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2w1h5q | how are laws passed in the us? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w1h5q/eli5_how_are_laws_passed_in_the_us/ | {
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"In the simplest of explanations the congress forms a bill and votes on it if it passes with a majority it goes to the president if he signs it it becomes law. If the president vetoes it, it goes back to congress where they vote again and if it gets a supermajority then it is law. If they can't get a supermajority they change it and try again.",
"Well it starts with an idea. Then you send a lobbyist to a congressman to persuade them to write a bill. If it's unpopular you'll have to pay extra to have him wedge it in a bill that's sure to pass. The bill is pushed through congress and signed into law provided it wasn't filibustered to death in which you will have to repeat the process often with more money. ",
"[Here you go.](_URL_0_) This is how actual 5-year-olds learn this stuff!",
"Boy: Woof! You sure got to climb a lot of steps to get to this Capitol Building here in Washington. But I wonder who that sad little scrap of paper is?\n\nBill: I'm just a bill\nYes, I'm only a bill\nAnd I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill\nWell, it's a long, long journey\nTo the capital city\nIt's a long, long wait\nWhile I'm sitting in committee\nBut I know I'll be a law someday\nAt least I hope and pray that I will\nBut today I am still just a bill\n\nBoy: Gee, Bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage\n\nBill: Well I got this far. When I started, I wasn't even a bill, I was just an idea. Some folks back home decided they wanted a law passed, so they called their local Congressman and he said, \"You're right, there ought to be a law.\" Then he sat down and wrote me out and introduced me to Congress. And I became a bill, and I'll remain a bill until they decide to make me a law.\n\nI'm just a bill\nYes, I'm only a bill,\nAnd I got as far as Capitol Hill\nWell, now I'm stuck in committee\nAnd I'll sit here and wait\nWhile a few key Congressmen discuss and debate\nWhether they should let me be a law\nHow I hope and pray that they will\nBut today I am still just a bill\n\nBoy: Listen to those congressmen arguing! Is all that discussion and debate about you?\n\nBill: Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones. Most bills never even get this far. I hope they decide to report on me favorably, otherwise I may die.\n\nBoy: Die?\n\nBill: Yeah, die in committee. Oh, but it looks like I'm going to live! Now I go to the House of Representatives, and they vote on me.\n\nBoy: If they vote yes, what happens?\n\nBill: Then I go to the Senate and the whole thing starts all over again.\n\nBoy: Oh no!\n\nBill: Oh yes!\n\nI'm just a bill\nYes, I'm only a bill\nAnd if they vote for me on Capitol Hill\nWell, then I'm off to the White House\nWhere I'll wait in a line\nWith a lot of other bills\nFor the president to sign\nAnd if he signs me, then I'll be a law\nHow I hope and pray that he will\nBut today I am still just a bill\n\nBoy: You mean even if the whole Congress says you should be a law, the president can still say no?\n\nBill: Yes, that's called a veto. If the President vetoes me, I have to go back to Congress and they vote on me again, and by that time you're so old . . .\n\nBoy: By that time it's very unlikely that you'll become a law. It's not easy to become a law, is it?\n\nBill: No!\n\nBut how I hope and I pray that I will\nBut today I am still just a bill\n\nCongressman: He signed you, Bill! Now you're a law!\n\nBill: Oh yes!"
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3ojaym | how do suppositories work? | Is it like reverse digestion, or is there something I'm missing here? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ojaym/eli5_how_do_suppositories_work/ | {
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"Posting here because no one has yet...\n\nI'm pretty sure they get absorbed into your large intestine (just like the way nutrients and water do), by there are mucous (wet) membranes that have absorbing surfaces (villi). ",
"Depends on what exactly you're shoving up your ass.\n\nYou can absorb nutrients and chemicals and drugs through the intestine so it is a good delivery method for some things. Years ago people used to have \"Gallow Parties\" for the name of the wine(or was it champagne?)...in recent years the term was known as \"butt chugging\". I can't fathom doing this at all, but I don't judge.\n\nFor glycerin laxatives, they'll melt(near instant lube) and having something pushed up there will naturally make you want to go. unsure if they have any biochemical reaction.\n\nFor things like Preparation H, it works just like the ointment, it shrinks up capillaries and can help with inflammation and also provide some lubrication and laxative effect.\n\nI'm sure there are numerous other drugs, ointments, and such that there are suppositories for that have different effects, but these are all that I know of or have unfortunate indepth(pun intended) knowledge about.",
"Are you talking about drug suppositories, or suppository laxatives?\n\nThe walls of your colon are permeable to lots of things. A lot of nutrients are absorbed here after your food has been \"processed\" in the stomach and small intestine. \n\nThis processing that goes on in the stomach and small intestine could reduce the efficacy of some drugs. In this case, it's advantageous to coat the drug in something that dissolves slowly in water, and just stick it right into the area where it's absorbed. \nSo, you get a pill and coat it in something like rice paper. Not exactly rice paper, but just a material that dissolves in water. Then you pop it up there and the water in your body dissolves the pill and you begin absorbing whatever was wrapped in there. People have apparently also gotten drunk by doing vodka suppositories, again because the walls of your colon are permeable to lots of things.\n\nUnless, you're talking about a suppository laxative? \nIt's basically just some compounds that absorb water, but generally cannot be easily transferred across the walls of the colon. Over time it draws water from outside the colon into the inside of the colon, which makes you poop. Some artificial sweeteners have this property. Sorbitol, for example is a low calorie sweetener because it can't be easily absorbed by the colon. However, it is a polar molecule and attracts water into the colon. This is why some sugar alcohols in large amounts have laxative effects. ",
"Word of warning in case anyone reads this and is stupid enough to try it: don't try and get ba-dunk-a-drunk with bum rum/a brown-eye mai tai/anal colada/mint poolep or any other type of drink in the stink, because you have a good chance of getting alchohole poisoning. "
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cd1mat | when you turn down or up the volume on devices with either a wheel or button, what actually happens that allows it to sound quieter or louder? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cd1mat/eli5_when_you_turn_down_or_up_the_volume_on/ | {
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"A volume knob or wheel is an example of a device called a *potentiometer*, which is a device that adjusts the voltage going down a wire by increasing or decreasing the electrical resistance.\n\nIf the resistance increases (if you turn the volume knob down), then less voltage makes it to the speaker, the cone vibrates less intensely, and the sound is quieter. The opposite is true if you turn the volume up.",
"A system consists of some signal source (tape player, radio etc), usually a preamp, an amplifier and a speaker.\n\nThe volume control sits between the preamp and the amplifier. The preamp produces a signal that is (generally) about 1 volt. The volume control has a long resistor, with a wiper that makes contact with the resistor at some point along its length. The preamp output is connected to one end of the resistor, and the other end is attached to the 0 volts point ('ground'). The wiper is connected to the input of the main amp, which produces a signal with the voltage and power needed to drive the speaker.\n\nWhen the volume is high, the wiper attaches to the resistor right beside the input. So the full 1volt signal appears at the input of the main amp. When the volume is fully down, it the wiper attaches to the resistor right down at the ground point - there's no voltage there, as it is at 0 volts, so the main amp sees no signal and you get nothing out.\n\nAnywhere between that, the wiper contacts the resistor somewhere along it's length, and so the main amp sees somewhere between the full 1v signal and nothing, controlling the volume.",
"Others have talked about potentiometers but OP asked about a \"wheel\" (which is not a knob) and a button. The \"wheel\" is known as an encoder. It's a device that has many different positions. The device tracks which position the wheel was at and which position it has moved to. So it knows which direction the user is turning the wheel. If they turn it clockwise, then the system will send a signal to the amplifier to increase the gain (volume). If the user is turning it counter-clockwise then it will send a signal to lower the gain. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nThis is what allows the user to continuously turn the wheel in a given direction. A regular knob has a fixed range and will only turn up to a certain point.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nAs for buttons, it's the same idea, there is a button for \"up\" and button for \"down\". The system decides to increase the gain or lower the gain simply by which button is pressed. This is why you can have a touch screen with a volume slider . It's all digital information.",
"Nowadays the wheel or buttons generate pulses that control a computer that controls the D/A converter that controls the volume of the signal. To get increased dynamics, there can be one D/A converter for the volume and one (much more high resolution) for the signal, multiplied to get the end result, but it's not a given. Also, the equalizer is completely digital, using digital (calculated) filters.",
"Sound travels through your electronic device as a very small electrical current. Think of this current as “flowing” like water. \n\nWhen the volume knob is all the way up, all of the water is allowed to pass through it, but as you turn the knob down, less and less water is allowed through. The amount of “water” coming through = volume.",
"Depends.\n\nOn purely analog devices audio is just an electric signal. When you adjust the gain you are controlling how much electricity you are letting through, like a water tap.\n\nOn digital devices this is more complicated but, generally speaking, when you press the volume buttons you are also controlling how much electricity is being sent to the speakers although not directly. Some code is interpreting your actions on the volume buttons and then this either results in the digital audio signal having less amplitude, or controlling the analog amplifier, or both.",
"See suggested for answers on analog devices. I just wanted to add that some devices save space and material by digitizing the input from a knob or wheel and converting the command to the audio section of a device.\n\nOn a digital wheel that you can keep spinning even when the volume is at 0 or 100, the input process is a two step assignment loop input, with short polling. Placing a finger on the wheel sets the start value (step 1). Then the direction the finger moves sets the positive or negative value (step 2). That value is sent to the audio \"tap\", telling it to open or close a bit more. The value resets back to zero value of step 1, waiting for another directional input. It repeats that for as long as you're tracing that finger along the track wheel.",
"Sound is sound waves, similar to waves in the water.\n\nThe device creates sound by sending electricity to a speaker. The electricity pushes the speaker inwards or outwards, creating a larger or smaller wave, depending on how much electricity you send through.\n\nTo make it quieter, the device simply sends less electricity. This can be done in multiple ways, e.g. changing the amplification in an amplifier circuit, or just taking the sound wave that it is trying to play, and multiplying it by the volume percentage.\n\nA electronically recorded sound wave consists of a series of numbers. Each number says how much power to send to the speaker at a specific time. The is one number for (typically) every 1/44100th of a second. So if you set the volume to 10%, it simply multiplies each number with 10% (= 0.1) to determine how much power to actually send to the speaker."
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6gdxwn | why can you use any amount of water to cook pasta but you need a certain amount for grains? | When I make pasta I just fill the pot 3/4 full and wait for it boil, put the pasta in and just drain the water after. Why can't I do this with rice or quinoa? Instead I have to measure both the water and the grain. Why can't I just drain the water after?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gdxwn/eli5_why_can_you_use_any_amount_of_water_to_cook/ | {
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"The reason being is pasta is processed and just needs to soften with little absorption. Grains on the other hand need to absorb liquid to become soft, but the can only take in so much liquid. This is why it must be precise with grains and not pasta.",
"You can cook rice with excess water and drain it after as well, it's no problem. You might lose a little of the nutrients and vitamins in the process, but it's nothing to worry about.\n"
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4aobj9 | is sweden a capitalist or socialist country? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4aobj9/eli5_is_sweden_a_capitalist_or_socialist_country/ | {
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"Sweden is a fundamentally capitalist country. There are, generally, private property rights and the economy is oriented around private individuals making investments with the goal of turning a profit.\n\nOnly about a quarter of Swedish economic activity is comprised of the public (state) sector.",
"They are a SOCIAL democracy in a Capitalist market. Social democrats want more safety nets and more government programs to help people through taxes and stuff. Socialism is the elimination of private property (which is different than personal property) as to also eliminate the exploitation of the worker. If there's no public ownership of the means of production, it's not socialism. \nEdit: a word",
"Capitalist. It has one of the most free market economies in the world (ranked 23 out of 177 countries by the index of economic freedom).",
" > I understand that socialist governments manage the distribution of property, possessions, money etc\n\nthis is not true. You seem to be conflating socialism with communism.\n\nSocialism is essentially deciding that it is the government's job to provide certain services for its population. So, low cost of education, single payer healthcare, etc. In some cases a socialism government might nationalise industries like utilities, public transport etc - because it's felt that capitalism in those cases is not helpful for society (e.g. it's more important that people have clean water and power than it is for people to be able to make a lot of money from the same.)\n\nSweden is a capitalist country, because it encourages private enterprise (you're allowed to start a business and then keep the profits, etc) but also socialist in that it provides certain services for its citizens. \n\nThe basic answer to your question is: Sweden is both capitalist and socialist. The terms are not mutually exclusive",
"There's a tendency to compare socialism and capitalism as a two way toggle switch. This is not the case. Countries can have a balance between to systems of varying degrees.",
"Sweden is a social democracy in a capitalist market. \n\nIt's not really black and white enough to say one or the other. "
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1c4pmq | how sweating equals losing weight? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1c4pmq/eli5_how_sweating_equals_losing_weight/ | {
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"It doesn't. Your body sweats as a temperature regulation mechanism. Basically, when you exercise your muscles work hard, which makes them heat up. To maintain a good level of body temperature, your body starts to secrete sweat to cool yourself down.",
"You don't lose weight from sweat.\n\nYou lose weight because when you exercise (or even just continue breathing) your body breaks down fat and other resources it has into energy and also carbon dioxide, which you breathe out.\n\n**Most of the weight you lose is breathed out.**",
"Aside from the actual water exiting your body, it's not. It's just correlated; you're sweating because you're working out and working out is what makes you lose weight (probably doesn't apply to sweat just from a warm environment, though).",
"Everyone is accurate here in their responses just want to mention that if you sweat a lot from exercising or from a sauna, you may lose 1 or 2 pounds of water weight, but this is an illusory loss of weight as you'll regain it once you rehydrate."
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aezfvx | what is the process used to make powdered eggs? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aezfvx/eli5_what_is_the_process_used_to_make_powdered/ | {
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"Spray drying is the name of the [process](_URL_0_)\n\nBasically, you splay the liquid (mixed egg in this case) into a fine mist. the mist enters a very hot chamber, causing the moisture to evaporate very quickly, but it doesn't stay long enough to actually cook the material you want to dry. this powder/gas mixture is pushed to a colder area where the powder is collected and the gas is reheated in a cycle."
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26k5nv | why do i feel extremely sick when looking at a cell phone or screen while in the car driving on the road? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26k5nv/eli5_why_do_i_feel_extremely_sick_when_looking_at/ | {
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"Your eyes are telling your brain that you are staying still because you are looking at a stationary object. \n\nThe part of your body that keeps track of balance and motion is telling your brain that you are moving because you are in a car.\n\nThese mixed signals cause some people to feel dizzy and nauseous.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nEDIT: this is a really interesting excerpt the Wikipedia page:\n\n > The most common hypothesis for the cause of motion sickness is that it functions as a psychological defense mechanism against neurotoxins.[5] The area postrema in the brain is responsible for inducing vomiting when poisons are detected, and for resolving conflicts between vision and balance. When feeling motion but not seeing it (for example, in a ship with no windows), the inner ear transmits to the brain that it senses motion, but the eyes tell the brain that everything is still. As a result of the discordance, the brain will come to the conclusion that one of them is hallucinating and further conclude that the hallucination is due to poison ingestion. The brain responds by inducing vomiting, to clear the supposed toxin."
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66lbnr | things 'randomly' falling over | Say that you installed a shelf onto your wall and placed books onto it. About an hour later, you're sitting on the couch, minding your own business, when suddenly a book falls off onto the floor.
Some might say that the book randomly fell off, but is there anything that determined when that book was going to fall off, such as a shift in energy? If so, is there a way to calculate when a poorly-balanced object falls over? Or is it just chance?
I hope I explained this well enough. Thank you in advance for any replies. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66lbnr/eli5_things_randomly_falling_over/ | {
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"There are different forms of stability. Something like a pencil lying on it's side is stable, there is no lower energy state it can fall to. Metastability would be like a pencil standing on end. It's stable in a local sense in that minute disturbances just make it wobble a bit and settle back. Tip it a bit further and it falls over into the low energy state.\n\nSo it's all a matter of how much your book is tipped and how close it was to the tipping point to start with. There are always little random disturbances happening. Vibrations from people walking about in adjacent rooms, air currents, sound vibrations, temperature changes. Maybe it slides a bit against its neigbour over time under the cumulative effects of these to the point that the next one takes it over the edge. When exactly it fell would be unpredictable, but due to definite physical effects not pure luck.",
"Just to add to the scientific answer on stability, there are a lot of things in your house that can introduce disturbances. The furnace or attic fan kicks on, a gust of wind, people walking around in the house, running water through pipes, these can all cause little vibrations through the floor and walls."
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79a46u | why does the water in a glass seem to rise above the edge? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79a46u/eli5_why_does_the_water_in_a_glass_seem_to_rise/ | {
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"The 'surface' above water (or any other liquid) is called a meniscus. Water sticks to things, and to itself. When you see water in a cup \"climb\" the edge slightly, that is due to the water 'sticking' to the edge, and bringing more water with it. In many liquids, their sticking together force (cohesion) is stronger than the stick to other things force (adhesion). These liquids do not climb the edges of containers at all.\n\n**Specifically answering you:** When water gets above the edge of the glass slightly, it's cohesion is still stronger than gravity. When you add too much water, gravity becomes strong than its cohesion, and down the outside of the glass it goes.\n\n[phone spelling]"
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1sv4op | what are the most important coding languages, why were they created, how do they work | What are the most important languages for writing code/building programs/games/website. Why were they created and what are the benefits of these languages and in what editors are they written. What I'm basically asking is: Can anyone give me an overview of the world of coding so I know how to approach it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sv4op/eli5what_are_the_most_important_coding_languages/ | {
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"A few of the most important programming languages today:\n\n* assembly/machine language - the language the computer speaks internally, all other languages get translated into this at some level...difficult to program in directly\n* C/C++ - a low level, efficient language that most large applications and operating systems are written in\n* Java - a higher level, more portable language many medium sized and web based applications are written in\n* C# - Microsoft's answer to Java, a less portal language that integrates well into Microsoft's product line\n* SQL - a specialized language for querying databases\n* javascript - only superficially related to java, a language that can be run from within a browser\n* Perl/Python/Ruby/VBscript - scripting languages, good for writing small programs quickly, often less efficient and scalable\n* COBOL - an archaic language popular with business programming, still a lot of it around on legacy systems\n* FORTRAN - an archaic language popular with mathematical and scientific programming, same deal as COBOL\n* Ada - a language designed by a gov't committee and mandated for US gov't projects in the 1990s"
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5vjtyu | most phones these days become slow, laggy and battery inefficient in a short while as compared to older phones. why aren't long-term issues worked upon? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vjtyu/eli5_most_phones_these_days_become_slow_laggy_and/ | {
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"Even today, you can still buy brand new \"feature phones\" that only do basic cell phone stuff, and they'll have a pretty amazing battery life. However, it would seem that a lot of consumers don't value this over the additional features that a smartphone can offer.\n\nPhones getting slow and laggy is almost always a software problem. Apps get constantly updated, and features that require more resources are often added in these updates. Sometimes the features genuinely require more resources to function, but sometimes new features are also just using the phone's resources less efficiently, because it was faster (aka cheaper) for the app developer to implement a feature that way. \n\nBattery inefficiency is a combination of new app features requiring more power, which causes the phone to consume more energy while they run, and the battery wearing out. A rechargable battery has a limited life span. They can only handle a certain number of charge-discharge cycles. When your phone goes from 100% to 20% every single day, you're using up that battery's charge cycles 5 times faster than if you went from 100% to 20% in 5 days. Combine this with new phones having batteries that aren't easily replacable, and you've got a pretty great planned obsolence scheme going on (but you're already aware of this).\n\nNew smartphones are actually able to function for a week at a time if the software just permits it. With a third party ROM, I've made a Galaxy S3 with a worn battery last 7 days on standby, but this was with almost all background processes disabled or not installed. Not even Google Play Services were installed, which are required for most apps' push notifications, and of course to let you use the Play Store. Often times, phone manufacturers don't bother with implementing good power saving features."
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c25mou | carnivorous plants | How did plants go from gaining nutrients from the ground to being able to produce acids to consume insects and small creatures? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c25mou/eli5_carnivorous_plants/ | {
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"Plants need to extract nutrients from the soil, but some soils are pretty pathetic and just don't provide enough to grow reliably.\n\nAt the other end of the Kingdom of life, bugs are vastly numerous and pretty damn dumb. A good number of them get stuck in flowers or harpooned on thorns or trapped in sap out of sheer stupidity. The plant doesn't do this on purpose, it's an accident. But, plants that are exceptionally treacherous start to accumulate a good number of dead bugs - and their nutrients.\n\nSo these plants find it easier to survive in the bad soils. This starts to produce a selective pressure for the plants to move into worse soil away from other competitors and get really good at accidentally slaying insects.\n\nAfter many generations of this, it's not an accident anymore. The plants with the most devious traps and spines have found a way to live in terrible sandy soils far from other faster growing plants by intentionally killing insects for supplemental nutrition.",
"Most carnivorous plants evolved their adaptations as way of gaining more nitrogen or phosphorus than what the soil would provide. They often occur in wetland areas where the water will constantly wash away any nutrition that would normally be in the soil. Nepenthes (Tropical Pitcher Plants) do not prefer to eat small mammals. They only catch them when the mouse, shrew, or occasional monkey try to fish out the insects and get stuck in the pitcher (which is filled with digestive fluid, that drowns the poor animal). Almost every other species of carnivorous plant is specialized in catching small insects. Some carnivorous species (mostly nepenthes) have even adapted themselves to producing a laxative in their nectar to cause bats and shrews to \"feed\" them as they eat the nectar. These plants are called \"crapivores\". If you or anyone else has any questions, I'll respond for the next few hours. I grow \\~65 different species of carnivorous plants. \n\n\nBONUS FACT :: Venus Flytraps are misnamed. They commonly eat spiders as their main prey item in outdoor environments due to how close to the ground they grow, and only occasionally catch flies. They should be known as Venus Spidertraps.",
"Pitcher plants are thought to have evolved from plants that have inwardly curved leaves to catch water. Insect could drown in the puddles of water, and many plants can absorb the nutrients through their leaves from those decomposing insects. Evolution then kicks in and those with the best ability to capture insects survive, especially in the nutrient poor soils that most carnivorous plants live in."
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dsa1dy | why does appetite for food seem to lessen with old age? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dsa1dy/eli5_why_does_appetite_for_food_seem_to_lessen/ | {
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"Your taste buds reduce and shrink with age. Therefore as you age, food will lose its flavor. If you have to eat, you would want to eat less volume of bland things if you have the option.\n\nAlso, seniors would have a lifetime of accumulated dental issues. If they have missing teeth or ill-fitting dentures, eating can be a annoying or even painful process.",
"One explanation would be is that old folks, on average, move around less than younger people. Many have some kind of disability or disorder that restricts their mobility. Since they don’t move around as much, they don’t expend as much energy, and so they don’t need to eat as many calories to balance it out."
]
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[],
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||
4gcpkd | why have most consumer products come down in price against inflation? | This question was inspired by this [chart](_URL_0_) [Original Source](_URL_1_). Essentially I'm wondering, how in a world of scarcity do some products manage to get cheaper against inflation while others have skyrocketed in cost. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gcpkd/eli5_why_have_most_consumer_products_come_down_in/ | {
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"text": [
"Assuming you live in the US, the recent strength of the dollar has made importing products cheaper. Retailers then reduce the price in stores to drive up sales."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/moneybox/2014/05/01/why_poverty_is_still_miserable_cheap_consumer_goods_don_t_improve_your_long/nyt_cost_graph.png.CROP.promovar-mediumlarge.png",
"http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/05/01/why_poverty_is_still_miserable_cheap_consumer_goods_don_t_improve_your_long.html"
] | [
[]
] |
|
5q0wxf | why would a president not choose cabinet members with longtime experience in that's cabinet's area of governance? | For example: someone with school administrative experience for Secretary of Education, someone with agricultural/geological experience for Secretary of Agriculture/the Interior, etc.
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5q0wxf/eli5_why_would_a_president_not_choose_cabinet/ | {
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"Usually that's what happens. However, Donald Trump is unique in his Presidency in that he's the first person in that office with no experience in either government or military. His experience is in business, and most in his circles have similar levels of experience. He's been picking people who are (usually) very wealthy and (usually) unqualified for the position in question, even to the point of holding views OPPOSITE to those intended for heading any given department. ",
"Qualified people will advocate for their agencies. They will effectively make the case for why their budget should not be cut and for the benefits of the work they do. Donald Trump does not want qualified people. He does not want people to advocate for their agencies. He wants people to head agencies that they clearly dislike, and whose traditional mission they disagree with. Hence, an advocate for charter schools as the head of education; an oil executive as head of the EPA, a staunch Obamacare opponent as head of Health and Human Services, a libertarian surgeon in charge of housing, etc... This is what anti-government looks like. ",
"Even when someone is nominated to a position with no experience in that specific area, they usually have\n\n * Administrative or management or oversight experience, and\n\n * A track record of public service, working in public interest, or at least working in the interest of a program or project that is not in their own interest in the financial or political sense.\n\nThis administration is almost certainly not going to be normal. Do not let yourself think otherwise.",
"The Republican Party literally wants to destroy many of those agencies. They don't like government as regulations and laws prevent them from using their wealth and power to become wealthier and more powerful. For example, the EPA works to make sure that greedy businesses don't destroy the environment and poison people in their pursuit of profit. So if the EPA is gone, they can mine and dig for oil and destroy the environment with much more freedom. There might be a lot of protests if they outright end the EPA and there are logistical issues against that. But if you pick someone who has great antipathy to the EPA, who has sued the EPA dozens of times when they've prevented him from raping the environment, then it's like giving the prisoners the keys to the jail. "
]
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1lj5hx | why is it that most game developers don't include/allow modding support, when many other franchises are successful because of it? | Minecraft, fallout, skyrim, kerbalspaceprogram and arma are games that become extremely popular because of their ability to mod, and their devs all encourage modding, yet many larger devs are strongly against it. Especially in Arma's case, modding increased their sales and replayability, so why don't other companies allow it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lj5hx/eli5_why_is_it_that_most_game_developers_dont/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"If it's mostly/entirely played on console, there's no point. Even if it's not there's the fact that modding tools can be a bitch and they don't predict enough of a payout in extra sales to cover those costs."
]
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|
drzthi | how exactly does sinus pressure build up when sick and why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/drzthi/eli5_how_exactly_does_sinus_pressure_build_up/ | {
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"If an infection reaches your sinuses it will cause inflammation and increased mucous secretion. This increased secretion together with the inflammation can clog the sinuses and thus lead to increased pressure and pain.",
"Imagine your sinuses are a water balloon. When it is empty it is all floppy because there isn't anything pushing on the sides of the balloon, this is a lack of pressure. When you fill the water balloon the water pushes on the insides and gives it a shape from the pressure. \n\nNow when you are sick your sinuses are filling with fluids, and the lining of your sinuses are thickening due to immune cells coming to fight the infection. There is a lot of pressure, but no where to go and this pushes on some nerves that cause an unpleasant feeling."
]
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[],
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4d8b82 | how did the north star happen? does every star revolve around it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4d8b82/eli5_how_did_the_north_star_happen_does_every/ | {
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"It's a star that happens to be mostly aligned with the Earth's axis. Watching from the surface, as the planet spins the star looks like it's stationary.",
"It is not a special star, and no stars revolve around it.\n\nBy dumb luck, our planet's north pole just happens to point at that particular star. So as we spin, the other stars appear to be moving (it's really us), but that one sits at the center.",
"The earth rotates, and its rotation is stable and predictable. It seems to rotate around an imaginary line through it, which we refer to as its axis. The axis of the earth is fairly close to the magnetic north and south poles, though not perfect. So imagine the north pole as the end of that axis, and imagine it as a big arrow pointing.\n\nIt just so happens that that arrow points to Polaris, the north star. No matter how the earth turns, that \"arrow\" points in the same direction, and there happens to be a star where it's pointing. This is a big coincidence. The other stars, the sky, they're not moving, at least not in a way that explains the \"motion\" we see. All of that movement is the earth and the moon. \n\nHowever, the axis not as steady as it looks like to us. Every piece of scientific writing I've seen on this topic suggests that the axis is actually slowly \"wobbling,\" and will eventually move just enough that it no longer points to Polaris. Eventually, it'll point to another star instead, and that will be the north star. That won't happen in our lifetime.\n\nBut essentially, our planet just happens to be pointing its rotational axis at a random star in the sky. ",
"No. The stars don't revolve around each other. They surround the earth, and the earth just rotates. \n\nTry this as a thought experiment: Imagine sticking those glow in the dark star stickers all over the walls of your bedroom, and then sticking the last star on the ceiling right above your head. Now you spin around on the spot. The stars on the wall will look like they're whizzing by you. But if you look up at the one above your head, it'll look like it's stationary. That's the north star. It sits \"above\" the earth relative to the axis it spins on. "
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||
6xf8kl | why are old people so small and short? | They seem to just become shorter and shorter | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xf8kl/eli5why_are_old_people_so_small_and_short/ | {
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"Gravity. As people age, their bones start to lose mass, their spine begins to collapse on itself and there's usually less muscle mass. At least that's what my doctor tells me to explain why I'm nearly a half inch shorter than I was 40 years ago.",
"There are two factors at play. \n\n1. As you age, gravity and cell degradation take a toll. [For every decade over the age of 40, you lose about 4/10 of an inch (1 cm) of height](_URL_1_) due to the soft cushioning tissue in your spine compressing. The bones themselves can also shrink if you have osteoporosis.\n\n2. Older generations, up until around the 1970s (in the US), [just did not grow as tall](_URL_0_). This doesn't necessarily apply to all countries (some places, like Egypt, have seen the average adults shrink over the past few decades), but it is a wide general trend across the globe. This simply comes down to better average health and nutrition, since being malnourished, sick, or just having a bad diet as a kid (especially during teenage years) can lead to you not growing as much as you would otherwise. ",
"Old people experience sarcopenia as they age, which is a form of muscle loss. As the get weaker they often develop poor posture. Poor posture along with osteoporosis and degenerating vertebral disks decreases their affective height. Lifting weights can help with all of these factors except maybe disk degeneration. The main factor limiting their height is posture.\n\nBasically they lose muscle, the squishy disks in their spine get worn out, and they're bones get brittle and worn down. "
]
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[],
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"http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/07/27/487391773/americans-are-shrinking-while-chinese-and-koreans-sprout-up",
"http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/booming/why-am-i-getting-shorter-with-age.html"
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|
4b41zu | why is the combo of ibuprofen and alcohol so bad for you? | Is it simply a question of the liver not being able to filter as much toxins if it is already busy with ethanol or do the 2 react with each-other somehow?
Also if I do take an ibuprofen (500mg) while wasted and keep drinking beer for example, how much liver damage does that combo do?
Edit// was talking about Solpadeine, my bad. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4b41zu/eli5_why_is_the_combo_of_ibuprofen_and_alcohol_so/ | {
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"I believe you're confusing ibuprofen with acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is associated with liver and kidney damage when consumed with alcohol. To my knowledge ibuprofen is not. \n\nAcetaminophen is also known in some countries as Paracetamol. \n\n_URL_0_\n",
"It's acetaminophen (Tylenol) that doesn't mix well with alcohol. This is because both are metabolized in the liver. The liver can't handle both at once so you end up damaging your liver and having a more pronounced effect from the alcohol. \n\nIbuprofen (motrin/advil) is metabolized in the stomach and generally doesn't interact with alcohol. "
]
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"http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20131104/tylenol-and-alcohol-a-bad-mix-study-suggests"
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|
2u6w3n | what needs to happen for a plane to fly into other countries' airspaces? | When a plane crosses another country's airspace in its journey, what happens? Does that country's air force get all airplane schedules of the day ahead of time and verify that? Or is there a database of planes flying that we don't know about? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2u6w3n/eli5_what_needs_to_happen_for_a_plane_to_fly_into/ | {
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"If it's playing nicely then it will have a filed a flight plan and be carrying a transponder which identifies it, so air traffic control are expecting it and know which plane it is when it appears on their radar.\n\nIf not, and it doesn't respond to air traffic control asking what it's doing, then fighters would be scrambled to go and see what it is, and eventually shoot it down if the appearance of fighters doesn't make the pilot more talkative.",
"Airlines negotiate air travel routes with the countries over or into which they fly. They usually pay a route fee for each route, or for each plane on the route. If you don't have a paid route, ATC will not approve the flight plan and you won't be cleared into the airspace. The rules are slightly different for GA than commercial. ",
"Navy Air Controller here, we frequently send organic aircraft ashore into different countries. Basically, we search for the contact information for the appropriate controlling agency (Air Force or ATC as an example). We establish a flight plan, from where ever we are into their controlled airspace. Upon launch, I instruct the aircraft to notify me when they have two way communication with whatever controlling agency and then I release control to that agency.\n\nIf there is something like an ADIZ (Air Defence Identification Zone) then my aircraft might be challenged if no flight plan has been filed. Prior to launch, we will generate an ADIZ Penetration message, notifying the appropriate authority that our aircraft will be entering such and such a place at whatever time.\n\nIn a nutshell.",
"It depends. The general idea here is the [freedoms of the air](_URL_0_), some of which are pretty universally established by treaty and some of which aren't.\n\nMany countries allow any other country's airlines to fly over without stopping (the big exceptions are Russia and Canada, which require you to negotiate for permission, because a lot of flights pass over those two on great-circle routes), and simply charge the airline a fee to cover the cost of things like operating air traffic control services.\n\nFor flights by Country A's airline which fly to/from Country B, typically an explicit negotiated agreement is required. Country B will grant Country A a certain number of takeoff and landing \"slots\", and Country A's aviation authority will portion them out among Country A's airlines. For example, right now there's a slot at Tokyo's Haneda airport that's sort of up for grabs among US airlines: Delta had the slot but isn't really using it, so American Airlines, United and Hawaiian are all trying to get it."
]
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kilm6 | - the east vs west hip-hop feud | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kilm6/eli5_the_east_vs_west_hiphop_feud/ | {
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"This began a while ago, in the early 1990's.\n\nPretend there was a large african desert. In the desert, there are many different animals, but the strongest, and most powerful ones, were the Lions. The desert was kind of split into two, so you had the \"Right side\" and the \"left side\" . Each \"side\" had one very large, powerful lion. Every animal on each side respected both lions. But after a while, the animals on the right side decided that they liked the RIGHT lion the best, and started to say mean things about the left lion. The people on the left did the same thing, they really looked up to their lion, and thought he was better than the lion on the right, so they said mean things about the lion on the right. Eventually the two sides really started to hate eachother, and even though both the lion's knew it was wrong to hate your neighbours . they refused to just lay down and sort the stuff out. Then, one day, the lion from the right side was over in the left side of the desert, doing a dance for all the animals to see. When he was done the show, a big mean poacher came and shot him with a bow and aarow, and then the RIght side lion died. Soon after, the lion on the left was killed too.\n\nIn adult terms:\n\nThe \"lion\" on the right is \"The Notorious B.I.G.\" , AKA \"Biggie\" , a famous hip hop artist from New york. The lion on the left was \" Tupac Shakur\" , an artist from California.\n\nIn the beginning of their careers, Biggie and Tupac were friends. They did shows together, recorded music together, toured together. They worked together, and did amazing things. Then, one night, Tupac was coming over to Biggies house, and when he was in the lobby of the building, some men jumped him and he got hurt badly, and hospitalized. He blamed it on Biggie, and said it was a set up. Biggie denyed the claims, saying he had noithing to do with it. Her tried to visit Pac in the hospital, but the hospital staff would not let him in. When all the hip hop fans from California gor word of this, they all automatically started a feud, hating the east coast , and eventually, these feelings were mutual.Tupac was later on killed. Then, a while later, after doing a show in California, biggie was killed by armed gunmen while driving back to his hotel from the show. The shooter was never discovered.",
"Tupac and Biggie used to be friends. Tupac got shot, and thought it was Biggie partially because of his song \"Who Shot Ya?\" Tupac made the song \"Hit em Up.\" Thus the feud.",
"This began a while ago, in the early 1990's.\n\nPretend there was a large african desert. In the desert, there are many different animals, but the strongest, and most powerful ones, were the Lions. The desert was kind of split into two, so you had the \"Right side\" and the \"left side\" . Each \"side\" had one very large, powerful lion. Every animal on each side respected both lions. But after a while, the animals on the right side decided that they liked the RIGHT lion the best, and started to say mean things about the left lion. The people on the left did the same thing, they really looked up to their lion, and thought he was better than the lion on the right, so they said mean things about the lion on the right. Eventually the two sides really started to hate eachother, and even though both the lion's knew it was wrong to hate your neighbours . they refused to just lay down and sort the stuff out. Then, one day, the lion from the right side was over in the left side of the desert, doing a dance for all the animals to see. When he was done the show, a big mean poacher came and shot him with a bow and aarow, and then the RIght side lion died. Soon after, the lion on the left was killed too.\n\nIn adult terms:\n\nThe \"lion\" on the right is \"The Notorious B.I.G.\" , AKA \"Biggie\" , a famous hip hop artist from New york. The lion on the left was \" Tupac Shakur\" , an artist from California.\n\nIn the beginning of their careers, Biggie and Tupac were friends. They did shows together, recorded music together, toured together. They worked together, and did amazing things. Then, one night, Tupac was coming over to Biggies house, and when he was in the lobby of the building, some men jumped him and he got hurt badly, and hospitalized. He blamed it on Biggie, and said it was a set up. Biggie denyed the claims, saying he had noithing to do with it. Her tried to visit Pac in the hospital, but the hospital staff would not let him in. When all the hip hop fans from California gor word of this, they all automatically started a feud, hating the east coast , and eventually, these feelings were mutual.Tupac was later on killed. Then, a while later, after doing a show in California, biggie was killed by armed gunmen while driving back to his hotel from the show. The shooter was never discovered.",
"Tupac and Biggie used to be friends. Tupac got shot, and thought it was Biggie partially because of his song \"Who Shot Ya?\" Tupac made the song \"Hit em Up.\" Thus the feud."
]
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2ie51w | why do languages vary so widely? is any proven correlation between language and the geography of the native speaker? | Why do we have such vastly alternative languages? Does the geography of one's birthplace have any part in the shaping of that person's language? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ie51w/eli5_why_do_languages_vary_so_widely_is_any/ | {
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"Languages can be made in many, many ways and so people more or less in isolation make really different ones.\n\nOnes that grew around many others tend to make a family where there are far more similarities. The Spanish can more or less understand the Portuguese and vice-versa for example. \n\nThe geography isn't inherently related, but it does matter because obviously you'll speak what your parents spoke. ",
"Because languages naturally change over time, and when groups of people are separated from each other, their languages diverge.\n\nSo, for example, English immigrants went to what is now the USA speaking the same English as people in England. But over time the English spoken in England and that spoken in the USA diverged, so that now American English and British English accents are noticeably different. That change took 300 or 400 years.\n\nNow think of how much change could take place over much greater lengths of time- 800 years, 1000 years, 5000, 10,000, 60,000, 100,000 years. In pre-modern times long-distance travel and communication was much more difficult than it is today. People in distant parts of the world had no contact with each other and their languages grew apart for thousands of years. That's why there are so many different languages in the world today.",
"People who live in the same area will have related languages due to havening a common linguistic ancestry and influencing each other culturally and socially.\n\nExample: \"lift\" vs \"elevator\", \"lorry\" vs \"truck\", etc."
]
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1yzqxb | why am i able to remember words to a song i haven't heard in 5 years but i can't remember the name of the person i just met 5 minutes ago? | I asked this because the other day a song came on the radio that I haven't heard for years, and I was singing along to the lyrics as if I had just heard it. Then I met someone new, got their name and as they walked away I forgot got it. So I wondered........
As always,
Thanks for your time | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yzqxb/eli5_why_am_i_able_to_remember_words_to_a_song_i/ | {
"a_id": [
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Repetition is the key here.\n\nWhen you repeat a task or something (such as hearing words to a song you like) over and over again the information gathered tends to move from the short-term memory into the long-term memory, therefore making it stick in your head.\n\nHope this helps."
]
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2j3umo | how is it possible in the usa for (former) lobbyists to be elected into chairmen positions of federal commissions, when there is an obvious conflict of interest? | Hello as you may know, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is Tom Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry. Furthermore the Chairman for Finance Commission of Texas is William J. White, a former executive of Cash America which is Payday-Loan company. Since I’ve heard of their election into those positions, I’ve been wondering how it is possible or even legal for them to hold such offices, albeit the potential business threatening legislations these Commissions are able to give?
Thank you
Links:
[Tom Wheeler](_URL_0_)
[William J. White](_URL_1_) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2j3umo/eli5_how_is_it_possible_in_the_usa_for_former/ | {
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"Big money runs the US government, so this kind of corruption is expected, and basically *intentional*.",
" > Since I’ve heard of their election into those positions\n\nThat's because they were both appointed. \n\nAs for 'conflict of interest', that generally only refers to those relationships in which the person involved would gain direct financial benefit. In White's case, he was undoubtedly required to divest interest in Cash America when he became chairman. \n\nIn both cases, however, it's not really surprising that the chair of the FCC has experience in the cable and wireless industry, or that the chair of a finance commission has experience in the lending industry. The president is going to nominate someone with experience in that industry to lead the oversight of that industry. You wouldn't expect him to appoint someone who knew **nothing** about finance or communications, would you?"
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler",
"http://www.fc.texas.gov/memberbios/NEWWhiteBio.html"
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env2cb | what’s a “war crime”? i hear people throw this word around so much it’s confusing. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/env2cb/eli5_whats_a_war_crime_i_hear_people_throw_this/ | {
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"Basically there are things a country is not allowed to do during a war, like to fire against medical assistance or to civilians.",
"Years and years ago, All the leaders of the country got together and said \"we are civilized people, not cavemen. If war were to break out, we should make a set of rules so that we stay civilized despite us trying to kill each other.\"\n\nThus we got what is called \"rules of war\" or \"international humanitarian law\"\n\nFor example, targeting civilians intentionally instead of the armed enemy. Torturing of any kind ( to include rape or sexual violence). Using a weapon outlawed by said rules such as napalm. A chemical substance that sticks to the skin and burns relentlessly that has driven people mad even after being saved and treated because the pain was too much.",
"Many, many countries signed international agreements that define what is legal and what is not legal during a time of war. For instance, executing a prisoner of war who was not resisting or threatening his captor would be highly illegal. Targeting civilian buildings where a lot of civilians are is also illegal (like hospitals or schools). Killing civilians in general? Illegal. Wearing an enemy uniform or the symbols of an organization like the Red Cross, which is supposed to be a neutral symbol? Illegal. Attacking the Red Cross? Illegal.\n\nIt's pretty straightforward honestly. If you're attacking someone who's given up or who never even participated in the battle, you're probably doing something illegal.",
"We've been fighting wars for a long time. In that time, countries have agreed that, even in a war, some things are Not Okay. Think of things like attacking medics, mistreating captives, using certain weapons like poisonous gases or white phosphorus that were invented, used and found to be too horrible. Deliberately targetting non-military stuff like hospitals or sites of historical importance. Deliberately going for noncombatants. You get the idea\n\nLaws were written up and treaties signed to make these rules official. \n\nIf you break them somehow, that's a war crime. You can be put in front of the International Criminal Court and tried like you would for any other crime.",
"There are various rules supposedly to keep war from getting totally out of hand, these include killing prisoners, targeting hospitals or civilians and other similar actions.",
"There's these international laws called the Geneva Conventions enacted after WWII in response to the atrocities committed by the Nazis. There's many kinds of war crimes, but the most common ones are the destruction of buildings and killing of citizens not involved in the war effort. The use of chemical and biological weapons, the killing of unarmed men, and so on.",
"It is the insane concept that we can have \"rules of war\" and that killing people in the wrong way is bad, but killing people by the rules is perfectly fine.",
"Many good points here about certain conventions that detail what is considered a crime. To add to them, keep in mind the the concept of irredeemable actions in war has been around for some time. Not attacking a ship with a white flag, killing the emissaries of an enemy etc. Basically it's an understanding the war comes to an end, and we still need to live in a world after it. It's a way for the worst of us to think they're not that bad, and a way for the best of us to move on after.",
"To ELI5: You know how somehow you play-wrestle with your friends, or play a game of [British bulldog](_URL_0_) and it's okay to be rough with each other? war crimes are like if one person kept biting or poking other people in the eye to win - nobody wants to play with them and they might get a Stacks-On.",
"Generally, things that cause excessive human suffering, and are not more effective than their alternatives, get banned.\n\nViolating those bans is a war crime.\n\nTorture, including rape. \nTriangular and serrated bayonets. \nPoison gas. \nLandmines. \nNot Taking care of the wounded in combat.\n\nThose things are all war crimes because they cause excessive human suffering that is not acceptable in \"civilized warfare\" between professional armies.",
"Soldiers are one of the most honorable professionals in the world. Even in war there is code. There is an order. Ethics to be held to. Sometimes in the frenzy of a long drawn war or due to lack of discipline or some misguided ideals some soldiers give them up. The rules of engagement is never meant to be taken lightly. But sometimes the decisions are tougher than it may seem. It's a crime when you break laws in civilian life. The same applies in military as well. Except some times only one side gets blamed for atrocities during war. And they get prosecuted for it too. Not too surprising since only the losing side takes the blame. As for some examples of war crimes check out the war crimes of the Nazis, Japs, Pakistanis, Nuremberg tribunals etc.\n\nCheers and Peace"
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7rcvl6 | if the world is round and rotates, how do we appear to be standing upright at all times? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7rcvl6/eli5_if_the_world_is_round_and_rotates_how_do_we/ | {
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"Because gravity pulls us toward the center of the planet. Just like if you take a plunger and stick it on a beach ball, it doesn't matter the orientation of the ball, the stick of the plunger sticks away from the center."
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f3o98v | when we bend our elbows/knees why don’t our blood vessels flowing, like a hose? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f3o98v/eli5_when_we_bend_our_elbowsknees_why_dont_our/ | {
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"Our arms an legs bend, not fold. When a hose folds it cuts the liquid supply, when it bends the flow is uninterrupted.\n\nThere is too much going on in the limbs with bone, muscle, adamantium, cartilage, etc, to fold."
]
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f8ko2k | superdelegates... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f8ko2k/eli5_superdelegates/ | {
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"In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote.\n\nBasically, if you’re an important person (Governor/mayor/etc) in the party, you get to have your vote counted independently from the elected ones.",
"Keep in mind that the population as a whole doesn't really vote for the DNC representative directly. Much like the electoral college as the real last step for voting for president, the real candidate selection process involves \"delegates\" who attend the big event where the party selects its nomination. Those delegates are supposed to be representing the will of the people who voted for them to attend.\n\nSuperdelegates are delegates who didn't need to be voted in. They get to vote for the presidential candidate at the big event for free.",
"Are you referring to the superdelegates in the context of the Democratic Party primary process? This is probably better asked in r/AskAnAmerican, but I can give you a quick answer here. The Democratic nominee for president is selected at the Democratic Nation Convention in late summer. They are selected by having the majority of delegates at the convention vote for them. There are 2 types of delegates: pledged delegates and superdelegates. Pledged delegates are the ones the candidate wins in state primaries. For example, if candidate X wins 40% of the vote in a state which awards 100 delegates, candidate X would have 40 pledged delegates who vote for them at the convention (the math isn't that straightforward, it's just an example). Those delegates have to vote for that candidate on the first ballot. Superdelegates are not bound to any candidate. They can vote for whoever they want. Superdelegates are made up of Democrats elected to office (so members of congress, governors...etc) and party officials.",
"In the Democratic Party Primary that is run by the DNC, there are two types of delegates: delegates and superdelegates. There are 4750 delegates total and 775 superdelegates within that group, or roughly 16%.\n\nDelegates are assigned to the nominees based on number of votes by state. So if there are 10 delegates in a state, candidate A gets 60% of the vote, candidate B gets 39% and candidate C gets 1%, A gets 6, B gets 4, and C gets 0 as a non-viable candidate. Those delegates have to vote for their assigned candidate in the first vote at the convention, and they will since they’re generally supporters of the person they were elected for. After that, delegates that support candidates that have no chance of winning can vote for one of the likely winners. This gets weirder if there’s a caucus, but that’s a different topic.\n\nSuperdelegates are major party officials who get a say due to their power within the Democratic Party. Some examples would be Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Tom Perez etc. The DNC figures that while most should be chosen by the people, the people who have devoted their lives to the party and have succeeded in gaining support of the majority of the party deserve a special vote. \n\nLower level superdelegates typically vote for the nominee who won their state, but in some situations they’ll vote another way. They have never overturned an election, but technically they could, leading to the obvious criticism that Democrats should be voted for democratically, and not by party leaders. The converse argument is that if the people elect a non-democrat to be the party nominee by a small margin, they party (which is a private organization, not a real election) has the right to overturn someone that doesn’t really represent the party. \n\nFull disclosure: Neither of those are my opinion, just stating the common argument."
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80duyl | what properties do cooking oils contain that make them beneficial for cooking? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/80duyl/eli5_what_properties_do_cooking_oils_contain_that/ | {
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"They should be cheap to produce in large quantities.\n\nThey need to withstand high temperatures without burning (despite what some other user said).\n\nThey must be non-toxic, not including any carcinogenic compounds they form when they're used.",
"To answer this in general terms, oil is used in cooking because it helps increase the rate of heat transfer, makes things less likely to stick to the cooking vessel, and can add extra flavors to the finished products.\n\nNow, when it comes to cooking a specific dish, there are certain things to look at when trying to pick the right oil to use. \n\nWhat kind of temperature are you going to be cooking at? Different types of oil have different smoke points, so you want to use something appropriate. If you're just sweating some veggies, then extra virgin olive oil is fine to use. If you're searing something on high heat, you will want to use something like peanut or avocado oil. \n\nAnother big concern when picking your oil is flavor. Some cooking fats bring a lot of flavor, while others are much more mild. I know I learned that lesson when I subbed evoo for vegetable oil when making brownies one time. Other things like butter or lard are also used for flavor, but could easily be out of place in the wrong dish. \n"
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jooea | the mathematics behind the vanishing point (as best as you can) | So this answer could be answered by some math gurus, architects, or maybe some artists hopefully!
What is the mathematics to understanding the vanishing point and perspective? I understand that the vanishing point is the point in which the objects in your prespective get so small that they're too tiny to see but how does the math of this work, and how could there BE math to this? I believe this page explains it but I am not a clever enough ~~man~~ five year old boy.
_URL_0_
Thank you! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jooea/eli5_the_mathematics_behind_the_vanishing_point/ | {
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"Objects are typically located in three dimensional space, but when they are displayed, like in a computer game, in two dimensions, you need to do a projection. This is like taking a picture, it takes a three dimensional object and spits out a two dimensional image.\n\nThis image is dependent on where you are located when you take the picture, and where you aim your camera. When a computer tries to figure out what the picture will look like in a game, it can be complex, especially if it also needs to figure out things like lighting and shadows.\n\nWhere math comes in is that these projections are actually examples of something called a *linear transformation*, which is the basic object of study in the field of math called *linear algebra*. This field gives us a lot of tools to study linear transformations, and thus projections. It turns out the locations in 3D can be thought of as a series of numbers called a *vector*, and then a projection can be written as a *matrix* a rectangular array of numbers. You can then perform various operations on vectors using matrices.\n\nPerforming linear algebraic operations is one of the most basic functions of a computer, they need to be able to compute these objects very fast in order to play fancy computer games.",
"Objects are typically located in three dimensional space, but when they are displayed, like in a computer game, in two dimensions, you need to do a projection. This is like taking a picture, it takes a three dimensional object and spits out a two dimensional image.\n\nThis image is dependent on where you are located when you take the picture, and where you aim your camera. When a computer tries to figure out what the picture will look like in a game, it can be complex, especially if it also needs to figure out things like lighting and shadows.\n\nWhere math comes in is that these projections are actually examples of something called a *linear transformation*, which is the basic object of study in the field of math called *linear algebra*. This field gives us a lot of tools to study linear transformations, and thus projections. It turns out the locations in 3D can be thought of as a series of numbers called a *vector*, and then a projection can be written as a *matrix* a rectangular array of numbers. You can then perform various operations on vectors using matrices.\n\nPerforming linear algebraic operations is one of the most basic functions of a computer, they need to be able to compute these objects very fast in order to play fancy computer games."
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bfg6ex | how do whales regulate their temperature in the vastly different seas they travel? | For example, Blue Whales live everywhere from the tropics to the poles. How do they not overheat or freeze? Are they able to regulate the amount of blubber they have in these different areas? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bfg6ex/eli5_how_do_whales_regulate_their_temperature_in/ | {
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"The blood going to vessels in the skin (outside the blubber) is shut off to raise body temperature in the cold, and increased to cool off in the tropics."
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9fgszh | if everything in universe is made of lots different chemical elements, then how on earth exist things like human cell, flesh, neurotransmitter, heart, nucleus, etc? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9fgszh/eli5_if_everything_in_universe_is_made_of_lots/ | {
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" > like, does dna have structure like say N5H3O8, something like that\n\nOf course. After all, DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. [The wikipedia page has good images for the chemicals making it up.](_URL_0_)\n\nThe key is that chemistry is a bit more complex than it would seem at first. Its not as rigid as x chemical is made of y elements. It goes far more complex, for example, DNA is a molecule called a polymer, which is a long chain of smaller identical or similar chemical segments. Each segment in DNA is called a nucleotide, which encodes some kind of information. As it turns out, chemistry is a bit more mushy and not rigid like you probably learned in chemistry class.\n\nDNA is a chemical but much else of what you listed are bigger structures than just chemicals. The nucleus consists of many chemicals including DNA, other proteins, water, fat molecules, ect. The mitochondria as well consists of many chemicals as well.\n\n > isn't it impossible? how on earth can something exist out of rules of chemistry?\n\nWhy not? The rules of chemistry are sufficiently complicated to allow for complicated beings like us. \n\nEverything in the body consists of parts, which consists of other parts, which once again consist of other parts, until you get down to parts small enough we call molecules. ",
"Dna is just a combination of chemicals. DNA is short for Desoxyribonucleinic acid. DNA is just a combination of 4 different \"strands\" of chemicals combined into a double helix form which are repeated millions of times in a random order. The order is which these 4 chemical compounds are placed is what we call the dna sequence.\nKind of like how we place words in order to form a book, the order of these compounds are placed into certain orders to form \"information\".\n\nBut coming back to your original question: yes we are basically all just a bunch of compounds who through sheer luck got into the correct order to form life. Once 1 cell is formed, the hardest part is over, this cell can copy itself into 2 cells and keep splicing to form more. From here on out Evolution takes over.",
"Atoms and molecules are very small. The other things are much bigger, even though they are small. ",
" > Why they don't tell us cell is made of different elements, thus different chemicals? \n\nThe short answer is that it doesn't matter.\n\nIf you were to learn how to paint. You need to learn how to mix colors. But knowing exactly what the paints are made of has no bearing on the subject of painting. Similarly, what you studied is basic biology which aims to teach how things work on a cellular level. Whatever nucleus, dna etc. are made of has no impact on what they're trying to teach. ",
"You need [this](_URL_0_)\n\nThe human body is made up of:\n\n- Water 65% (by weight)\n- Protein 20%\n- Fats 12%\n- Other 3% (things like Hydroxylapatite, Carbohydrates such as glycogen and glucose, DNA, RNA, Dissolved inorganic ions such as sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, phosphate, gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, methanethiol, Ethane and pentane, oxygen free radicals, amino acids, fatty acids, nucleobases, nucleosides, nucleotides, vitamins, cofactors and Free radicals such as superoxide, hydroxyl, and hydroperoxyl)\n\nYou can look up each thing to see its chemical formula. But the most common ones:\n\n- Water is H2O\n- Proteins are very complicated incredibly densely folded long chain molecules made up primarily of Carbon, Hydrogen, Amino groups (NH2) and Carboxyl groups (COOH)\n- fats are hydrocarbons (long chains of hydrogen and carbon) ending in a carboxyl group (COOH). Quite a lot of our fat is triglyceride which is a compound of glycerol (C3H8O3) with three fatty acids (unsaturated: CH3(CH2)XCOOH where X is anything between 6 and 24, saturated has a few carbon double bonds in it and so is almost the same but minus a few of the hydrogens)\n- most of our other molecules are also carbon based but we've got salts (NaCl etc..) and all sorts in there too\n\nThe end result of all this is that a human is (by weight):\n\n- Oxygen 65%\n- Carbon - 18%\n- Hydrogen 10%\n- Nitrogen 3%\n- Calcium 1%\n- Phosphorus 1%\n- another 54 elements put together: 2%"
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2cfvf4 | how do celebrities get their "premium" usernames on social networks (like @justinbieber, etc...)? and if they pay for these usernames, how much? how does such a purchase usually pass off? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cfvf4/eli5_how_do_celebrities_get_their_premium/ | {
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"If the \"premium\" username is not available at time of account creation they usually have to contact whoever made that account name and ask them if they would sell it.\n\nIf it is an inactive or poorly managed account, sometimes they can ask Admins to close the account and give them the account name.",
"Awesome, something that I can answer! \n\nBackground about me: I currently have over 200 unique twitter usernames that I have 'saved' and occasionally sell to others. Lots of 3 character usernames, with a couple 1/2 letter ones as well. Work for a big brand that spends over 500k monthly on Twitter/FB.\n\nIf an account directly impersonates someone or infringes on a brand you can contact support and they will 'release' the username to the rightful owner. (i.e. If someone had the name @Audi and actually pretended to be Audi that gives them the right to claim the username.) \n\nIn terms of 'purchases' they can vary. I have sold a few verified accounts for $2k-$5k. Sold lots of unique handles for a $1k-$10k and 1/2 letters for 25k+. \n\nIf this sort of things interests you, do a quick google search of the twitter account @N and a crazy fiasco where the original owner was being blackmailed to give up access to the account.\n\nCheers!"
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fb256t | why does it matter that fat cells don't ever go away when losing weight? | Apparently fat cells can increase in size and the number of them can go up, but they don't ever go away, even when you lose weight. Why is this a big deal when it comes to losing weight? Sure, the cells may not go away, but don't they still get smaller? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fb256t/eli5_why_does_it_matter_that_fat_cells_dont_ever/ | {
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"The number of fat cells likely doesn't play a meaningful role in how easy or hard it is to get fat. Usually to add additional fat cells, one has to gain a lot of weight. \n\nThe type of people who become obese do so because they naturally want to and can eat a lot more than an average healthy person. They also do this while not being very active. If somebody loses weight quickly and doesn't maintain their healthy lifestyle, it will naturally be easy for them to get back to where they were. \n\nAnother factor is that if you lose a lot of fat and don't gain a lot of muscle, your caloric requirements will go down. If you go back to 4k calories a day you will gain weight faster.",
"Nutritionist here.\n\nThink of fat cells like empty water balloons kept in a bucket. If the water balloons are empty, they'll be able to get filled with water more quickly as compared to when they are partially or completely filled. Similarly, more the water in the bucket, more water can enter the balloon. Simple physics, right?\n\nApply this logic to fat cells. These cells never disappear or decrease in number. Their size is what changes during weight loss or gain. So, more fat gets available in the body, the faster these adipocytes get bigger in size.\n\nWhat matters is your energy output. If the output is greater than the input, meaning you're exercising and burning more calories than your consuming, you'll lose weight. If the output equals the input, weight remains constant. And if input is more than the output, you will put on weight by providing more fat to the adipocytes. Smaller the adipocytes, faster will their fat uptake happen."
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82cob0 | why are many english words used in asian culture? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/82cob0/eli5why_are_many_english_words_used_in_asian/ | {
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"Speaking from the Chinese language, its because Chinese is a very old language, and new things are being invented in the West. So when something becomes new to them, and they learn the English name, most of the time they try and make it sound similar in their language."
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3sscll | why are some atoms able to violate the octet rule in covalent bonding? | In the case of phosphorous, it can bond to 5 atoms and have the electron domains to handle it. Wouldn't the S and P orbitals be full? Where does it put the extra electrons? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sscll/eli5_why_are_some_atoms_able_to_violate_the_octet/ | {
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"Elements in the third row and below have access to d orbitals in which they can place the extra electrons needed to form more than 4 bonds, breaking the octet rule. There are actually very few elements that obey the octet rule. As they say...rules are meant to be broken. It is still taught because it works for predicting the shape of covalently bonded molecules with smaller non metal atoms.",
"Umm, can someone ELI5 the question? I'm...dumbish.",
"Shouldn't this be something for /r/askscience?",
"Chemist here:\n\nAll answers referring to d orbitals are flat out wrong. The idea that an element can handle only as many bonds as it has valence orbitals is false. Multiple bonds can be made from a single orbital and many valence orbitals don't participate in bonding.\n\nThe main reason that elements below the second row can start to accomodate more bonds is that the orbitals start to get more diffuse and can participate in 3 center 4 electron bonds where you effectively create two \"half bonds\". \n\nI realize this isn't an ELI5 answer but I needed to put a stop to the misinformation. "
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zyyv9 | if israel just vanished overnight, would the tensions in the middle east get better? what would happen? | Not suggesting that it could, should or would, just interested theoretically in how the world might look if Israel had never existed. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zyyv9/if_israel_just_vanished_overnight_would_the/ | {
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"I'm willing to bet things would be worse world-wide is such an event happened. Mass panic would erupt since a nation, quite literally, disappeared and people would be wondering who would be next. Some would take it as a religious sign, signaling the apocalypse, no doubt leading to chaos and instability. ",
"It would still be the area which has holy sites for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. There would still be conflict. That's if you're talking about political borders. \n\nFrankly, the only thing that would relieve tensions in the Middle-East is if the people there didn't take religion so seriously. There are huge chasms between sects of religion let alone between separate religions.\n\nComing from an ex-Jew.",
"This is more of an opinion questions but I'll go with it:\n\nLet's say that Israel never became a nation in 1948. The Jewish people would most likely be killed off or immigrated somewhere else or go into hiding, pretty much what they did a few years prior during WW2. I don't think it would ease any tension because the new enemy would be anyone who was \"harboring\" the Jews."
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9q1svx | what are the differences between the functions of a president, chairman, ceo, cfo, and coo in the corporate structure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9q1svx/eli5_what_are_the_differences_between_the/ | {
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"It completely depends on the company. \n\nChairman typically refers to someone who represents the interests of the board/investors but doesn't oversee the day to day operation or manage the company.\n\nThe CEO is the head of the company and only answers to the board. Their chief role is to make decisions about long and short term strategy across the company. This is why they're paid so highly, they have the highest impact.\n\nCFO overseas the flow of money. Thing of it as accountant in chief. The actual role depends heavily on the business. \n\nCOO depends on the company and the person who fills the role. \n\nThere are other executives too, but it depends on the business and the industry. Every company is run differently, the titles don't mean a whole lot. You need to look at what individuals in the business actually do. ",
"CFO is the Chief Financial Officer, they oversee anything to do with the company's finance, accounting, and treasury departments. They're also responsible for reporting the company's financial progress to the board and shareholders.\n\nCOO is the Chief Operating Officer, they are responsible for the company's day-to-day operation. The specific departments and areas this covers will depend highly on the company. \n\nCCO or CMO - Chief Commercial Officer or Chief Marketing Officer, they are responsible for marketing, sales, and public relations. Not all companies have these.\n\nCIO - Chief Information Officer, they are responsible for IT, Information Systems, Network Engineering. As you can imagine, the importance of this role can vary greatly depending on the company (i.e., Applebees versus Google).\n\nCEO - Chief Executive Officer, the boss of all those guys I listed above. The CEO answers only to the board and the shareholders, and is responsible for implementing their vision for the company.\n\nChairman and President are a little more complicated, but it goes somewhat like this:\n\nLet's say you own 20% of a large retail chain. As a 20% shareholder for this fictitious company, let's say you get two board seats (and there are ten total). This is just to keep the example simple - but there can be any number of board seats representing any number of ownership interest - including none at all. You sit in one yourself, and put someone else you trust to always vote the same way you do in the second seat - but they may not have any ownership of the company like you. During a board meeting someone suggests the company expand to the midwest. You think that's a good idea, so you vote for it. Six out of ten vote yes, meaning the company will now begin expansion into the midwest. The Chairman of the board then goes to the CEO and says \"We've decided to expand to the midwest. Make it happen\". The CEO then becomes responsible for implementing this strategy in the most cost effective way. The CEO first goes to his COO and asks about adding more stores and a bigger operation. Then the CEO goes to the CFO to figure out how to pay for it. The CEO may also go to the CCO to look at marketing strategies, and then back to the CFO for how to pay for the marketing. After all this back and forth - the CEO selects the best ideas from the rest of his team, determines a direction and strategy, and then brings it to the board. You listen to his strategy, but note that dividends will be on hold for a couple years to help pay for the expansion. You don't like that, and neither does the rest of the board (because most are shareholders and earn money from these dividends). So you tell the CEO to try again, maybe suggest certain parts of the strategy that can be omitted to preserve dividends, and the process starts all over again. \n\nAlso keep in mind that when the CEO goes to the COO or CFO for information, they likely go to their Vice Presidents who then go to their Directors who then go to their Managers who then go to their Analysts or other staff. Then a series of analyses and information works its way back up the chain to the COO. This is why those positions require someone with so much experience and pay so much. You have to know a lot about how every single branch of the company works in order to get the right information.\n\nEdit: Made some changes based on u/DoctorOddFellow's points for better accuracy.",
"The main distinction to be aware of here is the difference between the board of directors and the company employees.\n\nThe board of directors are the people who own the company (because they own lots of shares in it), or people who are elected by the shareholders to sit on the board and represent the shareholders. They are the people who actually own the company, or represent the people who do. As such, their decisions are ultimately the ones that the company follows. For example, Arthur D. Levinson is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Apple. He represents the interests of Apple's shareholders, and gives directions (hence \"director\") to the company to do stuff.\n\nThe CEO - Chief Executive Officer - is an employee of the company. They may look like they have a lot of power - and they do - but ultimately, they do what the board tells them to do. For example, Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple. His job is to run Apple. He doesn't own Apple (except that he owns 0.02% of the shares). He makes a lot of decisions about how Apple operates day to day, but ultimately, he does what Arthur D. Levinson tells him to do. If the Board decides that Apple is going to start selling electric guitars, then it's Tim Cook's job to build an electric guitar factory, even if he thinks that's dumb.\n\nThe other C\\*O positions are also employees who report to the CEO. They have people reporting to them, and so on down the line.\n\nNow, the names depend on what country you're in, and on the particular culture of the company in question. President is usually roughly equivalent to CEO, and some companies are run by a person titled \"President and Chief Executive Officer\".\n\nOh, and to make things more complicated, sometimes the CEO and the Chairman are the same person. Some people think that's a good thing, some people think that's a bad thing.",
"The CEO is like the captain of a ship. Their job is to manage the running of the ship and its crew, and to navigate the ship where it is supposed to go. \n\nThe Chairman is the head of the Board of Directors, who ultimately are responsible to the shareholders. These people are like the owners of a ship. They are not directly involved in the running of the ship, but as people who have invested their money, they want to know that their ship is in good hands. They don't want a captain who will drive the ship onto the rocks or blunder into a war zone.....\n\nSometimes the ship owners know alot about ships and shipping, and may have even done sailing of their own in the past. So they will have very firm ideas on how they want their ships to be run and where they want them to go, and the captain's job will be to put their wishes into practise. Other times, the ship owners mightn't know much about shipping at all, it's a purely financial investment. So the captain might have a lot of freedom to use their own initiative in running and navigating the ship. \n\nIf it is a big ship, then the captain cannot possibly be expected to manage everything by themselves. So they have senior officers in charge of individual parts of the ship; engine room, deck crew, gunnery, navigation, administration, etc.... These people are in charge of their own departments, but need to report to the captain. The COO, CFO, and other 'C titles' are the equivalent of these senior officers (e.g the COO is like the First Officer who is more \"hands on\" in the day-to-day running of the ship, and the CFO is the Purser who is responsible for finance and administration). ",
"Besides the definitions that others said, the most important part here is that there is a difference between the people who run the company and the people who own the company. \n\nThe board of directors is the organ that represents the shareholders, the ones who own the company. Their main concern therefore is money. They decide on the purpose and vision of the company. The Chairman of the board leads these discussions. \n\nThe CEO, as the name says, is in charge of execution. He is the one in charge of actually running the business, and accomplishing the vision of the board. Therefore he usually also has a seat in the board. \n\nAll other C*O functions are the chiefs of a specific department: finance (CFO), IT (CIO), Technology (CTO), ... and they report to the CEO. \n\nIn new companies, the founders usually occupy many of these positions. They have a majority share in the board, and in case of a Zuckerberg/Musk they remain CEO for a long time. In the long term the visionair CEOs views usually don't align with the board's anymore, and they may be asked to step down. Over time CEOs usually become CEOs accross multiple companies, sometimes in very different branches. ",
"The management of most corporations starts with a Board of Directors. \n\nThe **Board of Directors** represent the interest of the shareholders and investors. In public companies, **Directors** are elected to the Board by the shareholders. In private companies, the Directors may be appointed by the owners/investors. \n\nThe **Chairman** is the person who presides over the Board of Directors. He or she is typically elected by the other members of the Board, although, again, may be appointed in a privately-held company. \n\nThere are technically two types of Chairman: a **Non-Executive Chairman** and an **Executive Chairman**. A Non-Executive Chairman *only* presides over the Board. An Executive Chairman *both* presides over the Board of Directors *and* has an operational role in the company. The Non-Executive Chairman sort is overwhelmingly more common, however you frequently see the Executive Chairman role in start-ups where the founder holds both the Chairman & CEO title or where you have two co-founders -- one might be CEO and the other might be Executive Chairman. \n\nBoards might also elect a **Vice-Chairman** and it's technically possible to be a **Co-Chairman**, i.e. two people sharing the role (although that's fairly rare). \n\nThe purpose of the Board of Directors is to represent the interest of the shareholders by hiring (or firing) the CEO, guiding the overall strategy of the corporation, approving the annual budgets, etc. \n\nThe **Chief Executive Officer (CEO)** is the highest ranking executive in the company. He or she is hired by and reports to the Board of Directors. The CEO is responsible for all aspects of the corporation, and all the other executives report to the CEO. \n\nThe **Chief Financial Officer (CFO)** reports to the CEO and is responsible for the financial operations of the company, including budgeting, financing, accounting, etc. \n\nPretty much only the CEO and CFO are required positions that *every* company has.\n\nThere can be many other **C-level executives** (sometimes also called **C-Suite executives**), depending on the company. Some common ones are:\n\n* A **Chief Operating Officer (COO)** reports to the CEO and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. \n\n* A **Chief Information Officer (CIO)** reports to the CEO and is responsible for the information, network, and data systems of the company. These are usually *internal* facing information, network, and data systems to distinguish them from a CTO (see below).\n\n* A **Chief Technology Officer (CTO)** reports to the CEO and is responsible for the creation and management of technology products the company sells or offers. These are usually *external* facing technologies. I.e. while the CIO might maintain the company's HR system (which it buys from some other company), the CTO is responsible for building the software product that the company sells. \n\n* A **Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)** reports to the CEO and is responsible for marketing across all the company's brands and products. \n\n* A **Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)** reports to the CEO and is responsible for driving revenue for the company, i.e. for sales. \n\n* A **Chief Legal Officer (CLO)** reporst to the CEO and is responsible for all the companies lawyers and legal activity. Frequently paired with the title \"General Counsel.\" \n\nAnd so on and so forth. Besides the CEO and CFO, there's really no limit on the types of C-suite level offices that a company can create. What they all have in common is that they report directly to the CEO of the company. \n\nA **President** is an optional role in most companies' organizational structure. Many times you will see the CEO have this title as well, i.e. \"CEO & President, John Doe.\" \n\nIt's possible, and not uncommon, for a company to have a separate CEO and President. In those cases, the President almost always reports to the CEO and takes over some of the responsibilities that would otherwise normally fall on the CEO. \n\nSome times a corporation may have multiple divisions within the company and *each* will have a President that leads it. For example, a single, large multi-national company could still have a single CEO, but *also* have a President of North America, a President of Asia-Pacific, a President of Europe, etc. In this sort of structure, the Presidents are responsible for the company operations in their region. It doesn't have to be organized regionally, though. For example, a big media company might have a President of Broadcast Programming, a President of Film Production, a President of Interactive Media, etc. It's just another organizational layer. \n\nBelow the C-suite officers and/or President(s), the next layer down is usually one or more layers of **Vice-Presidents**. Depending on the company size there may be multiple layers of Vice-Presidents. When there are multiple layers of VPs they are usually labeled (in descending order) Executive Vice-President, Senior Vice-President, Managing Vice-President, and Vice-President as necessary ... although that layering and naming will vary widely from company to company\n\nBelow Vice-Presidents, you frequently have **Senior Directors** and **Directors** ... though not to be confused with the Directors who sit on the Board of Directors!!! \n\nNote: all of the above is from the perspective of US corporations. Outside of the US, terminology and corporate structure can be very different!\n\n\n\n\n",
"One thing I'd add that most of the other answers didn't mention.\n\n**The CFO is more than just the accountant-in-chief.**\n\nHe or she is responsible for the company's interaction with capital markets. They are responsible for overseeing the operation when the company does an IPO, issues secondary stock offerings, issues bonds or takes on debt financing, performs share buybacks. They have to know the pros and cons of these approaches, which one is best given their company's situation, and be able to handle it smoothly.\n\nThis is why so many large-company CFOs formerly worked at investment banks. It isn't because Goldman Sachs has a top-notch CPA program."
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3o3h46 | why are pencils hexagonal while pencil crayons, pens, and mechanical pencils are round? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o3h46/eli5_why_are_pencils_hexagonal_while_pencil/ | {
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"The way they are made. Crayons are basically extruded. They flood molds with colored wax and the crayons are cooled and solidified pushed out and wrapped. Mechanical pencils are melted plastic shoved into molds and then put together.\n\nPencils are made with two sandwiched, half pencil, pieces with lead between them. Then they are cut apart. If they were extruded, they would likely be round.\n\nHope this helps.",
"*First, it is cheaper to make pencils with six sides because more\npencils can be made from the same amount of wood. The wood that could make eight round pencils can be made into nine hexagonal ones.*\n\nSource: Some website.\n\nWith hex pencils, you can simply cut all the wood with a flat blade. Rounding takes a bit more work and has a bit more wasted wood.\n"
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2865x3 | the best soccer leagues, and players and what i should watch. | I'm an American (as you can tell by
My use of soccer) and I want to watch some European soccer but I have no idea where to start. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2865x3/eli5_the_best_soccer_leagues_and_players_and_what/ | {
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"Start watching the English Premier League...The season just ended a few weeks ago with a good finish. Manchester City won the season by only 2 points with Liverpool in 2nd place and Chelsea in 3rd. Its fast paced soccer that is the most popular league in the world. A lot of good players",
"Very difficult to generalize leagues as every team has their own style, but l'll try to loosely sum up the best 4 leagues: \n\nEnglish Premier League: the most well rounded league. This league seems generally more fast paced with a loose play style compared to the other big leagues. They're home to a lot of powerhouse and famous teams, including Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. Some key players: Yaya Toure (Man City), Van Persie (Man U), Gerrard (Liverpool), and Suarez (Liverpool). \n\nLa Liga (Spain): Home of the two best soccer players in the world in Messi and C. Ronaldo, as well as two of the next upcoming phenoms in Neymar and Bale. Very tactical/organized soccer style in this league; minimal mistakes, patience for good opportunities, and beautiful passing. Not as well rounded as the EPL, but their big teams are loaded with the best and most expensive players in the world. Best teams: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid. Key players: Christiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Messi (Barcelona), Neymar (Barcelona), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid).\n\nSerie A (Italy): Defense, defense, and some more defense (still fun to watch though). The Italian club teams aren't as strong as they used to be, but their best teams are still top notchl. Not the most well rounded league anymore. Key teams: Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Napoli. Key players: Pirlo (Juventus), Baleotelli (AC Milan), Chellini (Juventus), Totti (Roma), Higuain (Napoli). \n\nBundesliga (Germany): a little difficult to sum up their play style; a little mix of EPL and La Liga. The least well rounded out of the other 4 leagues, but still home to two of the strongest teams in the world. Key teams: Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund. Key players: Ribery (Bayern), Robben (Bayern), Muller (Dortmund).\n\nNotable club teams not in these leagues: SL Benefica (Portugal), FC Porto (Portugal), Olympique Lyonnais (France), Paris Saint-Germain FC (France). \n\n\n"
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doyacq | how come cutscenes aren't preloaded in video games? like a 4k hd video? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/doyacq/eli5_how_come_cutscenes_arent_preloaded_in_video/ | {
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"It depends on how the cutscene is rendered (how it is drawn in the game).\n\nIf it's a scripted cutscene, then everything is being shown in the actual game itself, which means everything has to be loaded as if you were playing the game even though you probably can't control anything except for the camera if that.\n\nIf it's a \"computer-generated imagery\" (CGI) video, then it can load like a regular video file which cuts down on the amount of time needed to load and play it."
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3298do | i don't really "feel" like a male. how come people experiencing gender dysphoria "feel" like the other gender? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3298do/eli5_i_dont_really_feel_like_a_male_how_come/ | {
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"Look at yourself in the mirror. Look at your dick. Does that body part look and feel like something that is a part of you? Does it feel normal for it to be there? Because if you experience gender dysphoria you cannot answer yes to those questions. Your genitals will feel as wrong as having a second head on your chest. ",
"The way I try to imagine it is if I woke up tomorrow as a man (not my original gender). Nothing wrong with being a man so no offense, but I'd be horrified. This is not who I am. I'd spend every waking minute of my life from then on trying to change my body into a girl's, because that's what feels right. Of course this analogy has its limitations because transgender people don't just wake up one day as the opposite gender, but this is as close as I can get to imagining it. I definitely feel my femaleness after imagining that",
"What I wonder is when someone says they feel like the opposite gender, how do they know what the other gender feels like? You can feel as if you like things that you and others associate with the other gender, but if you are not able to do the Vulcan Mind Meld, you would not really know for sure."
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5ztinc | if earth had rings like saturn, how would that affect sending satellites into orbit? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ztinc/eli5_if_earth_had_rings_like_saturn_how_would/ | {
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"Short answer: life would be very difficult trying to orbit satellites in the presence of rings.\n\nRings exist in circular orbits in a very flat plane exactly above the equator (the equatorial plane). Satellites would need to avoid passing through this plane at the same altitude as the rings or they're likely to hit a ring particle and be vaporised. While there are gaps in rings and they have a limited extent, the boundaries are not sharply defined; there's just a smaller but non-zero chance of encountering ring material away from the rings.\n\nEvery orbit is going to pass through the equatorial plane twice per orbit, except an exactly equatorial orbit which is on the plane all the time. The safest orbit for a satellite would be for it to pretend to be a ring particle and have a circular, equatorial orbit and be a part of the rings. Getting into that orbit in the first place would be tricky but not impossible. It might require a few risky plane crossings between launch and final orbit but the level of risk would depend on the exact nature of the rings.\n\nOur large, close moon means that we can't have rings like Saturn, or at least not for very long. The moon doesn't orbit exactly in the equatorial plane so its gravity is going to move the ring particles out of the plane and out of circular orbits so that they start to collide with each other. Any realistic ring scenario for earth is going to involve changes to the moon."
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7bo2fh | if conjoined twins share a stomach, do they both feel full or hungry at the same time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7bo2fh/eli5_if_conjoined_twins_share_a_stomach_do_they/ | {
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"It's hard to make general statement about conjoined twins because literally every case is different, but the feeling of hunger is regulated by hormones, most importantly Leptin and Ghrelin, which circulate in the blood. So if the conjoined twins share their circulatory system (which they *have to* if they share a stomach), then these hormones will always affect them at the same time. However, there might still be a different reaction in the brain to the hormones."
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20q2wz | if everyone says california is so expensive, how do people afford to live there? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20q2wz/eli5_if_everyone_says_california_is_so_expensive/ | {
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"Some make so much money it doesn't matter -- if you make $200k/yr, it's not a big deal. \n\nOthers request and accept cost of living adjustments from their employers. -- in Kansas, a position might be worth $60k/yr. In SF, it might be $90k/yr\n\nOthers just live in small places, drive small cars, and enjoy the sun.",
"Relativity.\n\nIf you make $10 an hour, and it costs you $9 an hour to survive, it's the same as making $20 and costing $18 to survive.",
"Multiple income families. If your job isn't one that you get a real nice salary/decent salary from your employer who already adjusts the salary/wage to accommodate California standards of living. You live in the cheapest place you can afford, and you either drive if you can afford the insurance - can be triple if not more for insurance there than everywhere else - or you bus/bike/carpool/commute. \n\nNot married? It's not uncommon to find families still living in the same house no matter the size. I had not one single friend that didn't share a house/apartment with a sibling or their whole family. Because houses are //not// cheap. A friend bought a house just before I left, cost her just shy of 500k. I bought a house here where I live now, just less in size by about 200 square feet and it cost me a third of what she paid. \n\nYou adjust. Then you re-adjust. The demand to live there is great because you have temperate climes, there is a //lot// to do there. There's beaches, skiing, camping, shopping, see plays with the actors that you see on TV, bumming around small theatres and doing plays. \n\nIn my first week living there? I saw Jack Black filming a video. The opportunities there are //endless//. The //food//. Fruit is available all year round, not shipped in from far away destinations. Well, they still are in winter, but for about 7/8ths of the year, it's all california grown. Milk is cheaper there than here in Iowa which surprised us. Produce is cheaper there. Gas is more expensive but because of the strict demands for a better fuel and a special blend that California requires because the smog is //terrible// from all the cars. Car insurance is //three// times higher there, than where we are now because they accommodate for uninsured drivers and the sheer amount of other vehicles on the road. \n\nThe state itself is //broke// and desperate for money! Bleeding money. Expect to be audited every single year, as they scrounge for money. The tax rate the more money you make, is ridiculous. We got nailed //regularly// for about 35-30 percent taken off our bonuses and end of year and we were the middle to upper middle of \"middle class\" \n\nBut it's a great place to live. Ridiculous amount of stuff to do. You had the beach! Drive an hour away you have skiing! Want to see a limited engagement movie? You popped up to hollywood proper and you could see a sneak peek for free - yes, free - or a limited run - Hello Shame! I was friends with someone from the cast of Nurse Jackie, and learned of the The Blank Theatre who puts on the Young Playwrights Festival and you could go and see big name actors putting on the plays of teenage playwrights that were //really// good. Jerry O'Connell? He is //tall//. You had Knott's Berry, Disneyland, go another hour away to San Diego and you had Legoland. There's //always// something to do, and it's not all expensive to do. Well, Disney is expensive. It's 90 bucks a person no matter what. You find ways to live there. You either grew up there and your life adjusted, or you moved in and you have a job/s with an adjusted salary. \n\ntl:dr Multiple incomes, multiple individuals in an abode, employer adjusted salary. Take advantage of free stuff to do, enjoy the beach and fresh produce.\n\nI do miss the beach :( I loved the seals."
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7j6yyh | why does the visible light spectrum appear cyclic to the human eye if the spectrum is based on specific linear wavelengths of light? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7j6yyh/eli5_why_does_the_visible_light_spectrum_appear/ | {
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"It doesn't appear cyclic to the human eye. It appears cyclic to the human *brain*. \n\nOur eyes can detect 3 \"regions\" of color: red, green, and blue. If we detect some combinations of those, we typically perceive that as an \"in-between\" color. For example, orange light stimulates both the red and green sensing cells in our eyes. So stimulating the red and green cells is what we perceive as \"orange\". And, interestingly, if we just use red and green light (no orange light), we can stimulate those cells exactly the same as orange light, and so we still see orange. In fact, that's the basis for how computer and phone displays work: They only emit red, green, and blue light, and our brains perceive combinations of those as other colors.\n\nBut here comes the strangeness! What happens when you stimulate the red and blue cells in the eye with red and blue light? Well, your first guess is that we should perceive the color that is \"in between\" red and blue on the spectrum. But that color is green, and we're specifically *not* stimulating the green-detecting cells in our eyes. However, your brain isn't really capable of seeing it as two different colors (red and blue) simultaneously, so it invents a new color! Purple!\n\nThat's right, purple, the color that allows our sense of the spectrum to be cyclical, *isn't a real color*. There is no such thing as a purple photon of light. Purple can *only* be perceived by the human brain as a side effect of the limitations of our visual system.",
"Just to add something extra to the excellent explanation already provided...\n\nOur color vision is usually a matter of our vision system interpolating between the colors detected by our three flavours of cones in our retina. Think of it like a triangle, with red, green and blue in the corners and all the other colors somewhere in the middle.\n\nBut then consider that a small percentage of human females are \"tetrachromats\". For them, there are 4 types of color receptors in their retina. For them, the perceived color is interpolated between 4 different points. You have to imagine this in 3d now, like a 3 sided pyramid with 4 point of detected color, and some interpreted color point somewhere in the 3d space of the pyramid.\n\nTetrachromats may be able to distinguish 100 million colors ...\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"ELI5: what does OPs question mean?",
"Could you also explain the question like I'm 5?",
"Pink/ magenta bridges the gap between red and blue. Usually there would be no specific wavelength to represent pink, however our brains made up a colour to find the average wavelength of red and blue . It couldn't be green, since this new colour should be the opposite of green. There's a great explanation by minute physics on the topic.\n\n_URL_0_"
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6fx1g4 | since a normal human can run 8-10 mph but top athletes can run over 20 mph, if a cheetah "trained", could it potentially sprint much faster? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6fx1g4/eli5_since_a_normal_human_can_run_810_mph_but_top/ | {
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"Almost all cheetahs are clones of each other. Theoretically every cheetah is already a top athlete since they are all pretty much identical. \n\n[source](_URL_0_) ",
"not really... cheetahs are genetically born to run this fast. \ntheir whole life is already dedicated to running and they are born with the right genetics for speed , same as athletes. \n\nthere might be faster and slower cheetahs, but the variance is not as great as with humans, so you wont be able to train a cheetah to run 50% faster, maybe 10-20%",
"No. They're all constantly training to catch their food. The average human doesn't need to run 20mph to survive on a day to day basis, but you had better believe that if they did then all the humans on earth would be running like that. Cheetahs do need to run fast to live, so you won't find any cheetah that isn't in top shape.",
"I mean considering wild cheetahs run to eat and ensure survival, I'm pretty sure they are the equivalent of 'trained'. Maybe 9 to 5 office cheetahs who do paperwork for a living could improve speeds though."
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a07mgz | why do you feel hot when you have a blanket on, cold when you take the blanket off but if you leave one leg out of the blanket, it’s perfect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a07mgz/eli5_why_do_you_feel_hot_when_you_have_a_blanket/ | {
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"When the blanket is on there is too much insulation so your body warms up. With the blanket off there is too little. So you need something in between. Having a leg out allows heat to leave your body. Therefore, you’ve achieved that in between that you needed.",
"You suffer from hot leg syndrome.\n\nOne leg is very much hotter than the other and ambient cooling is a logical response.\n\nUnfortunately this condition is terminal, often in the timeframe of 40-60 years."
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1yczgt | if source code is readable, and executable programs are not, what happens to cause that? | I don't understand the barrier between readable source code and executable/compiled programs. If the system knows what to do with the program (aka how to add/subract/ work with variables) why can't all code be decompiled? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yczgt/if_source_code_is_readable_and_executable/ | {
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"what is lost is variable names, method names that make the program human readable. \n\nwhile you can probably figure out what mystring.left(5) does just by looking at it, you probably won't be able to tell what \"on the object at memory location 0x12343, invoke method in library 0x342424 at location 0x242425\" \n",
"If you know about programming you know about \"syntax\" and \"semantics\". The semantics of the your compiled program and source code are the same, but syntactically they are very different. \n\n1. Program 1: \"1+2+3+N=4\"\n2. Program 2: \"1+5+N=4\"\n3. Program 3: \"6+N=4\"\n\nIf I'm a smart compiler all of these are identical AND I don't need to keep track of the particular \"syntax\" that was utilized to write these three different programs. So...getting back from the compiler which of these three (and the infinite number of other) possible syntaxes that could have created the same logic is impossible.\n\nTake that example and extrapolate!\n"
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czekbm | what happens to all the water after a hurricane/flood? does it just recede back into a body of water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/czekbm/eli5_what_happens_to_all_the_water_after_a/ | {
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"Not en expert but I know that some of the water gets infiltrated into the water table which can cause salt water intrusion which is bad",
"Basically, yes. A good portion is absorbed into the ground and into the ground water system. In the case of a flood, there's simply more water flowing into a body of water than is flowing out. Hurricanes are a bit different because their winds effectively make a massive ocean tide that can reach miles inland if the land is flat like Florida tends to be, or below sea level like in certain parts of Louisiana.",
"Civil engineering major here with background in water resources and hydrology. In urban and suburban areas, eventually the majority of the water will go into the wastewater system to either be reclaimed (cleaned for use) or the excess will be directed through the appropriate channels to points that can accommodate the influx. The remainder will seep into the ground or slowly evaporate, and some will follow naturally formed channels into tributaries and eventually rivers and other large bodies of water. In rural areas with less hydrologic infrastructure, natural channels will take away a good portion of the water, and the rest will seep into the ground (farmland has a higher water capacity than urban areas), although due to lack of proper drainage, some water will sit in large puddles until manually removed or until sufficient time has passed that it seeps down or flushes out."
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5ddqz3 | what forces, on a molecular level, hold together a solid object and how are those affected when the object breaks in separate pieces? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ddqz3/eli5_what_forces_on_a_molecular_level_hold/ | {
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"It kind of depends on what sort of material you are talking about. I'll give you one example in (a bit of) detail, and then I will just name a couple of other forces that also could (not should per se) play a role. Here it goes:\n\nBasically every molecule has an interaction with it's neigboring molecule, that interaction is either attractive or repulsive. We call all these interactions Van der Waals (VDW) interactions/forces . Named after the Dutch scientist Van der Waals. We are only going to look at the attractive part of the VDW forces, since this is what you want to know. I always look at them as if they are the 'gravity' between two molecules. Meaning the VDW forces are stronger between two molecules that have a higher mass than between two with a lower mass. What happens when we break the material apart? When we break something we are pulling the two molecules far from eachother (we say: we broke the VDW bond), this cost energy (either heat, or mechanical like a scissor). \n\nNow, as I mentioned earlier there are possibilities to break other bonds as well, most notably the hydrogen bond. Here, like with the VDW force, we just move two molecules far from eachother and nothing really happens with the molecules themselves. One of the other things that could happen (in some cases, certainly not all) is we actually break a bond inside of a molecule (a covalent, or atomic bond). This will actually cause the molecule to break up in multiple pieces. There are some others and some technicalities that I'm not going to get into right now aswell. If you want to break something, what you are doing is breaking the weakest force available, whichever one that is. Most of the time it will be the VDW bond, but not necessarily.\n\nHope this helped!\n\n"
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1tx8v1 | why do i max out at around 3.2mbps wired and 2.5mbps wireless download speed when i pay for 30mbps? | Bonus Question: On a scale of 1-7 how much do you want to burn your cable company's headquarters to the ground? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tx8v1/eli5_why_do_i_max_out_at_around_32mbps_wired_and/ | {
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"I'm pretty sure you know this already, but what they sell you is in mega bits per second, and when downloading it is displayed in mega bytes per second. \n\nEvery 8 bits is 1 byte, so a 30mbps connection is a 3.75 MB per second. \n\nIf you are downloading at 3.2 MB per second and not mbps like you say in the title then they aren't screwing you :) ",
"MB=/=Mb \n\nMegabits are used when it comes to Internet and connection stuff, Megabytes are for storage generally"
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2wp6sc | which is better for the environment on the small scale: using a plastic fork once to save water on cleaning silverware, or washing and reusing a stainless steel fork so a plastic fork won't end up in a landfill? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wp6sc/eli5_which_is_better_for_the_environment_on_the/ | {
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"Reusable cutlery is better for the environment. ",
"Considering the resources that go into extracting, refining, and machining the material in the steel fork, you'd have to use the SS fork hundreds if not thousands of times before you came out ahead from an energy expenditure standpoint.\n\nThere was a study done with ceramic vs. styrofoam coffee cups asking basically the same question. I'll try and find it.\n\nedit: [okay, so it wasn't a single study but it was an analysis that cited several studies](_URL_0_)."
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"http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2008/09/grande_americano_extra_green.html"
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7xj6nk | why does water evaporate faster outdoors than indoors? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7xj6nk/eli5_why_does_water_evaporate_faster_outdoors/ | {
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"Yes, temperature. But also other factors, such as humidity and wind.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThere are definitely less wind indoor, so that's a big factor.\n\nIf you have a puddle in a small room, as the puddle evaporate, the room gets more humid, thus slowing slowing down the evaporation. In the outdoors, the humidity quickly disperses.\n\nMore importantly is surface area. A puddle and water in a glass, of the same volume, the puddle with evaporate faster, even when both are outdoors, or both are indoors.e"
]
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"https://sciencing.com/humidity-wind-speed-affect-evaporation-12017079.html"
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aw7r6c | why do pharmacists complete 4 years of post-grad schooling learning about drugs but physicians actually pick the drugs to use. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aw7r6c/eli5_why_do_pharmacists_complete_4_years_of/ | {
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"Pharmacists are the last line of defense against a patient taking a drug or combination of drug that may be harmful, especially if that patient is taking over the counter drugs/supplements or filling prescriptions from multiple doctors. \n\nBecause of this, knowledge of the function of many drugs and potential drug interactions can be critical here."
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5t33d1 | why is the president immune from the ethics laws, when the ethics in government act of 1978 expressly states otherwise? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5t33d1/eli5_why_is_the_president_immune_from_the_ethics/ | {
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"Standard disclaimer: political, keeping bias to a minimum.\n\nThe current President is immune to ethics laws because the majority party at the moment (the Republicans) aren't holding him to those ethics laws.\n\nSimply put: right now, they're a police officer who's blatantly looking the other way as someone's getting mugged.",
"When Congress made these laws, they likely wanted to avoid direct conflict between the branches and the Constitutional problems it might create -- you can imagine an unscrupulous Congress using conflict of interest rules to launch baseless attacks against the president. It never really was an issue, because every president before Trump has acted as if the rules applied to them, both to avoid political problems and because people who run for president generally have an inherent belief in the country and its institutions. By leaving the president and vice president out, you avoid having to answer some tricky questions about separation of powers that might tie up the law in court.\n\nBut now we're in an unusual situation where the president seems indifferent to ethics norms, and there aren't really any mechanisms to constrain him if Congress abdicates is responsibility as a coequal branch of government. Buckle your seat belts.",
"If politicians weren't immune from the same laws that government regular citizens, then these laws could be used to game the system. For example, if the police were allowed to detain politicians for question, then they would simply stop their political opponents, delaying them long enough to ensure they missed their chance to vote.\n\nSo it's the same with ethics laws. If you allow people to challenge someone for everything they do as an ethics violation, then he will be tied up in court all day answering to these charges and unable to perform his duties. \n\nI mean that's what we're talking about here after all. You're asking how there might be a way to stymie Trump for the next four years by tying him up in court 24/7. Now you might think you're being clever, but you have to remember that when the shoe is on the other foot, your opponents will do the same exact thing to you. \n\nThink of it in the context of executive orders. You hate these things so much when Trump uses, but you never gave a second thought to them before when Obama was doing them. So in this same way, be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it. ",
"The President and Vice President, Congress and federal judges. are specifically exempted from having to follow the same ethics laws as employees. Congress sets their own ethics rules. Following is the relevant part of the law where they are all exempted:\n\n“Except as otherwise provided in such sections, the terms ‘officer’ and ’employee’ in sections 203, 205, 207 through 209, and 218 of this title shall not include the President, the Vice President, a Member of Congress, or a Federal judge.”",
"No one is actually stating what should be obvious, our current president is **not** in violation of the Ethics in Government Act. There are only two reasons you would think he would be in violation: you think the act has some generally ethical clause in it, or you think Trump has not disclosed his financial reports.\n\n*Option 1: you think the act has some generally ethical clause in it.* The Ethics in Government Act covers the disclosure of financial reports, a few other technical things, and establishes oversight of this process. That's it. It in no ways says things like \"The president must be ethical\". This act is solely about financial disclosure, nothing else. Speaking of that...\n\n*Option 2: you think Trump has not disclosed his financial reports.* Well guess what, he has. [Here](_URL_0_) it is, go read it yourself.\n\nYou may have heard that Trump has been refusing to release his tax returns. That is correct, he has refused to do that even though most other Presidents have. *But* that is not legally required. Trump has done everything he legally had to do to disclose his finances, thus he is not in violation of the Ethics in Government act.\n\nHopefully that makes sense to you. ",
"Many of the checks and balances that were created to prevent corruption have become rubber stamps and in many cases actively work against what they were inteded to do like the electoral college and its electors... essentially most of our checks and balances are now used as tool to exercise control by the party in majority so they can stay in power",
"The simple answer is that the only real limit on any President's powers and actions is a united Congress' willingness to impeach him. Laws mean nothing if no one is willing to enforce them...",
"Separation of powers is how. (Dont believe the hype)\n\nCongress cant pass a law that limits the constitutional enumerated power of the executive branch (they need an amendment to do that) and since the Constitution states quite plainly that power of the executive is vested with the president. Meaning that all of the powers of the executive branch are contained solely with the president, congresses only redress with the president is to impeach him. Since impeachment usually requires high crimes and misdemeanors, and as a practical matter requires overwhelming support, any other \"ethics\" sanctions are impossible to levy on the president.\n\n",
"The ethics in government law is fairly limited in what it does. \n\nAlso, in a fight between the president and Congress, the constitution is the controlling document. That has supremacy in how things get handled. The Constitution allows impeachment for \"high crimes and misdemeanors\" and it also allows for significant Congressional oversight - if they choose to exercise it. \n\nThey are not choosing to exercise it. Congress has the power. It's just not using it. "
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c3jenz | why, with all our advancements in telecommunications and phone technology, has phone call audio quality stayed virtually the same as ten or twenty years ago? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c3jenz/eli5_why_with_all_our_advancements_in/ | {
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"If you talk about landlines or anything that is talking to landlines: That is a dead technology, don't expect anything there.\n\nIf you talk about VoIP: That is much better than years ago, with a better sampling rate and wider spectrum they capture.\n\nHowever, that is part of the problem, the biggest problem is the transfer of the voice of the speaker to the microphone: Some microphones are crap (cheap headset), or not at the right place (laptop, or not close by the mouth) or interference with the environment (wind, background noise).\n\nThere is only so much technology can fix :-/\n\nYou won't get movie quality because that's rerecorded in the studio.",
"Of all the things that cell phones do better than land lines, the sound quality was so much better.",
"In simplest terms; because the telephone system is an internetwork of individual links, it is limited by the least capable link in the system. Think of having a road between two cities that starts out as a five-lane Interstate highway, drops to a dirt road, then goes back to a five-lane highway and then arrives at the destination - the traffic is limited to the capacity of the stretch of dirt road in the middle.\n\nIn standard telecoms that limitation is the enduring use of [G.711 encoding](_URL_3_) to convert analog sounds from the two ends of the call into digital information that will be carried over digital [trunk circuits](_URL_5_) in the middle. Those circuits, at least in North America, are built around the [T-carrier architecture](_URL_0_) (with the ulaw variant of G.711), which has a hard limit of 64kbps of information per circuit which, skipping over a whole bunch of technical stuff, translates into only carrying sounds between [300 and 3400Hz](_URL_4_) \\- everything else within the typical range of hearing of 20–20,000Hz is simply discarded.\n\nVarious methods of delivering [wideband audio](_URL_1_) over conventional digital telephone networks do exist (eg. [G.722](_URL_6_)), but if the call will eventually terminate on a conventional analog telephone (or cellphone) then the extra effort to capture and transmit that extra audio information just goes to waste as the signal must be [transcoded](_URL_2_) to meet the capability of the lowest common denominator in the end-to-end circuit.\n\nOn the other hand with pure VOIP calling, for example with Skype-to-Skype calls, most of the internetworking issues are eliminated as the sound is transmitted entirely as a stream of data which is controlled exclusively by the two ends of the call, and so the system can transmit as much audio spectrum as the designers wish.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nedit: goodness, gilding? I'm flattered!",
"Cell phone audio quality used to be remarkably clear. As good as landline communication. But that was when it was analog and a full three watts.\n\nModern cell phones (the last 15 years or so) use digital, low power signals. And the quality is pathetic.\n\nProbably one of the really big reasons people don't like to talk on the phone in modern times is because the quality is so horrible.",
"The audio quality of a mobile phones is based on following aspects: note this applies to both devices, originating and terminate end.\n- bandwidth assigned to the voice channel\n- vocoder technology used\n- microphone quality of mobile phone\n- speaker of device\n\nNow, the best technology to measure Voice quality is based on a set of standards, which for VoIP technology, is PESQ (google it). PESQ measures the variance of signal and creates a score using various large database that has relative voice metrics to what it listens to. It scores it based on a 1-5 score. 1 means not understandable and 5 being it sounds perfect (original audio from originating device)\n\nSince the 1990s, the quality has improved by 1 point. In 2G and 3G technologies, it was 3-3.5. In 4G, it has been improved towards 4.2-4.5. Note this is log scoring, so as you get closer to 5 it’s a huge incremental improvement. \n\nOne commenter brought up a good technical specs on the G.711.",
"Landlines haven't improved much, unless it's two VOIP lines through good handsets. If they're older and/or cheap home phones, then quality wouldn't improve much. \n\nNow, newer cellphones on the other hand is a different story. With VoLTE/HD voice(depending on branding, it can be called a couple things but it's the same principle) quality is vastly improved. Voice over LTE can have sampling rates up to 16Khz, which is what is typically used for normal video streaming. Old standard cell calls were a rather abysmal 3.5Khz range, which is what causes the muffled quality. \n\n Now, of course there's going to be some quality loss as it's just small cheap mics in cell phones, and earpiece speakers aren't particularly high fidelity, but it's leagues better than 10 years ago.",
"That's patently untrue. HD Voice / VoLTE has vastly superior audio compared to anything else prior. I do miss the old landlines, where you could hear yourself talking in the earpiece tho.",
"phone network operators are today internet service providers (simplified a little) - millions of calls go through their data network every sec. so they want to keep costs down and that means limiting the per-call bandwidth as much as possible - that in turn entails high compression of the audio which leads to poor audio quality.\n\nbasically the operators want the audio quality to be just good enough - anything more than that is a waste of their money.\n\nTL;DR\n\nit's from the same reason we don't go to the moon anymore (at least not manned missions) even though we could do it - economy. the operators are trying to max profits, not audio quality.",
"Fantastic explanations here! My attempt to simplify it further: \n\nPhones may not have super high quality right now, but it's usually good enough to understand people talking, and that's all you really need for phones, so it isn't worth spending money to improve.",
"TL;DR you’re limited by the lowest common denominator. To get the amazing call quality you can get over 4G, you need everything between you and the person you’re calling to be capable of handling the high quality calls. If even one link in the chain isn’t capable, you’re going to be limited to the capability of that link",
"Lol, you clearly weren’t making many phone calls 20 years ago. \n\nQuality has undeniably improved.",
"Audio quality on smartphones (especially iphone) is great. The noise cancelling is incredible too, but people don't even realize that it's doing it but these phones have lots of microphones for that purpose.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe limitation is the speaker quality on the tiny phones",
"I dunno what phone you use but phone call quality has increased a ton for me in the last decade. Lots of the calls I have now are the HD audio calls.",
"Because it has been studied which frequencies are necessary to make speech understandable and only those frequencies are being transmitted to save bandwidth. We could easily switch to higher quality but there is no need. I suspect higher quality audio will be a thing when VoIP becomes easier with the new 5G networks.\n\nI am bewildered by some of the answers here claiming that the reason the quality is limited is the infrastructure. No, that is not true. The infrastructure has been *designed this way* based on the needed frequencies. We have created these limitations on purpose to save the cost.",
"Using Oculus VR, my gf and I both hear as if we were in a recording studio. Unbelievable sound quality.",
"It hasn't stayed the same it is actually worse now than it was 20 years ago when I was a telecommunications tech.\n\nThe main reason is VOIP (Voice Over IP). Compression algorithms used for VOIP concentrate very heavily on the audio frequencies mostly used in speech.\n\nTherefore anything outside of those frequencies suffers serious degradation. Take for example music on hold. These days most music on hold is simply painful to hear. Also children's voices and higher pitched persons voices.\n\nSo than your local telecoms trying to squeeze as many voice channels as they can over existing paths.",
"Am I wrong, that I feel that it actually has gotten worse with smartphones? When I had my dumbphones, I never had to ask the person to repeat him/herself. With smartphones it's regularly an issue. The person sounds real quit (yes, volume is wat up), distant, or there is just loads of interference or interruptions.",
"because it hasnt. compare a voice quality from old school landlines/early cellphones to the hd voice quality of today. OP you are clearly ignorant to the fact the voice quality has indeed changed over the decades.",
"50% of the answer is, and always has been, \"because it's good enough\". They've done a hundred studies on the minimum viable level needed to carry on a conversation and often it makes little sense economically or environmentally to overbuild beyond what's actually needed.\n\nThe other 50% of the explanation changes as the trends in handsets changes. In 2019 the desire to have your slim phone fit neatly in your pocket is actually hurting the quality of your phone calls quite a bit. It's the ear piece more so than the mic that's letting you down. There are some inescapable physics there that require the ear piece to either be larger than it currently is (picture a good pair of headphones) or more directly sealed to your ear (picture a good set of ear buds).",
"We have VoIP now. And wifi calling. And other such things. But they only work if both people in the call have it. My work phone has ViOP calling. But my private does not."
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5sf2td | why can soup (with meat) be stored at room temperature? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5sf2td/eli5_why_can_soup_with_meat_be_stored_at_room/ | {
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"If it is in a sealed can, it is safe because the cans were superheated to kill all bacteria they might have had in them and since then have had no way to get outside bacteria in.\n\nThe issue with keeping food warm too long is that it allows bacteria to thrive. But if there are no bacteria to begin with and no way for any to get in, it is safe.",
"Pasteurization. The food is sealed in the cans and then heated, killing anything living inside that would have otherwise caused the food to spoil. As long as the can remains sealed the contents remain sterile. ",
"Because it is canned.\n\nThe canning process involves boiling the cans or placing them in a pressure canner. Sometimes preservatives or acids (like lemon juice) are added. The can is airtight, so the bacteria that make food rot are unable to grow. \n\nOnce the can is punctured, the food is no longer sealed and the food will begin to spoil."
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b7urog | why do gas giants have such strong gravities? | Like Jupiter for instance or Saturn. They're gas giants that are huge I'll grant, but why so much gravity? Given that they're mainly gas, wouldn't their density be very low? And if their density is low, how do they have so much gravity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b7urog/eli5_why_do_gas_giants_have_such_strong_gravities/ | {
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"text": [
"Their density might be low, but they are still massive. The \"force\" of an object's gravitational field depends not on density of an object but on raw mass. For example, if you crushed the earth down to a black hole maybe a few meters across the orbit of the moon and any other satellites would stay the same as they are today. ",
"Their density is lower, but they're also vastly bigger than earth or similar planets. The increase in volume means that they still have a lot more mass than smaller, denser planets, and that's what dictates their gravitational pull. ",
"Gravity is determined by mass, not density. Jupiter is 318 times more massive than Earth. Saturn is 95 times more massive than Earth. Thus, despite being far less dense, they nonetheless have far stronger gravity. "
]
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[],
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] |
|
5h1u0f | why is the bell pepper so big, while it's mostly empty on the inside? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5h1u0f/eli5_why_is_the_bell_pepper_so_big_while_its/ | {
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"text": [
"It's the skin and outer flesh of the pepper that you use to cook with. People are more likely to buy larger peppers because it gives them most flesh to cook with, even though it's just empty space inside. Bell peppers are cultivated by humans, they were bred to be as plump and big looking as possible like chihuahuas were bred to be small. The inside doesn't matter, you scoop it out and throw it in the trash.",
"The plants and animals that we use for food have nearly all been domesticated and bred to fit human needs and desires. They are much different than the wild ancestors which were much smaller and denser.\n\n_URL_0_\n ",
"I've always wondered is it air inside there, or vacuum or what? Is the skin permeable to air?",
"I'm curious now when corn was changed to the more modern variety.\n\nThe 3rd grader image of the \"traditional thanksgiving\" in my head with native Americans and big bowls of corn is now cluttered with thoughts of little weeds. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-fruits-and-vegetables-looked-like-before-we-domesticated-them"
],
[],
[]
] |
||
4dwuxg | why is ancestry from spain important to the u.s. census (hispanic) but ancestry from other latin cultures like italy or portugal isn't? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4dwuxg/eli5why_is_ancestry_from_spain_important_to_the/ | {
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"text": [
"With regard to the U.S. Census, Hispanic doesn't mean from Spain -- it means people from Mexico and Latin America, ie. Spanish speakers. Hispanics make up about 17% of the U.S. population currently.",
"The significant portion of the population that would be considered Hispanic are not ancestrally from Spain. They only inherited the Spanish language from their Spanish conquerors.",
"The US Census' definition of Hispanic is \"a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race\". Mexico/South America/Central America populations derived from the Spanish.\n\n\"White\" is a catch-all: \"A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa\"\n\nAlthough there is the \"two or more races\" option, so it gets a but muddled."
]
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[],
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||
12g3zr | why do i need glasses if i've got irises? | The iris of my eye is supposed to focus the light coming into my eye through the pupil onto the retina. There's still plenty of room left for my pupils to expand and contract more than they do, so why do I need glasses? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/12g3zr/elif_why_do_i_need_glasses_if_ive_got_irises/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"The Iris doesn't focus, it controls how much light enters your pupil. The lens focuses by changing shape with tiny little muscles. You need glasses because the lens is too rigid and the muscles are too weak.",
"To answer your question, I'm going to need a lot of pictures, so get your RES ready.\n\n[Diagram](_URL_1_)\n\nLets pretend that the light coming into the eye is running parallel, (in straight lines) towards the eye. Now, all of the things that you see have to have light that gets to the back of the eye, on the [retina](_URL_3_). This light has to go through some cool tools to get there first.\n\nWhen light hits the eye, it goes through the outer lens of the eye (called the [cornea](_URL_6_)) . This acts as the first impact of the light. Now, this bends light a little bit so that it is more focused on the next part, and serves as a light collector, so the light is still mostly parallel.\n\nAfter the outer lens, Then the light coming in has to go through the iris. Now, you might think that the function of the iris is to focus light, when in fact *the purpose is to change the amount of light allowed into the eye itself*. When the iris is narrowed, less light can come through, because if the light is parallel, less light makes it through the gap and more hits the colored iris. This is why irises get small when you stare at a light (less light needed), or get very large when you are in a dark space for a long time (more light needed)\n\nNow, the action happens at the lens, which is behind the iris. Now, the lens can change shape to change the way the light bends as you can see [in this image](_URL_0_). [Source](_URL_2_). When something is closer, it has to bend the light more to get it into focus on a small point, so the lens gets thicker, and when something is farther away, it doesn't have to bend as much, so it gets thinner. Pretty cool, huh?\n\nNow, to answer your question about glasses. Glasses are needed when the lens cannot bend light correctly, because the lens or cornea is misshapened, or the eye is not the shape that the lens is built for (called axial myopia if someone is nearsighted). In myopia, the image is actually focused *in front* of the retina, as seen in the [top half of this image](_URL_5_). Glasses are shown on the bottom half, and they alter the incoming light to change the focal distance of the image. By adding an artificial lens in front of the eye, it becomes possible to see correctly by changing the distance from the Lens that the image is focused. [Source](_URL_4_)\n\nI hope that answered your question."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Focus_in_an_eye.svg/250px-Focus_in_an_eye.svg.png",
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Anatomy_and_physiology_of_animals_How_light_travels_from_the_object_to_the_retina_of_the_eye.jpg",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_(anatomy\\)",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia",
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Myopia.svg/220px-Myopia.svg.png",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornea"
]
] |
|
1bu8t9 | how google stores caches of so many websites | It seems like an immense amount of data. One cannot simply download an internet. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bu8t9/eli5_how_google_stores_caches_of_so_many_websites/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9a4vd7"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"There are a few methods that Google uses.\n\nThe primary one is that Google spends plenty on continually adding more servers, server space, and improving their ability to manage that ever-growing space.\n\nAlso, copies of crawled websites compress better than many types of data. Google once released that they're able to compress crawled websites to an average of 11% of their uncompressed size.\n\n[There's also this theory of where they get all that server space.](_URL_0_) ;)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/301_999/669.html"
]
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|
44w34j | if alcohol helps kill bacteria and fights bad breathe (like mouthwash), why does your breathe smell like death after a night of drinking ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44w34j/eli5_if_alcohol_helps_kill_bacteria_and_fights/ | {
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"text": [
"Because the alcohol doesn't kill ALL of the bacteria in there and those little greebly bastards reproduce right quickly. \n\nThen there's good odds that you didn't brush your teeth before passing out into a drunken stupor. That means there's all sorts of dilute sugar solution from the beer or wine that you drank (the alcohol would have evaporated away), coupled with oily residues and starches from the full bag of Doritos and breaded chicken wings that you ate earlier in the evening. This is wondrous foodstuff for the bastards and they go right to town, producing all sorts of atrocious-smelling byproducts as they digest them.",
"Because the alcohol you drank the night before still lingers in your body, as your liver fights to process it. Lingering alcohol molecules from your blood pass through your lung walls and are exhaled. This stale, boozy breath might be what people experience.",
"the_original_Retro and tminus7700 have dealt with the fundamentals of this issue (alcoholic concentration, other ingredients in the alcohol), but there is another relevant issue.\n\nYour saliva takes care of all the anti-bacterial activity in your mouth. After a night of drinking, your body is dehydrated and therefore produces less saliva, which allows the bacteria in your mouth to grow unabated, which leads directly to bad breath.\n\nThis can be tested by checking the breath of a person who sleeps with their mouth open, as that allows their mouth to dry out and their breath will therefore smell worse in the morning than someone who sleeps with it closed. "
]
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[],
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||
cqy2cw | how did “hello” become the default greeting when you answer the phone? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cqy2cw/eli5_how_did_hello_become_the_default_greeting/ | {
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"text": [
"Nobody liked 'Ahoy!' which is what the creator of the telephone wanted the standard greeting to be.",
" > The use of hello as a telephone greeting has been credited to Thomas Edison; according to one source, he expressed his surprise with a misheard Hullo.[11] Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting.[12][13] However, in 1877, Edison wrote to T. B. A. David, president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company of Pittsburgh:\n\n > Friend David, I do not think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away.\n\n > What you think? Edison - P.S. first cost of sender & receiver to manufacture is only $7.00.[14]\n\n > By 1889, central telephone exchange operators were known as 'hello-girls' because of the association between the greeting and the telephone.\n\nAs /u/ChoadyWalker says, this was in contrast to Bell's desire that the greeting be \"Ahoy-Hoy\"."
]
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[],
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||
7mh1k1 | i'm told that my daughter (14 months) shouldn't have red meat, because it's hard for her body to process. why is red meat harder to digest than other meats? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7mh1k1/eli5_im_told_that_my_daughter_14_months_shouldnt/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"A well respected pediatrician at my medical school taught me that all types of meat were appropriate early foods (or beikost) as they tend to be rich in nutrients that complement breast milk, especially iron. She recommended meat puree in particular."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1ygmfg | what does it mean that the eu is "imposing sanctions" on ukrainian official? | What do sanctions do? How will this affect the protests and violence? Will it solve any problems? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ygmfg/what_does_it_mean_that_the_eu_is_imposing/ | {
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"text": [
"**What do sanctions do?**\n\nThe sanctions are:\n\n* Ukrainian officials are not allowed to enter Europe anymore.\n* Assets of Ukranian officials are frozen at the moment. They can't access their European bank account any more, they can't sell European stock anymore, ...\n\nThe basic message from Europe to the current officials. Fix the issues peacefully if you want be welcome in Europe territory or you want to access your bank account.\n\nYou have to note two things\n* This sanctions are aimed only at officials, and not at the Ukrainian state in general.\n\n* This kind of sanctions are quite fierce. You wouldn't freeze Janoekovytsj assets if you plan to keep him as a friend. I would view this as a bet on a change of regime.\n\n**How will this affect the protests and violence?**\n\nThe protesters will probably not change their behavior. But Ukrainian officials might think twice before they would command to shoot at civilians. (But this is purely hypothetical).\n\n**Will it solve any problems?**\n\nIt would be naive to think that you can solve all the problems so simply. Eventually the Ukrainian people and officials will need to resolve the conflict themselves. But Janoekovytsj could become a bit more tended to concessions during the negotiations."
]
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|
21j0p6 | do dogs have a sense of right or wrong? | I see a lot of pics on reddit of dogs hiding after destroying something. Do they know what they did was wrong? Why do they do it if they know they will be punished? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21j0p6/eli5_do_dogs_have_a_sense_of_right_or_wrong/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgdhtrr"
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"text": [
"They don't have a sense of guilt like we might sometimes think they do. Rather, they know something they did was bad because they know that will be punished (because it's happened before... same way they know how to sit on command). They do it for the same reason any human misbehaves - they either don't think of the consequences beforehand or they'll willing to accept them (however regretfully)"
]
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|
3igkl5 | how can a seemingly small amount of poison or venom be so eefective. 100 mg of venom from a black mamba snake is enough to kill a 100kg adult human. how is this possible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3igkl5/eli5_how_can_a_seemingly_small_amount_of_poison/ | {
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"text": [
"The biggest reason why black mamba venom is so effective is because, compared to other venom, the molecules in black mamba venom are very light allowing it to spread through the body quickly. Before your body has a chance to react and heal damaged cells there are too many cells being effected and you die.\n\nAlso the toxins are very efficient. One single molecule can destroy a cell. And they can pack a lot of molecules in a single drop.",
"I believe that poison works by interfering with your nerve cells. Many others work this way. If that is the case the molecules bind to the receptors at the very end of nerve cells that they use to communicate with the next one down the line. Nerve cells are long and skinny, so you're disabling a fairly large cell by messing with only a small part of it. Add to this that nerves make up a small amount of your body mass in the first place. You're only dealing with a small amount of poison but it's targeting a *very* small part of your body. \n\nAnd because it sticks to nerve cells, it doesn't need to be highly concentrated in your bloodstream. It will eventually stick to those receptors and build up only in those critical locations, rather than staying spread out through your blood. This is different from alcohol which also effects nerve cells (in a different way) but doesn't stick to them. It remains spread out through your body even though it only effects a small portion of your body. This is why blood alcohol concentration is a good measure of how much is in somebody's system and an OK way of figuring out how drunk they are. Testing for snake venom in the blood doesn't tell you about how much damage has already taken place, or how bad things might get before the effect starts to fade. "
]
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[],
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||
65pztk | what's the difference between amd and nvidia gpus? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65pztk/eli5whats_the_difference_between_amd_and_nvidia/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Ford and Chrysler both make cars. The cars have four tires, steering wheel and a horn!\n\nBoth Ford and Chrysler vehicles get you from point A to point B.\n\nVideo cards all share a primary goal. Deliver video information to a display port."
]
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||
52olvl | why, when we are being put under anesthesia, does it give you a burning sensation up your arm, or from the point in which the anesthesia was administered. | Everything the title suggests my friends. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52olvl/eli5_why_when_we_are_being_put_under_anesthesia/ | {
"a_id": [
"d7m0cip"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"If you're talking about getting it through an IV it's actually the cool temperature of the fluid going through your veins. Even lukewarm water can give that sensation since we have such a high body temp"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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|
78e5tk | how come glass breaks when it hits the ground, but marbles bounce and hardly take damage? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/78e5tk/eli5_how_come_glass_breaks_when_it_hits_the/ | {
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"dot4wwr",
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"text": [
"Spheres.\n\nSpheres distribute the shock of hitting the ground very evenly. A marble can still break, but it's less likely to than a cube, prism, or sheet.\n\n",
"The shape of the marble helps, but it is less significant than the material properties. The manufacturing process of glass marbles creates beneficial compressive residual stresses on the outside of the sphere- this effectively \"prestresses\" the outside. Thus when you drop a marble on the ground, the forces are not enough to overcome the residual stresses, thus never allowing for tensile forces to initiate cracking. This is similar to what you see in tempered glass (the stuff the side windows of a car might be made of, which are harder to break than you might think). \n\n\nThere is a youtube video floating around where a marble is crushed in a hydraulic press - it literally explodes, with all of the internal residual stresses being released instaneuously."
]
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6lovv4 | the g20 summit. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6lovv4/eli5_the_g20_summit/ | {
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"djvheua"
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"text": [
"It's the biggest 20 industrial and threshold nations coming together and arguing about the most important current and future challenges. How we're going about globalisation, what we're going to do about North Korea, what we're going to do against climate change. It's all discussed there in those few days. It's nothing obligatory, but more a chat what we could or could not do to reach the goals we have or not have. There's also G7, formerly G8 before Putin got kicked out of annexing Crimea, which is essentially similar but smaller."
]
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[]
] |
||
yuwsk | why does it seem the larger any particular group get, the more stupid it becomes. are human beings just naturally inclined to be dumb? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/yuwsk/eli5_why_does_it_seem_the_larger_any_particular/ | {
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"text": [
"Fuck, i made a typo while asking a question about stupidity. Forgive me internets.",
"Human beings, like many species, are highly social animals. We are strongly driven to ensure we \"fit in\" with the larger group. This has advantages of course, which is why we do it, but it also has huge disadvantages, including the ability to stop thinking clearly and go along with the herd because of the misguided sense of, \"everybody thinks this way, or is doing it, so it must be right.\"\n\nWhen we're acting alone, this drive doesn't apply, so our brains are free to use other methods to ascertain what to do in a given situation.\n",
"A group tends to decent to the level of its lowest common denominator.\n\nThis doesn't necessary mean any particular person is stupid. But if you put an astrophysicist, a philosopher, a neurosurgeon, a poet, and an economist in the same room, there is a good chance the only common topic they will be able to talk about is the weather. "
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5d9kfm | why do so many animals, excluding humans, have retractable 'male genitalia'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5d9kfm/eli5_why_do_so_many_animals_excluding_humans_have/ | {
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"text": [
"Most animals are much closer to the ground than we are, and dragging your frank and beans around would damage them. Other than that, they also have to consider the target that blood-vessel rich genitals present in a fight.\n\nMostly though, I suspect that you'll find distance of abdomen from the ground correlates to smaller/retractable genitalia. ",
"I'm not sure if you refer to retractable male genitalia as in what sense it makes that it is normally is flaccid and then becomes erect, or that is erect/semi-erect/flaccid and then retract.\n\nIn case of \"why we have an erection\" this is most often due to reproductive aspects, full bladder or in case of REM sleep; \"morning wood\".\n\nAs to why we \"retract\" or \"turtle\"; there are 2 major reasons:\n\n1. Protection against physical injury: having a floppy external genitalia being \"all the way out there\" is simply not beneficial for any animal, as that would mean your penis could hit and rub up against course surfaces, sharp plants or grass and get injured. \nThis is similar to the \"Cremaster Reflex\" observed in humans, in which the testis due to physical stimulus of inner thighs retract inwards and upwards.\n\n2. Regulation of temperature: The testis (and accompanying penis) is very sensitive to temperature change, as the testis attempts to stay within an optimum range. Wether the penis retracting itself due to temperature is of a evolutionary benefit itself, or wether it happens due to testis retraction is unknown.\n\nPeople with a larger fat pad tend to see more retraction due to the fact that there's actually a point and different enviroment for the penis to retract into; skinny people with little to no fat pad will not have the \"beneficial nice cozy warm enviroment\" and thus will experience less retraction.\n\nTheres a huge number of other reasons that cause retraction, but why it happens is usually some variation of the two reasons mentioned above. ",
"When you are walking on all fours you don't want your dingalling getting caught in the shrubs or rubbing against the tree. The sheath is to protect your junk. \n\nHumans don't have them because we walk on 2 feet. We can afford to keep them outside, which frees up more room inside the hips. ",
"Humans have a foreskin which fufills a similar purpose. The glans retracts into it when not in use. And while it's not technically a retractable penis and you don't need it, it's the human equivalent to an animal sheath. Protecting the glans when not being used for sex.\n"
]
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1mf26j | in computer software, what is the difference between a program, service, thread, process etc.? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mf26j/eli5_in_computer_software_what_is_the_difference/ | {
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"text": [
"A program is a very general term for any piece of software. Your internet browser is a program. Your word processor is a program. iTunes is a program. Each app on your smart phone is a program.\n\nA process can be thought of as a program that is running. On the same computer, you can have the same program running multiple times. Each instance of that running program is known as a process. For example, Minesweeper is one program, but you could have multiple games of Minesweeper (processes) running at the same time. In general, each process on your computer runs in isolation from other processes on your computer. One process should not be able to interfere with the function of another process.\n\nA thread is an independent sequence of operations that your computer performs. Every process on your computer has at least one thread, but it may have more threads. The main difference between a thread and a process is that threads within the same process can interfere with each other. This can add a lot of complexity to a program, but it can also be very useful.\n\nDepending on what a program does, a thread can get stopped for any number of reasons. For example, a thread might try to send a message across the internet, and wait until it gets a message back. If a program only has one thread, the the whole program gets stuck waiting for the message to get back. However, if the program has more than one thread, when one thread gets stuck waiting for something, the other thread can keep chugging along doing its thing.\n\nA service is any program that is used by another program for something."
]
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||
26v7aq | why does the water in the coffee pot *refuse* to pour neatly from the spout, no matter how slowly i pour, dribbling down the front instead until it's half empty? | Is it something to do with surface tension? Cheap glass? Or do coffee pots just hate me? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26v7aq/eli5_why_does_the_water_in_the_coffee_pot_refuse/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Surface adhesion, which is closely related to surface tension, which is basically water's property to cling to surfaces. A rougher, more coarse surface is easier for water to adhere to (more surface area). But what you actually need to do is pour faster...pouring slowly makes it more likely to cling and dribble down the side. ",
"To stop the coffee dribble, you need to pour faster, my boy. POUR FASTER! THAT'S IT! LIKE THAT!"
]
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[],
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4wqtu4 | why can't we harness the vaporized fossil fuel from engine exhaust and use it again? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4wqtu4/eli5_why_cant_we_harness_the_vaporized_fossil/ | {
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"The exhaust from a standard combustion engine isn't \"vaporized fossil fuel\"; the fuel doesn't vaporize, it combusts, which converts the fuel into energy and then chemical byproducts. Those byproducts are what is exhausted. \n\nNone of those byproducts are particularly energy dense like gasoline is, so recapturing them wouldn't be of much use. Carbon Monoxide and Dioxide, for example, are both fairly inert; there are no simple processes we could do to them that would release useful energy. ",
"The engine exhausted does no contain the original fuel, just the chemicals left over after you burn the fuel. You can turn that back into fuel again, but it takes a lot of work and isn't cheap. Also, the exhaust is a gas (not liquid) and takes up a lot of space unless you compress it - so you'd need to add a pump and a gas cylinder to the car (the added weight plus energy to power the pump would make the car less fuel efficient, and the gas cylinder would be an explosion hazard and is filled with poison gas that would need to be emptied often).",
"Same reason you can't set a pile of ashes on fire. Once it's burnt, the only thing left is stuff that won't burn. (because everything flammable burned away.)",
"The ELI5 version would be: \n\nyou wouldn't want to eat food again that you had previously exhausted, either.",
"Gas just doesnt \"vaporize\"into exhaust, it combusts and the byproduct is mainly N2, H2O, and CO2. None of these can easily be separated and converted back into energy, we actually route the exhaust back into the chamber to cool it off to stop NOx from happening (it actually stops some of the combustion)",
"We do. It's called a Turbocharger. It uses the exhaust gases to spin an impeller which turns a compressor which injects compressed cooled air into the cylinders which in turn allows for higher efficiency through increased compression ratio on the fuel-air mixture.\n\nAlthough this isn't probably what you meant because you said \"vaporized fossil fuel\", which, as other commenters have already pointed out, isn't actually a thing. The byproduct of the combustion of gasoline (petrol) and/or diesel fuel does not yield another fossil fuel, but rather other compounds that are of no use as combustible materials.",
"2C8H18 + 25O2 ----- > 18H2O + 16CO2 + heat\n\nIt's not vaporizing the fuel; it's burning the fuel in oxygen.",
"So to answer the intent of your question without getting bogged down in the minutiae: you can, it's called a reduction reaction. You take the byproducts of burning fuel (carbon dioxide and water) and recombine it back into the hydrocarbon chains that make up most liquid fuels. The problem is you have to put all the energy you got out of it, back into it again. Some researchers are trying to use sunlight as the energy source to preform these reactions, essentially using hydrocarbon chains as a storage medium for solar energy. Think of it as a battery for sunlight. _URL_0_",
"A lot of people here are missing that all modern cars have what's called an EGR valve, or exhaust gas recirculation valve, that takes some of the exhaust and puts it into the intake to go through combustion again, reducing overall emissions "
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7s6vmg | why has it become virtually impossible for politicians on either side to work across party lines? why has "bipartisan" become such a dirty word? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7s6vmg/eli5_why_has_it_become_virtually_impossible_for/ | {
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"It gives their voters the illusion that they’re fighting for what they want, but the rival party won’t let them get any new laws passed. In reality, they all work together and pass whatever the lawmakers want."
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2zhvrr | the different types of logical fallacies | And how to identify them | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zhvrr/eli5_the_different_types_of_logical_fallacies/ | {
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"There are a few dozen common fallacies, so it would be tough to explain all of them.\n\n[This should help you learn some of the most commonly found ones though!](_URL_0_).",
"There's tons so off the top of my head, and like you're five: \n\nStrawman: Arguing with a self-constructed and more simplified assertion than the one your debate partner is actually making. Tantamount to building a scarecrow Hulk Hogan then beating it up and claiming you kicked Hulk Hogans ass, hence the title. \n\nAppeal to Force: Getting someone to agree to a conclusion by implicit or explicit threat, i.e. \"All the little Hulkamaniacs should take their vitamins, after all im sure that if they didn't they'd find themselves wishing they did after what happens to em\"\n\nAppeal to Pity: Similar to Force; \"I know you don't think Hulk Hogan deserves the championship belt this year because he lost, but just think, if you don't give it to him, the Hulkamaniac nation will be heartbroken! Children's tears!\"\n\nAd Hominem: Trying to invalidate a persons claim by attacking the person rather than the claim. \"Hulk Hogan cheated on his wife so what would he know about global warming.\" Note that this one is often overused, because it's sometimes not fallacious to question the speaker if the grounds are relevant, i.e. \"Hulk Hogan is a known liar, how can we trust his testimony.\"\n\nSlippery Slope: Arguing against something on dubious grounds that it will necessarily lead to something worse. Not always a fallacy, but often one. \"If we let Hulk Hogan marry Hacksaw Jim Duggan, suddenly we'll have people marrying toasters and animals.\"\n\nRed Herring: Diverting the attention of your audience away from the arguers actual point to a different one. \"My friend Hulk Hogan claims that unregulated pesticides on crops are harmful to all the little Hulkamaniacs, but what he fails to realize is that fruits and vegetables are a great source of vitamins. There is no better source of vitamin c than a grapefruit for example\"\n\nAppeal To Ignorance: Taking a lack of conclusive evidence and drawing definitive conclusion from it. \"No scientist has ever found evidence that disproves that Hulk Hogan's skin turns plaid when no one is looking at him, therefore we can only infer that it is true\" \n\nFalse Cause: A conclusion drawn from a cause/effect connection that is dubious at best. \"Most violent crime happens in the night time hours after 10pm, when Hulk Hogan is asleep. In order to reduce crime we must make Hulk Hogan change his sleeping schedule\" \n\nBegging the Question: Like a false cause but drawing a conclusion based on leaving out certain premises or just marginalizing them as assumed to be true. \"A blonde mustache is the trademark of a murderer, therefore Hulk Hogan is a murderer\". Of course this leads you to wonder \"Wait How do we know blonde mustaches are murder traits\"? \nNOTE: There's also a second form of begging the question which is even more devious, it basically involves your conclusion being a restating of your premise without proving it: \"Hulk Hogan is naturally the best wrestler in the world because there is no wrestler better than Hulk Hogan\" \n\nFalse Dichotomy: \"Either you agree that Hulk Hogan is the best wrestler of all time or you're not a real American. Surely you're a real American, therefore it follows that you'll agree with me that Hulk Hogan is the best wrestler of all time\". This one is actually not a fallacy but the truth. ",
"So many of them, all I can name off the top of my head are confirmation bias and negativity bias.\n\nHere's a video that goes into a few of them, although it only explains the major ones at play with the people who refuse to vaccinate kids. It's a video not about logical fallacies, but it talks about them: _URL_0_"
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1y8c9g | what does a pilot see when they say turbulence is to be expected for the next x duration of the flight? how do they know how rough it is going to be? why can't they just go higher or lower than whatever the weather is? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1y8c9g/eli5_what_does_a_pilot_see_when_they_say/ | {
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"It depends where it is.\n\nSometimes it's possible to see bad weather visually - large cumulus clouds are nearly always turbulent. Other times it shows up on the weather radar - a device which sends out a radar signal that bounces off of water droplets and shows how big the droplets are.\n\nClear Air Turbulence is the one that's most hard to spot. Mostly, pilots rely on reports from other pilots ahead of them on the same route. This is especially true on routes like the North Atlantic, where communication with Air Traffic Control is difficult. In other, more populated areas, Air Traffic Control might collate information from pilots.\n\nAnd finally, there is often turbulence near the ground, either due to the wind being mixed up as it blows across trees, buildings or mountains, or due to the thermal effect of the sun heating the ground, and the ground heating the lowest layer of air, which then starts to rise. But usually you'd have your seatbelts on for take-off or landing anyway, so no special action is required to warn you of that."
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a0vyew | definition of a parsec for an amateur astronomer | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a0vyew/eli5_definition_of_a_parsec_for_an_amateur/ | {
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"3.26 light-years or the distance of an object where the orbit of the Earth around the sun creates a visual **P**arallax of one **ar**c**sec**ond\n\nParallax is the difference in apparent position of an object viewed from two different spots like how an object shifts a bit when you look out just your left eye is just your right eye. You can measure the difference in the angle when seen from both spots to determine the parallax angle. The smaller this angle the further away an object is(this is how we tell distance with our eyes at short to medium range)\n\nFor a Parsec, these two measurements are opposite sides of the sun, exactly 2 AU(Earth's orbital diameter) apart. If you can set the angle difference between these two measurements to be 1 arc second then they're focused on an object 1 Parsec away (~3.26 ly)",
"Just as an aside ... if you're asking because of what Han Solo said in the original Star Wars movie, the line was a mistake. Parsec is not a unit of time. It's a unit of distance."
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7dw5iu | why do languages from far away cultures have similarities? | for example the japanese word for cake sounds almost exactly the same like english word for cake, even though the two cultures were very far away | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7dw5iu/eli5why_do_languages_from_far_away_cultures_have/ | {
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" If I had to venture a guess I’d say that if the Japanese word sounds similar it’s either because of coincidence, or that word was actually influenced by English at some point.",
"They are literally copying the word. Japan did not have cake until the idea was brought there by Westerners. Similarly they call bread *pan,* the Portuguese word, because that's who introduced baked bread to Japan.",
"There are a few cases where it's just an amazing coincidence, but in most cases you'll find it's because one language has borrowed the word from the other.\n\nThis is certainly the case with the Japanese word \"kēki\", which is simply the nearest you can get to \"cake\" in the Japanese language. But this shouldn't surprise you: we have imported several Japanese words into English, like \"sushi\", \"manga\" and \"karate\".\n\nSometimes a word will bounce back and forth. The English word \"animation\" was imported into Japanese as \"animēshon\", then abbreviated to \"animē\", and in that form was re-imported into English as \"anime\" to mean a specific form of animation popular in Japan.\n\nAnother interesting example is the English word \"orchestra\", borrowed by the Japanese language as \"ōkesutora\" (the nearest you can get to the original in Japanese), then abbreviated to \"ōke\". Then a new form of entertainment was invented in Japan, which they called \"empty orchestra\", which in Japanese is \"kara ōke\", and this was the birth of karaoke. (This is the same \"kara\" as in \"karate\", which means \"empty hand\"; i.e. \"unarmed\".)\n\nThere's also the famous franchise featuring fictional \"pocket monsters\". The creators deliberately took the English words \"pocket\" (as \"poketto\") and \"monster\" (as \"monsutā\"), abbreviated them as \"poke\" and \"mon\", and so gave the world \"Pokémon\".\n\nIn case you're wondering why the Japanese versions of English words look so different from the originals, there are certain limits to what the Japanese language can do. There are several English consonants that don't exist in Japanese; but also, in most cases a consonant (except \"n\") must always have a vowel after it. In the other direction, the English spellings are also only an approximation of the Japanese.",
"There's 3 possible reasons. \n\n1. Loan words. As another user pointed out, the Portuguese introduced most baking to Japan not that long ago so there are many Japanese words which are borrowed or adapted from other languages. Every language, even English (especially English), has loan words or borrowed words or words which were introduced from other languages, it's pretty common. \n\n2. Similar root language. Romance languages tend to share similar words because they all stem from Latin. Slavic languages all share similarities due to geographical location etc. etc., This much should be obvious.\n\n3. Pure coincidence. Sometimes words just happen to overlap despite no relation in the language or despite not being borrowed."
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c8t03c | how can detectives and others match someone's handwriting to a specific person? | I always feel like my handwriting varies so much that it would be impossible to match any of it to me. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c8t03c/eli5_how_can_detectives_and_others_match_someones/ | {
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"The answer is they can't enough for it to hold up in court. They can use it as a detective tool but it is sort of like the lie detector, it doesn't hold up in court."
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a08fn4 | what happens in your body when you take antidiarrheal medicine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a08fn4/eli5_what_happens_in_your_body_when_you_take/ | {
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"The most common antidiarrheal medicine is an opioid drug, like morphine, but it doesn't get absorbed from the GI tract very much at all. Opioid drugs really slow down your intestines, so much that addicts often have issues with chronic constipation. When you take this medicine, it basically slows down your gut so that you can absorb more water out of your poop and make it firmer. However, for most diarrheal illnesses, it's not recommended to take these medicines. Ask your doctor before taking any of these drugs."
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1ufhzz | why are some people so prone to cavities? | I'd like to know why is it that some people seem to be over the top prone to dental health issues, where as others aren't as unlucky?
Example, I've taken phenomenal care of my teeth, brushing after every meal, flossing, flouride mouthwash and everything, yet every dentist visit yields another 5 or more cavities. Then I have friends who skip a day in between brushing altogether, chug soda 24/7 and have perfect, strong teeth.
So, did some of us just get the shit end of the genetics stick, or is there a more obvious culprit? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ufhzz/eli5_why_are_some_people_so_prone_to_cavities/ | {
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"Some folks just have soft teeth. My family especially is notorious for having \"soft\" teeth, which makes us more susceptible to getting dental issues. \n\nI had to get sealants put on my teeth as a kid once my permanents came in to prevent a lot of nastiness my older family members had to go through. \n\nEven with the sealants, I still got a lot of cavities in my time and I brush every day with mouth wash. ",
"Brushing, flossing, etc are only part of the equation. Your diet is also part of the health of your teeth. Don't consume a lot of junk food especially sugar, be it in food or drinks. Doesn't your dentist ever talk to you about this part of it?",
"Aside from some of the other factors listed, there appears to be a possibility that high levels of *S. mutans* can be transmitted horizontally or vertically, from caregivers, schoolmates, and siblings. This seems to especially be a factor in the first few years of life, when immune resistance in the child is low. \n\nI also have not seen a reply in this thread that adresses the problem of chronically low mouth pH from over consumption of acidic foods and beverages (even sugar free) that may contribute to erosion of the enamel, leaving teeth susceptible to even relatively low levels of *S. mutans* colonization. \n\nLots of genetic factors at play here as well, even something as benign as lower levels of salivary production can have a huge effect. ",
"Oh, I have personal experience here! \n\nThere are a number of reasons that one can be prone. In my case, my jaw is small and compacted. It's really hard to get everything out and my teether are together tightly enough that I can shear most floss through normal usage. \n\nGrinding teeth in your sleep can also be a problem. I had to get a bite guard and thats helped reduce the number of cavities I get. ",
"I've never had a cavity. I'm 24 years old and take decent care of my teeth. I brush twice a day and use mouth wash once a day before bed. And I *never* floss.\n\nI went to the dentist recently since I haven't been in 3 or 4 years and the nurse was shocked at the good state my teeth were in. She said I have good saliva and that was the main reason my teeth are well protected.",
"Low mouth pH is the cause of cavities but there are a lot of factors that affect this. Diet (simple carbohydrates in general, not just sugars), frequency of eating, medication being taken (dry mouth), genetics, and the dominate flora of bacteria in your mouth. Bruxism (clinching and grinding) and acid reflux can also play a role. ",
"There is no such thing as 'soft teeth'. With the exception of some rare disease the composition of human enamel is more or less the same.\n\nThere are 3 things that contribute to cavities:\n\n1) Something to cause decay - usually food. Fermentable carbohydrates and acid foods are the main contributors. This is why people that drink a lot of soda can be prone to decay.\n\n2) Oral bacteria. Different people have different compositions of bacteria in their mouths. Not all the bacteria in the mouth causes decay but this is where the family tie-in comes. The types of bacteria in your mouth is typically established by the time you are one and colonized from familial sources. \n\n3) Buffering ability of saliva. Your saliva is a buffer. Activities that overcome saliva's ability to buffer will cause you to be prone to decay. The worst offender here is snacking. Every time you eat it effectively lowers the pH of your mouth and it can take several hours for it to come back. Teeth begin to decay when oral pH is under 5.5 and so if every 2 hours you have a snack that lowers the pH of your mouth below 5.5 you are going to have a bad time.\n\nIt takes a little bit of all of these to cause cavities. But an imbalance in one area can make you more susceptible.",
"Look at all these made-up, untrue reasons for tooth decay. Just look at them all, it's so cute. OP, one thing that is severely underdiagnosed is acid reflux and its' effects on your teeth. If you find yourself having constant, or regular bouts of upset stomach, reflux, heartburn, etc... consider talking to your doctor about it for an evaluation. -dental hygienist."
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sb7tn | lenz's law | Friend in physics was trying to explain this law to me, but I found his explanation to be slightly confusing. So from a physics standpoint, what is Lenz's Law? I would appreciate a simplified response, but if it is difficult, you can give me a more "mature" or scientific version as well. And trust me, I know some basic physics terms.
thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/sb7tn/eli5_lenzs_law/ | {
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"So it starts with electromagnetic induction. Simply put, a changing or moving magnetic field generates an electric field, and a changing or moving electric field generates a magnetic field. This is simple enough - it's how electromagnets work, and how we generate electricity using spinning turbines. \n \nYou can set up two circuits held close to each other in the same plane (like your hands just before you clap), one attached to the AC mains and one with no power source at all. \n \n* The AC power going into the first circuit creates a constantly changing current in the first circuit\n* This changing current generates a changing magnetic field around the current in the first circuit\n* This, in turn, generates an electric current in the second circuit\n* This induced current generates its own magnetic field around the current in the second circuit \n \nLenz's Law simply states that the magnetic field generated by the induced current in the second circuit will oppose the magnetic field that was produced by the first circuit. This also means that any induced current in the second circuit will move in the opposite direction to the original current, because the magnetic field generated by a current moves in a predictable way around that current (give a thumbs up sign with your right hand - if the current moves in the direction of your thumb, the magnetic field that it generates *always* follows the path of your fingers around the current). \n \nIt's all tied up in conservation of energy - if the two fields moved in the same direction, they would constantly reinforce each other and you'd have free energy.",
"It can be thought of as a form of \"for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction\", but specifically for electric current (or just moving charges).\n\nVoltage is sometimes referred to as EMF: electro-motive force. That is, a force that acts on (usually) electrons that causes them to accelerate (start to move). EMF can be supplied by a battery, or generator, or whatever. According to Newton, if we are putting a force on these electrons, they must be \"pushing back\" somehow. What we observe is that the electricity flowing in our device produces a magnetic field which acts to OPPOSE the flow of electrons. This is a kind of \"no such thing as a free lunch\" scenario: we may be able to push the electrons through the circuit, but not without a price. \n\nLenz law is part of the bigger picture of Maxwell's equations, which bundle up all of our understanding of electricity and magnetism under one roof. Turns out, electricity and magnetism are 2 manifestations of the same field (you've heard of electromagnetism), and which one you observe depends on your reference plane. "
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55ey3w | why do volcanoes contain lava, or do they make it by melting rock or something else? maybe better asked as, where does lava come from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55ey3w/eli5_why_do_volcanoes_contain_lava_or_do_they/ | {
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"Molten rock is what is in the centre of our earth where it's very, very, hot. Pressure within the volcano builds and eventually erupts. No one \"makes\" lava, it's a natural product",
"[Within volcanoes is a crack in the crust of the Earth.](_URL_0_) This causes magma to flow up until the volcano. It comes from the mantle of the Earth, which is under so much pressure and heat that rock stays molten."
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11itmz | what's the joke behind r/circlejerk now only allowing gawker links? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11itmz/whats_the_joke_behind_rcirclejerk_now_only/ | {
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"A guy on Gawker published violentacrez's real name, which caused a lot of subreddits to ban all Gawker links."
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66ik4b | how do employees of marijuana dispensaries in the us handle their taxes if their income is based off the sale of marijuana? | With the federal restrictions affecting how dispensaries due business (such as not being able to have bank accounts), how do its employees handle their taxes when the income is coming from the sale of marijuana?
edit: thanks for the all the replies, I think I was coming from the idea of what would happen if someone had to be audited or have their taxes looked more closely. Would it affect them at a federal level for working at a dispensarie. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66ik4b/eli5_how_do_employees_of_marijuana_dispensaries/ | {
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"The same way anyone else does. Just report the source of the income.\n\nFederal law requires you to report all income, even if it's from an illegal source.",
"They report that their employer paid them to operate a retail shop. The IRS wants to know what you got paid, not what the shop sells. OK, there are some banking issues, so your boss had to pay you in cash. From the IRS perspective, also not a problem, they want to know how much you got paid, not how it was paid to you.\n\nOf the many legal snarls surrounding pot, employee income taxes isn't one of them.",
"THe IRS uses business activity codes that you would put on your return. WHile somewhat specific, they don't get so specific as to what items you sell. FOr instance Marijuana sales could be retail trade: food and beverage stores among others. So as long as your business name on the tax return is not something like \"Bob's House of Weed, Edibles and Illegal Activities\" you would be good. The other way they could know is that banks file reporting of interest income to the IRS. So if your business bank name is incriminatory that would come up. FOrtunately, or unfortunately there is not much in the way of banking services for this industry. \n\n[Source: IRS Activity Codes](_URL_0_)",
"I get my paycheck as a dead drop at my local In & Out on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday. Pretty sure thats industry standard.",
"Because the IRS doesn't really care if you made $30k at some place called \"Steve's Alternative Medicine\". They just want to know how much money you got and from where. They've got bigger problems.",
"5 year dispensary manager here. To answer your question, we handle it normally. I filled out a w2, and taxes are taken out of my check every time. I get an income tax check every year like normal. We have an account with ADP and have to just keep money in our account with them. One time the owner forgot to deposit funds, and ADP was nice enough to pay us anyway. Obviously he made the deposit, but super courteous of them regardless. \n\nCountless times I've had to run to the local grocery store for money orders to pay rent, electricity, ect... since everything is cash based. Our taxes are even paid in cash too. We have had 8 banks close accounts that the owners have opened in their names. Chase was one of them. We had an account with them for years. All of the employees knew us and what we were doing. Then one day out of nowhere they closed our account. They even marked my boss as using the account in an illegal way, so his personal account with Charles Schwab got closed because they were notified. He had 7 days to find a place for $1.5mil (personal, not dispensary related).",
"I am probably wrong, but it was explained to me years ago that tax returns are not valid evidence in court. Under the 5th amendment you cannot be compelled to self incriminate but tax code compels you to report income. So if you sell guns illegally, or drugs, you still need to file that as income, possibly just as misc sales but as income. \n\nMr calpone was finally brought down by the IRS, and I'm sure a tax lawyer can help more than internet people. but still it's an interesting topic",
"I've noticed most \"employees\" of dispensaries in OC work as \"volunteers\" but are obviously being paid. Is this some sort of work around to the taxes?",
"So the IRS still want you to report your illegal business income because they still want you to pay taxes. So that's all good, it's effectively like any other business. You report your profits, pay taxes on the profits, the remaining profits after taxes are retained by the business or returned to the owners.\n\nHowever there is a catch, and it's a big one. Businesses pay tax on revenue, not profit. So if you have sales totaling $1,000,000 and costs totaling $900,000 then you're paying tax on the million, not on the $100k difference. However you're allowed to deduct business expenses from the revenue before you pay taxes and in most businesses that'll be the full $900,000 of your expenses. So although you're taxed on revenue, not profits, you're taxed on revenue minus deductions which is effectively the same thing as profits.\n\nIf you're still with me so far I'll get to the shitty bit. Illegal businesses are only allowed to deduct cost of goods sold from their revenue. So if you have $1,000,000 in sales, spent $300,000 on stock, $300,000 on employees and $300,000 on overhead such as rent then where a normal business would be taxed on $1,000,000 minus a $900,000 deduction a marijuana dispensary would be taxed on $1,000,000 minus a $300,000 deduction. So despite only making $100,000 in profit they would be taxed on the $700,000 difference between revenue and cost of goods sold. Therefore their tax bill would be greater than their entire profit.\n\nIt's fucking shit for them. Proper accounting in that situation is really disincentivised while workarounds, such as paying staff off the books become extremely rational.",
"Could you ELI5 what marijuana dispensaries are and why they have problems? It sounds like, even though you can run a shop that sells weed in your state, you have problems because you're doing something illegal federally?",
"The IRS cares not where your money came from, only that they get their cut.\n\nYou could list any number of illegal activities as your source of income, from drug dealer to mob hitman, and the IRS won't do anything about it. Once you stop paying taxes, however, then you have a problem. That's what they got Al Capone on, after all."
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3lt47n | why in many nations some people want civil unions on top of state-sanctioned marriages? what are the differences supposed to be? | At least here in the EU, in many nations domestic-partnership/civil-unions are offered in many states and are asked for by a large share of the population in other ones. However, in all these nations non-religious statal marriages are present, which carry no religious background whatsoever. Just a 10 minutes signing of a legal contract in front of a public servant.
In this case.... Why do people want civil unions? Why aren't legal marriages enough? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3lt47n/eli5why_in_many_nations_some_people_want_civil/ | {
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"Because marriage carries certain connotations that people may not want. \n\nYou said that you can get not religious marriages, but marriages are still viewed as being explicitly religious to a vast majority of people, so it still has religious connotations. ",
"I can imagine at least two reasons :\n1. Civil unions in some country (eg France, Switzerland) were created to allow same-sex couple who could not marry at that time to have an equivalent to state-sanctioned wedding\n2. People wanting to have the benefits of marriage (eg inheritance,children custody,...) without having the party it would require to marry (as social pressure dictate). Some of my friends when they were younger did it when they bought a flat so that in case of accident their partner would inherit it and then they did a \"normal\" wedding a few years later when they had more cash for the party part"
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djbapk | vector graphics | I understand that the beam is manipulated directly, and that’s what makes it different from raster, but I don’t understand how that would work or why it works and how it knows what order to do things in or why it requires different hardware or anything. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/djbapk/eli5_vector_graphics/ | {
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"Do you mean the old oscilloscope-style vector graphics or the modern of vector graphics?",
"Classic vector graphics uses a Cathode Ray Tube - an electron beam is controlled by electromagnets onto a phosphorous target. The phosphorous is energized and illuminated, providing the displayed image. Engineers can design such a screen with multiple beams, stronger or weaker beams, different phosphorous coatings, and even multiple phosphorous layers. The effect is the ability to draw multiple lines simultaneously, images that last longer, shorter or longer refresh rates, and even color. Color can also be set with masks and even color changing masks using TFT LCD technology.\n\nThere are electronics that control the beam, and those are controlled by an analog input signal. The details of this signal are dependent upon the device, but in my experience with oscilloscopes, you can generate a control signal with some software and the output of your sound card.\n\nThese devices are pretty limited in their capability but are desirable in some context, I suppose. Sometimes, you just can't beat analog. These devices don't store the image any longer than the phosphorous stays illuminated, so the device driver has to run in a loop to control refresh.\n\nModern vector graphics are a set of points and strokes with brushes. The image renderer has to follow an ordered set of instructions to generate the image from those instructions. The renderer drives a rasterizer, which is software that populates pixel data in a pixel buffer. The data is sent through a video driver, a layer of the OS, to the video hardware, that sends signals to your modern pixel display device."
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67uw3l | why newly discovered stars or planets or any celestial bodies were given "code-like" name? for example wise 1828+2650 | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67uw3l/eli5_why_newly_discovered_stars_or_planets_or_any/ | {
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"As opposed to?\n\nThere are thousands upon thousands of celestial bodies discovered outside of our solar system each year. Giving them all unique names is hard if you're going to give them memorable names. You'll run out of names from the Greek pantheon before you get outside of the \"A\" stars\n",
"They're systematic names and indeed encode information. For example, WISE indicates that the object was found by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, a space telescope. The numbers specify coordinates in the sky relative to Earth's equator: the right ascension is 18h 28m and the declination is 26° 50'. It's more informative to name celestial objects like this rather than give it a catchy-sounding name like Rigel or Vega.",
"There are too many stars to give them all sensible names. It is even sometimes too many to have a sensible world wide catalog of them. So the stars are given a sensible way to identify them. First is the catalog name, in your case it is the Wide Infrared Survey Explorer catalog. Next is the index in this catalog, WISE use a coordinate based index hence the + sign. And thirdly there is a series of letters to distinguish different objects in the same solar system. The inner most object is called a, then b, etc. Stars get capital letters and planets get lower case letters. If an object orbits another object then it gets another letter at the end. A solar system might be in multiple catalogs so it can have several different names. It is typical for each experiment to have its own catalog to track the objects they are looking at. This is the case with WISE."
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a8xza3 | how do live football field graphics appear beneath the players? | You know when it shows the scrimmage lines or whatever right on the field? I assume the graphics are already using pan/tilt/zoom data from the cameras, since it looks a lot stabler than simply motion tracking (please correct me if I'm wrong on that), but what really baffles me is how the graphics appear "beneath" the players. Chroma key? Nope. I see teams with green colours that still pass over it. Extracting a matte from thermal imaging? Wouldn't the helmets be cooler than their bodies? What then? How? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a8xza3/eli5_how_do_live_football_field_graphics_appear/ | {
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"You had the right idea already. It is indeed chroma key. The cameras are simply good enough that they can distinguish between the green of the grass and the green in uniforms. They actually need to continually reset the chroma key as the color of the grass changes as the sun moves or when shadows show up on the field.",
"It's a step beyond chromakey and motion tracking... first they can only do this from some of the cameras. Those cameras have motion tracking mounts that are very precise. Then when they set up before the game they not only calibrate those motion tracking, they map the field... it isn't as simple as keying out green. They're keying out the exact shade of grass at that location (within some slight variation for lighting changes). That's the way it was 10 years ago. They may have built into some level of 3d tracking to even improve it further."
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4otvmf | how exactly did they calculate age during the old testament? | I know they didn't actually live for hundreds of years, so how exactly did they count age then? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4otvmf/eli5_how_exactly_did_they_calculate_age_during/ | {
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"They actually did calculate time the same. Religious people will state that the dates are fully accurate and they did live that long, those that believe it is figurative believe that artificially inflated the ages to make them have more authority and \"wisdom\" attributed to them. ",
"The story of the old testament spans thousands of years. But Humans have known what a \"year\" was for long before that. People noticed seasons, and counted time by them for aeons - before Human history started. \n\nNo, they weren't as... accurate as we are now, but -- roughly speaking -- a year was still one rotation of the Earth around the sun (even if they didn't know the Earth moved around the sun!)\n\nNow, as for why biblical figures lived for hundreds of years, well. They also fought angels, turned into pillars of salt, turned sticks into snakes, as well as directly communicating with an omnipotent deity. If you accept all that, then it's not a huge step to someone living for hundreds of years. ",
"The very oldest stories in the Old Testament aren't exactly... accurate. Probably they weren't really supposed to be: they were intended to give some sort of message, but that message wasn't necessarily one about historical fact.\n\nThese old stories are probably very, *very* old, and would have been told for many, many generations before they were ever written down. Whatever factual events may have inspired some of these stories were lost and the details forgotten.\n\nYou can imagine how it happened. \"So, how old was he when he died, dad?\" -- \"Oh, he must have been very old.\" -- \"A hundred years old? Two hundred?\" -- \"I expect so, yes. He was a very good man, so he must have lived a very long time.\""
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2iv48r | why is it that a person can't take a large amount of over the counter pain relievers, like tylenol or ibuprofen, to get the same effects as stronger pain killers like vicodin or hydrocodone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2iv48r/eli5_why_is_it_that_a_person_cant_take_a_large/ | {
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"text": [
"Opiates like hydrocodone have an entirely different mechanism of action than ibuprofen or Tylenol. No amount of ibuprofen or Tylenol is going to effect the receptors that opiates effect.",
"That is a really bad idea. It doesn't take much tylenol to overdose and destroy your liver.\n\nThey are different drugs that have different effects on the body.",
"Different method of action. Opioids like hydrocodone and Oxy work by binding to neuroreceptors(neuro means brain) which send a depressive signal, which basically means that the signal numbs your central nervous system.\n\nI don't remember the exact MoA of the others so to just put it simply, ibuprofen and aspirin work by reducing inflamation in your body, and Tylenol works by simply cutting off the pain signal on its way to your brain",
"Tylenol works by stopping the pain signal from reaching your brain receptors. Opiate pain killers work by stimulating the 'feel good' receptors. No matter how much tylenol you take you can never get a 'feel-good' sensation. Opiates increases the feel-good which is what allows it to be used recreationally.\n\nIbuprofen is an anti-inflammatory and has no psychological effects, it just reduces swelling which is a large cause of many pains. \n\nAll of these drugs are deadly at their respective lethal-dose.",
"Since apparently everyone else thinks a 5 year old understands medical terms, let me give a more simple explaination.\n\nOver the counter drugs typically reduce pain by reducing the cause of the pain. Swelling for example, causes pain. Reduce the swelling and the pain will be lessened. This method doesn't work when the source of the pain is extreme, like you've just recently been cut open.\n\nPrescription drugs typically reduce pain by turning off your pain receptors in your nerves, either at the source of the pain or in your brain. In some cases the drug will also give you a giant case of \"don't give a shit\". The pain still hurts, but you just don't care."
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206snc | why humans are born with parts we can live without (appendix, wisdom teeth, male nipples, etc) | I'm particularly confused about the ones that usually cause us more harm than good, like the appendix and wisdom teeth. Why are these not removed through evolution over time? Will they ever be? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/206snc/eli5_why_humans_are_born_with_parts_we_can_live/ | {
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"Evolution doesn't craft a perfect organism from scratch, it has to work with the parts it had from the previous iterations.\n\nSometimes useless pieces get left in because there's no real reason to remove them.",
"There is an evolutionary function for the appendix, it is not a useless organ. Your appendix is a repository for healthy gut flora. A few hundred years ago food poisoning and gastrointestinal distress would be very real, everyday concerns for your body. Removing the appendix increases the chance of catastrophic gut flora death leading to a need for re-poop-ulation. Or you die, you can't process food without good gut flora. \n\nThere is also a causal link being formed between diseases like IBS and appendix malfunction and removal. \n\nIn the same vein you tonsils catch bacteria preventing colds etc, your wisdom teeth are for eating unprocessed hard food (although our jaws are shrinking because our food is cooked), your adenoids are another immune defense. \n\nEvolution leaves very little in the body that's not important, why waste the energy of operation on something that's not vital?\n\nEdit: Clarificatio",
"Everyone's skipped male nipples, so to explain that:\n\nAt some point, all creatures are the same. All animals are a couple of cells sharing data, all mammals are a clump of cells creating a bone structure and a warm blood circulation system etc etc. In the same way that horses still have toes and dolphins still have fingers, men have nipples because there is a certain part of development were you aren't fully 'defined' in what you'll be, normally early fetal development. Whether you are male or female is defined a little later, so as the data in the egg just says \"make a baby\" you get given nipples on the 50/50 chance you end up being female. "
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13l56g | how does spilled water left alone dry at room temperature? | ELI5 How does spilled water which has been left alone dry at room temperature? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/13l56g/eli5_how_does_spilled_water_left_alone_dry_at/ | {
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"Water doesn't go into gaseous phase _only_ at boiling temperature. Evaporation can occur because at any given temperature, there will be _some_ water molecules with enough energy to go into gaseous phase.",
"Molecules in a liquid bounce move around inside the liquid. If you make the liquid hotter, the molecules move faster, and if you make the liquid colder, the molecules move slower. Water molecules that are near each other form weak bonds, kiiiind of like magnets pulling on each other (but not exactly). That's what causes two drops of water on a windshield to stick together when they hit each other. But if the water molecules are moving fast enough, they break these bonds.\n\nWhen you boil water, you're speeding up the molecules until all of them have enough energy to break the bonds. But what about your spilled water? It's not hotter than the boiling point! Well, in any pool of liquid, some of the molecules are moving fast, and some are moving slow. The average speed of the room-temperature spilled water is less than the average speed of a pot of boiling water, but some of the spilled water molecules will be fast enough to break their bonds. If one of these fast-moving molecules is near the surface of the water and moving in the right direction, it'll escape the puddle into the air. This is called evaporation. If you spread out the puddle more, you'll see faster evaporation, because you're giving more fast-moving molecules the chance to escape. Given enough time, all the molecules will eventually separate and the puddle will dry up.\n\n",
"Kinetic theory is an important idea in science: temperature is a measurement of the average energy of the atoms and molecules in something. The hotter it is, the more it's atoms/molecules are jiggling in place or zipping around, bouncing off of things. At different temperatures, molecules fall into different formations: solids, liquids, gasses. The main difference between liquids and gasses is that in a liquid, the molecules are moving slowly and stick to each other a bit, but in a gas, the molecules zip around fast enough that they aren't touching each other and can float around the room.\n\nLiquid water's molecules are moving too slow to bounce out into the air... usually. But let's say a water molecule is hangin' near the surface of the water and another molecule slams into it, shooting it out into the air. That water molecule just evaporated. It's a random process that depends on things like how much water is already in the air (humidity), how much water is exposed to the air (puddle vs. vase), etc. When you boil water, you are adding a buttload more heat that quickly \"encourages\" the molecules to book it out of there."
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