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t6u75 | what is euler's constant? | It is starting to appear more and more in the math I am doing. I understand that pi is the relationship between a circles circumference and diameter. Is there something similar that e describes? Is there some way to think of it other than a random number slightly larger than 2.7? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/t6u75/eli5_what_is_eulers_constant/ | {
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"Take (1 + 1/n)^n\n\nAs n gets larger and larger, the total gets closer and closer to e.\n\nIt's not as intuitive as pi, but that might help.\n\nExamples: \n\n* (1+1/2)^2 = 1.5^2 = 2.25\n\n* (1 + 1/100)^100 = 1.01^100 = 2.7048138294215260932671947108075\n\n* (1 + 1/1000000)^1000000 = 1.000001^1000000 = 2.7182804693193768838197997084544\n\n* e = 2.7182818284\n\n\nMore: _URL_0_",
"This is not really intuitive, but if you think about it for a bit it is pretty neat, and it isn't hard to remember: \n \ne is the number such that the derivative of e^x is e^x . That is, if you draw the line y = e^x, the slope of the tangent line at any point x is e^x . \n \n \nLook on the wiki page that Mason11987 pointed to and read the section Applications:Compound Interest if you want to get a \"feel\" for what the number \"means\" and why it is used so much in math and engineering. \n \ne also has a part in one of the coolest equations in mathematics: \n \ne^pi*i - 1 = 0",
"Suppose an account starts with $1.00 and pays 100 percent interest per year. If the interest is credited once, at the end of the year, the value of the account at year-end will be $2.00. What happens if the interest is computed and credited more frequently during the year?\n\nIf the interest is credited twice in the year, the interest rate for each 6 months will be 50%, so the initial $1 is multiplied by 1.5 twice, yielding $1.00×1.52 = $2.25 at the end of the year.\n\nCompounding quarterly yields $1.00×1.254 = $2.4414..., and compounding monthly yields $1.00×(1+1/12)^12 = $2.613035...\n\nIf there are n compounding intervals, the interest for each interval will be 100%/n and the value at the end of the year will be $1.00×(1 + 1/n)^n.\n\n[Here it is in a chart.](_URL_0_)\n\nFrom [wikipedia](_URL_1_).",
"The function y=e^x is the unique solution to the equation y' = y (I guess you've started calculus). So it comes up a lot in mathematics.\n\nIt's not an answer you would give to a 5 year old but the question isn't one a 5 year old would ask.",
"Another useful property of e - the antiderivative of 1/x is ln|x|",
"[This article](_URL_0_) explains the topic extremely well.",
"Imagine you have a very fast car and a nice clear road marked with distance markers.\n\nAt the 1 mile marker, you decide to play a game. You're going to make your speed match your distance travelled. You start at the 1 mile marker doing 1mph, and slowly step on the gas, so at 1.5 miles you're doing 1.5mph, at 2 miles doing 2mph, at 100 miles doing 100mph and so on. Always matching your distance to your speed.\n\nYou can see that if you plot your distance travelled against the time, it will eventually explode.\n\nAnd what's the name of the function describing this? It's \"x = e^t \", that is, your distance (x) is the magic number e raised to the power of the time (t) you've traveled. More intuitively, you'll e-fold (multiply by 2.7) your distance covered for every additional hour.\n\nAt 0 hours you've traveled e^0 = 1 miles, after 0.693 (=ln 2) hours, you'd be at 2 miles, and after 1 hour you're at e^1 (=2.72-ish) miles. And after just 10 hours you'd be over 22,000 miles away, nearly the whole way around the earth! \n\n[Technically, I've explained that x = e^t is the solution to the differential equation dx/dt = x]"
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4jmqlz | why is it so hard to stay awake when we're sleepy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jmqlz/eli5why_is_it_so_hard_to_stay_awake_when_were/ | {
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"Because your brain and your body want and need to go to sleep. So they're trying to go to sleep regardless of whether or not you're in a situation where you should be sleeping or not. You need sleep to survive and your body is more concerned about survival. "
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2ftx0j | what's the purpose of the mysterious slash at the end of urls? | Example 1: type "reddit" in Google. Reddit will obviously be the first result, and you will see the address indicated as _URL_0_. Why "/"?
Example 2: go to the Reddit's homepage, _URL_1_ (notice there is no slash). Now, while there, copy the address from your address bar and paste it somewhere else - a slash will be added at the end of the URL. Why?
Example 3: open this link: _URL_0_ (notice the slash). When the website loads, the slash will be gone. Why?
Example 4: if you hover with your mouse over a link with a slash at the end of it, such as in examples above, in the bottom left part of your browser you can see the address this link is supposed to take you to. However, no slash will be included. Since the slash is part of the domain, why does it not show there? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ftx0j/eli5_whats_the_purpose_of_the_mysterious_slash_at/ | {
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"The slash is to identify the last child as a directory.\n\n_URL_1_ does not have a slash, because it is a page not a directory, but _URL_0_ has a slash because it is a directory. In most cases, any file with a \".\" after the last slash(the only place a dot should be) in the URL will not end with a slash, and all others URLs (except unlabeled files) will have a slash at the end."
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dms38w | i just read about gravity traveling at the same speed as light and i'm still confused. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dms38w/eli5_i_just_read_about_gravity_traveling_at_the/ | {
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"Imagine a stick that’s one light year long. If you stood on one end and pulled on the stick, it would take time before someone on the other side of the stick felt that pull. So if you pull, and then drop the stick and leave, by the time that person feels the pull, you could be gone and somewhere else",
"Imagine a big heavy ball in the middle of a rubber sheet.... if the sheet breaks and the ball falls through the bottom, then the rubber sheet will take time to \"spring back\" up to a normal flat plane... That doesn't happen infinitely fast..\n\nThe same thing with gravity which is really just a warping of the local space/time fabric.. if something changes in the fabric some distance away from you , it takes time for the change in that fabric to reach you...",
"Don't think of the speed of light as the speed of light. We call it that for historical reasons, but that speed is not unique to light. A better way is to think of that speed (299,792,458 meters per second) as the cosmic speed limit for *everything.* That means nothing in the universe can go faster than that, and nothing with mass can ever reach that speed. It's the speed of information and causality. Once you think of it from that perspective, it becomes a little easier to understand. Since *nothing* can travel faster than that speed, changes in a gravitational field must also obey that speed limit.",
"The speed of light is really more \"the speed limit of the universe\". Things that have no mass, like force fields, can travel this fast. The electromagnet (light) force and gravity react at that speed. But everything else is moving too. So the gravity force between the sun and earth is moving in the direction of a straight line between the two. But in the 8 minutes that it takes the gravity to travel the 93 million mile distance, the earth has moved a bit. So there is a little but of lag.",
"As for your edit \"being pulled to a point where something was, but isn't there anymore\". From the Blue Marbles perspective the object is there. The fact that it's not there anymore is only something we're aware of because we are capable of processing time. But to an object it's not capable of processing time, there is no past or future for it. There is only now, and the now that it knows has that object there. This probably is a bad way to explain it."
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34mmqt | if animals have far greater hearing capabilities then us, do they go insane when we play loud music in a confined area? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34mmqt/eli5_if_animals_have_far_greater_hearing/ | {
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"Its not like they can hear things louder, its that they can here things in a wider range of frequencies. Like when you take that hearing test at your doctors, they can hear more of the low stuff and the high stuff, past where you start and stop hearing them. However, with the way their ears are usually shaped, noise is a bit louder, but more focused, depending on where the notice is coming from and if their ears can articulate (like a horse)."
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1emo9q | on windows 64-bit, why do i see program files and program files (x86), and what is the difference? | I'm also a bit confused about when I download certain programs if I should get the 64 or 86 version, wouldn't 86 be more "power", or are these 2 completely different things?
EDIT: Woo, front page! Thanks for the knowledge! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1emo9q/eli5_on_windows_64bit_why_do_i_see_program_files/ | {
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"The x86 programs are 32-bit. It's a backwards compatibility thing. Given the opportunity, always get 64-bit programs for a 64-bit operating system, if possible. They are less prone to errors. Most programs will work with a 64-bit OS, with the exception of drivers - you need to have the correct versions for each type.",
"The (x86) folder is for 32-bit applications, which (generally) can address up to 4GB of your system's RAM.\n\nThe non-(x86) folder is for 64-bit applications, which can address (theoretically) 2^64 bytes of your system's RAM.\n\nIn most cases, the 64-bit version is the better choice, assuming you have a 64-bit processor and a 64-bit operating system.\n\nMost installers will take care of the folder organization for you.",
"Using \"x86\" to denote 32-bit programs is an old homage to the Intel 8086 processor, but it is a bit of a confusing name to non-savvy users.\n\nProcessors can execute programs by either processing 32 bits at a time, or 64 bits at a time. If you have 64bit Windows, your computer can process both 32 and 64 bits at a time, so when you have a choice you could download either the 64 or 32, but 64 would be recommended.\n\nx86 isn't more powerful than x64 because an x86 processor can only handle 32bits of information at a time (the number is confusing).\n\nNow in general, a 64bit computer can be more powerful than a 32bit computer, this is due to the amount of RAM a 64bit computer can support (random access memory, its where your computer puts stuff while it's working on it, sorta like how you pull files out of your filing cabinet and work on them on your desk).\n\nProgram Files (x86) is where Windows stores all the information for the 32bit programs it has installed, to answer your title question.",
"Broadly speaking, when it comes to Windows, there are two main processor architectures, and their names/designations date back to the capabilities of the original Intel 8086 processor, which was first made in the 1970s. These two architectures are x86 and x86-64. x86 is 32-bit and x86-64 is 64-bit. Seems simple so far.\n\nBut there can be some confusion about this, because x86-64 often gets shortened to x64. Somebody can easily be tricked into thinking that x86 is better than x64, but the reality is that you should almost always choose x64 versions of your software if you have the option.",
"In this case, \"x86\" shouldn't be read \"times 86\", it should be read literally as \"x [i.e. the letter 'x'] eight six\".\n\nThink back to high-school algebra when you were taught that in an equation \"x\" can stand for any number. It's exactly this sort of usage. What it means is that these programs are compatible with \"old\" Intel CPUs, which were named:\n\n* 8086\n* 80286 (usually called just 286)\n* 80386 (usually called just 386)\n* 80486 (usually called just 486)\n* 586 (actually it was never called that, they called it the Pentium)\n\nSo from this pattern you can see why those processors are called \"x86 class\".\n\nThe CPUs from the 386 onwards were 32-bit, but the modern CPU inside your computer is 64-bit. So the x86 simply means \"these programs should be compatible with 386/486/Pentium/etc class 32-bit processors\", where as the programs in \"Program Files\" (without the x86) are 64-bit programs and not compatible with those old CPUs.\n\nIf you have the choice, you should go for the 64-bit programs as they'll be better optimised for your system.\n\n",
"Think of a computer as a desk.\n\nA 32 bit system (x86 version) is like a smaller desk with normal writing paper. The more stuff you try to do at the same time, the more cramped the desk (homework books, food, a laptop, drawing stuff.. etc). Also, the more you try to write on that paper, the more of the paper you have to use since the lines are far apart.\n\na 64 bit system (x64) is like a bigger desk with college or engineer paper (much thinner lines so you can write more stuff on a single page). Basically, since the desk is bigger, you can do more stuff at the same time, and since the paper is college level, you can write more stuff on it. x64 systems can also have more RAM (which is the quick access information) - more RAM is like like having a bigger desk. Even though BOTH (x86 / 32-bit, and x64 / 64 - bit) can have the same sized hard drives (imagine all your information in book shelves and closets behind you or in filing cabinets), the bigger the desk, the more quick access stuff you can grab without having to get up and use the shelves and filing cabinets over and over again.\n\nAs for the Folders, some programs are written very specifically to only be able to go up to a max of 32-bits. 64-bit software can still use them, but they are put into a different folder so that the operating system (and you as the user) can easily tell that something is still 32 bit vs 64 bit. Eventually that piece of software might get upgraded to 64 bit version, and instead of writing over the old program and potentially breaking it, windows will just install it to the \"program files\" folder, and leave the old \"program files (x86)\" version there for you to get rid of.\n\nFor some more specific details about the difference between x64 and x86, a bunch of others have posted good information. Google some speed differences between software using both x86 vs x64 for something interesting numbers as well. I am trying to keep this ELI5.",
"I have a related question.\n\nIs there any reason for differentiating the folders? I find it annoying that there were two potential places my programs could be stored in.\n\nI'm sure there would be reasons to install both versions of programs, maybe with interoperability reasons, but can't that be done by the program, not the OS?\n\nEdit: like Office. On my computer, I have: \n/Program Files/Microsoft Office \n/Program Files/Microsoft Office 15 \n/Program Files (x86)/Office 15\n\nAll from an x64 install of Office 2013\n\nI mean seriously, it's not like I ever need to go digging in those folders, but that's just weird and confusing.",
"Two folders were necessary to ensure older programs - that used a x86 architecture - would function in a 64 bit system. Programs sometimes need to reference other programs, and Windows keep them apart to \"hide\" the 64 bit programs from the old ones - they world break if they try to reference a 64 bit library. \n\nSame happens in the registry, but it is a lot less visible :) \n\n\n",
"(Long, but trying to explain each piece as simply as I can, so stay with me)\n\nThere are chips in a computer called a processor, or \"Central Processing Unit\" (CPU). This is where most of the calculations happen to allow a computer to function.\n\nThere are families of CPUs related to each other, that all \"speak\" the same language. And then there are other CPUs that speak a different language. For a program to work on a computer, it has to go through a process called compiling, which turns our a-z letters (programming code) into what is called an executable. The executable is in the language of the CPU it can talk to to run.\n\nx86 is the generic name for a family of processors made by Intel, and AMD for running 32 bit programs. 32 bit simply means how many bits exist to store information in memory, similar to a street address. 32 bits has a limit that modern computers need to bypass.\n\nLong ago, Intel saw a path to go beyond the limits of x86, including a new more efficient language. While x86 is widespread, ti does have some problems with being an older language. Intel called the new language EPIC, and built 64 bit processors (lots more addresses) called Itanium, or IA64 for short. Because they spoke a new language, they also had to include a little x86 chip too for working with old programs. The little x86 chip though wasn't very powerful, and older programs ran slowly.\n\nMicrosoft, the company that makes Windows, knew they had to make a version of Windows for Itanium, as Intel said it was the future. To allow people to run older x86 programs too, they basically combine two Windows into one. One that speaks x86, and one that speaks IA64. The IA64 was mostly in charge, but still needed the old x86 support files to let older programs run. Program Files had to be split to separate each kind of program.\n\nUnder the hood, Windows kinda presented a different view of the hard drive (where all your files, including the programs/executables) live. If an IA64 program ran, it saw it's Program Files in C:\\Program Files\\ as expected. If an x86 program ran, it also saw it's Program Files under C:\\Program Files\\. In reality, there are two folders, C:\\Program Files\\ and C:\\Program Files (x86)\\. Windows kinda lies to the x86 programs, to make sure they don't break if they had expected things to remain in the C:\\Program Files\\ area. This also happens in C:\\Windows\\System32, where all the system files lives, and on IA64 systems, oddly where IA64 system files went. C:\\Windows\\syswow64 contained the older x86 files, and would appear as C:\\Windows\\System32 for x86 programs.\n\nAs Intel rolled out Itanium chips around 2000, noone except high end businesses could justify paying for them. Intel figured in time the cost would come down, and they would also be the 64 bit migration path for home users. AMD however didn't like this plan, and instead began working to add 64 bits to the old x86 language. They called it AMD64, and several computer companies joined in supporting them. These chips ran x86 programs just as fast as old pure x86 processors could, unlike Itanium which ran x86 much slower.\n\nMicrosoft saw the PC companies using the AMD64 chip and realized once again they needed to make a Windows edition support it. They rushed out Windows XP x64 edition (a reference to AMD64 being renamed to x86_64), and kept all the same tricks and separation they used in the Itanium Windows version. Going forward because they set the standard already, they haven't ever remerged the folders and gotten rid of the secret swap out tricks that happen when an x86 or x64 program runs.\n\nApple, who makes another operating system called Mac OS X (roman numeral ten, not X) took a different path. Instead of separating files into separate buckets like Program Files and Program Files (x86), they used a technology called \"fat binaries\". This is where the different programs are glued together in one file, and the OS knows how to find the right part of the file. Fat binaries (or as Apple calls them Universal Binaries) are a little larger, but it minimizes the headaches from having to keep a copt of every language separated. This benefitted Apple, as they once supported processors that spoke a language called PowerPC, before switching to the same x86 and later x64 processors the rest of the home computer industry uses.",
"I saved this a while a go, it might help a little. \n\n[Link](_URL_0_).",
"Can anyone make a good argument for writing a 32 program instead if a 64 bit one?",
"Related boring fact: iTunes 64-bit tries to install itself in Program Files (x86). Noobs.",
"In this case, \"x86\" means 32-bit. Which is admittedly confusing, but the number 86 comes from the processor chip model numbers, not the number of bits.\n\nThe first chip in the line that became modern PC CPUs was called the 4004, and it processed 4 bits at a time. Then came the 8008, which processed 8 bits at a time. When Intel made a 16-bit version, instead of calling it the 160016, they named it the 8086, and a legacy was born.\n\nThe first IBM PC actually used an 8088, which was a small improvement on the 8086, but, crucially, it used the 8086 instruction set. PC software was written to use that instruction set, so all future PC chips were compatible with it. To indicate this, they all had names ending in -86: 80186, 80286, 80386. The instruction set/architecture used by the whole family is therefore called the \"x86 architecture\".\n\nThe 80386 - soon shortened to just \"386\" - was a big step because in addition to supporting the 16-bit 8086 instruction set, it added new instructions that let it work on memory 32 bits at a time. This greatly simplified memory management and allowed PCs to run what had previously been \"mainframe-class\" operating systems, like UNIX. It took a while (the 386 was released in 1985), but the 386 was the asteroid that took out the 16-bit dinosaurs of past PC hardware. \n\nBy the time Windows 95 came out, PC's were 32-bit machines. And they stayed that way for a long time. In April 2003, AMD released the Opteron chip, with 64-bit instructions, and we started down the path of 64-bit PC's. It again took a while, but these days just about every PC sold is 64-bit. \n\nBut there are still lots of 32-bit PCs, and 32-bit programs. 64-bit systems can run 32-bit programs, but the reverse isn't true, so it's helpful to keep the 32-bit and 64-bit programs separate. Especially if you might need both versions of the same program around. So the 32-bit versions go in \"Program Files (x86)\""
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5d30e1 | why there are not much political movement to unify different countries that has very, very similar languages? | I watched some YouTube videos saying that some European countries has very similar languages (like the North Germanic languages) to the point that it's almost the same language.
As a Chinese, I find it strange that you people rather have different countries rather than one. The Chinese language has very large dialect difference, to the point different dialect equate to being a different ethnic/race in Chinese. "Dialect ethnics" still exist, we see that the different dialect ethnics have some cultural differences between each another, but we chose to identify as Chinese due to shared history, culture and language.
Is it not the same for these European countries that share the same language?
With so much talk about "exiting" nowadays (like Scotland), why hasn't unification got more popular/support?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5d30e1/eli5_why_there_are_not_much_political_movement_to/ | {
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"Just because two different countries have a very similar language, doesn't mean they also have very similar cultural and political beliefs, nor a shared history. When people still see themselves as a distinct group different from those in another country, there is going to be little push to unite into one country.\n\nThere is still a political movement toward unity. That's what the European Union is about, it just doesn't currently extend to the point of actually melting into one country.",
"In the case of my country and our northern neighbours, the problem IS shared history. We were once a part of them, we didn't like it and broke off in a revolt. That's still \"fresh\" enough that only a very small number of people think re-uniting the Netherlands would ever be a good idea.\n\n"
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96h8ye | why do our butts hurt after sitting for a long period of time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/96h8ye/eli5_why_do_our_butts_hurt_after_sitting_for_a/ | {
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"Well, the pressure causes your muscles to press against your bones, which hurts for example, pinch you arm. Your flesh is getting crushed, so it hurts...."
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6moo8w | how nuclear weapons could have been dropped and tested in nevada, without the nuclear fallout or radiation harming civilian populations in the surrounding communities. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6moo8w/eli5_how_nuclear_weapons_could_have_been_dropped/ | {
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"they tested them in super remote areas, and before long, they stopped testing them above ground or under water (or space), they would detonate them underground, so the radiation would be contained.\n\nthere is a low level of radiation across the globe that didnt exist before nuclear testing. generally inconsequential for humans, but still measurable."
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boqinp | what happens when there isn't enough electricity on the grid? | I.e. if 1000 households need power, but one of the powerplants has broken down and there is only enough power generation to power 900 homes. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/boqinp/eli5_what_happens_when_there_isnt_enough/ | {
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"In short: a brownout is what occurs then. There will still be power to the majority, but not everyone.",
"There can be \"brown-outs\" where the voltage is lower than normal. Lights will dim and some appliances won't work or could even be damaged.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nRolling black-outs are another possibility, where the utility actually shuts down portions of the grid to allow the power they do have to serve a smaller area. They often turn on and off different areas so everyone is equally pissed off (seems fair).",
"The first thing that happens is that the generators on the power plants that are operational will have trouble upholding the expected frequency. Too much load, and the frequency goes down. Not enough load, and the frequency goes up.\n\nThey can, to some extent, alter the flow of the steam or water that makes the generator turn so that it gets better at meeting the expected frequency. In fact, they do this all the time to keep the frequency as accurate as possible.\n\nBut...if you have a buffer where a generator can meet an abrupt requirement to dial up the frequency by 10%, then you are also constantly underproducing by 10%. Which is a financially dumb thing, because you are making 10% less money than you could make just to have a buffer.\n\nIn other words, its unlikely that the remaining producing power plants can immediately meet a 10% production loss by just dealing up their own production.\n\nTo some extent, of course, they totally can. Which means that, in reality, i'ts not 100 houses without power any more. It's more likely that it's 70 or thereabout.\n\nUnfortunately, that is the extent of what they can achieve on their end. After that, it's time for some rough choices.\n\nSomeone in the power grid system is responsible for something called *balancing*. Which is a fancy word that means \"input and output must be balanced. We have to produce as much as we consume. And we have to make sure that we are not consuming more than we produce.\"\n\nIn that lies the solution, so to speak. If production fails, consumption must go down.\n\nThis is done, literally, by giving a remote command to a huge circuit breaker. Effectively turning off power for a cluster of customers.\n\nThe Balancer always, always, always has a plan for this. They know already that \"if plant A falls out, I have to turn off city X.\"\n\nAnd, because it's a massive issue for everyone to get their power turned off like that, we all have to share the burden.\n\nCity X is turned off for a predetermined period of time. Say...15 minutes. After fifteen minutes, they proceed to the next part of the plan, which is to turn off City Y and Z who together are nearly as large consumers as city X. And then they get to run like that for 15 minutes.\n\nAnd so on.\n\nThat type of rotation will be kept up for as long they are unable to secure production at another power plant somewhere else that they happen to have power lines to.\n\nThis is why most countries have power lines that cross borders into neighbouring countries. Because if shit hits the fan severely, at least you can buy production from another country.\n\nYou have a 10% buffer you can use to meet...issues. They do too. And they are willing to sell that buffer to you, if you are just willing to pay. And...well. You are willing to pay, because the alternative is to keep up the rotating blackout until you have more producers lined up and running.",
"\"The grid\" in ELI5 terms is essentially like a spinning class where all wheels of the spinning bikes are connected. The powerplants are pedaling. The consumers apply the breaks on the wheels. The harder a consumer applies the break, the more energy he gets.\n\nThere is a \"deal\" between powerplants and consumers about how fast the wheel should spin. Depending on where you live, it's either 60 (most of the Americas) or 50 (rest of the world) rotations per second. This is called frequency.\n\nIf you've ever done spinning, you know what happens when the breaks are applied too hard - you slow down. So you have to pedal harder (tell powerplants to produce more energy). Or you have a deal with the spinning class in the next room, and if you're a bit short on spinners, you can hook up your bikes to theirs, so they help you keep your frequency (i.e. import power from a different grid / nation).\n\nThe amount of energy a consumer gets is dependant on the frequency and how hard he applies the breaks.\n\nConsumers have in ELI5 terms two different kinds of devices hooked to the grid. One kind is \"directly attached\", for instance motors and classic light blubs. If the frequency goes down, the motor just runs slower and the light blub is less bright, but they keep pushing the breaks equally hard.\n\nThe other kind are \"switching power supplies\". They become more and more wide-spread, for instance in your computer, in your LED bulb, to charge your phone, your internet modem, your TV, and so on. They draw power from the grid to transform that power to a different \"format\". They need a specific amount of power and don't care too much about the frequency. If the frequency goes down, they just apply the breaks harder to get the amount of power they need. This can become a chain reaction if the grid operator doesn't act quickly.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nedit: so, with all this pretext, what happens if there's not enough power? If nobody takes action, the grid just fails for everyone; a \"black-out\". But a grid operator will usually just kick some customers out and prevent them from applying the breaks. Those customers then sit in the dark. This is called a \"brown-out\"."
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5wogb1 | how does a toilet flush without any power? | It sounds sort of silly but i saw a r/showerthoughts which mentioned that power-less toilets are very impressive and don't get any recognition so I figured I'd ask the experts to explain this wonderful phenomenon. Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wogb1/eli5how_does_a_toilet_flush_without_any_power/ | {
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"It works on the concept of a \"siphon\". Water wants to travel downwards due to gravity, but there is an obstacle such as an upward slope or \"wall\" it needs to overcome. Once some of the water overtops that obstacle, it will travel downwards due to the force of gravity.\n\nNow, the interesting part is: If you design a system right the water that has overtopped the obstacle will *pull the other water over the obstacle and along with it* because there is no way for air (or whatever) to fill the gap that's left behind. The water already has some potential energy to flow downwards, by virtue of being above the sewer. The siphon lets it overcome the obstacle and flow downwards like it naturally wants to.\n\nAn interesting point is that energy WAS added to the system when water was lifted up to the toilet, above the level of the sewer. The siphon trick just lets it stay in one place until you add some more water, which lets it all run downwards. ",
"The U bend at the bottom is level with water on both sides with a gap of air at the top, once you go poop poop and flush, water goes in and replaces all the air within the top of the U Bend and sucks all poop poop down. Air comes back in with the water until eventually both sides of the U Bend are equal again and no poop poop remains, and bowl fills back up with watah ",
"The flush toilet works thanks to the concept of the [Pythagorian Cup](_URL_0_)\n\nThe pipes in the toilet have a section that brings it above the water line in the bowl. And a tank is connected to the bowl that fills with water.\n\nWhen you push the flush lever, the tank drains into the bowl, raising the water level over the pipes. When that happens, the water in the pipe starts to flow over and out of the toilet, sucking the rest of the water in the bowl with it.\n\nThe water from the tank continues to refill the bowl with cleaner water until the tank is empty, with the pipes eventually not getting enough water in them to continue flushing.\n\nThe remaining water stays in the bowl.",
"A plumber will correct me, but there are three types that I know of, none of which use electrical power Directly, but all of which rely upon some kind of power source upstream of the toilet to generate some potential energy that \"powers\" the flush kinetically. \n\n- Typical residential tank toilet uses a gravity drain of the water in the tank to flush your stuff. It takes power in the form of a well pump or city water supply pump to lift the water into that tank in the first place.\n\n- Another variant of tank seen less commonly is one with a bladder. In these, the water pressure fills an enclosed bladder (not an open tank) which creates a more pressure for a more sudden and forceful flush.\n\n- The typical commercial toilet seen in public restrooms has no water and but relies instead on the higher water pressures of a commercial building to flush the bowl. \n\nNone use electricity at the toilet itself. But all release some potential energy that originates with an electrical pump upstream somewhere. So in the sense of physics, they are all \"powered\" but not in the common sense of the word.\n\nI'm sure someone is going to provide a fringe example of a system that is not electrically pumped, and that is possible but uncommon."
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1ot469 | why cant we just send money to other countries to pay for their food? | I was reading a post about Venezuela and how 50 cents can fill up a gas tank a few times, and I thought, why can't we literally just mail people (or paypal) money to pay for their food and water. If everyone in America scrounged together 1 dollar and sent it to one person then wouldn't it help their economy and allow more growth?
(I know it would take an organized movement of people, I'm not talking about individual payments) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ot469/eli5_why_cant_we_just_send_money_to_other/ | {
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"One thing to consider: the only reason gas is so cheap in Venezuela is that the government deliberately pays over 90 percent of the cost to keep prices down and avoid...well, at best rioting and at worst a full scale revolution. ",
"I think in the future this will be a good idea, but right now it wont work for this reason: many of the populations of developing countries are still of the old-school mindset of having as many children as possible. And they dont have access to contraceptives, and have no concept of family planning. So no matter how much food we send them, they will just have more children until there isnt enough food again.\n\nBut the world is slowly changing. As more people learn to control their reproduction, then food guarantee programs become more sustainable."
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j35zh | li5: financial derivatives | What are they, how do they work, and how do they tie into the recent housing bubble collapse? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j35zh/li5_financial_derivatives/ | {
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"Here is an excellent answer to your question, which was asked a few hours ago: [Here](_URL_0_)"
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dtq6xe | how is there nothing in space? i get that there isn’t necessarily air like we have in our atmosphere on earth, but how can there be nothing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dtq6xe/eli5_how_is_there_nothing_in_space_i_get_that/ | {
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"Most of matter is nothing, too. The actual stuff, subatomic particles and whatnot, are a small fraction of the actual space that matter takes up. Even if you treat an atom as a whole solid sphere, the most dense packing formation of atoms is (I think) like 74%? So that means that even in very sense, perfect materials, there is at least 26% nothing.",
"Most theories think the universe started out as mostly gaseous, but particles of matter attract each other through the force of gravity (which is something you get for free, as a fundamental property of matter). When matter starts to clump together, voids are left in space - and over a very, very long time, those voids get very large.\n\nThere are still gas clouds out in space, but there is a lot of volume of space that contains nothing at all.",
"Space isn't nothing. It's a very, very low density plasma of hydrogen and helium, plus dust, neutrinos, cosmic rays and em radiation.",
"To answer the question, here's another question: Why isn't there an ocean floating in the air? Because gravity pulls liquid water down (it's heavy).\n\nSo, to continue, why does the atmosphere (air) stay around the Earth? Same answer, gravity pulls it towards the Earth.\n\nSo out there in space, far away from the strong gravity of planets, any gas (like air) would just spread out until it's so rarefied, that you barely find 5 atoms per cubic centimeter. As opposed to 10^20 on Earth at sea level.",
"Take a full glass of water a throw it in an empty pool, you'd still call the pool empty. Now do the same thing but compared to an ocean, you're still several magnitudes off but you get the concept. \n\nWhat we call air is a bunch of gaseous molecules floating around us, in space those molecules are like a glass of water in the ocean, technically there but you're unlikely to come across much."
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8rsovr | how does wii emulation work? | Motion controls were integral to the idea behind the Wii, but the Wii is emulated fairly well by the GameCube emulator Dolphin. How are motion controls emulated? Can they be mimicked by a keyboard and mouse or is a separate motion sensor required? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8rsovr/eli5_how_does_wii_emulation_work/ | {
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"Dolphin emulator has the option for using a mouse and keyboard in lieu of the wiimote. But it can also input through a wiimote, provided you buy a pc usb dongle that supports it.\n\nAnd if I am getting your question correct, you want to know how it does motion controls and how that translates to the emulator.\n\nWell those are all done through the wiimote itself. As it has velocity and tilt sensors. So it tracks information of how you are handling the wii mote at any given moment and sends that info to the wii. It's really just a regular controller that use movement for its analog inputs, much like the analog sticks in a gamepad but your not controlling them with your thumbs\n\nIn the case of the emulator, it also sees it as a analog controller but it needs the dongle for the emulator to read the wiimotes inputs.\n\nThe dongle also supports the pointing of the wiimote to your tv screen in the same manner as it does for the wii.\n",
"Motion controls are emulated on the wii by either analog sticks or buttons. You can assign a button or keypress to \"tilt the controller\" in a direction, for example, on my xbox controller, I have the right and left triggers set to rotate forwards/rotate backwards, so when a wii game asks me to rock the controller, I just hit the left and right triggers back and forth.",
"The motion controls are just values fed into the Wii - if you’re rotating the Wii remote slightly upwards, it’s just increasing the value of the y-axis’ rotation, for example.\n\nA lot of Wii games only have basic motion controls, for instance “flick the remote” or “tilt the remote sideways”, without requiring precise controls. In Dolphin, you can set controls for these, like a key for changing the value of one of the remote’s axis values by 90° (thus “turning” your simulated remote) and a key for the “flick” response (which would generally involve a very quick value-change). So, for example, when I was playing Super Mario Galaxy, I set Q and E to mean “turn the remote 90° (counter-)clockwise” and left click to mean “flick the remote”.\n\nIf you’re playing something like Skyward Sword, which requires a Wii Motion+ and more precise movement, you can still do this, but it won’t be as good. It’s better to use a Wiimote for that."
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1zliz0 | how fast do airplanes fly? and why doesn't it seem like we are going that fast? | I've heard that they travel between 500-700 MPH, however if never seems like it's that fast when I'm in a plane. It also doesn't appear that fast when a plane is landing or taking off. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zliz0/eli5_how_fast_do_airplanes_fly_and_why_doesnt_it/ | {
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"Take off certainly feels impressive. That said i mean if you blindfold yourself and you are in a car and you put earplugs in you would not be able to tell how fast you were going at all. When you are in a cabin moving at a constant speed, no matter how fast, you cant tell at all how fast you are moving. There is no way to know. Landing and Takeoff though are at much lower speeds they just slowly accelerate after takeoff which makes it so you hardly feel it",
"If an airplane was flying ten feet of the ground, you'd have a much better impression of its speed (trees and buildings whipping by...). There are no reference points at 30-40,000 feet, so it really seems like it is just coasting through the air.",
"planes don't got 500-700mph when they takeoff. take off and landing speeds are 150-200mph. \n\nyou don't feel speed. you feel acceleration. ",
"The utricle and saccule in our vestibular system allow us to experience acceleration, but not speed. Couple that with the fact that from large distances relative motion is difficult to detect. If you artificially closed the distance between the plane and the ground over which it flys by, let's say, staring down at the ground with a telescope, it would suddenly appear that you're moving faster. You get a similar feeling of moving slowly while skydiving, too. Try it!\n \nedit: spelling"
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3dgsi3 | how big a problem is all the debris in orbit around earth? what can be done about it? | I understand there are around 19,000 large-ish pieces of space debris in orbit around earth, and some space vessels and satellites are occasionally hit. How big a threat is the debris? Will it eventually make travel into space difficult, or even impossible? What can be done about it, if anything? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dgsi3/eli5_how_big_a_problem_is_all_the_debris_in_orbit/ | {
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"It already makes trips to space complicated. People need to be careful about space debris when putting up satellites and the like. And people are already working on the solutions to this problem. Many ideas have been thought of for how to clean up space. There are many ideas for cheap small crafts that can go up and grab onto a piece of space trash and bring it back down to Earth.",
"It's not necessarily a humongous threat, but it's definitely big enough to have to be accounted for when you're doing anything up there. Earth is enormous and there is a LOT of space between these thousands of pieces of debris. However, something will eventually hit, which obviously causes a problem.\n\n\nAs /u/fillingtheland stated, there are several projects in the works (via discussion or actually working on) that will be attempts to solve the debris issue. It will be a difficult thing however, since debris travel at a high rate of speed, due to gravity and the lack of any kind of resistance in space.",
"This is known as [Kessler Syndrome](_URL_1_), where debris in orbit hits and breaks up other debris, which creates even more debris. To prevent this, new satellites have to be able to move to a higher orbit when they are no longer functional, and any debris from launch has to be jettisoned while on a sub-orbital trajectory. Alternatively, [shoot debris with lasers.](_URL_0_)"
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d82osj | why does a balance sheet always balance? | I did accounting more than ten years ago in high school, but can’t remember it understand why if for example assets increase, the other side of the balance sheet also increases? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d82osj/eli5_why_does_a_balance_sheet_always_balance/ | {
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"Because you can't print or destroy money. If you're assets increased, you must have paid for those assets somehow - so you have less cash or more debt or whatever it took to get that asset.",
"The accounting equation is Assets = Liabilities + Equity. \n\nAs you increase or decrease one side of the equation, the other side is also increased or decreased. So if I report taking out a 500 dollar loan as an increase in my assets, I’m also recording it as an increase of 500 dollars of liability, balancing both sides of this equation . It is therefore balanced by design."
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6cxqoe | why are we told leave a pool during a thunder storm if the pool is grounded? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6cxqoe/eli5_why_are_we_told_leave_a_pool_during_a/ | {
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"Yes, the pool is grounded, so lightning will pass through it into the ground. You are mostly water. If you are in the water, some of those 1.21 Gigawatts are going to pass through you was well."
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c6r86e | why is going asleep on your stomach so bad for you but feel so good? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c6r86e/eli5_why_is_going_asleep_on_your_stomach_so_bad/ | {
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"If sleeping on your back is *uncomfortable*, maybe you just need a new mattress. If you want to sleep on your stomach, though, know that sleeping on your stomach can put your lower back in an awkward position. If stomach sleeping is more comfortable for you, try sleeping with a pillow under your stomach. That will put your spine in a more neutral position to alleviate the strain."
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1jv95v | why does stress result in prolonged muscle contractions? (i.e., chronic neck and shoulder pain) | I get that the very common neck/shoulder/back pain that so many people deal with is stress related, but why do our bodies react to stress by tensing up these muscle groups for long periods of time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jv95v/eli5_why_does_stress_result_in_prolonged_muscle/ | {
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"Goes back to the fight or flight instinct. \n\nStress puts an added toll on our bodies. When you feel fear or anxiousness, you are under stress as well. \n\nBasically its your instincts tensing your muscles to tell your body we need to move and move fast because the situation we're in is dangerous. Stress is prolonged and having your muscles tensed for a while hurts them when they relax, just like lifting weights. \n\nWhile you may just be under a heavy load at work and not in real danger, your body still reverts back to the instinctive nature. "
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5r5uq5 | how does silicon and copper and the makeup of a chip ultimately store digital information? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5r5uq5/eli5_how_does_silicon_and_copper_and_the_makeup/ | {
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"Electronic memory storage at it's most basic has to do with being able to either hold onto some amount of electrons, or get rid of those electrons.\n\nWe discovered that if you stick two slightly different types of silicon together in just the right pattern, you can create a little electrical gate. If you shove electrons at the side of the gate, then the gate opens other electrons can pass through it. However if you take electrons away from that first side of the gate, the gate closes and no electrons can get through.\n\nWe also figured out that you can use silicon to create a little electron bank. If you want to store data you just line up a bunch of those banks next to a bunch of gates. Each bank is a binary 1 or 0. You use the gates to control which banks get some electrons (a '1') or which bank is drained of its electrons (a '0'). \n\nThe other fancy thing we figured out is that we can use super tiny photo printers to print a map onto the silicon. Then we blast some junk chemicals at it. The map will block some areas from getting the junk but the other areas get a full dose of junk. These junked and non-junked areas form all of the banks and gates. This makes it *relatively* easy to make tiny processors and other devices. "
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1zmcjh | if bitcoins have a monetary value, and bitcoin mining earns you bitcoins, how does this mining create any value? | All I know is you use very fast processors (Teraflops?) to do calculations, but I don't know what those calculations are for or how they can be worth anything in real money. Color me perplexed. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zmcjh/eli5_if_bitcoins_have_a_monetary_value_and/ | {
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"Each newly mined coin slightly dilutes the value of all coins (inflation). It's the same as a government printing more currency.",
"The calculations that are being done secure the network. The cool thing about Bitcoin is that it is a monetary system that is completely decentralized--there are thousands of computers working together to maintain a public ledger of accounts with balances and nobody has authority. That type of system would normally be prone to various types of attack (people modifying the ledger to serve their own purposes). Bitcoin mining acts as a method by which the ledger is allowed to be updated--in order to change the ledger you have to provide proof that you've done lots of very challenging work. This makes it very difficult for someone to, for example, add a transaction to the network where they send money to one person, then go back and change that transaction to say that they actually sent money to another person.\n\nThe way this winds up playing out is that someone attempting to put in that type of change has to race the rest of the world. If only a few people are working to secure the network then this is not a very difficult challenge. However, the Bitcoin network could take on every supercomputer in the world at once and still win by a massive margin (it's currently using almost entirely specialized hardware purpose-built for the task).\n\nIn order to draw in people to work towards that goal of security a reward is set. New Bitcoins are introduced to the system as a payment to the miners. This is no problem--the whole system is based on rules. Most rules are pretty straightforward--things like \"you can't spend more money from an account than that account has,\" or \"you can't spend money from someone else's account (as verified by digital signatures--a powerful tool in modern cryptography).\" One of the rules simply states that \"new coins are introduced into circulation every time a miner adds a set of transactions to the ledger.\" It turns out that every bitcoin in existence can trace its roots to this origin. \n\nThe value in terms of \"real money\" then comes from the usefulness of the system--Bitcoins have a number of properties that make them attractive for various uses. Note that when new bitcoins are added to circulation that is a move that is completely independent of any movement of \"real money.\" The bitcoins that are paid out may then be sold for national currencies like the Dollar or Euro, but that gets into gold old fashioned supply and demand--the supply of bitcoins is going up so unless the demand goes up the price will fall. Over the past several years the interest in bitcoin has grown an incredible amount so the price has gone up significantly. "
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2dhe7y | what makes software compatibility between mac or pc so difficult? | It all seems like 1s and 0s to me. So if its all 1s and 0s why can't software made for PC run on Mac or vice versa? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dhe7y/eli5_what_makes_software_compatibility_between/ | {
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"Let's say PC is like building with lego, Mac is like building with k'nex. Sure they're both plastic, but lego doesn't fit with k'nex."
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68qvkw | what's benefit do major powers get from donating to struggling countries? | So, if I'm the US or France or Germany, why would I take $50 billion from my budget to give it to let's say Eastern Asia when I got starving kids in Detroit, Nice, and (insert German city).
US, for example, could fix flint, Michigan. Or take care of Detroit. Or south LA. Idk.
I'm not criticizing. Donating is good! But what's the benefit?? That's what I'm curious about. Why does it override issues at home? (Wherever home is) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68qvkw/eli5_whats_benefit_do_major_powers_get_from/ | {
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"text": [
"They get influence over that country. Take South Korea for example. After Korea helped their war o their behalf, the US is seen as a powerful country that every Korean highly respects. This country could help the US in the future.",
"Influence. \nEssentially, be nice to our companies and people or you won't get candy. \nThe companies and people then do stuff they want to do in that country without the foreign government getting in the way and then they hopefully make back more money than was given. \nOften this involves taking resources out of the country for very cheap. \n \nIt's also often the case of I'll give you these guns, point them at those guys I don't like or I won't give you more guns. \nThis was far more common during the Cold War, but still goes on. \nOften it is also not so much give, as it is sell you these guns for cheap, or let you buy the really fancy guns."
]
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[],
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|
cwnm8e | what is happening in britain's parliament and why did the queen "close" it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cwnm8e/eli5_what_is_happening_in_britains_parliament_and/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"They are starting a new session of parliament after electing a new Prime Minister. In order to do this they have to end the old session and the only way to do that in their system for the Queen to order it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
6cpvjk | the difference between a pothole and a sinkhole | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6cpvjk/eli5_the_difference_between_a_pothole_and_a/ | {
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"text": [
"A pothole is a hole that develops in the road. Roads wear over time. Cracks develop and connect, eventually the piece of asphalt becomes loose and falls out, leaving a big chunky hole in the road.\n\nA [Sinkhole](_URL_0_) happens when water erodes the earth below the surface. Eventually the cavity becomes large enough that the land just collapses into the hole. They can be quite sudden. "
]
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"https://water.usgs.gov/edu/graphics/sinkholecollapse.gif"
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||
acgy03 | is the time +12 hours or -12 hours in the opposite part of the world? | So If I understand correct, there are 24 hours and 24 timezones, to account for the fact that half the planet is in shadow all the time, so it wouldn't make sense to have one timezone for everyone. If I go one zone in one direction, the time is +hour, if I go another it goes -hour. By that logic, the opposite time zone, which is supposed to be 12 zones away, has the same time as mine? (because going 12 in one direction or going 12 in another should result in the same location). I know this not to be true, because obviously if it's midday where I am, it's midnight in the opposite side. But is it midnight of yesterday, or midnight of tomorrow? And if the answer is "the opposite timezone is 12 hours ahead", then if someone from the opposite side asked the same question the answer would be "the opposite is 12 hours behind".
& #x200B;
There must be some bad flow of logic here but I am honestly confused | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/acgy03/eli5_is_the_time_12_hours_or_12_hours_in_the/ | {
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"If your at all into programming, this should help make the question as clear as mud. \n\n_URL_0_ (Tom Scott on timezones) ",
" > 24 timezones\n\nThere are more than that. Or less than that. In theory there can be 24 hours per day * 60 minutes per hour * 60 seconds per minute different values. Plus two timezones with a different name can have the same offset. \n\nIn general, if you travel to the east, the offset in the next timezone will be + and the time will be later.\n\nIn general, if you travel to the west, the offset in the next timezone will be - and the time will be earlier.\n\nAnd the you have the international day line, which when you cross it towards the east will subtract one day, and when you cross it towards the west will add a day.",
"There is a [dateline](_URL_0_) that divides the earth from one date to the next. So it will depend where on the planet you are and which side of the dateline you and the other country opposite the world is.\n\n\n",
"UTC+0 is in western Europe (and Africa), the time zone UK is in. UTC+12 is 180 degrees to the east and UTC-12 is 180 degrees to the west (both somewhere in the Pacific Ocean). They are next to each other and time is the same in both of them, since the difference is 24 hours, or one day (it's called dateline). So, even on a 24-hour clock, the time will be the same, but the difference on the calendar will be one day.",
"The answer to your question lies with the international date line. If it is midday in your time zone, then it will be midnight on the other side of the world. But which midnight? You could go either way, and end up with midnight today, or midnight tomorrow. The international date line solves this. It’s an imaginary line that goes from the North Pole down between Russia and Alaska, to the South Pole. It moves around a bit so countries don’t get split in half. The way it works, is that if you go east to west across the date line, you add a day, and if you go the other way, then you subtract a day. If we return to the original problem, then going west around the world will result in you being at midnight today. Going east, you go twelve hours forwards, but you have to subtract a day because you cross the date line. This means that you end up with the same day no matter which way you look at it, and everything is solved!",
"As you move east, you keep moving an hour ahead until you get to the International Date Line, which runs down the middle(ish) of the the Pacific. As you cross the date line eastward, you jump back 24 hours, so the date changes but the time stays the same. Then you keep moving an hour ahead as you move through the remaining time zones. When you get back home, you've moved forward by 1 hour 24 times, and back by 24 hours once to get back to your original time zone.",
"Timezones are very confusing my man I feel you. I say we get rid of them and just all keep one time. Back to your question though. Two things are important to answering your question: the direction of rotation of the Earth/its shadow, and the international date line. We all know the Sun rises and the East and sets in the West, so one could make a logical step to say that people that see the Sun before you (East of you) are living in a timezone before yours. In other words, clocks to the East will always be ahead of yours. This is true in all except one place, at the international date line located between Asia and the Americas in the Pacific. To avoid confusion, cut the globe on this line (quickly) and imagine laying the world flat with the Americas to the West and Asia to the East (like you always see it.) Now you can’t think about it too too hard, but that sheet now represents a day and it works perfectly if you remain static. If you were to cross the line, however the day changes. Let’s say you are watching the sunrise just to the Americas’ side of the date line. You would see the Sun rise up, and that’d be the beginning of your day 1. Just by crossing the date line, suddenly you’d now be at the start of Australia or New Zealand’s day 2. It sounds very strange I know but this is required to make timezones work. Back to the question now that we have the basics. Let’s say you are in Germany. The opposite side of the world for you might be slightly off the coast of California. Because you haven’t crossed the date line you can suppose that their clocks are 12 hours behind yours. (so 0300PM to 0300AM)(1500 to 0300.) Now lets say you want to go from the middle of Canada to somewhere in Southern Asia. There are two ways to do this. The simpler way would be to think to your self that you want to remain on one day, so crossing the date line is not allowed. In that case you’d have to go East and add time, +12hrs. The other way to do it is to always travel Westbound when doing your math subtracting time as you go on, then add 24hrs the instant you cross that perplexing date line.",
"It depends on where you are.\n\nTo be specific it depends on where you and your antipode are in respect to the international dateline.\n\nIf you can go eastward from where you are to the other side of the world without crossing the dateline, then the other side is half a day ahead of you.\n\nIf you have to go westward to get to the other side of the world without crossing the dateline you are 12 hours ahead of them.\n\nIt is not just the time that matters but also the date.\n\nFor example Samoa and American Samoa are fairly close together to one another and on the opposite place of the planet from the African country of Niger. They are both 12 hours of from Niger, but Samoa is 12 hours ahead of Niger while American Samoa is 12 hours behind.",
"What does the flat Earth people think about timezones. If the Earth is flat then it will be lighter instant on entire continent?"
]
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"https://youtu.be/-5wpm-gesOY"
],
[],
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"https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dateline.html"
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[],
[],
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|
1hhxlq | why sometimes only the back end of the scissors work, sometimes the middle, and sometimes only the tip? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hhxlq/eli5_why_sometimes_only_the_back_end_of_the/ | {
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"cauhz9d"
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"text": [
"The blades of the two sides of the scissors aren't perfectly parallel. If there's even a small gap, they won't cut very well. This could be due to the scissors themselves, or the blades being deformed slightly by the material you are trying to cut. The tips are easiest to splay apart. \n \nOr the scissors are dull in some places. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
26abvm | the debate over whether the eu is good | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26abvm/eli5_the_debate_over_whether_the_eu_is_good/ | {
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"text": [
"You want the *debate* explained?\n\nSome people think EU is good. Other people think it is not so good. This is the debate.\n\n[Edit] To make this post less worthless - the debate will depend mostly on what country are you talking about. Economically, it is generally considered that EU is more beneficial the poorer the member country of it is, since it can count on the highest funding. Politically it is a whole 'nother mess, but as I understand it Germans run the show."
]
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[]
] |
||
cbyvv5 | why does the sound of poured water gets higher and higher as you keep pouring? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbyvv5/eli5_why_does_the_sound_of_poured_water_gets/ | {
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"Because the sound you're hearing is sound coming out of a round chamber. When the glass fills with water, the size of the chamber changes, so the pitch changes. Large chamber, low pitch. Small chamber, high pitch. It's why digieridoos are deep and rumbly while ocarinas are high pitched and whiny.",
"Its the screams of the air being vacated from thier homes. The youngest (aka highest pitch) were at the bottom, so the screams raise in pitch from oldest-youngest"
]
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[],
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||
6tos12 | why is it that a rocking motion or a car ride puts my baby to sleep but when i'm in a similar situation it doesn't make me sleepy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6tos12/eli5_why_is_it_that_a_rocking_motion_or_a_car/ | {
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"It's not just the rocking motion, it is the constriction of the car seat that doesn't allow him to move coupled with the sound of the car. A car's tires on the road would be a familiar sound to what a baby hears for the entire gestation period. For instance, cup your hands over your ears and you hear the blood rushing through... sound familiar to a car tire on the road?\n\nThose both allow the baby to feel back in the mother's womb."
]
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[]
] |
||
1jkhjp | why do so many homeless people talk to themselves out loud? | I live in LA and every time I go Downtown I see at least 4 homeless people shouting gibberish. Can anyone help me understand this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jkhjp/eli5_why_do_so_many_homeless_people_talk_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"cbfjjyh"
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"text": [
"They most likely are mentally ill."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
a74wuc | what do they do with money found on/ around dead people at the scene of the crime?(after investigating it) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a74wuc/eli5_what_do_they_do_with_money_found_on_around/ | {
"a_id": [
"ec0b9ji"
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"text": [
"Give it to the family if the money is “clean”. \n\nIf it’s “dirty”, meaning obtained illegally in one way or another, the police department seized it and typically spends it. I know in my area, any drug money seized is put into drug education for students or invested into the departments drug task force. "
]
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[]
] |
||
rkkcm | why text messages are limited to 160 characters while multimedia like pictures can be up to 1,000 | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/rkkcm/eli5_why_text_messages_are_limited_to_160/ | {
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"c46k8ai"
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"text": [
"Text messages are sent through a protocol called SMS, or Short Message Service. This protocol basically piggy backs on data signals like tower pings (if you've ever had your phone near some speakers that started making funny noises, that's a ping confirming that your phone is communicating with a particular tower)\n\nso basically they just took the garbage message your phone normally sends all the time and made it a form of communication. But these pings only contain a certain amount of data so SMS messages have a character limit.\n\nMultimedia messages on the other hand, have their own purpose built protocol since they were intended to be able to send things like pictures and audio. Pictures and audio take up a lot more data than plain text so if you send just text you've got a lot more room to play with. Try right clicking a picture in Windows Explorer and tell it to open with Notepad to get an idea of the ratio between image/text data."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3y554h | how is it legal tsa offering first class passengers a faster airport security lane? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y554h/eli5_how_is_it_legal_tsa_offering_first_class/ | {
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"text": [
"They pay more for their plane tickets. They get more consideration because they paid more money.",
"I guess a better way to think about it is why would it be illegal? I can't think of any law prohibiting it.",
"Are you sure that is what is happening? My boss pays a yearly fee to go through security faster but he also had to go through an extensive background check and interview process to get that luxury."
]
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||
4ku7zq | how can kid music be so annoying to adults while children love it? | Is there some sort of development we go through as we mature that makes kid music less palatable? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ku7zq/eli5_how_can_kid_music_be_so_annoying_to_adults/ | {
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"\"kid\" music has the same inherent problem as any other \"kid\" medium. Cartoons, music, books, food; it's all garishly colored, packed with stuff no body needs, and generally marketed to parents who have no clue what kids actually like.\n\nSpecifically in regards to music, it's very active and high energy, uncomplicated, and more often than not contains choral sections for sing-alongs. It's wrapped up in some pseudopsychology about kids needing interaction and having lots of energy. None of it, therefore, is actually any good, considering the people making it are more concerned with money or its effects on children than the music itself. ",
"I love \"kid\" music and i'm an adult. Disney movies, kids cartoons, etc. all those catchy, up-beat songs? sign me up!",
"With a lot of music, there's a kind of tension between what's predictable and what's interesting or novel. Predictable elements are things like chords that are very harmonious and lead naturally to one another, rhymes and predictable themes in lyrics, melodies that match well with the underlying harmony, etc. What makes a lot of music \"interesting\" is straddling this line between the predictable and familiar and breaking these rules.\n\nFor average listeners, music that breaks too many of these rules--lyrics that are nonsensical or bizarre, melodies that don't seem to conform to any patterns, chords that seem misplaced or sound \"wrong\"--is [very difficult](_URL_1_) and can be [unpleasant to listen to](_URL_0_). Of course, there's nothing **wrong** with music like this, but for many people it's not an enjoyable listening experience.\n\nThe flip side of that is that music that doesn't break **any** rules is, well, boring. If every line rhymes just how you think it will, and tells a story about being happy and dancing; if every piece of the melody and harmony progress in exactly the way your mind expects them to...that's not interesting for most people. \n\nBecause of their developing brains, their threshold for what can still \"break the rules\" of music and be enjoyable to listen to are MUCH lower than an adult's. Basically the development we go through that makes children's music less enjoyable is the same kind of development that makes us want to see more complex stories in a film or novel or video game, or that make us enjoy chess more than Candyland. We need more challenge and less predictability from our entertainment than a child does. ",
"Adults were once children. They aren't separate entities like dogs and people. Adults' taste changes over time, and they begin to explore and find new things. Kids are brand spanking (please don't spank your kids) new, and the catchiest things that you've heard a million times are new to kids.\n\nI guess simply put, you could say it hasn't worn down on them."
]
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[],
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEY9lmCZbIc&ab_channel=olla-vogala",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZIiom9rDA&ab_channel=ropa79"
],
[]
] |
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7jo8ac | how does a penis triple in size while erect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7jo8ac/eli5_how_does_a_penis_triple_in_size_while_erect/ | {
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"Human skin has a natural elasticity, like a rubber band, and can stretch a little, or a lot, depending on the area. The extra mass that fills the skin is blood within the veins and muscle. That’s what ‘engorged’ means. When you’re not excited there’s less blood flow to the area so it’s in the rest of your body doing other stuff.",
"Imagine a balloon. At the start, the balloon is small. After u blow air into the balloon, it gets bigger and bigger. But instead, the balloon is ur penis and the air is ur blood.",
"The penis is, essentially, a balloon with a hose running through the middle of it. When arousal occurs, blood is directed into the penis, filling it in a manner not unlike a water balloon placed over a faucet. It doesn't gain any new tissue; when there isn't extra blood in the penis stretching it out, it contracts and relaxes into its flaccid shape.\n\nFurther, not all penises triple in size during erection. Every owner of a penis exists somewhere on the sliding scale of \"grower\" to \"shower,\" with some individuals gaining no extra length from erection, and others who measure within the average zone during erection can have something classifiable as a micropenis when flaccid."
]
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3o51c1 | ; why is theory of everything so elusive? | I have heard that general relativity breaks down at quantum level and quantum mechanics doesn't work at a macro level, but What's actually going on there? Why are the two theories not compatible when both of them seem to work their own ways? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o51c1/eli5_why_is_theory_of_everything_so_elusive/ | {
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"text": [
"If anyone actually knew the answer, they'd be spending the rest of their lives getting free sexual favors from every theoretical physicist on the planet. It's impossible to answer because no one knows."
]
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|
4m8h1k | why do ants take very roundabout routes to get from a food source to the colony? | Whenever I see an ant, it always seems to loop back and forth as it walks rather than move in a straight line. I once witnessed an ant carry a dead insect to the edge of a sidewalk, and then turn around and walk in the other direction only to then turn and walk back to the sidewalk. This method of locomotion seems very inefficient, so why do they do it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4m8h1k/eli5_why_do_ants_take_very_roundabout_routes_to/ | {
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"The new day dawns, and hordes of worker ants leave the colony to search for new sources of food. In this pursuit, a single ant(we'll call him Indiana) may stumble upon a half eaten sandwich. Oweing to the ant antennae working as both sensors and for communication. (Eyes and tongue)\n\nStemming from this, we can say that an ant follows it's path from the said sandwich back to the anthill or nearby group of his buddies. He transfers the \"taste\" of the food to the other ants(via touching each other's antennae), who in turn do the same to ants who have not yet been told that there's food. With this new information, being lead by Indiana to this food, the follow a single file line, taking back the food in the same line so as to not get lost (sense of smell) and also to communicate the \"taste\" and other vital ants newly joining the hunt. :) \n\nNot an Ant pro, just an observer.",
" > This method of locomotion seems very inefficient, so why do they do it?\n\nAn ant has a brain of only about 250,000 cells, compared to our 10,000,000,000 cells. They aren't that smart, and they don't have very good eyesight so they navigate largely by scent trails. Their behavior might be less than optimal but it works based upon very simple nearly automatic instincts, so what do you expect from them?",
"Because they follow scent trails. If the first ant to find the food did not take a direct path (which it most likely did not, since they randomly search for foor), then all the other ants follow exactly his path.\n\n"
]
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[],
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|
4o5kph | why are the gender divisions in choruses? wouldn't you get a fuller sound from integrated choruses? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4o5kph/eli5_why_are_the_gender_divisions_in_choruses/ | {
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"text": [
"Think of the voices as instruments. Different combinations will provide a different sound/tone quality. Gender division is also used for many youth choirs because it gives the director a better chance to accommodate changing and growing voices. (And repertoire is generally easier...)",
"Also, it's much more challenging for individuals to stay on pitch and in tune when surrounded by others singing different tunes. Keeping the voices together helps everyone song the right notes."
]
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[],
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||
1sgo7g | why did we wait so long to draw attention to china's (and other countries') air pollution problems? | I mean this thing couldn't've happened overnight...When exactly were things starting to look bad? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sgo7g/why_did_we_wait_so_long_to_draw_attention_to/ | {
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"text": [
"They have been a problem for a while, don't you remember the 2008 olympics? Why do you think this is a new issue?",
"It's been bad for a while now. However due to the easily offended and restrictive communist government, most other nations had to walk on eggshells when handling diplomatic relations with China. Thusly environmental pollution was low on the totem poll for *important* issues.\n\nNow that China is seeking more and more trade agreements, their environmental activities as well as human rights issues are rising more and more as a negotiable issue.",
"Follow the money. China is a manufacturing and cheap labor megacenter for the Earth. \n\nWe *could* try to force them into cleaning up their environmental policies, by some sort of economic/trade threat... but indirectly that would raise the costs of our iPads and McDonald's toys.",
"I don't know who \"we\" are but I remember environmental videos from the 80's saying that cars and coal are pollutants. So people have known for decades that China can't be healthy but it takes time for medical studies to corroborate common sense. Like the air quality being equivalent to 21 cigarettes a day (or whatever). That requires analysis of cancer rates, respiratory impairment and age groups. It takes time and certain authority to compile that data. \n\nCommon sense and medical data are two different things. ",
"The same reason fracking isn't a big deal here. No one cares until it's too late unless it's lowering profits. And if fixing it will lower profits then it'll continue for as long as possible with every relevant study regarding it lobbied away into silence. Welcome to the shit-tastic, worthless, god awful human race.",
"Another thing worth considering that my brother pointed it out is that its especially worse this time of year because of Christmas. Everything is made there and their factories are pumping out products like crazy. Santas little helpers : /",
"The more we debate our standards of enviornmental protection, the more we seem to debate other country's laws as well. Our country had a very important industrial revolution that was key in laying the foundation for our mega economy. \nTo seed an economy worthy of providing for a growing population and movement from a rural to urban infrasyructure. Pollution is an afterthought. \nIt's hard to tell a country that the rules are different for them because they are \"late to the party\".",
"Reddit (mainly /r/worldnews) seems to have a short memory when it comes to pollution. In the US, the EPA was only established in 1970, 100 years after America's industrial revolution. Places like Pittsburg were huge industrial hellholes after WW2 much like the major cities in China today. _URL_0_ \n\nChina is only 40 years into their industrial revolution. They're heavily investing in renewable energy but they need energy NOW to keep up with development, forcing them to switch to clean-only energy would only hinder them. I suggest looking up pictures or descriptions of places like London during the Industrial Revolution and pictures of the places now.\n\n ",
"Not only have we known about the issue for some decades but we have actually predicted it. It follows that we have seen what happened in our own countries post industrialisation. London was famous for its smog and there were several instances within the last 100 years in which it was so bad it claimed many lives over a few days at its height, known as 'pea soupers' because of how thick it was. This kind of phenomenon can be blamed on many factors but all follow the same patterns of modernisation, as a nation develops, industry develops.and pollutants air borne or otherwise logically increase as a by product.",
"What? This has gotten a LOT of attention for a long time bud. I thvink you mean to ask: 'why did reddit wait so [...]'. Check some other news source, /r/worldnews isnt that great for keepin up. It's good, not great. ",
"We didn't? It's always been an issue, for some reason it's only recently you may have learned about it."
]
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"http://io9.com/5915418/before-environmental-regulations-pittsburgh-looked-like-the-capital-of-hell"
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|
3fd7d9 | why do we only get "infected" by bad bacteria? why aren't there positive infections? | Like bacteria that make you feel really good, or have more energy etc. Wouldn't they be more successful as we wouldn't kill them off? (Either naturally or with antibiotics) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3fd7d9/eli5_why_do_we_only_get_infected_by_bad_bacteria/ | {
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"There are. In fact, by cell count, you are far more bacteria than you are human. Your stomach is full of bacteria that helps you digest, giving you more energy. Unfortunately, antibiotics are indiscriminate and hurt them too.",
"Sure, \"good\" bacteria is what's in that pro-biotic yoghurt in the grocery store. There are more bacterial cells in your body than there are human cells, they do all sorts of things that are essential to your well-being.",
"There are many instances of where fecal transplants have treated many problems. Having a healthy gut flora can greatly enhance your health and well being."
]
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[],
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|
2tvcta | why does blizzard take _url_0_ offline every other tuesday for maintenance, yet most other game services never go down? | For example, PSN and XBL rarely go offline. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2tvcta/eli5_why_does_blizzard_take_battlenet_offline/ | {
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"text": [
"Most major mmos go down regularly for patching. Most mobas do as well. ",
"It gives them a chance to patch minor bugs and glitches that dont need to be addressed in actual patch notes. Also they restart servers let them cool down, etc..tons of stuff.",
"EvE goes down every day for 10-30 mins, and deploy a bog patch every month with about 2 hours downtime.\n\nLeague of Legends always go down every time they introduce a new patch every few weeks. ",
"Comparing _URL_1_ to PSN and XBL isn't exactly a fair comparison. _URL_1_ is a connection hub for the multiplayer aspect of Blizzard's games and a way to enforce DRM control over their games. _URL_1_ is also the server that you play those games on. XBL and PSN are also community hubs, but they aren't heavily used as game servers. When you pop CoD into your XBone and jump into multiplayer, you're not(always) playing on Microsoft servers, and you're certainly not playing on the servers that host XBL. But you can bet that the servers you do play your games on are brought down for maintenance on a regular basis. You just rarely notice it because there's an abundance of different servers to choose from.\n\nSince XBL and PSN networks aren't hosting the games you play and serve as more of a contact hub (connecting you to the services and people you want to be connected to by finding the servers hosting those things and people for you) it can easily be made redundant. This means during non-peak hours, I can shut off half of the servers to do maintenance, and no one will see an interruption in service...once those are done and back up and running, I can shut down the other half for service. Servers that host games, like _URL_0_ are almost all used up for different purposes, and the cost to build double the amount of servers used to create efficient redundancy is just absurd.\n\ntl;dr - All servers need regular maintenance _URL_1_ isn't the same thing as PSN and XBL. It hosts the games being played and that makes it harder to create effective redundancies. PSN and XBL are just connection hubs that rarely if ever actually host games of tripe-A scale, and so can easily incorporate effective redundancies to keep service running 24/7."
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"battle.net",
"Battle.net"
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26sy8w | why do human eyes turn red when a flash is used but dog eyes turn green? | Edit: Explained, everyone! Thank you for all the great answers! Very much appreciated! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26sy8w/eli5_why_do_human_eyes_turn_red_when_a_flash_is/ | {
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"text": [
"We have slightly different retinas than dogs do. Dogs have the ability to see in very low lighting because what appears green is a layer in their eyes that reflects light within the eyeball in order to increase the amount of light that hits the photoreceptors. Humans lack this adaptation but many other vertebrates have it. The red is most likely just a reflection of blood vessels.",
"Also, if you see a human's eyes reflecting white in pictures TAKE THEM TO THE DOCTOR! It's a sign of cancer. My cousin ended up blind in one eye due to retinoblastoma. His parents ended up catching it when they took a picture. ",
"The choroid coat of the eye in humans is full of blood vessels, which when a camera catches it, causes red eye in photos. Animals have a tapetum, which reflects the light from the back of the eye back to the front of the eye giving them better eyesight at night, and also giving them green eyes in photos. The reason that the tapetum has priority is because it is layered on top of the choroid, so the light is reflected back before the red choroid coat has a chance to see the light. In albino cats (or albino animals I'm assuming) they sometimes lack proper pigmentation, and their eyes will still show red in photos despite their use of the tapetum. ",
"One of the best ELI5 questions I have read in ages!\n\n\nAnd thank you u\\tqlkr"
]
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[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
56lzaf | how do they program traffic lights? how do they coordinate a grid of traffic lights so traffic flows properly? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56lzaf/eli5_how_do_they_program_traffic_lights_how_do/ | {
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" You simply account for high traffic times (green/red light durations change at busy intersections depending on time of day), you account for turn lanes (they use metal sensors in the ground if they only want turn signals activated when there are cars), you account for pedestrian crossing on sidewalks and whether to make them optional (always a walk signal or only when the button is pushed). And of course, you account for the neighboring lights and the flow of traffic they bring/halt.",
"It used to take a *lot* of exhaustive studying of traffic patterns to keep traffic lights programmed properly to keep jams to a minimum; lights in this system have intervals that are set ahead of time.\n\nThese days lights are increasingly controlled by computers. For this, there are induction sensors buried under the road surface that can sense the presence of cars and then a controlling computer that changes the lights based upon road usage rather than at set times.\n\nThis method allows dynamic adjustment to traffic conditions, which reduces jams."
]
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[],
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] |
||
1v8rrl | what is it about tomato based sauces that makes it a destroyer of tupperware in the microwave? | I'm guessing it's about the acid, but other acidic sauces don't seem to do as much damage according to my microwaving experiences. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v8rrl/eli5_what_is_it_about_tomato_based_sauces_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"ceq3jkp"
],
"score": [
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],
"text": [
"They are getting stained by Lycopene that ends up in the porous plastic.\n\nYou can denature it with a soak in a peroxide solution, they will oxidise and become free of color."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
f7h1au | how did teeth change throughout history? | I was wondering, nowadays we can have an almost perfect teeth layout, we have braces and know how to take care of them. How did that change throughout history? Did people choose partners with straight/healthy looking teeth and got children with better teeth? Are nowadays the teeth in a worse layout because of "hiding" former teeth by having braces? And how/why did the layout and quality of teeth change? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f7h1au/eli5_how_did_teeth_change_throughout_history/ | {
"a_id": [
"fib96d7"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Forcing teeth straight, unless the situation is truly physically detrimental, is usually cosmetic. It's culturally pushed hard in North America. I've heard part of the stigma that British have bad teeth is just that they don't see the need for the massive expense of braces and over whitening their teeth for beauty. Their teeth are still functional and healthy too."
]
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[]
] |
|
a4iqcz | why does poking a bruise sometimes feel good even though it’s painful? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a4iqcz/eli5_why_does_poking_a_bruise_sometimes_feel_good/ | {
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"text": [
"The pain and pleasure centers of the brain are right next to each other, and mild pain can cause them to get \"confused\" (as far as I understand it).\n\nIt's the same reason why some people like spicy foods and spanking in bed. I'm guessing that how masochistic you are is determined by how easily your pain and pleasure centers get confused."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
30y4dw | why, with the thousands and thousands of possible number/letter combos, would 2 license plates in the same area be even remotely similar? | For instance, my province (ON, Canada) does 4 letters, a space, and then 3 numbers. If my license plate is GUFY 334, would it not be in everyone's best interests for there to be no other cars with the same first 4 letters? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30y4dw/eli5_why_with_the_thousands_and_thousands_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"cpwv1gb"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"The numbers aren't random, there are patterns that relay certain informaiton about location, time registered, etc. Though its not universal, and I couldn't tell you what those patterns in canada mean, its likely there is a non-random code used to determine them."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
664d5u | when terminally ill patients want to be euthanized what substance is injected for them to pass away and why does it kill them? | do they just inject them with toxic things or other stuff? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/664d5u/eli5_when_terminally_ill_patients_want_to_be/ | {
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"text": [
"Secobarbitol as a capsule, pentobarbitol as a liquid. Both are barbiturates. \n\nLow does of secobarbitol is actually used for insomnia and anxiety. \n\nMakes you sleepy, then you sleep. Your central nervous system becomes depressed, leading to brachycardia and brain death. \n\nBasically everything slows down until you die. \n\nWorks by 'enhancing the GABA neurotransmitter in the brain.'- _URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"netdoctor.co.uk"
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|
3iyyjb | wrinkle-free clothing. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3iyyjb/eli5_wrinklefree_clothing/ | {
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"text": [
"Extremely short answer. Plasticity - some things can be bent over on themselves and some cannot. Wrinkle free material is not bothered by bending, like a rubber band. ",
"Cross-linking agents like DMDHEU. Cotton fiber surfaces have hydroxyl groups sticking out from them, and they are partially negatively charged, so they can attack positively charged atoms. An alkylating agent is a molecule that has an atom attached to an easily lost negative moiety. This can be \"pushed out\" as a negative ion, and replaced by another. You take a molecule that has two of them, and the hydroxyls in cotton will attack both of them. This cross-links loosely hanging fibers, so that they don't find new conformations like wrinkles, and return to the original shape when heated and relaxed. Since it's a permanent covalent bond, it will not go away, unlike the weak hydrogen bonds present in regular cotton.\n\nA picture of what the cross-link looks like is [here](_URL_0_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i48/Wrinkle-Free-Cotton.html"
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||
6s3rlb | what are essential tremors? what is the correlation with parkinsons disease if any? | Recently been getting a uncharacteristic and uncontrollable tremor in my right hand when making a fist. Doctor wasnt really able to tell me much other than it is not uncommon and it is incurable. Being a hypocondriac has lead me down a google rabbithole that i wish i never pursued. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6s3rlb/eli5_what_are_essential_tremors_what_is_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"dl9v86b"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The \"essential\" in the name means it's something on its own - I'm sure you've looked up the history of the term - and it's idiopathic, meaning having no known cause.\n\nIt's only related to Parkinson's in that it's sometimes mistaken for it. Also I'm not a neurologist and you should listen to yours!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
6ycolh | why is it so difficult to swallow when you look up, or tilt your head backwards? | I would assume it's because your throat is being pinched in a manner, but why so easily? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ycolh/elif_why_is_it_so_difficult_to_swallow_when_you/ | {
"a_id": [
"dmmfebd"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Because tilting your head back opens your airway and they can't both be open at the same time."
]
} | [] | [] | [
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] |
|
5fsbz9 | why does banana substitute the fat in baked goods successfully? | I've seen lots of recipes that replace the oil/butter with applesauce or banana which don't seem to be made of similar components. Why does it work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5fsbz9/eli5_why_does_banana_substitute_the_fat_in_baked/ | {
"a_id": [
"dampffr"
],
"score": [
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],
"text": [
"The purpose of oil is to prevent water from reacting with the gluten in the flour (which tends to make your baked goods 'chewy'). \nApplesauce and bananas contain something called \"pectin\" which can also prevent gluten from doing its thing. \nThe mechanisms however are different - oil works by blocking water from getting to the gluten - Pectin works by competing with the gluten, that is the pectin will react with/absorb the water before it can react with the gluten. "
]
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[]
] |
|
20drth | why do most sinks have that "u" shape at the bottom? i've seen it in some urinals and toilets too... | If you ever look under many sinks (kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, etc).. you'll notice that the drainage pipes form a little U before going off into the wall... Why is there that U shape? What good does it do? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20drth/eli5_why_do_most_sinks_have_that_u_shape_at_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cg293ty",
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15,
2
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"text": [
"Its called a trap and it prevents sewer gas from backing up the pipe into the sink or toilet/urinal. Water stays in that bend in the pipe to \"trap\" the gas behind it.",
"Follow up question: if it's for getting a hold of things that accidentally fell in, then is it for the same purpose on toilets? or is the U shape on toilets a different story? "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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|
3ccw9y | why would anyone give out a predatory loan? if they know it cannot be paid back why would the loaner be interested in the arrangement? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ccw9y/eli5why_would_anyone_give_out_a_predatory_loan_if/ | {
"a_id": [
"csuch1z"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"There are two kinds of predatory loans out there. You're probably talking about the payday type. The loaner is interested because, even if the loan is never paid out, something is going to be paid out. I can offer you $1000 now, with 25% interest due in a week, and I think that you won't be able to pay it back. If you're dumb enough to take that deal, next week you owe me $1250. You only pay back 750. You say \"I'll have the rest next week I promise\". So, you owe $500, add 25% and that's 625. Maybe you manage to pay off the whole thing (this would put you in a minority of people who take these loans). You have now in two weeks paid $1875 for a temporary $1000, and I was out $1000 for a week for a $875 profit. That's not a bad deal for me. \n\nThe other type is characterized by subprime mortgages. It's basically, you give someone a loan that you know you can't afford, and then you go someplace else and you bet a whole bunch of money on your victim defaulting on their mortgage. This double-dealing is what caused the 2007 economic crisis. "
]
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[]
] |
||
8a25kz | when riding a bike, why does turning your ear towards the wind make it more quiet? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8a25kz/eli5_when_riding_a_bike_why_does_turning_your_ear/ | {
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"text": [
"It forms a pocket of pressurized air that other air flows around, stopping turbulent air from making your eardrum vibrate.",
"Here. Get a (empty preferred, but a bit of water at the bottom is fine) water bottle with a small opening. Now blow across it. You will likely hear a loud whooshing sound. Now blow directly into it from the top. Nothing, right? That's pretty much what's happening when you turn your ear toward the wind, except sideways. Blowing across the bottle hole (ear canal) causes the now trapped air to vibrate instead of move, which produces sound. Blowing into it pushes the air out/forms a slight pressurized area inside the bottle/ear canal rather than vibrating."
]
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[],
[]
] |
||
3scipe | why is 1/sin(x) called cosecant and not secant? | To me it would make for sense for sin and secant to match up instead of sin and cosecant. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3scipe/eli5_why_is_1sinx_called_cosecant_and_not_secant/ | {
"a_id": [
"cwvzljf"
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"text": [
"A right triangle has one 90 degree angle and two other angles. These angles are *complements* of one another (i.e., they add up to 90 degrees). The *co-* in *cosine* means that the function is the *sine of the complementary angle*. The *secant* gets its name from the fact that the line you draw to calculate this value geometrically *cuts across* the circle... like in the words section, dissect, vivisection, etc. Basically, there were separate sine, secant, and tangent functions before people thought of the convention of adding co- to denote the complementary function."
]
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[]
] |
|
74modf | how does the police choose what cars to use as patrol cars? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/74modf/eli5_how_does_the_police_choose_what_cars_to_use/ | {
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"Usually the same as how any other large business makes expensive purchases. \n\nThe determine what they need, they put it out for tender. Companies reply with offers, they accept the most appealing offer. The company delivers the product. ",
"It's a bit interesting for the police because they want both:\nCheap cars to drive around in neighborhoods without looking like they're trying to intimidate anyone, and\npowerful cars that can get places quickly and chase criminals.\nThey usually pick rather \"generic\" looking cars and just fit bigger, more powerful engines for the latter role.",
"I asked my father in law who was a retired lieutenant in a good sized department.\n\n1. Safety. Car accidents are the #1 cause of death for officers\n\n2. Space, they have a lot of gear and need seats big enough to get in and out with their vest and belt on, also a rear seat big enough to carry anybody that needs a ride.\n\n3. Speed/handling popular police cars (almost all American) have \"police packages\" from the factory. They may have more horsepower, stiffer suspension, a pushbar front bumper. The only time I remember departments going with foreign made vehicles was BMW motorcycles and that was because BMW covered maintenance. ",
"At least in Spain, usually the city council launches like a public contest (just really don't know the exact word) where they announce the requirements all the contestants need to meet, how much money will they spend, number of cars needed, in how much time will they need them, etc. They launch this for like 2 months for example.\n\nIn those 2 months different car makers appeal with their different models in which they can meet all the requirements.\n\nWhen it finishes, the city council decides and chooses the one that meets all the requirements and is cheaper. ",
"First off, there are only a handful of models that car makers have created specific police versions for... currently, Ford makes versions of the Taurus and Explorer for police use. Chevy has a fleet-only Caprice model and also a version of the Tahoe. Dodge offer a Charger.\n\nThese models are all able to offer what police are looking for -- they generally want a larger sedan or SUV with upgraded engines, suspensions, space for gear, wiring for the additional electronics/communications, room to install a safety barrier between front and back seats, easy and cheap to repair. \n\nTypically, the forces would put out requests for bids, specifying what they are looking for a getting bid to provide that... ie. they want 10 cars a year for next 5 years, with X, Y, Z features.\n\nIn the case of Chicago, our city specifically went with the Ford models during the last contract because those models are made here in Chicago so it's supporting local jobs/workers.",
"Depends on department and needs. Reliability and maintance play a big roll. Crown vics were loved because parts were cheap, car was big and very reliable. Hp isnt really a thing with police cars. Its more can they stop and can they stop really hard over and over again without wearing brakes quickly. These cars take a ton of abuse. Climbing curbs being pushed to limits. Not only that they need to be able to idle long periods of time and run all day. Crown vics were great at this. When power was out hear in Florida for a week due to hurricane Irma. They used crown vic police cars to power major intersection stop lights. When ford announced they were ending production they had to keep the factory open longer than intended to accomodate all the orders that flooded in from police departments. Tahoe has become popular in my area because of its durability and it's size. ",
"We’re not lucky enough this side of the pond to have Police spec cars for our normal run of the mill cars. We’ll normally have something like a Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, or a generic family size hatchback with an engine less than 2.0. We are now going over to BMW 2 series however. \n\nA lot of the time it is due to cost. However, sometimes it is due to the public perceptions and having existing contracts. For instance, we were offered a BMW fleet for a very good price. However, we would have had to change our maintenance contract as BMW would have wanted the servicing, and because they were concerned what he public would think if we were all driving around in BMWs. Hence we ended up with Hyundai i30s for a while, which are dreadful cars and completely unsuited. \n\nSpecialised units will have more specialised cars, with traffic having big Volvos or BMW estates because of the kit they carry, with armed Response having BMW X5s, again because of the weight of kit. \n\nAlso, we have completely different roads over here. As much as I’d want one, a Crown Vic isn’t suitable for a lot of our towns and cities. "
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6krsgm | why was las vegas built in such miserable heat? | I just find it strange to built such a large and well known city in the desert where it can be as hot at 120°. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6krsgm/eli5_why_was_las_vegas_built_in_such_miserable/ | {
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"The location was chosen for several reasons:\n\n- It's a bit of a grassy oasis compared to the surrounding land. \"Las vegas\" actually means the fertile grassy valleys.\n- It's on a major road from Los Angeles.\n- It's near a major hydroelectric dam, so plenty of electricity.\n- It's far enough away from the next city so there was very little enforcement of minor laws or moral traditions, so they were able to set up gambling and other naughty stuff without being stopped.",
"Back in the early 20th century there was a huge governmental push for the settling of the west. This included California, Arizona, Nevada, etc. They basically paid and subsidized for the enormously expensive water infrastructure that was needed due to the prohibitive climate. Then investors and groups of people came in because land was so cheap it was basically free and water was provided for. We built a ton of dams in those days and it's the reason we still farm in areas where we lose a ton of water to evaporation.",
"Las Vegas was a water stop on the Old Spanish Trail. The springs (which fed the meadows) created a rare oasis, and a pleasant one. For much of the year, Las Vegas has beautiful weather: mild sunny days, cool nights. That was traveling time.\n\nThe Old Spanish Trail connected the Pacific Coast ports with Santa Fe, the inland-northern top of Spain/Mexico's North American empire. It was a treacherous road west over the Mojave Desert, and Las Vegas was a full-service wagon-road stop. When railroads connected Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, Las Vegas was a natural place for a railway town with all the services rail travelers needed.\n\nBecause Arizona choose poorly in the Civil War, the area that is now Las Vegas in Clark County, NV, was taken from the northwest tip of Arizona. And that proximity to Los Angeles during the economic boom of the post-WWII era made it acceptably close to Los Angeles for a weekend of Sinatra and Ann Margaret and gambling over martinis.\n\n—Former Nevadan here. (And one who greatly enjoyed the state's history!) "
]
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cd8ps7 | why is mercury poisonous? what exactly is it doing to the body, and why can it not be resisted? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cd8ps7/eli5_why_is_mercury_poisonous_what_exactly_is_it/ | {
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"TLDR: It prevents your cells from repairing themselves from everyday damage, and it's very hard to flush out of your system.\n\nMercury like many other toxic heavy metals accumulates in your body over time. Your body has a difficult time flushing it out so even if the source of Mercury poisoning is small, if it persists then it will accumulate over time, possibly reaching poisonous levels.\n\nNo amount of Mercury is considered safe (The background level in humans is zero, so ideally you should avoid exposure) but you can have a certain amount of Mercury in your system without any ill effects. Which is why you are able to safely consume certain fish like Tuna that naturally have tiny amounts of Mercury in the meat.\n\nMercury is not a disease and therefore your immune system doesn't fight against it. Your body has to rely on organs like the liver and kidneys to flush the toxin out, but it happens that our bodies aren't really good at that so it takes a long time to flush mercury out.\n\nMercury poisoning can cause a variety of problems including muscle weakness, hair and nail loss, kidney dysfunction, etc but is most well known for causing neurological problems including memory loss, difficulty sleeping, and in bad cases insanity.\n\nMercury causes damage in various ways, but one of the most significant is it prevents your cells from repairing themselves from oxidization damage which constantly occurs by our bodies nature. Since the brain uses more oxygen by mass than any other part of your body, the damage to the brain is most severe.",
"I can’t answer your question, but “The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements” is a fascinating book on how the elements were discovered and worth a read if the topic interests you.",
"Elements come in different oxidation states (Number of protons - Number of electrons). When Mercury lacks two electrons (Hg^(2+)), it gets confused with other metals like Magnesium (Mg^(2+)) by certain proteins that usually contain Magnesium. These proteins incorporate Hg instead, which renders them useless. Since Hg stays in your body this process continues even after the useless protein got destroyed by the cell. Hg just slips into another comfy pocket of a protein. \n\n\nThat's why Hg^(2+) is poisonous.",
"Elemental mercury is actually fairly nonreactive and does not cause much damage if ingested (orally) it's been used in fillings like gold. Other metals can also be fairly toxic in different oxidative states, even gold for example. It is mercury cations and mercury containing compound like dimethyl mercury as well as mercury vapour that cause major damage and accumulate in parts of the body where other elements would naturally be, messing up the chemistry of the body causing proteins to function incorrectly, resulting in brain damage among other problems that will eventually result in death if they are left untreated and continue to accumulate in the body, since we have a hard time excreting certain heavy metals once they form compounds within the body. Chelation therapy is the main treatment for heavy metal poisoning.",
"Our bodies have lots of tiny, tiny machines inside our cells. These machines often have a bit of metal in them, which they use to do their jobs. \n\nFor example, there's something called Haemoglobin in your blood. This has a tiny piece of iron at its centre. It uses this iron to latch on to oxygen and carry it around.\n\nOther machines use different metals, and do different things. The metal Selenium is used in a machine (an 'enzyme') that helps us use vitamins C and E, for example.\n\nThe metals that these machines use have specific properties. Generally, they're able to latch onto things in one environment, and let go of them in others. Iron can latch on to oxygen in your lungs, where there's lots of it, and let go of it in your muscles, where there's very little. This is why each machine needs very specific metals to do specific jobs. \n\nHeavy metals like Mercury and Arsenic are dangerous because they can replace useful metals like Iron and Selenium in these machines. This is irreversible - once Mercury manages to replace Selenium in a machine, there's no removing it. The whole machine has to be scrapped. And since our bodies aren't very good at getting rid of Mercury, scrapping the machine will often just free up the mercury to go ruin another machine. The result is that if you have too much mercury in your body, a bunch of the machines that keep you healthy will just stop working.\n\nWe treat this with something called 'chelation'. This involves a medicine that is really good at trapping mercury and holding onto it. This means that instead of lodging into our machines, the Mercury lodges into the medicine."
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3e3lp3 | scientifically speaking, what is the most widely believed theory of who the very first humans were and how they came to be? | This issue has always confused me because there are of course so many different theories. I attended a Church of England school, which is Christian, for anyone who isn't familiar. We're not a religious family, it was just a good school. They taught creationism, unsurprisingly. I am completely agnostic. But I definitely believe in science. But I've never really understood where science is at with this topic and have heard so many different things. I'd appreciate any insight! Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3e3lp3/eli5_scientifically_speaking_what_is_the_most/ | {
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"My non-scientist understanding:\n\nLike all life on earth, humans evolved from earlier species through natural selection as well as random genetic mutation. The first anatomically modern humans are believed to have emerged in Africa about 200,000 years ago, although other hominid species had been around for millions of years. \n\nMost scientists believe that humans migrated out of Africa and across the Eurasian (and eventually North/South American) continent in several waves, and that each migrant population interbred with other hominid species (e.g., the Neanderthals) to varying degrees.",
"Not answering your question, but I am surprised they taught creationism as fact. I went to private catholic schools (in Honolulu where like 50% of everybody does as the public schools are shit) from grades K-9^th, and was never taught creationism as fact (just as what the Bible says), we were taught evolution in science class. I am Catholic (far from a die-hard though) and even my pastor (when I go, which is rarely) says that the Bible is not a history book, the Pope even allows Catholics to believe in evolution and the Big Bang, just so long as believing that God is still responsible. ",
"The evidence for evolution is overwhelming and no theory in the last 200 years comes close to answering our origins. The evidence for being magically created out of thin air and talking snakes is pretty thin on the ground.",
"The first Humans began in Africa ~2.5 Million years back when most of Africa was mostly lush Jungle, but around that time, Africa's Jungles began to shrink and dwindle into grassland as a sudden worldwide climate change began. \n\nWith less trees for Monkey's to swing to and from, some began to trek amongst the ground to get to the next available outcrop of trees. Usually for food. It is here were Humans got their start in evolution to Modern Man. Over the next few hundred Thousand years, the Jungles shrunk further till only grassland was left, and the lack of food and suitable habitation forced early Prehistoric man to trek northward and colonize Europe, Asia, the Polynesian Islands, Australia, and over the frozen Bearing Straight (during the Ice Age) into the Americas. "
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kcffh | why the japanese confuse "l" and "r." | It's been a joke for a long time, but all the articles I found were hardcore linguistics. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kcffh/eli5_why_the_japanese_confuse_l_and_r/ | {
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"A human vocal system can make a huge variety of sounds. Each language only uses certain number of those sounds. Once a person is past a certain age, it is hard for them to learn sounds that aren't a part of the language that they grew up speaking. \n\nJapanese doesn't have separate sounds for the letters L and R. The sound for R is the closest one they have to the sound for L. When they try to say an English word with an L sounds, they closest one they can think of is R. ",
"The difference between an \"l\" and an \"r\" is in where you put the tip of your tongue while vibrating your vocal cords. In Japan they don't use this distinction. They'll make one sound (phoneme) with the same vocal cord vibration, but the tongue tip just moves up and down, not forward+up vs. backward+up. Since they don't have to learn this distinction as kids, there is some possibility that they may not even hear the distinction. I'm not sure about that part though.\n\nI note that last part about not hearing it because, in a close analogy, Mandarin Chinese has (I believe) at least one \"s\" sound that English does not. (Imagine trying to make a SH sound but with your tongue pulled back. I think that's it.) I tried to learn basic Chinese phonetics once and had a hard time even hearing the differences that seemed obvious to native Chinese speakers.",
"Simply put, there is no l in Japanese, and the sound they use for r is somewhere in between l and r.\n\nAs an analogy, English doesn't care about aspiration (e.g. the difference between khan and kan), so English speakers learning a language that observes this difference (Chinese or Hindi) sometimes confuse them.",
"They don't confuse it. The L is not really part of the language and so it gets mispronounced. It is not as common as it once was. I know a ton of Japanese people all under the age 35 and none of them mispronounce L. ",
"A human vocal system can make a huge variety of sounds. Each language only uses certain number of those sounds. Once a person is past a certain age, it is hard for them to learn sounds that aren't a part of the language that they grew up speaking. \n\nJapanese doesn't have separate sounds for the letters L and R. The sound for R is the closest one they have to the sound for L. When they try to say an English word with an L sounds, they closest one they can think of is R. ",
"The difference between an \"l\" and an \"r\" is in where you put the tip of your tongue while vibrating your vocal cords. In Japan they don't use this distinction. They'll make one sound (phoneme) with the same vocal cord vibration, but the tongue tip just moves up and down, not forward+up vs. backward+up. Since they don't have to learn this distinction as kids, there is some possibility that they may not even hear the distinction. I'm not sure about that part though.\n\nI note that last part about not hearing it because, in a close analogy, Mandarin Chinese has (I believe) at least one \"s\" sound that English does not. (Imagine trying to make a SH sound but with your tongue pulled back. I think that's it.) I tried to learn basic Chinese phonetics once and had a hard time even hearing the differences that seemed obvious to native Chinese speakers.",
"Simply put, there is no l in Japanese, and the sound they use for r is somewhere in between l and r.\n\nAs an analogy, English doesn't care about aspiration (e.g. the difference between khan and kan), so English speakers learning a language that observes this difference (Chinese or Hindi) sometimes confuse them.",
"They don't confuse it. The L is not really part of the language and so it gets mispronounced. It is not as common as it once was. I know a ton of Japanese people all under the age 35 and none of them mispronounce L. "
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2m6tcq | how do off brands like great value make money? | I'm sitting here eating Great Value Apple Jacks, which are clearly just renamed to Apple Crisps, as with other brands that are just renamed to something similar from Great Value. How do off brand companies make money off of renaming groceries? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2m6tcq/eli5_how_do_off_brands_like_great_value_make_money/ | {
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"They're still charging more than the cost of making the product. By doing their packaging and branding \"in house,\" they save a lot of money in manufacturing, allowing them to lower the price",
"Typically off brands use less expensive ingredients than name brands, or in different ratios to reduce cost. For example, Dannon yogurt and Great Value yogurt are almost identical, even made in the same place, but Dannon uses a higher quality milk.",
"There's also the cost of advertising. Store brands spend no money on advertising and since their product shares shelf space with name brand items they get visibility just by being in proximity with the name brand items."
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2n2sv9 | if nothing existed before the big bang, how was the subatomic particle able to create the universe? | How did it even get there? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2n2sv9/eli5_if_nothing_existed_before_the_big_bang_how/ | {
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"This is a very common misconception as we don't say that nothing existed prior to the big bang, no scientist at least says that. We say we don't know what, if anything, existed before the Big Bang and for all we know is that unknown thing it is still there. \n\nThere are a plethora of theories as to what the pre universe was. \n\nMy personal favorite theory is that this universe was caused by the heat death and collapse of an older universe in an endless stream of recycling of subatomic particles. The validity is up for debate but this theory appeals to me. This previous universe would represent the possibilities that present themselves within the laws of physics. Comically this theory is oft represented in futurama.\n\nMy favorite is also a strain of multiverse theory that all things within the laws of physics do happen but not all at once. This theory states the universe is a never ending stream of cause and effect which shapes the next universe. My personal preferences really doesn't amount to a hill of beans in reality beyond of course what I chose to use as an example when talking about the multitude of theories out there.\n\nEdit: I called the big bang the big bag lol\n",
"The usage of \"before\" in your question suggests our understanding of time extends to the moment of the big bang.\nOur understanding of how time works breaks down at the moment of the big bang. It is analogous to how our understanding of north breaks down at the north pole. \n\n- What is north of the north pole? Nothing.\n- What is before the creation of time as we know it? Nothing.\n\nIt doesn't necessarily suggest something comes out of nothing, its simply means we will require a new definition to describe what is actually happening at that exact moment. \n\n\n",
"Contrary to popular misconception the big bang is the best working theory we have for the **evolution** of the universe, not the **origin**. As others have said already, what existed before the big bang is speculation. The singularity everything came from is called so because we can't model, predict or understand the physics at that point. But even if it were nothing. [Nothing isn't nothing anymore.](_URL_0_) You might as well ask \"If no life existed before evolution...\" but Darwinian evolution doesn't explain abiogenesis, it explains what happened after.\n\n\n\nSomeone else said it best on wikipedia:\n > The Big Bang theory does not provide any explanation for the initial conditions of the universe; rather, it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe going forward from that point on.\n\n\n\nHere is the colliding membrane theory explaining how the big bang might have started. I don't know how much weight it holds. _URL_1_\n\n\n\nThe question I would like answered is this. Did the big bang start off really slow or has it ever slowed down and sped up? Because right now expansion is accelerating right? Or has it been constantly and consistently been accelerating for 13.8 billion years?"
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2bhi2f | why do my glasses still correct my vision if i turn them backwards? | If the convex shape of the lens is supposed to be the thing refocusing my vision, why can I see perfectly through my glasses when I turn them around with the temples facing away from me?
EDIT: I'm seeing a couple of good explanation but I do think they fully answer the question. If it helps I have convex lenses and not biconvex. Either way I'm learning a lot about lenses so thank you. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bhi2f/eli5why_do_my_glasses_still_correct_my_vision_if/ | {
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"Your glasses might be fitted with double-concave/convex lenses.",
"Weird, mine don't correct them when flipped around. At least not as well. They still improve my woeful vision, but its a much lesser effect.",
"So far as I know, a single lens will refract light in the same way regardless of the direction of light through the lens. The shape of the lens on each side only effects the way light refracts at that interface, and the combination of both results in the same overall refraction independant of direction.",
"The most basic shape of lenses (convex vs. concave, disregarding other aspects like astigmatism) is symmetrical, as in [these](_URL_0_) pictures.\n\nConvex lenses \"pull\" light rays closer together as they pass through, while concave lenses \"push\" them further apart. This happens to light passing through the lens in either direction, so you're still getting the same basic corrective effect. (This is also why magnifying glasses magnify both ways, but don't ask me why telescopes don't. It has to do with multiple lenses, I think.)\n\nHow good it works depends on stuff like whether your glasses also correct astigmatism, and (if your eyes aren't identical) whether you've turned them in such a way that the glasses are switched or not.",
"Glasses lenses have 2 different curves to them, a convex front curve and a concave back curve (since those terms are in your question I'm going to assume you don't need them explained). Depending on the type of correction you need, one is steeper than the other, and the steeper the curve, the stronger the power of that surface.\n\nFor example, say you are a nearsighted person who needs -3.00 of correction to see clearly. The front curve could have a power of +2.00 and the back curve -5.00. Those powers added together equal the power you need in your glasses. This does ignore the thickness of the glasses lens, which isn't exactly correct to do, but the end result will be roughly the same no matter which way the powers are added. Thus the lenses roughly work the same whichever way you look in them.\n\nNote: as someone else said, this doesn't work quite so well if you have astigmatism correction in your lenses."
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2jzuzq | cross/crucifix as a symbol of christianity? | How did the cross come to be a symbol of christianity. I mean, I get the Jesus was killed on one, but so were many other people of that era..
Did the cross have some other spiritual significance before the crucifixion, or wasn't it just an instrument of execution?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jzuzq/eli5crosscrucifix_as_a_symbol_of_christianity/ | {
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"Christianity is primarily about the idea \"jesus died for your sins\". That's why he's considered so important. The cross is a symbol of the most important thing done by the primary figure of the religion.\n\nIt didn't really have spiritual significance beforehand, although the romans would normally reserve crucifiction for rebellion against the state, and they would do crucifictions, which took some time to finish on the roads leading into cities, to remind people about what happens to those who oppose the roman government.",
"My churches sunday school explanations.\n\nWe wear the cross to bear the burden that Jesus bore for us.\nAnd, As a reminder as his sacrifice."
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bq3ft2 | how do cuts become new skin? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bq3ft2/eli5_how_do_cuts_become_new_skin/ | {
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"Most of your skin is dead/dying cells. They are just there to act as a physical barrier. The living cells which divide and produce these dead cells are way below deep under the skin.\n\nSo when you get a shallow cut, the layer of dead skin cells is destroyed but the living cells underneath survive and continue what they’re doing. Eventually the skin returns to normal.\n\nWhen you get a deep cut the living cells can be destroyed. Sometimes they can recover, but other times they can’t so a scar is formed."
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av9dzs | how does a tire stay seated on a wheel even if all the pressure has been lost? | I understand that there's something called a tire bead, but what exactly is happening when a tire being mounted is inflated with enough pressure that it generates a loud bang, and then sticks to the wheel forever more until forcibly removed (even if it loses all of its air at some point)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/av9dzs/eli5_how_does_a_tire_stay_seated_on_a_wheel_even/ | {
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"The reason that you need force to remove it is because you need force to get it there in the first place. The inner diameter of the tire is lower the the outer diameter of the wheel so need to stretch/deform it to get it to fit and for large tires you need a lot of force to get it there. \n\nThe edge of the tire is the tire bead and it is in most case high tensile strength steel wire encased in rubber so it is inflexible and strong so it will stay on the wheel regardless of the pressure and is har to remove.\n\nIf you ever tried to change tie you notice that even remove a bicycle tire can be hand and they the are design so you can do it by hand with small tool but larger tier are designed for machines assistance when you out them on and remove them.",
"It stay mainly because it isnt taken off often or at all in its life span, trust me if you drive on a deflated tire it will come off the rim at some point",
"It's just a really tight fit. That bang you hear is the bead of the tire snapping into place on the rim. There is a lip on the rim that the bead hits when it snaps into place. If your tire is flat and you turn sharply with some speed you can cause the bead to unseat."
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2b7tjq | does genetics determine your bust size? | My mother has a B cup currently however I am C cup. Does the parents genes play a part in the childs genes when it comes to bust size? Or does the body decides how big they get based on chance? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b7tjq/eli5_does_genetics_determine_your_bust_size/ | {
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"They'll always be a reflection of your size, I.e. as you grow so may they. As far as genetics go though they are a factor of your genes to start. This is both from your father and mother, I.e. genes passed from your grandparents. \n\nI don't believe that it's controlled by any one gene though and really I'd be shocked if geneticists were actively searching for the breast size genes\n\nEdit: Fuck me, _URL_0_",
"It is largely genetic.\n\nBear in mind you other get genes from your father, which will equally contribute to your breast size."
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2mkbk9 | /u/unidan | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mkbk9/eli5_uunidan/ | {
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"Simply put;\n\nHe was a biologist who appeared everywhere, randomly in threads, typically when people weren't sure what something was, and he clarified. With extreme, intelligent, accurate detail.\n\nReddit liked him because he was basically a reddit super hero, appearing when people needed info. \n\nThis accrued him a following where people would upvote ANYTHING he said, just so it could be seen. Typically, this was helpful, but sometimes it was a random \"lol\" comment. \n\n\n\nNow, the incident with him being banned. He had this following, with people upvoting him for no reason, yet still felt the need to have (at least) 5 alt accounts, that he used to upvote his own posts, and downvote others. Why he would do this, when he had a plethora of people willing and ready to do (and that regularly did) this for him, is beyond everyone except /u/Unidan.\n\n\n\nTL;DR: Super informative, fun person, who let his following get to his head, even though he didn't need to. ",
"Unidan was a pretty cool reddit guy who talked about biology. He was pretty popular for providing a voice of reason in arguments.\n\nCirclejerk obsesses about him because he got banned. \n\nUnidan had several accounts that he would log onto and upvote his own comments with. To make it appear like the community would always agree with him. So the echo chamber of reddit, then kept upvoting him. Since when you see a comment at +12 it must be decent and agreed with.\n\nHe was caught, and banned.\n\nBut he did it for the karma, so circlejerk loves him, because they do it for the upboats.",
"Circlejerk is obsessed with him because Reddit is obsessed with him. Circlejerk parodies Reddit. Check it out."
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33g686 | the possibility of a bigfoot-like creature actually existing based on scientific and historic evidence. | I'd just like to see some actual facts instead of ratings based TV crap. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33g686/eli5_the_possibility_of_a_bigfootlike_creature/ | {
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"If bigfoot really existed, you wouldn't have to ask in eli5. \n\nAll of the new species we're discovering now, are either clarifications of what was previously thought to be a subspecies, or some small critter in some remote part of the world or deep sea. A human sized creature wandering around the forests of the pacific north west and somehow remaining undiscovered isn't going to happen.\n\nHikers, farmers, and logging companies are pretty much in every section of the Oregon and Washington forests. Plus all kinds of low altitude flights from police helicopters, private aircraft, forestry service etc. And of course satellites.",
"The possibility is little to none. I did a bit of research into it for a grad project, but the low down of it is that its largely just a hoax.\n\nBigfoot sightings are called in nearly everyday, across North America ([Handy Infographic](_URL_0_)). There have been so many sightings in the last 90+ years that the question must be asked, if a creature such as Bigfoot exists then where is it hiding? North America is a giant web of roads and highways, cities and towns, and for a Bigfoot to have been seen in so many different places across the continent then there should have been many more sightings of the creature(s) coming across civilization. Not to mention that for there to be so many sightings then there would have to be a sizable population base for a Bigfoot community. It would be impossible for the estimated population (10'000-20'000) of the Bigfoot species to be able to breed and go unnoticed for so long, especially when we have cameras EVERYWHERE, and the need for genetic diversity would keep them moving to different groups to breed. North America is a lot of land mass for thousands of large, 8 ft tall, incredibly extraordinary creatures to constantly be moving across. The fact of the matter is that its nigh impossible for North America to have a native species of primate, especially one so large.\n\nThis is only a tidbit of info though, and if you're interested in looking into more Bigfoot fact or lore I'd be happy to help answer anymore questions."
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21b4zp | why does the legal system allow for evidence to be disregarded simply because a form wasn't completed properly? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21b4zp/eli5_why_does_the_legal_system_allow_for_evidence/ | {
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"The idea is to make sure everything is done by the books so nothing is coerced or planted. The only way to do this fairly is to do it indiscriminately.",
"Well. . . it's not quite that simple. For starters, I'm a lawyer, so I do have some passing familiarity with the Rules of Evidence.\n\nBut I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about here. I've never heard of evidence being excluded on the basis of an incorrect form. Indeed, attorneys don't usually rely on forms when trying to get something into evidence.\n\nAs to your question elsewhere: \n\n > why is it so black and white rather than considering the cause of evidence becoming inadmissible?\n\nIt isn't really black-and-white, and the court does consider the nature of any objection to admissibility. Say there is some problem with a document. The court isn't going to exclude it *simply because there was a problem*. The court is going to consider the nature of the problem, the rule of evidence being violated, the severity of the conflict, the degree to which the party offering the evidence would be prejudiced if it were excluded, and the degree to which the party objecting would be prejudiced if it were admitted. \n\nThere are some pretty clear-cut examples--hearsay is a good one--but even there, there are so many exceptions that it's rarely as simple as it seems."
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3qswqm | how do we determine the directional source of a sound? | I was thinking about how sound sources are identifiable as coming from different directions. I realized that a noise source of a given volume is identifiably from the left or right depending upon which ear hears the noise at a higher volume or amplitude, and this volume differential allows us to identify left source from right source, if our head is upright. Then I realized that a noise source could be heard at the same volume differential from a range of places. For example, let's say a noise of a single frequency is produced in front and to the left of you. Your left ear would hear the noise at a higher volume than your right ear, but if the same noise is produced at the same frequency at the same distance to the left and behind you, despite the fact that the noise would be sensed at roughly the same volume differential between the left ear and right ear as when it was produced in the front/left source, the noise is identifiable as coming from in front or behind you. And there is a range of equidistant directional sources above and below you that would be heard at the same volume differential. Yet, we still can clearly identify the directional source of these noises in everyday life.
So, how do our ears and brains interpret sound to determine the direction of origin?
edit: Seems to be a big combination of effects. So far we've got, volume differential, timelapse between frequencies hitting different ears at different times after a source, shifting the head to triangulate, and if I'm reading this correctly, the ear shapes contribute changes to the noise being sensed depending upon position. Pretty cool! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qswqm/eli5_how_do_we_determine_the_directional_source/ | {
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"Due to the shape of our heads and ears, a sound from in front of and to the left vs behind and to the left would be heard differently in our right ear. The main portion of our ears is open towards our front, focusing on sounds coming from in front of us, the little flap thing also helps in this regard.",
"I think it has to do with the time difference between one ear hearing the sound first, then the other. ",
"Audio engineers began working on this problem when they began generating stereo music. They learned to produce a pleasing stereo effect using two sound tracks going to separate speakers. They did not work on vertical discrimination because they did not put in vertical speakers.\n\nAs you say, our brains use two ear inputs to determine sound source. Part of this is audio memory. We turn our heads slightly and our brains compare the difference in sound. This is part of our brains anatomy. We are the descendents of ancestors who analyzed their audio input well.\n\nWe can still be fooled as with stereo.\n\nWhen digital sound was introduced and the CD fromat was designed there were provisions for four separate audio tracks. But the existing recordings were stereo so two tracks were not used. Converting to recording four tracks and playing four tracks never really caught on.\n\nNow we have completely digital recordings in MP3 format. many people accept lower quality music than in the past.\n\nSpecial recordings can be made and played for situations such as amusement parks seeking a 3D effect on a ride.\n\nYou can still listen to very good recordings in different formats if you sought them out."
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4b7cje | if you have a two way mirror with a one way mirror right behind it to produce an infinite tunnel, why would angling it up or down make the tunnel appear to curve instead of just as a straight tunnel? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4b7cje/eli5_if_you_have_a_two_way_mirror_with_a_one_way/ | {
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"If you angled one of the mirrors by, say, 2 degrees, each reflection would be \"off\" by two degrees more than the reflection before it. You would, in this case, see a reflection at 2 degrees then at 4 degrees. I'm not sure of the exact equation, but it's not 2, 4, 6, 8 degrees, but rather a progression like 2, 4, 8, 16, et cetera. The logarithmic curve of this progression would cause the 'curve' in the 'tunnel'."
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3wjt9o | why is poland poor, while its next door neighbor germany is one of the richest in the world? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wjt9o/eli5_why_is_poland_poor_while_its_next_door/ | {
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"For the last hundred plus years poland has been passed around like a whore between every european empire during every european conquest. It's sad but they can't get free. \n\nEast Germany was poor as shit when they were under the red flag. They are still worse off. ",
"They have histories. Poland had a democracy where each member of the legislature could veto any law. Poland got conquered a lot. They could not even build a large defensive army without a veto.\n\nMore recently Poland was conquered by Nazi Germany, then by the Soviet Union defeating Nazi Germany. Communists ruled it for years following dictates from Moscow. This was not good for Poland."
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3gb3s0 | sovereign citizens | What are sovereign citizens? How do sovereign citizens justify certain laws not applying to them? What exactly is traveling and why do they mention it so much? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gb3s0/eli5_sovereign_citizens/ | {
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"Sovereigns [(they wouldn't ever consider themselves citizens) i will explain] ascribe to a certain Ideology that is built around Common Law. they call themselves Sovereigns because they see themselves as kings unto themselves. A citizen is under the rule of a government, so that is why they wouldn't call themselves a \"sovereign citizen.\" I don't ascribe to it personally but i did go down the rabbit hole to step into the mind of these people because like most I found their videos pretty weird. Common Law essentially is built around leaving people alone. If you have not personally harmed another human bodily or otherwise you are within you rights. They stipulate that all statutes have to be consented to to be valid. Getting a drivers licence is consenting so they don't get one or let the one they have expire. they will try to say everything in legaleze. example. they will not say \"I understand\" because saying \"I understand means to them \"I stand under and uphold\" what you just said. saying \"i understand but disagree\" would be an oxymoron. They see a court room like a ship at sea. As soon as one crosses the bar one is no longer in the republic but on a foreign ship thus giving up their rights. they believe this because courtrooms of today follow the admiralty law (or maritime law) Standing when the bailiff says \"all arise\" would be obeying the orders of another thus showing that one is not a sovereign (because a king does not follow the orders of a layman.) This would then make them subject (note that it is the same as a subject to a king) to the court. There are many other things that these people believe and really looking into what they believe was an interesting sociological research for me. i hope this explains it a little bit. ",
"Sovereign citizens is a term used to refer to individuals who subscribe to one of many pseudolegal theories. These theories usual revolve around claims that by saying certain terms, issuing certain proclamations, etc. you can not be subjected to the laws of the state. The exact nature of these theories and claims vary widely, but all of them are either laughed out of court by lawyers and judges, or actively ruled against. \n\nThe travelling thing resolves around a specific theory that asserts that the term driving refers only to operators of commercial vehicles, and the Deoartment of Motor Vehicles in the U.S. regulates 'driving'. Thus, the claim goes that 'travelling'--usually defined as operating a personal vehicle--is not subject to the DMV and thus you can drive without a drivers license. For more detail please see this r/legal advice thread: _URL_0_",
"They use a variety of bizarre and complex legal bullshit to claim they are exempt from the law.\n\nA common technique is claiming their legal identity is separate from their actual identity. John Smith takes out a loan, but when they come to collect, they claim it is the some other entity, JOHN SMITH, who actually owes them the money. That is where the whole \"sovereign\" thing comes form, someone who has severed themselves from there legal identity can exercise sovereignty over the law.\n\nThe also are fond of non-existent legal loopholes, intellectually equivalent to claiming you didn't get cooties because your fingers were crossed. For example, if a courtroom flies a US flag with fringe on it, that is an admiralty flag, and anything they say is only valid at sea. \n\nThey have had some success, because their often impenetrable volumes of legal gibberish can overwhelm smaller courts, who will sometimes drop cases rather than deal with them. But every time a court has dealt with them, they have lost, badly. Many them are server long jail terms for stupid reason. ",
"One thing nobody mentioned is that sovereign citizens believe it is wrong to be inducted into the law of a country just because you were born there, because... who gave you the choice?\n\nThey tend to see the US government as illegitimate, phony. In their ideology, it's wrong for someone else to rule over you without reason. Just being born is insufficient reason.\n\nThey question the law because they are critical of it and where it is headed."
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21rggl | how did the nsa tap the german chancellors phone? | I read on the front page that the NSA tapped the German Chancellors phone. How would they go about that? Wouldn't they need to have access to her phone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21rggl/eli5_how_did_the_nsa_tap_the_german_chancellors/ | {
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"They intercepted the signal from her mobile phone and simply decrypted it. Since she often would use a normal 2G/3G cellphone the decryption is basic. Also she likes to use messaging a lot and I believe that is even easier to decrypt. \nThe US embassy in Berlin is within line of sight of the Reichstag building and seems to have advanced listening equipment on its roof. \n \nMerkel also has a specially designed phone that encrypts calls to military level but this phone only works with a few hundred other politicans or high level government employees who have exactly the same model. \nThe official version is that she would use the government issue encryption phone for government business while using her normal phone for everyday business with her political party. But if you think about it for a second, you'll see that both can hardly be kept separate. "
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9n12zd | what happens if there’s a natural disaster during an election? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9n12zd/eli5_what_happens_if_theres_a_natural_disaster/ | {
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"It's up to the state/local election board. ",
"I've been looking to see what the procedure would be in the UK, where fortunately natural disasters are rare.\n\nReturning Officers - the people in charge of the election in each area - have the power to adjourn the poll and continue the next day.\n\nI'm not sure what happens in more serious situations. I've looked at the 1983 *Representation of the People* Act and it doesn't appear to have any provisions for postponing elections. I don't believe it's ever happened so it could be a situation without any clear rules. It might be governed by some obscure legislation from the 19th century, or perhaps based on the monarch's powers to appoint Prime Ministers and dissolve Parliament."
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5umyv5 | can an electric car be charged wirelessly like the samsung galaxy's? | Imagine being able to park your car in a parking lot, and it's charging. No need to fumble around with connectors and not knowing if you have the right dongle to match the pump. Even just a mat that you would lay on your garage floor would be cool. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5umyv5/eli5_can_an_electric_car_be_charged_wirelessly/ | {
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"It is coming:\n\n* September 2015 AUDI Wireless Charging(AWC) presented a 3.6 kW inductive charger during the 66th International Motor Show (IAA) 2015.\n\n* September 17, 2015 Bombardier-Transportation PRIMOVE presented a 3.6 kW Charger for cars, which was developed at Site in Mannheim Germany.\n\n* Transport for London has introduced inductive charging in a trial for double-decker buses in London.\n\nEDIT: inductive charging is still pretty expensive and slow.",
"Assuming that we could come up with a common standard for automobile wireless charging (we still have 2 competing major standards for wirelessly charging phones), it is theoretically possible. I would personally bet that automobile wireless charging will see multiple standards pop up and compete, causing adoption to crawl and fizzle out.\n\nThere may still be a few problems, such as efficiency (a significant portion of the energy pulled from the wall is lost as heat), and a slower-than-wired charging time (which would make charging in public places a problem)"
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4v5f78 | why are "-ese" used to describe only asian people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4v5f78/eli5why_are_ese_used_to_describe_only_asian_people/ | {
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"Because those countries were first explored [with respect to Europe] by the Portuguese, whose language uses that ending. And it's not *only* Asian demonyms; consider the Portuguese themselves, or, in Africa, the adjectives Congolese or Togolese.",
" > But i can't think of a western country that uses that ending for its people. \n\nPortuguese, Maltese, Faroese.",
"Your assertion is incorrect. \n\nThere are more -ese outside of Asia than in it. Examples include \nMaltese, Sudanese, Congolese, Portuguese and Guyanese. \n\nMost Asian countries are not -ese. Examples include Korean, Indian, Indonesian, Tibetian and Sri-Lankan. ",
"The suffix actually come from [Italian](_URL_0_) and they're used outside Asia too, such as [South America, Africa and Portugal](_URL_1_). Marco Polo, Columbus and other Italian explorers are some of the first Europeans to reach Far East and South America. So in general this reflect the colonial histories, which European countries first introduce the new area to the general Europe."
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5x3lxq | why are some people more likely to have sleep paralysis, while others never have it or have only experienced it once? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5x3lxq/eli5_why_are_some_people_more_likely_to_have/ | {
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"Everyone or, at least, most people are capable of having sleep paralysis. Its nothing special as far as chemical imbalance go or something in genes or dealing with immune (it's been noted to be a common occurrence in narcoleptic people). But experiencing that transition from physically awake to mentally awake can vary from person to person and age. Most children will experience it more commonly than adults due growing and experiencing the world, in general, while sleeping. That's how you get a laundry list of childhood fears relating the darkness, nighttime and sleep."
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3rkh7w | explain the drunken spins. what is that feeling where your mind is telling yourself not to get too nauseous. what is taking place where a body's alcohol content can fight with a mind's grasping for preventing sickness. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rkh7w/eli5_explain_the_drunken_spins_what_is_that/ | {
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"When you drink, alcohol gets absorbed into your bloodstream. Its main effects occur when it gets transported by your blood to your brain, but as you can imagine, once something is in your blood, it goes pretty much everywhere in your body.\n\nOne place it goes is your inner ear, which is involved in helping you maintain your sense of balance. Inside your inner ear are little hair-like cells (called hair cells) that can detect the movement of a fluid (called endolymph) that flows over them when you move, as well as a small gelatinous structure called the cupola, which also moves when you do. The combination of the fluid and cupola movement over the hair cells helps your brain determine if your head is rotating or staying still. However, when alcohol is brought to your inner ear, it is absorbed by the cupola, making it lighter than the endolymph. This means it floats a little bit, allowing it to respond to gravity as well as head rotation. (It's important to note here that motion sickness is often caused by the input of mixed signals, that is, your body feeling motion by your eyes telling you you're still or vice versa.)\n\nSo there you are, drunk as a skunk, lying on your bed, and your lighter-than-usual cupola is responding to the pull of gravity, triggering the hair cells in your inner ear to send signals to your brain that your head is rotating, but your eyes are telling you that you're *not* rotating, in fact, you're perfectly still. This mixing of sensory inputs confuses your brain and causes you to feel sick. (Why that is the case, someone with more knowledge than I of the subject will have to inform us).\n\nEdit: grammar"
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37jqry | why do reporters still use overly large hand-held microphones instead of headsets or a boom mic off screen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37jqry/eli5_why_do_reporters_still_use_overly_large/ | {
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"Hard to interview people with a headset mic and news crews usually consist only of the camera person and the reporter, which leaves no one to hold a boom mic overhead. "
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2pugbi | how a person who commits horrendous acts against humanity, such as albert speer get 20 year sentence while illegally downloading documents, such as done by aaron swartz, holds a potential for 35 years ? | I saw two documentaries back to back. One on Aaron Swartz and then the Nuremberg trials. This confused me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pugbi/eli5how_a_person_who_commits_horrendous_acts/ | {
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"In most jurisdictions, the maximum penalty that can be issued by a court is much more severe than the typical penalty. The maximum penalty is usually reserved for only the most heinous of crimes or repeat offenders of serious crimes. \n\nAlso, sometimes the maximum penalty is exaggerated because it reflects the maximum penalty of each charge put back-to-back consecutively (e.g. serving 5 years on one charge, then 3 years on another etc.). In reality, many jurisdictions allow for multiple sentences to be served concurrently so that someone like Aaron probably wouldn't have had to serve consecutive sentences for each individual violation.\n\nIn sum, it's highly unlikely that Aaron Swartz would have actually served (or even have been sentenced to) anywhere close to 35 years - if any prison time at all.\n\nThe other issue at play is that the maximum possible sentence for a given crime varies widely by jurisdiction. In many jurisdictions in the US, people can be sentenced to death for murder. In many other countries, however, the maximum penalty for a murder charge may be considerably less severe (e.g. 20 years).",
"Never mix different justice systems. You can expect to have different punishments and different ways multiple law infringements interact with each other when you go into another country. E.g. in the US you can stack up prison time infinitive while in most of Europe getting more than 15 years is a hard thing to achieve . And the Nürnberger Prozesse were something completely different compared to any normal trial.",
"Aaron Swartz would likely not have served the maximum sentence.\n\nSpeer, meanwhile, was known to have defied Hitler's orders to save many lives and was the only top-level Nazi who acknowledged moral responsibility after the War. He provided the Allies with lots of information on the Nazi regime, and insisted that he was not aware of the large-scale extermination plans (though in 2007 this was disclosed to have been a lie). So Speer got off easy for cooperating and a little truth-stretching.",
"You are comparing apples and oranges. Speer was actually sentenced to 20 years (and not for committing crimes, but for abetting them).\n\nSwartz was facing an actual sentence of six months.\n\nWere Speer's acts only 40x worst than Swartz's? No, but what are you gonna do?",
"Well, not to be a Nazi Apologist but there's a reason he was called the Good Nazi. 20 years is a lot better than death, so I think he got off pretty easy.",
"Overreaching Legislators create sentencing guidelines (20 years for this, 10 years for that, etc.). Overreaching Prosecutors use these to threaten and bully the accused into taking a plea bargain. Often the weaker the case the more threatening the prosecutors become. ",
"Albert Speer was always known to have a 'silver tongue'. Lots of high ranking Nazis would joke he could talk his way out of anything. He knew the allies wanted confirmation for the legality of Nuremberg. He gave it to them by basically saying 'sorry we were in the wrong, you are the good guys'. The sentencing reflected this. He might have been an immoral arsehole but he was no idiot.",
"With electronic crimes, in particular, charges add up quickly. Illegally downloading just one document might be a felony with x-number of years in prison. Now, let's say you downloaded 5 of the same thing...The charges add up. Further, in the current system, there are mandatory sentences, so if a person is found guilty, the judge is required to sentence them to the minimum required (which is often substantial). Lastly, these things all combine to force the person to take a plea deal and avoid trial. The legal system stacks so many charges ( via charging you for each item instead of one crime as a whole) that you could end up facing decades. To avoid it, people take a plea which often results in minimal penalties (ex-a person may be facing 35 years, but take a plea for probation). It's all super fucked up",
"The solution to overly harsh prison terms isnt to make all sentences harsh. I honestly believe that 20 years is about as long as a sentence we would ever require for almost all crimes. Once you get past a 4 year sentence, youve nearly destroyed a person's chance at returning to the life they knew already.",
"\"The pen is mightier than the sword\"\n\nIf you kill someone your only a threat to them for a short time, but if you can change minds and shift the way average people see governments and corporations. Your a threat to powerful people, so you do hard time with no chance of early release.",
"The private profit of the uber rich is the most sacred thing in the eyes of the law. Life does not hold a candle to it. Second to it is defense of the state, the system of armed bodies of men and women who protect those profits.\n\nThere's a quote I've always loved, I'm paraphrasing here: \"the law is like a spider's web, the rich and strong tear right through it, while the poor and weak get caught and entangled.\"\n\nAnother one which is relevant here is \"I can't breathe\". The officer was caught using an illegal maneuver, which was banned because it causes death, the coroner ruled that the cause of death. He was caught on video, and the victim repeatedly stated that he could not breathe until he died. He wasn't even charged.\n\nBut the witness who caught him and recorded the incident on the other hand, has been charged and faces trial.",
"Murder, rape, assault, and other horrible crimes have existed for centuries. Hacking is relatively new. The public doesn't fully understand it. Are these hackers aiming nukes at us or just downloading movies that haven't been released. We don't know, so we must assume the worst.\n\nThere is also the thought that hackers who release government information are committing treason. You start throwing the word treason around, and you can punish people however you want.",
"Long story short, the more you piss off the powers that be, the more trouble you are in. They care more about their secrets staying secret then human life.",
"Because power and money.\n\nAmerican justice system is often used as a cudgel by powerful interest to intimidate and punish those that threaten profits and power structures. \n\nThe state doesn't really care about public safety. The prosecutors and judges usually live privileged lives in gated communities. Safety is not their concern. Just look at the amount of backed up rape kits and Unsolved murders in major cities while all the funding goes to drug busts and ticketing. $$. The prosecutor wants to send a political message and Aaron happened to be the sacrificial lamb they chose. \n\nJustice doesn't enter into it. We live a country where cops can murder and bomb children without even needing so much as a trial while downloading copywrit material can get you decades. ",
"Here's a handy illustrated guide explaining overcriminalization, which sounds like what you're complaining about.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Because we have a legal system and **NOT** a justice system. The whole system can easily be summed up in the words of Obama (who was speaking about some diabolical act the US committed) *\"it may not be moral or ethical but it is legal\"*.",
"Aaron Swartz's crimes might have cost a certain company a lot of money. Torturing and killing a few people doesn't really hurt anyone's bottom line.",
"This kinda is shit/subject drives me completely insane. To the point where I can't logically think about it. It is a travesty that people get less time/punishment for assault and murder than drug dealers. "
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2wvgkn | why does the drug trade particularly thrive in latin america? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wvgkn/eli5_why_does_the_drug_trade_particularly_thrive/ | {
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"Good climate for growing drug crops.\n\nLow labor costs for harvesting crops.\n\nWeak/corrupt governments allow the trade to go on.",
"There's a few reasons:\n\n1) Drugs grow there easily. The climate and soil makes it incredibly easy to grow illicit drugs like marijuana and cocaine.\n\n2) Legal system. It sucks. They don't have the manpower to regulate the underground drug industry, to find all of the grow operations, or to stop the refining/trafficking. Further, corruption is rampant in many of these countries (low wages means that bribes are even more enticing) so many times the law looks the other way.\n\n3) Desperate workers. People don't resort to growing drugs unless they have to. Due to the economic climate, there are more than enough farmers and laborers willing to accept higher-than-average wages for working in illicit drug operations (while more than average, they still live in poverty).\n\n4) Distribution. Main buyer is the US, and Latin America has easy access to get drugs to the US. Production almost exclusively goes north to the US, a very small amount goes overseas to Europe or Asia.\n\nTL;DR: Many reasons come together to make it particularly enticing to produce and distribute drugs from Latin America.",
"Because the Draconian and idiotic laws that we have in place cause a very unnatural imbalance in supply and demand in the nations surrounding us. Just look at Mexico and the cartel wars. Realize that this evil is not caused by \"evil people\" but evil laws.\n\nTo answer your question. The main reason is poverty and corruption. Our laws create a demand. Their lack of institutional regulation makes it possible to fill that demand. \n\nUntil either:\n\n1) all drug laws are completely reworked.\n\n2) poverty is a thing of the past (good luck with that one)\n\nThis will continue to be a problem. "
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5orv3u | how do certain parts of the world have so many undetonated landmines? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5orv3u/eli5_how_do_certain_parts_of_the_world_have_so/ | {
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"It depends on who, where, and what type of mine. But the ELI5 version is that people just don't give a shit. \n\nImagine you are a soldier. You get handed a box of mines and told to scatter them around a certain road. So you do it. Then a month later you move somewhere else. Maybe your boss wrote down where the minefield is. Maybe your boss got shot and nobody knows where he left his notes. Or maybe you were driven out of the area and you're thankful just to have survived. Going back to find the mines you left behind and recover them is probably not high on your list of priorities.\n\nThere are also some mines that get used on an ad-hoc basis and just scattered wherever there is the need. For example, the US has something called FASCAM which is when an artillery shell scatters mines from the air. There is a pretty good chance that nobody knows exactly where those things are found.",
"you fight a war against an enemy. in order to prevent them from going into an area, you use landmine tanks to lay down thousands of mines.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nwell...you lost the war. enemy didn't go there and still managed to defeat you. \n\nnow....who's going to go dig up each of those thousand mines? nobody wants to.\n",
" > More specifically, how is it possible to place so many mines in certain locations and areas?\n\nIt isn't necessarily someone going out and carefully digging a pit and setting trip wires for every mine. Instead if you wanted to mine an area you could add a trigger delay of a few minutes and just throw buckets of mines out the back of an airplane flying over the targeted zone. The mines scatter and come to rest before their trigger becomes active, and now it is extremely hazardous to travel in that area.\n\n > and do they just assume they'll never use that land for anything other than deterrence?\n\nYeah, you don't generally mine areas that you plan to mess around in. That would just be silly.\n\n > Who is making all of these mines?\n\nThe military industrial complex! Factories can make mines just as easily as bombs and bullets.\n\n > Has their usage been effective in terms of warfare and zone control?\n\nCertainly they are effective. The main problem is that they remain effective even if you don't want them to be. Suppose the two sides fighting come to a truce, then a peace agreement. The mines don't know that! And due to the number and method of delivery it is likely that nobody really knows exactly where the mines are or even if they are still functional."
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546hoi | why do big ship pull water from shore? | When I was growing up near the mouth of the Detroit River, we always could tell when a large ship was approaching. The water level in the canal behind our house would lower significantly, then rise again as the ship passed.
Today I saw a video where a cruise ship sucked the water away from Ft. Lauderdale beach.
Why does this happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/546hoi/eli5_why_do_big_ship_pull_water_from_shore/ | {
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"These things are moving so much weight that when they're moving they push tons and tons of water behind them. That creates a bit of an up-lift behind, and a depression in front. The water around the depression moves to fill in the depression which pulls it away from the shoreline.\n\nI passed an oil tanker in a channel near the Gulf of Mexico that was going in toward a port and it evacuated an area of water probably 300 yards across as it went by. We had to park the boat near the shoreline and as the tanker passed our boat was left 100 yards from any water for probably 10 minutes before the water finally returned to normal."
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j6t4a | why does china replicate everything? | Well Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j6t4a/eli5_why_does_china_replicate_everything/ | {
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"Because it is cheaper than innovation, and the government has not been very strict about it.",
"Because the way they grow is by exporting a lot of things. Has they need to export more than others they must have this made cheaply, so they replicate with less quality and pay less to workers, that aren't very specialized, so they can only replicate anyway. ",
"Innovation requires investment. With low capital, strategically it is wiser to sell a product or service with a proven model to build capital before investing in any innovation. This is the same path that America took when industrializing.",
"Because it is cheaper than innovation, and the government has not been very strict about it.",
"Because the way they grow is by exporting a lot of things. Has they need to export more than others they must have this made cheaply, so they replicate with less quality and pay less to workers, that aren't very specialized, so they can only replicate anyway. ",
"Innovation requires investment. With low capital, strategically it is wiser to sell a product or service with a proven model to build capital before investing in any innovation. This is the same path that America took when industrializing."
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e7c9y3 | what happens when the liver fails and why is it fatal? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e7c9y3/eli5_what_happens_when_the_liver_fails_and_why_is/ | {
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"The livers job is to filter blood for toxins (or in otherwords foreign bodies not necessarily biological in nature). The liver is also responsible for processing and metabolizing key vitamins and other nutrients. Thus, liver failure greatly impacts tuebtodisfffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr\n\nLiver important for making blood clean. No liver = dirty blood."
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3bpj8k | how do magic tricks work? | How do magicians make these tricks seem so real? I'm specifically referring to this video: _URL_0_
My question is, how do they do it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bpj8k/eli5_how_do_magic_tricks_work/ | {
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"There's no real way to answer this one in ELI5, unfortunately, because every trick has a completely different explanation, and also because I'm not really one to reveal methods like that. One good way to look at it though, is this (paraphrasing Penn Jillette): You're willing to spend half an hour trying to figure out how it's done, but the guy doing the trick probably spent months coming up with the effect, working out how to do it, and then refining that technique so that people like you wouldn't easily figure it out. So it's no surprise at all that you can't figure it out.\n\nYou'd be amazed how many tricks have ridiculously simple explanations though. There's one well known levitation, for example, that almost invariably causes people to get really annoyed when you show them how it was actually done, and this is true even though the setup makes it kind of obvious if you really think about it for a while. But it's a lot of fun to completely freak out kids with, lol.",
"As has been mentioned, every trick is different. For example, the one where the salt \"disappears\" and appears in his other hand is performed by way of a [false thumb](_URL_0_) that he pours the salt into, and then briefly \"hides\" by sticking his real thumb into it. He makes sure to either keep the hand with the false thumb on it angled so that the thumb is mostly hidden from the judges, or keeps his hands in motion so that it's hard to see.",
"Most tricks of the type this guy is doing are accomplished through two main methods. Misdirection (move your right hand in large, exaggerated movements while your left slowly pulls something from your pocket) and simple sleight of hand. Misdirection distracts the audience, pulling their attention away from where the trick is being set up, and sleight of hand is simply dexterity, quickly swapping things between your hands in such a way that the audience won't notice.\n\nAs for these specific tricks:\n\nCoughing up cards - Watch his left hand. He's got them there, and he swaps them when he brings his hand up.\n\nCards appearing and dropping into his hand - Unsure, the cameraman let his hand go out of frame when he took his hat off. \n\nTwo red balls - Left hand again gets them out of his pocket, and \"pulls\" them out of the salt shaker. When he motions putting one of them into his left hand and closing it, he actually just keeps it in his right hand. He then squishes the two balls together in his right hand (they're foam) and puts them into the judge's hand. When she opens her hands, the balls pop back to full size, appearing to have doubled.\n\nSalt/juice - Unsure. Watch his right hand with the salt though, specifically when it's at his side. He sure is holding it in an odd position. Possibly a prosthetic attached to his hand with some kind of storage in it?\n\nPen up his nose - This one's a classic. He just drops the pen down into his palm, but the way he moves his hand makes it look like it's going up his nose. Then he does the reverse in front of his mouth. Do it quick enough (like he does) and it's quite convincing."
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38vsgp | what is so great about cuban cigars? will the quality of the cuban cigar go down if the u.s. embargo is lifted? | Do they grow there tobacco a special way?
Will the increase of demand lower the quality?
Had this happened before with another country/their "special" product? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38vsgp/eli5_what_is_so_great_about_cuban_cigars_will_the/ | {
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"The tobacco is high quality (pure Cuban tobacco, no blend), and the method of creating a single cigar is high quality, usually resulting in a perfect cigar.\n\nThat's about it.\n\nThe demand increase won't change quality, as the Cuban government takes their major export very seriously.",
"Cuban cigars might have been the best in 1962, but the rest of the world has caught up, while Cuba stood pat.\n\nThere are Dominican and and Nicaraguan cigars every bit as good as Cubans, which have been getting by on the mystique generated by the embargo.",
"There is a mystique about them due to import controls from, largely, the USA.\n\nHaving had them overseas, I find they're not particularly special, perhaps for two reasons.\n\nFirst, tobacco seeds were sent from Cuba to Central American countries ages ago, like Honduras and Panama, where the cigars were replicated and exported to big-market USA.\n\nFrankly, Florida, USA, is not without expertise in rolling and marketing cigars.\n\nSecond, CENTAM countries have long had their own tobacco industries, just like Cuba, so there's nothing particularly exclusive about the taste or quality of Cuban cigars.",
"I spent some time in Cuba back in March, even spoke in-person with a tobacco farmer in the Viñales Valley, one of the 5 best spots to grow tobacco in Cuba, who showed and explained his tobacco-growing techniques. That being said, I'm not an expert in the fields relevant to your questions or anything like that, but as a student who's been there and learned about it in person, here goes:\n\n > Do they grow their tobacco in a special way?\n\nAs far as I know/remember no. Keep in mind that tobacco grew naturally in Cuba before its worldwide exportation, so it grows optimally there, not accounting for genetic engineering, or a different climate growing it better (especially since preference for cigars is largely subjective), or other anthropogenic factors.\n\nWhat may account for Cuban tobacco to be better than other countries' tobacco is the large level of human (and draft animal) inputs that goes into producing cigars. Cuba can't afford industrial fertilization of its crops, or other kinds of industrial manufacturing that can grow larger quantities of tobacco at the expense of quality. Hand planting, hand harvesting, hand drying/curing of tobacco, hand-rolling in the manufacturing of cigars, no heavy use of pesticides, fertilizers, or farming equipment ... All of it can add up to a higher quality product. That isn't to say the fairly organic, GMO-free production of cigars in Cuba isn't correct, optimal or ideal; it's just the way it is, with the results that come.\n\n > Will the increase of demand lower the quality?\n\nThis implies a lot of stuff economically that I don't fully know or can fully answer. tl;dr is possibly, but I don't know for sure.\n\nSo, let's look at some possibilities. Taking your question in a fairly literal way, no, an increase in demand will not change the quality of the supply. Supply and demand are two separate but related objects, and a change in the latter may not affect the former's curve.\n\nBut that's theory; what about reality? With the removal of the U.S. embargo, why wouldn't Cuba begin growing more tobacco or shittier tobacco to its new, huge and rich market?\n\nThe answer is Cuba itself. While some privatization and capitalistic reforms have been introduced, tobacco production is still highly controlled by the government (the farmer I talked with mentioned his friend was removed from growing, despite being really good at it, by the government), who do not think in terms of American/Western economic theory of maximizing money, the scourge of socialism. What's more likely to happen is that the Cuban government will keep production/supply at its current levels, and let the foreign markets and their demand push up the prices for cigars, with the Cuban government pocketing more money and using it to continue on with its goals.\n\nSpeaking of goals, there is a big reason why I think the above will occur. One of the big drivers of the Cuban Revolution and the changes that followed, was due to health problems among the people of Cuba and Latin America more generally. This is what motivated Che Guevara to join with Fidel and co. in the first place, and remains a reason why one of Cuba big contributions to the world and its economy are biotechnology and its doctors (see: the number of Cuban doctors ~~coerced by the government into~~ valiantly working to fight Ebola and more generally treating patients in other countries with insufficient healthcare systems, the fact that they have a lung cancer vaccine and America doesn't, etc.). Healthcare is one of the pillars of La Revolución. Now, farming, especially industrial agricultural practices, are damaging to the environment and, consequently, human and public health. Already, striking an accord with capitalist America and the changes that everyone is anticipating will come to Cuba as a result of normalizing relations is already a huge compromise to the core tenants of La Revolución; I doubt that an additional compromise in more tobacco or lower tobacco quality will come as well at the cost of public health.\n\n > ~~Had~~ Has this happened before with another country/their \"special\" product?\n\nSorry, couldn't resist correcting the typo. I'm not a historian or anyone else who could answer this fully, but I doubt there's a similar case of one country's inherently valued product becoming fully reintroduced into a new, huge market. Maybe the rise of silk cultivation in the Byzantine empire or introduction of capitalism into postwar or post-communist countries has some clues to this, but neither of those are precise fits, nor may there be an example fitting the current situation of Cuban tobacco.\n\nThat's all I got. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, but keep in mind it's like 9:45 PM here in New Zealand now and I can't Reddit from my internship tomorrow, so it may be a while before I get back to you.",
"I'll tell you my experience. . Keep in mind I smoked cigs occasionally during this.\n\nWhen I was 17 I went to England to study at Oxford for summerschool, while I was there me and about 8 other guys from the states decided to go to the cigar shop and get some fancy Cubans. We all went to the park and started smoking.\n\nEveryone except me and my buddy Patrick got so sick so fast they just gave me all their cigars and ran back to campus. Patrick and I kept smoking, talk in to some random girls for awhile and this super rasta guy who no joke, rolled a joint and smoked it with one hand while riding a fucking bike around the paths and singing reggae (I was thoroughly impressed). When we decided it was time to head back to campus, as we had a ball to attend and dance rehearsal in about half an hour, I discovered the true potency of cubans.\n\nI was straight throwed. I would have been able to walk a straighter line if I had just chugged a 5th of Jack and challenged a group of rambunctious children to a game of spin til you fall down. It was pretty fun. \n\nWhat wasn't fun was learning how to ballroom dance with this fine little hottie ( created an important formula for the EPA used to calculate the methane production of various organisms when she was like 16, which to me was attractive as fuck) when my body was currently trying to sweat out the tremendous amount of tobacco toxins it had just received. by the end of the night (went to a Vivaldi concert after the ball) I had sweated through an undershirt, a dress shirt and my sport jacket.\n\n10/10 would do again"
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f280x2 | why aren't republicans pro choice and democrats pro life? (u.s.) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f280x2/eli5_why_arent_republicans_pro_choice_and/ | {
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"In the 70s, 80s and 90s, the republicans found that Christians shared many conservative values. The party made a conscious effort to embrace the conservative Christian Right and made opposition to abortion part of the party platform to gain the large religious base. \n\nThe Democratic Party responded as the party of human rights and solidified around defending the rights of women.",
"I think it's better to label the two parties as liberals and conservatives in this case.\n\nConservatives - respect for American traditions, republicanism, **support for Christian values**, among others.\n\nLiberals - **civil liberty** and equality with support for social justice and a mixed economy.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nConservatives follow \"thou shalt not kill,\" while liberals believe in \"the freedom to decide.\" That's also why the two camps are called pro-*life* and pro-*choice*.",
"There isn't really a good way to answer this without annoying both sides. All i could really say about this is people all have their own opinions, and every situation is different. You don't have to agree whole heartedly with the views of the republican or conservative party blindly, you should decide what you believe in and adopt those beliefs. In my opinion, party speaking points nowadays are just pushing an agenda for own interest, but again there's not really much to say as you can't really say someone's viewpoint is wrong unless we're talking mathematics",
"Republicans are anti abortion not pro life, it is down to interpretation of the bible and where the life begins the issue is that they think that terminating a fetus is \"killing a baby\"",
"It is only the hard liners on both sides who are ultra strict to this. \n\nIn my view the average person on both the Republican and Democrat side is a combination of pro choice and pro life. Perfectly fine with pro choice for months 1 to 4, and very troubled with late term abortion in the last 3 months.",
"Because none of the American political parties have a cogent political philosophy. They are not interested in advancing a moral agenda they're interested in winning elections. They pick issues that divide the population and see if they can position themselves advantageously on them. \n\nOne example of this is how the Republicans came to dominate most southern states through, \"the southern strategy\" which was at odds with the Republican parties history on civil rights.\n\nAnother question where is the political home of the \" life is precious\" people who oppose gun ownership and abortion rights because \"life is precious\". This is a simple and understandable position that is largely absent from our public discourse. \n\nWe don't have political parties we have, to quote Eisenhower: \"conspiracies to seize power.\"\n\nIf we want to fix this we have to get rid of first-past-the-post voting which is the only effective way we can change the American two party system.\n\nTLDR: no-one believes anything. Everything's a lie. They put mind control drugs in the water supply.",
"Political organizing around abortion was 100% a response to the civil rights movement, specifically, the integration of schools.\n\nIn the 1960s and 1970s, even post-Roe, the evangelical community was actually fairly open on abortion when compared to today. You can look up quotes from leaders of southern baptist churches explaining how important it is to have available abortion for rape, incest, danger to mother, fetal abnormality, etc. You can even find a quote about how until the baby is born, it shouldn’t be considered a separate life.\n\nThe issue became a rallying point for evangelical leaders like Jerry Falwell who wanted to open whites-only schools in the face of federal efforts to integrate education. Jimmy Carter was actually a southern evangelical, but he did not help stem the tide of integration, he actually was in favor of it.\n\nThey turned to the *other* party, and Ronald Reagan, who was, let’s say, ambivalent about civil rights and racial integration. Reagan won in such overwhelming landslides that the religious right was able to consolidate its political power.",
"I just don’t understand why we don’t come to a compromise about when an abortion can happen. Not if, but when. Because I’m pro abortion but having an abortion at 9 months pregnant is kinda fucked.",
"The party stances on abortion and the death penalty seem contradictory as well. Republicans believe in the \"sanctity of life\" about abortions but let's whack the prisoners. Democrats want to save people that have been found guilty of horrible, violent crimes but killing unborn children is OK. A callous pragmatist would favor both, while a devout Christian would favor neither. Yet here we are.",
"Social Policitcal ideas are not the ones that made the party divisions in the first place. These are simply ad hoc political ideas that have a a large base in either-or. To say \"Why aren't Republicans pro choice and Democrats pro life\" is wrong. They are not mutually exclusive.",
"The right, is much more pro-individual rights. And usually see unborn humans as humans, and therefore they deserve the same negative right to life as anyone else. \n\nThey don't see it as being anti-woman. That is just rhetoric. They are pro-life, regardless of gender or race. \n\nI think your question is fundamentally flawed, by trying to reduce the whole spectrum of beliefs, into 2 categories."
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787vid | what is the difference between all those different types of toothpaste? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/787vid/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_all_those/ | {
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"There's not a lot of difference. Some manufacturers will add materials that have certain properties, but in real-life use, those properties will be minimal.\n\nExamples:\n\nWhitening toothpaste contains a higher level of ~~surfactants~~ abrasives, essentially \"scrubbing\" the surface of the tooth clean. This can damage enamel over time. They may also contain bleaching agents.\n\n\"Enamel repair\" toothpaste contains calcium-based substances that are reputed to replace the surface layer of enamel. They are essentially a stopgap, and the material that's deposited will be removed pretty swiftly. We cannot replace enamel manually, and the body doesn't produce any more over time.\n\nCavity protection will be through addition of sodium fluoride, which is proven to help with strengthening of the enamel. So that actually does work, but the vast majority of toothpastes have sodium fluoride in them anyway, so claiming \"cavity protection\" is redundant.\n\nPut simply, just buy a cheap, fluoride-containing toothpaste, and use it. The physical action of brushing is far, far more important than the type of paste you use.\n\n.\n\n*edit*\n\n**Holy crap**, inbox asplode. Thank you for gold, kind mystery redditor.\n\nAll of the above still applies, but I thought it might be useful to add in some information that others have stated below, or that I left out.\n\nSo, first off, things that *do* affect dental hygiene and effectiveness. First and foremost, since it's the single most important thing - brushing technique. The vast majority of people don't have great brushing technique with manual toothbrushes, so it's commonly recommended that everyone uses electric toothbrushes, which do the \"hard bit\" for you and provide the most comprehensive brushing possible. This technology is gradually evolving over time, but the rule of thumb is to go for one that has three key movements - rotation, in-out vibration, and oscillation. These three things have been proven to effectively clean the tooth surface, and stimulate the gum line, resulting in improved overall oral health.\n\n/u/tcmaresh and /u/unsanitary_napkin made an excellent point - toothpastes that say \"9 out of 10 dentists recommend\" only say that because dentists recommend that people use toothpaste. That's it. They're not recommending a brand, they're recommending toothpaste in general. Additionally, in order to be approved by the dental association, they have to work, and not do any harm. Those are the only two requirements.\n\nNext - flossing, and interdental brushes. The general consensus is that brushing *and* flossing is better than either one or the other, but there is a growing body of research that suggests flossing is not as effective as interdental brushes (again, when used in combination with normal brushing). Do some reading up on ID brushes, and give them a try if you want to. But if you're flossing regularly (or not) and your dentist has told you your teeth are in good shape, just stick with what you know.\n\nNow, on to other toothpaste ingredients. As some have stated, brushing *without* toothpaste actually removes just as much bacteria, food particles and tartar from the surface of the tooth as brushing *with* toothpaste. However there are some ingredients that prolong the effectiveness of brushing, give fresher breath, assist with gum health, etc etc. So, some examples below.\n\n\"Sensitive\" toothpastes. This includes Sensodyne. There are some ingredients, particularly Novamin, which do appear to significantly help with tooth sensitivity. These do not aid with overall oral health, but they *do* help with your teeth not feeling like they're being ripped in twain on a daily basis. Worth using if you suffer from this affliction.\n\nFluorides. Whilst sodium fluoride is the \"standard\" substance for fluoride delivery to the enamel, as various people have stated, there are others. These include stannous fluoride, one that's still used in certain brands. All of them have the same mode of action, which is to deliver fluoride to the surface of the tooth. Some make it more \"available\" than others, but the difference appears to be fairly minimal. Stannous fluoride can give some people problems, including tissue sloughing (bits of skin coming off the inside of your mouth), gum whitening, and tooth staining. Ultimately though it doesn't really matter what type you use, as long as you use it. Note that all OTC main brand toothpastes will typically contain the same amount of fluoride. Prescription toothpastes are different, and contain more.\n\nAntiseptic agents - this includes Chlorhexidine and Triclosan. These remove bacteria from the mouth, and can assist with gum health and cavity prevention; they also hang around in the area, preventing bacteria from returning. Antiseptic agents can be beneficial, but some studies have suggested that we need to maintain the \"good\" bacteria in our mouths, which assist with prevention of halitosis and tartar buildup. So approach with caution, but they are generally good to use (this includes mouthwash).\n\nEnamel repair. This has come up a lot. There are some substances which appear to promote remineralisation of enamel. However, having done some reading up of my own, this effect is minimal, and occurs over a long, long period of time. It may still be beneficial for some, but consuming acidic foods or drink will quickly reverse the process, so diet control is needed alongside use of these substances. As per my original response, just brush your teeth. If you want to include enamel repair toothpaste (at a significant price), feel free. But it's not essential.\n\nXylitol. This is a sugar substitute that is included in a lot of chewing gum, and some toothpastes. Its key benefit is that it cannot be digested by bacteria, so it offers an excellent sweetening alternative. Some studies have shown that xylitol can remineralise enamel; but these studies have been done using 20% xylitol solutions at 37^o C, over two weeks (with constant application), which isn't really relative to the real world. But yes, it has its benefits. It's in a decent number of toothpastes already, so feel free to use if you want.\n\nFoaming agents. The most common foaming agent in toothpaste is Sodium Laureth/Lauryl Sulphate, the same stuff that is used to make liquid soap foam up. It's an irritant, and can cause problems in people with sensitivity to it, including ulcers (canker sores), lesions and general irritation. If you are susceptible, find a toothpaste that doesn't contain it. The amount of foam a toothpaste produces does not relate to its cleaning ability.\n\nBaking soda! This stuff is present in Arm and Hammer and some off-brand products - it's basically an abrasive, and aids with whitening of teeth. The same caution applies as with all other whitening agents - it damages enamel. So approach with caution. Baking soda also neutralises acid in the mouth, but that effect will be negated as soon as you consume anything acidic. So very much a temporary solution.\n\n/u/FranDankly very kindly [provided a link](_URL_0_) which covers the abrasiveness of various well known brands - it may prove useful for some. Note that abrasion is still beneficial in most cases, but excessive abrasion ain't good. Worth noting that most whitening toothpastes are on the higher end of the scale!\n\nI think that's about it for now... but regardless of all the added info above, the action of brushing is *still* far more important than anything else (whether or not you combine with flossing). Brush dem teefs!",
"My dental tech told me to buy the cheapest tube that said anti-tartar on it. I have extra special hard buildup and need the cheap sand (diatomaceous earth) to get it off. \n\nEverything else is just marketing, though the toothpastes like Sensodine do help some people, depending on the reason your teeth are sensitive. ",
"My dentist told me bog standard Colgate is the best, and definitely not to use whitening toothpaste. In that vein she said that OralB ProExpert is way too abrasive and had caused a number of ‘wear’ fillings in her patients. Forget the technical term...",
"I guess it's not very popular outside of scandinavia but here in Finland many toothpastes also contain xylitol on top of fluoride and these both have similar effect. Asian tourists seems to be stocking up on this stuff since you can't get it in most places. Most chewing gums here also contain xylitol. ",
"My daughter JUST did a report on toothpaste for school so this info is fresh in my head. :-)\n\n**TL;DR:** Generally speaking there are no differences that make any one toothpaste better than any other toothpaste *at the job of being toothpaste*. All of them (or, funnily enough, none of them) will get your teeth equally clean, and any ancillary benefits that a toothpaste may claim have no effect on their ability to be toothpaste.\n\nFull explanation: Toothpaste is considered a **parity product**. A parity product is any product that's functionally equivalent to any other competing product that may be offered by a competitor. Products like nails, peanut butter, gasoline, and soap are parity products because they are all functionally identical to products offered by competing companies.\n\nAny differences in parity products are largely superficial, perceived, or add no *measurable* or *functional* benefit to the product. For example, some oil companies will tout how their pumps are equipped with special filters to make sure the gasoline coming out is more pure, or how they've got special additives to help engines run cleaner and more efficiently. The veracity of these claims are supported by the use of wiggle words like \"more\" or \"help\", but fundamentally the gasoline from any given oil company is 100% identical to gasoline from any other oil company. Any difference in price between two competing gas stations has to do mainly with the effectiveness of their advertising. Lots of people would consider paying a bit more for gasoline from Dinoco than they would from MomsNPopsGas if they *thought* that Dinoco gas was better.\n\nIn specific regards to toothpaste, there are generally four ingredients in virtually all toothpastes: water, abrasives, sulfactants, and fluoride. Individual products are differentiated by colors, flavors, task-specific additives that aren't strictly necessary for the task of *toothpaste* (e.g., hydrogen peroxide as a whitening agent, or potassium nitrate as a desensitizer), and of course packaging (striped toothpastes are popular). It's these non-purposed variations that give rise to the ten thousand different tubes of toothpaste in your supermarket.\n\nFun Fact: In the world of parity products, any competing product can legally call itself \"the best\" in its genre for the purposed task. Toothpaste's job is to help keep teeth clean (Another Fun Fact: brushing with or without toothpaste has no bearing on the amount of plaque removed from teeth) so if they all have the same *functional* ingredients then there can't be any one product that's better than any other; ergo, all products are \"the best\" at being toothpaste.",
"Dad is a dentist... Toothpaste basically all the same ( unless you have sensitive teeth, then yes sensodine makes a difference). He said buy the flavor you like, he always got AIM or close up, which ever was cheaper. For him the type of toothbrush you use is more important. He is a big electric toothbrush advocate. He has used both oral B and so I are, he was usually trying out the newest model. \n\nFlossing is also huge! ",
"I was taught 30 years ago to only go with toothpastes that carry the [American Dental Association seal of acceptance](_URL_0_). There are fewer and fewer toothpastes these days that have earned it. You'll notice that almost none of the \"whitening\" toothpastes carry it. Ironically, Aim, one of the cheapest brands, does. So that's what I buy. (I'll wait now for someone to tell me why this doesn't matter at all.)",
"One of the biggest differences in toothpaste is the presence of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). SLS is used to make toothpaste super foamy, but it can dry out your mouth, make the insides of your mouth hurt, and possibly even make your allergies worse! I used to get really bad canker sores on my gums but I switched to a toothpaste without SLS and it totally worked! I prefer the Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste myself. \n\na source:\n[Most toothpastes contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate which is a chemical used in toothpaste to create the foaming action. SLS can cause or irritate existing allergies, canker sores and bad breath, which is why an SLS Free alternative is worth considering.](_URL_0_sls-free-toothpaste/)\n\na second source: \n[The ingredients in your toothpaste are as important as the ingredients in your food, but -- like many cosmetic products -- toothpastes contain chemicals that would never appear on your dinner table. One example is sodium laurel sulfate, present in over 100 dental care products rated by the Environmental Working Group, a consumer health organization. Finding a toothpaste without SLS can be accomplished by learning a few brand names or by making your own toothpaste at home.] (_URL_2_)\n\nMore on SLS itself: _URL_0_",
"Life Pro Tip when it comes to toothpaste. The ADA seal is only applied if the ADA determines a toothpaste is \"Safe and Effective\". That means the have tested it and it (a) won't harm you when used as directed, and (b) it does what it says it does. That's it. No other requirements.\n\nMost of the toothpastes on the shelf have NOT earned that seal. Not because they are safe, but usually they because they don't live up to the claims (e.g. whiten teeth). Don't buy a toothpaste without that seal of approval. Because, without it, how do you know it's safe? It probably is, and the toothpaste probably failed to earn it because of the other claims, but do you want to reward the company for lying?",
"So all the top level answers are awesome and perfect but I do want to add an explanation about monofluorophosphate, sodium fluoride, and stannous fluoride.\n\nThe three substances listed are all fluoride ions but they are different. Stannous fluoride in particular is famous for its odd BUT benign side effect of staining the gums white temporarily. In some clinical studies, stannous fluoride was show to be slightly more effective than monofluorophosphate or sodium fluoride. However, the difference is largely negligible.\n\nBasically as others have pointed out, as long as fluoride is present, toothpastes are more or less the same. Sulfate ingredients will make toothpaste extra foamy and baking soda or hydrogen peroxide will aid in removing surface stains. And of course sensodyne is perfect for those with sensitivity issues. \n\nTl;dr there are slight negligible differences between stannous fluoride, monofluorophosphate, and sodium fluoride. ",
"The chemical makeup differences are minimal. The advertisement, packaging and implied or stated effects (that exist in other pastes) are what is used to say X is better than A,B,C,D just ask out 9 out of 10 dentists. Colgate blasted radio and TV in the 20's up till today. Colgate, through sales and adverts, put Gleem, Stripe, Ultra Bright, and Pearl Drops in the ground. the differences between Colgate and other brands, as with theirs to Colgate, is usually an increase or decrease of specific chemicals.\n\nSome taste better, others scour the mouth free of germs. The worst idea, though, has to be antibacterial toothpaste...",
"The differences in major brands are mostly flavoring or cosmetic. However specialty toothpastes like sensodyne have an extra ingredient that helps reduce sensitivity. There are also different mixes of whitening ingredients as well.",
"This is a very minor, not-very-relevant difference, but I know that most \"sensitive\" toothpastes lack the chemical sodium laural sulfate. I don't know *why* they don't have it, but I do know that it's a foaming agent and that causes super annoying acne in some individuals. So, useful to know that difference if you're in the small group of people with stupidly sensitive skin. ",
"I'm no expert but i took exceptional care of my teeth and was still managing to get cavities. Doc gave me a perscription level toothpaste with 150x the fluoride and now i have no problems",
"Toothpaste industry is an oligopoly market. The main characteristics of such a market is that there are limited number of players and they do not go in a price war - otherwise all of them would be dead in a days time.\n\nWhat they instead do is to bring out new and innovative ways to sell their toothpaste - this includes that, ours is better, try this, etc etc.. Most of 5his innovation is artificial.. does not help anyone using it.\n",
"So reading through the comments there appears to be no significant difference in toothpastes, so I was wondering if there's also no differences between mouth washes?",
"One answer covered the practical aspect of it. I'll deal with the Economics of it. \n\nThe reason why there are so many toothpaste is that people like different things! \n\nSome like blue boxes, other are concerned about how white their teeth are and other like their toothpaste to be striped like the one they saw used by that beautiful man on TV! \n\nSo now imagine you are a toothpaste company making one white toothpaste. If you started making two toothpaste, a white and a striped one, you'll be attracting (a little) more customers and make more money! \nBut of course you could do this again, you could offer a simple box version of each and foiled version. \n\nSo basically, a company will expand his variety as long as it can profit from it! All markets where the basic content of the product is fairly cheap to make will see a lot of \"varieties\" being sold (think breakfast cereals, toothpaste, detergents).\n\nThere is also one more important reason why expanding varieties is good for companies : if you are selling many different types of the same item you are effectively creating a market for each one (one for all the consumers who like stripey ones, one for those who like foil boxes etc..). Each market might be tiny, but they add up to a lot. This in turn makes it harder to compete against your company.\n\n If you are a new company you will have to come on the market with many varieties matching the older firms. If you just competed for stripey toothpaste you'd get very few customers, because you'd be splitting customers who like stripey tooth paste who are just a small subset. To understand why this is the case think of the fact that if instead the older company was selling only one variety most customer would be buying that(since they don't have an alternative) . In turn, a new firm entering by making one product could potentially get half your business! \n\nIndustrial economics, over and out! ",
"No one has mentioned arginine or toothpastes containing it and their effectiveness in treating sensitivity. Arginine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in our saliva that, when combined with calcium, has been proven to significantly reduce sensitivity by \"plugging and sealing dentinal tubules\" and aiding in the remineralization of enamel. It also prevents cavities and disrupts plaque, apparently. \n\nArginine is an active ingredient in Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief (in Canada), and a handful of other products in Canada and the US.\n\nI find it more effective (and better tasting) than Sensodyne. Try it if you have cold-sensitive teeth. "
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"http://www.ada.org/content/MouthHealthy/images/ada_seal/ADA_seal_rdax_215x215.jpg"
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"http://slsfree.net/",
"http://slsfree.net/sls-free-toothpaste/",
"https://www.livestrong.com/article/1005590-toothpaste-sodium-lauryl-sulfate/"
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denbpg | when a star dies, is it possible to see this occurrence with the naked human eye? say you're looking up at a star at night, and you see a slight flash and then it's gone. is that possible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/denbpg/eli5_when_a_star_dies_is_it_possible_to_see_this/ | {
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"Yes, but the flash might last days or even weeks, and is only visible with the naked eye if it's really close or an extra-large explosion.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Supernovae have been seen repeatedly throughout human existence. There are reports of a supernova visible during the day in 1054, which lasted for 2 years. Unfortunately, they don't happen all that often right around us, so it's not often that you can see them without telescopes.",
"The process of stars dying actually takes millions and millions of years - they aren't like a light bulb where you might suddenly see one wink out.\n\nStars around the size of our sun and smaller go through a process of becoming a red giant - expanding as they cool, and eventually ejecting the outer layers until they condense into a tiny, dim, white dwarf star. That process takes hundreds of millions of years, so everything changes *very* gradually. \n\nStars that are significantly more massive than our sun have a more exciting finish called a supernova, where the star itself actually condenses tightly, heats up by a few billion degrees, and then explodes. This is something that's actually visible, and because of how much matter is involved and the enormous amount of energy involved, that bright explosion lingers for a large amount of time and can be visible from Earth for a long period as it slowly cools and dissipates. There was a famous supernova in the late 80's which was close enough that it's still being observed and studied today and has really expanded astronomers' understanding of the process."
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2xo3u0 | if nature is so jagged, colorful, and seemingly random (yes, i know all about the golden ratio), why do us humans find straight lines, clean edges, and muted colors so aesthetically pleasing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xo3u0/eli5_if_nature_is_so_jagged_colorful_and/ | {
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"2 things most likely.\n\n1) We like these things because they are different from nature. We can get all the other stuff from nature easy enough, but we have to work at making a straight line.\n\n2) Nature is dangerous. Disease, predators, poisons, and natural disasters are all natural, so why should we necessarily desire natural? Appeal to Nature is a fallacy.",
"Humans find nature aesthetically pleasing too. Nature isn't built, on the whole, around it's aesthetics. It all serves a functional purpose. \n\nAesthetics are a higher order brain function, and we don't really understand it. Why do most people have a \"favorite\" color? It surely has nothing to do with any sort of evolutionary argument. \n\nProbably, as our brains became more complex, certain attributes and behaviors emerged on their own as a consequence of so many new neural connections. One possible explaination for the appreciation for sharp edges and muted colors is the contrast it creates is easy for us to see and distinguish and therefore easier for our brain to process. \n\nBut, in the end, we don't really know. ",
"One of the most important things for an animal to be able to do is pick a good place to live. When they can do that, they find more food, more shelter, more mates, things like that. When they *can't* do that, you get beached whales.\n\nHuman beings started out in Africa, and we adapted very well to life there. Did you know that we're very good long-distance hunters? We can run farther, faster, than any other animal in the world, and the best place to have that kind of special ability is in the African savannah.\n\n[Look at these pictures.](_URL_0_) what do most of them have in common? A clear distant horizon and lots of grass, without much or even any bright vegetation. *Straight lines, clean edges, and muted colors.*\n\nThis isn't just a guess. In 1992, Orians and Heerwagen showed a lot of standardized pictures of every kind of landscape to a lot of people of every age and nationality, and asked them to pick the ones they liked. Most people didn't pick the desert landscapes, but picked the others about equally.\n\nGuess what *little kids* picked the most, though? African savannahs. Many thousands of years after leaving the lands and hunter-gatherer lifestyles of their ancestors, they still instinctively know that, all else being equal, that's a good place for them to be.",
"Humans look for meaning and order. As a result, when we create something, we often take an organized, straightforward approach, seeking first to understand the essence of the thing and then to draw out that essence in its design.\n\nThe chaos of nature simply isn't what we're trying to capture or convey in many of the things we create.\n\nThere's also economy of resources to consider; it's easier to make a simple, orderly object rather than an intricate, complex one. These factors likely play a role in shaping what we expect and therefore appreciate when it comes to design.\n\nAlso, simplicity and clarity promote efficiency. We create things to suit various practical purposes, and something that is needlessly complex will likely do a poorer job of serving its purpose than a comparatively simple thing.\n\nFor example, a drinking glass that's all wavy and branch-like with a weird shape and no evident handle to grasp will likely do a much poorer job transferring liquid to our mouths than a simple glass with straight edges. Functional considerations can absolutely influence aesthetics.",
"I challenge your presumption that \"humans find straight lines, clean edges, and muted colors so aesthetically pleasing\". I suppose you could generalize this from a very high level conceptual perspective, but it's not absolute. In fact, recent trends in product design and architecture have been focused on \"organic\" and \"prominent\"; terms like \"boxy\" and \"muted\" are generally considered negative."
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3sx0q3 | how do american soldiers, who serve their country in wars around the world, result in americans getting freedom? | I often hear and read sentences like "our veterans fought for our way of life" or "our soldiers fight for us to keep our freedom and way of life" and so on. What is the reasoning behind this? Does it specifically refer to Second World War and the US preventing occupation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sx0q3/eli5_how_do_american_soldiers_who_serve_their/ | {
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"Well think about today. We have had several terrorist attacks in the U.S. and our veterans are fighting in the middle east where the majority of them are ",
"We fought for it in the revolutionary war, the war of 1812... WWII. We haven't really fought for it since, but we like to say it because it makes us feel good. Now, it's possible that we have prevented a war from coming to America, but we haven't faced an existential threat.",
"Reading some obviously misguided answers and tinfoils are going to come out soon no doubt. But I'll put it simply as it can be put. There are economic reasons, nationalism, media and tons more but the main factor is always the same. It's one thing only military can achieve while other avenues can accomplish the above list. \n\nDeterrence. Prevention of bigger conflicts by fighting smaller ones. Overseas instead of at home. Do bullies pick on those who fight or those who run? \n\nSince beginning of humanity, war has always been a constant. In history, those who choose not to fight has been bullied. I'd rather someone there die than someone here. That's the simple truth because in armed conflict, someone will die. \n\nThose who think we haven't fought wars since WWII are very ill-informed. Yes, you're technically right that we haven't fought a declared war. But that's because we have been fighting preventive wars under proxy and conflict. It's like taking care of an infection before it has chance to grow. \n\n"
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41bi5r | how do fresh water springs emerge and how does the water keep coming? | I honestly find fascinating those natural sources of water! I was wondering how they come to an existence and why they "never" cease | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41bi5r/eli5_how_do_fresh_water_springs_emerge_and_how/ | {
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"springs show up where the water table (a layer of always-wet porous rock with a clay or otherwise non-porous bottom) reaches the surface. they continue to emit water due to the pressure of the dry layers above pressing the water out. same thing with the artesian wells. very similar to squeezing a toothpaste tube. \n\n(_URL_0_)\n\nfollow some of the See Also links as well.\n"
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_table"
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|
5pagl7 | what happens if a president is elected and they do not have a so to take the first lady/gentleman position? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pagl7/eli5_what_happens_if_a_president_is_elected_and/ | {
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"There's only one or two cases of a president not having an SO. It's a campaigning thing. People will vote for the family man over the lecherous man. Presidents are also usually quite old.",
"In Thomas Jefferson's case, for example, Dolly Madison (his SecState's wife) did First Lady stuff. A bachelor or female President would probably find a relative or close friend to do the job.",
"Well, in the case of President James Buchanan (who was a bachelor), he had his niece be the official White House hostess, therefore making her acting First Lady. ",
"Nothing has to \"happen.\" First Lady is not a position. He would just be a single President.",
"First Lady is just a female relative. James Buchanan had his niece, and I think there were a few more people who didn't have their wives act as first lady."
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