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qf1ht | twin peaks | Did a search, couldn't find it. ELI5: Twin Peaks please. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qf1ht/eli5_twin_peaks/ | {
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"Erm, what part? There are lots of things about Twin Peaks that are hard to understand.",
"It's about the dark, unconscious mind manifesting chaos into the real world.",
"Couldn't find it with Google? Is that what you mean?\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_0_"
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er84q7 | why do eyes get red when watching tv or a screen for a long time | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/er84q7/eli5_why_do_eyes_get_red_when_watching_tv_or_a/ | {
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"From straining them. You're focused so you blink less. The same idea can be used when putting pressure on a body part for to long will make it red. The touch is focused on per say.",
"Because they dry out. When our eyes are focusing on something, like a screen, we tend to blink less. Blinking is what distributes tears around and keeps our eyes most. Less blinking = dry eyes."
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fggy8d | does an older phone battery (less capacity) charge faster than a new phone with brand new battery? and if it’s using a portable battery, will it use less of that portable batteries “juice” to charge than a new phone? | and if it’s using a portable battery, will it use less of that portable batteries “juice” to charge than a new phone? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fggy8d/eli5_does_an_older_phone_battery_less_capacity/ | {
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"Speed of charge, and total capacity can be very unrelated traits of a battery.\n\nWith advances in technology, not only are newer batteries capable of holding more electrical charge in the same physical form factor, but they also are capable of drawing more current without overheating, allowing them to recharge faster than previous iterations.\n\nSo, while an older battery might have less capacity, it may take the same amount of time, or in some cases even more time to fully accept the charge required to bring it to capacity, because it doesn't draw as much current from the charger.\n\nThink of a battery as a bucket, and the amount of current it can handle as a hose filling the bucket. With new batteries, the bucket might be the same size, but it has a much wider hose so you can dump more water into the bucket per second and fill it up faster. With an old battery, even if the bucket were physically smaller the hose is very narrow and would take a long time to get enough water inside to fill it up."
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6ma8vu | why do our bodies produce phlegm when we run/exert ourselves? how did making it harder to breathe help our ancestors? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ma8vu/eli5_why_do_our_bodies_produce_phlegm_when_we/ | {
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"Well, remember that we aren't so much 'producing' phlegm as we are expelling unwanted things from our body through the medium of phlegm.\n\nVomiting, for example, isn't intrinsically useful or pleasant, but it's a mechanism to remove harmful things from our body.\n\n"
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2rutiy | when a mosquito bites me, does it take enough blood for the night or does it come back for seconds? | This is kind of showerthought-sy but I've been wondering all day.. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rutiy/eli5_when_a_mosquito_bites_me_does_it_take_enough/ | {
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"Females bite to get blood, somehow it's needec for them to lay eggs. So they'll bite once only in their lives. Males won't bite you at all.",
"Only females bite, and they bit until they're abdomen is full. From (Mosquito FAQ's)[_URL_0_]:\n \nA female will continue to bite and draw blood until her abdomen is full. If she is interrupted before she is full, she will fly to the next person. After feeding, the mosquito rests for two or three days before laying her eggs, then is ready to bite again.\" \n \nSo you could get bitten more than once if the mosquito decides it's not full after the first bite."
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72espf | why did america put a term limit in place after such a successful president | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72espf/eli5_why_did_america_put_a_term_limit_in_place/ | {
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"Well it's important to realize that the 2 term limit had been enshrined in the American Consciousness since George Washington, so the fact that FDR broke that centuries old precedent (for good reasons, but still) was alarming so there was an impetus to make the unwritten rule a written one.\n\nThe whole point of a term limit is to stop popular presidents from holding onto power for too long, as it doesn't take a lot for a FDR to turn into a Caesar or a Napoleon.",
"Out of fear that a bad President could come to power and end democratic rule. Remember, Roosevelt *was* effectively President for Life. Having Presidents be elected for extremely long terms could undermine the democratic traditions the American people held, and when you consider the fact that the only President to serve more than two terms also unconstitutionally tried to go around the Supreme Court, it makes sense a limit was added.",
" > It seems like the exact opposite of what to do. Roosevelt was such a popular president who's actions speak for themselves. It seems counter intuitive for the government to prevent that ever happening again\n\nThe US government is set up in a way which reflects the concerns of its founders who were rebelling from an oppressive monarchy. Most of the structure of the government involves various checks and balances to prevent any one person or group from attaining too much power and becoming a despot.\n\nIf you look at the oppressive regimes around the world there tends to be a common theme: The leader started out being really popular. Being really good at your job and being very popular isn't a problem, but it *is* a problem to be so loved that you cannot be opposed.\n\nSo the idea behind term limits is to ensure that no single person became so entrenched that they couldn't be removed. What the US started out doing was revolutionary at the time; for a vote to take place and a leader to gracefully and peacefully step aside for an opponent with contrary views was basically unheard of in that era. The \"Grand Experiment\" of the USA was going well and the success of Roosevelt exposed a flaw in the design which allowed the popular vote to effectively install their own dictator, encouraging populism as a bid for total control.\n\nInstead with term limits an ideology can remain in effect without instilling excessive or enduring power into any individual person. Someone else with Roosevelt's ideals could step up to the plate but Roosevelt himself was no longer eligible.",
"The only Roosevelt was \"permitted\" to serve that many terms was the political establishment's consensus that ushering in a new Presidential administration in the middle of WWII was a Very Bad Idea. In the absence of the war, FDR may well not even have *run* for a third term. Pressure from both his own party and the Republicans to step aside after two would have been *overwhelming*. "
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9wzqcy | why do governments subsidise fossil fuel companies when they are so rich? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9wzqcy/eli5_why_do_governments_subsidise_fossil_fuel/ | {
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"Because lobbying. The companies pay people lots of money to convince politicians that it's in their best interests to give taxpayer money to petrochemical companies.",
"A big part of the reason is to get them to listen to what the government wants. Local governments will give them local tax breaks to locate their facility in a particular town, in general good for that town, because while the business doesn't pay much taxes, their employees do, and that's usually good enough. This is like what's happening with Amazon right now, they've stated they are hiring 50k people no matter what, but by publically asking \"who has the best deal\", they got $1.7bn off their taxes, mostly because their claim is going to result in more than that paid in local income tax by the employees, so it's not a huge cost for the cities, and will probably result in a net gain in income for them.\n\nBut it's not just locating in a particular town for the oil companies, they are big enough that they can tell congress they'll locate their facilities in foreign countries if they don't get a good tax deal. They'll tell congress that the government can't make them do X because they'll just endlessly sue, but if they got a tax credit for doing X, then they might decide to do it. The result is a lot of the government's laws that affect these companies come in the form of tax credits to incentivize the activity, instead of taxes/laws to disincentivize them (because if it's disincentivized like that, they'll just find a location where that doesn't apply and move there).\n\nNow I'm not going to say it's necessarily all about big government's plans, it's not. The oil companies employ people in specific areas, areas represented by particular congressmen. They are not going to vote for laws that piss off the oil companies, that might make them tell their employees it's all their congressman's fault. The congressmen know this, they will push for tax breaks for the companies in their specific district in exchange for their votes.",
"In addition to what others have said, politicians tend to get voted out of office if gas gets expensive. Unlike a lot of goods, gas has its price shouted to everyone on many-foot tall signs, and everyone talks about it when it goes up and down in ways they don't for, say, broccoli or milk, so people are particularly sensitive to it. Subsidizing oil companies makes gas cheaper at the pump, and voters like it when gas is cheap, even if it's cheap because their income tax dollars are subsidizing it."
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1zj0dx | how does a car jack work? | I had to change my first tyre the other day, and I was amazed when I pulled this little clunky piece of metal to jack the whole car. Yet with no real pressure or strength, I turned and turned and turned and here this little piece of metal began to lift the back end of the car off the ground
How does it do it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zj0dx/eli5_how_does_a_car_jack_work/ | {
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"A regular car jack just uses a lever and a hydrolic actuator to lift the car. The force required to lift the car is less when you use a lever. Give me a fulcrum and a lever long enought and I'll move the world.",
"There are several designs of jacks available. What they have in common is that they translate a small amount of effort over a long distance into a lot of effort over a short one. This is called *mechanical advantage*.\n\nThe simplest example of a **simple machine** (that's actually a technical term you'd find in a physics textbook) is the \"inclined plane\". Let's say you need top put a piano on a truck. Lifting it is hard. Using a ramp requires you to cover more distance but takes less effort. A mechanical car Jack is based on the same idea, it just wraps the ramps around metal rods (often called a \"screw\" - another of your machines) so it fits in a smaller space.",
"Most cars have cheap scissor jacks as standard equipment. They utilize a \"worm drive\" which has an important behavior - it cannot be backdriven. Most simple gear mechanisms allow you to apply force to the input, which is translated to the output shaft - and they also allow you to apply force to the output, which is then applied to the input. ie, they can be drive forwards or backwards. A worm drive cannot - that means the the force applied to the jack by the weight of the car cannot cause the jack to lower.\n\n_URL_0_",
"The stories about the screwjack and simple machines are correct -- but also keep in mind that the vehicle itself is a simple machine, too.\n\nWhen you put the jack under the back end of the car, the front wheels are now acting as a fulcrum. The front end of the car is heavier than the back, due to the engine, so \"tipping\" the car on the front wheels is easier than lifting from the front. Even if all the weight is evenly distributed, you're only lifting about half the car's weight with a single jack because other parts of the car are still on the ground. ",
"It is based off the simple physics equation Work = Force x Distance. To lift a car five inches in the air requires a set amount of work. If you did this directly by lifting the car, the distance would be five inches and the amount of force would be very high. However, by using a jack, you are moving a long leaver multiple times, thus increasing the distance and decreasing the force required.\n\nThink of it like carrying grocery bags from the car into the house. If you take all the groceries at once (like a real man) the amount of force required is quite high. However if you do it in multiple trips, you increase the distance and reduce the force required on each trip."
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36q7ct | how do airlines get my bag to my destination? | I flew from Philly to L.A. today, and while making a connection in Dallas, I realized that everyone on the plane needs their checked baggage to get to another place in the airport within 20-40 minutes (either another plane or the baggage claim). How do airlines do this with (what seems like) a high amount of accuracy and speed? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36q7ct/eli5_how_do_airlines_get_my_bag_to_my_destination/ | {
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"Inside a modern airport is a massive network of conveyor belts that take the luggage from the check in counter to the area where the baggage handlers are.\n\nAs the baggage travels down the belt, pneumatic pushers or gates redirect the bags into different belts that redirect the bag to the proper staging area. \n\nFrom the staging area, baggage handlers put them into carts that are taken to the airplane and loaded in the belly of the plane either by seat class or by destination. \n\nThis is a more modern system.\n_URL_0_"
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4rc6xl | how does wifi and cell service get slow when too many people are visiting my town of 1500 people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4rc6xl/eli5_how_does_wifi_and_cell_service_get_slow_when/ | {
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"Simple, more people but same bandwidth. If a cell tower is fed 500Mbps and there usually are 500 people connected, each get 1Mbps if used simultaneously; if there are now 1000 people connected, each gets 0.5Mbps is used simultaneously. \n \nThis is the same reason why non-fiber Internet speeds decline at night, because that's when most people are home watching YouTube and Netflix. Your home internet isn't a direct line to your provider, it goes first to a neighborhood switch (where all your neighbors with the same company are connected), these are those green/beige metal boxes on the side of the road, and each of those is fed data like a cell tower. Fiber-based Internet has a lot more bandwidth, so it's almost never an issue.",
"It's like a pipe. The pipe is sized to supply the normal population, but when there are lots of people, the demand exceeds the flow-rate of the pipe.\n\nData needs structure to flow along - and it's expensive, so the suppliers don't install more capacity than needed. When lots of people suck on the pipe at the same time it's overwhelmed."
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16p5q9 | why charging someone more money for insurance based on age isn't considered discrimination. | I understand companies do studies to gauge what age groups are more likely to have a car accident and their insurance for their car is priced correspondingly. I just don't understand how this is legal. If a study came out that said white people were more accident prone than other races and companies started pricing insurance based on race, would this be legal also? Why not base the pricing off of driving history alone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16p5q9/eli5_why_charging_someone_more_money_for/ | {
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"It is considered discrimination. We just don't have laws against all kinds of age discrimination, because we as a society have concluded that it's not that bad.",
"*Why not base the pricing off of driving history alone?*\n\nThinks about this for a moment. You just answered your own question. \n\nOn their first day behind the wheel, a brand new driver has NO DRIVING HISTORY. Therefore, their premium cost is high. The cost is reduced as they gain more experience, unless their driving history shows the underwriter that they are a bad risk. \n\nThis is how actuarial analysis works. Rates are set based on analysis of risk. Without it, there would be no one willing to sell insurance at all. Discrimination is unfair treatment without foundation. People who rob others with weapons get more jail time than those who don't use weapons because experience tells us that they pose more of a threat to society. This isn't discrimination, it's applied logic. "
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7kbxsx | how do two brown haired people create a blonde baby? | My baby came out super blonde, which was shocking as both my husband and I are brunettes, all our parents and siblings are brunettes, and our first kiddo is a brunette. The only non dark haired person in my descendants was a grandmother who had light brown hair. Yes, I'm the mom, and yes, my husband is the daddy. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7kbxsx/eli5_how_do_two_brown_haired_people_create_a/ | {
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"The genetics of hair color haven't fully been teased out yet, but it seems that the genes for blonde hair are recessive compared to the genes for brown hair. So if both genes are present, the person will have brown hair. Only when - by chance - a child only gets the blonde genes from its parents will the hair be blonde.\n\nWhat this could mean is that both you and your husband have recessive blonde genes that aren't apparent because you also have the dominant brown genes but your child, by pure randomness, only got those blonde hair genes.",
"Could be that you carry the gene, as does the father. \n\nGenes can be determined using Punnett squares, specific gene combinations are given letters, either capital or lowercase. Capital letters denote a dominant trait that will mask a recessive trait, marked with a lowercase letter.\n\nIn this example I’ll say that hair colours brown and blonde are given the letter B.\n\nBB = brown hair\nBb = brown hair but carries the blonde gene\nbb = blonde hair\n\nIt’s likely that you and your husband both have Bb hair genes:\n\nBb x Bb \n\nThis is worked out in a grid format (usually better written down)\n\nx B b\n\nB BB Bb \n\nb Bb bb \n\nThe letters of the parents genes are ‘crossed’ over each other, capital letters always go first because they are the dominant gene. \n\nSo this means you’d produce:\n25 % BB (brown hair only)\n50 % Bb (brown hair carrying blonde gene)\n25 % bb (blonde hair)\n\n= 75 % chance of brown haired kid, 25 % chance of blonde. \n\nThe probability resets with each child, so it’s possible for you to have more blonde haired kids than brown if the blonde gene happens to strike. \n\nI’m sure other people can explain it better, I’m only using my year 12 biology knowledge but I tried, hope it helps!",
"Brown hair is dominant over blonde hair, so you need 1 brown gene for brown hair or 2 blonde genes for blonde hair. Everyone has 2 of each gene, but they can be different variations. So both you and your husband must have one brown hair gene and one blonde hair gene. The baby will inherit one gene randomly selected from each parent.\n\nSo the baby needs 1 brown hair gene to get brown hair or 2 blonde hair genes to get blonde hair. The odds are 75% for brown hair and 25% for blond hair. You got lucky.\n\n\nWe don't know how a lot of genes work but we understand this gene well.",
"In addition to the previous replies, some people are born with very blond hair that darkens over time. They have genes for darker hair but they have not switched on yet. "
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3ddh7f | do cats and dogs 'like' their owners, or is it simply an intrinsic sense of security that draws them to their human companions? | Title | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ddh7f/eli5_do_cats_and_dogs_like_their_owners_or_is_it/ | {
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"I read somewhere that domestic pets have had the attachment to humans bred into them over 1000's of years.",
"Animals are capable of showing signs of emotion, and if you pay attention you can see some pretty surprising similarities between human emotional response and animal.\n\nHowever as far as pets having emotional attachment to their owners, it's hard to say what the root of that attachment is. One indicator is how the pets behave at the passing of their owner. Being a dog lover I'm happy to say that dogs can be super loyal far beyond what makes sense for just a free lunch. Stories of disaster survival are full of side notes about dogs whose master had died and the dog stayed by their side until the dog also died, usually of starvation. Now maybe that's because the dog had no skills for foraging for food, but there are other tales of groups dying of something while lost in the woods or whatever, and a single dog surviving by eating the bodies of every member of the group except their owner.\n\nPet psychology can be pretty deep if you really want to delve into it, but think about it this way: the pet is there for your happiness, not you for theirs (the pet didn't buy you). So if the pet seems happy with you, and it makes you happy, then enjoy your time together and don't overthink it.",
"I am far from an expert on this subject, but I'd say my two dogs like me. I've been living on my own for almost a year now, while the dogs reside with my parents as I can't have pets in my current room. Every time I go home both dogs will go from sleeping on the couch to jumping around in joy, barking, waggling their tail and all the other \"normal\" responses, but the longer I've been away from home the happier they'll be it seems. After my exams I hadn't been home in a while, and they seemed really happy to see me and followed me around for a while asking for attention whenever they could, but when I came home a day later they responded a lot more casual.\n\nAs for my two cats: I have no idea. My mom is the one who feeds them and the only reason the cats will stay close to me if they're either out of food or water, *but* one of the two cats figured out that my parents' business is close to our home and is often found walking around the venue, which could be interpreted any way you'd like it too I suppose."
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232bd4 | whats that thing i see when my eyes are closed, while i press the top of my eyes side to side? | Not sure if anyone else sees this. So when you close your eyes, and "scratch" the top of your eyes, side to side, you can see a figure on the bottom. Something like this: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/232bd4/eli5_whats_that_thing_i_see_when_my_eyes_are/ | {
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"I've never heard of what you described; most people see random patters of colors kind of like looking through a kaleidoscope....It's called an \"entoptic phenomenon,\" meaning that it originates from the eyeball. When you apply pressure to the eyeball, you also put pressure on the retina, which is basically the part of the back of the eye that turns light waves into brain waves. \n\nWhen you apply pressure to the retina, two things happen....you deform the retina slightly and essentially make the photo receptors (specialized cells that pick up light and send info to the brain) fire manually. It may also affect the cells' ability to pick up oxygen from the blood. The retina has one of the highest metabolic rates of any tissue in the body, and if you disrupt its oxygen supply for even a fraction of a second, they may start abnormal firing activity and sending random signals to the brain, leading you \"see\" random light and color patterns. "
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4f9n8i | how do statistical websites count enormous numbers such as the birth and death count, or the population of the earth, or even money spent on illegal drugs? | Stats like the ones on this website:
_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f9n8i/eli5how_do_statistical_websites_count_enormous/ | {
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"These are estimates based off some formula. Lots of governments and organizations collect vast amounts of demographic data and publish it freely, all you need to do is a look at a few numbers for whatever you are interested in, devise a formula, and easy enough.\n\nFor example, If I drink 1 liter of water a day, After a year I drink 365 liters. Simple, 1 liter per day x 365 days.\n\nNone of these are particularly much more complicated, though they probably are a bit more complicated formula, the idea remains the same.\n\nFYI that site also gives their data sources"
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2p4qy9 | how can bill clinton almost get impeached for lying to congress, yet hayden and other intelligence agency officials do so regularly and nothing happens? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p4qy9/eli5how_can_bill_clinton_almost_get_impeached_for/ | {
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"Clinton did get impeached. He just didn't get removed from office. The House impeached him but the Senate did not remove him. It was a political move by his enemies. Nothing more. Other presidents have done a lot worse than lie about a blowjob without getting impeached.\n\nWhen that happened, I vowed to never vote for a Republican again.",
"Clinton was not impeached for lying to Congress. He was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice.\n\nOne reason that the CIA/NSA/etc. officials don't get charged with contempt of Congress, or perjury, is that often there's a tacit understanding that they're going to lie about certain things in open Congressional hearings. The \"Gang of 8\" - the leaders of the House and Senate plus the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees are really the only people in the Congress that get the whole truth about anything the intelligence service does. Everyone kind of accepts the tradeoff (some secrets need to be kept, and saying \"no comment\" can be as damaging as a straight answer to some of these questions).",
"Impeachment is a very specific process, and not something that is done for appointed officials, only elected officials. To remove an elected official there must be impeachment processes that goes through the proper channels. To remove an appointed official only takes the order of the person with the power to appoint them. ",
"Impeachment is NOT the removal of office, it simply means to formally bring charges against an official. \n\nClinton was impeached.",
"Clinton was impeached for lying to a grand jury, not to Congress.",
"Bill Clinton lied in a court proceeding not to congress.",
"When you know where everyone buried the bodies and what skeletons they have in the closet then you're untouchable - that's your answer.",
"Valid concerns raised here, but fuck am I tired of loaded questions on this subreddit."
]
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3erqaf | how do you really know sites like duckduckgo aren't stealing your info and selling it? | They claim not to be pulling a Google on you, but how can you actually tell they're living up to their word? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3erqaf/eli5_how_do_you_really_know_sites_like_duckduckgo/ | {
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"You can always see what data websites are asking for from your browser (in most browsers you can press F12 and go to the \"network\" tab). If you do that for [DuckDuckGo](_URL_0_) and compare it to [Google](_URL_1_) you can see that Google stores all kinds of unique identifiers in a cookie while DuckDuckGo doesn't.\n\nWhile you still can't be sure that DuckDuckGo aren't recording the searches people do, you can be sure they're not using any unique tracking ID on you and so would lose your search record every time your IP address changed."
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1sx5pt | why aren't planets or the moon declared property of a country? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sx5pt/eli5why_arent_planets_or_the_moon_declared/ | {
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"International treaties barring the claiming of any body outside of the Earth by countries.\n\nPlus you can declare as much as you want it doesn't make it so.",
"In addition to existing treaties, the most important part of claiming ownership to a territory is the ability to defend it from being taken away by others. \n\nAt the moment, nobody on Earth has the ability or desire to set up an armed fortress on the Moon or any other planet. This is similar to the state of Antarctica today, which is protected by treaty but, also, who would really want to go to the trouble of defending a claim on a lifeless, arid, frozen, dangerous chunk of real estate?\n\nThat describes most of the other planets in our solar system. However, if any planet here or in another solar system turned out to be habitable with little effort and reachable easily, we might begin to see Earth's 16th Century repeat itself, with explorers going forth and then claiming territory in the name of whoever financed the expedition.\n\nOn the other hand, if things keep going like they're going, this would mean that those first new territories would be claimed in the name of major corporations instead of countries. \n\nAnd the most interesting question: If we found other life forms with intelligence but no culture (like many of our own Earth animals), would we have learned the lesson to respect them, or would it turn into yet another version of the Native American genocide and conquest through manifest destiny? \n\nAnd what if we met life forms with intelligence and culture, but with an industrial/technological development only about the equivalent of our own 16th Century? Would we be content to share with them and let them maintain their culture, or would we take advantage and barge on in? \n\nKeep in mind: any advanced life form outside of our solar system is likely to be as different from us as we are from the strangest species on our own planet. We already know that there is a limited range of animals that humans can feel empathy for, and most of them resemble us in some ways, at least when it comes to what their faces look like, whether they show emotions, and if we think they're \"cute.\" \n\nBut if we found a planet populated by creatures whose newborns were already smarter than Einstein and Hawking combined but they looked like walking piles of mucus, smelled like rotten fish, and communicated by farting... how would we honestly react?\n\nAnyway... the ban on claiming any planet or part of the Moon will end as soon as doing so becomes profitable to somebody down here. Just like the Americas in 1491 were to Europe, though, there's still no profit out there. Two years later, everything changed."
]
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2yraaa | who were the first to harness the power of advertising? who figured out that concept? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yraaa/eli5_who_were_the_first_to_harness_the_power_of/ | {
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"It would have happened a few seconds after bartering happened. I have a thing I am willing to give to someone for another thing, so I say, \"I have a thing I am willing to give to someone for another thing.\" Advertising.",
"We know that advertising was used even back in the Egyptian days, when they would write sales messages on pieces of papyrus. Honestly though, advertising in one form of the other (mouth to mouth also is part of advertising) had probably existed for as long as humans have been making and refining tools. There would've always been someone with great skills at crafting tools, and hey, maybe you can go trade Urg two rabbits to make you an arrow head, I've heard he is the best in the tribe.",
"Animals use advertising. Big feathers, bright colors, songs, dances. \n\n\"I've got the best product! Have sex with me\" \n\nIt's as old as time ",
"Freud's douche-nozzle nephew is one of the first people to have advertised in the shady way we're used to. He made cigarettes fashionable for women by equating them with feminism, for instance. "
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89ub1g | - how do so many sportstars, actors, etc. that make millions of dollars end up in debts? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/89ub1g/eli5_how_do_so_many_sportstars_actors_etc_that/ | {
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"Because they, like many others in our society, spend more than they make. Yes, they make a lot. They also spend > a lot.",
"They spend faster than they earn as crazy as that sounds. Every situation is unique but it often comes down to unsustainable spending and sometimes unexpected losses of income. Spending which is very sustainable when you are making $20 million a year is unsustainable when you aren't making anything at all.",
"Most of these people make a lot of money in a really short time frame. This isn't necessarily conducive to budgeting, especially in the case of athletes whose prime earning years are in the single-digits in most cases.\n\nCombine with the fact that they're typically also young and impulsive, you have a recipe for people who will likely spend most of their money on expensive stuff that can't be easily resold, and will leave them broke.\n",
"If you make $32,000/year and have surplus of funds (funds not spent immediately upon coming in) of $20/week, you may get some big item for $500 on credit and work to pay off that debt.\n\nIf you make $3,200,000/year and have surplus of funds of $3,168,000, you'll get as many $500 items on credit as you want, knowing you can easily pay it off. Then your lifestyle expenses increase such that you easily match the money going in each week with the money going out. But now you think nothing of dropping $5,000 on something that interests you, because you can just pay it off right away, right?\n\nBut because your income and spend balance out, this means that with the increased cash flow, that 23% compounding interest rate on your credit card adds up a LOT faster on an unpaid $5,000 than it did on $500.\n\nBasically, money management and wealth are not the same thing. Most sports stars, actors, and other celebrities were not born into money, and so don't know that as you make more money, you have to manage it differently because it becomes MUCH harder to get out from under debt when your cash flow increases but your cash on hand does not.",
"They spend all of their income without taking into consideration that their high earnings may only last a short time. Additionally, they often have a large sphere of hangers on who leach off them—parents and siblings, cousins and friends from back home. Sometimes it’s just giving them cash or cars, other times it’s investing in their ill conceived restaurant or other business venture that fail. Then there are often things like child support or alimony, based on their peak earnings"
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d60idd | could memory loss make you "forget" you have depression, or any other mental illness? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d60idd/eli5_could_memory_loss_make_you_forget_you_have/ | {
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"A treatment for severe depression is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), where you run an electrical voltage through the brain. This causes memory loss. It's the most effective treatment for depression we know of. It's possible that memory loss facilitates the therapeutic effects. The patients don't forget about their illness, but they may forget trauma that contributed to their illness.",
"Can memory loss help you forget that you have a broken arm? Unfortunately mental illnesses are often caused by genetics or imbalances in the brain, which don't change with memory.",
"It depends as with most things. In the case of depression it can be caused be chemical imbalances and/or by traumatic events, living conditions, physical disabilities, loss of a loved one, treatment by others, etc. I'm sure losing memory of anything that contributes to depression would help reduce it. \n\nEven if it's from a chemical imbalance having your memory erased could mean a fresh start on life, which could in turn give someone a chance to minimize depression."
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7gamwl | why is some food "aged" and still edible while others are rotten and tossed out? | Basically the title, why do we age some foods (some cheeses, wine, some meats) and it's still edible or even delicious, but other foods are thrown out when they hit two days old? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7gamwl/eli5why_is_some_food_aged_and_still_edible_while/ | {
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"Rotten food is an uncontrolled explosion of microorganism activity, which is almost always going to produce toxins or at least make the food entirely unpleasant.\n\nAging food is a more controlled process. Conditions such as temperature, humidity, salinity, etc are tuned to allow some bacteria, yeasts, etc to grow and to inhibit others. Somethings are fermented, because we want yeast to turn sugar into alcohol, or other things are aged to become super dry so nothing can grow on it. ",
"And then there are some that are rotten but still eaten.. [like this cheese for example..](_URL_0_)",
"Because of \"bacteria\" (which can sometimes be mushroom or whatever)\nWine is rotten grape juice, Cheese is rotten milk, same for ... \nThe main difference is that you controll the rotting process so you add the right type of bacteria/yeast to the product (thousands of year of history and tradition taught us the right way to do it). And select the product you use (historically you use what your local crop produce). The \"good bacteria\" will take all the available space, letting only few space available for bad bacterias. And transform sugar into alcohol (for wine) or lactose into (that's a good question). \n\nThe set of bacteria and original product used will affect the final taste of the product and that's why a wine or cheese taste differently depending where they are produced and from which grape/cows comes the product (It's a little bit less true for industrial products) \n",
"I can speak to wine and beer.\n\nWhen things ferment with yeast there is an increase in acidity and an increase in alcohol. Both the acidity and alcohol prevent harmful bacteria (e coli, botulism etc...) from being able to survive and reproduce. There is also a strong lack of food (carbohydrates) since the yeast already consumed most or all of it. The end effect is you have a beer/wine that is a fairly toxic environment for other bacteria to survive. High abv, low levels of nutrients, acidic, and also usually devoid of oxygen and instead filled with carbon dioxide. All of those add up to an environment that is bad for bacteria.\n\nYou can theoretically age a beer or wine indefinitely. It probably wont taste like it did when it was fresh, nor will it probably taste good at all, but it wont kill you. I've heard of people drinking beers from the 80s (thomas hardy's, some lambics, some belgian stuff) that was cellared properly and tasted wonderful. I have also drank wine from the early 2000s that was not cellared properly and tasted horrible.",
"I recall seeing Alton Brown explaining about the process of aging beef (as opposed to letting it go bad). To age the beef, he put it in the fridge in a container that allowed some air circulation. This allowed the beef to dry out some, concentrating the flavor, while the cold kept bacterial growth in check. There were still some nasty bits on the surface that had to be trimmed off before roasting, it I recall. That same beef, if left sitting out a room temp for that period would be dried, but also smelly and rotten due to uncontrolled bacterial action.\n\nWith whisky, it is a different process. The fermentation has already happened, and after distillation the product has such a high alcohol content that no bacteria or yeast is going to live in it. The aging is a process of letting the product interact with the wooden barrel and the environment around it to add flavors and make it less harsh. This is why it has to be done in wooden barrels that breathe and allow some interaction. A certain percentage of alcohol is lost to evaporation in this (called \"the angel's share\" in Scotland).",
"Found out recently there are some people that eat purposely rotted meat. \n\n[High Meat](_URL_0_)\n\nNo thanks. "
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o16r1 | what exactly causes paranoia? | Why do we fixate over irrational things and what makes the body react the way it does when we do fixate... (ie. loss of sleep/appetite/concentration)
Maybe if I knew what caused it, I could learn to switch off.
EDIT - Before this goes all weed-based on my ass, that wasn't all I was going for. I meant paranoia in general. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o16r1/eli5_what_exactly_causes_paranoia/ | {
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"Why exactly are you suddenly so interested in this? What have you heard?",
"Paranoia and Panic Attacks are reactions to stress or unbalanced brain chemistry. \nEssentially your body is reacting to stress like it did when our ancestors were living in trees and caves. You get a dump of adrenalin and other hormones to help you focus and discern danger. With no physical danger, those chemicals start your mind racing and you're trapped thinking about that guy who gave you the stink eye at the mall and rehashing every conversation blunder you've ever made.",
"Paranoia is usually caused by government radio signals designed to minimize the brain's ability to notice the cameras and microphones hidden all around in plain sight disguised as mailboxes, stoplights, the buttons at the crosswalk (they collect DNA) and mirrors in public restrooms. ",
"Amateur psychologist often think of \"paranoia\" as \"paranoid schizophrenia\", which isn't correct. Paranoid schizophrenia is the condition where you think the CIA is poisoning your food and watching you through your TV. Paranoia is the condition where you keep assuming others have evil intentions towards you, even if they haven't and there's no real evidence. "
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2rkrr8 | why is there an android vs ios "feud" among consumers. | I understand why at a corporate level this dispute would exist, they are competing for sales.
However the internet seems to have a never ending squabble not only over which product is better, but how stupid, uncultured, and treasonous you are if you don't have the *correct* device.
[This video's comment section is a pretty good summary of what I mean.](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rkrr8/eli5_why_is_there_an_android_vs_ios_feud_among/ | {
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"The same reason there's a feud between XBox & Playstation gamers or people that drive Fords and Chevrolets or Team Edward claims superiority over Team Jacob in the Twilight fandom.\n\nPeople are tribal & insecure. They want to be convinced that they made the right choice and that the \"other side\" is wrong so that they can feel better about themselves."
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173ia0 | how do slow songs like lullabies induce sleep? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/173ia0/how_do_slow_songs_like_lullabies_induce_sleep/ | {
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"Music promotes overall arousal or relaxation in listeners, with heart rate being only one factor among many that music influences. When a music listener's brain registers the tempo of a song, his brain sends signals to the body that cause breathing to either accelerate or decelerate, matching the tempo of the music. At the same time, the listener's heart rate races or slows accordingly. The listener's brain and body pick up on the tempo and rhythm of the music, and the heart beats to match them.\n\nRead more: Why Does Music Affect Your Heart Rate? | _URL_1_ _URL_0_\n"
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"http://www.ehow.com/about_6553059_music-affect-heart-rate_.html#ixzz2ImLA03qi",
"eHow.com"
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||
254sj7 | who owned ancient artifacts before they were in museums, assuming most museums were built in the 20th century? | -If you've visited the MET in NYC you've seen the Egyptian section. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around Egypt ever willingly selling tombs. How was a price set? Did archaeologists essentially claim it and steal it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/254sj7/eli5_who_owned_ancient_artifacts_before_they_were/ | {
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"You should pose this question to /r/archeology as the folks in that subreddit are very helpful and friendly.\n\n",
"I believe that would be governments.",
"Collectors and previous museums. At some point in the distant past most items were \"stolen\" (i.e., found), but today archaeologists have agreements with the host country that governs ownership of artifacts.",
"Many of them were \"legitimately\" removed from Egypt at a time when the authorities were less concerned about Egyptian culture. For much of Egypt's recent history, it was controlled by European powers, who gave permission for artifacts to be removed.\n\n"
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2f0uq0 | why do countries import and export the same product, like crude oil, or chicken? | This has always confounded me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f0uq0/eli5_why_do_countries_import_and_export_the_same/ | {
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"Different types of chicken, different flavours of crude plus individual companies with different trade agreements with other companies and countries",
"China will give us $100 a barrel for our crude oil and we can import our own crude oil for Canada @ 90 a barrel. ",
"There used to be this prominent theory of international trade where it was said that countries had comparative advantages at producing products over one another. For example, if country A was better at producing golf clubs than country B, then they would never want to import them from country B.\n\nIn practice, products are not all the same -- there's little differences between them that matter. Walk down a supermarket and you'd see this. Would you say that a Budweiser is the same as a [Trappist Westvleteren 12 (XII)](_URL_0_)? Heck no!\n\n[Here's a great article describing why we import beef from other countries](_URL_2_). Sometimes we just don't have enough for our hamburgers, and the raw material prices fluctuate enough that companies can justify going to a place like New Zealand for some more beef.\n\nFor about 40 years now, crude oil hasn't been able to be exported from the United States. This was put into place by lawmakers that were scared that we'd end up screwing ourselves. There was a pretty bad energy crisis in the early seventies when we supported Israel militarily, which angered the Saudis so much that they cut us off from their crude oil supply. [The ban from exporting crude oil has been loosened this summer](_URL_3_). A few companies are now able to export oil [that has gone through processes called stabilization and distillation](_URL_1_). We can now compete a little bit more on the world market."
]
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"http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-ruling-would-allow-first-shipments-of-unrefined-oil-overseas-1403644494",
"http://beefmagazine.com/cowcalfweekly/0611-why-does-us-import-export-beef",
"http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/06/25/the-us-to-allow-crude-oil-exports-not-that-it-will-make-much-difference/"
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g3n98x | in the world of trading stocks, what is margin buying power? | Is there margin buying power only when the investor already owns securities? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/g3n98x/eli5_in_the_world_of_trading_stocks_what_is/ | {
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"Buying on margin is essentially taking out a loan to buy securities, using your already owned securities as collateral.\n\nSay you own a bunch of stocks worth $100,000. Your broker might lend you up to $70,000 to buy other stocks using your $100K as collateral. If the stock values drop to a certain level though you risk having a margin call in which case they'll take and sell some or all of your $100K to pay back the loan.",
"Margin buying power is the cash available for you to buy stocks with. That \"cash available\" is actually: \"your money\" + \"loan money\". The amount of \"loan money\" the brokerage is willing to give you based on the Margin Collateral you have in your account. Margin Collateral is any equity that can be liquidated to pay off your margin loan if you default. Cash can be used as collateral, but stocks and bonds also count. Most brokerages prefer it if you use stocks as collateral.\n\nShorted stock also count as margin loans. You may not be paying interest on shorted positions but you still have to have the margin collateral as long as the positions are open.\n\n > so is that why even though my account has been approved for trading privileges, I still cannot trade?\n\nSo there are several questions to answer before jumping to conclusions:\n\nI'm guessing you just opened the brokerage account. Have the funds you transferred in settled into your cash balance? It usually takes 1 to 3 business days.\n\nIs the market open? In the USA the market opens at 9:30 AM EST and closes at 4:00 PM EST.\n\nAre the stocks you are trading marginable? _URL_0_\n\n\n**A word of caution.** Margin is very risky. You can lose way more than the cash you deposited in your brokerage. For example with a cash account, you deposit $1000. You buy a bad stock that drops to $0. You lose $1000. Done. With a margin account, you deposit $1000, you trade $2000 on margin. The stock drops to $0. You now owe the brokerage $1000 + interest. \n\n_URL_1_"
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3qlbdu | since our "time" is determined by the orbit of the earth around the sun and it's day/night cycle, why don't we just make a slight adjustment to the duration of a single second to eliminate leap years and dst issues? | It takes 365.256 Days for the Earth to Orbit the sun. The earth takes 23 hours, 56 Minutes and 4 second to rotate for a "day". What's stopping us universally as humans from making a global adjustment of our time to minimize confusion with leap years, daylight savings times, etc? We're scientifically advanced enough to keep this kind of thing on track. Why haven't we already implemented it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qlbdu/eli5_since_our_time_is_determined_by_the_orbit_of/ | {
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" > The earth takes 23 hours, 56 Minutes and 4 second to rotate for a \"day\"\n\nThat's a \"sidereal day,\" which isn't so useful for day-to-day timekeeping. If you see that a certain star is directly overhead then 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds later that star will be directly overhead. If you see that the *sun* is directly overhead then it will be directly overhead in 24 hours. 24 hours is a \"solar day\" and is the most useful day to use for day-to-day measurements, since we would like to have a general idea of when the sun is up based on what time it is. If you used sidereal days then in one month the sun would be at high noon at 1:00 A.M. and 6 months later it would be at high noon at 1:00 P.M.\n\nThere's nothing you can do with a second to make it so that the number of solar days in a year is an even number. Earth rotates 366.265 times each orbit, so you'll have that many days (minus one, for the fact that the sun would appear to travel west-to-east if earth weren't spinning on its axis) in each year no matter how you count time during a day.\n\nThe definition of a second is such that it is very very close to 1/(24\\*60\\*60) of a day. However, days aren't all exactly the same length so we insert leap seconds periodically to keep the clocks lined up correctly. ",
"The second is a fundamental unit, on which many other units are based. So, by altering the second, you'd be altering all those units too. The Volt, for example, has a unit definition that includes seconds. ",
" > What's stopping us universally as humans from making a global adjustment of our time to minimize confusion with leap years, daylight savings times, etc?\n\nThat would just create different, more-annoying problems. The root of the issue is that the length of a year is not evenly-divisible by the length of a day, and nothing we can do can change that. If we change the length of a second to that leap-years are no longer required, the side effect of that would be that, after two years, day and night would switch places, so that the sun is directly overhead at midnight, and it will be noon in the middle of the night. And then, over the course of the next two years, that would slowly correct itself. Basically, the clock time would stop being related to the position of the sun.",
"We chose not to do this. The reason is actually very simple: because this definition would be much harder to maintain than the current one.\n\nFirst of all, let's eliminate daylight savings time. That pretty much makes no sense in general, I agree, but it is also not here due to the drift of the \"second\" definition. Leap years, and particularly leap seconds, _are_ here for that reason, though, so let's talk about them.\n\nA second used to be defined as a fraction of a sidereal year (that is, the _actual_ 365.256 days of a year), and so was, in effect, very close to what you proposed. It was actually the definition of the \"day\" and \"year\" that were off, in that they didn't contain precisely the right number of seconds.\n\nWhen we got good at keeping time, however, we started to use clocks to calculate seconds, and not, say, sundials, which would correct for this drift. The \"second\" was so ingrained, in other words, that to redefine it would cause a slight but noticeable shift in every clock, every computer, every time-based device on Earth, and this shift would actually happen over time as the Earth's orbit changes slightly.\n\nMore significantly, a year is not an exact number of days. Think about what this would mean to clocks: what would, in effect, happen if we redefined a second is that the hours of a clock would rotate on a 4 year period. On January 1, year one, the sun would rise at, say, 6:00 AM. On year 2, it would rise at noon. Year 3, it would rise at 6 PM. Year 4, midnight. Then the following year, it would realign. This is due to the fact that your clocks now shift a quarter-day per year (or, as you pointed out, .256 days per year). That's kind of confusing. It's better to keep the sun rising at 6:00 and just shove in an extra day every 4 years.\n\nAt the same time, we discovered something else: the seconds in a year change. The Earth's orbit isn't constant, but rather accelerates and decelerates a bit every year (mostly due to gravity effects of the other planets). This is a main reason we have leap seconds, to reset the year ever so slightly as we detect this effect. A continually-precise clock calibrated to the year would have to take _this_ into effect as well.\n\nWe decided to just define what we mean by a second in a way that doesn't depend on the Earth's orbit. The current second is defined according to atomic clocks:\n\n > The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom.\n\nThis definition fixes a second to be a set period of time, for all orbits, in all locations, and allows all of our clocks to work perfectly well except for occasional point-in-time shifts, as opposed to having to continually drift the duration of a second forward and back according to the vagaries of one rock spinning around one star somewhere out there.",
"Because we like 12 noon to be around the middle of the day, where the sun is around the highest it'll get in the sky.\n\n23 hours 56 minutes is not the real length of a day. It's the length of a *sidereal* day: the time it takes Earth to rotate 360 degrees. But the Earth also moves along its orbit in that time; the time it takes for the Sun to be at the same point in the sky is 24 hours. If you kept days by sidereal days and made noon in January in the middle of the day, then by July \"noon\" would be in the middle of the night (since the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, and so facing the Sun means facing the opposite direction you did in January).\n\nLikewise, if you try to redefine a day so that a year (i.e. a full orbit of the Earth around the Sun) is a whole number of days, then every year you shift the time of day by 6 hours. That would mean 12 noon on January 1 2014 would be like 6 PM on January 1 2013. Instead, we let the year not quite be a full orbit -- but this throws off the seasons over time, since you lose a day every 4 years. So, to keep the seasons at the same time of year and to keep midday at the same time of day, we can't force a year to 365 days.",
"First point: we **used to** measure time by the motions of the Earth, but not anymore since 1967. Since the 1950s we have been able to build atomic clocks that tick more consistently than the Earth's rotation. So the current definition of the second is based on a resonance of the cesium atom.\n\nSecond: your 23 hours, 56 Minutes and 4 second figure is for a [**sidereal day**](_URL_0_). A [**solar day**](_URL_1_) is 24 hours. Or rather, the 24 hours are subdivisions of an inconsistent mean solar day. Since the lengths of mean solar days are not consistent, neither are the lengths of hours or minutes across different days. Long story.\n\nThird: DST is relatively simple to eliminate. Governments just decide not to do it anymore.\n\nAnd now, finally, the answer to your question. The heart of the problem here is that the various cycles in question don't line up in any natural way. No matter how you slice it, the Earth does not rotate a whole number of times during one year. So this means that you cannot have both of the following:\n\n1. A whole, constant number of days in every year (no leap years).\n2. Years whose dates align with the apparent motion of the Sun in the sky.\n\nThe second point is perhaps a bit obscure but very important. The highest point that the sun reaches in the sky varies through the year, following a curve known as an [analemma](_URL_2_) (look at the photos and the pictures in the article, they're very helpful). One thing that leap years do is they ensure that you can predict the highest point of the sun in the sky using just the calendar date.\n\nWho cares about that? For starters, marine navigators, who use it to figure out their latitude and longitude. Well, sure, today most navigation is done with GPS, but they still teach this stuff as a backup.",
"I appreciate all of the explanations everyone! I see now the logic behind why we don't do this and the overall consequences. I guess my follow-up ELI5 would be \"What would be a viable solution to simplifying our time standards?\" --- I'm assuming keep it the same? IIRC time is relative to you, your gravitational situation, location, etc.",
"The time it takes for the Earth to go around the Sun is not an even multiple of the time it takes for the Earth to rotate. This is fundamentally inconvenient for timekeeping, but there's not much we can do about it.\n\nWe can change the length of the second and therefore the minute, hour, and day (assuming we're holding onto the 86,400s day), but then the hours of the clock would shift around relative to solar day. \"Noon\" on the clock would happen farther and farther from solar noon, until it happens at solar midnight and comes back to solar noon from the other direction.\n\nAlternately, we can keep the second(/minute/hour/day) the same and redefine the year to be 365 days exactly. Now our calendar year will be shifting relative to the seasons. Eventually you'll wind up with, say, December being in the middle of spring.\n\nAlternately, we can use leap days to keep the calendar aligned with the seasons, and (once you get into high-precision timekeeping) leap seconds to keep the clock aligned with the day. This is the option that our civilization has chosen.",
"The Daylight Savings and Leap Year are two different issues. The second is defined particularly so that the 'mean solar day' is exactly 24 hours. It's not always exactly 24 hours, because our earth's orbit and rotation are not always the same, but the differences are pretty small (up to 20 seconds per day) and they even out over the course of one orbit (year). \n\nIn order to adjust the second to account for DST, you would have to distribute one hour of time change over six months, then make the exact opposite change to 'get back' that one hour over the following six months. That would require a *different length of second* for each half-year. Oh, and the seconds would be different if you were using DST in the Southern Hemisphere...that would be a pain.\n\nThere is no reason that Earth's rotation period each day should evenly match the orbital period each year. In this case, we have about 1/4 a day extra. But we want our calendars to match astronomical phenomenon, like when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. So we add the leap day every four years to maintain this match. That way, a day on the calendar corresponds to a similar point in the seasons on Earth.\n\nWhy is this important? Because in ancient time, humans needed to track days for a big reason: agriculture. If the 'best planting day' changed by one day earlier every four years, after a generation or two, there would be a big risk of planting too soon in winter, and people starve.\n\nAs another weird aside note, we've figured out that the earth slows down and speeds up. For example, during the 2004 massive Indian Ocean earthquake, so much stuff moved toward the equator, that the earth's rotation sped up by over 2 microseconds per day. Of course, the gravitational (tidal) effect of the moon actually slows us down 15 microseconds per day *each year*. So once in a while, we actually add a ['leap second'](_URL_0_) to help keep our clocks matching the sun.",
"Do you have any idea of how much that would cost??? You'd have to replace every clock on the planet!",
"You can make changes to the length of a second such that a day is 10 hours, but the actual length of a day doesn't change, and it still rotates 365.256 times per year, so you still have to have a leap year every 4 years.\n\nThe only way to get the days per year to be a whole number is to actually change the length of a day to be slightly more than it takes to rotate once. But then your \"day\" is 1.00070136986 rotations long, which slowly makes the actual time inch forward. In two years the day and night are reversed, and in another two years it's back to normal.",
"Where'd you get 365.256? Everything I can find is around 365.2422 (most importantly less than .25 because the remainder creates the leap days that we skip every 100 years except every 1000)."
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54cno7 | why are ultrawide monitors 21:9 and not 7:3? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54cno7/eli5_why_are_ultrawide_monitors_219_and_not_73/ | {
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"First, it's not actually 21:9; it's 64:27. 21:9 is just a close approximation that can be easily compared to 16:9.\n\nAs to why it's 64:27, it's because monitors were initially in 4:3 ratio. Wide screen squared the ratio (4:3 ⨯ 4:3) to 16:9 and ultrawide screen cubes it (4:3 ⨯ 4:3 ⨯ 4:3) to 64:27."
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6p86aq | can a sea creature that lives in deep sea swim to the surface? | So I just saw the video about the giant squid that has been found lately.I know that if a human swims too deep the water pressure kills the _URL_0_ does the water pressure works both ways?Could a sea creature that usually lurks thousands of meters below the sea level swim to the surface or would it explode(or implode,i'm not sure) before reaching it because of the relatively low water pressure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6p86aq/eli5can_a_sea_creature_that_lives_in_deep_sea/ | {
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"If a human swims too deep he drowns. Unless he have specially designed breathing equipment in which case he will be fine. It is not the pressure that kills you but the problems of supplying you with oxygen. And at high pressures air changes properties so there is a long list of issues with getting oxygen to deep sea divers. But pressure is not the direct issue. If you look at deep diving whales for example they just stops breathing when they dive. They even exhale before they dive and survive on what oxygen is dissolved in their blood.\n\nSo pressure is not an issue for animals. However low pressure can be an issue. Again even the vacuum of space will not kill you before you suffocate. So if you were to put a deep sea whale in a vacuum chamber he could probably survive for a few hours. But the problem is the rapid loss of pressure. When you put a gas and a liquid together the gas will dissolve into the liquid. And the higher the pressure the more gas will dissolve. And when you lower the pressure the gas will release from the liquid. You see this all the time with soda. This also happens in your lungs where nitrogen dissolves into your blood. And in fish the gas molecules in the water will dissolve into the blood though the gills. Fish also have a swim bladder which is filled with gas that they can regulate to help them swim. If you catch a deep sea fish and real it up to the surface it will bloat up from the gas and die, possibly explode. But if you go more slowly it might make it. Of course different creatures are different so it depends a lot between creatures. Squids in general can handle more pressure changes then most creatures."
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305lae | what do the +/- tracking controls do on a vcr? | I just saw an old VCR remote and realized I never knew what those controls did. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/305lae/eli5_what_do_the_tracking_controls_do_on_a_vcr/ | {
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"From what I remember from a long, long time ago, the information magnetically encoded on the VHS tape are actually encoded in diagonal stripes running the length of the tape. If you were able to see it, it would look something like this:\n\n -------------------\n / / / / / / / / / / \n ------------------\n\nThe tracking actually moved the read head so it was reading a slightly different part of the diagonal line.",
"VCR veteran here. On a VCR video tape, there are 2 kinds of recorded information. There are the helical (on an angle on the tape) tracks that contain the actual video signal. There is also a control track, that runs the length of the tape in a continuous fashion..much like a simple audio tape. There is a separate magnetic head that reads the control track. The +/- tracking controls adjust the this head with respect to the control track. The control track is used by the VCR to properly decode the information on the helical tracks. Newer VCR's actually did this automagically."
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3sr4lf | why are some muslims so radical? what is written in the koran that makes them lash out to such extremes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sr4lf/eli5_why_are_some_muslims_so_radical_what_is/ | {
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"Some people in all religions are extremists. They act that way because that is what they believe, not because the Qur'an or Bible makes them. In any religion, some preachers advocate those extreme views. Outsiders aren't particularly effective at dealing with these preachers because they are outsiders. It takes fellow religious leaders to calm the fundamentalists, or Government Intervention. Consider [Jim Jones on the Christian team](_URL_0_ ) ",
"If you think about it really everywhere has its radicals. The focus just seems to be on them at the moment.",
"There is extremism in all forms of religion. Look at all of the deaths that have occurred in the name of Christ, whether it be the crusades or a crazy having a killing spree. The constant civil unrest in Africa is another good example of extreme radicalism.\n\nJust because the news focuses on extremes does not mean it paints a very clear picture of the larger part of any given religion or group. \n\n_URL_0_",
"Since political correctness seems to be the most prevalent here, i'll give you an honest objective answer. While many religions have violent content in their texts, it's important to understand the context and manner in which it is presented. In the unrevised version of the Koran, violence is in fact instructed and commanded, people will deny this, but the scripture is there. Modern Muslims and the overwhelming majority do not agree or follow that version of the Koran. People here have actually never studied religious history and text. ",
"Lol, just like every time this comes up on reddit, the conversation is largely focused on ancient Christian atrocities. ",
"Jihad is a duty in Islam. It may not be in the 5 Pillars but it is very important.\n\n > Jihad (English pronunciation: /dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جهاد jihād [dʒiˈhæːd]) is an Islamic term referring to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain the religion. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning \"to strive, to apply oneself, to struggle, to persevere\".\n\nThe inner struggle, which is the greater struggle, is the battle of faith that happens in your heart.\n\nThe outer struggle, which is the lesser struggle, is the battle against those that would hurt Islam.\n\nBut basically, going to war with the enemies of Islam is a duty that is pretty simple. Kill those people. It has a certain elegance and simplicity that appeals to people that lack the depth the undertake the greater, inner struggle.",
"You should read the Quran, Haddith and Sunnah. The Quran states that Muhammad was the perfect Muslim that all muslims should model their lives after. He was a violent conqueror like Ghengis Khan. He killed many men and had others tortured to death. He kidnapped and raped the wives and daughters of his conquered enemies. The youngest girl he raped was a 9 year old named Aisha. He called on Muslims to conquer the Earth by any means necessary. According to the Quran, if a Muslim lives in a country that doesn't have sharia law, they have to commit themselves to creating sharia law in that country or basically go to hell. Most Western Muslims don't follow this literal interpretation of the Quran, but it's common in many middle Eastern countries to condone or turn a blind eye to rape and those that aren't under Sharia law are the ones currently in civil wars because devout Muslims are trying to implement it. It's a barbaric, primitive religion that condones rape and demands murder and genocide. All religions are harmful to the progression of the human race, but Islam is by far the most harmful.",
"It's really worth considering the socio-economic factors in addition to the religious ones. There would probably be more Catholic terrorists if Italy and Ireland were war-torn shitholes instead of the middle-east.",
"Dumb question - are there radical Buddhists?",
"They do it in the name of Allah much in the same way KKK did gods work. \n\nAnyone who claims to do anything in the name of their God, are NOT doing it in the name of God, \n\nEvery answer to every question to our politicians and EU countries should be \"WHY?\" \n\nWhy the attacks on France? They attacked France because. ....... \"Why?\"\n\nWe're taught at a very early age NOT to ask too many questions, so let's break this cycle ,teach our kids to never stop asking questions, break this mould of submission, and make them answer our questions instead of blindly following warmongers in to illegal wars and having us be prisoners of geopolitical warfare",
"Islam is, by it's very nature as set out in the Quran, an extreme religion. By comparison, Fundamentalist Baptism is mild when compared to the most moderate forms of Islam. This is not an exaggeration.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nAdditionally, because there is no central authority in Islam, such as there is in Christianity or Judaism, it's very sectarian (it's broken up into many different \"official\" interpretations). As well, Judaism and Christianity have been around long enough to have had their reformations, events which occurred once they reached a certain age. Islam is still a teenager, so to speak, and hasn't grown out of its barbaric origins. Finally, Islam is insulated against itself in that the later scripture supersedes early scripture, and it is the later scripture which shapes its bloodthirsty nature. \n\n & nbsp;\n\nPlus, interference from non-middle-eastern countries in the form of proxy wars, crusades, and invasions help create circumstances where, as a self-perceived oppressed people, religion becomes the opiate of the people (meaning that often, when people are oppressed, they turn to religion as their comfort, succor, and salvation), because it's easy to believe that something better will come after this life when this life is shitty in many, many ways for people of that region, and your holy book tells you that Paradise is achievable if you do certain things, like martyring yourself. "
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1r8jb1 | since i learned so much in the detroit discussion, what happened to cleveland? | I currently work here and I'm from New Jersey so I don't offhand know the history of the area very well. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1r8jb1/eli5_since_i_learned_so_much_in_the_detroit/ | {
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"If anyone missed it (like I did!), [this is the Detroit discussion](_URL_0_)",
"I think these videos do a comprehensive job explaining, with the first explaining how jobs are being funneled out of the city and the second touching on how the Cleveland economy was greatly impacted by the loss of its greatest export.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"The Drew Carrey Show was taken off air."
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5p458x | if sociopaths make up a sizable portion of the population, why aren't mass murders more common? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p458x/eli5_if_sociopaths_make_up_a_sizable_portion_of/ | {
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"Not all sociopaths also have a blood-lust. Many satisfy their sociopathy by getting into positions of power. You'll find most sociopaths in jail, or the corner office\n",
"Do you have a citation that indicates that sociopaths are \"a sizable portion of the population\"? Martha Stout's notion that they are 4% of the population seems outrageously high, given that the DSM-IV prevalence of Antisocial Personality Disorder is 2% and sociopaths are a small subset of that.",
"Even if we accept that your premise is true (which I question), sociopaths are primarily out for themselves. Logically, this means that they won't be doing things that will get them thrown in jail. They may not respect the system but they know it's stronger than they are.",
"Whatever you call them, smart ones learn that if you play by the rules you get to keep more of the marbles.\n\nSelf serving people who understand the system may be good manages in order to have expensive homes, cars, boats, and planes. It is possible that they would work for a philanthropic company or organization successfully just by analyzing processes and ensuring they happened in an efficient manner.\n\nThere is also a difference between mass murder and serial killers.\n\nAny unusual death will be investigated by the police. Even if murders are disguised as accidents eventually a chain of accidents will become suspicious,",
"If I could offer up another explanation. There was a French philosopher and social theorist named Michel Foucault. He offered up the explanation in one of his books called \" The Panopticon\" that laws can be upheld by a state because citizens BELIEVE that laws can be enforced. It is possible that a large percentage of the population does not intrinsically believe in or understand the laws they are supposed to follow. But since they feel like they are being policed and watched they are reluctant to break them. If you think about it you feel safe when you see a police car patrolling your neighbourhood. This does however, not necessarily mean that they would be around in time to prevent you from being mugged or robbed. The same thought crosses the mind of potential criminals. Still they will feel like they are being watched if they have seen a police car patrolling the neighbourhood and this might already be enough of a deterrent for them."
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adtr5t | how is it possible for comets to continually “shed” themselves for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and never run out of comet dust? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/adtr5t/eli5_how_is_it_possible_for_comets_to_continually/ | {
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"It’s because it’s a very tiny amount of dust. It doesn’t take that much dust for a noticeable tail. Couple this with the fact that comets are huge (Haley’s comet is 3 miles in diameter) and you will see that it would last a long time",
"I was under the impression that comets only put out the comet tail when they're close enough to a source of energy (like our sun) for the heat to start to vaporize the materials in the comet and whatnot that's on their surface and cause it to trail out behind. \n\nConveniently, it's also when they're near enough for the Sun to illuminate them for our viewing. ",
"Comets are mostly dust and water, and it's the water that sheds, but only when the comet is close to the sun. Comets spend most of their time far from the sun, so they only lose water for a small time each time around the closest approach. Comets are huge, so it can take a hundreds of orbits to lose most of their water. Once that happens, there's mostly just dust left, and what you have is no longer a comet but a comet-asteroid transition object which no longer loses mass."
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1ja3lm | why aren't people buying the $1 houses in detroit? | I know there's no jobs in Detroit and nobody wants to live there, but surely there has to be some value to having a house there right? Even for the slight chance that property houses might rise in the next 100 years?
Houses like this one: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ja3lm/eli5_why_arent_people_buying_the_1_houses_in/ | {
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"You still have to pay property taxes, and there might well be local laws requiring some minimum standard of upkeep as well.",
"Have you ever owned a house? If you can't sell your money pit, it becomes a money black hole.",
"As Detroit keeps shrinking, it's likely that services to many such areas will be cut off, meaning your house will decay and rot and you'll eventually be left with nothing but a tax bill.",
" > Even for the slight chance that property houses might rise in the next 100 years?\n\nJust because the house and lot is sold for $1 doesn't mean that the city is going to value the property for that much. So you pay $1 for the house and end up paying property taxes for some unknown amount.",
"Three reasons, all of which intermix. \n\nThe first reason is that the houses are *awful*. Old, full of asbestos, dilapidated, crumbling - it would cost a lot of money to make Detroit's abandoned buildings useful. \n\nThis ties in perfectly with the second reason: liability. These houses are so awful, that if a homeless junkie hurt himself in it, you would be liable. None of these houses are up to code - and ownership means you are now responsible for the condition of the building. \n\nLastly, high taxes. Detroit is a big city - and its services are paid for by property taxes. But, because more and more people are fleeing the city - there is a smaller tax *base*. This means that each homeowner has to pay *more* in taxes to make up for the vacancies. To be fair, it does balance out somewhat - the houses are so worthless that the property taxes end up being reasonable. \n\nedit: sweet fingerfuck, my inbox blew up!",
"There's probably a lot of back taxes that you'd have to pay to actually buy it, and probably some overdue utility bills that you might have to settle to get service turned back on. ",
"If you think it's a good investment, then buy it. The reason people aren't buying them is because nobody thinks it is a good investment. \n\nI don't know how the real estate market works in the US, but in Britain buying a house is more expensive than just the cost of the house - there are legal fees, estate agent fees, stamp duty etc. I imagine spending $1 on the house may well run into thousands of dollars before you actually have the deeds in your hand. So if the house is worth $1,and you've spent $3,000, the house owes you a lot of money already.\n\nYou know you're not going to be able to rent it out for the foreseeable future, so it's not going to be looked after. So do you want to insure the house (in case the roof collapses?). Paying a premium every month on an empty house is crazy. If you don't pay the premium and the roof does collapse, are you going to spend $10,000 fixing the roof on a property that's only worth $1. Just in case it does become worth it in 20 years? \n\nAs I said, if you think it's an investment, then go ahead and buy it. Personally, I'd leave it well alone. ",
"It is likely that this house is in such poor condition that it would have to be demolished (hard to tell from one photo). If the demo/removal costs are higher than the value of the lot, you've got yourself a bad investment",
"_URL_0_\n\nThis video sums up why. ",
"because the property is a pure liability. it has no market value at all (which is why they're basically being given away). the amount of money you will lose before you even have an opportunity to profit is enormous. and its not even a good chance at a profit. Detroit only looks to be getting worse, not better. would you be willing to sit on a property, losing money every month, for an indeterminate period of time, for an unknown chance at maybe making money?",
"You can murder a couple people in Detroit and get away with it. Miss a payment, fuck up on a property code, piss off the tax man and you will be hounded and hunted down by the man for all eternity.",
"Why not buy the houses, tear them down and sell the scrap? These houses are old, and some of that old timey trim can be resold at a good price. Then sell the empty land after you're done.",
"I'll ask my own question, OP.\n\nDo ***you*** want a house in Detroit?",
"because a house listing isnt a legally binding contract, once they get peoples attention with the teaser listing, the seller finds out who is willing to pay the most.",
"Some are, I know a guy who picked up 250 of them. The back taxes costed him a lot but he plans on renovating them.\n\nI should add he is Chinese and bought them all sight unseen.",
"Look at the listings for the sub-$100 houses. Property taxes are still upwards of $3000 annually. On top of that you have instant liability once you own it. If kids get injured on your property, you can be sued. If you dont' maintain the property, the city can fine you. If crackheads move in and you don't know because you're not paying attention, they can claim adverse ownership and you could lose your entire $1 investment. ",
"Because they are located in Detroit.",
"I'd like to know why they're not razing the buildings and plowing and planting the lots. I'll take $100 of those houses please to start my new farm.",
"If you ever spent any time in Detroit, you would know exactly why you would never buy a house in that part of town. Yes, they are cheap, but so are all the other houses around it and either filled with crackheads or in a very high crime area. If you buy the house, refurb, pay all the taxes, you still wouldn't be able to rent it or you wouldn't want to live in it...neighbors are everything in Detroit\n\nAnd all the points made below about cost of taxes, refurb costs, upkeep and dealing with the city are very true. I lived there for 3 years and was lucky enough to be in a nice neighborhood where all the cops and firemen lived. They are required to live in the city in order to work for the city\n",
"Ok Certified Residential Appraiser here from the Metro Detroit area. i dont do many appraisals in the city for many reasons but i guess ill throw my 2 cents in on why people do not purchase these properties.\n\n#1 Properties like these are typically negative value. This is due to extremely low property values along with the cost to demo a home with 0 remaining economic life(Cant live it anymore)\n\n#2 Property taxes will occur but upon sale of the home will be back to zero. This property is owned by Fannie Mae who is responsible for the back taxes. And Typically they will be forgiven by the city government or paid off as a stipulation of the sale.\n\n#3 Who the hell wants to buy a property is Detroit. This is probably the largest reason behind the 1 dollar sale. Fannie Mae is trying to get this property off their books asap so they are not responsible for the property taxes. Hence the 1 dollar asking price. \n\nAnd i guess this probably isnt the place for a rant about Detroit and all the misleading press out there as to why it is failing. The reason it is failing has nothing to do with who is running the city or pensions plans. Thats a laugh. It has everything to do with the Great White flight in the 70's where we had an explosion of people move to the suburbs attempting to escape the race riots. This created a wealth vacuum in Detroit where property value decline drastically. The only reason their is 700k people still living within the City limits is due to their lack of education and they are just poor. Sorry to offend anyone but facts are facts. Anyone from the city that has received and education leaves immediately, thus leaving the city with more and more prevalent uneducated population.\n\nThere are signs of life though in Detroit as our Campus Martius area and the surround stadiums, along with the Wayne State campus have create a Central Artery in the city where economic development is booming. Condos that could have been purchased for 40k 2 years ago are selling in excess of 200k and we have many new companies, include one that 1 work for moving their head quarters downtown. I know the city is broke and is building a new stadium, but the future benefits of building that stadium far outweigh the cost now. I'm betting in 10 years from now we slowly see a creep of economic development for the Woodward corridor in Detroit, hopefully bring some new economic development and gentrification to the city. \n\nEdit-Thanks for the gold kind fellow Redditor!!!\n\nEdit-spelling not campus marcus. My bad",
"its basically a pile of old rotten wood that somehow looks like a house still. Wood that u have to pay huge taxes on. Nothing works inside, and you'd have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to make it livable.... in probably the worst neighborhood imaginable. And taxes obviously. ",
"Another important factor, beyond the unknown costs and liability factors, is safety. Many of these very inexpensive houses are part of neighborhoods that are completely blighted. Last summer, I was in Detroit and decided to tour some of these areas, and it was super sketchy. In these areas, about one in every five homes has been boarded up, burnt out, stripped by thieves, or seemingly abandoned. There are people wandering the streets at all hours doing who knows what, street signs have been uprooted, mongrel dogs are roaming around, there aren't many street lights at night. Combine the above with the fact that Detroit is bankrupt and that the average time for police to show up to your house for a 911 call is about an hour. Consequently, it is very dangerous to live in these areas. ",
"Having lived in Detroit for years, and having left in 2007, I can confirm that it's because the houses are in Detroit.",
"Extremely high taxes. Extremely high crime. Squatters. Almost non-repairable condition. Water damage. Houses stripped of all copper plumbing or have exploded from cold weather.\n\n\nThey just aren't worth it. Even for $1. You are almost trading $1 for tens of thousands worth of work just to turn around never be able to resell it because the area is shitty.\n\n\n\nI don't know how this problem can be fixed aside from the city leveling entire blocks and starting new communities by forcing all of the current residents out - but I guess that's racist so it is just going to stay the way it is until they leave on their own.",
"lets not forget the Obvious. \n\nCondition. I had a friend of mine that buys houses in our town and renovates them for rent. He thought the same thing you did. WOW.. a $1 house!!! NO BRAINER!!!!\n\nHe even figured that some of these old houses may even be worth the cost of tearing down, just to get the Woodwork, Flooring, Trim, doorknobs, doors, ect... basically, buy the house,, and part it out, then pay approximately $25000 for demo. \n\nHe lined up a Relator,,, drove to Detroit,, He went and looked at them.\n\n#1. some of these houses were in such bad neighborhoods the relators wouldn't even go with him to show him the house. if the relator won't go to the house with you.. this is a REALLY good sign that all of your tools, trailers, vehicles, ect.. are in danger of being stolen while you spend 3 weeks ON SITE gutting the house. you can't make money If you are robbed blind while working.\n\n#2. upon inspecting over 30 homes,,, NONE.. NOT ONE had copper left in it. they had been stripped of every copper pipe. many had the old radiators stripped and caused water to be leaked all over. Some even had the copper WIRING literally pulled out of the walls THROUGH THE PLASTER!!.. Around here, this is part of the cost you can recoup from demo'ing a house is to sell the copper.. the crackheads beat him to it.\n\n#3 only two of the homes were even in salvageable shape. but they were too modern to get high end woodwork out of . they need to be earlier than 1940's to have the GOOD woodwork. the ones that were old enough, had vagrants and druggies that had lived in them. shit and pissed everywhere,, and for some reason took great joy in completely destroying any and all salvageable wood work and doors, ect.\n\n#4. someone already beat him to the \"good stuff\"... some prior owner, or crew had already removed all of the items of value from the home,, you were just buying a shell.\n\n#5. Liability - it was already talked about, but also remember, insurance companies know these neighborhoods and will charge you MORE if your house is located in one.\n\n#6. Taxes - already discussed\n\n#7 no market to sell the property. no one wants the empty lot. in other towns / cities. you can recoup money by selling the empty lot.. there is no market for them in these neighborhoods.\n\n basically... if it made good business sense... there would be a BIG business doing it now.\n\n",
"I'm talking out of my ass and I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but I wonder if you could create an LLC, buy some of the \"best\" properties for next to nothing (i.e. in what were once excellent downtown neighborhoods) and then just sit on it. Let the taxes accrue over the years, they'd just put a lien on the title of the house. If the value comes back, the back taxes come out of your profit. If they never come back or some hobo trips on your gate and sues, the LLC takes the hit.\n\nIsn't that how LLCs work? Cue Kramer suggesting you simply \"write it off.\"",
"This is one of the worst ELI5's I've ever seen. Yes it's a crappy area with a high crime rate and poor economic outlook, but that's not what stops people from buying these $1 properties. What stops them is the liability, starting with the thousands if not tens of thousands owed in property taxes. That doesn't simply go away simply because the property changes hands, no matter what the yahoos in this thread seem to think. Then as soon as your name is on the property you're on the hook for whatever goes wrong there, including homeless that move in and then hurt themselves.",
"Lead Paint, Asbestos, Taxes, Crime, Bankruptcy, Hopelessness, and Racism.",
"I'm thinking this could be a good charitable project. \n\n1. Buy up a block of houses. Given administrative overhead, legal, etc. I'd make a totally uninformed guess that this would be $500 max. \n2. Fix up the houses into a \"campus\" -- say education buildings or something. Given the state of things I've seen describe below, I'd make another uninformed guess of a half million dollars, hopefully less (allowing for EPA regulations, zoning queries, etc). \n3. Start up classes, services, whatever. As a charitable organization, this could be crime prevention classes, or church related, or a \"community center\", whatever. Maybe this could be one of those ~~Urban garden~~ City Farm things I hear about on *Splendid Table* sometimes. \n4. Let this \"beacon of light\" improve the surrounding property value\n\nEdit: City Farm, not Urban Garden. See [here](_URL_0_) for an article on this. ",
"Because they're not houses, they're lots with a pile of rubble on them. These houses are in such poor condition that even for $1, it wouldn't be economical to buy them.",
"Detroit is a shithole. Sorry people living in Detroit, but that's my opinion having lived there. I spent 3 years in the area, and all I saw was overpriced areas and areas that were reminiscint of Escape from NY.",
"1. There are tousands of dollars in back taxes on the property.\n\n2. The demolotion costs.\n\n3. The neighborhood is anything but lovely. ",
"1: You have to pay back taxes owed on the property.\n\n\n2: The house is likely condemned. You'll need to demolish it.\n\n\n3: The neighborhood shows no signs of improving any time soon.\n\n\nDollar for dollar it only *looks* like a high potential, low risk investment. \n\n\nWhat I *really* want to know is why the federal government has turned a blind eye to Detroit. Damn city used to be called the Paris of the United States. *Paris*. How many billions of dollars go to foreign aid and pointless wars when we can't even take of our own? \n\n\nActually, no, don't answer that. I don't want to give the government an excuse to sink their claws into more business they should have none of. ",
"ITT: Reditors suggesting a \"on the sly\" improper disposal of asbestos that redditors would likely complain about if done by a large company.\n\ntl;dr: being a dick in business is ok if you aren't a large faceless corporation",
"Brb, buying houses in detroit",
"I can tell you why that particular house hasn't sold. A lot of the houses in Detroit are the same way.\n\nFirst, that house is a foreclosure. It was foreclosed on in 9/28/2010 and immediately put on the market for $1. They've removed and relisted it several times, but for never anything more than $1000. This means the house has been on the market for three years for insanely cheap without *any* takers. This alone will turn off many buyers.\n\nSecond, that house is in incredibly poor condition. It was built in 1915. There's a huge hole in the roof, which means that rainwater's been leaking into it for who knows how long. The wiring into the house has been stripped. Most of the windows are broken, and the roof's siding is rotting. There's no garage. Someone buying that property has the option of sinking thousands of dollars into that home to get it liveable, or tearing it down and building anew.\n\nWhich brings me to the third point -- take a look at the [property values of the other homes in the area](_URL_0_). They're around $15,000 to $25,000 at most. Because the property values in the area are *so* low, and that house needs *so* much work, the best return an investor is going to get for fixing and flipping that house is *maybe* $5,000 if you do the bare minimum of fixing.\n\nNow, $5,000 may not seem like a bad chunk of money, but consider that you have to deal with contractors in Detroit, the rampant crime in Detroit, and the overall lack of city services in Detroit. This means that a restoration project on that property will easily take a year, and maybe two or three. At that rate, you would've been better off using your time to work at McDonalds. There's really no money to be made there.\n\nBut couldn't someone buy that house to fix it up and live there? A lot of the other houses on that street are occupied, after all. But again, there's the problem that the house is in such terrible shape and needs so much work. Anyone moving to the area, and there are few, would be better off buying a house that's not insanely messed up.\n\nThis doesn't even take into account that there are probably utilities and backtaxes to take care of. Once you take into account all the associated costs, a $1 house gets very expensive.\n\n**TLDR**: A $1 house is $1 for a reason.",
"This is easily answered.\n\nThe house costs a dollar at auction, but you are responsible for all of the back taxes (liens) on that house. So, you are actually buying the privilege of paying whatever is owed on the house for $1.00. What is owed on the house could be tens of thousands of dollars. \n\nEven if the house doesn't have a large cache of back taxes owed, they are usually in highly undesirable neighborhoods where you wouldn't live yourself and you wouldn't be able to find a renter for the property. ",
"Looks like we have a winner. But thought I'd relate a story anyway, as this is occasionally a considerable deal: My boss bought his house in Baltimore for $1 back in the '70s. It's part of what's now a very nice area, right next to the convention center and the stadiums. He put in about $30K (it needed a roof, after all) but it's quite sizable and he just recently got a low estimate of over $300K.",
"Many of the houses have thousands owed in back taxes that the buyer may get stuck with\n",
"buy a city block of $1 houses, hire some thugs to burn them all down, ........, profit",
"The neighborhood is a squalid hell hole. ",
"Look at the nearby crime - _URL_0_",
"This video gives a pretty good example of Detroit, although I don't think it does it justice. I used to live around Detroit, and I've seen areas worse than in this video. In fact, most of where they're driving, would be safe to drive in. There are areas that aren't even safe to drive in. I live in Denver now and hear people talk about the ghetto, they don't even know...\n_URL_0_",
"Let me tell you guys a little something about Detroit, and having friends that are contractors that work there...\n\nDetroit is the most crooked city in this United states. The shit the city officials pull to get by is obscene, It is hilarious how everybody here is \"oh well, building code and asbestos and safe demolition.\" None of that shit matters in the D, seriously. All you have to do is slip the right official a $100 bill and that problem goes away, EVERYBODY who works for the city is crooked, EVERYBODY can be bribed, nobody gives a shit about how serious their job is, the major intentionally ran the city into the ground for his personal gain, then went about declaring bankruptcy as if it was something he tried to avoid, it was entirely part of the plan. The reason why people don't buy houses or property for $1 comes down to a) taxes and b) the fear of it never turning around (which it won't). Nobody in their right mind is going to build a new house in an area where if by themselves on the street they will get shot for looking at someone for a few seconds too long. Especially in a city where there isn't enough money to hire adequate non-corrupted police enforcement. The city itself will absolutely never come back, those houses will sit forever, until they fall over on their own accord, and when they fall over, nobody will pick up the mess, because nobody wants to, and nobody wants to pay to have it done. \n\nIt is an absolute shame, because some of those houses are absolutely gorgeous. \n",
"Because they're $1 \\* \\*\\* \\*\\*\\* \\*\\*\\*\\* \\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\n\n\\* Plus taxes. \n\\*\\* Plus maintenance to code \n\\*\\*\\* Plus HOA maintenance, to requirement \n\\*\\*\\*\\* Plus back taxes and other fines \n\\*\\*\\*\\*\\* Placeholder for more costs",
"Did I miss it, or are there zero Robocop jokes/quotes posted in this thread?! It's setup too well, $1 things in Detroit that's going Bankrupt...",
"I imagine it's kinda like that local bar that does $1 drink night; it attracts a certain, unfavorable crowd so those that can afford to pay the normal prices elsewhere avoid the bargain. ",
"If no one is taking action to buy them, there's GOING to be a good reason; people like making money.\n\nIf the $1 houses aren't being bought up, it's because the investment sucks. For many reasons that have been posted before:\n\n- High land taxes, (other taxes too)\n\n- Maintenance costs and costs to bring the building up to certain government standards for living is going to be pretty outlandish given their conditions.\n\n- Not maintaining the houses means you're going to be liable for problems that could occur on the property, regardless of whether people are allowed to be on the property.\n\nWithout the liability and government \"fees\", I'd buy one up even though I'm in Canada, just so I could say I own a place in the states.\n\nAs the cliche goes, you couldn't pay people to get rid of them.",
"You ever play Fallout?\n\nIt's kind of like that. Piles of rubble which have already been looted of everything of value, save for the occasional hidden bottlecap. Superfund levels of contamination in the soil that become your problem. Plus wasteland raiders who will shoot you to steal your bottlecaps and ammo.\n\n$1 is worth it if you have a Super Mutant companion. Unlimited rounds on a laser-gatling is win.",
"Houses decay frighteningly fast when they're abandoned. Banks don't know much about real estate, a bank-owned house is not maintained much at all. Nor are they likely to pay property taxes on it. And in some cases, the bank would rather pretend the house is worth more than they would ever sell it for. Why would they pretend? Because they're insane and need to see the doctor, but nobody can make them.\n\nSo at some point the value of the house actually slips BELOW 0, from a combination of property taxes owed and the work to make the house livable again.\n\nPlus the neighborhoods these houses are in is scary and full of crime.\n\nGenerally if there's a good deal on a good house, it sells pretty quick. If it's selling for $1 and nobody is buying it, there are hidden costs that will pop up once you buy it.\n\nReally I think an FDR-type gubmint project where you take unemployed people and set them to demolish those houses (plus you can train them for a construction job, even abestos abatement) wouldn't be a bad thing IMHO. Kill two birds with one stone - reduce unemployment and build a base for Detroit's RE market to recover.\n\nMaybe you could also train them to build houses too, and give them a cleared lot that they could use to build themselves a new house?\n\nI'm not holding my breath though.",
"It's not $1. That's the nominal price of the house, and many of them have fees that will put you negative the instant you buy the house. You then have responsibilities and liabilities which will cost you real money. And if you want to do anything at all to the house, it will cost you a lot of money.\n\nA new $1 cellphone is also a nominal price. You won't get it without a contract.",
"What I want to know is how does a formerly nice house get to that condition? Was it abandoned and then trashed by vagrants and vandals? Or were the previous owners really that neglectful? \n\nIt makes me sad that there are so many homeless people in this country, and houses like this are just sitting there...",
"many of these $1.00 house situations come with a price. \n* they are in very un-desirable neighborhoods\n* you MUST qualify for a mortgage of around $150,00.00 (this is a common amount)\n* you must use that money to renovate the home\n* home must be your primary residence for said period of time (normally 2 years)",
"Because, Detroit. You couldn't pay me to live in that shithole!",
"Detroit: come to where the hookers pay *you* for sex.",
"several reasons: \n* it is Detroit \n* crime in the area is horrible \n* despite the ignorant optimism, things will never improve there \n* extremely high local muni taxes for little to no muni services \n* the homes are rarely habitable \n* the neighborhoods are rarely habitable \n* there is nothing positive about owning property in Detroit - the city council will destroy your hopes and dreams with their ignorance and racism ",
"Have you been to Detroit?",
"#1. Danger - Who's going to live there...you? What's the rental rate for that property?\n#2. Taxes - That \"Free house\" is going to cost you $4,000 per year\n#3. Fines - Once you buy it, you're subject to all of the regulations the city puts on your home. \n#4. Liability - Now that you own your $1 home, if a homeless guy or druggie wanders in, stubs his toe on a rusty nail they can sue you. \n#5. Fixup - Now that you've got your $1 house it's going to cost you $60,000 to get it to a state where it's inhabitable....and you can buy an inhabitable home for $30,000. ",
"Because noboby wants them. Their burnt out, dilapidate houses that would cost thousands to make livable. Nobody wants those houses for a reason.",
"People are allergic to bullets. ",
"Because it's detroit ",
"I don't understand this entire business with back taxes.\n\nWhy can the bank just decide \"You know what, fuck the taxes. We'll let whoever buys it from me deal with that shit.\"\n\nIf a person makes that same decision, wouldn't he be in a world of hurt?",
"Because who would ever willingly live in Detroit? ",
"Hopefully the hivemind can help me out with the feasibility of this plan:\n\n* Step 1: Buy several city blocks in Detroit for cheap.\n* Step 2: Bulldoze. EVERYTHING.\n* Step 3: Build a giant castle, complete with walls and a moat.\n* Step 4: Offer free housing and enjoy your new role as King of a city within a city.\n\nHow much do you think this would cost?",
"If people were buying them they wouldn't be $1.\n\n:)",
"Because that would require people wanting to live in Detroit",
"- Off Topic-\n\nAfter reading all the responses, I would propose this:\n\nThat the local Government/Council/City buys them up.\n\nThey could start by creating jobs tearing down the old houses - Bringing real employment to impoverished area. Then there is the rebuilding process. Invest in training up the Unskilled workforce, so they can help rebuild the areas they live in.\nAnd finally, give them priority purchase of the properties, through collections direct from wages, for a discount price. \n\nWith a little investment, they could turn the slums around. It would lower the unemployment rate, increase the number of skilled workers, and allow the least fortunate to become property owners. . . something that a lot of people aspire to be.\n\nMost importantly though, getting people to engage in the local community, getting them into full time work, builds a level of respect for your community and yourself. If you invest time and effort into something, you are more likely to care for it. ",
"Because they're in Detroit...",
"I work as a realtor in and around Detroit and 90% of my clients are investors. Most people from well-populated cities don't understand that the $1 house may be the only house on that entire block. If you are from a normal city, you can't fathom the amount of blight, neglect, vandalism, etc that exists in some of the neighborhoods. You just don't have a frame of reference for it. \n\nSo most people think,\" It's a house, it's got to be worth SOMETHING?!\" But value is based on what can be done with a property: either renting it out, or selling to a family. If there is little to no life in a neighborhood and you can't do anything with a house, it would be best NOT to buy it, even if they were giving them away. \n\n\nPS. I've sold many houses for $1. If they are bank-owned foreclosures, you still have to pay pro-rated taxes and closing costs. So you rarely get away paying $1. Lol",
"Location location something something",
"I made the mistake of doing this. I bought 50 vacant lots in the city of indianapolis for a couple hundred bucks each. made the further mistake of putting them in my own name instead of some not for profit shell corp.\ngot sued 54 times, for stuff like flowers growing or somebody else littering.\nhad a nervous breakdown, during which i lost all my money because i had been in the middle of a stock deal. 12 years later, i'm slowly getting my shit together. sold a few of the lots to make back what i paid for them, but too much hassle. after a lifetime of being a revolutionary, drug dealer, arms importer, etc., what they got for me for was growing flowers and somebody else's littering.",
"My Dad moved from the UK to Detroit a few months ago cause he runs a business doing just this. He buys cheap houses, renovates them and puts a tenant in. Then he'll just sell it on.\n\nPlug - _URL_0_",
"The amount of asbestos, lead, the gangs of scavengers that take anything they can sell in a scrap yard makes those $1 houses not such a great deal. The people that do try and make one of these homes livable usually have everything stripped the night the stuff was installed.\n\nNot to mention cops barely respond to 911 calls, no joke, they just don't show up. EMS half their fleet doesn't run. It truly is survival of the fittest in the area that have $1 houses.\n",
"The cost of moving them long distances is prohibitive.",
"Abandoned Detroit homes are best suited for fire department practice.",
"In some blocks of Detroit:\nNo utilities\nNo police service\nNo fire department service\n\nYou would have to get a generator for power, a shotgun for home defense, and some fire extinguishers. And then you wouldn't be able to leave.\n\nBut you would still pay the full tax rate.",
" > EDIT: I've never made front page before, yay! Can someone give me reddit gold for hitting front page? It's my cake day today.\n\n*Seriously?*",
"Put it this way, if someone wants to sell you any kind of real asset for $1, they are looking to pass off ownership (and liability), not gain one dollar. \n",
"Because they're in Detroit.",
"I can't comment on Detroit specifically, but two general reasons why you might not want to buy $1 property are:\n\n(1) If it catches on fire and a neighbouring house burns down, you're liable. If someone squats in it and gets hurt, you're liable. You have to take out insurance to cover these possibilities and dozens of others.\n\n(2) You have to pay rates on it (a kind of tax to the city council). Depending on the area these can be quite exorbitant. In my area large-ish commercial properties can pay $70K/year in rates.\n",
"It predicts property will rise 4.3% meaning in a year it'll be worth $1.043. Whoa! I'm buying ",
"Because they're in Detroit. ",
"A lot of this has been covered - but its because the cost of taking possession of the house is significantly greater than $1, and absolutely no guarantee that your property will ever be worth anything substantial.\n\nSure, there have been examples of \"homesteading\" programs that were successful - like in Baltimore in the late 1970s when they sold row houses for $1 around the Inner Harbor (whose redevelopment had already been announced) under the condition that the purchasers rebuild/restore the homes. In that example - it was a very specific program and a limited area.\n\nIn Detroit - you'd basically be throwing a dart at a map of shitty neighborhoods and hoping that a decade from now, Bruce Wayne decides to build a hospital on your land and pay you to acquire it.\n\nThis is pure speculation - not investment. Stick $10,000 in a domestic stock index fund and congratulate yourself in 10 years instead.",
"[The house's tires are worth more than everything combined!](_URL_0_)",
"Because a $1 house in Detroit is still a house in Detroit.",
"High taxes. Criminal environment. No police presence.",
"because at a dollar they are overpriced",
"Most of the one dollar houses are all in extreme disrepair and have been stripped. Plus they come with a tax bill. A colleague bought up some to use as rentals a few years ago and it was a disaster. He had trouble getting and keeping good tenants because who wants to live in a house on a bombed out block with no city services? Eventually he started telling tenants that if they lived there for a year and paid their rent he would GIVE them the house. He still had trouble getting rid of them. ",
"47% of them can't read the ads.",
"Because Detroit is fucking awful.",
"Apparently in Detroit you can be robbed at gunpoint by police so maybe people just do not want to live in Detroit?\n\n_URL_0_",
"Decided to google earth / map for a bit down the streets. On the street corners with open places that were getting delivery.. armed guards (for booze and bread and crap) .. Also a lot of these houses and buildings that have been abandoned or recently abandoned seemed to of had some modifications by their previous owners;\n\n\n Iron gates on all doors (the doors seem to always be of the steel plate/concrete/plate variety. Then on top of this which gets me the most is these placed have had their windows bricked up and just have little slits for windows now. A place is so freakin bad you have to build a fortress? Christ they probably dont even have pear magners at the stores around there, could you imagine?",
"excuse my ignorance of MI property laws etc\n\nwhat is stopping a massive company like, say Google, from buying up vast tracts of land and building a \"model city\" showcasing innovations in technology and basically moving their entire operation to a new \"campus\" basically built from the ruins of detroit?",
"It's Detroit. Nough said. I grew up there and now live in Kentucky. Trust me, no one wants to own anything that ties them to a crime infested and falling city. Just saying :). ",
"TIL you could buy a house for $1 in detroit",
"I'm not a real estate Broker or anything, but I know that it is listed as $1 because it is an auction. This is not what the house is going to be sold for.",
"I'm sure taxes are the main issue. A house may cost $1 but the back taxes could end up costing thousands. Still it is a home flippers paradise, some flippers buy homes by the dozen.",
"Because of the cops who rob people at gunpoint?",
"Because they are in Detroit",
"they are in 100% black ghetto areas. You wanna live there? Neither do they. Good luck!",
"They should just evacuate the city and use it as a set for a Fallout movie. ",
"I heard that if you buy 5 houses in a row you can upgrade them up for a hotel. ",
"It's almost entirely because of back taxes. Let's say the land is worth 100k and the house used to be worth 500k. Assuming a property tax of like 5%, you would have to pay 25,000 a year in property taxes. \n\nHere's where it gets messy. The bank may own the mortgage to the house, but it'll dice it up and sell it in parts in what's called a CDO or Collateralized debt obligation. After dicing this up, and selling it multiple times, it has no idea who the house belongs to. This causes the foreclosure process to be extra messy and lengthy. It may take years to get this house off the market. All this time, this house is vacant. Looters come by and strip the copper wiring. There's water damage. It becomes overgrown. The house rots and literally the only valuable thing is the plot of land. After 5 years, you have a plot of land that used to be worth 100k, but now has 100k of back taxes that the new owner would have to pay. And there you have the reason why people don't buy 1$ houses. \n\n*Massively oversimplified but that's essentially it. ",
"/u/oceanlifetime broke it down nicely in this thread\n_URL_0_\n\n > There are strings attached. I'm a Baltimore Investor and we have similar houses. Now assuming there isn't a large tax bill attached to it and assuming the bank gives it to you fee simple, you are not in for an easy ride.\nFirst of all the inspector is going to be very aggressive in making you get the house rehabbed. Someone dumps trash in your yard? That's a $100/day fine,. The grass is overgrown that's a $100/day fine. You are dealing with a bankrupt city that is desperate for revenue, they will come after you.\nSo you think, ok I won't be a slum lord, I'll fix up the house and rent it out. Soon though you realize that the house will cost more to fix than it would be worth. You think, ok I'll board it up and wait for the market to recover, then I'll be rich!\nSlow down, soon those old nosey ladies are going to be taking pictures of your house as a vacant, calling you a slum lord, and trying to get it condemned. The city will start fining you with some new law they passed just so they can make money off of you, maybe send you threatening letters.\nOk I'll bite the bullet and fix it you think, I'll be a white knight turn this neighborhood around. Nope, the city will stand in your way every step of the way. Charging you for a permit here and there, taking their time, delaying your rehab. The police will ignore people breaking into your house and stealing your appliances and copper.\nThis is too much! There is value in the land so I'll demolish the structure, land is still good right? Wait until you see those costs, easily in the five figures.\nThis was supposed to be so easy you think. Well guess what, you are not the first person who thought about buying cheap houses from the city. If it was really so simple then experienced investors would have bought up all those blocks of $250 houses a long time ago. Those areas are abandoned for a reason and all the good intentions in the world won't change the situation.",
"Because ghost dude. No one wants to live in a haunted house ",
"You answered your own question.",
"Becuase Robocop needs to come in and clean up the streets.",
"Look at the owed back taxes. You pay those too",
"As someone who lives in Australia, is it possible for me to buy one of these pieces of property? What would I have to go through for it to make it happen?",
"can i buy it with bitcoins ?",
"I live in Detroit, and people are buying these houses. Not in droves, but people ARE buying them to live in, and my job is turning some of them into pieces of art, or places for artists to work in. \nMost of the houses are sadly being bought up by investors from other cities and other countries, who are betting on the turn around of Detroit. But then those houses just sit and rot, and nobody who actually lives here can do a thing about it except keep them boarded up so that they don't become drug houses.\nAlso, I've lived around the country, and so have many of my friends here. People move here every day from other places. Our neighborhood is my favorite place to live in the country. Great mix of people, great early 19th century archetecture, our house looks like a castle, I have a farm up the street on some city owned land, and I can ride my bike everywhere from here. ",
"Ermagherd erts hernted O.o",
"what starts with n and ends with r that you never want to call a black person? neighbour. That's why."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4700-Saint-Clair-St-Detroit-MI-48214/88410305_zpid/"
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"http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Detroit-MI-48213/79068_rid/42.386769,-82.980648,42.377909,-83.002728_rect/15_zm/_fm/1_fr/"
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"http://i.imgur.com/rws7y7z.png"
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"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTQFtNLvcl8"
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"http://i.imgur.com/89tgly7.jpg"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1jaxhr/fake_cops_robbing_detroit_citizens_at_gunpoint/"
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4gcm3x | why do d-day landing crafts open at the front? | Was rewatching Saving Private Ryan, the landing craft just opens the door at the front, leading to the deaths of all the soldiers before they even ran out of the vehicle.
Wouldn't it be better if they could just exit from the side? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gcm3x/eli5why_do_dday_landing_crafts_open_at_the_front/ | {
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"In addition to the other remarks. One of the main issues with a beach landing is the water, the further the troops are away from the beach the deeper the water, the more the risk of drowning, the slower the troops move, the wetter and more tired they are when they eventually make it to the beach. A side exit means that the troops are further away from the beach and the deeper the water is and you also risk being hit by other boats coming into land. Front exiting especially with the additional assistance of the ramp means that they can exit in as shallow a water and quickly onto the beach and spread out and although if a machine gun was directly ahead of the boat they may be in trouble that rarely happens and the quick and safe dispersal is more likely to mean that the soldiers are alive once they are on the beach.\n\nAnother issue that needs to be considered is the seaworthiness of the boat, due to the slope of the beach the front of the boat is actually higher than the stern which means that very little water is going to wash into the boat when the ramp is lowered. Side ramps could easily flood the boat, leaving it stranded and blocking the beach. Then again jeeps and other light vehicles can be transported in landing craft and these need to come out of the front of the boat to be efficiently dispersed, coming out of the side would be nearly impossible.",
"Because then they would be stepping out in to pretty deep water on the side. This is the answer but I need to pad it out so the auto-mod doesn't delete it. Direct answers are frowned upon here."
]
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[],
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|
6bu2i7 | sovereign citizens. why do people think they are not required to follow the law? what is this based on? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bu2i7/eli5_sovereign_citizens_why_do_people_think_they/ | {
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"text": [
"[This decision](_URL_0_) by a Canadian Court is the best write up I have ever seen of what the SC movement is/believes and where it comes from.\n\nThe ELI5 version is that SC's have been told---sometimes by people trying to sell books and seminars, sometimes by true believers---that the legal system is effectively a lie and not binding on them, so long as they take certain steps, which vary from SC to SC. Usually, these steps involve some sort of highly formal (and meaningless) legal filings or actions in court.\n\n "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2012/2012abqb571/2012abqb571.html"
]
] |
||
4v35ar | how does a computer read keystrokes from a keyboard? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4v35ar/eli5_how_does_a_computer_read_keystrokes_from_a/ | {
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"A keyboard is just a list of switches. There is several ways to connect those switches but basically when a switch is pressed, it allows current to flow thru and a microcontroller ( a smart chip if you wish) will detect this current and basically record which one was pressed or released. In turn the microcontroller will send this information to the computer via a serial connection ( PS/2 or USB) , the computer receive this information and the operating system acknowledges it and send it thru the program that \"own\" the keyboard at that time.\nEach key has a keycode ( based on ASCII for most western language, and ISO-xxxx, for other languages)\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
e17gp0 | why it's bad when car batteries go completely dead/once they go dead they can't/rarely can be recharged to full strength? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e17gp0/eli5_why_its_bad_when_car_batteries_go_completely/ | {
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"Car batteries are designed to be able to push a few hundred amps on demand. That's actually kinda atypical for most batteries; your cellphone battery might do 4 amps top and that would be considered a high workload, and your car's battery is only 3 times the voltage (~12 car battery vs ~4 cellphone battery)\n\nBut in designing them to do this, there is a tradeoff. They don't tolerate being drained down very well. After doing so their expected life is usually dramatically shortened. Normally this isn't such a big deal - they're supposed to be mostly idle for a while, crank the engine to start it, and then get immediately recharged by the running engine.\n\nIf you want a 12 volt battery that can handle being drained, look into a \"deep cycle\" battery. They can't provide hundreds of amps like an \"automotive\" battery, but they take being drained way better.",
"When the battery discharges (even normally), lead sulphate crystals form on the plates. This makes the working surface of the plate smaller and reduces the amount of lead and acid available. This, in turn, reduces the power and capacity of the battery.\n\nAs it recharges most of those crystals get turned back into lead and acid. Eventually a large enough area of the plate is covered that the reaction won't completely reverse when the battery is charged. Gradually the battery loses power and capacity.\n\nLetting the battery go dead turns most of the lead and acid into lead sulphate doing several years damage in one go."
]
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[],
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||
7pyk4o | what are the characteristics that define the market as either a bull or bear? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7pyk4o/eli5_what_are_the_characteristics_that_define_the/ | {
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"text": [
"It's called a \"bull market\" when the line indicating the price of stocks is trending upwards, like the horns of a charging bull, and it's a \"bear market\" when the line is trending down like a claw of a bear. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
80t1h1 | might sound dumb, but what's a rational number? | Can anyone explain it clearly to me please
Or link me to a very helpful video or something. Thanks | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/80t1h1/eli5_might_sound_dumb_but_whats_a_rational_number/ | {
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"A rational number is a number that can be expressed as a fraction, like 7 or 1/3.",
"A rational number can be written as the *ratio* of two integers: q = a/b, like 3/5. In other words, fractions.\n\nThis includes whole numbers, since, e.g. 7 = 7/1.",
"So basically there are different types of numbers you see in common early math...\n\nIntegers: Your obvious counting numbers (i.e. -2 -1 0 1 2...).\n\nRational: any number that can be expressed as the ration of 2 integers (e.g. 1.5 is 3/2 and 2 is 2/1). As you can see all integers are rational numbers but not all rational numbers are integers.\n\nIrrational: Real numbers that cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers. Common examples are Pi (a circles circumferance divided by its diameter) and e (the limit as n goes to infinity of (1+1/n)^n).I understand you may not be far enough in math though to necessary get this concept.\n\nFurthermore you can extend to different planes (as opposed to your standard x-y plane) and come up with other concepts like imaginary numbers. "
]
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|
5xoods | why does urinating on a lemon tree help it grow? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xoods/eli5_why_does_urinating_on_a_lemon_tree_help_it/ | {
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"Hold up.....WHA?????? lol\n\n\nOk I know nothing of this legend BUT i do know that urine will break down into Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium with many trace minerals. so in that respect it is actually one hell of a good fertilizer for any plant. If the salts were an issue there would be many a dead tree in dog parks....\n\nGive you an example. I have some huge rose bushes and people are always commenting on the size of the blooms and the strength of the rose smell. they always ask what I do and I say nothing special. but in reality I make sure I take at least one wizz a night in my garden lol. in this way they are getting raw pure nitrogen no different then the chemicals in miracle grow, and has the benefit of being natural which doesnt kill the soil microbes like chemical fertilizers do.\n\n\nIt's safe, it's free, and it's potential can match any commercial chemical fertilizers. (the Romans even made cleaning solutions from Urine)\n\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/gardening/605742/urine_the_ultimate_organic_fertiliser.html"
]
] |
||
ce3ehq | why can all the areas in our mouths repair itself with new skin, but our gums can not? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ce3ehq/eli5_why_can_all_the_areas_in_our_mouths_repair/ | {
"a_id": [
"ety6p3j"
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"text": [
"Our cells can only figure our their function from their surroundings and interactions.\n\nA wound in the skin of our mouth is surrounded by other skin cells. The new cells see those surrounding cells and realizes they should function as skin.\n\nThe gums attached to your tooth are different. They expect a firm attachment to the tooth that formed when the tooth first came out. Remove that attachment either due to poor dental hygiene, rough brushing, or other factors and the separated gum-line cells don't know that they should be attached to the tooth. This is why your gums don't regenerate the attachment to your tooth."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3dwrnv | if i open the car window is there an equal but opposite breeze outside? | Edit for clarification: Breeze exiting the window. My understanding is that the air outside of a car is stationary and the air inside of a car is also "stationary" though moving at the same speed as the car. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dwrnv/eli5_if_i_open_the_car_window_is_there_an_equal/ | {
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"text": [
"Technically if you open a window air will flow in yes. But also air will flow outward because of the maximum capacity of airflow. The air will circulate and exit the car.\n\nSo yes there is an equal and opposite airflow"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
26iihu | what happens after we die? (i.d, saving accounts, property, etc) | I am not asking about afterlife or things like that. I want to know what will the government, banks, cops, hospitals, or related parties will do with me and my stuffs if I die all of a sudden.
Like......
1. If I am employed to this company, is it considered as a "resignation"?
2. How will the government update my identity, what is the processes?
3. My money in banks. Do they keep it? Or will they be transferred to some special accounts/special funding?
4. If I bought a car/house with loans from banks, and I died without settling the debts, what happen next?
5. Let's say I am a homeless man without family and people found me dead on the street. Where do my body get transferred to by cops/medical unit?
6. Everything else I guess > _ >
Insights or details from anyone working or dealing with related aspects are all deeply appreciated.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26iihu/eli5what_happens_after_we_die_id_saving_accounts/ | {
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"Your job will probably consider your death a resignation. Your SSN will probably be recycled at some point in the future. That's the only special part of your \"government ID\"; nothing else is that unique. Your bank accounts, loans/debts, and other money related issues may be pushed off onto your closest relatives, depending on inheritance law.",
"Debt dies in the US. That means that although your estate has to pay the debts you accrue, debt does not get pushed off to your relatives. Of course, funerals/burials cost money which your estate (aka whoever would inherit whatever money is left over) can elect to pay. That is to say that the cost of death can range from cheap and cremated to Nick Cage buried in a pyramid.",
"Presently dealing with this, pm me if you like. \nEach State has different laws, but basics should be similar. \n\nAssuming US here. \n\nIf you have a will or trust setup in advance, that can declare your legal assignment of things. Similar to if you knew you were dying, and gave your stuff away in your last hours. \nIf anything is jointly held, or ' joint tenancy' / 'jtwros- joint tenant with right of survivorship' - that property goes to the joint tenant/s named. \n\n1 job- you can't meet job needs, your employment is separated. \n\n\n2 govt ID- funeral director and/or next of kin notifies social security, provides death certificate. Death cert includes SSN, so they catch on soon anyhow. \n\n3 assets - if you have joint acct, the other person owns it. If you spell it out in a will, then others can get money after probate. If none, bank holds money as soon as they become aware (usually 2 days or less) - releases money to court named beneficiary, or after time passes, goes to State as abandoned money. \n\n4 loans- banks will try to get their money, if you have any 'estate' or will, they'll try to get bills paid. If it goes for a long time, or if probate court is slow- they may try to foreclose or repossess. They may go to probate court and fight to get paid- even if it means the court orders your stuff has to be sold. Some loans carry optional life insurance; if you have that, it probably pays the banks off. \n\n5 Still stuff like utility bills, valuables/ junk in your home - someone needs to settle all this. If not in your will, probate court will assign someone. Handle your final arrangements, and clear out your home/apartment, sell or distribute anything you owned. \n\nGenerally , probate courts will look for close relatives to take care of things, and to benefit from anything left over. Spouse, parents, children, siblings, etc. They will need to keep careful records of time ( they can ask to be paid for the work) and any expenses. Usually, relatives can't be held for your debts, but they can't gain a free car that wasn't paid for, either. Finally, someone ( probably your executor or court-appointee) will need to file your last taxes. ",
" > If I am employed to this company, is it considered as a \"resignation\"? \n\nIt's considered a death. Employer's are expected to make good on anything owed to the decedent.\n\n > How will the government update my identity, what is the processes?\n\nDeaths should be listed in the Social Security Death Index which other government offices consult. But government being government there have been some infamous foul-ups. Dead people being listed as still living, and living people being listed as dead. One of the best features of being dead is almost certainly the fact that you no longer have to worry about government.\n\n > My money in banks. Do they keep it? Or will they be transferred to some special accounts/special funding?\n\nAny funds in your name are owed to your estate. That is controlled by the executor of your will in accordance with your wishes, or a probate court if you have no will. That's why having a will is important at any age if you have assets. Things that fall through the cracks are (or should be) eventually turned over to the government and listed as unclaimed property. Banks are not legally permitted to keep defunct account assets.\n\n > If I bought a car/house with loans from banks, and I died without settling the debts, what happen next? \n\nThe creditors will go after your estate assets in court. With no other listed owners, a home will generally be foreclosed and a car repossessed. They can't get blood from a stone obviously. If you have no other assets then creditors just take the loss.\n\n > Let's say I am a homeless man without family and people found me dead on the street. Where do my body get transferred to by cops/medical unit?\n\nThe county morgue typically. From there it depends on how any given locality handles the indigent. You'll end up being buried (maybe even in a mass grave) or cremated at taxpayer expense.",
"If in Australia.\n\n1. Your employment agreement is terminated as you are unable to meet any of your obligations under the contract.\n\n2. The registry of births deaths and marriages will record your death. The executor of your estate generally has to advertise and the government picks up the name from the papers and death certificate. Your file gets updated in various places as deceased.\n\n3. Your money vests in your executor (if you have one) which means they legally own it while they figure out who your beneficiaries are. If you don't have an executor the Public Trustee will do it for you.\n\n4. Your creditors put in a proof of debt/claim on your estate. It gets paid from your assets. Your debt is then wiped out.\n\n5. I don't know."
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ex8y2f | what happens if you take a stimulant and a depressant at the same time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ex8y2f/eli5_what_happens_if_you_take_a_stimulant_and_a/ | {
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"You end up potentially not realizing how out of it you are. It feels more normal, but in terms of objective measurement you're just as out of your mind as you'd predict given dosage and drug. This runs the risk of people thinking they can safely take more and ODing or just getting way higher than they meant to."
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9dz70c | how does nuclear materials make it possible to split the atoms to make a nuclear bomb possible. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9dz70c/eli5_how_does_nuclear_materials_make_it_possible/ | {
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"It only works if you start with rare, special unstable atoms that are ready to split already. Typically these will be plutonium, or enriched uranium.\n\nAverage atoms are damned hard to split.",
"For fission to be possible the material does not need to be radioactive per se. However, what you do want to archive is a chain reaction. For a chain reaction you need the material to basically do two things: \n\n\\- Split easily when hit with a neutron\n\n\\- Emit neutrons when splitting\n\nWith certain material this is possible, that those materials are highly radioactive is a more a side effect of them splitting easily. Radioactivity is a sign of an element that is unstable, and unstable elements tend to split more easily.",
"\"Nuclear materials\" are elements that are very very unstable. These elements naturally fall apart over time and turn into other, stable elements. As the fall apart, or decay, as we call it, the emitt light and heat.\n\nWe can boost this process by shooting a particle at an unstable atom, which splits it instantly, instead of decaying. It's like throwing a rock at a wall that is about to collapse. The cool part is that when the wall collapses, it launches more rocks, taking down more walls. So, as one atom splits, it causes other adjacent atoms to split. This is called chain reaction.\n\nWe then harness the heat produced by boiling water, and turning a turbine with it, like a steam engine."
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3ev93b | how did germany manage to take so much of europe during wwii despite its central geographic location? | It seems like they held out for a long time despite being surrounded by so many other countries. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ev93b/eli5_how_did_germany_manage_to_take_so_much_of/ | {
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"There are too many reasons to list succinctly, but some factors that combined to get them their initial gains were initiative, an element of surprise, some newer military tricks and strategies, unpreparedness of their enemies, making effective use of modern weapons, etc. \n\nAnd once they had taken everything through France (and a lot to the north, east, and south) there weren't any major continental Allied forces left. So until Germany was deep at war with Russia and the Allies landed at Normandy, they really *weren't* surrounded by enemies on all sides.",
"Their only real rival on mainland Europe was France, once they had taken down France, all they were really surrounded by was a bunch of very small states that would rather have stayed neutral if they had the choice.\n\nIf Germany only had to contend with the efforts of Great Britain and a distant US, it probably would have held out even longer, it's eastern front being secured by a non aggression pact with Soviet Russia.\n\nThen they broke the pact."
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6gfdwn | how did jordan maintain relative stability during and after the arab spring, and how is jordan still maintaining the relative stability with the state the middle east is in right now? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gfdwn/eli5_how_did_jordan_maintain_relative_stability/ | {
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"Despite being a monarchy, Jordan is actually one of the better countries in the region when it comes to democracy and human rights. The king is popular and doesn't rule as a dictator.\n\nThe religious demographics also help. Jordan is 92% Sunni Muslim and allows a decent amount of religious freedoms for the rest (mostly Christians). Iraq and Syria are partially in the mess they're in because their Shia governments were unpopular among their Sunni populations, which lead to support for ISIL.\n\nAlso, they have no oil to fight over. There's the conspiracy-theory view that that means nobody is interested in toppling their government.",
"They are a US ally w US military hardware and US intelligence services feeding them info. It also helps they don't gas or bomb their own population.",
"Despite having no oil, and being poor, the Jordanians have put a lot into education and healthcare and so on, making it one of the better HDI nations in the region. This has also helped make the King popular, so much so that protests were directed at Parliament, not at the King.\n\nAnd while in this constitutional monarchy the King has a lot more power than constitutional monarchies in Europe, the King is seen as a stabilizing figure.\n\nJordan is > 90% Sunni Muslim, so there aren't huge rifts between different sects. The King is a Sunni Muslim, and a Hashemite which means he's a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad - this gives him a sense of legitimacy a lot of others don't have too. Also, the King is a Bedouin, which gives him a lot of loyalty from the native Jordanians - who are of Bedouin origin as well - and who run a lot of the affairs in the government and military.\n\nJordan DID take a huge influx of Palestinians over the decades, and that has led to some divides between the native Jordanians and the newcomers. Ironically, the ability of the King to do a lot to overrule their legislators and what not has helped provide a 'guiding hand' to assuage a lot of the fears that these newcomers, now larger than the native population, would vote in changes that would irrevocably change society.\n\nIn addition, while Jordan has quite a bit of Islamic law in affairs (including family law), it is relatively liberal for Arab nations. So while the very religious folk can practice their religion, the less religious or non-Muslims aren't persecuted much either. West Amman, for instance, is very cosmopolitan - women there often don't wear the hijab and there are places you'd think you were in a Western nation. In fact, Jordan is one of the few Arab countries where you will find outright liquor stores available (alcohol is haram, and banned for sale or even possession in many heavily Islamic nations), a testament to the freedom they do give the Christian minority in the country.\n\nIn sum - they don't have the brutal dictatorships of Assad or Saddam or Gaddafi. They allow for Sunni Islamic practices, while being balanced to give minority religions a lot of leeway. Their population is better educated and taken care of than these secular dictatorships, who were largely for the enrichment of the ruling families. They don't have the ethnic strife present in many neighboring nations. And Jordanians in general have a respect for the monarchy and military, which gives a respect for the state that isn't found in places like Syria and Iraq.\n"
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8gm7sm | how is profit margin a useful metric when a company can just reinvest all of their money back into the company? | Let's say a company has $50 million in revenue, and simply running the business cost them $40 million. They've made $10 million in profit.
Then that company turns around and spends $10 million on some R & D projects.
Isn't their profit now $0, which looks bad, but is actually a really good sign? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8gm7sm/eli5_how_is_profit_margin_a_useful_metric_when_a/ | {
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"This is why you actually *read* the earnings reports if you want to invest in a company. They specify how much they earned for what sectors and how much they spent on various activities(materials, wages, facilities, marketing, expansion, and reinvestment)\n\nIf you dig through it you'd see something along the lines of \n\n**Gross income** $50M\n\nMaterials $15M\n\nLabor $10M\n\nOverhead $15M\n\n**Cost of Goods sold** $40M\n\n**Operating Income** $10M (this is the income after all necessary expenses to earn the revenue so its Gross Income - Cost of Goods Sold)\n\nFacilities expansion $10M\n\nNet Income $0\n\nWhile the Net Income is 0 the operating income is not. At any time the company can stop the additional expenditures and turn the operating income into profit but this is generally not worth it in the long term."
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3xdurq | what are foreign currency reserves and why are they important? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xdurq/eli5what_are_foreign_currency_reserves_and_why/ | {
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"They are important for two reasons:\n\n1. Countries that fix the price of their currency need to control that price either by buying/selling currency below market value, which drains their reserves, or by banning currency trading. When you ban currency trading you effectively freeze your imports and exports, so foreign currency reserves show how long you can manipulate your currency without it having negative effects on your trade.\n\n2. Countries that borrow money in a foreign currency need to repay it in a foreign currency, so currency reserves show an ability to pay off debts.",
"Foreign currency reserves simply put are just monies from other countries a government (or central bank, if it is separate) have on hand at any given time. They use these reserves to buy and sell securities of other countries (which are denominated in foreign currency). This has important implications for government financing, as well as exchange rates. \n\nIn order for a government (and/or, central bank) of a country to pursue a certain economic agenda, the exchange rate is an important factor in how much investment flows into, and out of, the country. Reserves are necessary to maintain the exchange rate, if natural market forces (including recessions/financial crises) push the exchange rate in an undesirable direction. For example, if the yuan (china) were to weaken against the dollar undesirably, the Chinese government could buy yuan with their dollars, thereby increasing the supply of dollars and lowering the supply of yuan, thereby raising the exchange rate back to normal levels.\n\nIf a country were to run out of foreign currency reserves, they would be unable to exert control over the exchange rate, and thus considerable control over investment in their economy."
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360ccz | with all the wealth, resources, and technology in the world today, how does everyone not have a basic education, food, water, and shelter? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/360ccz/eli5with_all_the_wealth_resources_and_technology/ | {
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"Define \"basic\".\n\nBecause if you don't have enough of those things to survive, you're dead. And survival is the bottom of \"basic\". \n\nNot that people don't die from lack of those things, but mass starvation or exposure death is nothing compared to death by disease or violence.",
"Capitalism! The people who have the most money don't have an incentive to use \"wealth, resources, and technology\" to provide the basics for other people for free. If they did so, they wouldn't be able to use the disparity (the needs of needy people) to continue gaining wealth. Selling water to thirsty people is more lucrative than giving it to them for free.\n\nThere have been various reactions against this (check out the progressive movement. It had good intentions (mostly) but also established a lot of the really shitty classist notions that persist today). \n\nSince the earth's resources are limited and most cultures in the world distribute those resources by trading for other things of value, people with resources will always want more (for security) and people without will always have to scrape by (trade some necessities for others) just to survive.\n\nI'm not an economist or any kind of expert.\n\nEdited to add: Even socialist countries operate on capitalist principles when you expand from a local to a global view. Socialist countries only believe in socialism for *their* citizens, and build their economies on the backs of developing nations where people don't have the same access to resources. ",
"Because 85 individuals control the same amount of wealth as 3.5billion people. Yes, you read those numbers right.\n\nSource: Oxfam"
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966vi2 | how do procedurally generated video games work? how are players not constantly stuck in a situation where they can no longer progress due to the level generation? | Are procedurally generated levels given guidelines they must abide by? Ex. No platforms over this height, no jump distance further than x, etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/966vi2/eli5_how_do_procedurally_generated_video_games/ | {
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" > Are procedurally generated levels given guidelines they must abide by\n\nyes. that's why it's called \"procedurally\" and not \"randomly\". the game has to follow a procedure that makes sure the result is a playable map. a simple example would be to allow it to make gaps in a path, but the gaps have to be < 1m wide and have > 1m of land between them so it doesnt create a too-wide gap by placing 2 right next to each other",
"In the context of video games, \"procedural generation\" doesn't imply 100% random level design; it only means that the levels are created by algorithms, instead of by hand. Most of these algorithms ensure that the game doesn't become unplayable due to bad luck.\n\nFor instance, Spelunky's levels are procedurally generated, but must adhere to a strict ruleset to make sure that the levels are beatable (i.e. there has to be open space from the starting area to the exit, there can't be any falls that would cause you to take damage, etc). Other games, like The Binding of Isaac, have procedural level generation, but the individual elements that make up the level (the \"rooms\") are handmade by people.",
"\"Procedurally generated\" doesn't necessarily mean everything's purely random. In The Binding of Isaac, each room is created from a template-room designed \"by hand\" (non-procedurally) and filled with random types and quantities of enemies and loot. By carefully designing those template-rooms and deciding what can be randomized in them, you can make sure the player is never stuck in a level because of unfortunate RNG.",
"Yes, Procedural means \"by procedure\", which is very different from \"randomly\". Tiles, voxels or whichever the single unit of map used is, it includes a set of rules for placement, orientation and such. I've been testing some very basic procedural generation algorithms in Unity.\n\n[Here you can see my shitty algorithm at work](_URL_0_)",
"The key term is \"procedural\" here. When the programmers create the game, they create an algorithm for generating the areas within the game. This algorithm isn't random, it takes a lot of factors into account to ensure what it creates is playable. Of course, it is often possible to encounter \"impossible\" things in a procedural game, but generally this is quite rare. The programmers try to think of all the possible factors that could lead to unplayability, and ensure that the algorithm doesn't do that, but it can slip through sometimes.\n\nOften though, one of the key reasons the procedural generation works is because the gameplay itself is capable of dealing with it. Take, for example, Minecraft. It's pretty close to impossible to get actually \"stuck\" in a minecraft world. Killed? Sure. But stuck? Even the hardest obtainable block can be broken without a tool (it takes over four minutes though), and all unbreakable blocks generate in patterns that wouldn't be able to trap you fully. So while it's certainly possible to end up in terrain that's dangerous, or downright annoying, you generally won't get permanently stuck because the nature of the gameplay is that you can reshape the world around you. The most likely way a world could generate and be nearly unplayable would be to spawn the player in the middle of a desert without any trees within safe walking distance. This could make crafting even your most basic tools before dying and being send back to the spawn point very hard. But that's an incredibly low probability world given the way worlds generate. "
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4nqp5s | why isn't the orlando shooting on my front page? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nqp5s/eli5_why_isnt_the_orlando_shooting_on_my_front/ | {
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"The uncensored megathread on /r/news (censored comments appear in red): _URL_0_"
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6lfyn2 | how do power outages happen when too many people are using electricity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6lfyn2/eli5_how_do_power_outages_happen_when_too_many/ | {
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"Imagine a bathtub full of water, the water represents electricity. The bathtub has a faucet, which represents the generation of electricity. Imagine now that there are little holes in the bottom of the bathtub, all plugged up. When ever a home needs power, unplug the drain and let the water flow out. \nNow imagine that there are thousands of holes, all unplugged. The bathtub will drain very quickly - even if you turn the faucet on, full blast, only a few of the holes near the faucet will still get water flowing through, the rest of them will be dry until you plug up some of the holes again. It's generally the same concept with power. ",
"Electricity is carried by current through wires and transformers. When too much electricity is being used, the parts of the system used to carry that electricity reach their safe limits. More current causes overheating. High voltage lines sag and can short out. Transformers overheat and catch fire. Even if the transmission system is designed to handle the current, the generators can't supply enough voltage at higher current. A brownout would result. That is the lowering of voltage throughout the system. "
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a7c7bd | if an spf50 sunscreen increases my skin's natural resistance to uv rays from 5 to 250 minutes, does its effectiveness wear off after 250 minutes even if i spend them in the dark, or does it only wear off during sun exposure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a7c7bd/eli5_if_an_spf50_sunscreen_increases_my_skins/ | {
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"Imagine your skin is a sponge, no try to think of a sponge absorbing water.\n\nThat 250 minute timer is how long it takes to absorb.",
"The spf and how long it lasts aren’t really directly connected the way you described. \n\nThe spf is a measurement of how much sun it blocks, not how long it stays on your skin. ",
"If your skin normally burns in 5 minutes, an SPF50 sunscreen will *ideally* reduce the incoming damage so that it will instead take 250 minutes to burn, like you described.\n\nHowever, the length of time the sunscreen is physically effective is a completely separate question. The sunscreen will get rubbed off, sweated off, washed off, etc depending on what activities you’re doing. In addition, your skin absorbs it over time as well. So even though it will theoretically prevent a burn for 250 minutes, that does you no good if you go swimming and it all washes off. That’s why the sunscreen label tells you to reapply the sunscreen periodically.",
"The SPF rating just means what percentage of harmful radiation will be able to penetrate the sunscreen. It has no bearing on the duration the sunscreen will last. SPF 50 just means that 1 minute of exposure without sunscreen is equivalent to about 50 minutes of exposure with it. It might last all day if it's good, or it might be washed off as soon as you take a dip in the pool.",
"The sunscreen doesn't actually just stop working after 250 minutes. Modern sunscreen filters are photostable - the idea that you need to reapply them because they break down doesn't apply anymore (you do need to reapply them because they physically rub off or get sweated off though, also most people don't use enough in the first place and get less protection than the label says, so telling them to repply regularly mitigates that somewhat). What actually happens is this: SPF 50 means that the sunscreen blocks 98% of the damaging UV rays, or conversely, that only 2% of them get through to your skin. 2% expressed as a fraction is 1/50, so if you only get 1/50th the damage that you would without sunscreen, that means it takes 50 times longer for the same amount of damage to take place.\n\nSo basically, if you apply sunscreen and then sit in a dark room and don't do anything that would cause it to wear off your skin, then go outside a few hours later, you should still have full protection."
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77eu4i | breastfeeding and immune system | Breastfeeding provides a mother's antibodies to her baby based on the viruses and bacteria present in their saliva to give them the building blocks of an immune system, and temporary immunity. Other than societal taboos, is there a reason why a wet nurse isn't used to help those who are immunocompromised due to cancer, transplants, etc | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/77eu4i/eli5_breastfeeding_and_immune_system/ | {
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"They absolutely can! Most people now donate milk though. Many neonatal intensive care units have milk donation programs for the preemies because it has a lot of benefits for them. There are also milk donation programs for those who can’t breastfeed or adopt newborns. ",
"Only babies young enough that their digestive system hasn't started to its full capacity can get whole antibodies from breast milk. As soon as the child is capable of digesting solid food, its digestive system breaks down the antibodies before absorbing them. Antibodies are made of protein, so they are digested just like other proteins. \n\nWe can intravenously administer antibodies to people, but the immunity only lasts as long as those antibodies are still floating around in them. Having to lug around a continuous IV drip of antibodies may be more trouble than it's worth to a lot of people. ",
"In addition to what is posted above, people who are immunocompromised can be so for a variety of reasons. A transplant patient for example is put on immunosuppressant drugs to purposely immunocompromise them to reduce the likelihood that their body mounts an immune response to the organ which isn't native to their body. Cancer patients are immunocompromised because they often undergo incredible amounts of toxic therapy treatments (whether it be chemotherapy or radiation therapy) that kill their immune cells. Breast milk only has antibodies in it, and not the cells that make the antibodies. The antibodies will not last long in circulation if injected, and will be digested if swallowed. Replacing the cells that produce the antibodies will be destroyed during continuous radiation or chemotherapy. On top of that all, the immune system is an incredibly complicated series of cells, and antibodies only play one small (albeit important) roll in it. ",
"The immunocompromise you’re thinking of is different. In babies, the immune system is naïve. It can’t tell right from wrong yet or hasn’t received enough exposure to actually know how to defend itself.\n\nIn adults who are immunocompromised, their entire defence system has already collapsed. Chemotherapy has a side effect of killing all rapidly dividing cells, including those in charge of creating defensive cells. Other drugs can interfere with the way defensive cells “talk” to each other, and prevent these cells from working properly.\n\nA mother’s milk has antibodies that protect mainly the gut and nose from an infection, but that’s about it. The child’s stomach isn’t acidic enough to break down these productive antibodies, but an adult’s stomach is.\n\nLastly, breast milk is a body fluid like any other, and sourcing breast milk means extensive testing to make sure it’s free of things like HIV, viruses and other blood borne disease. "
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2lo04t | how do non-human primates look after their teeth and why do humans need dentists? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lo04t/eli5_how_do_nonhuman_primates_look_after_their/ | {
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"They don't really, and they don't really need to. Evolution wants you to live long enough to reproduce then its just a waiting game, so you only *need* teeth in your early adulthood in a manner of speaking.\n\nwe also live longer and eat more sugars acids and general crap that is bad for us so there is a massive difference on wear and tear. \n\nEarly man did not have dentists and their teeth were arguably more healthy than modern man without the intervention of dental hygiene or dentists. ",
"I'm sure a dentist will come and answer soon. But to humour you:\n\n1. Our jaws have shrunk, but the number of teeth hasn't, so they have to squeeze in tight - this causes problems.\n\n2. Teeth are really designed to last 30 years. Because our lifespan has increased considerably, dental problems have become more of an issue."
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1bb3fv | fair use of copyrighted material. | Sub-question: If I used a Beatles song in a Youtube video, which country's fair use laws would it fall under? My country, the website's or the band's? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bb3fv/eli5_fair_use_of_copyrighted_material/ | {
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"That isn't an easy question to answer, largely because the US will view it's copyright rules applying everywhere and because it is likely that a variety of countries would have a valid claim but my not be able to actually do anything about it.\n\nThe most important question is probably how Youtube will deal with it, the chances are they will comply with local law as well as their own rules, so whether it is taken down will depend as much on where the viewer is as anything else too.\n\nThe only thing that is certain is that the copyright owner(s) location won't be that much of an issue in determining which laws apply as copyright is enforced nationally even if there are international agreements that provide a framework for how.",
"That wouldn't fall under *any* fair use laws, since that would not be a fair use of the material.\n\nFair use is what's called an *affirmative defense,* meaning that once you get sued for copyright infringement, you can claim that your use of the material — which *was* infringing, you admit — was a fair one. It's basically saying \"Yes, I technically violated your rights, but my reasons for doing so were okay, so I shouldn't be liable.\" And the court may or may not agree, depending on the circumstances.\n\nUsing somebody else's song in a Youtube video doesn't meet *any* of the standards of fair use. Fair use covers things like criticism and parody; if you were critiquing the song, you could fairly claim that you included some of it in order to make your points. Likewise, making fun of the song would be a fair use of it, within reason. \"Oh, but I didn't mean to hurt anybody\" is explicitly *not* fair use under any standard."
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564h0c | what would happen if 2 hurricanes ran into each other? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/564h0c/eli5_what_would_happen_if_2_hurricanes_ran_into/ | {
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"This is rare but it does happen. If two hurricanes are formed pretty close to each other they can interact. They basically spiral around each other and form one large storm. \n\n \nThis doesn't have the hugely devastating effect that you may think of and such large storm systems merging normally leads to the storm dispersing quiet quickly.",
"Technically two low pressure systems will never run into each other. Rather, they can dance around each other and interact somewhat. One storm may draw energy from the other but they wont \"collide\" per say ",
"It has a fancy name, it is called the Fujiwhara Effect. Basically, as other posters have pointed out, the storms can combine IF they are relatively the same strength, otherwise the larger and stronger storm will absorb the smaller one.\n\nIf they storms are farther apart they will spin around a center point and largely avoid each other. It will often lead to weakening of the storms. \n\nSource: _URL_0_"
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lun0m | magic the gathering rules/strategy | Just bought a "starter pack" (in total about 300 cards) and I've heard it's really fun, but I still don't understand the concept of the styles and lands and stuff like that..
Anyone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/lun0m/eli5_magic_the_gathering_rulesstrategy/ | {
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"Deck building strategy largely depends on what format you are playing in (ie, Vintage, Legacy, Modern, Extended, Standard, Block, Commander) The different formats dictate which cards you can use, which in turn dictates play styles and meta-games.\n\nMake sure you understand the rules first, as lasgnaman suggested, (the different phases, combat, the stack, etc.) \n\nLands produce mana that are necessary to pay the casting costs of the cards you play. Higher casting costs (CC) dictate that you'll need more lands to produce the mana to pay for these costs. The rate at which you draw lands combined with the distribution of CC's of your cards will form the \"mana curve\" of your deck and will affect the rate at which you are able play the cards in your hand. Thus, mana and the number of cards in your hand are the limiting factors to how many spells you can cast per turn. \n\nI assume you're just looking for casual play amongst friends. I'd start by making a 60 card, mono-color deck. Have 20 of the 60 cards in your deck be the basic land of whatever color you choose (eg: green deck will have 20 forests). Fill the other 40 slots with a combination of spells: creatures, instants/sorceries, artifacts. I would fill the majority of the forty spots with creatures if I were starting out. Find a friend, preferably more experienced, with a deck and begin to play! You'll quickly figure out what's not working. Perhaps your deck has too many high CC cards, making it slow. Maybe you find yourself playing everything in your hand then running out of steam. Adjust accordingly. Focus on gearing your deck towards a consistent win condition. When you start out, this will most always be beating the life points out of your opponent with creatures. How are doing this? Are you waiting to draw several heavy hitters, or are you overwhelming him with a lot of small creatures (wheenies)? Are you constructing your deck around a specific type of creature (eg. elves or goblins) that gains cumulative benefits when you control many creatures of that type (tribal deck)? \n\nJust play and have fun first. Style will develop in time. ",
"Deck building strategy largely depends on what format you are playing in (ie, Vintage, Legacy, Modern, Extended, Standard, Block, Commander) The different formats dictate which cards you can use, which in turn dictates play styles and meta-games.\n\nMake sure you understand the rules first, as lasgnaman suggested, (the different phases, combat, the stack, etc.) \n\nLands produce mana that are necessary to pay the casting costs of the cards you play. Higher casting costs (CC) dictate that you'll need more lands to produce the mana to pay for these costs. The rate at which you draw lands combined with the distribution of CC's of your cards will form the \"mana curve\" of your deck and will affect the rate at which you are able play the cards in your hand. Thus, mana and the number of cards in your hand are the limiting factors to how many spells you can cast per turn. \n\nI assume you're just looking for casual play amongst friends. I'd start by making a 60 card, mono-color deck. Have 20 of the 60 cards in your deck be the basic land of whatever color you choose (eg: green deck will have 20 forests). Fill the other 40 slots with a combination of spells: creatures, instants/sorceries, artifacts. I would fill the majority of the forty spots with creatures if I were starting out. Find a friend, preferably more experienced, with a deck and begin to play! You'll quickly figure out what's not working. Perhaps your deck has too many high CC cards, making it slow. Maybe you find yourself playing everything in your hand then running out of steam. Adjust accordingly. Focus on gearing your deck towards a consistent win condition. When you start out, this will most always be beating the life points out of your opponent with creatures. How are doing this? Are you waiting to draw several heavy hitters, or are you overwhelming him with a lot of small creatures (wheenies)? Are you constructing your deck around a specific type of creature (eg. elves or goblins) that gains cumulative benefits when you control many creatures of that type (tribal deck)? \n\nJust play and have fun first. Style will develop in time. "
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2fjrdr | what's my computer doing for the last 1% of an upload? | If I upload a file to the web, I can see the counter ticking up nice and quickly from 1 to 99% or even 100%, then it sits on 100% seemingly doing nothing.
Is this because, in fact, the counter's just a pre-set animation but in reality it's just telling me "Yeah, I'm all over it" when it's not doing that much and then, suddenly, its deadline is up and it's showing 100% and it suddenly thinks "Oh bugger, I'm only really on 54%...I'll just jam it at 99% until I catch up". Or does it do something extra after 100% that takes quite a while and prevents the counter shutting down? It's one of those that annoys me far more than it should so I think I need to know what it's doing.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fjrdr/eli5_whats_my_computer_doing_for_the_last_1_of_an/ | {
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"Your file is uploaded in chunks. Once all the chunks have uploaded, the server has to put the chunks back together and perform an integrity check to ensure the received file is the exact same as the one that you've attempted to send. These additional steps aren't factored into the total upload time with consistent levels of accuracy.",
"It can be any number of reasons. Usually, without any outside interference such as antivirus or antimalware software, it's performing a file integrity check. This is to ensure that the file you downloaded is actually the same file you requested to be downloaded, and the bits are all in the right place.\n\nGenerally the actual code behind the \"upload progress bar\" runs on a bit of fibbed math. What goes on behind what you see is this:\n\n* User sends command to server to upload the file.\n* Server asks filename, size, etc.\n* User sends requested data to server.\n* Server then requests for the file data\n* User begins sending the file it by bit to the server.\n* Server reads the file size, and then calculates the percentage of the file that's been uploaded in specified time intervals.\n\n file size = 1Mb which is 1,048,576 bytes\n\n current amount = let's say 400,000 bytes\n\n current amount / file size = 0.381469... Lots of decimal places.\n\n* Server calculates a fairly accurate percentage, but it's by no means a user friendly number.\n\nWith our example, it's 38.1469...% Normally, the server will use a function that rounds up to the nearest whole percentage. This will give us 38% +/- 1%\n\nSo when the server gets to about 99.5%, the math will automatically round up to 100%, which is why you see 100% for longer than you'd think. Since it's also doing the integrity check at the same time, 100% will display for longer than the actual upload is completed.\n\nTL; DR: Wonky math is used, things are done behind the scenes that you're not privy to, system works as designed."
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292l60 | how do scientists determine the composition of atmospheres from earth? | So, according to a recent article posted on the front page, Titan (Saturn's moon) is now said to have been formed before Saturn was, which is really throwing a monkey wrench in our belief system. The thing that gets me is the scientists found this out by counting the ratio of nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15 in the atmosphere. How in the world did they just determine the atmosphere of a planet's moon that is millions and millions of miles away? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/292l60/eli5how_do_scientists_determine_the_composition/ | {
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"There's a Cosmos episode that should cover this. They basically take a prism and split the light coming from a celestial body into a spectrum. There will be darker lines in that spectrum. Each group of lines corresponds to an element, depending on which frequencies of light are most easily absorbed by that element.\n\nBTW, the fact that Titan is older than Saturn isn't that weird. There are lots of ways for planets to gain moons after the planet is formed. Given that Saturn is a gas giant, it could have literally captured a wandering moon. Gas giants have large atmospheres. They're basically nothing but atmosphere. So it's possible for another object like a moon to pass close enough to enter that atmosphere and slow down, potentially enough to go into orbit.\n\nI know we'd considered that an option for how our own moon was formed, but we eventually decided our atmosphere was too thin to slow a moon enough to capture it.",
"They use a device called a spectrometer, and as others have mentioned, it measures the light coming from an object (such as Titan). The device is basically like a prism that measures the speed of the light (different colors travel at different speeds - frequency of the light wave dictates color). Different elements such as nitrogen, and carbon have predictable molecule structures that essentially \"block\" part of the light coming from a given object. These particles in the atmosphere of Titan are blocking the light that is bouncing off of Titan (which is why we can see it which a telescope), and the spectrometer measures the patterns in the light signatures coming from Titan. These patterns in the blocked light allow astronomers to detect the elements, and their relative proportions in the atmosphere."
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4mkarh | how are professional rugby players able to tolerate such physical punishment seemingly with little injury where as soccer, basketball and protected american football players seem to have devastating injuries quite frequently? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4mkarh/eli5_how_are_professional_rugby_players_able_to/ | {
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"As a rugby player I'll give my thoughts but they aren't science backed or anything. When you play rugby you learn how to take an impact without getting injured. You learn how to fall correctly and brace before you get hit. If you watch some \"big hit compilations\" on YouTube you will see that there is plenty of injuries, mostly stemming from the recipient of the tackle not being prepared to be tackled. \n\nfootball is similar but i think the injuries occur because the pads allow you to lose some of the fear of being hit, or hitting someone, at high speed. So the collisions are at a higher speed. \n\n\n",
"There are a few things to consider:\n\n1.) In American football, players tackle each other head-first, which is not as common in rugby, and this results in fewer rugby head injuries. Helmets do not actually help prevent concussions very well, because most of the damage comes from the brain moving very quickly and suddenly inside the skull, and that is not something helmets protect against whatsoever. Given that these head-first tackles are part of the regular game play in American football, that's going to incur a lot of brain injury\n\n2.) That being said, the effects of rugby collisions [haven't been studied as much as American football](_URL_0_), but it's likely that many rugby players are incurring long-term brain damage as a result of frequent collisions. \n\n3.) Studies are showing that soccer is likely causing long-term damage to the brain as well. This is particularly true for women's soccer, because women generally have thinner necks, and as mentioned above, the damage is related to sudden, rapid head movement. A smaller neck means that heading the ball or colliding with another player is more likely to cause head injury, because the head is less stable.\n\n4.) Basketball involves way fewer head collisions than the other sports you mentioned. It happens, to be sure, but not nearly as frequently. \n\nThis is only related to head injury, obviously. That's the only part I know about, so I can't speak to any other types of injury. ",
"I'm going to assume this claim is, in fact true (as I have no idea what the serious injury rate across those sports are) and say it's due to a combination of two factors.\n\n1. Selection bias. If you've played rugby long enough to go professional, your body is able to withstand powerful hits that would probably severely injure other people. The reason for this is simple, if you couldn't, you'd be injured too frequently to make it to the professional level. A similar selection bias takes place in all other professional sports, but each selection bias is only as extreme as it needs to be. In other words, people in those other sports are less likely to be hit as hard/consistently as rugby, so a higher proportion of people whose bodies can't handle intense contact can make it through. \n\n2. Training. /u/hotcococharlie provides a personal anecdote about this, but in general rugby players are taught how to tackle and take tackles/hits in a non-injurious manner. Players in other sports don't all get this training, as there is less contact in soccer/basketball. Further, rugby-style tackling is designed to low-impact (otherwise there'd be no way someone could do it for 40 minutes with no breaks). Rugby tackling, for example, is actually safer and less damaging than standard NFL tackling (see [this video from the Seahawks](_URL_0_) explaining how their adoption of rugby style tackling has reduced injuries and \"made the game safer\"). ",
"When the tackler has no protection then he will go into his tackle with less force because he is aware that he has no protection as well. Ex. punching a wall with boxing gloves compared to bare hands..which time would you use more force? with the glove!",
"There are a lot of injuries in rugby. Most of the time they are minor: blood, dead leg, something sore or twisted. Much, much more common than football (soccer).\n\nAs for more serious injuries when I was 17 and playing rugby I noticed maybe half of my team had something on them or was just not playing. Tape here and brace there.\n\nLook up how much rugby costs new Zealand, it is a lot. Injuries are common.\n\nCareer ending injuries are not too common, it's fairly hard to take a hit without expecting it (the rules are built that way) everyone is thoroughly trained in how to tackle and how to take tackles. Most of the contact is upper body on upper body, or upper body rapping around legs. There is very little leg on leg mangled action, which can be unpredictable.\n\nBasically the rules minimize risk of injury and you just know how to avoid injuries. But certainly injuries are not uncommon. ",
"Am physio and colleagues who work in rugby tell me the opposite is true. Rugby has more frequent, more types of injury and more severe injuries than soccer. So I dispute your theory.",
"Rugby is very much about safety. Youre taught correct tackle technique from day one and there have been various rule changes to things like scrumming to make rugby safer over the years.\n\nAs stated by other people, you actually have a lot of injuries in rugby, theyre just managed better. On a semi-pro rugby team id say 80% of experienced players have some sort of strapping or bandaging to support a weakness or recurring injury that the player holds. \n\nFrom personal experience id say injuries, due to the nature of the contact, are more commonly mild(ish) manageable muscle damage and end up being treated and kind of negated by the players. In pro because they have the time and the resources they can probably deal with and repair stresses and strains to the muscles rather than just kind of dealing with them and moving on. \n\nA lot of this is educated speculation.\nSource: Played rugby for ~8 years, got a little bit up my national pathway.\n\n",
"Specific to American Football, take a look at the physics involved. In Rugby, there is a lot of lateral movement. Trying to outflank the opposition, get a clear running lane etc. Vary rarely do you have a collision between two 200+ pound men each running 10-15 MPH. Collisions like this are nigh every play in American football. The sheer amount of energy absorbed is enormous. ",
"In Rugby and American Football possession of the ball is almost everything. In most cases, to score you need to possess the ball. How hard you hit as a tackler is dependent on the rules of ball possession for each sport. In American Football, possession is dependent on whether or not your team can carry the ball ten yards. In Rugby, possession is yours until you drop the ball or get tackled, and has nothing to do with yards gained.\n\nAmerican football is a \"ten-yard fight\". You have four tries to get the ball ten yards, to get another four tries to go another ten yards. So every yard gained by the runner counts much more than every yard gained by a rugby runner. So in football the tackler is taught to drive the ball runner backwards, you dont want any forward progress for the ball runner after you, as tackler, make contact. So you hit the runner as hard as you can and drive them back with your legs. If you hit the runner softly, and wrap up his legs, he can still fall forward a few feet and those few feet might be the difference between his team keeping the ball or your team getting the ball.\n\nIn rugby, yards gained is more of an abstract thing, there is nothing particularly meaningful about gaining any set number of yards between the goal lines. So when a runner with the ball is coming at you as the tackler, you are more concerned about just getting the runner down on the ground or forcing the runner to pass the ball. It is not a big deal if a runner gets two yards after being hit by the tackler or gets four yards. The big deal is if the runner gets to the ground with the ball. Then the runner has to drop the ball. The ball is anyones to pick up. More often then not, the team that had the ball when tackled keeps possession - the tackled runner can protect the ball with his body but cant use his hands to touch the ball, and teammates can grab the ball or scrum over it.... \n\nThe Rugby tackler has the best chance of getting the ball after he makes the tackle if he is not completely blown away making a crazy, head first, 100 % american football type of hit. A tackler wants to get the runner to the ground and be able to get right up, stand up, and try to grab the ball, join a scrum, or tackle the next guy who gets the ball.\n\nIn Rugby, i was taught to wrap the legs of the runner and then let his forward progress trip him up, bring him down, and i would twist my body so i landed softly on top of him. More like Akido then anything like American Football, which i played as well. In Rugby, I could make tackle after tackle sometimes, in a row, a few tackles in like 30 seconds it seemed without any pain or ill effect, no time needed to get over the hit. \n\nBecause of Rugby ball possession rules, you want to be able to hit just hard enough to bring the runner down with the ball, not caring too much about forward progress for the runner. \n\nBut in Rugby you also want to hit softly enough so you can bounce right up and be prepared to make another hit of the next ball runner, or to grab the ball yourself and become the next ball runner.",
"There are a couple reasons football is more violent than rugby. First, in rugby you can pretty much only hit the guy with the ball. In football, anyone can pretty much hit anyone, so there are a lot more violent collisions. Second, football ends at the whistle. Players can go all in on a hit that will leave them and the opponent in a heap because they will get a chance to reset before next play. In rugby the play continues so you are less likely to go kamikaze and put yourself out of position as the play goes on.\n\nThere are a few things going on with basketball and soccer. They are more precision based sports. It takes much less of an injury to hamper your shooting motion than it would take to hamper any rugby motions. And aside from actual injuries, there is a lot of pretending or exaggerating injuries in soccer and basketball to influence the referees. Rugby referees tend to only call what they see and don't care how much pain anyone is in. ",
"Just a point about American Football that nobody seems to have mentioned yet: They have pads but the pads only cover certain areas of the body. \n\nAs noted, NFL tackles are generally thrown with a lot more force because they can charge in full-bore thanks to the protection that pads give to the major areas of your body (head, shoulders...knees and toes). If you combine this increased force with exposed areas (which have the same lack of protection they would in rugby) you get more injuries",
"Because if a Rugby player was \"injured\" by the breeze generated by another playing running past within 2 feet, he would be made fun of and chased off the team. "
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2vhet6 | how does planting trees in drier areas increase rainfall? | Or does it at all? I've been reading on /r/permaculture and watched the short "The man who planted trees" and I've been wondering how this works. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vhet6/eli5_how_does_planting_trees_in_drier_areas/ | {
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"Trees transpire (essentially 'breathe out') water vapour - they draw in water from the root system, circulate the water throughout the tree, and then expel water in vapour form through stomata in their leaves. If you get enough trees planted in a dry area the collective 'breathing out' of water vapour will create more humid conditions, which may lead to rain in areas formerly facing drought conditions."
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2neohv | the heat of our body...what is producing the ''warm'' side of our body? and why are some animals cold blooded like frogs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2neohv/eli5the_heat_of_our_bodywhat_is_producing_the/ | {
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"For starters, 'warm blooded' and 'cold blooded' are pretty generic terms. There's actually a lot of complex variation between and within either category. Not all cold blooded animals are cold blooded the same way, and vice versa. \n\nThere are advantages to either system. For instance, reptiles, or amphibians like your frog, have a lower resting metabolism. They don't constantly burn energy purely to keep themselves warm, but rather extract that needed energy from their environments. This means that they're more at the mercy of the elements than you or I, but on the other hand, they burn through their 'fuel' more slowly, whereas you and I have to eat (relatively) constantly to stay alive. \n\nIn humans, we largely produce heat through our liver, as well as other organs, and contractions of our skeletal muscles. Our body's cellular respiration is exothermic, it produces heat. In cold conditions the body can send signals to trigger shivering, to increase this output, and also can convert stored brown adipose tissues (fat) into heat. ",
"Our muscles are engines and our cells are factories. They burn fuel to help you move around and grow. Burning fuel creates heat.\n\nYour body doesn't literally use fire, but the overall chemical process is pretty much the same. The food you eat is combined with oxygen from the air to produce carbon dioxide and water, releasing energy in the process. That energy is used to power muscles or construct new cells, but eventually most of it becomes heat in your body.",
"When I stopped to think about it - I couldn't pinpoint this answer either, and I'm not getting it from these answers, so maybe I need it ExplainedlikeimThree: \n\n & nbsp;\n\n**Please follow this format:** \n\n'X' causes humans to have 98.6 internal temp. \n\n'X' is different in cold-blooded animals. \n'Y' allows/causes their blood temp to change, and thus exist comfortably in much lower temps. \n\nThanks. "
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45mwhp | how do aquatic animals know how far they should go down in the water? ex. blue whales can only go so far down, what prevents them from going further? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45mwhp/eli5_how_do_aquatic_animals_know_how_far_they/ | {
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"Well, to answer the latter, that would be pressure. The open body cavities in their sinuses and especially their lungs would have to deal with great collapsing of tissue at depths. \n\nWhales have adaptations for this, such as already collapsing their lungs but this won't be effective for long. Since lungs are compressing, they wont be able to effectively hold oxygen in their lungs, so they store it in their blood and muscles. They are well adapted to this because they have a significantly higher blood volume to body mass ratio than other mammals. [Source for most of this](_URL_0_)\n\nI'm not sure how whales know where to stop other than noticing symptoms, but maybe someone else can provide a better answer.",
"Probably \"similar\" to the feeling you get when holding your breath past what's good for you. Your body just knows what it needs and will tell you when you are taking risks."
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36s9py | how do we keep track of locations in space? | On earth we have GPS coordinates to specific locations. But in space with motion being relative: our planet moving around the sun, sun moving around our galactic core, our galaxy doing a dance with the other galaxies in our galactic cluster. Not to mention there is no central point in space, but rather space is expanding from all points at once (as far as I understand it). So when we find a new planet, how do we keep track of it? Is it some sort of relative location with a vector based into it so overtime we can still find it in it's new location? Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36s9py/eli5_how_do_we_keep_track_of_locations_in_space/ | {
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"You have to agree on something to act as the base point from which everyone else is measuring from. When dealing with stuff in our galaxy, we usually use the Earth as the reference point, since pretty much everyone knows where the Earth is. \n\nFor an extrasolar planet, we'd use two reference points. We'd use the Earth as a reference for the location of the exoplanet's host star, and then we'd use that star as the reference for the exoplanet's location within its system. \n\nStar ABC is 740 light years from Earth, and Planet XYZ orbits Star ABC at an average distance of 48 million kilometers."
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1yhjap | why is kim dotcom wanted by the us government? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yhjap/why_is_kim_dotcom_wanted_by_the_us_government/ | {
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"For copyright infringement by the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America, amd the RIAA, the Recording Industry of America. They were mad that he was profiting off of piracy, or stealing (copying?) copyrighted, or works created by people for profit. \n\nExample:\nI make a movie, I expect people to pay for it.\n\nKim D. hosts a site and my movie is uploaded there. Some people pay for premium membership for faster speeds to download my movie.\n\nMillions of people download my movie and I lost all of that potential money. Guess who's mad?"
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3sihdb | why do your bones "crack" when you stretch in the morning? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sihdb/eli5_why_do_your_bones_crack_when_you_stretch_in/ | {
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"Your bones aren't actually cracking. It's the sound of pockets of air in your body getting crushed by joint movement. It's sort of like how it makes a sound when you pop those packing bubble sheets. ",
"It's not your bones. It's the sound of bubbles forming / collapsing in the synovial fluid between your joints. Article about it here - _URL_0_"
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kwmm0 | why does my phone take longer to charge than the actual time of me using it? | Unless it's simply my phone: EVO 3D. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kwmm0/eli5_why_does_my_phone_take_longer_to_charge_than/ | {
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"Yeah that doesn't sound right... Unless your usage is high performance, like you're rendering 3D video constantly.\n\nIt sounds like there's a problem with your battery. Consider getting your phone replaced?",
"It depends how you use it. \n\nLet's say you make a phone call here or there, check your email a couple times - the battery should last you a day or so, remaining on standby the rest of the time. (Remember that it's still communicating with the cell towers the whole time in case you get a call, etc.)\n\nNow a different case. You start playing Angry Birds, and then shoot a lot of 3D video, playing it back constantly. You're also in an area with poor reception, so the wireless chip has to spend more energy communicating with the cell towers. You also have the screen on full brightness. \n\nIn the second case, you're demanding a lot more out of your phone. It takes energy to light and control the screen, to run the processor, to run the camera, etc. That drains the battery at a certain rate. And when you plug it in, the battery can only charge so fast. ",
"Yeah that doesn't sound right... Unless your usage is high performance, like you're rendering 3D video constantly.\n\nIt sounds like there's a problem with your battery. Consider getting your phone replaced?",
"It depends how you use it. \n\nLet's say you make a phone call here or there, check your email a couple times - the battery should last you a day or so, remaining on standby the rest of the time. (Remember that it's still communicating with the cell towers the whole time in case you get a call, etc.)\n\nNow a different case. You start playing Angry Birds, and then shoot a lot of 3D video, playing it back constantly. You're also in an area with poor reception, so the wireless chip has to spend more energy communicating with the cell towers. You also have the screen on full brightness. \n\nIn the second case, you're demanding a lot more out of your phone. It takes energy to light and control the screen, to run the processor, to run the camera, etc. That drains the battery at a certain rate. And when you plug it in, the battery can only charge so fast. "
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3vved1 | what happens to my digital media if the distributor goes bankrupt? | I have a pretty heavy Steam library and frequently buy tv series and movies on Amazon. If Valve or Amazon were to (somehow) go completely bankrupt tomorrow, am I just SOL? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vved1/eli5what_happens_to_my_digital_media_if_the/ | {
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"Kinda yeah, but most likely they would give you a warning ahead of time to download all of your stuff before it goes down.",
"Probably, yes. The only exception would be if they sold the relevant parts of their operation to a third party. This might happen if Amazon went broke due to large losses in some other area but their sales of digital media remained profitable.\n\nPresumably all the SOL digital media purchasers would have a case against the bankrupt company for loss of contracted services ... but they would be unsecured creditors and so would receive little or no compensation.\n\nA bigger risk is that Amazon will eventually shut down the DRM service that supports the products they've sold to date. This has happened before, e.g., with [Major League Baseball](_URL_0_)."
]
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49b2sc | why does everyone use q-tips to clean ear wax when the box specifically tells you not to? where did that start from? and what should be used instead? | Did the box always tell us not to and we ignored it? Or did we do it first, then the box suddenly said not to? Which came first?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/49b2sc/eli5_why_does_everyone_use_qtips_to_clean_ear_wax/ | {
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"I think the box has always said this so the company can claim to have warned you if you puncture your eardrum with a q-tip. But they know everybody is doing it. It's like putting \"External use only\" on a box of McNuggets. ",
"You've really never supposed to use them in your ear canal. If you have wax issues, you are supposed to use ear wax softeners and then one of those bulbs to force water into your ear canal and then force the loosened wax out. ",
"Since 1923, people have been inserting q-tips in their ears. It starts out innocently enough: you're just kinda fooling around with a firm swab one day and then, whoops!, the tip just kinda slides in. You tell yourself that it's just the tip: if you don't go any further, it won't do any harm. But it feels *so freakin' good*, you want to go a little deeper...and then still deeper...feeling increasingly naughty with each additional millimeter...until it's all the way in. And THAT'S when you discover there's this little spot right at the very end of the canal that feels *amazing* if you just rub it around a bit.\n\nThis much is true for [practically everyone](_URL_0_). Some people lose control, however, and end up with a bouncy baby eardrum rupture or infection. After enough of these \"accidents\" were reported, the manufacturers started printing a warning on their boxes. ",
" > And what should be used instead?\n\n[Nothing.](_URL_0_)\n\n*\"Despite tons of people using cotton swabs each day to clean the earwax from their ears, cerumen (as earwax is clinically known) is actually quite beneficial to the health of your ears – and even kind of ingenious as your body’s defense goes.\"*",
"Because it works well and is convenient even though it's potentially dangerous. Don't be dumb and it's perfectly safe. Dumb people with lawyers got the warnings put on q-tips.\n\nI use the little Chinese ear spoon thing basically. This is what all the medical professionals said to use.\n\nI bought a pack at a pharmacy. They are plastic and the size and shape of q-tips. One side is like a spoon to dig out wax with, the other is q-tip-shaped but plastic with ridges to rub and catch wax, I guess, I don't use that side. You still need to be careful because you can go too deep with this too.\n\nDoctors did say you can just not clean your ears.\n\nEven though all the mainstream health professionals say it's bad, ear cones work the best out of anything by far to get rid of wax or liquid in ears. You just can't do it that often because it takes everything out. You're more vulnerable to infections if you get something in your ear until your wax gets back to normal, takes about 2 days.\n\nYou can also use a combination of liquid stool softener and hydrogen peroxide to deep clean your ears. This is what doctors will do if your ears are clogged by something. Same risks as ear cones though.\n\nThese two latter methods will leave your equilibrium off for a bit too.",
"I have an alternative! My Japanese grandma never used q-tips, and instead used \"ear picks\" made of bamboo! And let me tell you, as someone who grew up on q-tips: the pick is *far* superior.\n\nThe q-tips actually make the problem worse, because it can cause the ear wax to get impacted (I think that's the word) due to their girth. Think of it like that giant fuzzy stick that is used to ram a cannonball into a cannon. Your ear wax is the cannonball. This kind of shoving is not exactly healthy for your eardrum.\n\nEnter the glorious little bamboo ear pick. If the q-tip is a sledgehammer, the ear pick is a scalpel. This thing is phenomenal. It is skinny enough to not ram ear wax into my eardrum, and has a curved \"scoop\" that allows me to gently scratch at itches and pull out all the gunk. I have not used a q-tip since my grandma showed me the superior ear pick, and I never intend to again. They are like, $ 0.99 for a pack of two, and even if you wash them with alcohol in between uses, those two will last you several months.\n\nSeriously, folks. You gotta try it. The only thing is that you have to be careful to not go too deep, but honestly, you can tell when to stop pretty easily. Just take it slow, and the results are absolutely glorious.",
" > And what should be used instead?\n\nIrrigation is the preferred method. I made my own device with an old nasal spray plastic bottle and 1/8 plastic tube. Simply fill the bottle, hold the hose to your canal, and squeeze. ",
"You can use a metal or wooden ear pick. They're popular in Asia. See _URL_0_. You shouldn't push anything too far into your ear, though. Be gentle.\n\nNote that Asians tend to have dry, flaky earwax while westerners tend to have moist, sticky earwax. It's something like 90%/10% each way. I still think ear picks are better than Q-tips for my sticky type of earwax.\n\nPersonally, I just use my pinky finger and try to get the wax to stick. If there's not enough way to pull it out with my pinky, then there's not enough for me to care to remove.",
"I never used Q-Tips because we always had a wooden ear-cleaning tool. You can definitely find them in asian supermarkets and they look like this: _URL_0_\nMy mum always used one when I was little so I grew up using those instead of Q-Tips.",
"Those labels are just to keep away from law suits if someone does damage their ear drum from using q-tips. Its like alcohol adds that say drink responsibly.",
"I discovered the cap from a Bic pen (the edge of the part that is supposed to hold it in your pocket) works great to scrape the insides of your ear canals. Removes wax and also feels wonderful. Unfortunately the pointy part also works great to puncture your eardrum. That doesn't feel so great. :( I've decided Q-tips are the lesser of two evils. "
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18820w | how is redbox in business? | Why is it that u can 'rent ' a movie from nearly anything connected to the internet and blockbusters closing up shop everywhere yet there is a 20 min line at a redbox kiosk at the grocery store? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/18820w/how_is_redbox_in_business/ | {
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"I think its convenience.\n\nRedbox isn't something that requires an internet connection and its a buy and go mentality. Redbox are located next to grocery stores like ATMs are and are fairly popular because they are simple.",
"Because what costs me $1.28 at Redbox costs me $3.99 (at least) On Demand or Amazon.",
"The reason Redbox, and many other items at/near the front of the grocery store, sell is because of impulse buyers. Sure, you could rent it on Netflix and get it in the mail in a few days, but what if you want to watch it right now?\n\nThis is also the reason they put candy at the register.",
"Family road trips."
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a0evw0 | how does rock climbing work? how do people get the ropes set up at the top of the rock/cliff? can you climb any rock face you want or does it have to already be set up for all the equipment to work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a0evw0/eli5_how_does_rock_climbing_work_how_do_people/ | {
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"There are many types of rock climbing.\n\nWhat you're talking about sounds like free climbing, where a person inserts clips and rope as they climb up the cliff. The clip (called an \"anchor\") holds very tightly into the cliff and then the climber can put the rope through it to prevent injury.\n\nIn some cases anchors might be left over from previous climbers, but in general if a person is wanting to climb a tall cliff they will bring their own gear (mat, rope, anchors, etc.) with them. \n\nAt a rock climbing gym the rope is looped through a pulley at the top of the wall and the person belaying (holding the rope so that the person climbing doesn't fall 20 feet if they fall off) is tied in to one end of the rope and the climber is tied in to the other end.\n\nIn real life for serious climbs there is generally no rope already installed at the cliff. In order to install a rope like that in the wild, a person would either have to climb up first to anchor the rope or hike around the top (if there is a secondary route).\n\nThere are many other types of climbing, not all of them require ropes and anchors and clips and harnesses. ",
"If you ask a rock climber, they’ll tell you there are 3 types of free climbing (as opposed to aid climbing, which I recommend you google).\n\nTop Roping: \n\nGym climbing basically. There’s a rope, it’s attached to the top of the wall. A partner pulls slack out from the bottom of the wall on the other end of the rope while you climb up. Like a pulley system where the load has to have really strong fingers. Also used as practice for. . .\n\nSport Climbing:\n\nGenerally done outdoors. If it’s sport, it means there’s anchors (also known as bolts) already in the wall, one every 10 feet or so, and you pull the rope up with you as you climb, hooking into each bolt with a device called a quickdraw (basically two carabiners connected with a small rope). There’s still a person at the bottom giving and taking slack as necessary so you don’t fall and die. Once you get to the top of a lead climb, you could easily leave the rope up at the top and set up a top rope course for other, less experienced climbers. \n\nand finally, \n\nTrad Climbing: \n\nTrad for “Traditional”. People climb with like 50 lbs of gear strapped to their harnesses, with no anchors on the wall. The rope moves the same way as sport climbing, with a leader and a person at the bottom, but you place your own gear into nooks and crannies on the wall as you go, and then clip your rope into them. The general answer to the question “what if you fall” for this type of climbing is “Just don’t fall”. This is your “Climb and cliff face you want” type of climbing, but you still need some holds and some cracks to be able to do it effectively."
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6ll0hv | does a charge of attempted murder include all of the crimes that go into the attempt? | If you say try to murder someone by kidnapping them, beating them up and then stabbing them several times, is the kidnapping and beating and stabbing included in the attempted murder charge or are all actions charged in addition to the attempted murder?
How does the law handle that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ll0hv/eli5_does_a_charge_of_attempted_murder_include/ | {
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"Nope...Separate offenses, even if they are steps in an overall plan are charged separately. This is done to improve chances of a conviction, assure that any individual aspect that is somehow justified does not pardon the entire case, and to maximize sentencing. \n\nYou would be charged for kidnapping, aggravated assault, and attempted murder",
"Cop here:\n\nIt depends on the nature of the crime, state law, and how the state defines each crime.\n\nSome crimes have what's called a \"Lesser included offense\".\n\nFor example you may not be able to charge someone with assault *and* stabbing someone, as stabbing someone is already a form of assault.\n\nLikewise there might be an element in the kidnapping charge that includes assault.\n\nHowever, like I said, the individual circumstances surrounding the crime matter.\n\nSo to answer your question- yes. If you try to murder someone by committing a bunch of other crimes agaist them, you can be charged with each crime."
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d7lh4j | how does breaking one part of a screen mess up the picture of the whole thing? | Screen being a tv, computer monitor, etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d7lh4j/eli5_how_does_breaking_one_part_of_a_screen_mess/ | {
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"Each individual pixel in a screen needs to be controlled somehow. You can do this with a pair of wires to every single pixel, but that’s a lot of wires and very expensive with a high res screen. More usually it’s done by setting up a grid and scanning the screen with vertical and horizontal wires that “select” pixels as they go. But that also means a breakage in one of the wires can break a large section of the screen."
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185et0 | is it possible for unskilled workers to form unions? | People with trades and skills, such as automobile mechanics, construction crews, welders, blacksmiths, etc. - I understand how these individuals would have the leverage to form unions and improve their working conditions/pay.
But with increasing amounts of people working in the service sector, which is mostly unskilled labor (cashiers, warehouse workers, etc.), how could they ever form unions?
I've heard about employees at Wal-Mart and Whole Foods attempting to do so, in an effort to gain higher wages and better working conditions. Both of those attempts were quashed, from what I know.
Currently, I'm underemployed at a major retailer - thus my interest in this issue. Will massive corporations simply be able to exploit the masses of unemployed, unskilled workers? Or is there any possibility that we could unionize? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/185et0/eli5_is_it_possible_for_unskilled_workers_to_form/ | {
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"depends on what you consider \"unskilled\", if you mean jobs that do not require a certification then yes, happens all the time.",
"Did you know that no McDonalds has ever unionized? Organizing into a union is a giant pain in the tuchus (and McDonalds will do whatever it can to increase that pain). There have been one or two venues that were reeeeeeeally close to unionizing. Know what happened? Those venues mysteriously closed, and their owners randomly came into a lot of money and told everyone it had nothing to do with corporate paying them to close up shop so that the unions could be killed before they were born. Source: I read Fast Food Nation."
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liy9b | why does licking a 9v battery zap you, but touching it to your skin not? | I know it isn't related to the presence of water, because a battery on wet skin still does nothing. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/liy9b/eli5_why_does_licking_a_9v_battery_zap_you_but/ | {
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"your tongue is more sensitive than your arm (more nerves). Try sticking the battery on your... somewhere that is a more sensitive area than your arm and you'll feel the shock if it's covered in water. Water is more conductive than dry skin.\n\nTechnically, your still being \"shocked\" when you place it on your arm. You just arent getting shocked enough to feel it.",
"1. The water in your saliva conducts electricity well...your dry skin does not\n2. Your tongue has a lot of nerve endings, more than most places on your skin\n\nIf you touched the battery with a wet finger tip, good chance you'd feel it. ",
"The skin on your arm has a higher level of resistance to electricity, mostly (I believe) due the natural oils from your skin. Your tongue does not have this shielding and will have little resistance against the electric current. \n > The condition of the skin at the points of contact are critical. The actual resistance of the \nbody may vary from 1000 ohms for wet skin to over 500,000 ohms for dry skin. However, once \nthe skin is broken through (for example by the burning away of skin) the body presents no more \nthan 500 ohms resistance to the current.",
"I thought I read somewhere many moons ago that you aren't actually being shocked on your tongue, but that the slight charge ionizes the saliva it passes through giving it the unique \"zapping\" taste. The same thing happens to sweaty skin, but you can't taste it.\n\nEDIT: In all honesty, I may be pulling this out of my ass, but I swear I read this years ago.",
"I've never been shocked by a battery to the tongue. Maybe I'm special?",
"your tongue is more sensitive than your arm (more nerves). Try sticking the battery on your... somewhere that is a more sensitive area than your arm and you'll feel the shock if it's covered in water. Water is more conductive than dry skin.\n\nTechnically, your still being \"shocked\" when you place it on your arm. You just arent getting shocked enough to feel it.",
"1. The water in your saliva conducts electricity well...your dry skin does not\n2. Your tongue has a lot of nerve endings, more than most places on your skin\n\nIf you touched the battery with a wet finger tip, good chance you'd feel it. ",
"The skin on your arm has a higher level of resistance to electricity, mostly (I believe) due the natural oils from your skin. Your tongue does not have this shielding and will have little resistance against the electric current. \n > The condition of the skin at the points of contact are critical. The actual resistance of the \nbody may vary from 1000 ohms for wet skin to over 500,000 ohms for dry skin. However, once \nthe skin is broken through (for example by the burning away of skin) the body presents no more \nthan 500 ohms resistance to the current.",
"I thought I read somewhere many moons ago that you aren't actually being shocked on your tongue, but that the slight charge ionizes the saliva it passes through giving it the unique \"zapping\" taste. The same thing happens to sweaty skin, but you can't taste it.\n\nEDIT: In all honesty, I may be pulling this out of my ass, but I swear I read this years ago.",
"I've never been shocked by a battery to the tongue. Maybe I'm special?"
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9o03au | where do waves come from and why do they come in sets of seven when you’re at the beach? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9o03au/eli5_where_do_waves_come_from_and_why_do_they/ | {
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"The regular waves you get are actually the result of wind working.over the vast surface of the ocean. Given enough time and a long enough stretch the waves created by wind can be very significant.\n\nThere are also the tides that rise and fall twice a day due to the moons gravitational pull.\n\n",
"Earth's magnetic field may affect our measurements of gravity, but they are separate. The moon's ( & sun's) gravitational \"pull\" on Earth cause the tide changes, but magnetism has nothing to do with it.\n\nAnd waves do not specifically come in sets of 7. They can really come in any number of waves per set at many different intervals. It depends on the wind patterns, as an earlier post already stated. If your area has pretty consistent wind patterns way off the coast where the sets are generated, then that may be the reason you see such consistent sets of 7. I can remember going to beaches as kid that would repeat sets of 5, that were 3 small followed by 2 large in each set.\n\nEdit: this was supposed to be a response to a comment elsewhere in the thread referencing magnetism, but accidentally replied to the original post.",
"If you could imagine an electric beater and like maybe a bowl with cake batter. Once you start whipping you'll notice pattern like waves emitting off of a constant spinning thing. Now if you took a blow dryer and aimed it at the batter, youll see almost ripple like creations or at least a repeatable pattern. If you play around with it some you may even get to a close resemblance of waves, maybe not exactly, but if the batter had less viscosity and the blow dryer could blow from multiple angles at the same time, then it would start to look like ocean water maybe.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSo the liquid mixed with just the wind, will make pattern as such. Now, add all of the other forces acting on the ocean and you get a beautiful nice set of waves man!"
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q9gyp | why is the daytona 500 so important in nascar? | I live 30 minutes south of Bristol VA so I deal with NASCAR fans regularly. I even lived not terribly far from Daytona for a while. But what the fuck actually makes this oblong race different from the other oblong races they do almost all year long?
I don't understand, but I'm sure there has to be *someone* here that does. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q9gyp/eli5_why_is_the_daytona_500_so_important_in_nascar/ | {
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"Cause it just is. NASCAR has a lot of history in Daytona Beach the Daytona 500 has a huge purse, it's one of the fastest tracks of the season, it's the first race of the calender, but mostly it's the biggest race of the year cause it's the **Daytona 500**.\n\nIt's along the same vein as the **Indy 500** for Indycar and the **Monaco Grand Prix** in F1.",
"The biggest part of the Daytona 500 is that NASCAR, and specifically, the French family worked hard to get the Daytona 500 to be the biggest event on the circuit. It was the first NASCAR event televised from flag to flag. Televising the race made more people want to see the race. The more people wanted to see the race, the more NASCAR could spend to promote the race. \n\nYou could compare it to the Superbowl. In the first few years of the AFL-NFL merger, the game wasn't a big deal. It was more of a season ending exhibition. After a few years, the NFL decided they had a huge money maker on their hands and marketed the fuck out of it. "
]
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3cpt9a | if a dj is truly mixing and not "pressing play", how does the lighting team sync lights to the music? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cpt9a/eli5_if_a_dj_is_truly_mixing_and_not_pressing/ | {
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"most lights will react to audio (music) and pulse to the beat\n\nalso the DJ may do certain signature moves at certain points that can be expected\n\nDJs have lighting teams? I thought only people who played instruments used those",
"There are basically two ways: automatisation or manual control. \nYou can hook up a machine that starts/stops/moves specific lights at specific moments, volumes or frequency's, or you can listen to the music in advance and practice or program the lighting-computer / improvise and mash the buttons : ) \n^^editedforDMX",
"It's trivial to create a circuit that can take an AC input like audio and use it as a control signal to drive another circuit.\n\nSince I like using this fellow as an example, as he's simultaneously informative, entertaining and crazy, here's a video demonstrating this.\n\n[Electroboom using music to control a tesla coil in order to use the coil as essentially a speaker](_URL_0_)"
]
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[],
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"https://youtu.be/L5E4NiP4hpM?t=142"
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||
54igb9 | what are particle accelerators trying to achieve when the particles collide? | Some background on how they work would also be amazing. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54igb9/eli5_what_are_particle_accelerators_trying_to/ | {
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"The mocking analogy that's been used is that they're trying to figure out how clocks work, by smashing them to tiny pieces and studying the explosion. To be honest, that isn't so far off the mark. Instead of clocks though protons, anti-protons, electrons and positrons are used, to study what *they* are made of, and... more broadly to study other effects. After all, electrons are fundamental particles, so in that case it's not about studying their potential internal structures, but studying the jets of particles created by the energy of the collision of a beam of positrons and electrons. \n\nIn either case, the \"pieces\" being studies are jets of particles that are emitted when these energetic beams collide, and those collisions are designed to occur within a lot of testing equipment. The actual sensors vary depending on what they're trying to study, but you would have some means of tracking charged particles, various targets to induce muon decay, and calorimetry (the ability to see how much energy is being released in various forms). \n\nWith combinations of sensors and means of processing the data, you can search for \"missing\" energy, which you can correlate over many many runs to search for new particles (since energy cannot really go away, it must be in previously unrecognized form). You know in theory, how much energy was in play with your colliding beams after all, so you're basically playing cosmic accountant and looking for anomalies that persist. \n\n"
]
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[]
] |
|
620b4a | do i have to be worried about isps selling my information? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/620b4a/eli5do_i_have_to_be_worried_about_isps_selling_my/ | {
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"text": [
"You should only have a problem if you happen to get your internet from an American ISP... Which would be strange given that you live in Sweden. So no, I wouldn't be concerned about it at all in your personal situation."
]
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[]
] |
||
b3dhrm | how do electric cars work so it supplies enough energy to the car? | To my knowledge normal gas cars have to make continuous explosions (via the otto cycle) to make energy to make a car run, while electric cars dont (or so I'm assuming) so I'm wonder how much power does an electric car need to make it function? Also gas cars have a battery, so why cant that thing be used to power a whole car like an electric car
Edit: essentially what I'm asking is for the difference about gas and electric cars that makes one run purely on electricity. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b3dhrm/elif_how_do_electric_cars_work_so_it_supplies/ | {
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"Electric cars use an electric motor (or multiple motors in most cases) The electric motor is powered via electricity by energizing elector magnets that basically push and pull causing the motor to turn. Attach a wheel, and you've got something to strap into a car. Your battery in your gas car doesn't provide nearly enough energy to propel your car any respectable distance.",
"\\ > Also gas cars have a battery, so why cant that thing be used to power a whole car like an electric car\n\nThat's basically how it works. The batteries are just bigger/there's more of them.\n\n[Here's a picture to help visualize it](_URL_0_)",
"Electric cars have much more powerful and much larger capacity batteries than gas cars. The battery in a gas car is only needed to make a small spark in order to ignite the gasoline, so it doesn't need to store enough energy to power the whole engine on its own.\n\nA typical number for a car battery (it'll vary a little depending on the car and the battery you buy) might be around 480 watt\\*hours (watt\\*hours is a measure of how much work the battery can do). A 2017 Tesla battery pack is rated at around 100,000 watt\\*hours, which is 208 times more total stored energy.\n\nThis isn't the only important part. They're also designed to be able to release a lot more of that energy safely at once. It won't be able to keep up with the power requirements of a large electric motor like you'd find in a Tesla.",
"The battery in a regular car is a \\~15 kg lead battery that work well for it intended use, to provide a lot of power to start the engine for a shot time and work in all temperatures.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nA battery pack in a Tesla have a mass of 540kg and is constructed of more efficient but also more expensive litium-ion batteries. It store a lot more energy compared to the weight.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSo a regular car have to small battery to be used for long distance and dot not have a electric motor that is designed to power the car.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nYou could make the battery a bit larger and change technology and add a stronger electric motor and still have a combustion engine and you have hybrid car where the Toyota Prius is the most familiar to most . Some can charge the batteries from the grid and they are plugin hybrids.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nPut in a even larger battery and often a larger electric motor and remove the combustion engine and you have a electric car. The main problem with a electric car is the range. The charge in the battery is limited and take time to charge. The battery is expensive and heavy. So the battery cost and the range limitation is the main problem of a electric car.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n & #x200B;",
"Electric cars have electric motors (similar to what controls a blender, power drill, etc. but on a larger scale to turn the wheels. \n\nAn electric car needs a HUGE battery to power these motors. A standard gas-powered car has a small battery that's the size of like 3 shoeboxes and weights like 30 lbs. All it needs to do is start the car, and the gas engine re-charges it via the alternator, for the next start. An all-electric car has a battery that's the size of a queen-side mattress and weighs over 1000 lbs. to supply the continuous battery power."
]
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[],
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"https://plugincars.com/sites/default/files/Porsche-Taycan-battery-620.jpg"
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41y6p4 | how is sarah palin such a high profile political figure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41y6p4/eli5_how_is_sarah_palin_such_a_high_profile/ | {
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"text": [
"She was governor of Alaska. Partly because she was quite wealthy ly when she started out. She also pander to the oil companies (absolutely necessary in Alaskan politics) and that is a big plus in the US political system.",
"she was governor of Alaska. she was a vice-presidential candidate. she strikes a chord with the republican base. She's very loud and \"genuine.\" People who want a wackadoo republican viewpoint invite her on their shows. She is a high profile figure because we made her one."
]
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[],
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||
6aouhq | how can a company "take over" another one? and how is this different from a sale of a company? | I keep seeing articles about Tesla being a target of Apple for a takeover. How can a company just "take over" a company? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6aouhq/eli5_how_can_a_company_take_over_another_one_and/ | {
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"text": [
"You owe your dad a chore because you got something you wanted, I give your dad the cost of that thing you wanted, so now you owe me a chore.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Its not exactly a sale, its acquiring majority of company's ownership and \"taking over\" the board.\n*Im not 100% sure on this",
"If a company is publicly traded, you just buy up a majority of the shares to take control of the Board of Directors and thus the company. If it's privately held it's a little more complicated because you have to negotiate with shareholders independently, but if you can convince enough investors to sell to you to get majority control the same result will occur. You oftentimes don't even need a majority. A large minority interest combined with convincing some of the existing shareholders to take your side will often get you over the 50% threshold."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hostiletakeover.asp"
],
[],
[]
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b7taly | how and why was america chosen as the name of the original uniting colonies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b7taly/eli5_how_and_why_was_america_chosen_as_the_name/ | {
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"It wasnt. America is the name of the entire continent that the colonies were founded on. Hence the ‘United states OF America’. \nThe states are OF America, they are not America itself.",
"Let's be specific. Are you asking why the Americas are called the Americas, or why the United States of America (that's the full name of the country, not just \"America\") is called that? It's not a trivial distinction although the answer has overlap.",
"The name, \"The United States of America\" was chosen because the colonies were conceived of as being separate countries (state is another word for country) coming together for a common purpose (hence united). All of the colonies were situated on the continent of North America, which is why it's \"of America\".\n\n[The Americas were named](_URL_1_) after [Amerigo Vespucci](_URL_0_), the first person to prove that they were in fact new continents, and not part of Asia. "
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas"
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||
1gz03u | what is a centromere? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gz03u/eli5_what_is_a_centromere/ | {
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"During mitosis, a cell splits its genetic material in half, with each daughter cell getting an equal number of chromosomes. Before the chromosomes are split up, the DNA has to be copied so that way there are 2 copies of each chromosome to be split up later. After DNA replication up to the anaphase period of mitosis, each chromosome is attached to the copy of itself. The location of this attachment is called the [centromere](_URL_0_). \n\nThe importance of the centromere is that it can be sometimes be seen on microscope images of a nucleus and that it is where the kinetochore forms. The kinetochore is a structure important for separating the sister chromatids (the chromosome and its copy). [Spindle fibers](_URL_1_) attach to both sides of the chromosomes at the kinetochores. The spindle fiber-kinetochore interaction causes the chromatids to be pulled apart, causing them to go to different daughter cells. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
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"http://www.macroevolution.net/images/centromere-274-362-10.jpg",
"http://essayweb.net/biology/images/celldivision/anaphase.png"
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||
5ny66i | why do powerful drag racing engines sound so terrible when they're in idle? | Maybe it just sounds terrible to me but it's really loud and sounds like it's going to cut off. As opposed to a regular car that runs fine. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ny66i/eli5_why_do_powerful_drag_racing_engines_sound_so/ | {
"a_id": [
"dcf5wwd"
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"text": [
"When you have a fixed cam profile, as is the case for the majority of racing engines, you can either have a smooth idle or good power at the top RPMs. Race engines spend most of their time turning fast and don't need a smooth idle.\n\nLots of road-going vehicles made now have the ability to switch cam profiles in one way or another, but this adds weight and complexity to an engine that is unnecessary and wasteful in a racing engine."
]
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[]
] |
|
dawpij | why does light oscillate? | Maybe this is a stupid question, but I dont understand what force is driving photons in light beams to go up and down, making a sine wave. How often in which it oscillates determines the frequency yeah, but why does it do that in the first place? And why is it that when light is emitted, instead of scattering like individual particles, the photons stay in a line. Like there's a force that is keeping them in a straight line, and theres a force causing them to oscillate. Maybe they arent forces, but I just don't get it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dawpij/eli5_why_does_light_oscillate/ | {
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"text": [
"The oscillation of photons does not stem from a force. The oscillation is not movement as you would normally think of it. What happens is, an electric field collapses and forms a magnetic field next to it as it collapses. This magnetic field then collapses and forms an electric field next to it. This then collapses, and it goes on... There is nothing physically jiggling around - just fields popping into and out of existence in a sine wave pattern.",
"Light behaves like any other EM wave. They have a Magnetic Field and an Electric Field that interact with each other. This allows each wave to vary, but everything sticks together.\n\nThe same principles at work in Radio waves, Microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, visible light, X-rays, and gamma waves. We test for diffraction, reflection, refraction, and polarization to prove these are EM waves. This means, when it goes through an opening it moves similarly to a water wave, bounces back from some materials, changes direction through different materials, and have an orientation (Vertical or Horizontal).\n\nReference:\n\n* [Star Gazer: What allows EM waves to oscillate?](_URL_1_)\n* [Physics Classroom: Wave like behaviors of light](_URL_0_)",
"The photon travels in straight lines and isn't wiggling around like you see in some animations. That's just a bad way of showing the wave nature of it. \n\nFor imagination purposes don't think of waves in the ocean that have motion up and down as they travel across the surface. Think of light more like sound waves. Sound waves are oscillations just like ocean waves, but nothing is moving across the direction of travel because the sound wave is just a pressure front. It's not a perfect analogy since sound travels in something, but light does not. The light is just the electric and magnetic fields alternately collapsing and inducing the creation of the other field which then collapses and induces...etc."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-1/Wavelike-Behaviors-of-Light",
"https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/168496-what-allows-an-electromegnetic-wave-to-oscillate/"
],
[]
] |
|
3klx1i | url shorteners and why can't webs just use it "natively"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3klx1i/eli5_url_shorteners_and_why_cant_webs_just_use_it/ | {
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"text": [
" This is a commonly posted topic here. Please see [these previous posts.](_URL_0_) If they don't entirely answer your question, you might create a new post with\na more specific question.\n\nTry our handy Search function sometime. :-)\nFor best results in most cases, use 2 or 3 general, common words\nthat refer to the key concepts in your topic."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all&q=url%20shortener"
]
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||
4n1e3v | why do we put gnomes in our gardens? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4n1e3v/eli5why_do_we_put_gnomes_in_our_gardens/ | {
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"text": [
"Because they look nice. Seriously, that's just about it. Putting statues in your garden started during the Renaissance and was dwarves and the like and has stuck around since. The standard lawn gnome comes from 1800s Germany.\n\nSource: _URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_gnome"
]
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||
1trfqn | why is there such a high education requirement for menial jobs? | Edit: [Example](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1trfqn/eli5why_is_there_such_a_high_education/ | {
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"text": [
"Define \"high education requirement\" and \"menial jobs\".",
"Without an example given can't really accurately comment. I can say however that even on the most basic construction site there are a lot of safety issues to consider to avoid serious injuries or death.",
"A big part of this is the labor market in general. When there is high demand for labor and low supply (low unemployment), companies can't be very picky about who they hire, especially for menial jobs.\n\nRight now more people are looking for jobs, so companies can be more particular about who they hire. Even in a menial job, companies always want to hire the best person they can, so they raise their standards.",
"menial jobs to me would be custodial jobs, fast food jobs etc... that is unskilled labor which mainly requires you to be mobile ( you can walk) . there isn't a lot of requirements education wise , if there is a requirement for a high school diploma, it would be purely for advancement purposes. without the necessary education, you would be in no position to be promoted, when a person has been working in an area for a while, they naturally pick up informatin about a company, with that knowledge, it might be desirable to move you into a position of responsibility ( which is what they pay people more money for ). companies don't want to tell the world they have stooges in management. so they require a foundation of knowledge. an education doesn't make you smart, it exposes you to information and teaches you how to find information and how to use it. \nEdit: an educated person would have made the effort to find this information you requested without asking anyone to provide it for them on such a lame question ( no offense ).",
"That example is for an admin to what sounds like a pretty high up executive- hardly 'menial'. Further down it even mentions that a 4 year degree is preferred, but not necessary. For that kind of job, it will be your experience that gets it."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?Job_DID=JHP7FV6VDFLHCYDX0Q6&siteid=cbindeed&ipath=EXINDsep_google_feed%2cEXGOO"
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6aif8t | what does it mean to testify before (us) congress? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6aif8t/eli5_what_does_it_mean_to_testify_before_us/ | {
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"The House of Representatives and the Senate have, like the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a \"power of inquiry.\" To assist in their lawmaking power, they can call individuals to testify before the houses or their committees to investigate a matter. The people summoned before the committee are required to answer all questions truthfully, unless it violates their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves.\n\nThe idea is that Congress will use the information from these investigations to pass laws. For example, it might hear testimony from experts on a subject. When it investigates executive officials, it might help to decide whether those officials should be impeached, which is a power of the House.",
"The general idea is that a Congressional hearing is intended to consult experts: academic specialists in the field, people running relevant businesses, government officials related to the matter at hand. \n\nMembers of congress are obtaining information that they'll use in crafting legislation, writing censures or articles of impeachment, or making recommendations to the executive branch. In addition, the conversations held in these hearings are themselves evidence that the judiciary might use later in attempting to determine the precise meaning of a law, in the event that language was ambiguous or didn't cover a new situation not envisioned when the law was written. \n\nThere are more cynical ways to read these hearings, but this covers what most of them are about: research done in public."
]
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[],
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8pkl25 | if tv remotes emit infra-red rays, then why does camera lens pick violet rays being emitted from the remote? | Normally I can't see any light being emitted from remotes, but when I use a mobile camera for viewing I see a bright violet-ish light coming from the remote | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8pkl25/eli5_if_tv_remotes_emit_infrared_rays_then_why/ | {
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"text": [
"First, a quick introduction to how camera sensors work:\n\nCamera sensors actually just see in \"black and white\". That is, they only measure light intensity, not frequency. The sensor itself doesn't know if a photon hitting it has the \"red\" wavelength or the \"blue\" wavelength. \n\nTo figure out which wavelength a photon is of, a filter grid is placed on top of the sensor to allow the camera software to figure out what colors things are.\n\nIf the filter over sensor pixel number one only lets blue light through, the camera knows that if pixel #1 detects any light at all, it is of the blue variety. The filter on top of next pixel on the sensor only lets green light through, so if the same blue light hit that part of the sensor, it would be blocked by the filter and the sensor wouldn't show any light at that spot.\n\nThis process is repeated for all of the several million pixels the camera sensor has, and when the camera software combines the information about how the color filter is arranged with the light detected by the sensor, it can use this to calculate a color image even if the sensor is only able to see black and white.\n\nSo, let's say an infrared photon hits the camera sensor. If the color filter i mentioned earlier isn't made to block infrared wavelengths, all pixels on the sensor get lit up by it. Slight variations in each color filter's ability to block IR wavelenghts might cause the blue filter to block less of the IR than the other two colors, but still not all of it. As a result, it would show up as bright with a purple tint. If the red filter had been able to block 100% of IR radiation, but the other two filter did not block it at all, the IR would look cyan.\n\nYou can read up on bayer filters for more information. _URL_0_\n\ntl;dr: All camera sensors are sensitive to a wide range of light and don't natively see in color. The weird color from non-visible light is caused by the color filter on top of them not blocking IR and UV perfectly, or at all."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer_filter"
]
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b4px7u | why is it necessary to shoe and maintain shoeing horses, but wild ones are fine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b4px7u/eli5_why_is_it_necessary_to_shoe_and_maintain/ | {
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"text": [
"Wild ones don't walk of roads or pull vehicles on roads. This exposes them to a different sort of wear profile, which they have evolved to handle naturally. Working horses are doing unnatural things, so they have to have tools to do their jobs well, just like people.",
"Wild horses don’t usually spend their days with loads on the rod back and walking a lot on hard stone/paved roads. ",
"Two elements here; wild ones don't walk on the hard road surfaces and other conditions created by human activity. In addition horses have evolved to live in relatively dry steppe conditions, when they live in the wetter climates the hoof becomes softer and can rot with all the water so needs protection, horses on the steppe don't normally require shoeing.",
"There is a lot of debate on if horses need shoes or not, so it's more of a maybe kind of issue. \n\nFirst wild & feral horses tend to live in arid climates, so their feet are not in moisture all the time like domesticated ones. Second because they walk on dry dirt, gravel and rocks, their hoof gets worn down. naturally. Any horse that suffers an injury or health defect is usually killed by predators. \n\nDomesticated horses tend to mostly stand around in irrigated pastures or stalls that might be lined with straw that has been moistened with urine or feces. So their hoof is softer, much like a finger nail after you get out of the shower. The lack of activity also means the hoof and sole get worn down the same as their wild/feral relatives. Plus domesticated horses might walk on asphalt or concrete with the additional weight of a rider.\n\nThere are some horse owners that don't use shoes. So the answer depends on the owner and the health of the horse. "
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1l9ng5 | how can social security be in trouble when people pay through a social security tax to fund it. | I do not understand how SS could have funding issues if people get benefits that they have already paid into. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l9ng5/eli5how_can_social_security_be_in_trouble_when/ | {
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"text": [
"Well, its a little more weird and complex than that.\n\n\nFirst, you are paying in but the people who currently need it are drawing on your funding of it. As will you from the people who pay after you.\n\n\nSecond, the politicians love to tweak things and they made a few major tweaks. Here is one: the capped the contribution. I believe its capped at $150,000 a year but it doesn't matter really - here is the point:\n\nIf you make above the cap you only pay into social security based on the cap. So, if you make 1 million a year you pay the same as someone who makes only $150,000 a year. \n\n\nThis is an example of how people with an agenda of privatizing S.Sec. underfund it so they can argue that it is going to fail so we have to privatize it. Self-fullfilling prophecy anyone?\n\n\n**It's not really in trouble.** \n\n\nThis is classic thunder without lighting - if you repeat the noise enough people will believe there is a storm coming even if there isn't.\n\n\nIt will be in trouble eventually if we don't do something about how the politicians already screwed it.\n\n\n**Oh yeah.**\n\n\nThen there is the bit about how Ronald Reagan (R) and Tip O'Neil (D) made a deal that said they could borrow money from it. See, its also in trouble because the politicians decided that the government could borrow our savings from us (savings that we are mandated to have to pay) even though they were never supposed to be able to do that.\n\n\nHope that helps!\n",
"The problem is that the baby boomers (those born during the population spike following WWII) are reaching retirement age, so we are going to have a large number of people all drawing out of the social security. This is going to cause the ratio of people on social security compared to people paying into social security (ie the rest of us) to spike, and the current social security tax won't be able to pay for all the social security benefits that are needed.\n\nNow the good news is, this was completely predictable, so back in the 80's we increased the social security tax, and the program ran at a surplus. So basically all the baby boomers were in their high income ages, and they funded enough of a surplus to pay for themselves when they get to retirement age. Of course, then there's the bad news. Since Congress abhors a pile of money, the government didn't actually save any of that money. Instead it loaned it out to itself in the form of special bonds. So other parts of the US government own money to the Social Security department. \n\nNow as long as we pay back the social security fund things aren't to bad (there are other issues with social security, but they are much smaller compared to this issue). But regardless of how it's structured, the end result is much the same, a whole bunch of people are going to want their social security, and we don't actually have the money to pay for it. Of course this is true of all the governments debts, so it's not a unique situation.",
"People don't pay into their own SS fund. Workers pay into a pool, and retirees collect from that pool. This model worked best when people would work from age 18 to 65 and pay into the system, but would die around age 78.\nNowadays, people live longer, so they collect more, and there are more people collecting. ",
"there's a tank of water. 5 hoses filling it. 10 hoses draining it. ",
"This hasn't been explained in this thread but it's important to understand.\n\nAcross its lifetime, when Social Security ran at a surplus (benefits paid < taxes collected), it used the surplus income to purchase special securities from the US government. These securities make up the Social Security Trust Fund, and they generate interest. This was all well and good - the federal government can make use of excess taxes and the Social Security program has a new revenue stream.\n\nHowever, in 2010, Social Security began to run at a deficit - benefits paid were more than taxes received (in its current state, the program will run at a deficit indefinitely). This still is not an immediate problem as far as benefits go, because the trust fund makes money from interest and is empowered to use that to pay benefits as well.\n\nThe trust fund will continue to grow because taxes + interest are still > program costs. However, as costs grow, the fund is projected to cap out in the early 2020s, at which point Social Security will begin cashing out securities in the fund to keep paying benefits. This will deplete the fund within ten years and leave the federal government in an extremely difficult situation where it is either cutting benefits or paying them from the general fund (which implies higher taxes and expenditure cuts in other areas).\n\nSo to answer a tangential part of your question, SS does not have immediate funding issues, but it has very dire *long term* funding issues. "
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