distance the same way you can see a candle from a distance. In fact, they can do it better as their optics can be better designed for range the same way a camera with the right lens and sensor can see far away better than you. ",
"When I pick up a warm cup of tea, I don't feel that it's warm until my hand is only a centimetre or two away. This is not because the warm teacup is only radiating heat to a distance of a few cm, it's because I, as a human, lack the sensory system to sense the heat at a greater distance. \n\nIt turns out that radiation in the infra red spectrum travels quite a distance - much like light does! It can be reflected, hidden and even focused! \n\nThermal imagers are electronic devices that are very sensitive to wavelengths in the infra red spectrum, and after processing, the data from these imagers can be presented to us as an image that Humans can see. They just show us what was already there, even though we couldn't see it.\n\nIf you have the means, pick up a thermal imager for your mobile phone. There are a few models available - I have experience with a model from FLIR Systems called the FLIR One. They cost a few hundred bucks, which is historically unprecedented for this kind of technology.",
"Every object on earth emits thermal radiation, from your toes, to a generator, or in this case the enemy soldier. The job of an infrared detector is to receive this radiation and convert it to an image for the user to see. Being able to view an image at a distance relies on a) the resolution of the detector (the more pixels, the more accurate the readings) as well as b) the Field of View of the imager. Typically a camera used on a tank, for example, would have a very narrow FOV as to measure at a distance. \n\nSource: I'm a certified Thermographer. ",
"To ELY5: Heat can be visible as long wavelength infrared light. Much like a visible light camera, infrared cameras use a lens which is coated with special materials that allow it to bend, or refract, this long wave length infrared light onto a sensor that detects the long wavelength infrared as heat. The camera can then render this heat image as a series of light or dark areas on a normal LCD or OLED display or using various colors. \n\nDetailed explanation: \nHeat is visible as long wavelength infrared. Infrared light, like visible light can be bent by a lens and focused. This is actually a really interesting question because some materials are transparent to visible light, but opaque to infrared light and some lenses focus visible light but don't focus far infrared light. \n\nInfrared refraction is achieved with a somewhat normal lens shape, but by doping and coating the lens with materials like silicon, zinc oxide, germanium, etc, which change the materials index of refraction and cause it to refract long wavelength red light better. \n\nThe thermal imaging sensor can then get a very clear view of the 10-1000 nano-meter light arriving, and it can then render this in visible light using the LCD or OLED display. \n\nJust like regular light cameras, the smaller the opening that light passes through, the smaller and cheaper the lens can be made with the ultimate being a pinhole camera which has no lens at all. But the more sensitive the camera, the more light/infrared light it must let in which means larger diameter lenses, which means more elements and perfect tolerances to make sure all the light or infrared light arrives at the same time to the sensor. "
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"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/EM_spectrum.svg/2000px-EM_spectrum.svg.png",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjHJ7FmV0M4"
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1mte1t | why do i feel depressed at random times for no reason? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mte1t/eli5_why_do_i_feel_depressed_at_random_times_for/ | {
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"You have no history under this name. Are you male, female, have a family history of depression, etc? I don't think any one can say much about you specifically without more info. That and you should see a doctor as \"medical\"advice really shouldn't be given on redit."
]
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595k0n | why u.s. conservatives are so against abortion but generally the first to gripe about families with multiple children on welfare. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/595k0n/eli5_why_us_conservatives_are_so_against_abortion/ | {
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"It generally goes to a perception of responsibility. A key conservative principle is that people should be responsible for their own actions and behavior. And children are a part of this; if a woman becomes pregnant, she should carry the child to term and ensure for its future. If you have children, you should be able to support them. That is the key conservative view on this.",
"Because they are honoring a set of principles:\n\n1. the fetus deserves protection as a living thing.\n2. it's not fair to others to create economic advantage for some without the hard work put in by the rest of us.\n\nYou too have principles that result in \"tension\" - where upholding one leads to pushing against another. For example, I believe as an entrepreneur that I ought to be able to create a company like I want to and hire people that I want to hire and pay them what I want to. I also believe we need to have an organized system of immigration - these things are total odds. I also believe that we need to protect rights of those who have been historically screwed and that I shouldn't be allowed to only hire white men like myself beyond some point. Tension. Part of political life. \n\nYou're asking of those you disagree with to meet a bar of consistency based entirely on your framing of the issues. These are independent considerations based on primary principles to one audience, and thinking of it as \"stupidity\" doesn't further our ability to find common ground.\n",
"I don't agree with them, but it is based on a consistent view (or principle) that people should be self sufficient and personally accountability for their decisions. The idea is that if you made the choice to have unprotected sex, you should bear the consequence of that choice. Aborting the fetus (which most conservatives, especially religious conservatives, consider to be a child) is an immoral out for the decision you made in the first place. As for welfare, it is entirely consistent to believe people should be accountable for their own lives to believe that a family should work and take care of themselves, rather than have government take care of them. Again, this is not my personal view, but I understand the position.",
"There is the belief that a fetus is living at the moment of conception (and in some cases, even before, so contraceptives can be forbidden - this is generally not a view expressed by most political conservatives though.) This view is usually driven by a religious belief - many conservatives view the status quo as being better than uncertain change, and family roles as being the most important to a stable society.\n\nThe economic aspects boil down to a few basic principles.\n\n* Economic outcomes are determined by the person, people should be given the opportunity to succeed but shouldn't be prejudiced in one way or another by government support.\n\n* The government should be small and efficient; a welfare state often isn't. \n\n* The belief that welfare is used by people that are leaches on society, and that it is a negative to society.\n\nA lot of these policies make sense when you think about the motivations, but they rarely work in practice.\n",
"A conservative would say to not take on/perform a task you are incapable of seeing through. More simply put, if you are not prepared for the possible outcomes, do not take the risk i.e. if you can't take care of a kid, don't go around having promiscuous, unprotected sex. Terrible analogy coming up here, but you wouldn't encourage someone to take on car payments from a dealership if you, in fact, knew they could not afford it. The same principle applies here, except it's a living, breathing person and should therefore be taken even more seriously than a car. People want all the benefits of sex but none of the responsibility. That ideology pretty much permeates throughout most of American culture in everything we do, which is why we, as a country, are so fucked. The very same ideology is why conservatives are mostly against welfare. Too many people reaping the benefits of it with zero responsibility. Everyone else deals with the responsibility/repercussions of it. In terms of abortion, the defenseless child, who has zero choice, deals with the repercussions. It comes down to selfishness at the end of the day, and people being sick and tired of it.",
" > Don't post to argue a point of view.\n\nThis post has been removed. Possibly try /r/nostupidquestions, or if you want to have your view changed try /r/changemyview.",
"These types of questions about conservatives always show up on reddit. It really shows how little understanding people have for the conservative mindset. \n\nWith conservatives, it's all about the principle of the matter. They don't see things like welfare as a means to an end. Dr. Thomas Sowell does a good job of explaining any questions someone might have about modern American conservatism. \n\nThis video sort of explains your question. \n_URL_0_\n"
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acuypg | why do certain bugs and glitches appear on seemingly random occations in some programs? | What I mean is that there should be a trigger for such events.
And if faults in the codes can appear at complete random, why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/acuypg/eli5_why_do_certain_bugs_and_glitches_appear_on/ | {
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"The dont appear at random, but after a series of events / when the game is brought inr a certain state that triggers the bug.\n\nGames and programs are made so complex these days, that its nearly impossible to test each and every permutation / state the game can be in",
"not necessarly\n\nmore often than not a bug is merely an unforseen execution path that the programmer hasnt accounted for\n\nthey seem random, especially on larger program because more complex programs deal with so many variations of state and data that an unforseen result in somethnig seemgly innocuous can cascade into a full program crash if it happens in just the right spot.Them ost common sort of bug is what's called \" imporper validation\" aka checking if the input is what the program expect ot receive.\n\nat the end of it aany bug is merely a mistake by the programmer that wasnt accounted for, o such thnig as a \" random\" bug"
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28jjzs | why is a drone strike considered invariably worse than an f-16 pilot dropping a 500lb jdam? | In the exact same situation, why do a lot of people believe drone strikes to be worse? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28jjzs/eli5_why_is_a_drone_strike_considered_invariably/ | {
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"text": [
"The more that people are removed from killing, the easier it is to lose ethical perspective. Currently, that doesn't seem to be an issue but imagine a world where drones had such good AI that people just had to press a button to kill someone--they'd become very detached from the killing. ",
"You don't send a fighter pilot into another country you are not at war with to bomb a village. that will just not happen, mostly because of the political concequences if the pilot gets stranded.\n\nFor some reason, the millitary is fine with doing the same with drones.",
"They wouldn't any different in that situation. However, armed drones are not used like F16's.\n\nDrones are the centerpiece of the United States assassination campaign against Islamic militants. Drones are typically not conducting missions in support of military operations like an F16 would, rather they are conducting surveillance and isolated strikes against suspects, who typically do not reside anywhere near an active battlefield.\n\nDrones are really just technology. I would imagine most people take more issue with the US running a global assassination program rather than the fact a UAV is doing it.",
"When the crossbow was first invented, it allowed a grubby peasant to kill a noble knight. For a while people, mostly those who relied on knights, labeled crossbows as \"dishonorable\", and try to discourage their use. Eventually, warfare adapted and moved on.\n\nThat is kind of where we are with drones. People are more comfortable with a standard air strike, because a pilot is at risk and there is some sense of \"fairness\". But because drones are new and spooky, complaints against them get more airtime."
]
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|
1xjifh | who benefits from sending computer viruses out into the world? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xjifh/eli5_who_benefits_from_sending_computer_viruses/ | {
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"Depends on what it does.\n\nSome malware is designed to make the creator money. This includes things like the \"scareware\" programs that pop up, tell you that you have a virus and need to pay them $30 to clean it up. There are also viruses that try to steal your credit card information when you shop online, so they can sell that on the black market.\n\nOther malware is a \"just because\" type thing. Someone has found a flaw in the way the computer is programmed and wants to show it off. There's an immense personal satisfaction in creating something from nothing, and I'm sure the creators of malware that made the news like the Blaster worm are quite proud of their 15 minutes of fame, even if they personally were never identified. \n\nThen there's the espionage malware- stuff like Stuxnet that was designed specifically to infect Iran's nuclear reactors that was likely motivated by patriotism, and possibly sanctioned by one or more governments.",
"Believe it or not... [The mob](_URL_0_).\n\nMalware writers often sell their botnets (their network of infected computers) to organized crime who use it for financial crimes.",
"There's malware called \"ransomware\", what it does is encrypt a victims computer and demand a sum of money for the decryption key. Failure to pay will render the files inaccessible. It's making quite a lot of money considering it targets companies. Losing the company data is probably much more costly than the price of obtaining the encryption key."
]
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[],
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"http://allinnetworks.com/blog/225-virus-writing-and-organized-crime.html"
],
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||
2ccj9e | why does the milk at the grocery store expire in 1-2 weeks but the milk at fast food places are good for over one month? | I buy a gallon of milk at the grocery store and it expires within a few days to two weeks (if I am lucky to find one this far out). But, I just went through the drive-thru for lunch and this milk doesn't expire for over a month from today. Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ccj9e/eli5why_does_the_milk_at_the_grocery_store_expire/ | {
"a_id": [
"cje3c6o"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"It's a different type of milk. You can get UHT milk/long life milk. It lasts longer and is fine for coffee etc but doesn't have the same taste as fresh milk. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1qo9jk | i've deeply cut my finger, what is my body's immediate response to this and what exactly is my skin, muscle and other tissues doing during the healing process? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qo9jk/eli5_ive_deeply_cut_my_finger_what_is_my_bodys/ | {
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"Well, your immediate response is pain. The All severed blood vessels will constrict as much as possible to stop blood loss while other vessels proximal to the cut will expand, somewhat bypassing the affected area. \n\nDuring the healing process, as long as everything is bandaged up tightly and in the right place, your body will just repair/regrow new cells to replace the damaged ones and reconnect everything. I'm pretty sure you run into problems if a muscle is mostly/completely severed though. You'll get scarring, which is basically super-fast growing tissue your body makes to close up the hole in you so it can make repairs without (even more) risk of infection.",
"First your blood vessels near your wound tighten to reduce the flow of blood to where you cut yourself. Sticky blood cells called \"plateletes\" clump to eachother and then go to thes ides of your torn blood vessel, followed by clotting proteins holding the platelets in place over where you cut yourself (similar to a plug). The bleeding eventually stops due to blood clots(coagulation) and the \"plug\" becomes a scab. Scar tissue, not as strong as your original skin, will form but will fade eventually due to collagen.\n\nDuring all of this white blood cells are fighting off germs that have entered your blood stream. \n\nRemember, no one loves you as much as your body."
]
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[],
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||
2uwl6c | why is having netanyahu speak in washington so controversial? | Plenty of foreign leaders have spoken here. Why is this causing a fuss? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2uwl6c/eli5_why_is_having_netanyahu_speak_in_washington/ | {
"a_id": [
"cocbvgx"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"I say this with a neutral point of view, not to make a point:\n\nThe Israel/Palestine conflict has led to a number of human rights issues and accusations of war crimes on both sides. Many people are opposed to the state of Israel's existence at all. The majority of foreign leaders who speak in Washington come from states that are universally recognized, and who are not openly associated with many of the terrible happenings in the Israel/Palestine conflict."
]
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[]
] |
|
4mrdvm | why do older phones (like sony ericsson) not start up without sim-card? | You could still play games or take photos.
This may look like a double post, but automod messed with the first one after I failed to flair it in 60 seconds or so... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4mrdvm/eli5_why_do_older_phones_like_sony_ericsson_not/ | {
"a_id": [
"d3xr78f"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Older phones' main functions were provided over the cellular network. They used the SIM to make and receive calls and send and receive text messages. Older phones did not have the concept of WiFi or Apps used for something other than communicating. Hence there wasn't a point of the phone unless it had a valid SIM.\n\nCurrent phones can be used for a plethora of activities like movie editing, recording, playing games, etc. and work over WiFi. So they can be used without a SIM. But at the same time, you cannot send messages or make calls while there's no SIM."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3lltto | why are computer not used in sports games? for balls/strikes/safe/outofbounds etc... | To elaborate... refs arnt 100% accurate, why not just use computer software to determime exactly if the player was out of bounds or not... this technology already exists in baseball for strikes and balls, whats the point of the umpire? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3lltto/eli5_why_are_computer_not_used_in_sports_games/ | {
"a_id": [
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"It's mostly tradition, umpires don't want to be out of a job, and people in general don't like change. But there can also be a deeper meaning.\n\nTake racewalking as an example, an olympic event where one must move as fast as possible without running, aka without ever having both feet off the ground at the same time. Race officials watch the racers at all times, and if anyone makes 3 mistakes in the run, they're disqualified.\n\nUsing high speed cameras, you can see that professional racewalkers actually do have both feet off the ground on most steps, but it's not detectable by human senses. If the human officials were replaced by robots, the entire sport would be completely changed.\n\nAnd after all, all sports are made of arbitrarily created rules, if you change the rules you can destroy the entire sport (although not many people would miss racewalking).",
"A computer can't make judgement calls. I can't speak for the role of an umpire (Never watched Baseball) but referees also determine whether players are adhering to proper sportsmanship. In rugby for example there are questions of whether tackles are made appropriately."
]
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[],
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|
btfh0t | what is the difference nutritionally between artificial and natural sugars, like why are the sugars from my apple any better for me than the sugars from my apple lollipop if it’s all still sugar? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/btfh0t/eli5_what_is_the_difference_nutritionally_between/ | {
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"text": [
"There is no difference between 'artificial' and 'natural' sugars, they are the same. \n\nThe important difference is that when you eat a lollipop it might contain more sugar than the apple does and you certainly wouldn't eat ten apples but you could easily eat ten lollipops (in a relatively short period).\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSidenote: Sugar and sugars don't mean the same. When we say sugar we usually mean that type of household sugar you use for baking which is sucrose. Sugars usually refers to carbohydrates in general which is a class of different compounds including sucrose, glucose, fructose (an apple contains some amount of all three) , lactose, etc.",
"Well there's not a chemical difference between the fructose in the apple and the fructose in the lollipop. There are two reasons the apple is better for you. 1. The apple has some vitamin C and probably others 2. The apple has dietary fiber and other complex carbs, which will lead to a smoother blood sugar curve than if you ate the same number of calories in lollipop form."
]
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[],
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||
fzta9q | why does long division work? | I understand how to do long division but just can’t see why it should work. Who invented it and how? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fzta9q/eli5_why_does_long_division_work/ | {
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"Think of it a bit like you first learned division, sharing something out, but what you are sharing has a number if different size parts. You put aside the small stuff and share out as many of the big ones as you can. You take the left over big bits and break them into smaller pieces and add in the parts you set aside that are the same size, share out as many as you can. Repeat as necessary.\n\nThe big bits are the numbers on the left of the dividend, breaking into smaller parts is moving one place to the right and bringing down the next digit, effectively multiplying the remainder from each stage by ten.\n\nAs to who invented it, I'm going to guess Arab/Indian scholars as it needs place notation and the zero to work. It's possible the Chinese had something similar using an abacus. The ancient Egyptians had something similar but used smaller and smaller unitary fractions (1/x) rather than powers of ten to share out the successive remainders.",
"Lets do 123/5 with the same steps as in long division but in more rigorous fashion.\n\n123 can be written as 1×100 + 2×10 + 3×1 (or with exponents as 1×10^2 + 2×10^1 + 3×10^(0). We'll need this later).\n\nSo now we have ( 1×100 + 2×10 + 3×1 ) / 5.\n\nWe can write this as\n\n( 1×100 ) / 5 + ( 2×10 ) / 5 + ( 3×1 ) / 5\n\nAnd further.\n\n1/5 × 100 + 2/5 × 10 + 3/5 × 1\n\nNow we can start doing the divisions.\n\n1/5 would result in some fraction. We do not accept any fractions here. So lets go back few steps and combine the 100 term and 10 terms together.\n\n( 1×100 + 2×10 + 3×1 ) / 5 = ( 12×10 + 3×1 ) / 5. = 12/5 × 10 + 3/5 × 1\n\n12/5 is 2 and leftover 2/5 so. Lets keep the 2 here and move the leftover to the next term. So 12/5 ×10 = 2×10 + 2/5×10.\n\n12/5 × 10 + 3/5 × 1 = 2×10 + 2/5 × 10 + 3/5 ×1 = 2×10 + 23/5 × 1\n\n23/5 is 4 and 3/5 as leftover. \n\n2×10 + 23/5 × 1 = 2×10 + 4×1 + 3/5 × 1\n\nAgain lets keep the 4 here and move 3/5 to the next term. \nBut we do not have any terms left? We can just add more.\n\nAt the beginnign we wrote the number using decreasing powers of 10 (10^(2), 10^(1), 10^(0)). So we can just add 0×10^-1 (=0×0.1) in there! (it is just zero, we can add zeros to number as many as we like)\n\n2×10 + 4×1 + 3/5 × 1 + 0×10^-1 = 2×10 + 4×1 + 30/5 ×10^-1\n\n30/5 is nice even 6.\n\nSo our result is \n\n2×10 + 4×1 + 6 ×10^-1\n\nNow we just turn this back into normal number.\n\n24.6\n\nLong division does these steps. (lets see how long division works with reddit formatting...)\n\n 5|123\n -0 5 doesn't go into 1.\n 12 carry the 1 to the next term.\n -10 5 goes into 12 2 times. 2×10 goes into the result so remove 2×5 from here.\n 23 And carry the remaining 2 to next term.\n -20 5 goes into 23 4 times. 4×1 goes to the result so remove the 4×5 from here.\n 30 And carry the remaining 3 to the next term.\n -30 5 goes into 30 6 times. 6×0.1 goes to the result so remove the 6×5 from here.\n 00 No more remainders to carry so we are done.\n Result is 2×10 + 4×1 + 6×0.1"
]
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6c9s7u | why does the healed skin on my wounds have the same patterns, wrinkles and creases as before? | I had to cauterize a rather big area on my pinky finger. After 2-3 weeks the skin is healed almost completely, but it seems strange to me that it has the same "imperfections" as the surrounding skin (creases, wrinkles, lines).
Why isn't the healed skin scar tissue? (smooth and without almost any marks) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6c9s7u/eli5_why_does_the_healed_skin_on_my_wounds_have/ | {
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"text": [
"Because the skin there is constantly being crushed and stretched, resulting in it becoming wrinkled. If it was pure scar tissue it would rip when you tensed your tendons. ",
"Look at your hand, now move the inside of the base of your thumb towards your pinky. See all the folds and such? Your skin will fold the same way even after scarring.\n\nAnother example is that I game about as often as someone with a fulltime job is at work (30ish hours a week) my hand positioning presses the pinky side of my palm into my desk, causing a unique fold that wasn't there just a few years ago. If I sliced that part of my hand up (or burned it) the healed skin wont have those creases and wrinkles, but will develop them again as I continue to hold that unique hand position.\n",
"When you have a wound, it's usually only the top layer of the skin that gets damaged. The wrinkles and creases however come from the deepest layers of the skin. \n\nSo the skin that grows back grows onto the same creases - they haven't gone anywhere. If you were to have a wound so bad that your skin is gone completely, the creases would be gone or at least different. "
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8n5ktp | why is it ok to pray to statues and pictures of jesus if there’s a commandment against graven images? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8n5ktp/eli5_why_is_it_ok_to_pray_to_statues_and_pictures/ | {
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"The commandment is to have no other God's not no pictures, in Catholicism. Islam forbids images because they worry about exactly what has happened in the Catholic Church before where the symbols and pictures became more....up front important for lack of a better way of putting it. Can't say it's a bad idea, just think it's a bit of a harsh punishment. ",
"I haven't been to church in 20-25 years but if I remember right it's because you aren't praying to the image of Jesus, but to Jesus himself while you happen to be in front of said image. ",
"When I became catholic, just recently mind you., I was taught that it is not idolatry because I don’t believe the statue of Jesus is God. It’s just a way to feel more intimate and have a focal point for your attention. "
]
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2blis4 | what's the difference between a terrorist, a rebel and a separatist? | Russian/Ukrainian group shot down a plane killing nearly 300 people but they're called separatists. 2 men kill a soldier in broad daylight in the streets of London (they said they carried out the attack in response to the UK foreign policy) and they're called terrorists. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2blis4/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_a_terrorist_a/ | {
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"text": [
"The terms aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.",
"Point of view.",
"A terrorist is someone who intentionally does acts of violence in order to instill fear or 'terror' in people to affect change or to carry out an ideology or idea.\n\nA rebel is someone who is a part of or builds a group of people trying to overthrow an existing government or president.\n\nA separatist is someone who usually wants to stay separate from a large group of people, or a government. ie.: The confederate states could be classified as separatist. \n\nSomeone can be a terrorist and not a rebel (Osama bin Laden). Someone can be a rebel and not a terrorist (Che Guevara, Founding Fathers of the US). Someone can be a Separatist and not a rebel (Jim Crow, Confederate Army).\n\nEdit: A separatist *could turn into* a rebel, and a rebel could turn into a separatist. It depends on the context or the political climate of whatever country these groups are working in."
]
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r4kyk | why does the internet hate skrillex so, so much? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/r4kyk/eli5_why_does_the_internet_hate_skrillex_so_so/ | {
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"I can't speak for the internet, but I can provide a logical explanation. I think we can both agree that not many people like dubstep. Skrillex is the face of neo-dubstep. When people despise something, they look at its most popular representation and hate him/her. \n\nBasically, skrillex represents dubstep, people hate dubstep, therefore they hate Skrillex. ",
"Because wub wub.\n\nSkrillex is the only dubstep artist that most people can name off the top of their head (at least strictly in the aggressive style). While many many many people like Skrillex, the internet has a tendency to hate stuff that many many many people like, particularly what has gained popularity with young girls and fraternity college boys. The internet's hate for Justin Bieber falls into the former category. Their hate for Skrillex and Nickelback falls into the latter.\n\nA lot of it does indeed fall into the \"everyone knows it so it sucks\" attitude as well.",
"I am fan of some actually good dubstep such as James Blake. Besides Skrillex looking like a fool, all of his songs sound the same.",
"People who don't like dubstep probably have only heard of Skrillex, so they focus on him.\n\nPeople who like dubstep because it is trendy also have probably only heard of Skrillex, so a disproportionate number of his fans are newbie poseurs. \n\nEveryone hates poseurs, so dubstep fans are quick to dismiss Skrillex so everyone will know they are \"real\" fans."
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4m2qqb | the difference between a particulate, gas, and vapor | I was looking at [respirators](_URL_0_) because I was curious as to what my filter could do and I came across the aforementioned three terms and I really can't tell the difference between a particulate and a vapor, and vapor and gas. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4m2qqb/eli5the_difference_between_a_particulate_gas_and/ | {
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"text": [
"Particulate is just very small pieces of solid material. Vapor is a substance diffused in the air which would normally be solid or liquid; think of water vapor. A gas is... a gas.",
"Particulates are debris in the air from solid objects\n\nVapors come from solid or liquid objects that would be solid or liquid at room temperature \n\nAnd gasses don't coincide with solids or liquids ",
"* Particulate - small solid particles dispersed into the are\n* Vapor - individual molecules mixed in with the air, but not at high enough of a temperature to be a gas...sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for gas\n* Gas - molecules travelling at high enough speed they cannot for the temporary and permanent bonds that characters liquids and solids"
]
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"http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/447121O/filter-change-out-brochure.pdf"
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4hq8ek | is the united states currently at war? | I feel like in the past it has been pretty easy determine when we are at war. I considered myself to be pretty up to date when it comes to news but today there are so many small conflicts in the middle east I dont actually know if we are even currently at war. Also having a military spread out all over the globe can make it even more confusing. So:
1. Are we at war?
2. What are our goals if we are at war?
3. Are we making any progress with these goals? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hq8ek/eli5is_the_united_states_currently_at_war/ | {
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"No. To be at war, Congress has to basically say \"we declare war against _____\". They have not said that, therefore, we are not at war. ",
"1. Technically, no, but we are dropping bombs on multiple continents. \n\n2. They're not very specific goals, which is part of the reason it's just seems like endless combat.\n\n3. The war on terrorism has been going on for 15 years, and all we've done is make more terrorists. So...no.",
"Anymore this is a good question. Reminds me of of this exchange in 2002 on The West Wing:\n\nAdmiral Percy Fitzwallace: Can you tell when it's peacetime and wartime anymore? \n\nLeo McGarry: No. \n\nAdmiral Percy Fitzwallace: I don't know who the world's leading expert on warfare is, but any list of the top has got to include me, and I can't tell when it's peacetime and wartime anymore.",
"We are at war in virtually any meaningful sense, we have just refused to call it such because that word has real legal and political ramifications.",
"1. Technically no but by any reasonable metric of what \"being at war\" mean, yes.\n\n2. If you consider the limited cases of intervention in the ME our goal is the deterrence of non-state Islamist militias such as ISIS (when you are recognized by 0 other countries, you are not a state in a way that is meaningful as far as a description of US foreign policy toward non-state actors), Al Shabaab, and the Taliban and the strengthening of the recognized governments in the areas those groups operate in or, in the case of Syria, the containment of ISIS with a tacit recognition that the Assad regime will likely stay mostly in place.\n\n3. It depends. The Taliban is alive and well in Afghanistan and the peace process with the Afghani government collapsed as it was revealed that the Taliban's leader had been dead for 2 years (most of the group's low ranking members didn't know), which fragmented the group and scuttled the peace process. ISIS is losing territory and fighters in both Syria and Iraq. However, Syria is not much closer to any stable government, even one controlled by Assad. Al Shabaab is a lot weaker than it has been in years past ."
]
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1hw7ky | what are the benefits of methadone/a methadone clinic? | I'm having trouble understanding the use and effects of methadone. Is it a drug like heroin? Does a methadone clinic just give you methadone if you're a recovering addict? and is it better than just trying to stop using drugs at all? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hw7ky/eli5_what_are_the_benefits_of_methadonea/ | {
"a_id": [
"cayiudy"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"It's an opiate like heroin so users wont withdraw and it's little less extreme. You can think of it like shorts with cigarettes, good for tapering off if you're trying to quit."
]
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|
vhzgj | if sea level has been rising then how come it is not evident from the beach yet? | ELIF: I have lived in a city with a seashore my whole life. I have seen the tides come in and go out and I am yet to see any effects of a rise of sea level. As I understand the (man made) climate change has been happening for more than a 100 years. Shouldn't we have seen at least some effect on the sea level every where? What makes scientists think the level will rise quickly in the coming decades? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vhzgj/if_sea_level_has_been_rising_then_how_come_it_is/ | {
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"text": [
"From 1993 to 2009 the sea level has risen 3.3mm/yr - that's not very much and would be almost impossible to notice. [Source](_URL_0_)",
"The sea has risen by about 15cm due to the 0.8^o C rise in global temperatures so far; this is not enough to notice on a typical beach without careful measurement. \n\nSome places, such as Tuvalu and Bangladesh, have experienced more drastic and obvious effects due to the rise.\n\nScientists are concerned that the rise will increase much further in future partly due to positive feedback loops causing greater warming. These are due to things like a reduced albedo, released methane from ice sheets, and a positive feedback between temperature and CO2.\n\nThe rise in sea level is largely due to the melting of ice on land. The ice masses are mahoosive and take a long time to melt. Even without further warming the ice will continue to melt for several centuries so the sea will rise further in any case.",
"The problem with anthropogenic climate change is that its a positive feedback loop.\n\nThe CO2 we make raises the temperature around the world by 1 degree C. This causes some ice to melt at the poles, which raises water levels and exposes more ice to the water. With less ice to reflect the sun's rays, more light is absorbed, raising the temperature another degree.\n\nIn this time, we've put out enough CO2 to raise the temperature another degree. This 2 degree change melts more ice, raises the water levels more, and raises the temperature by another 2 degrees.\n\nWe do some hard-handed emissions control and reduce out emissions so that we only raise it by .5 degrees. This 2.5 degree change melts ice, raises the sea level, and elevates global temperatures by 2.5 degrees.\n\nAnd so on, and so forth. The temperature change that our CO2 causes generates another temperature change, which causes another and another. This means that the CO2 we made in the Industrial Revolution may still be affecting the current climate, and we've only been piling on more and more CO2 in the intervening years before we even began any emissions control programs. Of course, this example is highly exaggerated and hyperbolic, but that's the idea; that the cycle feeds itself, and our output, instead of simply adding a degree to the global temperature, is adding a degree to the **rate of change** of global temperature.",
"_URL_0_\n\nThe Maldives are slowly being swallowed by the ocean due to rising sea levels. It is happening, and this nation is in serious danger."
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2869tg | food stamp fraud | So I just finished watching the episode of orange is the new black where SPOILER!!! they explore Gloria's food stamp fraud situation. What exactly was she doing with the food stamps to get cash from them? I understand she purchased them from other people, but how did she turn the cards into cash?? I tried looking it up, but I can't find an explanation for what the receiver of the cards can do to make money off them. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2869tg/eli5_food_stamp_fraud/ | {
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"Vendors (grocery stores, etc) receive reimbursement from the government for accepting food stamps as payment for (approved) food items. Things that cannot be purchased with them include non-food items, hot pre-prepared foods, as well as cigarettes and alcohol. \n\n\n\nWhat she was doing was allowing people to pay for non-eligible items with food stamps. This was beneficial for her because she would charge more and pocket the difference. So for a $10 case of beer she might charge $20 in food stamps and then keep the extra $10 for herself.\n\n\n\nShe would then submit to the gov for reimbursements and make up fake receipts for eligible things that people \"bought\""
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9o64w8 | why does your neck get tense when you’re stressed and how does a massage fix it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9o64w8/eli5_why_does_your_neck_get_tense_when_youre/ | {
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"When you are stressed, you experience fight-or-flight, even if the stressor is emotional/psychological in nature. When this response occurs, it causes you to produce more adrenaline. Adrenaline causes muscle tension (muscle tension being a sign of stress). If you massage a muscle, you can cause that muscle to relax. So stress increases adrenaline, causing muscle tension, massage relaxes muscles.",
"Typically when you're stressed most people clench their jaw or tense their muscles without realizing it. After so long that muscle will stay tense. MT helps to release those muscle from all that tension by applying pressure in certain areas of the muscle to have it \"let go\". Stretching the muscle(s) helps as well because tension can cause muscles to shorten. ",
"Animals curl up into a ball when they are threatened. This is part of the “fight or flight” response. Our brains evolved in a world full of predators and dangers. The problems of our modern world like stress over money or friendships trigger the same “fight or flight” response. That part of our brain isn’t smart enough to know the difference. That’s why stress tenses us up into knots, and why stretching in the opposite direction can feel really good.\n\nAs to why massage “works”, I’m not totally sure — I think it’s something people are still debating over.",
"Forgive my formatting as I'm on mobile and forgive the oversimplification.\nThere are a few reasons why on both sides (why im tense vs why I stop being tense.) Muscles are affected by certain nerotransmitters when you're stressed. Also, hydrogen and collegen can bind together muscle fibers and create knots. Also part duex, a lot of people dont tend to realize they clench their jaws or move their head forward when they are stressed. Massage (of which there are several modalities) can in essence break apart muscle tissue, leading to fibroblasts (the clean up guys) and lymphatic fluid to clear up those transmitters, while the massage itself affects the parasympathetic nervous system and releases other neruotransmitters that help relax muscles. For knots, we use something called friction, stripping or deep transverse friction that literally help pull apart the muscle tissues and those hydrogen,collagen bonds or taught bands of tissue. So in essence, we kind of best your muscle up in a nice way and good neurotransmitters fix the rest.",
"When people are tense, they tend to shrug their shoulders up (no idea why). We're not talking shrugging a lot, but it's enough to activate the trapezius muscle and the muscles of the neck. Overtime, the muscles get sore and contracted from having been activated for so long. When they've been contracted for so long, it's also hard for the muscle fibers to relax and release to their normal length. This is what you experience as an achy/sore neck.\n\n The reason a massage fixes it is due to the massage forcing the muscle fibers to extend again. When the muscle fibers can lengthen to their normal range, bam, no tightness.",
"I’ve seen explantations on why it gets tense so I’ll just tell you what might help. I work at a salon that offers massage and one of the massage therapist told me just having someone put pressure on your neck/shoulders with there elbows helps a lot. It has made a huge difference. Hope this helps!",
"If you've ever seen a cat or dog get frightened, you'll notice they puff up and try to look bigger. This is a response to danger and our body experiences stress in the same way. We tuck our shoulders up and keep our head low. Doing this for a long time can cause the muscles tension. An easy way to massage this is to slowly rotate your neck from the left, to down, to right and back again over and over. You can also shrug and relax your shoulders. Lastly, hold your finders on one side of your neck close to your shoulders, pretty tight but not too tight, and then cock your head to the opposite side slowly, then move your fingers a bit higher and repeat. The key to any stretching is if it hurts, don't do it. If you're still experiencing pain, you should consider seeing your doctor. Many insurance plans cover massage for rehabilitation of injury, most massage chains won't/can't bill your insurance, so try to go to a sports medicine specialists, they employee masseuses that can bill your insurance. Source: Me, 36 free massages a year baby!",
"As the other redditors have thoughtfully and thoroughly explained the reasons why your neck gets tense and the effect of the massage i wont get into it but instead give you an alternative. A massage is(usually) a temporary relief for the muscles as it just takes a new series of stressfull events and boom your muscles are tense again. \n\nNow the tension in the muscles is nothing but stored information: stress that has tensed up the muscles in reaction to a stressfull situation. However by learning how to breathe with the belly in a relaxed and calm manner you can project that sense of calm feeling towards any tension point in the body, making it relaxed(provided you are in a correct upright posture).\n\nAlso breathing and emotions are linked, for example by experiencing or thinking about something anxious your breath shortens and becomes more shallow(try it). So by controlling the breath you not only can learn to relax your muscles but also keep your stress away from physically manifesting in your body. \n\nPeace :)\n",
"Your neck muscles don't have much to do, and they are quite complicated. Because we rarely workout the neck muscles they don't get practice lining up correctly. When the rest of your body is under stress the neck tries to help, and the muscles contract in unexpected ways. ",
"Now you know the why. Now seek help from massage, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, and acupressure. All these are great at helping relieve the tension.",
"One of the only perks to the house I overpaid for is a hot tub. Am I imagining it helps the occasional sore back & neck, and if so, how?",
"Hiya! Massage Therapist here. \n\nMuscles can do lots of things! You can use them to move parts of your body around, like your arms and legs. You can also use them to hold yourself really still, like a statue! This is called tensing up. When you use your muscles to tense up, it’s really hard for anyone to push you around. Try it! Have a friend try to push you over while your body is relaxed. Then have them try to push you while your muscles are tense, and feel the difference. Tensing up can protect you!\n\nNow, when a person is overly stressed, they may feel the need to be in a constant state of protection, and stay tense all the time. This is called ‘hypertension’ (double edit: that isn’t the correct term, forgive me! It’s really called hypertonicity.). The shoulders and neck are the most common place for stuck tension, but it can be held in different places all over the body.\n\nWhen a muscle is constantly contracted, it can cause some problems. Tense muscles restrict blood circulation, which can prevent the muscle from getting the nutrients it needs to be healthy. Also, a muscle that doesn’t relax and can limit the amount of movement your body can do.\n\nPhew! That was a lot of information! Let’s shake it out before we continue.\n\nOkay, so now we get to the good stuff: how does massage actually help? The simple answer is that it takes the muscles out of tension, and into a supple, relaxed state. BUT HOW? \n\nFirst, a massage can only be effective if the person can relax. They need to be in a space where they feel safe, where they can lower their tension defenses. This is why spas and massage studios pay extra attention to atmosphere and ambiance. Soft music, low lights, and privacy are standard in most massage spaces.\n\nThen you get to the actual massage. There are a ton of techniques that massage therapists use to loosen muscles! By kneading, stroking, pressing, shaking and/or tapping muscles, we help them out of tension and into relaxation. Without the tension, you can move the muscle more easily, the circulation to the area improves, and posture improves. \n\nAlso, there can be great emotional relief alongside the physical relief, when you can shift away from feeling defensive and locked down.\n\nI hope this helps, I know it’s long-winded. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the benefits of massage! I love the field, and am so happy to help people feel better in their bodies all day!",
"While some people have explained the relationship between your flight-or-fight system and muscle tension, I would actually suggest that massages often by untrained hands or even at the hands of professionals have lower success than exercising the muscles. I can explain further if you prefer but I will say this, I suffer from frequent tension in my traps and neck because I sit down for long hours in the day and spend a decent amount of time studying in bed. The thing about most massage therapies is that often they are very acute or short term solutions and won't solve the roots of the problem. Personally I do a particular resistance band exercise for relief and I make sure to have frequent \"walking breaks\". \n\n\nSource: 4th Year Kinesiology Student ",
"How many people just started rubbing their sore neck and shoulders? I did.",
"Essentially, muscles have different types of fibers and neuro-sensory organs that responds to different types of stimuli and elicit a response. Some of these receptors are mechanoreceptors and they respond to pressure differences. Within the muscles, our two main sensory organs that elicit a response are muscle spindles and golgi tendon. And in simple terms, golgi tendon organs are those that respond to an overload of tension and fires up the opposite muscle so that the muscle that is currently contracting, relaxes before there is damage. This is the protective mechanism you have when you have this heavy load you can't maintain and you automatically just drop it. The other sensory organ is the muscle spindle. This is the one where there is a stretch , or lengthening of a muscle because of a load, so this fires up so that that same muscle contracts so there's no lengthening. This is the one you are mainly using all the time, like holding your phone. Now knots has to deal a lot with this mechanism. More often than not it's more of a neuronal component and with that, you have to also consider nerve insertions and piercing points of fascia. Fascia is the covering of your muscles that serves as lubrication and provides glide, for the most part. Now...knots are thought to be an over stimulation of these muscle spindles...where your muscle sustain contraction for a long time, hence slouching or being sat in a particular way or even diseases processes can illicit the nervous system to activate. this creates a reflex that then elicits your muscles to contract. And there you have your knots. When you are stressed you are activating your sympathetic system, the fight-or-flight respond. If sustained, this can lead to a hyperactivation of this reflex. Now, you've probably heard of stress points where most often than not you'll find a knot. This if I'm not mistaken, has to deal with nerve penetrating the fascia. So, there are multiple things that can happen. Be it that the nerve is hyperactivated and is causing congestion around the fascial penetration spot. Or that because of an awkward muscle contraction you have, the fascia is creating pressure on the nerve causing it to fire and sustain that knot... you'll have a knot. Lol. Now massages can help with by different mechanisms. Be it that you are creating direct inhibition, hence removing the congestion around the nerve and then leading to relief. Or direct inhibition causing a break from the reflex loop hence no sustained contraction, or the mechanoreceptors responding to this different type of pressure that then relaxes the muscles...You are essentially trying to reset the system. And this leads either way to the activation of inflammation, to \"heal\" the area. Hence why you can feel sore or bruised a day or two after massages. Now...going back to the neck...It's all anatomy. So we need to know muscles, bones and nerves and their location. From a chiropractor or Osteopathic medical approach, you have to consider articulation dysfunctions, at the level of joints. That could be pinching or shortening a muscle. Think of the same thing but with nerves. In terms of muscles, your trapezius, splenius capitus, levator scapulae, scalenes, sternocleidomastoids and your suboccipital muscles are your major culprits for neck pain under stress. Also, especially if you have a propensity of headaches and migraines, your suboccipital muscles will be tight. These are the muscles at the back of the base of your skull. You more likely than not if you have migraines, you'll have a tenderpoint/knot at the opthalmic nerve (facial nerve V1 branch) that will radiate to the back/posterior base of the skull wherever your suboccipital/occipital nerves exit through. And these can lead to these pains. By treating the reflex...you can aid these things and these symptoms might diminish.",
"Ok, sidebar here, from a nerdy ((and pedantic) massage therapist:\n\nThere are lots of responses here, all giving very reasonable and more or less science-y sounding answers expressed with absolute confidence. They're all missing one important thing.\n\nHere's the somewhat awkward truth: we don't really know. In fact, the answer to most questions about massage is \"We don't know for sure.\" There are a lot of things that we know definitely work, and we have some theories as to why, but we aren't really sure. \n\nThere are a couple of really good reasons for this. \n\nFirst, massage is really hard to study in a scientifically rigorous way. You can't even do a proper blind study - every subject will know whether or not they got a massage! \n\nThe second reason is that to really understand how massage works, you'd have to be able to see what's going on in a living body on a sub-microscopic level in real-time, and we don't have any way to do that. Through decades of studying chemical structures of proteins and other components in muscle tissues and nerve fibers, scientists have developed a really good sense of how these things work, and *some* of the ways things can go wrong. But there are still lots of failure modes that aren't well understood yet.\n\nSo, if we don't know exactly why your neck gets tense when you're stressed, or why massage fixes it, what *do* we know? Well, let's start with a basic understanding of the feedback loop that regulates the tension in any given muscle (or really, any cluster of muscle fibers within a muscle):\n\n1. Sensory receptors in and around every muscle in the body, every second of every day, send information up to the brain. This includes pressure sensors in the muscle that detect contraction, stretch sensors in the tendons, chemical receptors throughout the muscle tissue that detect inflammation, and more.\n2. The brain receives all this info, and compares it to past experience to estimate the current position, motion, and state of every body part, including the current tension of each muscle. (When you close your eyes and wave your arms around and you can feel where they are, this is what makes that possible.)\n3. The brain determines the difference between the position and motion of each body part vs where it wants those body parts to be, as well as the current contraction state of each muscle, and contracts or relaxes all muscles accordingly. (This is why you're capable of walking, or even standing, without falling over.)\n4. Return to step #1.\n\nSo, if a muscle is more tense (that is, trying to contract more) than it should be - or, if just a few fibers in a muscle are tense, as in the case of a \"knot\" - the problem could be at any step of that process. Perhaps the tissues are sending incorrect or contradictory information to the brain, or the brain is misinterpreting the information, or the brain is sending the wrong signals to the muscle, or the signal from the brain isn't reaching the muscle properly. And of course, there are several possible causes for each of these.\n\nMassage could help any of those situations. It can increase lymphatic flow, flushing out metabolic byproducts that might interfere with nerve signals or with the muscle's ability to respond. It could also \"recalibrate\" the brain's sensorimotor system, by sending a wide range of unusual signals - for example, I can stretch the tendon at one end of the muscle without simultaneously stretching the other end - something that rarely happens naturally, forcing the brain to \"recalibrate\" its idea of what a given sensory input means.\n\nWithout being able to trace individual nerve signals, let alone look at the chemical changes inside a muscle cell from one millisecond to the next, it's surprisingly hard to tell for sure exactly which of these things is happening, and why, and how. Which is why the most honest answer to why massage works is still almost always \"I don't know.\"\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSo, with that huge disclaimer, let's finally come back to your original question: my own pet theory, based on what I've read and my personal experience, is something like this: \n\nUnder normal circumstances, it's very rare that you'll keep the same muscle active for an extended period. You're always making small movements and adjustments, giving any particular group of muscle fibers a chance to relax every now and then. When you're under stress, however, as others have pointed out, your brain switches to \"fight or flight\" mode, releasing cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones into your body. This can cause you to tense up all your muscles in preparation for sudden action. It can also help you to hold very still, perhaps as you focus intently one one thing. And then, of course, the mental distraction of the stress may cause you not to consciously notice that you've held one muscle tight long enough that it's getting uncomfortable.\n\nAt some point, when you perform this unusual action of keeping a muscle tight for a very long time, something goes wrong in the feedback loop above. Perhaps the tight muscles inhibit lymphatic flow, causing a build up of metabolic byproducts, causing inflammation. Or perhaps fatigue of the overworked stretch sensors causes the brain to misinterpret their signals, or start to ignore them completely. For whatever reason, that muscle (or part of a muscle) keeps trying to contract more than is appropriate. Then you get a massage, and (one way or another) everything is cleared out and recalibrated, and you feel better.\n\nWhy does this happen in the neck, specifically? Well, it can happen anywhere, and different people \"carry their tension\" in different places. The thing about the neck is, those muscles are pretty busy. If you're not lying down, you're probably using those muscles to support your head. And especially if you spend your days at a desk, looking at a screen or at paperwork or anything involving focused attention, not looking around much, while feeling stressed and anxious... it's just asking for trouble!",
"I have constant neck and back pain. Sometimes it’s not too bad but sometimes it still hurts even when I’m just lying in bed. I’m a side and stomach sleeper which I’ve heard is bad, but I absolutely cannot sleep on my back. Is there anything I can do to help it? Supportive pillows? Should I be finding a massage therapist? Any ideas? ",
"I always thought it was because your head fills up with thoughts when your anxious and gets heavier and adds stress to your neck. ",
"I completely recovered after getting familiar with Sarno's TMS hypothesis. Hope it will do for you what it did for me.",
"The explanation hinges on whether you are prepared to accept the existence and function of the subconscious or unconscious portion of the human mind. If you can accept it, there is a very adequate explanation (largely not accepted by mainstream medicine) that has fallen out of favor, though has never been disproven.\n\nObviously, if the pain is caused directly by injury or disease that can be explained with clinical diagnostic, then the pain is caused by that injury or disease. However, where there is no obvious explanation for the pain, the pain may be caused by stress or essentially, your own brain. What is pain caused by the brain? Psychosomatic illness or symptoms. What is the psychosomatic illness caused by? Suppressed or repressed anger -- the most powerful emotion. Why would the brain cause you pain? To offer a distraction from your unsolvable or inescapable problems or let downs in life that you may consider inescapable, to, in essence, allow you to function.\n\nThe brain frequently picks a 'favorite' site to locate physical psychosomatic pain. I carried my psychosomatic pain in my shoulders/neck for many years, and after a back injury, my brain then 'preferred' to locate my psychosomatic pain in my back instead. Long after my back injury had healed, I still had un-explainable back pain (like 3 bloody years later!).\n\n & #x200B;\n\nPlease let me explain (and sorry for the wall of text, oof).\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSarno^(1,2) believes that the purpose of psychosomatic symptoms or pain are to offer a distraction, to relieve the person suffering of emotional pain, by substituting physical symptoms instead. The bigger the stressor, the more unsolvable, the more intractable, the more emotionally painful it is, the greater the risk is of developing psychosomatic symptoms, and the greater the resulting psychosomatic pain.\n\nPsychosomatic illness or symptoms causing pain are largely unconscious, as in not under any direct voluntary executive conscious control, reactions to strong emotions, particularly anger. This doesn't mean the pain is made up, it means, we aren't even aware its made up, and cannot certainly just pretend it away. The pain is very real, the muscle tension is real, the symptoms are real. The cause, however, is not organic: it is our own brain.\n\nHow does the brain cause pain? As Sarno^(1,2) points out, there are studies that show that enervated muscle tissue suffering from psychosomatic pain actively has lower oxygen content. Sarno believes that the brain is capable of utilizing the autonomic nervous system to deprive target tissues of blood flow, and hence oxygen. Nerves that are deprived of oxygen are capable of generating pain.\n\nMassaging the affected areas may increase blood flow, and hence, temporarily alleviate the tension symptoms.\n\nWhat do psychosomatic symptoms include? They can include muscle pain, particularly lower back pain that doesn't have any obvious cause, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, IBS, fibromyalgia, among others.\n\nFreud is largely credited with documentation and early work on this, however, his insistence that psychosomatic illness was as a result of repressed sexual feelings missed the mark.\n\nLater work (by Sarno^(1,2), Hanscom^(3), Schechter^(4), Schubiner^(5), and Kellerman^(6)) has shown that suppressed or repressed anger or rage is the primary emotion that drives psychosomatic illness. Why repress rage? Because those of us who act on it and lash out end up ostracized, in fights we may not win, hurting people, losing our jobs, or ending up in jail. Thats why. As social animals, we evolved to repress rage.\n\nHow does suppressed or repressed anger or rage work? According to Kellerman^(6) ,Sarno^(1), and Luskin^(7), subconscious anger is generated when we experience let downs, stress or our 'wishes' or expectations in life don't get met. Note this is normal: we either (1) don't get what we want, (2) don't get what we want the way we want it, (3) in the amount we want it in, (4) or when we want it.\n\nThe anger may also be the result of grevious insult or injury, caused by accidents, abuse, crime (assault, rape, or murder of family member or loved one), see Luskin^(7).\n\nCertain personalities of people, as Sarno^(1,2) pointed out, seem to be at higher risk for developing symptoms of psychosomatic illness. People who suffer from 'goodism', or want to do the right thing and internalize anger very readily may suffer moreso from psychosomatic symptoms.\n\nAccording to Hanscom^(3) and Sarno^(2), symptom relief provided by massage therapy, accupuncture, chiropractic manipulation, physiotherapy may simply be providing temporary relief of the pain caused by psychosomatic illness, but in the end all of these are possibly a placebo, and do not treat the cause (again, if the cause is not an obvious injury or clinically diagnosable disease).\n\nOne way to rid yourself of the anger causing the psychosomatic symptoms is to forgive those who have transgressed against you or caused you emotional suffering. As Luskin^(7) points out, many people who suffer from anger and hurt, decades later, caused by grevious injury or injustice, gain better emotional peace of mind by forgiving.\n\nThe more I read about it, the more I am fascinated by anger as an emotion.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nReferences:\n\n1. Sarno, John. The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mind-Body Disorders. 2009. Harper-Collins. [_URL_4_](_URL_4_). Also, _URL_7_\n2. Sarno, John. The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain. 1999. [_URL_1_](_URL_1_)\n3. Hanscom, David. Back in Control: A Surgeon's Roadmap out of chronic pain. 2016. Vertus Press. Also [_URL_0_](http://_URL_0_).\n4. Schechter, David. Think Away Your Pain: Your Brain is the Solution to Your Pain. 2014. MindBody Medicine Publications. Also [_URL_3_](_URL_3_)\n5. Schubiner, Howard. Unlearn Your Pain. 2010. Mind Body Publishing. [_URL_6_](_URL_6_). Also, [_URL_2_](_URL_2_).\n6. Kellerman, Henry. The 4 Steps to Peace of Mind: The Simple Effective Way to Cure Our Emotional Symptoms. 2007. Rowman & Littlefield. [_URL_8_](_URL_8_).\n7. Luskin, Fred. Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness. [_URL_5_](_URL_5_)\n\n & #x200B;",
"wait what neck is this?",
"dealing with this now. Been so stressed out about my thesis defence, while writing for hours on end i think i have been clenching and lifting my shoulders (towards my ears). Been seeing a PT for it...but it just wont go away. Hopefully soon it will.",
"Stress is often acompanied by unconscious muscle tensing. \nWhen muscles are tensed in a sustained manner, they can block the lymphatic system from collecting and purging the body of toxins. Massages works by loosening those pathways, allowing the lymphatic system to do its job",
"And how does a Sauna/Hot tub help with this?\n\nOne of my last massages included 30 minutes in a sauna before the massage, and that did something to my muscles which really improved the effect on my muscles during the massage. It was like a whole other level of therapy."
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"https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061860584/the-divided-mind/",
"https://www.amazon.com/Forgive-Good-Proven-Prescription-Happiness/dp/006251721X",
"https://www.amazon.com/Unlearn-Your-Pain-Howard-Schubiner/dp/0984336702",
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6a77wt | how do tolls work? do you really get in trouble for running one? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6a77wt/eli5_how_do_tolls_work_do_you_really_get_in/ | {
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"You mean on a road? A machine will take a photo of your license plate if you go through without paying. Some offer an option to pay the toll afterward, by Web or by mail. (Some don't have that option.) You may get a fine/ticket in the mail if you don't pay."
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1kqquy | how did humans in asia evolve to have narrower eyes, why did africans skin stay black while arabic and european peoples became lighter? | No offense meant, just phrasing the question as best I can as to how some humans evolved with certain traits and how the process occurred. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kqquy/eli5_how_did_humans_in_asia_evolve_to_have/ | {
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"If you live in the tropics, dark skin is a helpful adaptation, because it protects your skin from sunlight (fewer sun burns and cancers).\n\nIf you live in the northern latitudes where there is significantly less sun certain times of the year, light skin is a helpful adaptation, because it allows more sunlight to penetrate the dermis, thereby creating more vitamin D.\n\nThe primary characteristic of east Asian eyes is called the *epicanthic fold*, and we believe it may have evolved to protect the eye from harsh winds, but the jury is still out on that one.",
"It was recently discovered that a collection of physical traits typical in Asian populations (thicker hair shafts, more sweat glands, teeth shape, smaller breasts) are all the result of a single gene mutation that occurred 35,000 years ago in what is now China. There are a few explanations as to why that may have spread through generations to become so widespread, but scientists aren't sure which is correct. It could be a combination of them. This article goes into detail:\n\n > extra sweat glands could have been the feature favored by natural selection, with all the other effects being dragged along in its train...the EDAR variant arose about 35,000 years ago in central China and that the region was then quite warm and humid. Extra sweat glands would have been advantageous to the hunter-gatherers who lived at that time.\n\n > Thick hair and small breasts are visible sexual signals which, if preferred by men, could quickly become more common as the carriers had more children. \n\n > each of the effects of the EDAR variant may have been favored by natural selection at a different time. A series of selections on different traits thus made the variant version so common among East Asians.\n\n_URL_1_\n\nOf course these gene isn't responsible for the eye shape (epicanthic fold) common in Asian populations, but it's the same principle. \n\nMelanin is the pigment in human skin that makes it dark. It protects from the harmful effects of the sun's UV radiation, keeping the UV from damaging skin and the DNA in our skin cells.\n\nAs early humans migrated out of Africa, they were all dark from having evolved near the equator and needing the protection of melanin from the fierce sun. At some point, a mutation arose in a population that had migrated out of Africa that caused lighter color skin.\n\n > Some scientists suggest that lighter skin offered a strong survival advantage for people who migrated out of Africa by boosting their levels of bone-strengthening vitamin D; others have posited that its novelty and showiness simply made it more attractive to those seeking mates. \n\nEDIT: Vitamin D is made in your skin as a reaction to sunlight, so the Vitamin D theory of light skin goes that in the weaker sunlight of northern climates, having a light skin mutation gave you an evolutionary advantage because more of the sun's energy would penetrate the skin for form Vitamin D.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n**TLDR** We don't know for sure but here's the \"how\" and some theories \"why.\"",
"I'll link the TED talk video for skin colors... give me one second..\n\nedit: [Nina Jablonski: Skin color is an illusion](_URL_0_)",
"I don't want to sound racist but black people often have larger lips/ a bigger mouth, why is this?",
"I am not sure what the proof was for this, so I am gonna run with it as if it were a hypothetical. It has been theorized that the northeastern breezes that keep western europe unseasonably warm are the root cause for pale caucasian skin.\nSee, there are people ALL over the planet at the similar latitudes as western Europe, getting the same amount of winter sun as western Europe, but only in one place do we have white people. This stems from the warm atlantic breezes that have allowed western Europeans to get a longer growing season for gathering of vegetables, hunting of red meat animals and eventually the growing of grain. Other lattitudes don't have this, and subsisted on a fish diet for much of the winter. A diet heavy on the fish provides vitamin D, so the people in similar latitudes never had to develop lighter skin, hair and eyes. \nNo clue if it's true, but it sure sounds good, huh?\n",
"One possible theory goes like this: way back in the day, there were multiple species in the genus *homo*, particularly the Neanderthals in Europe and the Middle East, the Denisovans in Asia, and of course the Homo Sapiens (us) in Africa. Sometime in the last 200,000 years (sorry, I can't remember eras off the top of my head) lots of the Homo Sapiens migrated from Africa to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. As they did this, the Denisovans and Neanderthals became extinct. However, recent studies have yielded an interesting finding: European/Middle Eastern genes are about 4% Neanderthal DNA, while Native Australian/Asian genes contain around 6% DNA. This means that somewhere along the way, some Homo Sapiens decided, AND were able to procreate with members of other species. This could possibly have a relationship to the way people from certain regions look. However, this is just one theory.\nTL;DR Asians, Middle Easterns, and White People aren't 100% Homo Sapien.",
"Skin color appears to have been an adaptation to the wavelength of ultraviolet light. We need this ultraviolet light to stimulate the production of vitamin D. But if we get too much of this ultraviolet light, you'll just get skin cancer. So dark melanin blocks out most of the ultraviolet light, but lets enough through to still make vitamin D.\n\nBut beyond a certain latitude this wavelength of ultraviolet light is diminished. This is just because of the angle of refraction of sunlight through the atmosphere during the day. So dark pigmentation just diminished the ability to produce vitamin D. Removing the the pigmentation allows what little of this wavelength of ultraviolet light to be absorbed for the purpose of making vitamin D.\n\nThe narrower eyes for Asians -- I have only a guess: You don't get that sort of pervasive change over such an area without significant sexual selection. That is to say, you don't find pockets of east Asians in certain regions that have non-east Asiatic features. At the same time, west of the Himalayas there are basically no east-Asiatic features. Furthermore, nobody can think of any real adaptive advantage to the east-Asian features. So my feeling is that the best explanation is the same explanation for why there are usually an \"Asian\" categories on porn sites: There is a slightly stronger sexual desire for Asian features in humans. And over time in isolation, for about 40,000 years, the Asians cultivated fluke occurrences of eastern-Asiatic features until it was the most pervasive physical appearance.\n"
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55466s | what causes things to sound differently such as a breaking glass sound vs typing on a keyboard? | How does the composition of these materials affect the sound they can produce, if any, once disturbed in some fashion. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55466s/eli5_what_causes_things_to_sound_differently_such/ | {
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"Sound is air vibrating. The air vibrates because it's being bumped into by a surface that's vibrating. Those surfaces have different characteristic amplitude and frequencies due to their materials, construction and size. So a large, flappy piece of paper is going to make very different vibrations than a big brick, when given similar energy inputs. Then the air in their vicinity is vibrated from the surface vibrating and different sounds are produced. \n\nThink about it: How fast can you shake a marble back and forth? Can you shake a bowling ball at the same number of oscillations per second? (Well, yes, but the amount of energy required goes up in proportion to the mass). Or hit a bowl of jello with a hammer and hit a bowl of mashed potatoes with the same hammer. Which one jiggles more? At a microscopic level, that is what is happening to the air molecules that make the sound. "
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2mhthp | is this paper about roundup being dangerous legit? | _URL_0_
EDIT: Sorry for the crappy title. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mhthp/eli5_is_this_paper_about_roundup_being_dangerous/ | {
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" > Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.\n\nThat seems sketchy, just reading the abstract...",
"What's dangerous about this study is that that abstract seems to have attitude about it -- as if the people running the study have an agenda.\n\nI think if they had just said, \"we show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport,\" that would have been enough to get their point across.\n\nI would never celebrate or discount a scientific paper based on the abstract (or it's tone), however I would only read this paper to get the specific causal effects of CYP enzyme interface and leave the rest of their inferences for the philosophers.",
"\"Exogenous semiotic entropy\" aka a term they made up.\n\nArticle criticizing that paper for bad science:\n_URL_0_",
"Having worked in a wheat genetics lab for 5 years, I can weigh in. Roundup is bad for you if you inhale or ingest it. As is any other fertilizer or pesticide. Spraying it on crops should not affect you. The reason for this is because it isn't sprayed on the seeds (the part that is used) and even when it does, there are regulations for how long you must wait between spraying and harvest. If an unscrupulous farmer sprayed then cut immediately, you may get sick. However the chances of that happening are very very unlikely. Also, many crops have been selectively bred to not need fertilizer or pesticide, that is what my research was about. We would check each breed to see if they carried pest resistant and virus resistant genes so that we could breed stronger healthier and safer crops. "
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ev9uqf | how does isothermal clothing work? | I tried looking it up before posting here, but since I am making this post, you can take a guess on how that went. I even tried Youtube and tried searching this r/ but it led nowhere. I couldn't find anything on how it works. Just that there are some more "advanced" pieces with body-mapping technology applied. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ev9uqf/eli5_how_does_isothermal_clothing_work/ | {
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"Actually I don't think it does. it's just a marketing gimmick. usually, it's a base layer that's made to trap some air between your skin and the clothing (for insulation). in the old days, it was just little dimples they have grander schemes now and haven't found they work any better, it just allows them to use more plastic in the fabric. If they advertise isothermic then it should also lay out the rest of the system and the temperature range it's made to work in. Usually, I find the clothing that does give you the intended use, doesn't necessarily cater to the fashion market."
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cuabo0 | disney world is such a money maker, why are the cities surrounding it so poor with such a housing crisis? | Poor Florida. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cuabo0/eli5_disney_world_is_such_a_money_maker_why_are/ | {
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"The thing I would say is that no one who goes to Disney world is really going to stay for a long time in that area. Two I don’t really think any of those theme parks really pay there employees all that much. And most of the area around is full of swamp places.",
"Disney doesn't pay a living wage. Also many of the homes near the park are Air BnBs for the tourists. It jacks up the rental rate for residents.",
"Look into the history of the city of Celebration, FL, and learn the story of Disney's attempt (and failure) at building the perfect city",
"Because that money does not go back to the local economy. It instead gets funneled to corporate accounts, and the corporate team doesn't live in these neighborhoods.\n\nA company doing well only helps the local area if they put the money back in. For example paying workers well, ordering supplies from local companies, making donations to local charities, paying a fair amount of taxes.\n\n\nWhat usually happens is that none of those happen. Workers get low wages, supplies are bought from the cheapest foreign supplier, donations are pretty often less than 0.05%, and they find ways to avoid paying taxes.",
"It allows Disney to leach off of the desperate families by offering them employment but at rates of pay so poor they are unable to move out of their current situation.",
"All the headlines say that central Florida is experiencing an *affordable* housing crisis. This is different from the housing crisis that followed the Great Recession, where lots of people couldn't afford mortgages they had already taken out and lost their homes. This crisis means that some people in the region can't find housing in their price range. You can get in that situation by having a lot of low income people, by having a lot of expensive housing, or both. \n\nCentral Florida isn't exactly the richest region in the US. It's swampy and plagued by heat and hurricanes. Some counties have poverty rates up to 30%, though the areas around Disney World are more in the 15-20% range, so it's unlikely that Disney World is making surrounding communities *less* prosperous (though that's a low bar). \n\nDisney World could be contributing on the supply side. If you are a real estate developer in the region, you will probably get a higher return to building a resort, hotel, or timeshares than you would with inexpensive resident housing. Land is in fixed supply, so every vacation home in that area takes up property that could be use to house residents. This could be compounded with the fact that even if Disney World pays a decent wage, it's paying a lot of people to do relatively unskilled jobs like concessions and janitorial work. Those jobs are necessary, but the people who do them are getting priced out of the areas around their workplace, forcing them into longer commutes.",
"The area around Disney World is not especially poor. Check these maps:\n\n_URL_2_\n_URL_3_\n\nThe Orlando area has relatively low poverty compared to the Florida panhandle or Miami. It's not spectacularly wealthy, but it's not bad either.\n\nThe Orlando area also doesn't have a community-wide housing crisis. Housing prices there are near the national average.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIt does, however, have a low-income housing crisis. There are very few homes for the very poor. \n\n_URL_1_\n\nLow-income housing doesn't happen by accident in growing cities: opportunities must be created -- or at least permitted -- by the local government, which reflects the priorities of its voters. IMO, Orlando has a low-income housing crisis because it has a whole lot of residents who don't want a trailer park or housing project anywhere near their retirement home."
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"https://www.bebr.ufl.edu/economics/website-article/poverty-and-income-florida"
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6ajvml | why do most bipedal robots always keep their knees bent a bit when standing? | See for example the robots in [this](_URL_1_) and [this](_URL_0_).
As humans, we don't stand like that very often because it would be tiring since we would have to be tensing muscles the whole time, Instead we can rely on ligaments/tendons to support us.
I suppose a robot doesn't have to use energy to keep muscles tensed for that knees-bent pose, but what benefit does it bring to stay in that position and never get truly upright? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ajvml/eli5_why_do_most_bipedal_robots_always_keep_their/ | {
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"I've always been under the impression that it was due to balance. The robot could stand up, but once upright the weight of the bot would make it lose balance as the parts aren't distributed in a way that allows for the robot to stand completely upright.\n\nI eagerly await a more informed answer :D\n",
"Has to do with the way they walk. It's called Zero-Moment-Point movement. Basically they position their legs, so that they do not produce any moment in horizontal direction, thus the robot cannot flip over. The drawback of the calculation behind this is that you cannot allow two axles to be co linear because then you have a singularity that you cannot calculate, because you then have two axles that could cancel out a momentum but you cannot chose which. The easiest solution is to forbid the joint to be stretched. \n\nEdit: To put it more ELI5: IF you have two axles that are in line the robot brain cannot chose which one should move in what direction to make the next step since they have the same direction. So they forbid them to be in line.",
"I'm still an industrial electronics student but if I had to guess I would say that it is because when engineers program robots they are given a \"home position\" that the robot stays in. In this case the home position is the one that best allows the robot to react to varying conditions. Like if the robot were to step into a hole and the knees were locked straight it would have trouble being able to step down into the hole because that joint can't rotate any further. But if the knee is in the middle of its rotation then it can straighten to step down into the hole or rotate further to step up onto something. Basically it's the position that allows a robot to do as much as possible and as far efficiency goes we are still just getting the kinks worked out of getting a robot walking. So it's not the most efficient way to stand but it's the easiest. ",
"Because they are trying to model them off humans, because our bodies have adapted to walking on two legs and the closer we get to mimicking that, the more functional they will be. As humans we actually do stand with our knees slightly bent. Try standing in one place with your knees locked. It gets very tiring very fast, and if you are in a very hot environment or thick clothing, you can actually pass out because of it. I don't know the exact reasoning but it was what they always told us in military school during stationary reward parades. And I saw many a person drop like a fly because they didn't listen and locked their knees. ",
"I'm throwing my hat in the ring for balance, and you kind of touched on this in your question.\n\n-Humans-\n\nThere are several muscles, nerve endings, and neurological pathways that are triggered when we are standing. Our muscle fibers, ligaments, tendons, and nerves are always adjusting to the environmental influences on our steady standing state (knees bent barely bent).\n\nJust like standing normally, when we engage in a straight leg stand, our feet are gripping into the floor/shoes, our ankles are pivoting and compensating, our calf/leg muscles are flexing to keep us upright, our arms continually providing counter-weight (not to mention our brain instructing all of this). You are correct that we don't do this very long, but the same thing happens in both scenarios.\n\n-Robots-\n\nWe don't the same level of complexity in the skeletal/nervous structure; therefore, they have to rely on a level surface and proper weight distribution. With legs straight, there is no opportunity to react to small environmental changes sending that weight to-and-fro.\n\n\nThe slightly lower center of gravity provides much more stability and structure to withstand these forces (for example, think LEGO people - it's tough for them to stand when holding things in their hands, so we have to compensate the weight offset by angling their torso, or just glue them in place ;) ). The more height you have and/or the more weight gravity is having force on, the harder it is to keep upright.\n\nEDIT: formatting",
"Humans _do_ keep their knees bent when standing, just not as obviously. If you \"lock\" your knees straight while standing you'll pass out. This happens to military recruits standing at attention all the time.\n\nIndeed part of learning to stand at attention is learning to keep your knees bent.\n\nBut an average human shifts around constantly in autonomic balance as the pressure in their joints signals reflexes in the spine to adjust posture. This lets us stand in \"much riskier\" postures.\n\nRobots tend to _lack_ this second signaling system and the fast-twitch muscles that make it work. So their designers have them park in a much more stable partial-crouch.\n\nRobots also tend to have larger feet per unit height to ensure a larger range of motion that still keeps the center of mass over the center of support.\n\nTL;DR :: Robots are slower so they need to be more careful, but humans _do_ keep their knees bent while standing still... or they fall down.\n\n_URL_0_"
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183qo2 | how does the body "know" to try and reattach itself to a severed limb? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/183qo2/how_does_the_body_know_to_try_and_reattach_itself/ | {
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"Uhm, it totally doesn't.\n\nI'm having difficulty understanding what you are asking, exactly. Like, let's say I am trying to fix my lawnmower when a neighbor kid herpderps over and turns the motor on. Off goes my left hand.\n\nMy left wrist is NOT sending signals to my brain saying \"Look! The hand is right there! Let's reattach!\" All it's sending to the brain is \"Holyshit, a lot a lot of tissue just got severely damaged ow ow ow ow ow,\" or possibly \"Hot damn, you're losing a lot of blood. You should go into shock so you have a fighting chance of getting yourself to a hospital or something.\" Now, assuming you are not blind, your eyes *are* sending your brain the message of \"Lookie, it's right there\" and your brain, which has basically always had the will to live, hatches a plan saying \"I gotta put this on ice and take it to the ER immediately\" and then carries that out.\n\nPotentially you are trying to ask \"Once the doctor puts the hand back in place and sews things up, how do the tissues on the hand \"know\" to line up properly and attach themselves to the tissues in the wrist?\" Well, again, they don't. The tissues in your hand and wrist, provided they are getting adequate assistance from the body (enough blood flow, platelets, infection-fighting white blood cells) will try to heal the wound any way they can. Scabs and equivalent connective tissues will be made by your body and then eventually skin and permanent tissue will grow around/under it until the scabs can go away. If my hand is obliterated in the lawnmower, the end of my wrist will STILL try to scab and heal itself, it will just end up as a nub. If, however, my hand happens to have been professionally medically put back in the right place, then when my body starts scabbing/rebuilding, it will encounter my hand, and the reattachment process will include it. This is also why skin grafts work. The body is scabbing up, and will scab up against whatever is there, an in the case of skin grafts it goes \"Oh how convenient! More skin to scab up against!\" and continue doing its thing. If the doctor effs up the alignment, my body will not just gloss over the error and make everything be hunky-dory again because he was \"close enough.\" I'm gonna lose that hand. And in fact, I probably will anyway. The bigger or more complicated the part you are reattaching is, the less likely it will be to reattach successfully."
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6f2foo | how does anxiety cause one to experience feeling unattached to one's body, or "derealization"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6f2foo/eli5_how_does_anxiety_cause_one_to_experience/ | {
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"It's a coping mechanism; really short answer, dissociation/derealization is a defense mechanism to deal with stress or trauma. Not being there = not having to deal with the stressful situation. If you need me to expand on it I can. :o\n\nSource: I have severe dissociation and dissociative identity disorder "
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7e975d | why the value of so many western currencies is roughly equal? | USD, EUR, CHF, GBP, AUD, CAD, are more or less aligned to a 1:1 ratio, when I don't think there is any economic/financial reason why they should be so. Is it just the result of a convenient choice? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7e975d/eli5_why_the_value_of_so_many_western_currencies/ | {
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"Many of these currencies are or were pegged to the USD after WWII. Since the United States had the vast majority of the world's gold (lend-lease was expensive, as it turns out), the agreement was that the USD would be backed by gold and the other currencies would be backed by the Dollar. (The [Bretton Woods](_URL_0_) system)\n\nIn fact, France and Switzerland actually followed through on this, redeeming their reserve USD for around $250 million in gold in the late 60's. This of course prompted Nixon to make the Dollar free floating, backed by nothing in particular. (The Nixon Shock)\n\nSince the Euro and Australian Dollar were created after this system, it made sense to value them around 1:1 with the USD. The Pound Sterling and the Swiss Franc were initially valued at around 4:1 with the dollar, but the post war economic boom in America rapidly increased the relative value if American dollars, bringing them more in line with each other. \n\nThe Canadian dollar, on the other hand, was pegged at 1.1:1 in the 40s and has been slightly less valuable ever since. \n\nTL;DR: America had all the gold after WWII and made the rules.",
"That's a great question! I'm sure someone else can give a more complete answer, but it's in part due to the fact that several of these western countries had explicit currency pegs tying their currency to the price of gold at similar rates (so, you could covert dollars to gold at a fixed rate the government set) - read about the Bretton Woods system for more info about that: _URL_0_. For a time several countries also explicitly tied their exchange rates to the US dollar (so, you could exchange that currency for US dollars at fixed rates). This kept the exchange rates relatively stable, and many of these countries chose pegs that were near a 1:1 ratio.\n\nToday, those countries you listed don't have explicit pegs, but the central banks operate in similar ways. Many central banks of developed western countries either formally or informally manage their policies in order to hit an inflation target of around 1-2%. This and the fact that the currencies had similar initial values due to the choice of the previously fixed rates keeps the exchange rates fairly stable as the different central banks have similar goals. "
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a0evuv | why does eating more frequently increase your appetite? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a0evuv/eli5_why_does_eating_more_frequently_increase/ | {
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"Simple. You stomach is elastic. Eating a lot causes it to stretch and grow. Not eating a lot causes it to shrink. Your appetite always drives you to fill your stomach, whatever size it currently is, so if you eat a lot, it take more food to fill it since you are stretching it out (and I think it grows if it stretches a lot.)"
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9tt8me | do wifi signals face resistance when passing through walls? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9tt8me/eli5_do_wifi_signals_face_resistance_when_passing/ | {
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"yes it does, the signal cant go throught too many walls, it get weaker everytime and if you got heavy duty old walls (like 1m thick) it doesnt go throught at all\nthe medium absorb more energy than the air and the signal is gone",
"If you think of the WiFi signal like a stream of water coming from a hose and the wall like a mesh screen, when you point the stream coming from the hose at the mesh, most of it goes through but the stream is slightly degraded. The thicker the wall or the make up, is it a wooden wall a concrete one a steel one, etc., then the tighter the mesh so the less water goes through. ",
"Yes, but walls aren't always the big issue!\n\nWaves can be absorbed by walls, reflected off of surfaces like windows and metal panels, and they can be grounded really easily.\n\nI used to do a bit of RF work and we found the biggest thing that hampered us was either metal fences (didn't matter that they're full of holes, they act like antennas and ground the shit out of it) and even trees, which behaved similarly.\n\nOften times walls (even fairly thick ones) aren't the biggest deal breaker.",
"They can also be more hampered by plaster walls than by sheetrock because some plaster walls contain a wire mesh. I live in an old apt building with those kinds of plaster walls. My computer is only probaby about 40/50ft from our router, but it passes through 3 walls. The signal was terrible, and sometimes not present at all. I had to buy a 100ft Ethernet cord and wind it all the way to my room. ",
"Man, do they. I live in a pretty old house. So the walls are all plaster and chicken wire. I barely get WiFi in my room that’s like 20 feet from the router. "
]
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||
4bh2ir | how exactly does a power strip work? | How can you plug in multiple different things into the strip without it overloading on power or something . . . ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bh2ir/eli5_how_exactly_does_a_power_strip_work/ | {
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"The outlets in a power strip are wired up in parallel. As you plug more items in the load does increase. Most power strips have a circuit breaker on them that will trip if you exceed the load, if not your outlet should have a circuit breaker as well. It is entirely possible to overload a power strip, it is just most consumers don't have that many high draw items in one area and professionals such as contractors already know better.",
"You power outlet has a maximum load, usually (but not always) 16A - which corresponds to 1760W with 110V and 3680W with 230V. If the power draw on an outlet is higher than that, the heat dissipated in the wiring would be too high, and therefore the power strip should have an overload protection which cuts power if power draw exceeds the maximum.\n\nSo if you are in the US and have a vacuum cleaner and kettle with 1500W each, and you connect them to a single power brick, it should cut power before anything serious happens.",
"Electricity is like a road network of copper where each each group of electron travel in that road with the same load, 120V. Each road has a capacity in group of electron per second (A). If there is too much amperage, the road melt and it is unusable. \n\nPower strip just prolong the road with more exits, and that can bring more amperage to the network, which can not only be over capacity for the strip, but also the plug it is been plugged in."
]
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[],
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dnz1ac | how are our intestines able to sort between gas, liquids and poo? | And what are the mechanisms that allow to distinguish whether we are going to fart or poo? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dnz1ac/eli5_how_are_our_intestines_able_to_sort_between/ | {
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"f5ijmxw"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Liquid is extracted by the large intestine. Essentially the large intestine has chemical pumps that take advantage of osmosis to force water out of the intestines and into the body. Salt is pumped into the liquid between the cells and this causes osmosis to push water into that liquid and from there the bloodstream. \n\nThis leaves solid wastes and gases (which comes from swallowed air and gut bacteria). The large intestine has nerves in it, which essentially allows us to feel what's in our large intestine. Gas and solid waste behave differently and over time we learn to feel the difference."
]
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[]
] |
|
239hzn | how does a surveying work? | I see people surveying at construction sites all the time, but I have no idea what they are actually doing. What is that thing on the tripod? And what are they looking at? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/239hzn/eli5_how_does_a_surveying_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgurz60"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Basically it is a measuring device to measure angles and distances, and elevation.\n\nSo a building is designed on a computer model of the site. You need a way to take that electronic information and place it on the real ground so the guys actually building the building know where to build the building, or the new road or whatever.\n\nThe thing on the tripod is kinda like a telescope, it has cross hairs and can measure very precise angles and distances, the newer ones are robotic and use gps.\n\nSurveying also works the opposite way, you can measure stuff on the ground and recreate it electronically on a computer."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
4e6gc1 | why does it take some people longer than others to be alert upon waking? as in, why does it take some people longer to really "wake up"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4e6gc1/eli5_why_does_it_take_some_people_longer_than/ | {
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"text": [
"Great question, I would actually like an in-depth science explanation though. I very recently switched from being a snoozer to just getting up when the alarm goes off. So I'm getting up at the exact same time every morning. It's so much easier to get up now after about a month and I'm more alert than before. \nThis works well even if I've been up late the night before. ",
"I think it depends on which sleep cycle you're in when you wake up. If you wake up in your Rapid Eye Movement(REM) sleep it will take longer to wake up fully and you may feel groggy for the rest of the day. But if you wake up in between or even on your own it is easier to become alert. ",
"My wife laughs at me about this. When something happens suddenly, like an earthquake or a car crash, I jump out of bed and hop into action well before I'm awake. It's cool and everything, except in those cases when it's not really an emergency, like when she accidentally banged something against the bed frame and asleep me thought it was an earthquake. I had my robe on and was halfway out the room before I realized she was calling my name. ",
"Cortisol production also has to do with this. Some people make more cortisol in their sleep. These people tend to appear to \"snap awake\"... _URL_0_ (edit: I just woke up and forgot to link to the wiki-sauce)."
]
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[],
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"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol_awakening_response"
]
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||
5x7fk4 | the artistic value of rothko's orange, red, yellow painting | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5x7fk4/eli5_the_artistic_value_of_rothkos_orange_red/ | {
"a_id": [
"deg19eq"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"Like everything else, something is worth what another person is willing to pay for it. A sub that focuses on art work might be a better place."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1kcopa | what is "dutch disease"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kcopa/eli5what_is_dutch_disease/ | {
"a_id": [
"cbnkvds"
],
"score": [
3
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"text": [
"The Dutch can breathe easy, because, contrary to popular belief, Dutch disease is not a flesh-eating disease in the Netherlands.\n\nIt's an economic term used to describe an indirect relationship between the usage of natural resources and agriculture. Exploitation of natural resources increases, agriculture declines. Now, why is this? Because the more and more money you make from natural resources, the stronger a country's currency can be compared to other nations. Because of this, a country's *other* exports become more expensive for different countries to buy, which makes the agricultural market much less competitive, thus causing a decline in the sector."
]
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[]
] |
||
3hdt04 | what is canon? | Not the camera manufacturer, the literary term. How is something canon or canonical? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hdt04/eli5_what_is_canon/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"The term was largely used when referring to the Bible. The many authors whose writings appear in the Bible wrote many other things as well. The pieces deemed \"The Bible\" were democratically selected by high ranking clergy. These are referred to as \"Canon\", while the many other writings of biblical authors are deemed \"apocrypha\" and most religions basically think that the canonical writings are inspired by God and for some reason that the apocryphal texts were not. They were mostly excluded because clergy didn't like what they said.\n\nAnyways, \"canon\" is used to refer to the \"official\" part of a story, while other related texts that take place in the same world but aren't \"official\" are \"apocryphal\". For example, many authors wrote stories that took place in the Star Wars universe, but George Lucas didn't read and approve every word, so they are consider non-canonical. "
]
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[]
] |
|
2vhcl5 | why obama is criticized for going golfing? | Is he supposed to stay in the Oval Office 24/7? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vhcl5/eli5_why_obama_is_criticized_for_going_golfing/ | {
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"It's part of the partisan bickering that comes with a two party system. If the President is a member of your party and takes a break, he's been working really hard and deserves it. If he's a member of the opposition, he's a lazy bum. ",
"Thats what everyone expects, why should he have a small bit of a normal life is what they are thinking",
"People like to criticize for anything and they forgot he is a person who should get to choose what he does with his own free time away from his job.",
"Just like how Democrats and news agencies criticized GW Bush for spending a lot of vacation time at his ranch, Obama is criticized by his opponents for taking his own time off. No matter the president, his opponents will reach for anything they can hold against him.\n\nOf course, Bush actually did set the record for most vacation time ever taken buy a President. I haven't actually seen stats for Obama's time off, but I'd be interested to know how comparable they are.",
"Well, it's a bit funny when coming from the republicans as George W. Bush took way more vacation days.\n\nBush had an average of 128 vacation days per year. Obama has 27 days per year(as of the middle of last year). Yes that is a different of 101 days per year:P"
]
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2q9nj3 | how can windmills compare to nuclear powerplants, where the generators spin with thousands of rounds per minute? | And windmills rotate with less than 50RPM. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2q9nj3/eli5_how_can_windmills_compare_to_nuclear/ | {
"a_id": [
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"Windmills produce less power, that's why you build more of them",
"Simple. With a gearbox.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nYou hook up the slower spinning big gear connected to the wind facing turbine and a smaller gear to a generator and presto. The generator spins faster. You can repeat this with a series of gears and have the generator spin at an optimum rpm.\n\nThe amount of energy you generate isn't dependent on how fast you can spin a generator though, or at least only part of the equation. It also depends on the capacity of the generator in terms of how large it is, how much copper winding it has, etc... and the ability to turn that generator depends on the force the generator is provided. "
]
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[],
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"http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gears.htm"
]
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4ilgbo | how does "trading futures" work? i've been told it's a good and cheap way to play the stock market, but everything i've read on it confuses me even more. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ilgbo/eli5how_does_trading_futures_work_ive_been_told/ | {
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"Futures are contracts. You agree to buy or sell a certain amount of something (stocks, commodities, whatever) on a date in the future at a price you agree to now. You are betting the movement in price between now and the contract date is favorable to you. If you are selling, you are betting the price will fall, so by setting a price now you will get more than whatever it will be worth on the day. If you are buying it is the opposite. You are betting the price will go up so you are locking in today's price.",
"So I come up to you and say I will deliver to you, a ten pound ready-to-eat turkey on November 22nd if you give me $50 right now... and you think \"that's a good price\" and you give me fifty bucks.\n\nI have just sold you a future comodity or service. We have just performed futures trading.\n\nNow I've sold you that promise. I owe you a Turkey. But I don't have a turkey yet. And if I had a ready-to-eat turkey right now then it'd be inedible in six months anyway.\n\nSo I have six month's to arrange for a turkey to show up at your door on the 22nd. If I can make it happen for under $50 then I made a profit. If it costs me $65 then I lost 15 bucks.\n\nNow lets move to something that could survive six months. Something like a barrel of oil. If I have someplace to store that barrel of oil _and_ I have a way to deliver that oil, then I can buy it at any time and store it.\n\nSo I sell you a barrel of oil for November delivery, for $50 right now. I am betting that sometime between now and then I can get that barrel for less than $50. And Ideally I can just go and have the oil guy deliver \"my barrel to you\" at the requested time.\n\nSo you can go out and arrange for your power plant or refinery to receive 500 barrels of oil a day for all of the foreseeable future, weeks, months, or even years in advance. And the people you bough it from already got the money and are on the hook. If you've got a year's worth of oil lined up at $50 a barrel and the prices rise to $100 a barrel it's my problem not yours.\n\nOther things can work this way too. You can buy my winter corn crop today. I promise you 1,000 bushels of corn and you give me money. I use that money to buy the seed now and grow the corn. I'm on a hook for that 1,000 bushels, it's already sold. But if I can produce more, or produce it for less than you paid, then I make money.\n\nSo \"futures\" are bets on future prices and availability. If I think something is going to be cheap and you think it'll be expensive, you buy from me at a price that's less than you think it will cost, and a price that I think is high. ~~And if we are both right we've spread the risk and the reward.~~ (EDIT: we can\nt both be right enough to make a split profit.) Its essentially impossible for us both to be right or wrong at the same time.\n\nSo most of the stock and commodities markets are just bets. Seller is betting the price will go down, buyer is betting the price will go up.\n\nShort sales and futures sales are just making the bet before you have the item on hand.\n\n(\"Short Sales\" is sort-of like futures trading. Your broker lends you stock to sell right now, and you have to return that stock by buying some of that same stock by a fixed future date _and_ you have to pay a fee for the loan. But both are about selling things now that you'll have to buy in the future. The flaming disasters happen if, by that future date, _nobody_ is selling what you need to buy to make good on your promises.)\n\nIt's higher risk. (What happens if all the corn dies from blight?) but that risk _can_ net higher rewards.\n\nIt's only cheap for as long as you don't lose big."
]
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34hta2 | how does the brita filter detector work? | I'm talking about [this thing](_URL_0_). It's not connected to the filter and the underside of it is just a plastic backing. How can it be deciding how fresh the water filter is? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34hta2/eli5_how_does_the_brita_filter_detector_work/ | {
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"text": [
"Its just a timer, programmed with the average lifespan of a filter that is reset when you put a new filter in, nothing magical. Make sure you reset every time you change filters or it gets confusing!",
"it counts the number of times you tip the pitcher. it assumes that on average each time you tip it forward another glass of water has been poured out (and the LED will blink). the filter life is about 40 gallons, so it predicts when you've gotten close to the end of the useful life of the filter.\n\nwhen the yellow LED starts to blink you have about 2 weeks use (on average) left. which means you should have another filter ready.\n\nwhen the red LED blinks each time you've reached the average useful life for the filter. of course its all pretty imprecise, and it varies depending on whats in your water (sediment or hard water will cause the filter to become too slow to use sooner). \n\nin any event, after two months they suggest you replace the filter.\n\nBTW: you only need to press the RESET button when you install a new filter, not each time you refill the pitcher with water."
]
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"http://imgur.com/O1vAP02"
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[],
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1zvicm | how bi-planes are able to time/shoot their guns without the bullets hitting the propellers. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zvicm/eli5_how_biplanes_are_able_to_timeshoot_their/ | {
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"In the very earliest aircraft, they wouldn't shoot at all. Aircraft were used for reconnaissance, not for fighting, and pilots of aircraft on opposing sides would wave at each other as they flew past each other.\n\nThen, people started to figure out that, if they had guns, they could shoot down the other side's aircraft to prevent them carrying out their reconnaissance. But shooting had to be done sideways, so that you didn't shoot your propeller.\n\nEventually, the [gun synchronizer](_URL_0_) was invented. This times the gun's shots so that they went between the propeller blades, and allowed pilots to shoot forwards for the first time.",
"As others have said they invented a gear to fire between the props. The machine guns were turned into semiautomatic guns that were fired by the props. The props would send a signal to the gun to fire when it was out of the way. This would fire 1 bullet. This technically means that they were no longer machine guns.\n\nHowever, there were other methods. One involved reinforcing the props with metal and angling them and just letting bullets hit them. This did result in planes shooting themselves down.\n\nAnother method was to put the guns on top of the wing above the pilot so it fired over the prop. \n\nAnother was to put in a second seat and that person would have a gun that could fire to the sides and rear.",
"While all of the responses so far are good (the wiki link explains quite well in-depth, with illustrations), I'd like to try making this as ELI5/TL;DR as I can:\n\nThe pilot's trigger is not really the same as a trigger on a handgun - it does not make the weapon fire. Instead, it works more like a safety - when pressed down the safety is off. The trigger is attached to the propeller - the propeller will pull the trigger each time it is in a position where the bullet will miss.",
"In some earlier cases, there were actually wedges attached to the back of the prop to deflect bullets that were fired at the wrong time."
]
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85xose | why is it unhealthy/more difficult for hunger’s sake to eat a 2000 calorie breakfast instead of lighter meals throughout the day? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/85xose/eli5_why_is_it_unhealthymore_difficult_for/ | {
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"Your body doesn't need 2000 calories all at once. If you eat a single 2000 calorie meal, then your body will use however many calories it needs at that moment, and then store the rest as fat to be used later. However, when you need calories a few hours later, it won't immediately dip into your fat reserves. Instead it makes you feel hungry. Your body would rather turn fresh food into energy than stored fat. \n\n",
"It's neither unhealthy nor inherently difficult, the fact is you've simply adjusted to eating throughout the day. You could adjust to eating all at once if you stick with it long enough (or eating more often).\n\nThere are some theories about timing your meals for optimum absorption and use of macros and nutrients, but at the end of the day the difference is either negligible or only useful in a case by case basis. All else equal, given time you'll likely notice no significant difference eating all your food at once or spread throughout the day. If you're one of the people who would notice a difference, you'd likely be advanced enough in nutrition to not be asking. "
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7pisr5 | why is it scary when kids sing or laugh or say nursery rhymes in horror movies/games? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7pisr5/eli5_why_is_it_scary_when_kids_sing_or_laugh_or/ | {
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"I'm speaking with no actual knowledge on the matter, but I would guess that it's mostly context. There is almost always extremely creepy sounding atmospheric music and/or visuals accompanying the children's voices. I think it's partially just the tone of the scene, and partially the juxtaposition of the sounds of children saying/singing things that would normally be joyful while at the same time, very disconcerting notes and sounds are playing behind it, often accompanied by suspenseful/scary/unnerving events occurring on-screen. There very likely is a defined psychological reason that it bothers us, but I don't know what it is.",
"Generally, it's done in a minor key where the tune is altered, so anything can be spoopy when done that way (Have you seen the Teletubby episode in black and white that plays a Joy Division Song over it?). \n\nAlso, one of the early films to do this was Nightmare on Elm Street where kids are jumping rope and singing 1-2 Freddy's coming for you, 3-4, better lock your door. \n\nIn this case, it's contextual. Freddy Kruger was a child molester and murderer, so it's about dead kids, and the context makes it spoopier.",
"Honestly, kids are just fukin creepy. And when they are used for actual creepy purposes, they turn up to 11",
"its a really old trope\n\npeople used to think you could give birth to demon babies, and obviously that terrified people. that fear was used in art, and that art influenced more art, which in turn influenced more art.\n\nthe fact is, anything can be made scary. you are probably scared of sharks, or at least know someone who is. however, you've probably never heard of anyone who is scared of catfish? why is that? they are about as dangerous as sharks, don't look too much different than sharks (just a big ol fish), and have razor sharp teeth. but art has made sharks scary - despite the fact that only about 1 person in the us gets killed by one ever two years. for the record, 10 americans die every day in the us from drowning - meaning that the water itself is far more deadly than the sharks within it.\n\nso once people got the idea that it made sense that kids should be scary, it was pretty easy to make them scary. ",
"It's the incongruity of horror and innocence. Vsauce did a good video on [creepiness](_URL_0_). It' similar to humor, where two seemingly exclusive ideas are justaposed. But in humor, they are resolved harmlessly. When something is creepy, your brain keeps you wary because it senses a potentially dangerous signal, but also has a conflicting signal that something may be safe.",
"Children like animals are the harbingers of doom. They are apparently ignorant, yet in their ignorance their minds are open to the bizarre such as the supernatural. \n\nChildren being weird. Dogs acting up. Sudden flock of birds.... Ghosts are coming!",
"For me kids general don’t have a moral compass or at least it’s not fully developed. So there is no telling what they are capable of even playing or something. Mix that with atmosphere and the kids having other worldly abilities. Nope nope nope!"
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j4jkn | can someone explain elasticity of demand and how it relates to the price of crude oil and other commodities? | Thx. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j4jkn/can_someone_explain_elasticity_of_demand_and_how/ | {
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"I'll do my best, though I have a somewhat ameturish knowledgebase myself. Explaining it **like you're five**.\n\nLets say that you own a store. You want to have customers, so you set nice and low prices. It works and people come and buy your stuff. This is great but you need to make some money. \n\nYou want to find out: If you raise the price by a little bit, will your customers still want to buy it? So you do some asking around.\n\nFor some things, like bottled water, people are OK with paying a little more.\n\nOn paper clips, people are totally against it and won't buy from you.\n\nTo wrap up the analogy, the demand for the bottled water would be \"inelastic,\" because people still wanted it after the price went up.\n\nThe demand for paper clips would be \"elastic\" because people weren't as willing to pay the higher price.\n\nWe use those terms because if someone wants something less because the price is higher, they're flexible. Elastic. They want it, but not *that* bad. And vice versa.",
"People don't want to buy things if they cost too much. Some things, though, are so important that they'll buy them even if the price goes up.\n\nPeople probably won't pay a million dollars to buy milk, but they'll probably pay five dollars because everyone needs milk and most people have five dollars.\n\nAnd we like to go to the movies, but we probably won't go to see The Smurfs if movie tickets cost a hundred dollars each. \n\nBut everyone needs gas for their car s, and that's why they'll pay eighty dollars to gas up their car even though that's a lot of money for gas. And that's why daddy always says bad words when we go to the gas station."
]
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43ftr1 | why did chairman mao kill so many people including teachers? what could he have been trying to accomplish? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43ftr1/eli5_why_did_chairman_mao_kill_so_many_people/ | {
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"There are two moments in which post-war China suffered mass loss of life.\n\n1)\tThe Great Leap Forward (GLF)\n2)\tThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR)\n\nYour question presupposes that Mao personally killed people in the GLF and GPCR, or at least that their death was his intention. Any serious understanding of the Chinese revolution and the post war years up to Mao’s death highlights how silly this idea would be. Mao was a member of a massive and developed political apparatus (the CCP), which held divergent views and contained harsh political disputes and infighting. To place blame for the deaths solely him is increasingly dubious the more you read about the history of China. We can highlight his role as a source of policy and as the ‘great helmsmen’, and in this way we can morally and historically hold him accountable to an extent, but to say that it was intention to kill millions of people, which is presupposed in your question, that’s absurd. \n\nIt’s interesting that so many bad historians prefer to extrapolate on the psychology of Mao, something I admit we can know a little bit about, but is often largely not the thing we should look at if we want to understand historical events, particularly the GLF and GPCR. The notion of intention relies on a psychological reading of Mao, and it is from there that the ludicrous equation of Mao with Hitler (“even worse!”) is made. It is important that these psychological portraits (“Mao was a monster!”) are generally made without historical or political analysis of Mao or the CCP. Often, they are done with a common-sensical invocation stylized in the manner of a dull monologue by a Dad on the holidays.\n\nYou can read about this on your own. I would suggest Meisner’s “Mao’s China and After”, which I will derive much of the information below from. It is a great primer on the Chinese revolution and done in a critical way that attempts to hold Mao up to his own principles.\n\nAnother one to look up is, “Was Mao Really a Monster?”, the later which attacks the lack of credible source material used by bad historians when writing about Mao. \n\nFinally, I cannot recommend enough the book, William Hinton’s “Fanshen” which highlights the land reform and revolutionary process in a small village in China, as observed by the author. It will give you the emotional depth necessary to truly appreciate how important Mao and the communists were in transforming Chinese society. It truly was a liberation from a two thousand year hell.\n\nThe majority of post war deaths in China occurred in the GLF. In order to understand the GLF, I’ll give background on why the project happened in the first place.\n\nBefore that,however, briefly on the GPCR. This was a dynamic and complex process involving many political actors, both on the right and the left. The majority of deaths that occurred were leftist revolutionary elements being killed by rightist military elements. Mao and his call to eradicate the bourgeoisie that had inhabited in the party took a form well outside his, or his wife’s, control. The people on the ground were relatively autonomous from Beijing, even going farther then Mao (see the Shanghai Commune). It’s a historically amazing period of time and I suggest further reading about it. It also ended in failure, which is why China is so capitalist today. \n\nThe GLF had its basis in the First Five Year Plan which was initiated from 1953-1957. This saw much success as defined by its goal, but the plan was based largely on the Russian Soviet method of development, which aimed at growing capital-intensive industry and urban centers. 88% of capital was invested in heavy industry, and industrial workers grew from 6 to 10 million. This was at the cost of rural agricultural areas, whose labor was the basis for the investment in heavy industry. Peasants had to sell grain to the state at fixed prices and were given heavy quotas to meet.\n\nNot only did this exacerbate differences between urban and rural, but the First FYP created the basis for the growth of a bureaucratic class of specialist technicians, and accompany party apparatuses. Just like the Soviet path of development to ‘socialism’, a new class basis was made while exacerbating differences between rural and urban areas. The idea here is the create the basis of communism through developing productivity, infrastructure, industry, etc. These create the \"material conditions\" to then reorganize society for communism. This idea is called \"stagism\" or \"developmentalism\" and was never propounded by Marx, only conservative interpreters of him. It should be said that \"stagist\" thinkers are usually anti-revolution. \n\nThe First FYP established a new social hierarchy and replaced the old ideal of a spartan communist guerrilla with that of the technical specialist.\n\nIn order to increase agricultural production the CCP formed mutual aid teams to increase production. Mao, believing that as a result of the First FYP, capitalism was developing in the rural and urban areas, used the mutual aid teams to combat those forces. He called for establishing agricultural collectives, believing this would also increase grain production. These collectives went from 100,000 to 600,000 by June 1955. Other cadre in the party, who disagreed with Mao’s ideas put a halt to this. Internal fighting ensued, Mao was blocked. So he gave a speech outside official channels calling for full socialist agricultural cooperative by 1960. He said that the party was conservative and the masses needed to lead the way. \n\nThe people responded in kind and the politburo followed suite, sending organizers to facilitate the movement for collectives. By the end of 1955, 63% of families were in cooperatives. Full socialist collectivization happened by the summer of 1956, largely without violence. \n\nThis already is in contrast to Stalin who accomplished \"collectivization\" in the 1930’s with much violence and suppression. It is necessary to highlight this difference because Mao focused on using the “mass line” and aimed at a different path of development from Stalin. The two are not equivalent in methods or politics. \n\nHowever, bear in mind this process of collectivization happened within basically a year. \n\nIt was also during this time though that China had what was called the 100 Flowers campaign. Basically Mao said the intelligentsia could criticize the party. They did. The politburo was against it. Mao said it should be accepted. There was back and forth of repression on the intelligentsia that did speak up, and much of their criticism was that the CCP had abandoned Marxism and revolution. Tragically Mao later led the charge against the “rightists” then repeated what they themselves said years later in his criticism of the CCP. I bring this up because the 100 Flowers campaign highlighted even more political disagreement (class conflict) in the party. Those who were against it from the outset (Deng Xiaopeng and others) were proponents of the Soviet method of development and stood to gain the most from the continued growth of the bureaucracy.\n",
"The Cultural Revolution was primarily about Mao's quest for ideological purity in the Communist Party. Anyone opposed to Communism or Maoist thought became a bourgeois element working against the interests of the people, and therefore they had to be eliminated. Mao blamed teachers and professors as \"revisionists\" corrupting the minds of students against proletariat interests. \n\nThere was also the fact that Mao wanted the total destruction of traditional Chinese culture because to him traditions and religions maintained social barriers, and traditional Chinese culture frowns on the youth criticizing their parents and elders. So he encouraged students to murder their teachers as a subversion of that.",
"He was trying to purge China of The Four Olds as these were seen to only further the exploitation of the classes. The Four Olds are old customs, old habits, old culture, and old ideas. \n\nA lot of teachers were executed publicly, monks were humiliated in the streets, a great number of Kung Fu masters took to the hills or left China altogether. These were all seen as part of the Old China that the Cultural Revolution was meant to be burning off. ",
"Good to remember that a lot of these killings were personal vendettas. For example, you might want to hurt a teacher who had just failed you, or a landlord to whom you owe rent. \n\nIf anyone is interested in this period, I recommend this book.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Well for example during the amenian genocide the turks specifically targeted intelligent people/high standing officals. This included Politians, Merchants, Teachers, Anyone with an Education(by that i mean university), so on and so forth. Now you ask why is that important and why would you round up those people first? Simple. You silence the people most likely to speak up, organize a crowd and get the hell out of dodge. Secondly. These people are the ones who carry the history of the culture, the land, the ancestors, and the stories of your people. Standard procedure, if you kill them you are wiping out the culture that these people had. What makes you italian, french, german or whatever is the culture, song, dance, and history you kill off the people who have this knowledge you kill off the culture. Mao was trying to kill off the old ways, cultrure, tradition(more like customs is what im saying). So that he could usher in a new china with new customs and new ways of doing things. Any questions just ask",
"Control\n\nyou have to look at china before the Japanese took over, warlords split the country into a hundred fiefdoms, the communists managed to unite the country in the chaos of the Japanese invasion but that doesn't mean their grip on power was secure, from 1950 onwards there was wave and wave of crackdowns on counter-revolutionary's of one sort of another, really it was about destroying other centers of powers in china, he was consolidating control and authority in the communist party. Teachers were just one of a long line of potential threats that were attacked, starting with legitimate and ending with paranoid \n\nIt's a pretty similar pattern that most dictators go through. ",
"The Cultural Revolution (I assume that is what you're referring to) was largely Mao's attempt to continue fighting \"reactionaries\" after that war was long over.\n\nIt wasn't crazy to think that cultural ideas propagate certain values about the world. Confucianism, reverence for authority/elders, are not value-neutral. Mao saw this as a threat.\n\nThe problem obviously was that the war had already been won. The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Nationalists fleeing to Formosa/Taiwan. The Nationalists hadn't left behind a compelling vision for the future, and they were comprehensively beaten militarily. The people who were left in China as \"enemies\" were... people who held little power anymore. People who were born to the wrong families. People with the wrong ideas.\n\nSo Mao had made his name fighting a very protracted civil war (1927-1949!) and he found himself suddenly the most powerful individual in the Chinese Communist Party. As best I can tell he never stopped feeling besieged by enemies--he devolved into paranoia which became increasingly horrifying as his personal power increased. There were no real enemies left to fight, but Mao saw shadows everywhere.\n\nMao still had massive personal popularity, however, and he inspired many of the younger generation. He called upon them to rise up. They became his Red Guards, vanguards in a battle against the last of the old guard--teachers, Kung fu instructors, people from once-wealthy families. Mao had led China to a new Communist future and he was terrified of losing it.\n\ntl,dr; Mao was never able to understand the war was won, was very popular personally, and gave younger people who had missed the glorious revolution a chance to get involved, which many of them enthusiastically took\n\nRecommended reading:\n\nNien Chang, Life and Death in Shanghai (autobio)\n**Roderick Macfarquhar, Mao's Last Revolution** (broad overview, very dense)\n",
"He was evil scum, and killed anyone who wasn't a \"Communist\". Stalin pretty much did the same thing. When you slaughter millions of people you have everyone living in panic and fear, and that's the \"Communist\" way to control people. The interesting thing to realize is that none of those countries ever had anything similar to real Communism. They always used the guise of Communism to enact pure Totalitarianism.",
"Well, Mao didn't directly order killing of the teachers, since the Cultural Revolution was in large part carried out by the Red Guards, which are basically middle school and high school kids basically given power to destroy whatever or whomever they feel like is \"Counter-revolutionary\", which basically become whatever they don't like. It's not hard to imagine why these teenagers, suddenly in a position of power, would do to people who once had power over them and they feel as wronged them, and for a lot of the students their former teachers became their natural targets.\n\nThe Cultural Revolution itself was never actually about destruction of the old culture or ideology as it was proclaimed, it is mostly a front for power struggle since Mao is becoming paranoid and felt that he was losing power, so he can remove anyone in his way just by deeming them \"Counter Revolutionaries\".\n\n\n",
"Because when you value ideology over everything else, that is the inevitable result. I do not say this flippantly- it is simply that that is the answer. History is rife with examples.\n\nSource: spent childhood in southeast asia/china in the 70's/early 80's, saw the cultural devastation firsthand.",
"\"He who controls the past controls the future; he who controls the present controls the past.\" \n\nPretty much what George Orwell had warned that modern totalitarian states would attempt to do. Culture, teachers, historians and monks could all remember what it was like before the revolution and as such they had a means of comparing the old with the new and judging which was better. Naturally this is a danger to a ruling government which portrays itself as being superior to the China of old. If Mao could kill off all the people who could remember things being different, or at least the people who were likely to talk about the old times, then he could say whatever he wanted about the past to justify the present and nobody would be able to contradict him. ",
"I think Orwell explained it better than anyone else:\n\n > Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.\n\nChairman Mao killed so many especially teachers to perpetuate his own power.",
"Like many totalitarian dictators, Mao sought to create an absolute break with the past so that he could impose his own personal ideology on to his nation in its place. As a militant revolutionary, violence was not only seen as a legitimate means to this break, but as the preferred means. \n\nThe result was an escalating spiral of purges (i.e., murders) of anyone who had any level of investment in or knowledge of the previous system - not just businesspeople and aristocrats, but professionals, artists, academics, even doctors.\n\nIt's a well-known phenomenon that also occurred later in Khmer Rouge Cambodia, earlier in Stalin's Soviet Union, and a couple of centuries before during the Jacobin Terror in Revolutionary France.",
"While a lot of people are talking about the \"Culture Revolution,\" where Mao got the young people into anti-traditionalist mindset, the vast majority of the people who died came from his second five year plan.\n\nFive year plans had been the Stalinist method of industrializing the economy. The first Chinese Five Year Plan was fairly successful, as far as central planned communist economic polices were concerned. Mao decided to followup the success with the [Great Leap Forward](_URL_0_).\n\nIt was horrific disaster. Mao wanted to surpass the UK and the US in industrial and agricultural output. For industry, tens of millions of people were brought from the country side into cities to work in state owned factories. Material shortages were a constant struggle, and these people required a large amount of food to eat. \n\nTo solve some of the material shortages, Mao decided to pull farmers away from their fields to build up steel furnaces in their backyards. These poorly constructed mud furnaces had a tendency to just *explode*, and the farmers who were not killed by their own furnaces only produced essentially unusable steel.\n\nDiverting labor away from agriculture and towards industry, combined with harmful irrigation projects, agriculture experimentation, and continued exportation of grain even in the face of shortages led to *massive* famine.",
"artists and intellectuals are always the first to go in a totalatarian state. Teachers are definately included in the intellectuals categories because they have the ability to point out the oppression of the state to the larger population. plus they technically aren't necessary for a productive society like farmers/engineers/plumbers etc etc. They really only represent a threat to the state.",
"When one wants to bring about a new worldview and culture, one must consider what to do about the reactionary elements. It's very easy to see the reactionary people as a physical embodiment of the old ideas; therefore in a feat of backward logic one might try to simply eliminate the physical embodiment of the old ideas: teachers, religious figures, old aristocratic families et al. It hasn't worked so far, people persist in their path, and are loath to consider, they are wrong, and love the notion of a quick direct solution. ",
"It's extremely rare that there's an ELI5 that I can answer, so this is an exciting day for me.\n\nAs mentioned elsewhere in this thread, Mao was trying to purge China of the \"The Four Olds.\" The reason he was doing this was to create a sense of permanent revolution (spoiler: it didn't work). A worker who made the most widgets would be made foremen, professors were stripped of their position and beaten by students, etc. The idea was to create a sense that the little guy was getting his chance and, under Mao, he would be prosperous and prestigious.\n\nIt created a socio-economic mess that China is still dealing with to this day. ",
"Mao Zedong was not entirely the accomplished intellectual. Yes he studied in a school in Changsha and married the daughter of the principal. He may have read the few Marxist treatises translated into Chinese. \n\nHe mastered the traditional Confucian essay, but his style was very basic and his Hunanese accent was execrable. The intellectual ferment however was in Beijing and he went there and tried to get into Beijing University. But he failed and took a job on campus as a cloakroom attendant. He tried to talk to some of the great Marxist intellectuals but they rebuffed him and mocked his rough peasant manner. They refused to allow him to attend their lectures. \n\nMao never forgave them. At the Whampoa Military School in Guangzhou in the early twenties, Mao taught a course in peasant activism. Chiang Kaishek and Zhou Enlai were the senior academics. Mao had never studied in France or Moscow like Zhou and other leaders, who had the support of Lenin and Stalin. Both of whom looked down on Mao as an illiterate peasant revolutionary. \n\nIt wasn't until the defeat of the CCP in Shanghai and Jiangxi that Mao's bullish insistence that only a peasant army, which avoided the cities could prevail in China. Once in Yenan, where the Red Army was joined by many intellectuals, Mao carried out a thorough rectification of intellectuals (Yenan Forum 1942) which set their limits and brought them under control. \n\nAgain after the Founding of the People's Republc, Mao had a big battle with the overseas educated intellectuals, who backed by Stalin, urged that China build itself up after a decade of war, using so-called New Economic Policy of encouraging a class of \"patriotic capitalists\" to build up new business and expand throughout China. Mao insisted that only by following Stalin's method of complete collectivization of agriculture and nationalization of industry would China prosper, indeed become greater than the Soviet Union. \n\nHence Mao's reaction to the Hundred Flowers was visceral and the Cultural Revolution began as a literary criticism campaign against selected writers who had written critically of certain leaders, implicitly Mao. During this campaign all intellectuals were denounced as the \"stinking ninth category\" 臭老九 of anti-party, anti-revolutionary elements.",
"Killing teachers is a famous tactic in any violent revolution. Along with teachers, common targets include religious buildings/shrines/etc, libraries, and schools. The general idea is to purge any ideas that conflict with the new regime/government. I believe that this tactic may even be mentioned in the Communist Manifesto, if I recall. Anyhoo, this is the big reason why we dont have many documents from the old world from any culture. Its not that \"The Republic\" survived because it just happened to be one of the classical texts to survive wear and tear, its that when Greece was destroyed, everything was burned, and \"The Republic\" -being a rather popular text at the time -had copies around the world which were able to escape the flames. Likewise, teachers, religious leaders, and scholars are all bases of knowledge, and so get the proverbial shaft when violent revolutions displace power abruptly.",
"Killing the educated/intellectuals is a standard for totalitarian regimes. Beware if you have calluses on the sides of the fingers or have eye glasses. Shows you can read and write. The uneducated are far easier to manipulate. Redditors are doomed.",
"From a practical perspective, destroying education is an excellent way to preserve power. An uneducated populace is unable to produce a critical mass of people who evaluate existing problems and see that there is a better way that doesn't involve those in power. Instead, they resign themselves to the status quo as inevitable or even celebrate it as good. \n\nNow consider: am I talking about China or the US?",
"Would it be right to say that china was in such a desperate state because of it's history with britain and the opium wars? ",
"Accomplish? He was a genocidal maniac. He put some other goal above saving human lives.",
"_URL_0_\n\nCrash Course World History gives a nice overview. Thank you John Green.",
"The first thing you want to do when you go full dictatorship, is to cut free the academics. Kick them out of the country, kill them, otherwise get rid of them, but they are the BIGGEST threat after a military coup, because they'll rally the people.\n\nIf the academics get to the people before you can demoralize them, you tend to have problems.",
"Teacher killing was one of the consequences where Mao mobilized students to form his army of red guards with the intention to eliminate \"class struggle\" and \"counter-revolutionaries\". However, his real intention was to maintain and reinstall his influence, using the red guards and Lin Biao(his right hand man and a general of People's Liberation Army), in the CCP since he'd lost a lot of power after the failure of his Great Leap Forward and the growing control of Liu Shaoqi(his appointed successor). In order to reinstall influence, him and Lin Biao created and spread propaganda claiming there are a certain percentage of chinese citizens that are traditionists(右派分子) who are supposedly counter-revolutionaries that should be punished. This idea lead to wide spread chaos and a form of witch hunt where intellectuals(including teachers and his political enemies) were to be publically shamed and executed by the red guards. This essentially is the cultural revolution. \n\nEdit: grammar",
"Mao launched the Cultural Revolution recently after his monumental failure of the Great Leap Forward, in which he became the laughing stock of the Chinese People and was almost ousted from the Chinese Communist Party. (In fact he resigned as State Chairman in 1959.) He did, in fact, have many enemies in the Party after that incident. Mao was not some leader that the people of China blindly followed, contrary to wherever the hell that belief came from.\n\nThe Cultural Revolution was not actually some \"idealogical purge,\" and the people who think so fell for his trick! It was Mao's thinly veiled attempt at silencing dissenters. I am surprised that so many of us, here in the Western world, have fallen for Mao's false guise, even 4 decades after it ended.\n\nLike I said earlier, after the failure of the Great Leap, Mao had close to no backing in the Chinese Communist Party. However, he was still quite popular **among the people who were not aware that many of China's ailments were his fault.** Many Chinese educated intellectuals by the 60s and 70s knew how a lot of the troubles China was facing at the time were due to this dude's missteps. The people who still had faith in him were, (not to sound discriminatory or anything, but it's the unfortunate truth), the mostly uneducated people whose only source of information was the propaganda being fed to them. And so, he came up with an excuse as to why the dissenting classes needed to be shut up, and he acted upon it. He also then used this same excuse to pick off any dissent in the Party as well, and regain authority over it.\n\nAlso, not to downplay how stupid of an idea the entire thing was or anything, but it was not as brutal and cruel as it's made out to be in the West. We sure like our dramatic history here, don't we! Sure, there were executions and beatings and stuff, but not en masse. The only people facing that were the very vocal dissenters of Mao or the Cultural Revolution, those who spoke out. Now, I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it was not some class genocide or anything. Most of the intellectuals and \"bourgeoisie\" were told(forced) to, pretty much, go to the countryside and shut up for a couple years; \"go pretend like you're learning to be farmers or something!\" My parents grew up in Cultural Revolution China, and both also participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. (Neither of them were there on June 4, \"tank day,\" but my father's little brother, my uncle, was.) They come from both sides of the Revolution, my mother's family being college educated intellectuals who were relocated to the countryside, and my father's family one who had already been robbed poor during the 1949 revolution. My mother's family was not beaten, harassed, or anything. They were given land and servants to tend the farms, told to move out to the countryside, and pretend like they were learning the ways of the proletariat for a couple years. Shush up and you'll be safe!",
"Mao is a very clever man. Unlike Stalin who signed death lists with his own hands and literally ordered thousands to death. Mao took the much more \"managerial\" route. He created a situation where the people are free to do what they please. Mao gave people an excuse to unload all of their private hatreds towards each other. That excuse is the \"4 olds\" (_URL_4_). Basically, Mao said, \"there are anti revolutionary in our midst. People need to be vigilant.\" The people replied by going on witch hunts over everyone and anyone. If you remember the mock court in the latest Batman movie, China basically had many such mock courts during the culture revolution, headed by zealots that loyal to Mao's ideology (for example, the Red Guard, group of self proclaimed enforcer of Mao's teachings), and such courts persecuted anyone and everyone. So it was not... technically... Mao or the Communist government that caused the death of thousands, but the people themselves did it to themselves. Unless you see a photo of that period happened in a official court room. All other trial photos from that period are all those mock courts set up by whoever the mob leader is.\n\nFunny and the sad thing is, many local law enforcement or officials tried to stop the mock courts, but they were branded traitors and anti revolutionaries and themselves were thrown into the mock courts. Because Chairman Mao said \"people be vigilant\" how dare you go against his will? Not all Chinese government officials are corrupt or spineless, then and now. Look at this poster from Culture Revolution - _URL_5_ - the people walking proud holding up Chairman Mao's Quotations, doing Chairman Mao's will. Basically, if you say what you are doing is for the revolution and for Chairman Mao, you have a free pass to anything. No one dares to stop you, to do so is treason. Needless to say, many took advantage of this situation and used the opportunity for their own selfish interests (This is source of vast majority, if almost all, of the travesties happened in the Culture Revolution. Read about the Red Guards, their origin, to understand the lawless chaos at that time below).\n\n(A side note on the Red Guard (_URL_0_ - Note the quote at start of the wiki \"Chairman Mao has defined our future as an armed revolutionary youth organization\" and armed they were. The red guards executed many people during the mock treason trials on their own accord. They were that fanatical). They employed similar tactic to SJWs. SJWs say \"if you don't side with us you are a bigot, racist, etc\" Red guard say \"if you don't side with us you are anti revolutionary.\" Red Guards, at height of the culture revolution have picket lines at road intersections, when people stop waiting for lights to turn green. Red Guard would come to them and say, \"recite line XXX from Mao's Quotes - a little red book recording many of Mao's writings and conversations (_URL_1_ - If you read the Mao's quotes. You'd understand Mao's brilliance. The Chinese calls that part of Mao's quality, the \"quality of emperorship\". That's partly why the Chinese supported Mao). If you cannot recite the line, you are made to stand there, read the book till you memorize all of it.)\n\nThe desired effect from this chaos is purging of those who are not completely loyal to Mao. Because only those who are loyal to Mao's ideology can survive such mock courts. Basically, like a cult, at the end only the fanatics stay. This is a brilliant move, because what Mao did is simply unleash the mob. Give the mob a get out of jail free card, even better, a do what you want card.\n\nOf course the ultimate goal of the purging is to cement Mao's own power. Mao wanted, like Kim in North Korea, make China into another dynastic succession monarchy with him and his sons at the helm. Unfortunately, and fortunately, Mao's only none intellectually challenged son died due to American bombing in the Korea War (_URL_2_ - The wiki and China officially says they were cooking at night that's why they got spotted by American bomber, but at least in Chinese folk history Mao's son went out for a smoke and that did him in, smoking is indeed bad for your health. Mao blamed Peng DeHuai, his son's direct superior, for his son's death and eventually found an excuse to kill him by directing the mob his way. Peng Dehuai is a great general worthy of his own reddit post really). Chinese people actually pretty thankful to America killing Mao's only worthy son (kind of ironic really). If US did not kill Mao's son. China right now would be a ICBM nuclear fusion bomb capable hermit giant kingdom *(China developed Hydrogen Fusion bomb in 1967, during the culture revolution - _URL_3_)* 100000 times worse than Korea.\n\nBut the whole thing did have a positive side. Many ancient Chinese shackles did get broken. For example, equality between the sexes, at least in cities, are pretty much achieved through Culture revolution (you think aborting female fetus now is bad, imagine what it was like before culture revolution). Women were deemed necessary member of the revolution and received equal opportunity in education, work, and advancement. It also broke many old customs that bind people to their land and therefore their socio economic status. It re-unified public opinion and created a China more united than ever before. It also ensured the absolute loyalty of the Army and Executive branch, therefore ensuring stability. It destroyed the traditional confucious ideals and religiosity and making people more pragmatic and materialistic (in a mere decade China became atheist - the Chinese now are superstitious but not religious - who else other than Chairman Mao can achieve such a transformation), putting foundation for Deng Xiaoping's economic reform decade later.\n\nDown side to getting rid of the shackles of the past is that many good customs also got lost, but fortunately they are preserved in Taiwan (another thing the Chinese thank America for, which is also ironic).\n\nEdit: About Mao's son, Mao An Ying's death, weeks passed till someone finally dared to report the death of his son in Korea to Mao. After hearing the news, from his secretary's memoir, Mao lit a cigarette, inhaled and pondered for a long while, then said, \"It is war. Casualty is expected.\" (You have to imagine Mao says this in his strong southern Chinese dialect, strongly suggest you google Mao speak) But later on, Mao showed some emotion and said, \" By Chinese tradition, only son counts as your legacy, girls don't. One son's killed (referring to Mao An Ying) and the other lost his mind. Looks like I have no legacy left.\" Quite sad really. At that moment, Mao realized his dream of creating an empire died with his only worthy son.",
"The Great Leap Forward caused the largest famine in recorded history. Yes, the cultural revolution was up there with the public killings but its death numbers dwarf in comparison to the results of his economic policies, which number lies in the 10s of millions.",
"Taking an alternate angle from many people here (although many of their explanations are correct), Marx's philosophy sort of called for it. \n\nYou know how when Moses and the Israelites crossed the desert (pretend for this analogy it was a real thing that actually happened), many of them wanted to turn back? There was no clear path ahead and their journey had been terrible up to that point. To Marx, those would be the doubters who had to be eliminated before you could complete the journey, because they'd always keep telling everyone that things were better before.\n\nAnother way to put it is that capitalism relies on humans being greedy by nature. In the philosophy of communism, humans are only greedy by nurture (we're raised/developed to be that way) and it's possible to nurture a generation that isn't greedy. But in order to do that, you need to wipe the slate clean of that older generation.\n\nNow there's definitely some debate over whether Marx meant it literally or not, but that is the logical end of his sentiment. \n\nMao and Stalin were murderous assholes, but it's arguably a necessity in Marxism. A lot of people point out that they had totalitarian governments and not communist governments, but the point of this is that (I believe) Marx thought you need to travel through totalitarianism in order to get to communism.",
"It's difficult to make any real sense of why Mao Zedong would do such a thing until you accept that he was a megalomaniac much like Joseph Stalin and a bit like Hitler. People like Mao who believe they have been chosen to change the world also believe that anything that stands in their way, including teachers, must be destroyed. Under normal circumstances such criminal behavior -- after all, they sanctioned torture and murder -- would result in severe penalties, jail, even the death penalty. But since they make the rules . . . . \n\nMao's goal was to \"start over\" so not so different from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge who sought to wipe out the past and begin again. That's a bit like ending gravity. You can't do that. Any political movement that is based on mass murder is seriously deformed. Mao was a mass murderer and a thug. He should have been arrested or killed by someone brave enough. Unfortunately, no Chinese was. That he's still revered in China is utterly pathetic. Imagine if Germany still hung banners with Hitler's picture on them? ",
"Stupid people make best worshippers. You don't have to look too far to see it all around you.",
"Like most leftist, progressive ideology, Mao wanted constant \"revolution\" and \"change\".\n\nThis is the best tool for consolidating and maintaining power.\n\nIt requires constant conflict and identifying of a new enemy and victims at different intervals to keep the authoritative apparatus from ever falling under the eye of the people.\n\nSame story over and over.\n\nEvery country that's embraced communism and state economic planning eventually becomes an autocratic murder factory.",
"Mao Zedong didn't actually kill anyone. Mao was a self-centered maniacal sociopath who sat by a swimming pool all day long, slept and ate whatever and whenever he wanted, bedded an endless string of young women and thought his personal philosophies were the governing policy of China. What killed people was the amazing ability this lazy monster had to get people to do what he wanted.\n\n",
"Mao had certain ideological tenets he wanted everyone to adhere to and believe in. Those who argued against them were a threat to the spread of the ideas he wanted to proliferate. However, a lot of the people whose deaths he was responsible for weren't intentional killings. Nobody knows the exact number, but upwards of 40 million Chinese people died as a result of collectivized communities during what is called the \"Great Leap Forward.\" The vast majority of those deaths were a result of starvation.",
"Mao was put out of politics by Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shiaoqi. Mao wasnt very pleased with this and was concerned that the leadership wasn't going to continue the revolution. Mao took a gamble and unleashed the cultural revolution in China to put himself back in the center of politics; the primary instrument this was accomplished was through the Red Guards. The Red Guards acted a lot on their own and used the little red book as their guide to conducting the cultural revolution. They ended up committing a lot of violence. \n\nI say he took a gamble because what Mao unleashed was a fervor across the country to eliminate incorrect political thought; it could have easily backfired against him in that other people could have rose to power against him at that time. ",
"This is a topic I have done a lot of reading about - here's my best summarized explanation of why it happened and why so many teachers were targeted (but it's still rather long):\n\nThe Cultural Revolution was a response by communist students who thought that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of the 1960s was becoming corrupted by careerism, authoritarianism and self-serving bureaucracy, creating a new class system where inner-party members (mostly academics, politicians and bureaucrats) formed a privileged elite oppressing the peasants and workers just like in the days before the revolution. There was a precedent of this happening a few decades earlier in the USSR under Stalin. Seeing as the entire point of communism is to abolish class systems and (ultimately) the state entirely, those who believed most passionately in the promise of communism (mostly students) were prepared to fight against this trend.\n\nMao saw the same trend and was alarmed by it, but he was old and knew he would die soon and couldn't do much to stop it on his own. He made speeches and pronouncements urging the young people of China to defend against this creeping authoritarianism, consolidation of power in the central state (rather than being diffused in local democratic communes as had been encouraged by earlier policies) and the \"Capitalist Road\". The Capitalist Road was the name given to the tendency within the bureaucracy to introduce capitalist elements back into the economic model and winding back of the gains of the workers and peasants made by past class struggle e.g. the Iron Rice Bowl which granted certain necessities of life (such as sufficient food, water, education, healthcare, etc) as basic human rights, regardless of circumstances.\n\nThe academics and teachers who were targeted by the the cultural revolution were mostly intellectuals at China's top schools and universities for the most outstanding students, and traditional Chinese culture has a strong norm of deference towards teachers, so (even though in the west we rarely think of teachers and academics as the elites or the ruling class) they often occupied positions of unusual privilege and (like the top bureaucrats and politicians) as time went on they began to enjoy more and more luxuries not available to the common people. Unsurprisingly, many academics started to promote ideas that would further benefit them and increase the difference in living standards between this emerging upper-class and the general population (e.g. capitalism.) It's not hard to see why their students came to the conclusion that they were corrupted and included them among those that needed to be purged from power.\n\nThe students marched academics, politicians and bureaucrats out to fields to do manual labour, burned down official Communist Party offices of branches who were implementing Capitalist Road policies and killed (or pressured local justices into executing) party members, teachers and officials who were particularly flagrant in exploiting their positions for personal gain. The reasoning was that those who were redeemable could be best shown the error of their ways by destroying their positions of comfort and giving them 1st-hand experience of the living conditions of the average citizen to remind them how the people lived and who they were supposed to be serving. \n\nThough Mao played a crucial role in encouraging the Cultural Revolution with his words, it was largely an organic revolt from below against much of the ruling class to preserve the process of building Communism in China from those undermining it.\n\nWhether or not you approve of them politically, Mao and the Cultural Revolutionaries were indisputably correct about where the CCP was heading and what it meant for the living conditions of the Chinese workers and peasantry. The Cultural Revolution failed to fully destroy the would-be ruling-class and a few year later began the Deng Xiaoping era of transformation of China into a capitalist state. Political power became more centralized and less democratic than it was in the 1960's. Many of the \"Capitalist Road\" bureaucrats and politicians who managed to hold on through the Cultural Revolution became very powerful and many of them and their children are now top officials and billionaires. Meanwhile, the huge improvements in life expectancy, infant mortality rates, education rates, income (and other indicators of standards of living) for the general population that had been made in the previous 30 years variously receded or slowed dramatically.",
"Prior to the revolution, China was the future of the current USA. the 1% had completely stomped the rest of the population into the ground and there was no real chance to move up. Income inequality and corruption ruled the day. Resentment towards the 1% had been growing for a LONG time. But the 1% ignored it and continued on.\n\nMao was part of the people who were tired and angry from being raped by the 1% for so long. So they revolted and let loose the frustration of the 99%. The higher chunks of the 99% were also punished for being brainwashed and perpetuating the 1% domination. They were like struts holding up the 1% and so the struts must be broken as well.\n\nIt is hard for such a HUGE power shift to take place without outright stomping the old guard. The old guard believes THEY are in the right and will certainly never stop trying to regain it. So Mao stomped them all out.\n\nSadly, nobody has really figured out how to have true happiness and productive motivation in a real socialist government. Most people start going \"why do extra when I get no extra reward?\".\n\nAlso Mao was no hero. He was wealthy born and profited immensely from the revolution. It is hard to know whether he really cared or whether he just wanted personal power and this was the avenue he found. He has many parallels to hitler and stalin and has killed 10's of millions of his own people through direct order and by pure incompetence.\n\nGenerally the 1% feel \"righteous\" about their position, that they are creating the greatness in their nation and that the nation and its people owes a debt to the 1% for doing so. ",
"If you kill off everyone with an education or an awareness of history it's much easier to brainwash a large population. Boils down to control. Communism is very big on heavy handed control of the populace. The Khmer rouge used the same methods to wipe out undesirable ideas. ",
"From what I gather here, Mao was fighting for the underdogs. He disliked the idea of inequality in wealth esp (when it usually depends where and to whom you were born to) and I can't say I disagree.",
"it's really odd to me that a country like China, that has such an (arguably, obiv) objectively interesting history could have gone through such lengths to hide it. To me, that speaks volumes about the culture vis-a-via say, eh, American? ",
"Cmon, am I the only person that read Ellen Pao?",
"It's simple, CONTROL! Less intellects = less oppositions. It also mean redistribution of wealth and land that benefit the government directly or indirectly through taxes or government ownership. When you are trying to control and unite as many low income people as china, drastic measures are needed. Either that or a China broken up like Africa with countries controlled by different warlords. Sharia law is adapted as the governing \"law\" in many countries in the middle east for similar reason. Its strict rules gives government control over its people. \n \nWhen you kill the thinkers, all you have left are followers.",
"My dad lived through these times before immigrating to Canada, he would tell me mostly about the famine stories, how there was no grass left in his hometown... ",
"Dictators often kill intellectuals, because it is they who will speak out, and represent the public intelligently. By purging all the smart people, you will only have left the ignorant, and they are much easier to control.",
"The central planners determined that the old traditions were responsible for the problems. So it started out just as a progressive movement. Then when nothing got better, and actually got worse, then they just started killing people. \n\nThen as the progressives continued to create failures after failure, people would starve because of food shortages. The central planners thought they could plan the economy better than letting the people in the market freely choose for themselves. \n\nSo in a progressive effort of getting rid of the old traditions, people were ordered to make their own tools and food. It was even planned so that a certain farmer would make an anvil and hammer, not a blacksmith... \n\nSo the anvil and hammer were terrible... But that didn't stop them. \n\nMeanwhile, food shortages just conveniently happened to the people that the progressives didn't like (the people who believed in the \"old ways.\") \n",
"Governments do not like it when their people are able to think critically and come to their own opinion about things, especially government. Intellectuals (educated people) often criticize governments and are seen as a threat to be neutralized, especially at the levels of higher education - universities and colleges.\n\nBeware the government representatives that speak ill of higher education.",
"What I find funny is, you kill forty people and you are a depraved murderer, the scum of the earth. You kill forty million and you are still referred as Chairman Mao, not as Bloody Mao. Funny how the mind works.",
"The famine was so bad in some villages that there was a market for dead children. They'd take their dead child to the market and exchange the body for another dead child. That way, they didn't have to eat their own children.",
"Originally as others have noted he was trying to purge china of the four olds. Basically their culture,history etc the closest equivalent would be what the Khmer rouge attempted with year zero. However towards the end though the original aims and goals went out the window, as the party tried to make Mao irrelevant, they wanted him to be a godlike figurehead someone revered but neutered concerning actual policy and control. That's when the greatest excesses of the cultural revolution occurred because Mao retaliated, he more or less gave his wife in others like the red guard who were loyal to him free reign to do what they pleased, at certain points mini civil wars were occurring throughout china. During the cultural revolution, china's government for better or worse was non existent in concerns to controlling what was going on. I still feel sadness reading about the destruction of millennia of history in a few short years. Temples, artifacts all gone, i believe at one point some people even tried to target the forbidden city for destruction which point only due to the some elements of the Chinese PLA intervening was this prevented but it's been a few years since i read up on that incident so i may be a little off. \n\nThere's a really good book i read called the wild swans. It not only goes indepth into the history surrounding the horror of the great leap forward and cultural revolution but also gives a nice view of china during the warring warlord period, the japanese vs communist vs nationalist period through the eyes of three generations of women in a chinese family. The author was a red guard when she was younger, her father and mother were top communist officials who ended up being denounced during the revolution, her grandmother was a warlords concubine who had her feet binded it's a fascinating history i recommend if you want an in-depth and easily accessible read concerning the history to pick up the book for a first hand account of Mao's lunacy _URL_0_",
"If you kill all the people who teach there won't be people to teach. People easy to control if they dumb.",
"A totalitarian regime does not benefit from a well-educated populace, people who can look at situations analytically and make decisions for themselves.",
"Classic Communism was always set in motion with an \"agrarian/workers revolution\", i.e. purging society of the middle and upper class, the intellectuals, emptying cities and mass shift to an economy based on agriculture.\n\nTeachers and other \"learned\" people who could inject counter-productive ideas into the population are a clear and present danger to this idea, and since farmers have no use at all for any formal education, teachers were dispensable.\n\nSee also: Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge, Kampuchea, The Killing Fields",
"This is the most interesting, informative, and thought provoking post I have found on reddit. \nThank you. ",
"don't all dictators kill intelectuals since they're the ones supposed to question what is wrong in one society.",
"He didn't and had no interest to do so. The Cultural revolution was not a top-down organised process carried out by party officials. It was more top-bottom-up attempt to involve the people in the continuation of the Revolution. Ordinary workers and students were encouraged to stand up by themselves against bureaucracy, reactionary though and be more involved in the communist ideology in general.\n\nThe party propagated revolutionary slogans like \"What men can do, women can do\" and some instructions to local cadres. The problem is that the process was very decentralised so the Cultural revolution was not carried on like expected everywhere. Factions that mirrored conflicts in the Party emerged that were not controlled by either communist officials or the military.The one that is truest to what Mao and his support indented established communes, spread propaganda and things like that. In some place people went too far and committed atrocities. Sometimes factions fought each other. "
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao_Tse-tung",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Anying",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_No._6",
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#/media/File:Cultural_Revolution_poster.jpg"
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5x1j5f | why can we still smell cigarette smoke i walk through when not breathing in? | When there's a bad smell around me, I do what anyone does and either breath through my mouth or don't breath in at all.
Something I've noticed for years and also confirmed with other people that they experience, is when that bad smell is cigarette smoke I can still smell it, or atleast detect it.
This doesn't happen with any other bad smell.
What is it about cigarette smoke that's so, for lack of a better word, invasive? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5x1j5f/eli5_why_can_we_still_smell_cigarette_smoke_i/ | {
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"The chemicals from cigarette smoke gets trapped in material (most likely fabric of some sort) and diffuses which is why you smell it. ",
"If you're not inhaling, you smell almost nothing. Air needs to impact your olfactory nerves to register. So if you smell it, it might be because you're expecting to smell it? Or, like u/OldBirdWing mentioned, it could be sticking to your clothes. ",
"depends on what you mean smell. It could be the smell you get after you leave the area, as the smell gets stuck to your clothes.\n\nor the tiny tiny amount of air that would normally diffuse in and out of your nostril that lets you smell it"
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4i7s71 | how do journalists find people? | Police and other law enforcement agencies obviously can find people through using all their records and things of that nature but how are journalists able to find just about anybody? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4i7s71/eli5_how_do_journalists_find_people/ | {
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"Many people can be found through a phone book or a simple google search. Or you can call the company where you heard they work, or the school where you heard they study. Also, you can ask their current and former friends.",
"A lot of work.\n\nIn the early 90's I did my work experience at a local newspaper. Back then, in the pre-google days, if we needed to find someone, we'd grab a phonebook and just start calling everyone with the same surname.\n\n",
"They often can't find people.\n\nAnd when they can't find a person, they don't write a story about it, and you never know about. If they look for 100 people, and only find one, you only get to read the story about the one they did find.\n\n",
"Lexis-Nexis is a commercial database you pay for access to. Basically, it's a searchable copy of just about every public record, and some which aren't. Property records, legal proceedings, possibly credit reports and junk mail mailing lists."
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17t2j4 | if gps satellites lose time due to the lesser effect of gravity, why can't we just adjust the clock speed to make up the difference? | I understand GPS satellites lose time because there is less gravity in their orbital paths. I'm also under the impression that we resync their clocks regularly. Are there too many other variables (like the moon) to adjust the clock speed, what would those variables be? A mechanical watch can be set a little fast or a little slow and gain/loose time each day, why not the satellites?
edit: was at my phone and couldn't mark answered until now.
Or have I got this all wrong? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17t2j4/if_gps_satellites_lose_time_due_to_the_lesser/ | {
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"We *also* have GPS satellites adjust their clock speed themselves. But there are a lot of variables, so it would take a lot of processing power to compute the adjustments exactly; it's much more efficient to just make them kinda accurate and resync regularly.",
"GPS clocks are actually quite drifted from true atomic time. \"Time\", as we know it, has to do with the position of the earth as it orbits the sun. This rate is slowing down, and it doesn't align perfectly to a day. So we fiddle with our time, by adding leap seconds and leap days to make up for it. This messes up time computation - even makes it nonlinear - for the sake of making time understandable to people.\n\nGPS satellites really don't care about the time as it relates to how earth's rotation relates to the orbit around the sun. All they care about is \"when\" they will be in various places in the sky. It makes more sense for the GPS satellites to use a simpler measurement of \"when\" because it's easiest to do the position computations without having to worry about leap time.\n\nInteresting related material that explains this a bit more:\n_URL_0_\n\nAddendum:\nNot directly related to the question, but it's super-important that GPS satellites have a synchronized clock, because a GPS receiver determines position by looking at the time difference reported by each satellite. The difference is only caused by the communication delay between the satellite and the GPS receiver. The \"correct\" time doesn't matter at all - as long as the satellites are synchronized."
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9zavo6 | what is the difference between the anti-inflammatory effects of chemicals like curcumin versus nsaids like ibuprofen? | Hello! I'm not sure if this seems like a silly question, but I've started looking into the benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet pertaining to health/disease prevention. There are a wide variety of studies on the use of curcumin, broccoli, et cetera but I don't think I'm understanding something. What is the difference between taking curcumin (or another anti-inflammatory supplement) and an NSAID pain-reliever/anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zavo6/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_the/ | {
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"I think they both lead to the same thing. You can just increase your turmeric intake in your food for the same effect that you'd have in a supplement or a pill. The pill is a specific, calculated, dose whereas you don't know the exact quantity of chemical you're getting in the food. ",
"NSAIDS can aggravate stomach ulcers and conditions other conditions in the stomach. Not recommended for prolonged use "
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5npttd | why does the brain tend to constantly play music on its own ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5npttd/eli5_why_does_the_brain_tend_to_constantly_play/ | {
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"I don't recall source but your brain will repeat songs because it's trying to figure out what comes next. Listening to the song in its entirety is said to fix this, i.e. help your brain figure out what's next. I'll find some sources if anyone's interested!",
"Hey, I have this too, if we are talking about really 24/7 here.\n\nMost answers you get are probably from people who think you talk about ear worms, I had that problem at least when I tried to explain it in real life.\n\nI've since been to a few neurologists, and they are all very interested as hearing music in your head truly 100% of the time seems to be very rare. I was offered to participate in some studies, but they all take at least 10 days an I can't really be bothered to disappear from life for over a week for basically nothing, as I was assured the condition is not dangerous (no tumour or anything). ",
"If you're talking about getting a song stuck in your head, I was always under the impression that is happens because neurons that just fired are prone to fire again because the physiology of the neuron. It's been a while since I heard this, but I believe it's an ion channel that separates when it fires, but when it happens the separation isn't as complete as a non-fired channel, which makes the neuron prone to refiring again. Theory is that tendency to refire can maybe explain why you get a song stuck in your head. ",
"Well humming, singing and other things (like stroking your hair) are self-soothing activities. People do it all the time, and don't realize that they are humming to a song in their head to keep them calm. When you are panicked - are you singing a song? No. But doing the dishes or in the shower or sitting at your desk at work, you may start to hum or sing a song in your head to calm yourself (not calm yourself from a panicked state, but just soothe yourself).",
"Just a note: if you are interested in music, the brain, the psychology and neuroscience behind their interaction, I suggest reading Oliver Sacks book Musicophilia.\n\nIt's really really interesting and will probably teach you things about the interaction of the brain and music you never even thought of.\n\nReally great book and really interesting for anyone who is into music.",
"From the experience of a musician, it's always there. It never leaves. But then again, we want it there. There's no \"Maybe if I complete the song instead of turning it off in between, it will stop.\" I guess we have to always make sure it's something we like.\n\nIt can be bad though, like when you are talking to people. They're telling about their petty, melodramatic life and you're zoning out thinking about that sick part you just heard, muttering the drum rudiment under your breath.",
"Personally I do this to avoid thinking about, well, just about anything else.\n\nAllowing a song to occupy the background of the mind limits the amount of random thoughts which can trigger anxiety and panic.\n\nPeople who are less prone to being overly anxious seem to do this less often in my experience.\n\nThe Simpsons did a pretty good example of how different types can react to being alone with their thoughts: _URL_0_",
"Think of it like a screensaver. When you brain goes into a low cognitive state, it often will occupy your thoughts with a song while in the background it is organising it's self. So while you a \"hearing\" this song in your mind, your brain is moving memories from short term to long term and other brain functions like that.",
"To be quite clear, you're just talking about yourself.\n\nPeople also report that when they think of ideas, they do so with an \"inner voice\" which talks. This is extremely common, but in primitive cultures like hunter-gatherer societies, it just doesn't happen. Instead, in these primitive cultures, words thought of it ones head are interpreted as being from ancestors or spirits, and thought is done in other ways, like with spacial objects, and not with words.\n\nI may hypothesize that in these primitive populations we might also find less instances of people having music \"playing\" in their minds, though of course it may still be common, it's just a guess. The takeaway I think is that we hear in our heads what we have already heard, and so it mirrors that.",
"Your brain is in a constant flux. And your neurons fire back and forth. In there, the paths your electrical impulse take. It transverse a memory of a song? Or that tasty burger you ate yesterday. Even that dream you forgot 10years ago? \n\nThe memories lie in a specific pattern. If you for different reasons manage to activate it. You experience it. \n\nRemember this though. Experience something from outside, is far from the memory you are left with. Its only the most parts about the experience that stood out that you will remember. Because as i said before, memories are the etching of patterns with neurons. And this etching will only be in context to how strong this experience is. \n\nAnd lastly, the strength of an experience isnt the same as feeling a strong feeling. Its more, the strength of the experience in contrast to normative expeirence of the same situation. So wheb you remember things from studying, you know you learnt something because you feel and know the information being etched. Its lile that expeirence just wanderd from the outside into your consciousness. You didnt get an orgasm like feeling. Just a strong relaxing feeling of a puzzle falling together. Intense? nope. strong? yes. ",
"I'm just a lay person in this area but my understanding was always that our sense of music is piggybacking on our capacity for language. Just like we're imagining conversations in our head(going over past conversations, preparing for future conversations), so too do we imagine music.",
"Because the brain is like an echo chamber that can be filled with silent sounds. It is not electrically/mechanically perfect, and so there are little inklings of sound even when none really exists. And then you have the individual perceiving it all, shifting minute amounts of attention to this or that within the inklings... If you're familiar with a song that's even remotely similar to how the inklings fit into your perception, it can bubble all the way up into that song's chorus or bridge.\n\n\nTLDR: you listen to so much pop music that even silence reminds you of songs you know",
"Oliver Sacks, in his books about brain injuries, mentions patients with recurrent musical loops constantly playing in their heads. Sometimes it would be music they haven't heard since childhood. One man, with a background in music, with dementia couldn't remember even how to dress himself because he would lose his train of thought. They found however that if he hummed a tune (his memory of music was unaffected) he could follow tasks even if he wasn't fully conscious of it.",
"Your brain is addicted to stimulus. When you are bored and not receiving enough stimulus, your brain creates it. You know those zen moments of emptiness that you hear about being so difficult to reach, where you have to empty your mind and become one with the universe? Turns out, that's the majority of your day. And you spend those moments of emptiness trying to fill them with popsongs so your brain can get its fix. ",
"This might be kind of a digression, but the reason a song pops into our heads could be that in a subtle mathematical way it mirrors the neurological patterns of something we are thinking about.Well-liked music of any genre, when analyzed mathematically, tends to produce a fractal pattern., and so does neurological activity. The closer to the central nervous system you measure nerve activity the more fractal it is, which might explain how a sequence of musical notes can evoke an emotion or remind us of a memory. This could be because they contain fractal patterns that are a close match, which could also explain why a thought or experience brings a tune into our heads. ",
"In cognitive psychology, they call your minds ability to play back sound and voices your phonetic loop. This space of your working cognition plays sounds that last about 5-7 seconds in length, often times repeated, so they can be processed later or better memorized. You may have noticed that if you didn't hear someone but heard them speak, you can replay what sounds you've heard in the past few seconds and then attend to them to process the sounds. It's like we have an echo chamber in our minds that keeps sounds around after they've happened. \n\nDid I lock my door just a second ago? Do I remember hearing it click?\n\nShit, girlfriend is talking but I wasn't actually listening. Hold on while I play back what's in my phonetic loop and listen this time. \n\nIt's also why songs stuck in our heads are usually only 1 verse or just the chorus. 5-7 seconds. ",
"What played in our heads before music?"
]
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ymogt | in artist collaborations, what's the difference between featuring, versus, and with? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ymogt/in_artist_collaborations_whats_the_difference/ | {
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"Versus: is usually a head to head battle. Real time call and response. A guitar head cutting duel or quite simply a mashup remix.\n\nFeaturing: Usually involves song composed and recorded by one artist and they call out to a friend to do a bit of sessions. If the artist good enough its a feature. Or while giving young ones a chance.\n\nWith: means collaboration. Artists may have composed a bit together. Or maybe performing together on stage.\n\nall of these can also be used great for publicity reasons.",
"\"Featuring\" means that the artist(s) recording the song asked someone to be in it. The featuree is present at the actual recording of the song.\n\n\"Versus\" means that the song is a mashup - someone took two songs and made a third one, typically by remixing.\n\n\"With\" is used in a situation where a song is a joint project where the two artists are generally not associated and neither is the \"main\" artist.",
"A feature means that a person is singing a verse on a song from a different singer. \n\nVersus means two singers are trying to beat each other by singing. \n\nCollaborating, or singing \"with\", means two singers work together to make a complete song. "
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cvvn1w | what exactly is happening when you run games/media at 1080p on a 4k tv? | Does it look worse than if it were to be played on a native 1080p monitor/tv? Does it get upscaled? Does it matter at all? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cvvn1w/eli5_what_exactly_is_happening_when_you_run/ | {
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"Your 4K TV is 3840 pixels wide and 2160 pixels high. The image you're feeding it is only 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high. If three quarters of your screen isn't black bars, then that image is being upscaled somewhere.\n\nTypically what's happening is your output device (PC, streaming box etc) is sending a 1080p signal, and the processors inside the TV are doing all the work of converting that to a 4K image. It's rarely just a simple mathematical conversion, there's all sorts of processing that takes place to make it look good - noise reduction, image sharpening, databases of ideal conversions etc.\n\nGenerally speaking the better the TV, the better this conversion takes place. Cheap 4K TVs will probably look no better than 1080p, maybe even slightly worse in some cases depending on the content. But usually they will look better than a 1080p TV. The size of the TV and your viewing distance are also factors.\n\nIf your output device is a PC, depending on your graphics card you could instead use AMD Virtual Super Resolution (VSR) or Nvidia Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR). Both are technologies that will perform the upscaling on the PC/GPU side, but again it's going to depend on the content and the quality of the TV/monitor as to whether they are the better option."
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e9omie | why do third world countries often seem to have such low costs of living? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e9omie/eli5_why_do_third_world_countries_often_seem_to/ | {
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"The largest cost we have in 1st worod countries generally is labor. Things are very expensive in comparison because you have to pay workers more so production, transportation, and distribution all costs significantly more.",
"Labour costs. People on the transaction chain need to get paid and if they are all getting paid at substantive rates then the end product gets increasingly expensive at every stage. E.g take food cost as an example. The amount of money that a farmer in the US needs to make to sustain themselves is far much higher than the amount a farmer needs in my country. So if I buy a banana at 5 US cents over here, it's probably much higher over there. Like, \"It's just one banana Michael, how much can it be? 10 dollars?\" \n\nI live in a 3rd world country and what I make is comical if converted into dollars. But over here I can afford a lifestyle where all my bills are paid and a little bit of money is left over. My food budget is less than 100 dollars per month. \n\nThere's also the supply demand curve. If a seller prices their goods at higher prices than people can generally afford then that seller is not going to make much money. For things like tech based products e.g phones, TVs, electronics, the manufacturers often have cheaper, lower-quality products targeted at our markets. If it works, it works. The top-line products e.g flagship phones are still available for anyone who can afford them and often at higher prices than in the US due to taxes and stuff."
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5f3cwi | how do smartphones have the whole screen light up? | [Title] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5f3cwi/eli5_how_do_smartphones_have_the_whole_screen/ | {
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"The screen is composed of multiple layers. The top layer is the glass. Below that is the pixel array that creates the colors you see on screen. Below that is what's called a diffuse layer, which is usually a piece of semi-transparent plastic with a texture kind of like frosted glass. Behind that is a light, called the backlight. The backlight shines onto the diffuse layer, which diffuses the light over its entire surface. That's what makes it look like there's just one solid light behind the screen when in fact it's usually an array of many lights.",
"Depending on what type of display you have, it uses either a backlight or individual LEDs (light emitting diodes)"
]
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67oekt | why have built-in webcam covers not surged in popularity yet? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67oekt/eli5_why_have_builtin_webcam_covers_not_surged_in/ | {
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"I think offering a built-in cover would be perceived as an acknowledgement that the product is not entirely secure in its own right.\n\nIt's like selling a house with bars on the windows. Makes you wonder what's wrong with the neighborhood. ",
" > Can anyone offer a better explanation?\n\nTape is cheaper. Also, I think you overexaggerate the paranoia. People may ring their hands about spying, but no one really believes *they're* a target. The second you tell them they need a new computer to be save they'll just spend $0.50 on a roll of electrical tape and just cover it up.",
"They probably know most people just cover it up anyway and its not that profitable thing to invest in"
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2yxeyt | why doesn't the world get rid of borders? | Obviously I understand the answer here is very complex. You can't just delete 10,000 years worth of history without creating complete and utter chaos. But I would be interested to read what people with more experience in the matter have to say on the subject. What are some big obstacles for integration for our planet? Why is a "world government" viewed like such a bad thing? If it was to become too powerful surely we could just come up with a system of checks and balanced like we did in the US?
I know it's a very complex question with a myriad of "correct answers". But give it a try if this is your field. I am interested in hearing your opinion. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yxeyt/eli5_why_doesnt_the_world_get_rid_of_borders/ | {
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"Sure, let's start by following my rules. Oh, you want to make rules too? Well I don't like your ideas so we will never merge.\n\nNow try integrating a country ruled by a religious dictator who's citizens believe (under penalty of death) that his dictates are authorized by God? How about a country that believes your ethnic group is subhuman and the only ethical course is to exterminate your entire culture? How about giving a country with three times your population yet commonly believes eating albino humans will cure various ailments an equal vote with you?\n\nIt just won't work, no matter how much weed you smoke.",
"Stated simply, the same rules that benefit one area could gravely handicap another. This is why the U.S. maintains state's-powers. \"What's good for Montana ain't good for Alabama.\" So we let Montana and Alabama have their own rules. The borders tell you where to apply which rules.\n\nAs to your point about a \"world government\". Just look at how well the EU does. Germany, the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands are forced to financially support the other nations. While this is great for Latvia, Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria, it's really unfair to everyone else.\n\nEvery attempt to unify under a single government was fraught with problems of cultural expectations, economic disparity, and a general thuggish looting of the productive for the benefit of the terminal-vacationers."
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2pmgb0 | medieval nobility | How did the system of nobility and peasanthood arise? How did a family establish itself as 'noble?' What powers and responsibilities were granted to those of noble families? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pmgb0/eli5_medieval_nobility/ | {
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" > How did the system of nobility and peasanthood arise? \n\nIt arose in many, many places and even in the same places many times again and again over history. There's no one answer other than something general like: \"The guy with the most weapons and folks to hold them said it'd be like that.\"\n\nThe isle of Great Britain alone has had more kingdoms on it than you could shake a stick at in the past 1500 years, never-mind Europe generally or the whole world.\n\n > How did a family establish itself as 'noble?'\n\nDepends on the realm in question. In some cases the nobility was just about as good as locked down - it was basically never the case that a commoner could become a landowner or holder of titles.\n\nIn some realms a noble might grant nobility to some degree or another for military accomplishments, or simply because they liked that person. \n\n > What powers and responsibilities were granted to those of noble families?\n\nAgain, varies realm to realm. A duke, count or whatever might be charged with defending the realm from the other kingdom that bordered their lands. Some were charged with meeting quotas for food harvested or for providing soldiers. \n\nSome held the power to, along with the other gentry, select the king or depose him. Some realms had - at least on paper - royal families for all time that could never be deposed or overruled.\n\nThere have been kingdoms, empires and other realms beyond counting in history, and no two exactly the same. ",
"The vast majority of the people were peasants- people who farmed to feed themselves. As for the nobles, I suspect that in many cases they would've been conquering invaders whose descendants remained a specialized noble/warrior class. In the period of instability that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, there were opportunities for barbarians to attack peasants, or for groups of warriors to get peasants to give them tribute in return for protection. Then you have a knightly or warrior caste emerging.\n\nThe Normans are an example. They were Viking invaders who raided France. Then the French king gave some of the Vikings land in return for helping to defend France against other Viking raiders. So the Viking Normans became French nobles.\n\nLater on the Normans invaded England from France and defeated the Anglo-Saxons. Then the Normans became the new nobles of England, replacing the older Anglo-Saxon nobility, while the majority of the Anglo-Saxons were still peasants.",
"Charlemagne basically invented the Feudal system as we know it.\n\nHe and his tribe were a bunch of badasses, who conquered a lot of land. He wanted to keep control of this land, so he put some of his warriors in charge of the lands. They built forts, collected regular tribute from the locals, and so forth.\n\nOver time, other places in Europe copied Charlemagne's system of oaths of fealty and family lands.\n\nMore interestingly, this system is *entirely* European. Other cultures created nobility in very different ways. In the Islamic world, for example, nobility was simply a matter of wealth - you owned a lot, and were expected to keep an army to defend what you own. I hope others can tell you more about the Nobility in India, East Asia, and Central America."
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89i0ne | how do we synchronize our pace when walking next to someone? | I've noticed that more often than not, two people walking next to each other will take their steps simultaneously, syncing together within about 10 steps. Whenever I point it out to my friends and tell one of them to try stepping at a different pace, it's almost as if their brain stops working. They struggle to accomplish that. Why does all of this happen?
Also, I had no idea if this was more of a Culture or Biology question so I just picked one. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/89i0ne/eli5_how_do_we_synchronize_our_pace_when_walking/ | {
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"I'm pretty sure that's only true for people of similar height.\n\nMy girlfriend is a good 10 inches shorter than me, and so when we walk \"together\", she takes many short steps and I take longer steps."
]
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24zm3x | can animals get concussions like humans? and if so are the consequences similar? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24zm3x/eli5_can_animals_get_concussions_like_humans_and/ | {
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"Yes, they can and do. It can be harder to tell, and we don't usually send them for MRI/CT to confirm, so a lot of them go misdiagnosed. But animals with head trauma will become nauseous, lose consciousness, loss of balance, signs of partial blindness, etc, all the same kind of signs we'd expect in a human. \n\nRest and exercise restriction are important. Obviously its hard to prevent intense cognitive workouts in a dog or cat, but keeping them \"unstimulated\" is important.\n\nWe do also see cumulative concussion effects like tremors, seizures, cognitive dysfunction, etc in animals with a (suspected) history of repeated concussions, such as victims of animal abuse or bloodsports. ",
"Yes they can. There are many studies taking place that uses rat models to explore drugs used in the management of concussive injuries. \n\nReally, as long as it has a brain it can get a concussion, and it will disrupt motor and autonomic function just like in humans."
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1mh7s0 | how does orajel and other numbing gels work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mh7s0/eli5how_does_orajel_and_other_numbing_gels_work/ | {
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"Orajel is actually made up of a substance called Benzocaine, which interacts with open nerve endings that sense pain. Benzocaine will basically stops the nerve from sending those impulses of pain by blocking something called a Voltage Dependant Sodium Channel, something important to block because as soon as sodium enters the neuron from the nerve endings to cause depolarization and then causes an action potential.\n\nDumbed down a little bit, this basically means that Benzocaine latches onto the nerve membrane and stops those sodium channels from sending that signal of pain."
]
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26nu32 | birds in the northern hemisphere migrate south for the winter. are there birds from the southern hemisphere that migrate north for the summer? what species are they? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26nu32/eli5_birds_in_the_northern_hemisphere_migrate/ | {
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"Many species of migratory birds breed in Alaska. That's why that proposal to drill for oil in that wildlife refuge was such a big deal.\n\nEdit: The Whimbrel is a good example. It breeds in Alaska and winters as far south as Africa and South America. "
]
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6csavd | why does it seem like there are 'cycles' of terrorism? | Since the Paris bombings back in November 2015 it seems like there's been a dramatic uptick in western terrorism recently. However, it seems like there were also significant terrorism concerns in the 1990's until about 9/11 when after that it seemed to lull a bit. What global/economic conditions create conditions that make terrorism more frequent, as we've seen in the past few years with bombings, shootings and trucks driving into people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6csavd/eli5_why_does_it_seem_like_there_are_cycles_of/ | {
"a_id": [
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"Your question is really about perception. Terrorism, to a large extent, has become less about gigantic coordinated attacks like 9/11 and the Madrid train bombings, and generally gotten simpler and simpler until it is an individual or a handful of guys with guns shooting everyone in a confined space. That is not to minimize the horror of those situations when they happen, but it shows that it is moving from a model where you have trained and coordinated cells to small groups improvising whatever violence they can."
]
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1yv2ir | why are people attracted to furries? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yv2ir/why_are_people_attracted_to_furries/ | {
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"text": [
"People are funny. different strokes for different folks. It's theoretically possible to be attracted to literally anything. Some people just happen to be attracted to furries. "
]
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3omv11 | will they ever go after the actual person(s) who wrote and built the code for volkswagen to cheat the emissions testing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3omv11/eli5_will_they_ever_go_after_the_actual_persons/ | {
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"When a company does something wrong, you sue the company, not the CEO, or the manager, or the engineer. This is what's called corporate personhood. So no, they won't go after the person who wrote the code. ",
"While you're at it, give me the name of the guys who designed the touch pad on the piece of shit Lenovo laptop my work gave me. "
]
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eex3zu | how do trees start out as flimsy sprouts but then change into hard wood? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eex3zu/eli5_how_do_trees_start_out_as_flimsy_sprouts_but/ | {
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"text": [
"You have heard the saying that if you cut down a tree, you can count the rings to see how old it is. \n\nEvery year the tree builds another layer onto itself, creating a new ring, thus getting taller, thicker and more sturdy as time goes on."
]
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brjqyn | how do tuning forks stay in tune, and can they ever go out of tune? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/brjqyn/eli5_how_do_tuning_forks_stay_in_tune_and_can/ | {
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"When struck the metal reverberates in such a way to produce the correct frequency, the correct tune.\n\nAs for if they can go out of tune? Probably not likely that one youd use would. It would require the metal to become deformed or chipped in some way so that it doesnt rattle the same way.",
"Tuning forks are meant to be struck on a certain type of material which is like a hard rubber in the form of a small block or mallet. If you strike it on something else you risk deforming it and changing its pitch. \n\nthat’s what I was told in choir.",
"Technically, their \"tune\" changes all the time because their temperature (and thus their size) changes. Granted, its a very small change and not really perceptible by the human ear but it is measurable with sensitive enough equipment.\n\nUnless you keep your tuning fork in an absolutely climate controlled environment that was exactly the same as when they were tuned the first time."
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5p2aha | how did cantonese and mandarin end up with the same characters, but completely different spoken languages? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p2aha/eli5_how_did_cantonese_and_mandarin_end_up_with/ | {
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"The characters / letters in mandarin work very differently from how English words do. In mandarin the characters have a meaning like \"big\" but it doesn't mean \"big\" this is great since the Chinese empire can then have someone taking notes from one person, send them to another way elsewhere and they will say the words differently but it'll mean the same since they don't directly write down words. [Here](_URL_0_) is a great video about it.",
"Short answer: The Beijing Mandarin way of writing was forced on all of China. There's actually a form of written Cantonese that's basically incomprehensible to a Mandarin speaker.\n\nLong answer:\n\nA long time ago, there was a single Chinese language, now called Classical Chinese. Think of it like Latin.\n\nWritten languages tend to diverge more slowly than spoken languages.\n\nLatin spawned French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. These languages use largely the same alphabets, and speakers of one language can often stumble through written texts in the other languages: Lait, Leche, Laite, Latte, Lapte are the respective words for \"milk,\" for instance.\n\nHowever, a speaker of French will have a much harder time understanding spoken Spanish.\n\nWith regards to Chinese, the same thing happened. Classical Chinese changed in both written and verbal forms, but the verbal forms changed more. Linguists identify around 10 major varieties of Chinese, with hundreds of mutually unintelligible dialects. \n\n(By the way, Mandarin is the largest variety, while Cantonese is a dialect of the fourth largest variety. Cantonese is familiar to Americans because they speak it in and around Hong Kong, where many early Chinese immigrants were from).\n\nThe written varieties changed, but because they (as a whole) changed less than the spoken language, it was achievable to force a single written language on the entire population. This happened within the last century or so: The Beijing Mandarin way of writing was forced on all of China. Beijing Mandarin is the basis of Standard Chinese, which is the official and common language of the PRC. But among fellow Shanghai residents, they will still speak Shanghainese, a dialect of the third largest Chinese variety.\n\nSince the characters are not based on sounds like our language, it's entirely possible for speakers of different varieties to speak the same character multiple ways.\n\nFor instance, 好 roughly sounds like \"how\" in Mandarin, \"ho\" in Cantonese, etc.; It's also used in Japanese as a kanji character, and is pronounced \"ko\".\n\nOf course, this character gives no clue to its pronunciation. But if you're curious, it's constructed from a combination of 女 and 子, roughly pronounced in Mandarin as \"nü\" and \"dzih,\" which respectively mean \"woman\" and \"child.\" But in one character? It means \"good.\""
]
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1s8d6y | does the brain use more energy while dreaming due to the fact that it's synthesizing sensations, characters, locations etc.? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s8d6y/eli5_does_the_brain_use_more_energy_while/ | {
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"No. Even though it might work on the things you mention, it stops worrying about all motor control, doesn't have to worry about sensory input to the same degree, doesn't need to process nearly as much information, it's very quiet up there."
]
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1d13a4 | what happened to the simpsons? why do people talk about it going downhill? what changed? | I, myself, haven't seen a Simpsons episode in years and pretty much watched only the first few series which i enjoyed as a kid. However i constantly read now about how it started sucking. Did they sell out? Run out of jokes? Did the good writers leave? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1d13a4/eli5what_happened_to_the_simpsons_why_do_people/ | {
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"text": [
"The show didn't change much. People changed.",
"[The Simpsons Is Still Funny - Pt. 1](_URL_0_) \n\n[The Simpsons Is Still Funny, Part 2](_URL_1_)\n\nThose videos do a fairly good job of explaining it, basically people grew up and the pop culture changed, taking away much of what the Simpsons had been about. ",
"When you have a show that runs for this long, it's pretty much impossible to keep it relevant *and* keep the fans happy. The original show was extremely 90s, totally a product of that time. The sense of humor was totally 90s, as were the pop culture references, and even the look of the characters. It's been 13 years since that kind of thing was really relevant. \n\nSo the show got really popular for what it was, and as changes were made to it over time, it changed, well, what it was. People who started watching in the early days were really upset with the 6th season because it didn't have quite as much heart as the 3rd season. Or they were upset because by the time they'd reached the 10th season, it was more comedy-driven rather than story-driven. By the time it reached the 17th, 18th seasons - forget it.\n\nAlso, the writing staff changed, the ins and outs of it changed. It looks totally different from how it did 20 years ago, and all of these changes add up to a pretty different show, even if the characters and the setting are the same. Some of it's objective, and some of it is subjective, but basically, it's not what it used to be, even if you still like it.\n\ntl;dr The Simsons has been around so long that it's effectively become its own (crappy) sequel.",
"This is my opinion, not sure if it is shared with others. Simpsons used to have good plots. Even without the jokes, the plot made it interesting. The jokes, they were often witty and always fresh. Celebrities made appearances once in a while and it enhanced the experience. \nAfter season 12 or so, the writers just got tired it seemed. The jokes have all been done. Now the writers were relying mostly on slapstick. They were also changing the personalities and histories of time-tested characters we've gotten to know to fit each episode. Then the episodes began to revolve around celebrities. It seemed they were round-peg-into-square-holing-celebrity roles with just terrible terrible voice acting.\n\nI don't believe people have changed, because to this day I watch Simpsons episodes every night before I sleep. I still find seasons 3-12 hilarious, but don't find much appeal in subsequent seasons. Try it for yourself, piratebay season 6 or so and compare it to season 18. You'll see.",
"The show has been going on for so long the fans that grew up watching it have matured to the point where they may not find the same things funny as when they were younger. So it could be that group that is saying the show is going downhill because they have grown to like other things.",
"*The Simpson's* was a parody of the perfect family shows like *The Cosby Show* that were popular in the 1980s. But it outlived them all and opened the door to dysfunctional family shows as a genre, so it sort of outlived what it was making fun of.\n\nIn addition, people forget they were 23 years younger when the show came out...much of the appeal might have been watching it in the dorm TV room with all of your friends, as opposed to catching it on the DVR when you get time away from work and kids.",
"I think the show became far more immature later on. Also way too many celebrities. Also modern pop culture references are just annoying (eg. Apple, facebook etc) for lots of people. I think nowadays people are more cynical. And its much harder to be fresh and unique. For me though it was over reliance on celebrities, one-time characters and the comedy becoming more targeted for younger audiences ",
"Writing and content aside, I think the change to clean-cut computerized animation took a lot of the soul away from the show, and perhaps even detracted from the show's overall humor. I dunno. Something about the hand-drawn cells just give off a sillier attitude."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5140-The-Simpsons-Is-Still-Funny-Pt-1",
"http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5166-The-Simpsons-Is-Still-Funny-Part-2"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2slcjw | how do opiates like heroin work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2slcjw/eli5_how_do_opiates_like_heroin_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"cnqkcqp"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"in the central nervous system (brain and spinal chord) as well as the enteric system (intestinal) there are receptors that bind to normal chemicals (endogenous substances called enkaphalins, which are involved in pain pathways and emotion) in the body. Opioids bind to subtype of these receptors (mu receptors) and induce a conformational change in that receptor, which activates the receptor to send signals to other parts of the cell. the two things that it does, in respect to neurons, is decrease calcium entry into the cell and increase potassium exit from the cell. This brings the cell farther away from threshold (hyperpolarized) meaning that cell is less likely to be able to communicate with the next neuron. (i.e. it elevates the pain threshold by activating the descending-inhibitory pain pathway in the spinothalamic tract and deactivating the ascending pain pathway). Also, these receptors are in a part of the brain called the limbic system, which when activated blunt emotional responses. Other effects include decreased respiration by receptors in the respiratory center of the brain, nausea by receptors in a part of the brain called the area of postrema, couch suppression, and decreased gastrointestinal activity by activation of receptors in the enteric system. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
8vnxw7 | why are some children so resistant to eating? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8vnxw7/eli5_why_are_some_children_so_resistant_to_eating/ | {
"a_id": [
"e1oxxhk"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"There are a LOT of potential answers to this, and I expect that others will have better explanations. However:\n\n\\- A major and important point of child development is learning to say \"no\" -- essentially, learning that you have control over your own body and are that you are capable of setting boundaries. Because eating is such an important part of most human communities, saying \"no\" to food is one of the universal ways that a 2- or 3-year-old begins to assert their own individual identity.\n\n\\- There's also (IIRC) some research showing that children have more sensitive taste receptors, and thus are more likely to push food away."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
dyz1dd | how do targeted ads from things you've searched on a computer get to your phone? how does the tracking process work? | For example yesterday I found myself in a website I'd never been to that sells furniture. I also visited some other furniture sites. Today on my phone all the ads on my apps are for furniture I viewed it the site I'd never heard of before yesterday. How does that work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dyz1dd/eli5_how_do_targeted_ads_from_things_youve/ | {
"a_id": [
"f84a7b4",
"f84amnr"
],
"score": [
7,
4
],
"text": [
"Is your email attached to both devices? Do you have similar accounts between the two? That's how they do it. It's just spamming the devices attached to your accounts.",
"Have you ever logged in to the same account of any site on both devices? That in conjunction with cookies that advertisement networks like AdSense use result in that they know both are used by you.\n\nIf it is an android device you almost certainly have a google account you are logged in with. If log in to google on your computer like to Gmail it is quite clear that the one used the browser and phone is the same individual. If you use chrome on both signed in on your account there is a clear connection."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
dic37k | what is the importance of 7nm processors? | I’m usually really on top of things like this (I’m really into new tech and consumer electronics), but I must have gotten lost somewhere. I see a lot of companies like Apple and Microsoft as well as Youtubers like Linus Tech Tips talk about the importance of the introduction of 7nm (or below) processors, but I have no idea why they’re important and what they add to the future of technology. Does it just result in smaller processors? Better performance? Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dic37k/eli5_what_is_the_importance_of_7nm_processors/ | {
"a_id": [
"f3uornz",
"f3uro6l",
"f3xjol3"
],
"score": [
5,
7,
2
],
"text": [
"yes. smaller processors. better performance.\n\nimagine drawing a schematic with a bingo marker. your lines will big and fat and you won't be able to make many wires. now use a sharpie. better lines but still pretty fat. now use a fine tip marker. you're able to make more finer lines than ever before. each of those lines will carry electricity. and you can make the components smaller and less distance and resistance for electricity to travel.",
"it's self explanatory. fit more transistors on a wafer and you can make more chips per wafer (each one becomes cheaper) or you can put more transistors on each chip and thus increase processing power while passively reducing heat production and energy consumption (by means of ykno, smaller transistors that require less power).\n\n\n\nThe term 7nm is a myth, though. It refers to nothing on the transistor itself. 7nm AMD is not the same as 7nm Intel which is not the same as 7nm qualcomm. It's just a corporate simplification to sell shit.",
"Think of a chip as a bunch of wires and gates. The smaller the wires and gates, the less power needed to make the same system work, and the smaller the system can be. This has a couple of perks. \n\nPower does two things - it generates heat, and if the system gets too hot then it stops working. Power also costs money and resources, so smaller chips that use less power are cheaper to run. The speed of light's also finite (though really fast), so smaller chips can run faster (by letting one instruction go through the chip before the next one gets sent). So smaller chips use less power, and/or they can run faster.\n\nAnother side of this is that while the technology being used to make these smaller chips is really difficult to develop and really expensive, once it's done correctly you can put more chips on the same size wafer. This means that it's cheaper to make them, all else being equal. Sometimes it's so much harder to make them that a lot of chips don't work (low yields), which increases the price, but once kinks get worked out there's typically a cost savings.\n\nIf they want to make chips with more wires and gates, which can do more stuff than the old chips, they can do it without taking up more space than the old ones, so they can make more powerful chips in that way as well.\n\nOne issue is how to manage heat - it's easier to get rid of heat from a big chip than from a small chip, so if a small chip is pushed to use more power (and get more performance), then it can be tricky to keep it cool. Another is that once the wires and gates get so small, sometimes they don't work properly - the power starts to jump across wires and gates and it messes up. That's hard to work around."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2b0c92 | why am i so hungry since i've stopped smoking weed? | I smoked almost daily for about 6 years. On most days I wouldn't eat unless I had smoked earlier. Usually I would only get hungry once or twice every two days. If I tried to eat when I wasn't hungry it felt like I was trying to swallow a mouthful of saltine crackers. Now I haven't been smoking for over 2 weeks and I'm eating so much I feel like I might have tapeworms. Any explanation? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b0c92/eli5_why_am_i_so_hungry_since_ive_stopped_smoking/ | {
"a_id": [
"cj0j7jz",
"cj0j8hp"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text": [
"Did you smoke the weed with tobacco?\nIf so, maybe these are the withdrawal symptoms of the nicotine.\nPlease visit a doctor if you have serious concerns.",
"Maybe weed was your pass time and now eating is"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
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