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3caoof | why does america supply bad guys/enemies with weapons? | I'm not sure what's true or not but I often read how America supply(ed) weapons to the drug cartels, bin laden, ISIS, etc.. I figure maybe it's for money but doesn't it cost a lot to counter against them also? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3caoof/eli5_why_does_america_supply_bad_guysenemies_with/ | {
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"There is an old saying \"my enemies's friends are my enemy. My enemies' s enemy is my friend\". The U.S backed rebels who opposed the government (the same government that the U.S is wary off). Then once the government is overthrown, the U.S didn't like the way they carry themselves and thus resupply a new wave of rebels. The cycle will never end.",
"First things first: despite what you see in movies, the world doesn't easily divide into good guys and bad guys. No one thinks that they are the \"bad guy\"; only the other side views them as such.\n\nNow, let's look at an easy historical comparison. The Soviet Union was an American ally during WWII, however as soon as that war ended, the Cold War started up between the US and the USSR. Do you think that the Soviet Union just woke up one morning after WWII ended and became \"evil\"?\n\nThe truth of the matter is that there was already political tension between the US and USSR, however during WWII, both nations *had a common enemy*. Despite their political differences, they were \"on the same side\" in the war against the Axis nations, though once that conflict ended, each nation shifted their global priorities and were now in opposition to one another.\n\nThis sort of thing doesn't only happen with superpowers. Bin Laden, for instance, opposed the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, and the US supported this by providing money and weapons through [Operation Cyclone] (_URL_0_) since we were still in the Cold War. The US and bin Laden had a common enemy: the Soviet Union. Yet after the Soviet War in Afghanistan ended, bin Laden then went on to form al Qaeda.\n\nTL;DR: the enemy of my enemy is my friend"
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fj03cn | what is nat? and why there are online games that are not using nat filter? | So I played Destiny 2 and Warzone; they both use NAT Type (Strict, Moderate, Open) to filter the players. But most games that I play like Apex Legends, PUBG, Paladins, etc do not have that NAT Type filtering, at least they do not show our NAT type in-game compare to the other two that I mentioned.
So I have 3 questions to be answered.
1. What is NAT Type in the online game?
2. What's the difference between games that have NAT type and games that do not have NAT type?
3. Why they use NAT type filtering, to begin with?
Thank you.
Sorry for my bad English. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fj03cn/eli5what_is_nat_and_why_there_are_online_games/ | {
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"So NAT stands for Network Address Translation, its a technique for dealing with the fact that ISPs don't have enough internet addresses to give one to every device on the internet.\n\nInstead they'll give a network address to your home router, then your home router will give a private (non-internet) address to all devices on your network.\n\nThe problem with this is from the internet's perspective all your devices have the same name.\nWhen a message comes from the internet, the NAT (in your home router), needs to be able to figure out which device the message is for.\n\nFor \"normal\" messages like when you request a web-page, this is fairly easy as it can just remember who most recently requested a web-page from that server, and forward the packet onto that device.\n\nHowever when you start doing \"Peer to Peer\" messaging this becomes harder. With P2P, you don't send messages to a server, but you send it to another user's device. Depending on how exactly the other device's home network router is setup this could be more difficult.\n\nThe three \"NAT Types\" in Destiny are basically the three different ways a home network could be configured.\n\n1. Open - This means there is either no NAT on your home network, Or it might mean that your home network router has a more advanced NAT wich can be asked by the device to automatically forward the required messages properly (\"port forwarding\" or \"UPnP\".\n2. Strict - Your home network has a basic NAT which blocks all incoming messages that aren't replies to requests that it has seen.\n3. Moderate - This is a bit more complicated. There's a way to work around NAT by instead of just sending a message to the other user's address, directly (which will be blocked, as the NAT doesn't know which private address to forward) you arrange with the help of a real server for both of you to try to connect to each other simultaneously. This way both NATs think that an outgoing request message has been sent, so knows how to forward the \"reply\" back to the correct device. This is known as \"hole punching\" or \"nat traversal\". This works on certain routers but not all.\n\nKnow these behaviours explains why only certain types can connect to certain types. \n\nAny NAT type can connect to a \"Open\" device, because as far as the internet net is concerned the NAT doesn't get in the way and they can treat it like a real server.\n\n\"Moderate\" devices can use the hole punching technique to connect to other \"Moderate\" devices, and can also do the same with \"Open\" devices (although the hole punching only needs to be done for one side in this case).\n\n\"Strict\" devices can only connect outward, and aren't able to do the \"hole punching\", so they can only connect to \"Open devices\" and can't receive incoming connections.\n\n\n\nFinally, you ask why doesn't this apply to all games? The reason is that some games do P2P matchmaking, where one of the player's XBox/Playstation actually becomes the server and hosts the game. \nOther games have centralised servers that everyone connects to. The latter situations works better as \"real\" servers are all \"Open\" (they have no NAT) and anyone can connect to them. But this means the game company must pay to host the server. Whereas P2P is more flaky, but cheaper to run."
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d7d444 | why do charging chords stop working? | My phone chargers seem to decide randomly when to work after they get old. This doesn’t seem to happen to vacuum cleaner chords. It’s just a simple wire, it’s not broken, what’s happening? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d7d444/eli5_why_do_charging_chords_stop_working/ | {
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"The metal cables inside the plastic/rubber wear out. These are the conductors that carry the electrical signal. The are arranged in a little bundle inside the casing. They become frayed or broken, especially at the junctions where they connect to the USB or lightning tip. When enough of the metal is damaged, the current no longer flows through enough or at all to supply power.\n\nVacuum cables and other appliances are made with heavy duty casing and conductors. They are reinforced at the junctions. Manufacturers do this because a vacuum cord is bound to be tugged on, tripped over, and abused. They have to design for this abuse. If they made vacuums cords the same strength as phone chargers, they would not last a day."
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3ct35f | why do male professional soccer players pretend to be injured a lot while female professional soccer players seem to continue playing through actual injuries? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ct35f/eli5_why_do_male_professional_soccer_players/ | {
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"I would bet that a lot of it has to do with the unfortunate (perceived?) reality that women are constantly fighting for more legitimacy in sport. Men flop around constantly because a)they are usually paid millions and can disregard people's opinions of them and b) if it is an international level competition, the anger from losing because of a missed call would be less pronounced in the population if a women's team lost than if a man's team lost.\n\nedit: As I understand the argument from purists, the flopping is an exaggerated response to a relatively minor violation of a rule. Since there is very little scoring, if a referee misses a trip or a dangerous foul, the player tries to draw their attention to it. They say that \"yes, flopping is bad, but so is the initial violation. The perpetrator committed a rule violation before the flopper did, so he is just trying to get the referee to call the missed foul.\"\n",
"When millions of dollars are on the line, its worth it to flop a little bit to get the calls you want.\n\nFor women, not so much money, so theres no point in selling a call to be called a whiny flopping bitch for no profit",
"Not sure about why women do it less (I'd guess less money involved), but there is a lot at stake for players at the top. They want to win so badly that they bend the rules. If they can get an opposition player a yellow card, then that player must be extra cautious about tacking or face a red card. If a team is in front, then faking an injury wastes time. It's very difficult to score in soccer so this is a common tactic. Pretending you were viciously fouled in the box could also get your team a penalty kick and an easy goal. There are other reasons but those are probably the most common reasons why it happens so much.",
"Because [Maradona](_URL_1_) inspired [entire generations of imitators](_URL_0_).",
"A lot of reasons. Back in the old days (Pre 1980s), you basically had to be maimed before the referee would award a free kick in your favour. As the money in the game got more prevalent and soccer became a viable profession, players began to realise that they for a foul to be awarded, the referee had to see it was a foul. And for *that* to happen, contact had to be exaggerated. If your livelihood rests on being healthy, you're going to do everything you can to protect yourself. The lawmakers in the game are also apparently reluctant to address it. I've said I could elimiate the most egregious of these things within 5 years simply by having a panel convene every week to watch all the tapes and start handing out 1 or 2 match bans to any player thought to have 'dived'. \n\nFor me there are 3 types of flopping or diving. \n\n**1. Making yourself out to be more injured than you actually are.** \nIt's a foul, the ref has usually has seen it and awarded it, now it's time for the bonus round! - can you get the opposition players booked or even sent off? \n\n**2. the engineered foul** \na player will see his opponent coming in, and make *damn sure* he moves his own body into the contact ensuring a foul is awarded. You see this most often when goalkeepers come out to strikers - the striker will specifically *not* avoid contact, but will instead make sure his foot is hit by the keeper, and he goes down. \n\n**3. The blatant dive** \nthe opponent doesn't touch the player, but for whatever reasons (trying to win a penalty, the ball has already been lost) he will go down like he has actually been hit. No contact is made with the other player.\n\nNumber 3 is - for me - the worst version. It's cheating. It's lying through action to gain an advantage. It's actually still quite rare, though. Most awarded free kicks will be in the first two 'categories', although sometime number one can look very unedifying; that's where you're likely to see the triple salchow somersault-type fall, while he rolls around and yet (this is a telling part) somehow braves the pain enough to wave his arm in the air as if to say \"Im really injured, you guys\"\n\nTo be fair, players do get injured a lot more than they might have 40 years ago. They're finely tuned athletes now, and it doesn't really take a huge amount to be injured, so in many respects, exaggerating an injury can be seen as a self-defence mechanism; if somebody is punished for a foul, they will be less emboldened to make a similar or worse challenge in the future. \n\nIn the women's game, culturally it has been around for a shorter time than the men. That means they game never existed at a time when it was felt that you *had* to act injured to get a call. And, as somebody else, there's a certain amount of battling for legitimacy; women's soccer still struggles in traditional bastions of the men's game, and a good way to differentiate might be to be more 'honest'. \n\nWith all that said - it's not as if every single contact in soccer results in a player prostrate on ground allowing his tears to soak the turf. I play soccer regularly (not to any great level) and even there you'll get hurt regularly. Broken foot, broken collarbone, broken elbow, concussions, countless bruises, and on one memorable and painful occasion, a dislocated shoulder - that's all happened to me, and I don't collapse on the floor like I've been harpooned every time. For all of the dramatics you can see in top level soccer, there is a lot contact that you might not even notice. (at corners and other set pieces, especially). \n\nTL:DR; the rewards for doing so outweight the risks and ridicule for men. Not so for women. "
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2qf58e | why is gossiping so intriguing? | It's the holidays, so of course families and friends gather to swap information and, of course, Gossip. Why is it so interesting to tell stories and share the experiences of others?
What is the physiological impact of gossiping? Also, is the impact different whether the subject is a family member, celebrity, or friend? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qf58e/eli5_why_is_gossiping_so_intriguing/ | {
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"Gossip actually serves an evolutionary function of you subscribe to evolutionary psychology. \n\nHere's some more info: _URL_0_\n\nTo summarize though, primates spend a lot of time grooming each other, gossip is purported to be the linguistic expression of grooming. We tend to judge and evaluate each other through gossiping, sharing opinions and passing grades on the behaviour and lives of others. In this way, we arrive at a social consensus for what may be considered acceptable behaviour. "
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qagdj | why does it get windy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qagdj/eli5_why_does_it_get_windy/ | {
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"wow fucking awesome, i always think it was from the earth spinning lol"
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dndcaq | why does a baseball team have a manager instead of a head coach? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dndcaq/eli5_why_does_a_baseball_team_have_a_manager/ | {
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"With sports like football and basketball, a “coach” is needed to “coach” the team in terms of strategy, play calling, advice, etc. However, in baseball, you can’t really coach a guy much more on hitting a baseball more so than he already knows, so the manager’s job is to “manage” the team in terms of who’s playing, deciding who is pitching and when, etc.",
"Managers don’t come up with defensive plays and don’t coach pitchers or batters. They have coached under them that do that.\n\nManagers decide who is playing, what the batting lineup will be, and who is pitching. They also make substitutions throughout the game."
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3esebj | the stuff about relative time in the movie interstellar. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3esebj/eli5_the_stuff_about_relative_time_in_the_movie/ | {
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"It has to do with the other planet's proximity to a black hole. In this case gravitational time dilation (as opposed to time dilation when someone is moving very quickly).\n\nBasically, if I'm here on earth and you were on that other planet in Interstellar, and we were both holding a clock and I could see your clock, it would appear to move very very slow to me because you're in an extremely strong gravity well.\n\n",
"It's a weird relativity thing. Things aren't separated by space or time, there are events separated by spacetime. And gravity acts on this spacetime, compressing it. Events near large masses take place closer together. Each second on the planet near the black hole takes place closer to one another than each second further away.\n\nThe ship in Interstellar wasn't orbiting the planet, they were orbiting the blackhole a little ways out. The time dilation effect is only substantial close to the black hole, as you get further away, it quickly diminishes so you don't have to be too far away for time to pass at a familiar rate.",
"Because light always moves at the same speed. If you have a flashlight and you somehow time how long it takes for light to get to a sensor, you'll get the same reading whether you're standing still or driving by. Your velocity doesn't add to the speed of light. If you're moving at or faster than the speed of light, space time has to bend to make this stay true. If a ship is traveling away from you at ftl speeds, time will speed up so that light reflected off the ship will still reach you in the time it should. That makes it appear that time is moving faster for those viewing the ship than those on the ship. "
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3m7rm0 | why are solar powered desalination plants not widely used? | What is the technological limitation? Are we close to overcoming it /them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3m7rm0/eli5_why_are_solar_powered_desalination_plants/ | {
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"We currently don't have the technology to make desalination plants that are cheap and effective. It takes a lot of energy to treat water, and solar energy isn't quite sufficient yet. We need better solar panels, and to make construction of solar panels to become cheaper.\n\nIt'll likely happen in time, but not for at least another decade.",
"Desalinating water takes a lot of energy. The simple approach of boiling and condensing water is really really energy intensive, while the modern methods used are just really energy intensive.\n\nUsing solar panels doesn't change this fact. Building a big solar array is not likely to be cheaper than just getting your power from the grid—if the electric company could generate power with solar panels cheaper than the methods they use then they'd do that in a heartbeat. ",
"Do you mean using a solar still? If so, the process takes a significant amount of time to produce fresh water. Not nearly enough output to supply most communities and agriculture.\n\nIf you mean using solar panels to power a system that uses vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis, current solar panels don't output enough energy to use the processes without having a vast array of panels for a relatively small water output.",
"The problem with the way solar is advertised is that people describe it as unlimited power. Really that isn't the case. There is very little actual energy per unit of area. If there was significant power per unit of area, we would all burst into flames stepping out into the sunlight.\n\nSo in the case of desalination, it takes a lot of energy to work. Think of how big of a magnifying glass you would need to boil a pot of water. Now scale that up to boiling a water tower worth of water. To supply water to say LA, we would need an incredibly large solar plant. This plant would need to be 50 miles by 50 miles, and all of that power would go to making water for just 1 city in the state of California."
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3s3huz | why can thinking be so fluid and coherrant while actually trying to talk can be a disfunctional mess? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3s3huz/eli5_why_can_thinking_be_so_fluid_and_coherrant/ | {
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"There is also the fact that you cannot express your thoughts exactly as you \"think\" them using language. The mental activity in your brain is \"translated\" into the more generic categories of language so you lose the detail and the intricate movement that was going on inside your brain. But there is no other way to communicate outside of language so we must accept that loss of precision. Derrida wrote that language was an act of mourning...we regret the loss of meaning but accept that loss to get things done.",
"If you think stupid, you probably won't notice and there won't be evidence left behind.\n\nIf you talk, someone else might recite your words back at you at later date and you then realize how much of a fool you've been. Also, if you speak, you also hear the stuff you say, and analyze it much like anything else you hear, providing an additional area of your brain to check if you're actually making any sense.\n\nJust think it quietly and even if you're completely crazy, no one can ever prove or notice it."
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4dcmt3 | forex reserves. | I just read an article about a brewery in South Sudan that will have to close down due to low foreign currency reserves, (I'm guessing dollars?.) They can't buy raw materials from abroad due to this shortage.
Why is it important to have foreign currency? Can't they just do a bank transfer and buy the materials?
I don't need US Dollars or Japanese Yen to buy stuff from overseas.
Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4dcmt3/eli5_forex_reserves/ | {
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" > I don't need US Dollars or Japanese Yen to buy stuff from overseas.\n\nThat''s because your bank account doesn't contain only South Sudanese Pounds.\n\nSouth Sudan is a newly-formed country (it broke away from Sudan in 2011 after years of bitter civil war). Its currency, the South Sudan Pound, is largely worthless outside of the country, due to the fact that South Sudan has no real economy to speak of (as a quick but shocking example, consider that there are only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire country -- and it's about the size of Texas!)\n\nSo for any business in South Sudan wishing to buy goods from other countries, they need a currency that's accepted.",
"The banking system and economy of South Sudan are pretty terrible given that they're in the midst of a war, so there aren't any banks to act as intermediates and no one outside the nation wants to accept South Sudanese pounds (they dropped from about 3 SSP to the dollar a few years ago to 4,400 to the dollar on the black market today). A large barley producer can't plan to trade SSP for their own currency on black markets. \n\nYou can buy things without worrying about exchange rates because your nation's currency has a foreign exchange market so people who get your money, can easily trade it for their own. Those markets don't exist for the South Sudanese Pound, so the brewery must pay it's foreign suppliers in the foreign company's money. "
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3gcs7q | how cups and other plastic items change color in response to temperature change. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gcs7q/eli5_how_cups_and_other_plastic_items_change/ | {
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"I've used color changing printing inks and had it explained to me this way. I'm assuming the technology is the same for cast plastics.\n\nYou know how when you fry up bacon the fat left in the pan is clear, but when it cools & gets hard it turns opaque white? By mixing different types of fats they come up with one that melts at the desired temperature, then they tint it with a color. When the fat melts it's clear, and when it hardens it is the tinted color. \n\nThey take the fat and put it inside microscopic beads so that the fat won't mix with the plastic when it melts. (The process is called micro-encapsulation. I have no idea how it's done but it's also how they make scratch-and-sniff stuff.) So if the fat is tinted red, encapsulated, then the beads mixed in a clear plastic it would go from red to clear when heated. If a red fat beads were put in a yellow plastic it would make an orange item that turned yellow when heated and back to orange when it cools.\n\nThe process only works one way - it will go from color to clear when heated but it can't go from color to clear when cooled. ",
"Ohhh, I know about this. You are asking about thermochromism (sorry, can't link, but wikipedia that shit for more details).\n\nThink about water. Just above 0 Celsius (or 32 freedom units) it is a liquid and just below it is a solid. That is a far from exact analogy to these dyes, but it shows how things can have two very different properties based on a small temperature shift. Something similar is happening with the dyes, they have different optical properties above and below a specific temperature. \n\nSo, protect the dye (usually by encapsulating it in a plastic or other material) to prevent the environment from interacting with the dye, bind the protected dye to your material, and then the magic happens when you change the material’s temperature. \n\nSCIENCE!!!!!!!!\n"
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5nv98s | in a medium-sized company with computerized accounting systems, why does it take so long to prepare w-2s and get them out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nv98s/eli5_in_a_mediumsized_company_with_computerized/ | {
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"the deadline is Jan 31st. there's no reason to send them out early.\n\nso if it's a mature payroll department, and they know it takes them 2 weeks to do it, there's no reason to start them Jan 1st because they got other things to do. ",
"So I prepare payroll reports and have to do them quarterly. There is also Year end reports that go to the IRS along with W2s. Our average client has 1-3 employees and using QuickBooks it takes approx 15 - 20 to do those reports. They then get reviewed by my boss for accuracy. He sends it back so we can file them via QuickBooks and then print it. \n\nSo depending on what you consider is medium size (?) that's why it may take them longer. Also if they're double checking them it's easier to check them all at once and then mail them. ",
"Many \"medium size\" companies, too small to have an internal payroll clerk, will use a payroll contractor, such as ADP or PayChex. That contractor has up to millions of W2 forms to produce. Which the contractor then forwards to your employer, and they distribute to you."
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1ba42v | ncaa sports where does the money go? | Something tells me its not ALL on the up and up. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ba42v/eli5_ncaa_sports_where_does_the_money_go/ | {
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"At most schools, there are revenue generating sports, and non revenue generating sports (not sure if these are the correct terms or not). Revenue generating sports are those that bring in more though ticket sales, tv contracts, and other means, than they cost the school to operate (coaches, facilities, scholarships, etc...). At most schools, this would be football and basketball, and maybe baseball, hockey, etc... depending on the city and school. \n\nThe non generating sports are those that cost the school more money than they bring, this is often track and field, swimming, and other Olympic type sports, but may include soccer, baseball, or others at certain schools. \n\nNow, most schools use the money they get from the Revenue generating sports, to fund the rest of the academic department. This is especially important at state schools. Most athletic departments at state sponsored schools have to operate separately from the rest of the college, and can't take money from the general budget (Private schools aren't bound by that rule). So, if the football team has bad years, and fan attendance drops, the team may have to cut non revenue generating sports. This recently happened at Maryland. They had to cut 7 programs (Men’s and women’s swimming; men’s tennis; women’s water polo; acrobatics and tumbling, cross-country and indoor track and field) due to a combination of miss management and low revenue from it's \"big\" sports. \n\nWhen these schools athletic dept's run out of money, they have to raise more. Historically, they've gone after boosters, trying to get them to donate more money. But, if the schools having a lot of down years, that can be a hard sell. Recently, schools have been jumping ship to other conferences, to try to get a part of the TV revenue. ESPN, Fox, NBC, etc... pay athletic conferences to broadcast their games. The conference in tern divide the money between the members schools.\n\nNow, as I said, private schools have other options. For example, if Stanford has a few down years, the school can chose to dip into it's multi billion dollar endowment and keep programs afloat if necessary. I have a feeling a few of the rich private schools have done this recently in order to hire top tier coaches. Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford and Notre Dame (all top 25 academic universities) all went to bowl games this year... Obviously, someone's been throwing money around. \n\nThe same thing happens with the NCAA. The NCAA hots the basketball championship, and make a lot of money. What does it do with that cash? It funds the championships for sports that aren't profitable. "
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5gjaov | does there exist a "now" at long distances? | For example because light from the sun takes 8min to get to earth so from earth we can never get any information on what the sun looks like at this exact instance.
Also because of time dilation the order of events can change depending on the reference system.
Because planets/stars/galaxies are moving relative to each other at high speeds and are far away from each other, does it make sense to ask what is happening "right now" on some planet in another galaxy, for example? Or can that point in time not be defined from our point of view?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5gjaov/eli5_does_there_exist_a_now_at_long_distances/ | {
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"Tehcnically speaking 'now' doesn't exist for short distances either, but the effect is of course more pronounced over large distances. Time passes differently for all observers depending on their acceleration, speed relative to each other and the gravitational field they are in. Speaking about a right now just doesn't make physical sense especially when we are talking about galaxies which are particularly far away. ",
"This is a perceptive question. There is in fact no absolute \"now,\" and furthermore, there is no absolute order in which distant events took place.",
"Relativity has basically taken the terms \"here\" and \"now\" and merged them into one term: \"Here and now\". (Which is a terrible perk if you're looking to optimize your Fallout character, but that is neither there nor then).\n\nOur perception of \"now\" is effectively that things happening \"now\" affect us in some way. We give \"now\" a bit of leeway. As long as distances are small and signals are symmetric, things can happen \"now\".\n\nCan we define a universal now? It might be meaningless, but I'm actually not sure whether we can or cannot. In a static universe, maybe. I don't know if time dilation renders it inconsistent.",
"The concept of simultaneity is not absolute. It depends on your frame of reference. This is hard to grasp, because it does not align with our intuition. But two events that are simultaneous from one point of view need not be simultaneous from another point of view. \n\nConsider a light source in the middle of a train cart. At t=t*_0_* the light source sends out two photons in opposite directions. In the rest frame of the light source, the two photons reach the two walls of the train cart at the same time, since the distance between the source and the wall is the same in both directions (as the light source is in the middle). \n\nNow, let's examine the same situation from somebody standing on the ground. The train, and the light source with it, is moving at a speed v relative to the ground. Now, the light source sends out its photons. Since light moves at the same speed c relative to all frames of reference, both photons move at c away from the lamp. However, the back wall of the train cart is coming *towards* the photon, while the frond wall of the train cart is moving *in the same direction as the photon*. Thus, the photon being sent towards the back wall will reach the wall before the photon going in the opposite direction, from the perspective of someone standing on the ground.\n\nThe key feature of this experiment is, that light moves at c relative to all frames of reference. Intuitively, we would expect to add the velocity of the train to the velocity of the photons when measuring from the ground. However, that is wrong. Mass-less particles move at the same speed relative to all frames of reference. \n\nAs you can see, two events that are simultaneous in one frame (the frame fixed to the train) are not simultaneous in another frame (the frame fixed to the ground)."
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biauy1 | what's the difference between common law marriage and "regular" marriage? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/biauy1/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_common_law/ | {
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"Better to r/ask_lawyers about this.",
"Theyre both pretty much the same thing.\n\nRegular marriage, you had to go down to the courthouse and sign documents and such.\n\nCommon law, you pretty much just had to be together for usually about 7 years.\n\nThey both held the same legal standpoint though.\n\nCommon law is being phased out though."
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csuhc7 | what is an ideological rhetoric and why is it important? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/csuhc7/eli5_what_is_an_ideological_rhetoric_and_why_is/ | {
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"It has to do with forming your own opinion about everything that surrounds you, based on ideologies claimed by famous thinkers and philosophers. In other words, it is basically a form of identity you must have in order to be a complete rational individual aware of his own existence, and also aware of being part of a society."
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1wsej4 | how are dictionaries, indexes, phone books, or other word lists organized in chinese? there is no "alphabetical order," right? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wsej4/eli5_how_are_dictionaries_indexes_phone_books_or/ | {
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"With hanyu pinyin, which is the way chinese words are pronounced with the english letters.",
"Either by the romanization or by stroke count",
"Each character has what's called a *radical*. It's a sort of sub-character, usually the top-most or left-most part; most of them are somewhat squashed versions of simple or common characters like person, sun, moon, and so on. It's also the first part of the whole character that you write. There are about ~~a hundred and twenty~~ **two hundred** of them, if memory serves.\n\nIn a dictionary, characters are organized into large sections according to what radical they're built on (the beginning of the dictionary will have an index of these, putting them in order), and, in those sections, according to the total number of strokes used to draw it. Having narrowed it down thus far, there are usually only a few characters to look through one by one."
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6s1tci | why is it more complicated to land on mars than on the moon or titan? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6s1tci/eli5_why_is_it_more_complicated_to_land_on_mars/ | {
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"One big difference between the moon and Mars is that Mars has an atmosphere. The moon has no atmosphere so you don't need a heavy heat shield or parachutes, you just land on a rocket. Mars has an atmosphere thick enough to cause heat problems on re-entry so you need the heavy heat shield, but its too thin to aerobrake or use parachutes in like you can on earth, so now you have to carry a heat shield *and* do a rocket landing(yay...)\n\nTitan has an atmosphere, and its even denser than Earth's so you could land on it easily using a heat shield and parachute just like Earth. The trick with Titan is getting there. Landing on Mars requires 67% more deltaV than landing on the Moon, landing on Titan requires 2x the deltaV of Mars and 3.35x of the Moon.",
"One big reason is the atmosphere.\n\n\nWith the moon, there is (for all intents and purposes) no atmosphere so you only need rockets to slow down and land.\n\nOn Titan, you have a very thick atmosphere, so you can forgo rockets and use a heat shield + parachute instead.\n\nMars is the worst of both worlds. The atmosphere is thick enough so that you need to have a heat shield, but it's thin enough that using a parachute for the final descent is impractical, so you need rockets (Curiosity) or airbags (Pathfinder).",
"Mars has an *annoying* atmosphere. As in, Earth's atmosphere is nice, because it is thick enough to slow you down, and things like parachutes work well. You need to deal with a lot of heat, so you have to carry a heatshield, but on the other hand, you get a huge slowdown for free just from the atmosphere. The Moon has none at all, which means it won't slow you down, but it won't damage your spacecraft either, and it doesn't require you to bring a big heavy heatshield, so that's also fine.\n\nMars has a thin atmosphere which is nearly useless for slowing you down, and while large parachutes can slow you down a little bit, it's nowhere near enough to actually let you land. On the other hand, the atmosphere is still thick enough that you need a heat shield to survive entering the atmosphere.\n\nSo you have to carry the extra weight of a heatshield, and you have to withstand a lot stress entering the atmosphere, but it doesn't help you slow down so much that you can land. It's the worst of both worlds."
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1x9s00 | how teleportation is theoretically possible. if a person wishes to be teleported, do they essentially commit suicide in favour of the 'teleported' replica? | I did a search, however, I couldn't find a post that would address this, hence why I'm asking. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1x9s00/eli5_how_teleportation_is_theoretically_possible/ | {
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"It isn't possible. There is no known mechanism in physics by which you can instantly move from one spot to another spot.",
"It depends on the type of teleport. \n\nIf you make a perfect copy then destroy the original (theoretically possible, operationally impossible) it's your latter case, although there are philosophy issues about what \"you\" are in the case of a perfect copy. \n\nIf the teleporter actually moves you (Star Trek style) then it's really \"you\" in some sense since no copies are involved, but we have no theoretical idea of how to do that. "
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9y2crp | the difference between the words "serentipity" and "chance" | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9y2crp/eli5_the_difference_between_the_words_serentipity/ | {
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"\"Serendipity\" meas that something good happened randomly.\n\"Chance\" means that something happened randomly, without implying anything about whether it was good or bad.",
"Serendipity: Something **good** happening by luck or randomness that you **weren't looking for**, but appreciate after it happens (or realize you do want it now). \nExample: You dropped your remote and it rolled under a sofa. When you go looking for it, you also find a $100 note that you weren't looking for, but are happy to find it anyway. \n\n\nChance: simply a possibility of something. A chance event is a possibility of something happening. However, it is not mentioned whether the possibility refers to a **favorable or unfavorable** event, nor does it require you to specifically **not look for it**. \nExample: You buy a lottery ticket, and you win, or you're crossing the street and you got hit by a car."
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9uwgs2 | how does a state as blue as massachusetts elect a republican governor? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9uwgs2/eli5_how_does_a_state_as_blue_as_massachusetts/ | {
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"The incumbent governor seems to be pretty moderate. His big issues seem to be about runnng the state efficiently, promoting job growth, and keeping the state budget balanced. No talk of the typical divisive republican issues (abortion, gay rights, guns, immigration, etc.).\n\nHe’s got a 70% approval rating in a state with an unemployment rate below 4%. Hard to make a case against that.",
"In addition to what the others said, many voters are a bit wary of putting all parts of the state government in the hands of the same party, so they may choose Democratic legislators and Republican Governors, or v/v.\n\nThis isn't always the case, especially in areas that are really partisan or in races that have one candidate who is particularly notorius; but in moderate areas with moderate candidates this is pretty normal. Division of power and all."
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257m2g | why are people so interested in celebrities? (anthropological, psychological, and sociological explanations welcome) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/257m2g/eli5_why_are_people_so_interested_in_celebrities/ | {
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"They distract people from the day to day hardships of life. ",
"Many of us have an innate desire to feel known and loved and appreciated. The desire for people to know our name. We are cultured in society to accept these people as superstars and they are normally attractive to today's standards. Celebrities encompass everything that some people secretly (or not so secretly) desire in love. ",
"Sociology student here, hopefully I can give my perspective on this.\n\nThere are several elements to the way people are interested in celebrities, but there are a couple of big ones.\n\nFirst, there's an element of voyeurism. The press really encourages this as every time something even slightly bad happens to a celebrity then they're on it in an instant. There's a German word that kind of fits this, schadenfreude, which means happiness at the misfortune of others. We get this with just regular people too, but the press is just serving it up to us with celebs. \n\nSecondly, the way we treat celebrities is often down to the way they are presented to us. Normally, and this is not a new thing by any stretch, celebs are people we see in the media, whether that is authors, newspapers, actors, actresses, gladiators... and therefore hold very attractive jobs or are seen as attractive people. So people pay them attention because they produce interesting things or are easy on the eye.\n\nThirdly, they are a distraction from the shitty lives people often lead. These celebs have all the nice things we want, all the nice clothes, the nice cars, living a life of luxury. It's a form of escapism.\n\nI've really skimmed over this, but what it comes down to really in this day and age is that these are people being presented to us as better than us. Either by the media or by ourselves. I'm happy to answer questions on what I've written because it's pretty poorly phrased. Hope this helps.\n\nEdit: Forgot a point.",
"There's one phenomenon in psychology called BIRG which stands for basking in reflected glory. It's this feeling we get when someone near us (or seemingly near us) is very successful. For instance, I have a college friend who I did not know very well who ended up being semi-famous on the Internet. So it gives me some weird satisfaction to think I played some tiny role in that happening.\n\nNow with celebrities that typically is not the case, but I think magazines and articles and such make celebrities seem like normal people (shocking), so we feel like they COULD be our friends and BIRG takes over. ",
"It's an attempt to expand our social group, or Monkeysphere.\nWe both \"know\" Arnold Schwarzenegger. An unknown person is brought into our group.\nC & P from David Wong's [Cracked article](_URL_0_). The cracked article is a ELI5 of [Dunbar's Number.](_URL_1_)\n\nThe Monkeysphere is the group of people who each of us, using our monkeyish brains, are able to conceptualize as people. If the monkey scientists are monkey right, it's physically impossible for this to be a number much larger than 150.\n\nMost of us do not have room in our Monkeysphere for our friendly neighborhood sanitation worker. So, we don't think of him as a person. We think of him as The Thing That Makes The Trash Go Away.\n\nAnd even if you happen to know and like your particular garbage man, at one point or another we all have limits to our sphere of monkey concern. It's the way our brains are built. We each have a certain circle of people who we think of as people, usually our own friends and family and neighbors, and then maybe some classmates or coworkers or church or suicide cult.\n\nThose who exist outside that core group of a few dozen people are not people to us. They're sort of one-dimensional bit characters.\n\nRemember the first time, as a kid, you met one of your school teachers outside the classroom? Maybe you saw old Miss Puckerson at Taco Bell eating refried beans through a straw, or saw your principal walking out of a dildo shop. Do you remember that surreal feeling you had when you saw these people actually had lives outside the classroom?\n\nI mean, they're not people. They're teachers.\n\n\n"
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2icq7j | why don't i sound loud to myself when other people tell me i'm yelling? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2icq7j/eli5_why_dont_i_sound_loud_to_myself_when_other/ | {
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"You've listened to yourself your entire life. That's plenty of time to grow accustomed to your own voice, if it happens to be loud you can't notice it.",
"Because you underestimate others' ability to hear you. ",
"Really? I find myself \"loud enough\" but most of my colleagues says I am quiet. I wish I could sound louder than I am... ",
"you may have significant hearing loss, i find many people yell when they have ear protection on",
"I do that too. Not so much yelling but projecting my voice and not realizing it",
"The acoustic reflex pulls a ligament in the middle ear which effectively turns down the volume of the sound entering the cochlea."
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2c8zvm | why can i not take a good photo of the night sky? | Whenever I do, it is typically just a black photo. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c8zvm/eli5_why_can_i_not_take_a_good_photo_of_the_night/ | {
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"Those good pictures of the sky you see are taken with cameras on tripods set to long exposure. The exposure on a camera is how long the shutter stays open to light light onto the film or digital sensor. In the daytime or with good lighting, the shutter only needs to open for a fraction of a second in order to let enough light in to take a picture. When the only light is coming from the stars, you need to have the shutter open for much longer so more light can gather on the sensor.\n\nAs an analogy, think of light (photons) as ping pong balls and the camera as a set of buckets. With lots of light it means there are tons of ping pong balls being thrown at the buckets at once and they fill up fast. When photographing the sky, only a few balls (photons) from each star may be hitting the buckets, so in order for it to show up, you need to let the ping pong balls collect in the buckets for a longer time. ",
"Cameras require light to capture an image. At night, there is insufficient light for the camera to use when using a standard shutter speed (typically a fraction of a second). You need to specifically set the camera to keep the shutter open longer to allow enough light to register on the sensors. However, you need a stable platform, as any movement while the shutter is open will blur the photo. And many of the cheaper cameras only allow for limited control over the shutter, meaning you might not be able to get any decent photo using that camera.",
"What is happening is that the shutter isn't staying open long enough to get the very faint light from the stars onto the sensor so it's just coming through black.\n\n\nTo get round this you may be able to:\n\n\n* Check if your camera has a 'stars' or 'night sky' setting (a lot do) - choose that and then take the photo (as u/pobody notes you'll probably need to use a tripod or have it placed on a stable service to get a good image\n\n\n* Check if your camera lets you manually set the shutter speed. This option lets you choose how long the shutter stays open (anything from 1/40000th of a second to 30 seconds or even 'bulb' mode where it's as long as you hold the button)\n\n\nAll of this said...taking *nice* photos of stars/skies is quite challenging - if you 'expose' for the night sky anything that is lit by street lights will very likely be over-exposed (too bright).",
"You'll want longer exposure, higher ISO, smaller aperture value (which means larger aperture). Play around with the settings until it looks less bad and more good. \n\nYou'll want to put your camera on something stable like a tripod, or do what I do and point it at the sky resting on a winter hat, facing upward. If you hold it while it's taking the exposure, it'll be all shaky. ",
"You can. Get a camera where you can set the exposure time and aperature size manually. Put it on a tripod, set it for a long exposure and wide open aperature, point it up, make sure it stays completely still, and shoot.\n\nA camera lens has two main components that control the picture. The Aperature size (the size of the hole letting light in) and the shutter speed (how long the shutter is open allowing light to hit the picture sensor/film). The night sky doesn't have a lot of light, so it takes longer exposures to make the stars actually show up. The camera you're using is more than likely set up for daytime shots, where there is a lot more ambient lighting and thus shorter exposure times and smaller aperature openings are needed (otherwise the picture would just be white).",
"You need a tripod, a camera with a very long exposure or bulb setting, and a lack of light pollution. The shutter needs to stay open a bout 30 seconds (any longer than that and you start getting star trails). Light pollution in urban areas is what will make things the most difficult in getting good night shots. However, if you're wanting to just take a shot of the moon, you actually need a short exposure. f/11, 1/125 and ISO100 is a good place to start for full moon shots. You don't need a long exposure on the moon. You're photographing a large bright light source.\n",
"A side point that might help. Your eyes are amazing things, in the way that they adjust between the amount of light during the day and during the night.\n\nAs an example, the amount of light in Times Square, New York City, at night, is about the same as a slightly gloomy day, according to my camera. The Las Vegas strip is like a **very** gloomy day. It takes a huge amount of light to replace daylight.\n\nSo when you look at the night sky, and you think \"well, I can see this pretty easily, there should be enough light\", you are forgetting how sensitive your eyes are to low-light conditions, and at the same time being tough enough to withstand a beating during full sun.\n\nYour camera doesn't have this advantage. Most film (or your sensor in your digital camera) doesn't have this range of sensitivity. So you have to do things completely different when photographing night vs. day. A 1/1000 of a second (or less) is needed during the daytime, where as multiplying the exposure time by 100,000 is not always enough for stars."
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475m5y | does a rape kit test for rape in the past few days or does it confirm sex in the past few days? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/475m5y/eli5_does_a_rape_kit_test_for_rape_in_the_past/ | {
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"A rape kit would basically confirm a sexual act has happened though any bruising or other signs of force would be documented. There are swabs for the lips, cheeks, thighs, vagina, anus, and buttocks to collect any fluids that are there. Blood is collected to test for evidence of drugging. They take the clothes and hair samples as well as combing through for foreign hairs and any skin from under the nails is collected. Basically a rape kit documents injuries and collects evidence that could identify a person or persons who has been in contact with the victim but the kit itself cannot tell the difference between rape and sex. \n\n_URL_0_"
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2p11ne | how do stop motion animators animate someone jumping? | They have to be held still somehow. I can't see any string when I watch, and some sort of plastic platform would be visible. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p11ne/eli5_how_do_stop_motion_animators_animate_someone/ | {
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"Techniques vary, but a support perpendicular to the viewing plane behind the character jumping can provide support without being visible.",
"Usually there's an armature that is removed digitally. "
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8606uj | with the recent passing of the world's last *male* northern white rhino, how will efforts to revive the species continue? | It was reported that his "genetic material was collected yesterday and provides a hope for future attempts at reproduction of northern white rhinos through advanced cellular technologies."
The last two remaining females are his daughter and granddaughter respectively, and it was also said that they would continue on and use surrogate Southern White Rhino females, but wouldn't that create another, different "subspecies?" (Not sure if that was the right word.) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8606uj/eli5_with_the_recent_passing_of_the_worlds_last/ | {
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"Most likely as CRISP-R gene sequencing advances more this will allow them to remove and replace the southern white rhino DNA and would allow them to make a complete northern white rhino... they have made significant progress in wanting to bring back the woolly mammoth and even calm with in the next year or so will have successfully brought it back from extinction \n\nEdit- to clarify the mammoths would be hybrid ",
"I believe sperm was extracted from white rhinos in the past, so in-vitro fertilization of the existing females may be possible."
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29ubx6 | how is fifa going to allow qatar to host the world cup in 2022 when drinking alcohol in public is illegal? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29ubx6/eli5_how_is_fifa_going_to_allow_qatar_to_host_the/ | {
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"They'll figure out how to make it legal, they have everywhere else that this has been a problem.",
" \n > Alcohol can currently be consumed legally in a an increasing number of clubs, bars, and hotel restaurants by showing your passport for reporting.[23] The question of whether alcohol was allowed to be consumed in additional areas and at the games themselves was asked, Hassan Abdulla al Thawadi, chief executive of the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid, said **the Muslim state would also permit alcohol consumption during the World Cup.** A few specific fan-zones will be set up during the event, that will provide alcohol for sale.[24][25]\n\n\n_URL_0_",
"They'll make an exception for FIFA.",
"FIFA basically becomes the law when it's in town. ",
"Alcohol consumption appears to be much more heavily restricted in Qatar, but it isn't outright illegal. Foreign nationals can buy permits to purchase alcohol and hotels that serve foreign clients have bars ([here's a bar at the Four Seasons in Doha, for example](_URL_0_)).\n\nRealistically, they'll just offer the same \"you can drink here if you're not from Qatar\" exemption to sections of each venue.",
"If I'm not mistaken Brasil had a law which prohibited alcohol in their stadiums that FIFA has overturned during the World Cup. ",
"They're having alcohol zones in hotels and stadiums.",
"Qatar won't be hosting the 2022 world cup",
"In Brazil drinking in soccer stadiums was illegal until FIFA pushed them to change the law. Pretty much they threaten to take the world cup away if they dont change the rules at least for the time the cup takes place.",
"They'll change the law, same as they did in Brazil when they demanded alcohol be sold in stadiums (it is usually not sold).",
"Brazil matches dont serve booze, and fifa didnt care and made a deal to do it.",
"[Let John Oliver explain it to you](_URL_0_).",
"To be fair, Brazil banned drinking alcohol in stadiums durning games 2003. They changed the law so Fifa's sponsor could sell their beer in the stadium and banned all other beer sales within a certain perametar of the stadium. They called it \"budweiser law\".",
"That's the last thing to worry about. Players might be dying on the pitch due to the extreme heat and conditions. Insane Qatar even won the bid.",
"It's a sacred law but not nearly as sacred as moneyyyyy",
"The real question is why is the FIFA even going to be hosted in Qatar with that country's excruciating heat? I read on the FIFA website that they take certain measures to prevent heatstroke in players (more breaks mostly) but this hardly does the situation justice. Qatar is a terrible, terrible choice.",
"Don't worry. The world cup will be moved to the US for that year. No way they actually play it in Qatar.",
"ELI5: how is FIFA going to allow Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022 with multiple instances of individuals on the selection board bribed by Qatar officials, corroborated by many witnesses and evidence of bank wire transfers? Guess that FIFA is still riding along on their long term reputation of being upstanding individuals with the utmost integrity.",
"not to mention plenty of other issues... like it being 1 mirrion degrees and being a \"slave state\"...",
"Trust me...this is waaay down on the list of why Qatar shouldn't host the 2022 WC. There are like...19 reasons that come before it.",
"Exactly how they did it in Brazil. Force a rewrite of the drinking laws until it suits their corrupt organization a little better. ",
"This should be the least of the problems. I invite you to watch this [video](_URL_0_) . \n\nEverybody should know this. This also happened now in Brazil btw.. ",
"Drinking alcohol is one thing, [but you really should think twice about this world cup as a gay fan](_URL_0_). Would be funny to hear the teams cite the anti-racism statements like Germany and France did today, complete with \"no discrimination based on sexual orientation\", when you can get 90 leashes and 3 years in prison for kissing your loved one in public.",
"There will be an exception for foreigners visiting. ",
"It'll end up being legal. \n\nI'm more curious about how they're going to deal with drunken and dehydrated foreigners causing trouble and or dying during the games. \n\nNot to mention the players. Are they going to have 3 minute water breaks every 20 minutes?",
"I'd like to point out I think they don't sell beer or something like that in Brazil and fifa made them do it if they wanted to host the world cup. ",
"Brazil had outlawed sale of alcohol in stadiums because it would increase the risk of violence at sporting events. FIFA, being sponsored by beer companies, took issue with this and said an exception must be made or that Brazil will no longer host the World Cup. The Brazilian legislature passed a bill to legalize sale of beer (temporarily?) in stadiums to make way for FIFA's demands. I imagine with the amount of human lives being sacrificed to construct the stadiums, Qatar would easily make exceptions to the sale of alcohol. \n\nTldr: FIFA gives no shits.",
"I feel like you don't need this explained like you're five, and you just want attention for a conversational question.",
"Let's worry more about the 120 degree weather. ",
"This is going to be a clusterfuck. ",
"I can't wait for 1000s of pissed up England fans trying to explain it's they're right to consume 33 pints of lager then throw plastic chairs at people. It'll be ace. ",
"A better question would be \"How is FIFA going to allow Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022 when it reaches 122 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer?\"",
"the same way they forced brazil to change its local laws to allow drinking in the stadiums (resulting in numerous deaths), or had south africa basically hand over their entire justice system to FIFA. ",
"They'll just change the law like they did in Brazil. The bigger problem is the temperature, this World Cup has shown that some of the European teams have struggled to adapt to the change in climate to preform to their usual standards, no idea how they'll manage in Qatar. ",
"Fuck Qatar. Who the fuck wants to go there?\n\n\"Fucking right! We're going to fucking Qatar baby!!! This is gonna be AWESOME!!!\" -No one fucking ever."
]
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3yv851 | why would someone getting fired be ok with signing a resignation letter? | I feel like in multiple instances, I've seen someone who's about to get fired get asked to turn in their resignation. What's in it for the employer and employee? Why wouldn't an employer just fire them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yv851/eli5_why_would_someone_getting_fired_be_ok_with/ | {
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"For the employer, they don't have to pay unemployment. For the fired person, they don't have to say they were fired from their last job for a reason. It's a face-saving measure.",
"If you get fired, you're not eligible for unemployment & the employer can give you a bad reference.\n\n**However** you could always try to sue/fight over wrongful termination.\n\nSigning a resignation letter gives them, in writing, proof that you \"willingly\" left the company. In exchange, they'll give you a good reference down the line."
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1otmrz | why is bologna pronounced baloney? | I'm reading catch 22 and now I'm curious. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1otmrz/why_is_bologna_pronounced_baloney/ | {
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"text": [
"Because it's not.\n\n_URL_0_"
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"http://translate.google.com/#it/en/bologna"
]
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|
2emn22 | is there any way a soldier can disobey orders on moral grounds? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2emn22/eli5_is_there_any_way_a_soldier_can_disobey/ | {
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"Yeah, Germany has this",
"Sort of!\n\nUnder the Uniform Code of Military Justice failure to obey a lawful order is a criminal offense. If the order is unlawful, there is no need to comply, and there is possibly a duty to challenge the order.\n\nHowever legal and moral are not always the same thing.",
"Moral level, no. When you're in the military especially something like infantry your morality has to change because sometimes your personal decisions can cost someone their life and war is never pretty or pleasant and it might offend your morals if you're in it. So militarily they don't think in the sense of moral or immoral, they think in the sense of lawful or unlawful and they have to it's vital to their survival. Now if it's an unlawful order let me quote the military:\n\n\"These articles require the obedience of LAWFUL orders. An order which is unlawful not only does not need to be obeyed, but obeying such an order can result in criminal prosecution of the one who obeys it. Military courts have long held that military members are accountable for their actions even while following orders -- if the order was illegal.\"\n\n_URL_0_",
"Depends on the country. In Denmark we can't choose to not obey an order since it's an order, but we can complain to the superior of the guy giving us tag order. So on a first basis, you can't disobey orders. ( of course if you're willing to be punished you can)",
"In the Nuremberg trials, after World War II, solders were *prosecuted* for following orders. The ruling was that they **should** **have** disobeyed illegal orders.\n\n\"The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.\" ([source](_URL_0_))",
"You actually must not obey an unlawful order, and in following an unlawful order you are responsible for whatever illegal thing you did.\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"If you do follow an unlawful order you can also be prosecuted for following an unlawful order.\nFor example if your boss told you to piss on that prisoner you can't turn around and say \"well the boss ordered me to do it\" to deny responsibility for your actions.\nIts even acceptable in minor cases too, some Sgt in my old regt tried to bring me in for an early show parade 48 hours before it was due, he had the guard shift wake me up at 6am after a night of heavy drinking telling me to get dressed for show, i walked upto the guard room in nothing but my boxers and said I refused to follow his order as it contradicts the values and standards of carrying out such a duty whilst under the influence of alcohol.. He threw me in a cell, threatened me with serious jail time and was just a complete cunt, a few hours later my bty cpt told him to release me and he put the jumped up Sgt at my whim, i said \"dont worry about it mate\" and took the day off \n\nThats how it works in the British Army anyway",
"Marine Corps Corporal here. I will tell you that some military members are asked to do things they find morally objectionable and if they believe the order to be unlawful they can refuse it. However imagine that your big brother was left in charge of you and your parents aren't home. If you say no to your big brother in the grounds that your parents wouldn't approve of the order you'll still have to deal with the consequences from your brother until which time you can get to your parents. \n\nAs a Corporal, having a Master Sergeant give me an order I know my Captain would counter doesn't necessarily mean I'm willing to fight him on it because I also know if I do follow his orders he'll be the one held accountable for the order. \n\nObviously this isn't a defense I would use at the risk of the safety of someone else, but for day to day things the shit you get rained down on you for pulling a \"unlawful order\" defense becomes not worth it pretty quickly. ",
"Well, the oath of enlistment, officially, says:\n\n > I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.\n\n(_URL_0_)\n\nBased on that, you must obey any order that is in line with the UCMJ. So if they order you to, I dunno, fire on an enemy position or whatever, you probably have to do that or be subject to... court martial? \n\nIn case it's not obvious I am the most civiliany civilian that ever was, and I'm just speculating here.\n\nANYway, orders must be in accordance with the regulations of military law. They can't order you to like, rape someone. Or, I don't think, torture someone. Or even to kill a non-combatant or even a subdued enemy soldier, I don't think. \n\nAgain, no idea. Just guessing. I do think though that there are rules of engagement, and that US is bound, officially at least, but the... Geneva Convention laws or what not all, that lay out the rules of war about how you treat captured enemy soldiers, and enemy non-combatants, and so on.",
"If you disobey an order based on it being an \"unlawful\" order. Please keep in mind that lawyers, judges, and scholars spend years of their life to qualify themselves to get to a point where they can determine, or even have a right to argue about, what is lawful and unlawful. The legal process is always a complicated one; even when you are, say, driving over the speeding limit, it may still be lawful determined by the circumstance. \nWhat is lawful always comes back an annoying quote: \"it depends.\" \n\nIf a soldier believes that he may disobey an order due to a personal moral constraint, it is likely better for the soldier to not be a soldier at all. This is considering that the purpose of a soldier in this country is to \"protect the homeland,\" oftentimes require them to infringe on another party's \"rights.\" (regardless of whether the other party is morally right or wrong.) \n\nJust my opinion.",
"There is something called the Geneve Convention. It states that a soldier ordered to do something against this convention is required to disobey said order. For example: Killing civilians. Wearing enemy uniforms as a war tactic. Commandeering vehicles, or people, emblazoned with the genfer cross (the red cross on a white background). Breaching any of these rules will get you on a trial for war crimes.\n\nHere is a [short video](_URL_0_) explaining it better. \n\nThe US only agreed to some of the rules stated in this convention, therefore, some of them may not apply to Americans.",
"Want the best answer to your question? Watch A Few Good Men",
"You can apply for CO(conscientious objector) status. Basically you refuse to fight any sort of war and your beliefs would have to have changed from once you entered. So you can't join not wanting to fuck with war but something happens in your military career whether it be religious(usually is) or spiritual or morally or whatever and you're like \"War is bad I don't agree.\" And you can either get a discharge or you can settle with a non combatant position. But you also have to go to a psychiatrist and a chaplain and a bunch of other things including writing a paper saying how it all came to be. I've heard it can either be super short or a lloonngggg drawn out process. ",
"In the US Army, you have a duty to disobey and report orders that are unlawful (cause you to violate the established laws of the United States, the host nation, the rules of engagement, or the laws of ground warfare), immoral (cause you to violate basic human morals), or unethical (cause you to violate common and basic ethics).\n\nNot to say it'll be painless if you do disobey these orders - they're going to be given by someone who's in charge of you, and it'll be a little bit before an investigation is ramped up that causes that individual or group to be relieved of their authority.",
"While not what you are looking for:\nIn the German Bundeswehr (~armed forces) a soldier may disobey any order which violates the \"Menschenwürde\", the human dignity. In German constitutional law the human dignity carries a lot of weight and provides a sort of moral orientation.\nThis is of course beside the duty to disobey illegal orders.\nTo my knowledge there is no other country that has this kind of option.",
"In Germany, you can deny an order if it contradicts your moral constitution.",
"As already stated, UCMJ Article 90 describes the punitive measures for disobeying a lawful order from a commissioned officer; 91 for warrant and senior non-commissioned officers and petty officers; and 92 for an unlawful rule or regulation. Oftentimes Article 92 is a catch-all; that is, if you are not in trouble for anything else, it's an Article 92. \n\nIf you disobey on moral grounds and the order was lawful then you are still held accountable. There are fields, however, in which disobeying an order is allowed - on rare occasions - if following the order would hurt the integrity of a ship such as disobeying an order given by a non-nuclear qualified officer concerning the reactor. In these cases the enlisted is allowed to contradict the officer if he is certain that the integrity of the nuclear reactor would be jeopardized. I can't for the life of me think of a historical example of this at all, probably because it has never happened, but the justification still exists. ",
"Yes absolutely. But as everyone already said it is risky and you better be damn sure you have solid ground to stand on.\n\nI'll give a personal example. I was USMC deployed to Afghanistan a couple years ago. My platoon was responsible for the bases communications infrastructure. I was given and order to install a buried fiber optic cable to a newly constructed building. Simple project. The only problem was that there was a line of multi-ton concrete barriers (T-Barriers) crossing the planned cable route. So the OIC sends the order down to to the Gunny, with the plan to get past the barriers, who then issues the order to me. The plan was to lift the t-barrier 40 ft in the the air with an industrial crane and then my Marines and I would dig the section directly underneath. In the hard desert soil this would have taken 10 to 20 min, the whole time this t-barrier would be dangling over our heads. I was assured that our body armor, helmet, and eye pro would be sufficient PPE. That thought didn't sit too well with me so I tactfully refused the order. My words were something to the effect of \"Gunny this doesn't sound safe. According to the ORM model (Operational Risk Management) we are taking an unnecessary risk in which the benefit does not outway the potential cost. I refuse to order my Marines to do this job as it has been stated. Is there anyway we can rework the plan to avoid working under the suspended t-barrier?\" Gunny asked if I was sure I wanted to follow through that decision. I said yes and was sent away. 20 min later I reported back to Gunny who told me the OIC had reworked the plan. The solution? Pick up the t-barrier and set it down next to the dig site lol. So even though I refused the order i had done it with tact and a very strong point. It helped alot that i quoted an official ... idk what to call it, regulation or guideline or something of that nature. Point is I had something solid to stand on and I also vaguely hinted that there could have been a safer way to complete the task. Because of that my refusal resulted in no disciplinary action and no one was even mad at me to boot!\n\nTL;DR: I refused a direct order from my OIC because it potentially endangered the safety of my Marines. Because I used tact and quoted USMC safety guidelines the order was reworked and i did not receive disciniplary action.",
"According to international law, not only can you disobey an order, it is your duty to do so, if what you are told to do constitutes a crime.\n\n > Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable to punishment.\" \n[Wiki](_URL_1_)\n\nPut it another way, a soldier cannot claim to be innocent of a crime, just because he was ordered to do so. Every soldier is personally responsible for the crimes he commits. \n\nWhat exactly happens when you do that depends on many different\nfactors. \n\n1. The country you are serving in.\n1. If you are serving during a time of war.\n1. The professionalism of your immediate superiors. \n1. How strong the rule of law is within your country and within your military.\n\nIn a democratic country:\n\nWhat we usually hear in the US\n\n[\"Failure to obey a lawful order\"](_URL_0_)\n\nWithin this phrase is the heart of the matter.\n\nUnder normal circumstances the soldier will get yelled at a lot, \nmay be assigned the worst duties imaginable for a long time,\nmay lose privileges, leaves, etc, and a whole host of other\nlocal punishments. may get arrested and thrown in the brig. If it is correctly reported up the chain of command, and the big birds decide that the privates\nactions were in violation of the [Uniform Code of Military Justice](_URL_2_) \nhe will be held pending a court-martial.\n\nIn theory doing the court marital the solider will be allowed to speak\n(or more likely have his defence speak for him) and ask the panel to \nevaluate if the order was lawful or not, and the penalty that will be \nimposed upon the soldier. [These can be mild to severe].\n\nIf the panel finds that the order was unlawful a new investigation will\nbe started to punish the officer who gave that order.\n\nIn most cases, if some officer or nco manage to issue an unlawful order, \nand a soldier refused to obey, the matter will be handled within the \nchain of command long before it would make it to a court martial, \nbecause higher ups would not want the embarrassment. \n\nI served and I never saw any of this in real life. Because neither I\nor anyone I served with ever disobeyed a direct order.\n\nAt a time of war, things can get a bit more hectic.\n\nIn a lot of armies in less civilized places in the world disobeying a direct\norder will get you shot on the spot, or thrown into a hole (and possibly\nshot later on)\n\n",
"In the military this generally only works in immediate terms. If some E7 tells you to do some shady, bullshit task, as long as it isn't some shit like MURDER (which is an extreme hypothetical situation that never happens, it's usually shit like cutting corners on paperwork), most of the time it's just easier to do it knowing that he'll catch shit if things go wrong. \n\nIt sounds messed up, but when this happens numerous times over years and years of active duty, you're just weary and want the path of least resistance without having to stress about getting some Article 92 (ironically) over some bullshit.\n\nOtherwise, he'll come down on your ass and it's your word vs. his, and good fucking luck with that.",
"Example: Man is on mission. Mission is botched. A team of men are surrounded by insurgents. Rescue team is told not to pursue any further. Man disobeys orders and goes back in to get them. Saves multiple lives in the process. Does not receive Medal of Honor because he disobeyed orders but receives Navy Cross.\n\n",
"Look up James Blunt. He disobeyed what he thought was a stupid order, and prevented WW3. Then he became a pop singer.",
"This is cute. My boss and I used to get this question all the time before grunts, squids etc. ran off to petition JAG. The answer is yes/no/yes/no. People love to bring up ideas about War Crimes, Unjust Actions, Victimization, Conscientious Objection, and several other terms they heard in a movie or read online. The reality is, across the board, you can, but there will be consequences. People don't like to live in a world with that responsibility, so they decide there shouldn't be any consequences for just and recourse to disobedience based on unjust grounds. That disobedience is often viewed to them as rational or logical enough to constitute deferral of give orders. People like to use extreme or superfluous examples of these variations, Nuremberg, Cranking, and whatnot, that's where things get stupid. The idea of morality is more reason within standards of the situation- you understand what you do and where you are. Given the order, you are either expected to obey or to disobey given the circumstances, not hindsight. Hindsight is always 20/20 except when it is life and death. And that is something people don't like to think about when it places them in harms way (especially in the U.S. era of non-conscription). One way or the other, there will be consequences. Whether they are fitting or not is up to the disciplinary committee. And even then, you can request a further inquiry and appeal. \n\n*Source: Was a Chaplains Assistant for years. We heard it all and held privilege to many of these objections and disciplinary hearings.*",
"That greatly depends on what jurisdiction and military force we're talking about, which you of course didn't specify.",
"You can also enlist, and then put in a conscientious objection package. It'll mean you never get a job beyond scrubbing toilets or peeling potatoes, but it'll keep you from shooting folks. Husbandbot works Navy public affairs and had a guy in his shop file one because he didn't want to go cranking (long-term, but temporary, duty to another area) with the MPs because their hours sucked. He also happened to be Quaker, so it was a legitimate reason, but it meant that his entire job was kind of screwed. They took away his security clearance so the guy basically spent the rest of his time aboard that ship working in the mess.",
"During our rules of engagement briefings we're always told that sound judgment is more important than any written order. You can only make an assessment of a person when you are face to face with that person. Body language, facial expression, and instinct will always trump what was written in a book by some pointy head thousands of miles away. \n\nI've disobeyed an order based on moral reasons. The order was to fire a warning shot on a civilian. We were tied up at a port in the middle east (I'm making this intentionally vague) I was upper deck sentry on the focsle (pointy end of the boat), it was the middle of the night, and a guy was walking ~directly for my position while holding a package in one hand and a long cylinder looking thing in the other. The watch leader, who was on the quarter deck (blunt end of the boat), was losing his mind. The WL got on the bullhorn and tried to warn the guy off, but it's likely the guy didn't speak english. Next I was ordered to take a warning shot. I refused. The guy just seemed much too calm for that package to be a bomb and the cylinder to be a rifle. I radioed back my intention to not fire and my completely uneducated assessment of the guys mental state. The radio was quite but it wasn't long before the WL came bursting onto the focsle. My saving grace was that by this point the guy that had been approaching me was sat on the edge of the jetty, just a head of the boat, fishing. I pointed that out, got a stern look from the WL and nothing else was ever said about it. \n\nI've also disobeyed unlawful orders but that's been covered.",
"Yeah. You disobey the order. That's how. Whatever it is, you don't do it. Whether you can disobey without being punished is a different story.",
"Yes. Sergeant York was drafted into WW1, he could have gotten out due to a morality clause because killing was against his religion. At My Lai in Vietnam a helicopter pilot directly interfered with soldiers under orders which earned him a medal.\n\nThe movie Crimson Tide deals with this question.",
"I don't know about disagreeing on a moral basis, but if an Officer or NCO is drunk he or she cant give a lawful order and you don't have to do anything he or she say's. ",
"you are most likely going down for UCMJ article 92 for not obeying if the order is legal (almost ALL orders are legal). you can ask to be kicked out for being a conscientious objector, but they usually deny those requests. Being in the military... well it is what it is. I am in the navy, and if i listen to chief and my LPO I get good evals, if I don't, I get in trouble. Its that simple.",
"Actually soldiers are allowed to disobey an order if it conflicts with the constitution. That is what they joined the military for is to uphold the constitution",
"We are obligated to disobey immoral orders.\n\nI also want to make a distinction I'm not seeing anywhere, a soldier cannot disobey an order to kill someone who is threatening the lives of others. A soldier does however have an \"order\" to disobey orders to kill people who are not threats. It's not like we're ordered to kill civilians all the time and we pick and choose depending on how we feel that day...",
"The IDF has a blue pamphlet of ethics the soldiers are expected to follow, presumably the reason they're all expected to carry their pamphlets with them is to block some of the situations where tzahal is normally libeled, although it doesn't seem to affect the decisions of some officers.",
"This is more of a ask thing not an explanation ",
"I think the best example of what happened to a Soldier who disobeyed orders on moral grounds can be seen by the results of th My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam war. _URL_0_\n\nAn Army company systematically killed somewhere between 300-500 villagers, a Army help pilot seeing this forced them to stop at gunpoint and reported the incident to his seniors. He was given a medal and so was the army unit and an attempt was made to whitewash the incident. When that failed the Army court mortadella the officers involved in the Massacre. But the careers of the helicopter pilot who saved innocent civilian lives was over. \n\nThis situation is an example of when a soldier legally disobey orders on moral grounds and the result was no outward punishment (inside the Army at the time he and his crew were shunned for years, but eventually as new generations came through the ranks were pointed to as hero's for their bravery and moral courage).\n\nThe general prototype for disobeying a lawful order that someone finds immoral is to publicly refuse to follow the orders, preferably in writing stating the reasons why. Then to see if the orders will be reconsidered or if a punishment will be carried out. In the end, no one can force anyone to do anything. You always have options, the question is following the immoral orders and the associated guilt worse then the punishment that you may receive for following the orders? ",
"You can disobey if the order is not a lawful order. That means that it violates existing orders from a higher source, violates your standing moral code (see Conscientious Objector Status), or violates a standing legal precedent or law. \n\nThis means if a General ordered a private to kill a man in cold blood who was not an enemy combatant and was unarmed, it isn't simply the private's ability to disobey that order, but his standing order from the General Orders of the Army to disobey as it violates the law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.\n\nWhat's more he is obligated to report the incident to the next highest individual in the chain of command above that general, up to and including the President. \n\nConscientious Objector status is much more complex but it is basically that a person has made it known that they have a moral objection to killing, or to harming others in any form. They will aid any way they can on a battlefield but will not carry of fire a weapon. They in Korea and Vietnam were given a white band to wear on they're arm, and carried medical supplies, radioes and were battle field porters. One even won the Medal of Honor for repeatedly returning to carry his companions out of a live fire zone under heavy enemy fire, regardless of the danger to his own life, all while not carrying a firearm of his own. \n\nFinally there is higher orders... Say a Sgt orders you to do a pushup, but you have a profile, stating that you cannot do pushups, signed by a Lt Col. Well the Lt Col's standing order is that you are not allowed to, due to your injury to your shoulder or arm, allowed to do that set of pushups, and must instead do some alternate exercise. \n\nThat is an example of disobeying due to higher orders... \n\n",
" a man who now lives in my town disagreed with an order he was given during the Vietnam war on moral and legal grounds. He felt it illegal to drop napalm on Vietnamese villages, so he and several of the men in his squadron quit during their tour. They won the Court Martial at a trial and received honorable discharges. \n\nYou can read more about it here - his story is truly interesting and inspiring:\n\n_URL_0_",
"I've refused an order.\n\nOur unit had an unclassified scanner and a classified scanner. We never got the scan-to-email functionality working, so we set it up to scan to a share folder. This share folder just happened to reside on my computer.\n\nI found a 150 page secret document on my unclassified computer. This is a HUGE deal. I disconnected my computer immediately, and notified my boss. He said \"okay.\" Then I reminded him that no one would be able to scan.\n\nHe then said \"If they cant scan, plug it back in.\"\n\"Sir, I can't do that. There's a secret document on it.\"\n\"Plug it in, that's an order.\"\n\"I can't do that, Sir.\"\n\nHe then plugged it in, left the room. A few minutes later, he came back, unplugged it, and told me how to deal with it. (He talked with our security guys)\n\nTL;DR: Boss told me to connect a computer with a secret document to an unclassified network. I refused."
]
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317ocy | when peeing are we relaxing a muscle or are we pushing it out? | I know you can push out pee but the first stream feels like you relax first | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/317ocy/eli5_when_peeing_are_we_relaxing_a_muscle_or_are/ | {
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"Both. You have sphincter muscles that pinch the urethra (pee tube) shut, containing urine in the bladder. When you pee, bladder muscles contract, forcing urine out. The combination of relaxing sphincter muscles and contracting bladder muscles is how you pee."
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1il4nk | why does african americans are seen more likely to vote for democrats than republicans? | I'm a non-American so I'm not too knowledgable about American history. I recently watched the movie Lincoln (2012) where I saw that the republicans were the ones who fought for the anti-slavery movement and the democrats were the ones who tried to stop it.
However, I've observed that the African Americans are perceived to be pro-democrats in modern times. So, what happened to cause this change? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1il4nk/eli5why_does_african_americans_are_seen_more/ | {
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"In the 1960s, the Democrats pushed a bunch of laws to try and make racial equality happen. This drove all the old white racists out of the party. The Republican party then picked up all these old white racists, because it turns out that's a lot of voters.",
"It is highly convoluted. The short answer is that on average African Americans are more likely to be of lower socio-economic standing than white Americans. Democrats are more likely to be supportive of increased spending on people who are lower income. Thus African Americans are more likely to vote for a Democrat.\n\nFrankly, the difference between Democrat and Republican gets smaller an smaller every day, though. They keep blasting rhetoric to sound different, but in the end they largely fund the same shit, with the exception of a few hot-button issues to keep everyone thinking they are \"fighting for the right team\"",
"Democrats have become the socially liberal party, where Republicans (in general, this is not entirely true) have become much more conservative socially, which sometimes can be just flat out racism from some of them (although there are some racist Democrats as well, but MSNBC has much more credibility these days than Fox new does, so anti-Republican slander gets accepted much more, especially on Reddit).",
"Africans tend o be poverty stricken and in bad economic situations. Those type of people also tend to vote democrat because the Republican Party likes to make it harder for those who have little to nothing to even survive.\n\nAs for Abraham linocoln, he was republican but the parties have more or less switched their stances sense then",
"They aren't perceived to be that way. The statistics show african americans are much more likely to support democrats. So it's definitely a real trend.\n\nThe republican party of lincoln isn't the same republican party as today (same with the democrats!), Lincoln was around 150+ years ago. The priorities of both sides have changed a lot in that time.\n\nThe big thing was the civil rights act, which was supported by democrats and not by republicans. A lot of african americans began to support democrats after that, and many people who opposed civil rights for african americans switched from the democrats to the republicans (one famous example is Strom Thurmond, who switched and was very outspoken in opposition to the civil rights act).",
"Yes, in the pre-Great Depression days in the South blacks voted Republican and whites voted Democrat because of Republicans part in the Civil War as well as the fact that the Republican Party was founded on abolitionism.\n\nWhen FDR was elected he put a lot of money into social services. Blacks in the South had been realizing that freedom was great and all but without social services they were starving. So they started looking at the Democratic party more and more favorably. In the South, the Democratic party was still highly racist and full of white folks but as blacks spread throughout the country outside of the South blacks started identifying with the Democratic party because of the social justice issues.\n\nIn the 1950s and 60s we had the Civil Rights era and while the Republicans were more often on the \"right\" side of the issue than Democrats they were as into it as the non-Southern Democrats. \n\nThis division in the Democratic party between the South and North caused some of the Southerners to bolt the party. In 1960 and again in 1968 former Democrats were able to win electoral votes in the South. \n\nNow that the Southern Democrats were disputing with the northern ones the Republicans saw an opportunity to gain votes and courted the white Southern vote that had formerly been Democratic. Of course with the white Southern vote going Republican this led to the black Southern vote going Democrat.\n\nSo now with the Northern Democrats being more favorable to civil rights and social services issues and the Southern Democrats having far fewer white people involved blacks went entirely Democratic. \n\nSince then the Democratic party has given a lot of lip service to blacks to keep them voting with them while the Republican party has done it's share to make them feel unwelcome by pandering to the white vote."
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aaeioo | why do so many warships and container ships have a large bulge at the bow below the waterline? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aaeioo/eli5_why_do_so_many_warships_and_container_ships/ | {
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"The bulge modifies the way the water flows around the bottom of the vessel, creating less drag. This increasing speed, fuel efficiency, range, and overall stability of the vessel.",
"If you're referring to [this](_URL_1_) its called a [Bulbous Bow](_URL_0_) and is there to reduce the drag on the ship and therefore improve its top speed and fuel efficiency.\n\nNormally the bow will create a set of waves as it pushes through the water, but adding the bulge in front creates a second set of waves. If you space the two correctly then the waves will cancel out at the boats cruising speed and significantly reduce the drag on the hull.\n\nThis is generally only useful for ships that spend most of their time cruising at a specific speed which means its great for cargo ships and warship which will make month long cruises across the Pacific but less useful for a little ferry that cruises back and forth across a little river."
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8gbfvh | why aren't you allowed have contact with an organ donor for years after the transplant? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8gbfvh/eli5_why_arent_you_allowed_have_contact_with_an/ | {
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"I'm actually in the middle of all my tests to donate one of my organs, so I had this conversation somewhat recently with my coordinator.\n\nIt depends on the particular hospital and program you are using, but you absolutely can have contact between donor and recipient if both agree to it. The initial contact is organized through the transplant center, so that neither side feels \"obligated\" to talk to the other if they don't want to. If both agree, then it is off to the races.\n\nSome people choose not to, though. You have to go through _a lot_ of psychological testing to donate because they want to ensure that you aren't going to be upset if the recipient doesn't live their life in a way you feel is \"befitting\" the gift you gave them. Recipients may not want that kind of pressure, or they may not want to talk to them out of guilt or a sense of debt.\n\nIt is a really personal decision and I can totally understand why people may not want to be contacted.",
"There isn't much upside and a lot of downside to knowing. An organ donor might feel the recipient owes them, or the family of a deceased donor might try to forge an inappropriate relationship. They could chastise the owner for not taking care of their gift as well as they might, or feel the donation was meaningless if they person died anyway. It is better to make sure everyone has become comfortable with the new situation before contact is made.",
"Also has a lot to do with HIPAA (healthcare privacy laws) and PHI (protected health information). \n\nEven though you may have gotten an organ from someone, or gave an organ to someone - you do not get to know who they are because of the above laws. This would mean the hospital is sharing protected information. You can however sign consents to then be able to share that information. \n\nI do know at times we can be very vague about situations. Example - “your kidney came from a young adult”. If you were told “your kidney came from a 33 year old male” you may be able to do enough research and find out who that is. A simple search could reveal the day you got a kidney, was the same day a 33 year old male died in a car accident in your area. The less the hospitals share, the better. ",
"Both the donor family and recipient have to agree to communication. Sometimes it takes a while for the donor family to be ready. \nMost recipients want to thank their donor family immediately by know grieving takes time. \n\nI was lucky and was a living donor recipient as my aunt was my donor. Got to see her last week. It was fun. Coming up on my 9th liverversary in September! \n\nDonate Life!",
"Probably to prevent the bloodlust the recipient would have for more and more delicious organs."
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qndft | the flame challenge by alan alda: answer the question – “what is a flame?” – in a way that an 11-year-old would find intelligible and maybe even fun. | _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qndft/the_flame_challenge_by_alan_alda_answer_the/ | {
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"[Feynman did a pretty good job](_URL_0_)",
"When something burns, it gives off heat.\n\nHot things give off light...first red, then yellow, then blue as they get hotter. It's the same way a branding iron gets red hot.\n\nSo when you look at a flame, you are seeing envelopes of hot gases at various temperature.",
"One way to understand flames is to think about backwards flames. \n\n\"semalF?\"\n\nSuppose all our air was replaced by pure Natural Gas, pure methane. Just methane, no oxygen. Suppose you had some normal air coming out of a small pipe. You could ignite this air, and there would be a small flame burning at the end of the pipe! A backwards flame. Or inside-out perhaps.\n\nIf you were an alien in a methane-breathing civilization, your kitchens wouldn't have gas stoves, instead you'd have oxygen stoves. You'd probably believe that methane was totally inert, and that oxygen was explosive and flammable.\n\nSo, what's a flame? It's *two kinds of gas* that can only burn if they're mixed together. We humans usually forget that we're living deep inside an \"ocean\" made of one of these gasses. \n\nIf instead we lived in a methane atmosphere, then our \"fuel\" would be tanks of compressed oxygen. Maybe we'd have to drill for oxygen, and have huge ships full of liquid oxygen traveling across the oceans. An oxygen spill would be very dangerous! Would the O2-poor countries start wars with the countries that have all the oxygen wells?\n",
"When objects burn, they give off a cloud of hot gas and particles. A flame is the part of that cloud that's hot enough to glow."
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222upp | why do i sneeze everytime i walk outside, but have no known allergies? | I can walk outside on a sunny day and just have one large sneeze, go back inside then come outside in 10 minutes or so and sneeze again. Anyone know why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/222upp/eli5_why_do_i_sneeze_everytime_i_walk_outside_but/ | {
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"it is called a Photic Sneeze Reflex. It affects 18-35 percent. it is an uncontrollable reaction to bright things such as the sun when you walk outside."
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j2mjv | attention: your science questions can be explained by scientists and scientist wannabes in the ask science subreddit. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience | {
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"But will they explain it like you're 5?",
"Many of these questions can be explained by experts and expert wannabes in other subreddits. I don't see why science (or any other particular type of) questions should be redirected to a different subreddit, when the whole point of this one is that it's \"a friendly place to ask questions without fear of judgement\".\n",
"But if someone does ask something here, I see no reason why it can't be answered here. I can personally cover most physics-related topics so long as they're either fairly basic or within an area I've studied. You don't always get a good, simple answer from r/askscience.",
"So I sit on /new and answer any question I can research thoroughly enough to understand, and I've already been called out for encouraging people to ask science questions, or something dumb like that. This subreddit isn't even a day old.\n\nThe main thing I don't get is why this is a rule. I can understand a suggestion, or maybe something like \"If you want a more in-depth explanation of your science-related question, try /r/askscience!\" but, to be honest, I think it's incredibly stupid to tell people to go to some other place when all they want is someone to answer their question, especially when someone here *can* answer their question.\n\nWhat if I made an /r/AskHistory subreddit? Would people no longer be allowed to ask history questions? Would /r/AskPolitics prohibit political posts? I think people come here (or will come here) because they want someone to explain something simply, lucidly, and without condecension. That last one's a big point.\n\nWe want a healthy subreddit here, right? Then how does it make sense to prohibit questions over an incredibly broad topic--a topic that probably contains some of the most confusing concepts to nonspecialists.\n\nAnd then there's the whole issue of nobody-reads-the-sidebar-anyway. What's the point of having a weird rule that nobody even pays attention to? From my short time in /new, most of the posts are candidates for r/askscience, under this rule.\n\n**TL;DR I think this is sidebar-inclusion patently stupid and should either be removed or turned into a suggestion, rather than a rule**.\n\n***EDIT: Looks like the rule has been removed. If that was due in any part to this message, thanks***.",
"Thanks for the shout out!",
"And please direct environmental questions to /r/environment and questions about Australia to /r/australia and economic questions to /r/economics and questions about technology to /r/technology.\n\nI don't think there should be any sacred cows in this subreddit...if someone wants a brief simple answer to a science question they should be able to ask it here.",
"I am confused as to why science is being singled out in this debate....when the original post for this sub-reddit could have easily been moved to r/politics, especially becuase of the use of the phrase \"Current Events\".\n\nEvery question being asked here can be asked in a more appropriate sub-reddit that already exist. I thought the point of this sub-reddit was to just get EXPLANATIONS in simpler forms, but the questions are the same ones asked all around the other sub-reddits....",
"The way I see it, this subreddit has a very specific purpose - a place for people to ask questions free from judgment, and for responders to dumb down and simplify answers so the average layperson can understand. AskScience is fantastic but they are VERY SMART, and their version of \"dumbed down\" is having a bachelor's degree rather than a PhD. I can easily see why laypeople would be intimidated and not want to ask questions there.\n\nSo...I don't see why this is a rule. There are specific subreddits for *lots* of topics...why single out science as taboo? Is AskScience afraid of losing subscribers? Or are the mods of LI5 worried that this subreddit will become all science questions?"
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6viij7 | how does a military vessel like a destroyer fail to detect a cargo ship heading their way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6viij7/eli5_how_does_a_military_vessel_like_a_destroyer/ | {
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"They are supposed to have multiple people on watch at all times watching the radar, radio, AIS as well as look out the windows. So people are questioning how this can happen to four different ships in the last few months. One clue is that all ships were under the same command which would make the admirals involved a bit suspect. It might be that morale have been relaxed and that lookout duty were not looked at seriously. And after three incidents the problems were still not taken seriously by the admirals. Unlike a civilian ship it is a bit harder to solve this problem though automation as ramming ships is a valid strategy in warfare and emergencies. You would not want a system that can potentially take control away from the crew.",
"It's not like a car crash when you discover you are going to smash it half second before the crash. \nIn boats this big they realize what is going to happen minutes before it happens. \nHave you ever ran with one of those shopping carts with tricked wheels that refuse to go straight? you are going to hit that tomato soup pile and the fucker refuses to turn and look like an eternity. ",
"It's possible these ships are training for a nuclear attack. A nuclear explosion creates an electromagnetic pulse which knocks out all electronic devises. Maybe these ships are trying to navigate with traditional methods and are failing miserably.\n\n",
"There is another possibility that doesn't involve technology or malfunctions.\n\nI was Navy for 8 years.\n\nThe bridge has a watch assigned to it and isn't always fully staffed by the captain and his/her officers. There are a lot of lazy sailors in our military and they often \"gundeck\" their watches.\n\nWhat this means is for example a standard rover watch has to check a set of spaces (rooms) every hour and sign off on a piece of paper in each space, each round. Gundecking would be the rover signing every entry for every round they would need to make, on the first round. Then not actually walking the next 3 rounds (3 hours). Obviously the problem with doing this is that if there were a problem in one of those spaces, fuel leak, fire hazard, etc, the rover wouldn't know about it until it was too late.\n\nAs far as being on the bridge, there is no \"rover\" so there is always someone on the bridge however when a situation changes rapidly, it is possible that either a. no bridge officers were on the bridge and the quarterdeck couldn't get in touch with anyone in time. I was not a bridge officer so i'm unsure of the procedures in situations like this but I have been on the bridge enough to know every tiny little change in ships course goes through quarterdeck, then xo, then back to quarterdeck, then to helmsman to actually change course. So i'm not sure what the response would be if no officer was present. OR b. the quarterdeck watch (and all the other watches) were not paying attention, sleeping or playing a handheld computer game and simply didn't realize their collision course until it was too late. Personally, i'm leaning towards option b.\n\nAlso, could have been simple malfunctions as mentioned by others."
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3n0d7m | why can't towns create their own internet networks? | With all these problems with AT & T, Comcast, Charter, Time Warner, etc., why don't local governments create their own networks for their citizens? Wouldn't they make good money, increase population and happier citizens? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3n0d7m/eli5_why_cant_towns_create_their_own_internet/ | {
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"They can. Its just expensive, and requires a town budget spending that needs to be approved.\n\nThe term is municipal network."
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1oz3bf | why don't we replace income tax with sales tax? | An accountant recently told me that we would be better off replacing income tax with a sales tax. The idea is that luxury goods get taxed lots (say 50%), semi-luxury goods get taxed somewhat (say 20%) and necessities aren't taxed at all. He claimed that this would prevent people from hiding money in offshore accounts and would also increase the amount of money in the economy.
Can someone please ELI5 why there aren't any countries that have tried this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1oz3bf/eli5_why_dont_we_replace_income_tax_with_sales_tax/ | {
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"A sales tax is inherently regressive. A family that makes very little money and spends it mostly on necessities would be hit much harder than a rich family because their percentage of income spent on any \"semi-luxury\" good would be *much* higher than the percentage of income that a rich person would spend. Let's say that the poor family needs a new car, and that car is now $5,000 more expensive. For a middle class family making 50,000 a year, that is a huge chunk of money. For a rich person making 250,000, $5,000 is a much smaller percentage of income. And for that money, they might as well fly to Canada, buy the car without the tax, and then pay someone to drive it back to America for them. They would end up paying nothing in tax while the poor family shoulders more of the burden because they wouldn't have the whole amount at once.",
"Well, like the OP itself suggested, the inherent regressive nature of a flat sales tax can easily be fixed. Just charge little to no sales tax on items that poor people heavily spend on (like food, toiletries, basic clothing etc), and charge much higher taxes on things rich people spend on (like luxury items, high end retail, hotels, vacations etc). So that can't be the major obstacle to implementing this.\n\n- Among the real problems that come up, the biggest is probably that the world is now globalized, and consumption is even more globalized than production (income). In other words, it is much easier (although still difficult) to make US residents pay tax on foreign earned income brought here, than to tax them on consumption made outside the US. So all the poor suckers stuck in the US keep paying the sales taxes while the rich can jet around to fancy vacations in fancy places where there are no taxes. Outcome.. the purpose has been defeated.\n\n- This is not to say it has not been tried. For instance many states just used to have sales taxes. This just drove consumption to states/countries with lesser taxes, and reduced the states revenue. Eventually one by one they almost all adopted income taxes as well (there are still some five or so states w/o income tax). \n\n\n- Further, limiting state revenue to sales taxes makes the revenue extremely volatile. In times of downturn, sales often fall faster than distributed income. This means having income tax in the mix provides for more stable taxation revenue.\n\n\n- Finally, and this is just as important, businesses (and business owners) dont pay sales taxes on goods that they use in production (because the sales taxes get added at the final sale). But this just means for business owners it is very very easy to shift any taxable consumption into the business and thus pay little to no taxes at all while the normal non-business owning schumck is stuck paying all taxes again. Well no good.\n\n- So places like Europe try and fix this by introducing the Value Added Tax (VAT, GST etc), where businesses have to keep track of what they purchase, what they make sales on, calculate the value they added, and a tax is added onto that value add... for EVERY business to business transaction. Needless to say, this is understandably complex, inefficient, and unpopular with businesses. Besides there is much overhead introduced when instead of just being able to tax the final sale, every part of the production chain has to be tracked, evaluated and taxed. And guess what, it is so complex, businesses find ways to circumvent around it and bilk the government anyway. So no dice.\n\n\nOh well, would have been much simpler though wouldn't it, just having sales taxes. Welcome to the messy reality of real world economics.",
"that accountant is a heartless, greedmonger, capitalist pigdog.\n\ncome to TN or TX, where we don't have a state income tax, if you would ever like to see what it's like. \n\nmiddle class = not much difference\n\nlow class = i can either pay taxes or eat\n\nupper class = i can afford another week in europe or buy an E class instead of C class!\n\nelite class = we are moving here and moving our company here since they will give it super tax breaks for \"creating jobs\". no estate tax ftw! dynasty here i come!"
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2c04ym | why don't more animals just take the night shift and eat other animals when they are sleeping? | I've read that humans go into something called REM sleep, which is suppose to be very deep sleep. This sleep isn't really life threatening in our houses but wouldn't this be deadly for animals? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c04ym/eli5_why_dont_more_animals_just_take_the_night/ | {
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"hence most daytime small animals find a secure burrow to sleep. or they band together as a pack and some sleep while others nap. ",
"Just a small correction, the deepest stage of sleep is called slow wave sleep, or delta sleep. REM is when you dream the most, but you will wake up from it more easily than slow wave.\n\nAnd as mentioned, animals hide during the night so that predators won't eat them. A lot of predators do hunt at night, though. It's a pretty good strategy, so long as you have night vision."
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7cupjr | what causes the physical sensation of genital stimulation? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7cupjr/eli5_what_causes_the_physical_sensation_of/ | {
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"Nerves aren't so specialized by location physiologically. It's mostly how they are interpreted in the brain. Crossed wiring nuerologically is actually pretty common. "
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5ssl25 | how the notion of "a god/gods" came around | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ssl25/eli5_how_the_notion_of_a_godgods_came_around/ | {
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"Depends on who you ask. People with strong religious conviction believe it happened and something like the bible is essentially a history book. People who don't have religious beliefs tend to view it as a means of explaining what we don't know, or as a way to incite civil behavior by promising heavenly rewards for being good people. It entirely depends on the each individual's perspective in life.",
"Anthropologist checking in. This question is technically pre history. \n\nAncient cultures applied spirit to all of nature. The Ancient Kemetians even coin the translated \"nTr\" (pronounced nature), and provided paintings of their very aspects of life to provide a visual hierarchy of plants, animals, humans, and god(s).\n\nEdit: But It is assured that even earlier civilizations did the same. Spirit seems to be a reoccurring phenomena."
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14209u | why do i have to dial 1? | Why is is that sometimes I have to dial one and sometimes I don't? I understand long distance but IF I'm dial 203-555-1234, some one else can;t possibly have the telephone number 1-203-555-1234. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14209u/eli5_why_do_i_have_to_dial_1/ | {
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"On a regular phone, as soon as you push a button that number is sent through the phone line to your phone provider. Once you've hit 7 numbers, an attempt is made to connect to that phone number using your current area code. By dialing 1 first, you're teling your provider \"Hey, I'm gonna add an area code to this number, so don't try to dial right away.\"\n\nOn cell phones and more modern phones that allow you to dial a number first and THEN hit a \"call\" button, if you've input 10 digits instead of 7 your phone is smart enough to realize that you've put in an area code as well, so it automatically sends the 1.",
"Back in the day, you had local calls and long distance calls. Local calls were including with your monthly service, but long distance calls were charged by the minute, and they were pretty expensive.\n\nWhat was worse, it wasn't always clear if a number was long distance or not. So what dialing 1 did is route you into the toll system. If 555-1234 was a toll number for you, and you didn't dial the 1, the call wouldn't go through, and you wouldn't wind up being charged for a call you thought was free.\n\nOver the years, long distance got cheaper, calling plans got better, and cell phones basically threw the whole concept of local out the window. But there are still a lot of land lines that will charge you for long distance, so that 1 is serving a purpose."
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q65o3 | when i lick my skin and smell it, why does it smell sort of like bleu cheese? | You know that you know what I'm talking about. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q65o3/when_i_lick_my_skin_and_smell_it_why_does_it/ | {
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"text": [
"Bacteria on your tongue. Go brush your teeth."
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5lslxe | how is it that we put salt in ice cream machines to make the ice colder, but we also put salt on our sidewalks and streets to melt the ice? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lslxe/eli5_how_is_it_that_we_put_salt_in_ice_cream/ | {
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"Because you're not making the ice colder in the ice cream machine. In both cases your goal is to make liquid water colder, but the reasons for wanting colder liquid water are different. \n\nIn the case of the ice cream maker, there's always at least a thin layer of liquid between the cream container and the solid ice, so colder liquid water means more heat transfers out of the ice cream and into the liquid water (so the ice cream freezes fast enough to freeze the air bubbles into the mix which is why ice cream has such great texture). \n\nIn the case of the sidewalks, colder liquid water means more ice melts and flows off the sidewalk and melting continues at lower temperatures, reducing the slipping hazard. ",
"These are both the same reason! It's a really good question.\n\nSalt makes the freezing point of water lower. That means when you throw it on ice, it tends to melt the ice. Even in the Ice Cream machine. What happens is the solid = > liquid process (melting) requires a small amount of energy (the heat of fusion) even if the temperature stays the same.\n\nIn the sidewalk case, the large heat capacity of the sidewalk, driveway, Earth under the ice, ... gives up this heat without changing temperature.\n\nIn the Ice Cream machine case, the ice is insulated from a large source of heat (by the ice cream machine's bucket). This means there is no good source of heat and the heat of fusion much come from the ice and the ice cream inside the can. The ice melts faster, even though it is driving the temperature down from the melting poinf of plain ice to the melting point of ice in salt water.",
"TL;DR - Salt doesn't make ice colder. What you're going for in both cases is a state change - you want liquid water, not solid water (ice) - without having to compromise the temperature.\n\nUnless you have some continuous source of coolant (like my buddies at work that used to make iced cream with Liquid Nitrogen, lol) the ice you have is all the coolant you'll get, so you'll want to freeze the iced cream quickly before the elements warm the coolant (ice/water) beyond usefulness. \n\nIn order to best transfer the heat away from the ingredients into the ice, you want the *highest possible surface area* of the spinning aluminum container to contact the coolant. Ice cubes aren't that great, crushed ice or party ice is better (smaller chunks), but ultimately liquid is best. You could use glycol or something, but the most available and safest liquid is water. If you want to get water cold enough to freeze the iced cream without freezing into a solid block itself, you have to add salt to lower the freezing point. Fun fact, ice rinks use a salt water (brine) which run through pipes in the concrete beneath the ice surface in order to maintain the temperature at around 19 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nSalt does the same think to ice on sidewalks, except the motivation there is that you just don't want solid water (ice) around. Liquid water will flow away and reduce the hazard/obstacle.",
"Same reason : it lowers the melting point of water making the ice on the sidewalk liquid and the ice around your ice cream liquid but also lowers the temperature. The liquid water on the sidewalk will also be colder which is one of the reasons walking your dog in the winter can be dangerous since you have supercold water on the ground turning your dogs paws into ice cream. ..",
"This reminded me of a time a few years back, I asked my 13 yo son to go salt the sidewalk. Walked out to see what was taking him so long...uhm...he was using the kitchen salt shaker. I about peed my pants laughing so hard. Even funnier because he's a smart kid. Was a scholar athlete and is now a Corpsman. I still tease him about it.",
"Salt lowers the freezing point of water. In the case of the streets, it means that the water will remain liquid at lower temperatures. In the case of the ice cream, it makes the ice slurry colder without freezing solid.",
"The goal of adding salt to ice in both cases is the same, to melt freshwater ice. The melting point of saltwater is lower than freshwater. By adding salt the ice melts. On the sidewalk, the slippery is gone. In the ice cream maker, the bucket is insulated so the heat energy required to melt the ice must come from the ice cream container which freezes the cream. The rotating container has a stationary dasher in it that keeps the cream from getting frozen solid on the sides and leaving liquid in the middle.",
"As long as the ice isn't too cold, salt does 2 things to ice at the same time:\n1. Solid turns to liquid (ice melts).\n2. The water absorbs heat from its surroundings as it melts.\n\nOn the sidewalk or road, the ice melts, or at least the hard ice gets softer and can be physically removed. If it melts completely, the resulting water flows to lower ground, or is carried off on a tire or a shoe, or it eventually evaporates in the dry winter air, or it re-freezes if the weather gets cold enough.\nIn the ice cream maker, the ice melts, pulling heat from whatever it is touching (the metal can with ice cream mix inside it). The resulting salt-water flows out the hole in the side of the ice cream maker and kills your grass. But it is replaced with more ice (which is as cold as the freezer). Salt is introduced to this new ice causing it to melt and pull even more heat from the can and its ice cream mix, rinse, repeat. Eventually, enough heat is pulled from the ice cream mix inside the mixer to cause it to freeze into ice cream.\nWithout the salt, the ice would have a hard time pulling enough heat from the ice cream mix fast enough to freeze the mix in any reasonable amount of time (or with a reasonable amount of ice).",
"Salt lowers the melting point of water.\n\nAs a result of this, some of it melts. \n\nSomething people don't often consider about the act of melting ice is that it takes energy. To change ice at 0C into water at 0C, you need to add about 333Kj/Kg of water, which is quite a bit. This energy has to come from somewhere, and since everywhere is cold, somewhere has to get colder. \n\nThis means both the water that's formed and the remaining ice cool off to make up for the difference in energy, and because converting a kilo of ice to water takes about the same amount of energy as heating that water from 0C to 80C, the temperature drop is quite steep for a given amount of water formed.\n\nThis is also why the salted ice cube challenge is stupid. You're pressing ~-20C water up against your skin, frostbite is fast at that temperature with that much thermal conductivity.",
"There are a few factors to it, but some of them are material, temperature difference, and surface area. Thermal energy is always trying to balance out. If something has been in a room for a long time, it is going to be about the same temperature as the air and surface it is sitting on. \n\nMetal, however, feels colder than wood, even if both the metal and wood are the same temperature. This is because different materials transfer thermal energy at different rates and THAT is what you feel when you touch things, not the actual temperature. Metal is more conductive of heat, so you lose more heat from your hand to metal than from hand to wood. Water it's self isn't too great, which is why it take so long for it to boil, but the one thing it has over ice is surface area.\n\nThe larger the surface area of a material, the more of that material is able to directly transfer energy from a heat source into it's self, so while ice may be colder, water can conform to the surface of whatever it is in contact to, due to it being a fluid, and is able to take heat from the soon to be ice cream faster than ice, despite ice having a larger difference in temperature than water compared to the ice cream. \n\nIdeally, you would want a liquid as cold as ice so that it can conform to the surface of the ice cream AND transfer the heat better, because the third factor here, temperature difference, matters quite a bit too. With a larger difference in temperature between two materials, you get a larger transfer of energy between them. salty water is nifty because salty water remains liquid when it is colder than pure water, so it fits this niche pretty easily. It is plentiful, not harmful to the environment, and cheap, so there is little to no trouble in using it to cool your ice cream down. \n\nFor sidewalks, you want to help the ice melt, and since salty water becomes liquid at lower temperatures, the salty water on the surface helps make the ice under it turn to salty water and thus melt.\n___\nTL;DR: water can hold tons of heat, but sucks at transferring heat, but colder water sucks less at transfer. Ice sucks more because it has pockets of air, both at the interface, and within it, and that sucks at holding heat. Salty water allows water to not be ice at colder temperatures, which means it is even colder than cold water, and has no pesky air in the way.",
"There is a lot of bad info here.\n\nLiquid/solid is irrelevant, but what is relevant is that phase change from solid to liquid is endothermic, meaning it requires energy to occur. When you salt the ice, the phase change from ice to water robs the cream of its energy, making it colder and, hopefully, triggering a phase change in the unsalted water in the ice cream mix, from liquid to solid. So as the salt melts the ice, the transfer of energy causes the custard to freeze.\n\nIf you had an outer bowl and an inner bowl, put ice into the inner bowl and poured molten metal into the outer bowl, you would expect the water to boil as energy goes from the cooling metal and into the ice. As the metal hardens, the ice melts and may evaporate. This is easy to grasp and is the exact same concept but instead of a phase change that is exothermic (molten metal loses energy as it cools and hardens) you have a phase change that is endothermic (salt melting ice from solid to liquid). The process simply works in reverse.\n\nDoes that make sense?",
"The salt melts the ice in the outer layer of the ice cream machine. This sucks heat out of the inner layer, letting your ice cream freeze faster. \n\nSpeaking from personal experience, you do NOT want the salt in the actual ice cream",
"Adding salt to water lowers the freezing point of said water/salt solution.\n\nThus - adding salt to frozen paths/road will cause the ice to melt back into liquid form as long as the temperature is higher than the new freezing point. For example a 10% salt, 90% water solution has a freezing point at -6C instead of 0C. A 20% solution is around -16C. The colder it is, the more salt is needed for a given volume of ice.\n\nWhy do you add it to your icecream's ice supply? Well simply because you want that ice to be liquid so that it is more effective at cooling your icecream. So adding salt means that ice melts, but is still just as cold as it was.\n\nTLDR: Adding salt doesn't make ice colder, it makes water's freezing point drop below 0C to a lower value. The water's temperature does not change, only whether or not it's a solid or a liquid may change.",
"ELI5 version:\n\nSalt makes the ice melt really fast. Ice needs lots of heat to change from hard to wet. The salty ice sucks all of the heat it needs out of the milk mixture really fast. When it's done, the ice is melted and the milk is icy.\n\nThe other magical part of mixing salt and water is that salt water has to get much much colder than regular water in order to turn into ice. When we put salt on ice on the sidewalk or in the road, it melts the ice and changes it to salt water that can run off the road and out of the way. If it gets so cold that the salt water will freeze, we use sand instead.\n"
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3yxb73 | is someone that is prosecuted by the government and ultimately found innocent automatically due any compensation for time spent incarcerated and resources spent on defense? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yxb73/eli5_is_someone_that_is_prosecuted_by_the/ | {
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"Since this is a legal question you have to specify a jurisdiction. It is certainly not the case in all jurisdictions. In other words, in some locations, you can be screwed. ",
"This will vary greatly depending on where you are. I found this information about the U.S.\n\n > The federal government, the District of Columbia, and 30 states have compensation statutes of some form. The following 20 states do not: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming."
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232nj2 | totality of a solar eclipse | I was reading that the duration of totality for a total solar eclipse can last no longer than 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Furthermore, this number is decreasing each millennium. My questions are:
1. Why is there a limit to how long the duration of totality can occur?
2. Why is the duration decreasing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/232nj2/eli5_totality_of_a_solar_eclipse/ | {
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"cgstfq2"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"As for why the duration is decrease, it is because the Sun is slowly expanding in size and Moon is actually moving away from the Earth. 5 hundred million years from now, total eclipses will no longer be possible."
]
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1rcxew | how do copyright laws work? how heavily are they enforced? | My current project is to work with a team of guys to make a free RPG for any mobile device. We would love to put funny little references here and there but we are unsure how clear we can be in case we get in trouble. How do copyright laws work exactly? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rcxew/eli5_how_do_copyright_laws_work_how_heavily_are/ | {
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"Copyright law is the idea that when people make creative content, they and they alone can decide who profits from it for a limited time. Generally, this means that if you want to use content from something with copyright, ask first or be prepared for a lawsuit. However, there is something called Fair Use in the United States, which says you can use copyrighted content if, according to the US Copyright Office, “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.”\nFor more information, CGP Grey made a fantastic video explaining this, and it includes his case for why it should be shorter: _URL_0_\nUS Copyright Office: _URL_1_"
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"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk862BbjWx4",
"http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html"
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86z9e1 | why does the middle of ice get all milky/cloudy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86z9e1/eli5_why_does_the_middle_of_ice_get_all/ | {
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"Near the surface of the ice, dissolved gasses are able to be forced out as the water freezes. Further down, the gasses are forced out of solution as it freezes and are trapped. This is also why slowly freezing ice makes it clearer than quickly. "
]
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2hlhv1 | whats the point of the joke where people are wearing those rubber horse mask | Im sure you understand what I mean | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hlhv1/eli5_whats_the_point_of_the_joke_where_people_are/ | {
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"text": [
"It just looks weird. The point is to get noticed. I do find that funny, even that President Obama shook hands with one of those guys. It is just surreal humor. It's OK if you don't find it funny."
]
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[]
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|
3elksm | what is the chance of finding life in the universe | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3elksm/eli5_what_is_the_chance_of_finding_life_in_the/ | {
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"100%, we have already found life in the universe... us. But I'm guessing you are asking life outside of Earth, which in impossible to calculate. We only know that life exists here, but we haven't looked anywhere else. So you have a sample size of 1, you can't draw all that many conclusions from that."
]
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35fkgk | a lot of us nutrition labels list grams of carbohydrates, and then underneath that, grams of sugar and fiber. a lot of the time, grams of sugar + grams of fiber does not equal grams of carbohydrates. why the discrepancy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35fkgk/eli5_a_lot_of_us_nutrition_labels_list_grams_of/ | {
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"text": [
"Starches are not explicitly labeled but are the missing key. Sugars are 'simple carbs', starches are 'complex carbs'. Both are energy sources with 4 calories per gram."
]
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||
3u80i8 | why aren't there zip lock bags in cereal boxes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3u80i8/eli5_why_arent_there_zip_lock_bags_in_cereal_boxes/ | {
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"text": [
"Zip lock bags cost a few cents more to produce and those few cents would make no difference in sales. You might like having it but you arent boycotting them for not having it and you wont change your buying habits to get it, so it would be silly to waste money providing it to you.",
"Malt-O-Meal makes bagged cereal that is just as good as boxed cereal, costs less, you get more, and comes in a zip-loc bag and is also in your cereal section: _URL_0_",
"that's quite a good idea, have 5 or so very large zip bags one for each box just drop that other bag in a zip bag "
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"http://prod-cdn.thekrazycouponlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/malt-o-meal.jpg"
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b05nyb | why can my hands sometimes type (or "remember") words correctly that i'm having trouble thinking about the spelling of? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b05nyb/eli5_why_can_my_hands_sometimes_type_or_remember/ | {
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"Doing a motion repeatedly, teaches your brain to automate that motion, like when learning to ride a bicycle or swimming.",
"Muscle memory, as you type the word more and more you remember more accurately where you need to position your fingers on the keyboard to press the correct letter. "
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2rojp2 | what causes sleepy boners? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rojp2/eli5_what_causes_sleepy_boners/ | {
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"There's not really a proven point for this, but there are two main theories:\n\nFrom an evolutionary standpoint, men are more sexually aroused when they first wake up. This is from the early days of human existence when the men would go and hunt right away. The reason for this is in case the men died while hunting, they would first have sex with a woman, and hopefully impregnate her. \n\nAnother believed reason is that men get these just to make it easier to not piss themselves while sleeping. However, I believe the first explanation is much more likely. ",
"A large part of your body runs automatically, or without you having to think about it. Nerves run these processes. One part of this automatic nervous system is the [sympathetic nervous system](_URL_0_), which makes your muscles go crazy during a fight-or-flight response. It also decreases your digestion and other stuff you don't need to be doing when you are in an emergency.\n\nAnother part of the automatic nervous system is the [parasympathetic nervous system](_URL_1_), which controls your bodily functions when you are resting. It kicks in digestion and other stuff. So when you are sleeping you are obviously in parasympathetic mode. The thing is erections are also tied to the parasympathetic nervous system, so when you are resting you are better able to get a boner. It's interesting because after ejaculation your body switches to sympathetic mode for a while and that's why boners are lost so quickly. \n\nKeep in mind these are simplistic ways of looking at how the nervous systems interact with each other.\n\nEdit: added a word I forgot. "
]
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[],
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_system",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasympathetic_nervous_system"
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6yvw83 | have storm systems gotten generally larger in recent years? what is taking place to generate more overall mass? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6yvw83/eli5_have_storm_systems_gotten_generally_larger/ | {
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"Climate change and higher temperatures (global warming of average ocean temperatures).\n\nHigher temperatures means more water evaporation, which means more mass to the storm.\n\nHigher temperatures also mean a higher rate of convection, which makes storms more likely.\n\nThat's about it, its not a guarantee it will be larger or more frequent, but the conditions are getting \"better\" for those things.",
"Tropical storms are powered by low-pressure, moist zones in the ocean. The Sun warms the water, and as the water evaporates and heats up the air, the pressure drops in that area, and that warm wet air rises up into the upper atmosphere. Obviously, this happens all over the ocean but currents can pull warmer water into a smaller area. The air around it is still cool and dry and dense, and that dense air pushes into the less dense low-pressure zone, just like air rushing into a vacuum.\n\nThe more dense air pushes the less dense air up and out of the way where it cools down and falls back around the low-pressure zone, only to get sucked back into the low-pressure zone again. Because of the conservation of angular momentum and the turning of the Earth the wind rushing in begins to swirl around the center of the storm, pushing more of the warm wet air upwards, lowering the pressure in the center even more, which sucks in more air, until the wind is swirling at over a hundred miles per hour.\n\nThe hurricanes are powered by warm water. When the water is warmer, the storm can get bigger. That's also why hurricanes slow down and fall apart once they make landfall: there's no warm ocean water to power the storm. Climate change is very real, the oceans are warming up, and that extra energy is fueling bigger storms.\n\nThat said, weather is *super* complicated and **weather** is not the same thing as **climate**. There's a lot that goes into creating a hurricane - not just the warm ocean water but the cool, dry atmosphere above it, the direction of the ocean currents and wind currents, the difference in temperature between the water and the air, etc. The storms aren't just going to get bigger in a linear progression: some will be bigger, some will stay the same, depending on the incredibly complex processes that create Earth's weather. But overall, like the *average* temperature getting higher, the trend should be that your average hurricane will be more powerful and/or there will be more of them."
]
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[],
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||
24tmre | why does every post, no matter what it is, get so many downvotes on reddit? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24tmre/eli5_why_does_every_post_no_matter_what_it_is_get/ | {
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"text": [
"That's because of [vote fuzzing](_URL_0_). It's a way for reddit to conceal the true number of votes a post has received, in order to hamper spam bots. The number of votes on a very popular post is different from what the page says, but the ratio of upvotes to downvotes is accurate.",
"I think people on reddit crave fresh material, and even though they may love puppies, they are frusterated by the massive popularity of a post so nearly identical to countless ones before it. No shame though, Ill upvote some puppies any day of the week.",
"Nah. There's a vote fuzzing system to defeat bots trolling reddit. The vote up total is real enough, but the up down vote totals are false. If the post is 900+ then it is, but the display could read 3,000 up and 2,100 down.",
"All I know is that commenting here in reddit has made me realize everyone hates me. "
]
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"http://www.reddit.com/wiki/faq#wiki_how_is_a_submission.27s_score_determined.3F"
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2b2jub | why are pepsi/coke bottles shaped different in other countries? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b2jub/eli5_why_are_pepsicoke_bottles_shaped_different/ | {
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"text": [
"Coke licenses the rights to bottle it's product out to local distributors. Local distributors choose packaging that is most cost effective for them/appealing etc to the locals.",
"Each brand has to adapt to the region its being sold to.\nFYI its not only the shapes and the marketing that are being changed , the flavor is being tuned as well.\nAs an example , I can tell you from my own experience that in Thailand Sprite is less sweet than in other places.\n\nIts all about marketing and adaptation to the market."
]
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16m0cd | why is it that food has to be refrigerated to keep it from germs, but if our body catches a cold it gets germs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16m0cd/eli5_why_is_it_that_food_has_to_be_refrigerated/ | {
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"It's a myth you get a cold from cold. Also, cold is a virus, not bacteria. ",
"When our bodies get cold, our immune systems get weaker. So cold viruses have a better chance of infecting us (especially when everyone around you is sick). As for food, bacteria tends to breed best between 40-140°F (5-60°C). So it's best to keep food below 40°F ",
"Simplified answer: Cold viruses (the \"germs\") enter the body through our mucous membranes - those are the moist parts that are inside our noses and mouthes (ex: gums). The skin is too thick for the viruses to penetrate, and if you swallow these germs, the acid in your stomach kills them. So, cold viruses get in through the route of your nose and the lining of your mouth. These membranes act as a barrier between the inside and outside of your body. For example, inside your nose, you find snot. This traps dust and germs. Now, it can't protect you from *all* the germs, but it helps. \n\nWhen you are outside in the cold, these mucous membranes start to dry out. (Ever noticed how when you play outside in the snow for a while, your nose starts to run? This is your body trying to counter this drying out.) When your mucous membranes are dry, they weaken, and it's easier for the cold virus to get into your body. \n\nWe chill food because bacteria tend to grow at room temp/body temperature. The average fridge runs at around 40 degrees F (or 4 C), which is too cold for bacteria to grow at. These germs are not the same as cold viruses; in fact, most viruses cannot grow in food.",
"You are in danger of dying when your body tempature drops to 95°F. Food needs to be refrigerated below 40°F to stop the growth of bacteria.\n\n\"Cold\" really just needs context. ",
"You can eat most harmful bacteria and be fine, as long as there is not too much of them (1 or 2 will not kill you). Cold temperature either kills or slows bacterial (and fungus) reproduction, so from that 1 salmonella bacteria you won't get the whole colony of billions after a week.\n\n\"Catching cold\" is not a single disease, but a way our bodies respond to respiratory tract infection. Coughing, sneezing and runny nose are things that prevent infection from spreading into our lungs. \n\nAlso, for our nose to work properly it needs to be covered in mucus, however during cold, dry seasons it gets quite hard to keep it moist, so it will overcompensate."
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2eqbzr | obscene startup valuations | Why is it every start up seems to be valued in the billions now? What is the actuarial basis for this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2eqbzr/eli5_obscene_startup_valuations/ | {
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"On an actuarial basis, companies are typically valued at 1.5-5x revenue. A billion dollar company likely makes a quarter to a half billion in revenues. Keep in mind, even small startups need $1-10million to get off the ground these days, and it's not uncommon for a connected entrepreneur to dump $50-100 million of venture capital in. These values get very big, very quickly.\n\nEvery startup isn't worth billions, VERY FAR from it. Most fail, and the rest are barely worth their startup cost. The few that make the news are the cream-of-the-crop success stories, the big acquisitions. Amazon buys Twitch, Facebook buys Oculus, Google buys Youtube, etc. \n\nThere are dozens every day that you would never see. Twitter acquired Mitro this month, Apple acquired BookLamp a month ago, Yahoo acquired ClarityRay 10 days ago, Square acquired Caviar 3 weeks ago. I don't think all of those added together is a billion, just to give you some reference."
]
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[]
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|
edgn08 | why are we not allowed to say the whistleblower's name online? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/edgn08/eli5_why_are_we_not_allowed_to_say_the/ | {
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"text": [
"Because people are crazy, and the whistleblower doesn't deserve to have his (or his family's) life threatened for doing what he thought was right. Also, it's entirely possible the leaked name isn't the whistleblower, in which case, the wrong person might have his life threatened (not that it's okay even if it's the right person)."
]
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||
2p4nd6 | how do so many people seem to naturally have good/odourless breath? | Besides brushing, of course. More specifically, without the use of mints or gum. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p4nd6/eli5_how_do_so_many_people_seem_to_naturally_have/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Personally I think it's the food you eat. If I eat very low sugar 'natural' food products like porridge, bread, rice etc one day the next morning my breath is odourless, whereas if I ate dairy, or sugary food like chocolate and ice cream I'm more likely to have bad breath. I think it's because with the sugary food you're actually supplying the bacteria in your throat with the required nutrients for them to reproduce and therefore produce more odour. "
]
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1lsegu | how can or why would someone consider themselves being transgender without being pre-op or post-op? | It never dawned on me until about a year ago that there are people who consider themselves a gender that does not match their sex, without any plans to change their sex to match said gender. I thought I accepted it and understood the concept until a friend made the change - now I'm confused. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lsegu/eli5how_can_or_why_would_someone_consider/ | {
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"text": [
"I'm no expert - but surely it's possible for someone who was born a man to feel like a woman, to chose to live her life as a woman, dress like a woman, and identify as a woman, but not want to undergo major surgery? And vice versa.\n\nAll surgery is risky. I would imagine (but maybe I'm wrong - everyone is different) that your friend would have their genitals changed if it could be done with a click of the fingers - but has weighed up the pros/cons, and decided that, for them, they'll be able to live a happy and fulfilling life without the need to undergo surgery?",
"Gender isn't binary, not just M or F. There are all kinds of gradations, and some people might see themselves as one thing, while being anatomically the other, and yet not want to undertake the expense, risk, discomfort, etc. of surgical reassignment. \n\nThe best thing you can do is to treat each person as an individual, and relate to them honestly and support them as friends.",
"Are you asking why someone who is transgender doesn't have surgery? \n\nI would imagine a host of reasons, money, not wanting to undergo that kind of bodily trauma, etc. ",
"Trans* men and women consider themselves transgender because their biological sex does not match with their gender, regardless of whether they have had reassignment surgery. Trans* people can choose to not undergo this procedure for a variety of reasons: some don't feel like they need it and hormone therapy is enough for them; others don't find the risk worth taking. After all, reassignment surgery is a very expensive, complicated procedure. Preparations before-hand are complex and after surgery is complete it takes a while to adjust.\n\nAll in all, trans* people simply identify as transgender because their biological sex and gender do not coincide. It is up to them to decide whether they are happy with hormonal treatment or if they wish to undergo surgery. Maybe one day we will reach a point in medicine where sexual reassignment surgery is cheap, efficient, and safe. But until then, many in the trans* community prefer not to go through with it and live happy, healthy lives, regardless of their decision.\n\nNevertheless, great question and I hope that you remain supportive of your friend and the trans* community!",
"The most important part of a transgendered person's day to day life, in regards to medically addressable aspects of the condition, are the hormonal and neurochemical imbalances which are known to result in such symptoms as depression, melancholic depression, and generalized anxiety.\n\nThe unusual mechanism of action which causes said symptoms often renders the use of medication held as the standard for such problems partially ineffective. It is understood that in the majority of situations in which the patent identifies as transsexual, notably suffers from the listed symptoms, and has remained non-responsive to traditional forms of medicine dedicated to the specific treatment of depression/anxiety, that to undergo hormone replacement therapy is likely to treat the experienced symptoms (often) without the need for other medications.\n\nThis is particularly noticeable in MtF transgenders who suffer from genetic androgen insensitivity.\n\nPersonally, I never really appreciated just how debilitating the chemical aspect of the condition can be to a person until I became good friends with a couple, who I later learned were transsexual, about eight years ago."
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28fzia | how is electricity generated? can we ever "run out" of electricity? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28fzia/eli5_how_is_electricity_generated_can_we_ever_run/ | {
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"Super ELI5 version is this:\n\nRotate a conducting material in a magnetic field, and electric current will flow through it.\n\nThe magnetic field is created with magnets, which are \"infinite\". So the only question is where to get the force to rotate the electrical conductor.\n\nAnd the answer to that question is, damn near everywhere. You can use a water wheel next to a river, and the water will rotate the wheel. You can burn something, heat water, and the steam will move a turbine(this one is pretty popular). Or you can just use your muscles. Or wind power. And so on.\n\nSo no, in practical terms, we can never \"run out\" of electricity. Making it is just too damn easy. Running out of fossil fuels would be a minor concern, but then everyone would just simply tell greenpeace to shut up and use nuclear power."
]
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||
1mcr21 | why does my brain feel "fuzzy" when i'm sick? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mcr21/eli5_why_does_my_brain_feel_fuzzy_when_im_sick/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Your body is utilising resources to fight off the infection of foreign agents in your system. Higher processes are not top priority in this case, which makes certain patterns of thought (particularly reasoning) incredibly hard to do."
]
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[]
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||
tusjs | why it was necessary or even desirable for facebook to float (ipo) | From what I understand, floating is usually a way to take in money, money that is then used to grow and expand the business. But Facebook was already earning huge amounts of money. They don't need outside money to grow.
Many successful billion dollar companies have not floated, or have reversed the floatation later (Virgin). Can someone explain why Facebook did this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tusjs/eli5_why_it_was_necessary_or_even_desirable_for/ | {
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"text": [
"One point, Facebook is not already earning huge amounts of money.",
"Basically the SEC forced them to do it. People with large holdings have been trading shares of Facebook on secondary markets for a while now as more VC firms/ hedge funds wanted to have their name associated with Facebook. This trading is legal if the company is worth less than a certain amount (5 million I believe, this could be wrong) or if there are less than 500 investors. Facebook had more than 500 investors and thus was required by law to IPO so that they will be trading in a regulated exchange, not an over the counter secondary market. \n\nEssentially the government made them."
]
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22d3y0 | why do some people have 'wet' earwax while others have 'dry' earwax? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22d3y0/eli5_why_do_some_people_have_wet_earwax_while/ | {
"a_id": [
"cglsky9"
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"text": [
"Ooh, I know this! First off, it's genetic. It's one of the rare traits that's decided by a single gene (this is called a Mendelian Trait). This particular gene is located on chromosome 16, and in this gene if one particular slot contains the amino acid glycene, your earwax will be wet. If the slot contains arginine, your earwax will be dry."
]
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||
80csrj | what actually happens when an electronic bank transfer is made? | What happens to the physical money? Is it deposited from one bank to another in batches? Does the physical money never move?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/80csrj/eli5_what_actually_happens_when_an_electronic/ | {
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"Physical money never needs to move if you dont sort it in the first place. \n\n\nLets say you are holding 5 dollar bills each for 3 friends. You put all 15 dollars in your wallet. One friend comes and says “actually make 3 of my dollars go to (other friend)’s set.”\n\nDoes the money need to move from your wallet, or do you need to just remember that one friend has 2 and the other has 8 of your 15?",
"It depends on the settlement and liquidity associated with that payment type.\n\nSome payment types only settle - that is to transfer the actual value, once a day. During the course of the day the banks send messages to each other and represent the balance on customers accounts. \n\nHowever banks, may only transfer the value once at the close of business. Further the values might be ‘netted’ against between the inward and outward payments.\n\nOther settlement types include instances where a value of money (in the billions) is held by a central bank.\n\nAs an example; Faster payments in the UK settles three times a day. Multi lateral deferred net settlement l.\n\nSome payment methods, usually high value instructions will settle for each transaction. Real time gross settlement.\n\nDeferred net settlement doesn’t happen in the UK but is used traditionally for correspondent bank settlement.\n\nEach settlement type has different risks associated with it, settlement/liquidity/credit - having money tied up in - central bank or owing too much money to a bank at the end of the day."
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4a6f8o | why can't we just plant the gros michel banana again? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4a6f8o/eli5_why_cant_we_just_plant_the_gros_michel/ | {
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"text": [
"Because the banana plants aren't derived from seeds but bulbs of the banana plant.\n\nThere are still plantations that grows that type of banana but not on a large scale. ",
"Why would we want to?\n\nIt's the Cavendish that's a) far more popular and b) threatened by a fungus infection (though not as critically as some hysterical sources claim).\n\nThe reason we can't just plant more of ANY type is because modern cultivated bananas are seedless, sterile mutants. The way you get a new banana plant is by cultivating a cutting, which makes them all clones, and thus, susceptible to the same diseases.\n\n",
"The Gros Michel Banana was destroyed by the Panama disease, which is caused by a fungus. The problem is, this fungus hides in the soil, and is highly resistant to fungicides, or other artificial attempts to control it. \n\nIn effect, once the soil has been contaminated, the fungus stays there, and it's extremely hard to remove. In absence of banana plants, it simply feeds on decaying organic matter, and can survive for prolonged periods of time.\n\nIt still exists in Thailand, however, where the fungus never spread."
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a8foqg | what is the difference between an architect and an architectural enginner? | Is there even any difference? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a8foqg/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_an_architect/ | {
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"text": [
"An architect says “Wouldn’t it be cool if my building looked like *THIS*?”\n\nAnd the engineer says, “Yeah, here’s how to make it not fall over.”",
"Architectural engineers have studies that focus more on the structural side of things than normal architects.\n\nDepending on what country and studies you follow they can differ. Where I'm from (Belgium) you have architect, engineer architects, civil engineers.\n\nBoth architecture studies allow you to become an architect. They design mainly buildings. The engineers do the structural side of things. They make sure the architect his building is structurally sound. They also can design bridges and other infrastructure.\n\nThe engineer architect can do both functions. But is less specialised than either. Most engineer architects I know focus on the architecture part once out of college and let other engineers do their enginering for them. This lessens their workload and also lays part of the burden of the design with another engineer. Somebody else is responsible for the structure, giving you a second pair of eyes and a shared responsibility.",
"Both are professional involved in the design of building.\n\nArchitect are responsible to the overal design of the building. They will talk to the client (the person that want the building) to know what they need and they will draw a building that will do the job. This mean, who much space the building need to have, does it need big space, how to seperate the inside. They are also responsible of the look of the building. Will there be big windows, what will be the form of the building, what it will look like from the outside and from the inside. They are also responsible to design the building according to the standard of the industry. How many toilet they need, how large the corridors, is there enough exit in case of emergency, etc. In addition they are responsible for the building envelope, meaning what go in the walls to protect from the outside.\n\nArchitectural Engineer basically does a lot of math to create a structure that will keep the design of the architect standing. They sometime need to be creative, because architect don't like being told by an engineer that their beautiful design isn't pratical.\n\nThe design will go from one to another several times, each giving their opinions on how to change the design to make it work, but still respond to the need of the client.\n\nSource : I'm an architectural engineer, but in my country our title is just engineer.",
"The architect gets his name on the plaque at the entrance to the building. The engineer gets his name on the lawsuit when it falls down. "
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ba3rtx | why do men joke about their penises so much? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ba3rtx/eli5_why_do_men_joke_about_their_penises_so_much/ | {
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"text": [
"Because it's hard not to.\n\nHeyo\n\nPenis jokes are just very basic humour, low hanging fruit. It's universal, everybody past puberty gets it. But they're not classy, so don't whip them out whenever. \n\nYou can tell a penis joke once in a while, just don't be a dick about it. "
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||
3zeo7j | why do parliament impose sentence ranges for crimes instead of leaving it up to the judge and case law? | Tort law is solely made up of case law developed over the centuries and so far it has worked really well. Most of the decisions seem equitabe, fair and just. This is probably because judges are given near total discretion and are therefore likely to consider total circumstances and mete out equitable justice.
I dont understand why we cant have the same thing in the criminal area. Why do we even have members of parliament decide sentence ranges for crimes?
In my opinion parliament should criminalize acts and then leave it out to the judge to determine sentences for individual cases. Or better it totally leave it to the common law of the judiciary.
Can someone explain why cant we let the judiciary follow the tort model in criminal cases? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zeo7j/eli5_why_do_parliament_impose_sentence_ranges_for/ | {
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"text": [
"It's important to have some degree of uniformity in sentencing. Of course every case and every criminal is different, but some guidelines are necessary.\n\nIn County A you get arrested for possessing heroine and the judge happens to think drug laws are a bit silly and gives you 10 days in jail. Get arrested for the same crime in County B and the judge not only really hates drugs, but lost his son to a heroin overdose, and he sentences you to 10 years.\n\nYour punishment should be based on how bad your crime was, not which judge you got. Sentencing guidelines help to bring some uniformity and reduce the role of the judge."
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anre9x | why is it easy to hear someone talking outside when you’re in a car but hard to hear someone inside talking when you’re outside the car? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/anre9x/eli5_why_is_it_easy_to_hear_someone_talking/ | {
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"text": [
"I’d assume when you’re outside you’re battling more things to be heard (wind/weather/cars) so you naturally talk louder at a point you can be heard from within a nearby vehicle\n\nWhen you’re inside a car your windows and such block out most of this noise pollution or atleast reduce it so you’re not shouting to each other ",
"Sound is essentially absorbed(not exactly, but for this explanation it's easier to visualize) by soft/irregular surfaces, there are a lot of soft surfaces between you and the outside of the car when you are inside your car. So a lot of the sound generated inside the car is absorbed/reflected and doesn't make it outside as easily.\n\nWhen you are outside, there is no soft/irregular surface between you and the car, so the sound penetrates easier. \n\nThere is also less ambient noise inside the car, generally allowing you to speak softer. "
]
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[],
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||
cm5yju | why do our testicles hang lower when warm and move closer to the penis when cold? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cm5yju/eli5_why_do_our_testicles_hang_lower_when_warm/ | {
"a_id": [
"ew06ipx",
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"text": [
"Temperature adjustment. I believe sperm are very sensitive to temperature, so they hang lower to cool off and retract to stay warm!",
"Balls are meant to stay at temperatures cooler than the rest of the body. Sperm production gets negatively impacted at higher temperatures. \n\nSo, when body is hot, then to maintain a lower temperature, balls hang in the sack.\n\nWhen body is cold, balls don't need to distance themselves from the rest of the body."
]
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[],
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||
45lgli | what about a glass ketchup bottle makes it so difficult to easily pour? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45lgli/eli5_what_about_a_glass_ketchup_bottle_makes_it/ | {
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"Ketchup is sticky and viscous (thick). It flows slowly, and a glass bottle doesn't let you help it along by shrinking the inside space (squeezing).",
"The ketchup is thick enough to create an air tight seal at the neck of the bottle.\n\nIn order for ketchup to leave the bottle there needs to be airflow to replace the ketchup.\n\nUnless the bottle is plastic so you can squeeze and reduce the volume of the container without needing air to replace the ketchup.",
"If you use the correct technique you can get it to come out easily. \n\nWhile holding the bottle at about a 45 degree angle downward, hit the base of the neck with the heel of your other hand. On a Heinz bottle it's right where the \"57\" is. ",
"Just going to leave this here. Saw it at a TedX Event. Should explain some things. \n\n_URL_0_",
"It has to do with Ketchup being a non-newtonian fluid(a fluid that does not act like it is a liquid or a solid, but somewhere in between), [here](_URL_0_) is a great Ted-Ed video on it.",
"It's not the bottle, it's the ketchup.\n\nKetchup is a Non-Newtonian fluid. This means that that the viscosity varies with the shear rate. In simpler terms, the ketchup is too thick to flow when sitting still, but when you shake it around, it gets thinner and will flow out of the bottle with ease. ",
"Best way to get ketchup out of a glass bottle with little room for a mess in my personal experience is tilt the bottle to about a 45 degree angle (mouth down) and shake the mouth side to side and itll pour out nice and even",
"It's not the bottle, it's the ketchup. Ketchup is a non-newton fluid, which means ketchup changes its behavior depending on how fast its moving, unlike water which has the same behavior no mater what. Specifically it's a shear thinning fluid. That means it has it takes lots of effort to move (high viscosity) when it's not flowing but takes way less effort to move (low viscosity ) when it is flowing. That's why you always get way too much ketchup on your fries. "
]
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[],
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"http://youtu.be/KB43fM_ozKQ"
],
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB43fM_ozKQ"
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1tez4o | elf on the shelf | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tez4o/eli5_elf_on_the_shelf/ | {
"a_id": [
"ce78uj0",
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"text": [
"It's an elf doll that comes with a story. In the story it explains that each Elf is given magical powers once its family names it. Your children then name it. Once that is done, only grown-ups can touch the Elf or it will lose its powers. The story goes on to say that every night your Elf now uses its magic to fly back to the North Pole and report on who is being naughty and nice. In the morning the Elf usually lands in a different place around the house, so the kids go find him every morning. \n\nFor the parents, you just have to remember to move it every night. I kinda dig the Elf on the Shelf personally. ",
"It is also said that if the child does touch the elf and he loses his powers then he can't go back to the North Pole. And if he can't go back to report on the child, that Santa will assume that there is no child at that house and the child will get no presents. \n\nThen there is the whole realm, Naughty Elf on a Shelf, where the elf is found making messes or causing problems. I don't think this is a good way to go because you're trying to encourage your child to be good. \n\nI really like Elf on a Shelf too though :)"
]
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[],
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] |
||
5vejzy | why do products say "may contain eggs"? they either do or don't contain eggs, right? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vejzy/eli5_why_do_products_say_may_contain_eggs_they/ | {
"a_id": [
"de1fn36",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"My understanding is this. It's a liability thing. If at some point during the manufacture or packaging of their product it comes in contact with eggs or egg residue, and someone then has an allergic reaction to it, then the company is covered because they said it may contain eggs.",
"Let's say we're talking about crackers. One factory will make more than one type of cracker. One day they will make one cracker recipe, and the next they will make a different recipe using the same equipment. Trace amounts of egg can get into the non-eggy crackers, and this can be enough to be dangerous to people with allergies.\n\nSometimes the same type of warning will be phrased as \"Made in a facility that also processes nuts/eggs/whatever.\""
]
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[],
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||
fj2pz8 | why does fine powder (like flour or powder milk) mixes evenly when stirred in cold water, but not in hot water (where the mixture becomes lumpy)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fj2pz8/eli5_why_does_fine_powder_like_flour_or_powder/ | {
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Most powders dissolve better in hot water because the molecules of water have more energy and are \"bumping\" into the powder molecules. Hot water molecules have more energy and move more than cold molecules.\n\nIn some powders, mostly those that contain starches, the rapid mixing of the powder and hot water becomes a problem. The hot water immediately bonds with the outer layer of the bits of powder, but they form a shell which prevents water from reaching the subsequent layers of powder.",
"Because hot water causes starches to expand like inflatable spring snakes. They end up getting tangled together and you end up with clumps. Cold water allows the mixture to evenly distribute themselves before expanding.",
"It’s because the heat “cooks” the molecular chains, causing them to bind. Same reason why you should always rinse a flour bowl with cold water. I’m gonna make some rolls now. Dammit."
]
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[],
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||
cvs72n | is cancer just bad luck? for instance how can someone that never smoked get lung cancer, but another one that does never gets it? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cvs72n/eli5_is_cancer_just_bad_luck_for_instance_how_can/ | {
"a_id": [
"ey61bqp",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Edit. \"Most cases of lung cancer are not related to inherited genetic changes\" \n_URL_0_\nI.e. unlike some other cancers, your genes do not make you more likely have lung cancer. I have heard that certain genes increase change of breast cancer.\n\nA non-smoker can still be get lung cancer from second-hand smoke (living or working with smokers), or coal dust (from mines), asbestos from old building falling apart, living near a factory or a busy highway, etc.\n\nWhile these are things one could have changed, it takes decades of exposure to develop lung cancer, and people in the past were not aware of the dangers, or could not afford a healthier lifestyle. So if you or anybody you know got lung cancer, there is no reason to blame anybody. But if there is was a factory involved, they by all means see if you can sue them (or join an existing lawsuit).",
"At the end of the day luck is a large factor, however it's not truly random chance. Kind of like how getting struck by lightning is random (bad) luck, but if you walk around during thunderstorms with a giant metal pole you'll be increasing your chances. \n\nLikewise, random mutations resulting in cancer that isn't snuffed out by the body is random chance, but there's countless things that increase your risk factors of developing cancer. Such as frequent/excessive exposure to sunlight damaging the skin, inhaling carcinogens and the smoke itself damaging lung tissue, etc etc etc."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lung-cancer#inheritance"
],
[]
] |
|
7gufle | how ducks not freeze in cold water in winter | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7gufle/eli5how_ducks_not_freeze_in_cold_water_in_winter/ | {
"a_id": [
"dqlr76j",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"They are surrounded by a thick layer of fat under the skin, and an insulating layer of downy feathers over the skin. So they are highly insulated.",
"Ducks have very little muscle in their feet, mainly tendons. This means that the muscle which makes them move is further from the feet and better insulated, and there's less in the feet to keep warm.\n\nDucks also have a clever circulatory system, where warm blood going down to the feet in arteries goes closely past the cold blood coming back from the feet in the veins.\n\nThis is called a counter-current heat exchanger, as heat is exchanged between the hot blood and the cooler returning, meaning that the birds do not lose too much heat through their feet, because the blood that reaches the feet has already surrendered most of its heat to the returning blood.\n\nThere is some suggestion that they also make an anti-freeze compound in their feet called ethylene glycol, which stops the blood in their feet from freezing by lowering it's freezing temperature. Natural anti-freeze chemicals are also often seen in fish that live in freezing waters."
]
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[],
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||
jh13l | health care individual mandate vs. car insurance mandate | The government says I have to have car insurance. Why can't they tell me I have to have health insurance. And doesn't it make people healthier somehow??? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jh13l/health_care_individual_mandate_vs_car_insurance/ | {
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"text": [
"It seems like you're trying to make a political point, rather than asking a question, but requiring car drivers to have car insurance is categorically different from requiring *all citizens* to have health insurance. The roads belong to the state, and people agree to follow the states rules in order to get the states permission to use them. There is no act of agreement between nondescript citizens and the state when it comes to health insurance, however. In other words, if you don't want car insurance, then you can not drive on the public's roads, though if you don't want health insurance, there's nothing lawful you can do.\n\nThis is why some people oppose a mandate when it comes to health insurance.",
"You have a choice whether or not to purchase a car. You can opt out of car insurance by not owning a car.\n\nYou have no choice about living. You can not opt out of health insurance, thus, the government is forcing you to buy a product with no other option.",
"It seems like you're trying to make a political point, rather than asking a question, but requiring car drivers to have car insurance is categorically different from requiring *all citizens* to have health insurance. The roads belong to the state, and people agree to follow the states rules in order to get the states permission to use them. There is no act of agreement between nondescript citizens and the state when it comes to health insurance, however. In other words, if you don't want car insurance, then you can not drive on the public's roads, though if you don't want health insurance, there's nothing lawful you can do.\n\nThis is why some people oppose a mandate when it comes to health insurance.",
"You have a choice whether or not to purchase a car. You can opt out of car insurance by not owning a car.\n\nYou have no choice about living. You can not opt out of health insurance, thus, the government is forcing you to buy a product with no other option."
]
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[],
[],
[],
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|
1nc7dz | if my pet has fleas, how come they don't infest me too? | Is it a hair or skin difference or? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nc7dz/eli5_if_my_pet_has_fleas_how_come_they_dont/ | {
"a_id": [
"cch8zac",
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"score": [
2,
2
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"text": [
"They can, but generally they prefer certain types of animals over us, just like it's possible to give a dog head lice, but unlikely.",
"Well, they can and do given enough time. But chances are you bath regularly, and you have less usable real estate, as it were, for them to hold on to."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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|
1wka4z | atomic and hydrogen bombs in space. | If a hydrogen or atomic bomb was detonated in space, how would the explosion compare to an explosion here on earth. Would gravity allow the blast to expand or will it compress it? Is it possible to make a tiny human- made black hole from an explosion? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wka4z/eli5_atomic_and_hydrogen_bombs_in_space/ | {
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"cf2w0w1"
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"text": [
"The main difference between the effects of an atomic bomb detonated in space and that on the ground are not related to gravity, but are related to the fact that the bomb is going off without an atmosphere (air) around it. When a bomb goes off, a lot of the energy is released as thermal and ionizing radiation (heat radiation and nuclear radiation). In an atmosphere (that is, relatively near the surface of the Earth or on it), a good amount of that energy is immediately absorbed into a shell of air surrounding the bomb. This super hot shell of air then bursts out, causing the well-known pressure (blast) effects of the bomb — the stuff that knocks down houses and smashes everything. \n\nIn the absence of an atmosphere, the heat and nuclear radiation are not as dissipated, and the blast pressure is much more muted. As a result, a nuclear weapon detonated in space is mostly heat and nuclear radiation, and both of those effects go further than they would on Earth, because they are not being absorbed by any atmosphere. \n\nThe other main difference is that the electromagnetic pulse effect of the bomb, which is relatively limited at near-surface altitudes, can go much, much further and be much more powerful. This can disable satellites and even certain types of electrical circuits on Earth, over a very wide area.\n\nAs with all high airbursts, there would be no local nuclear fallout. The radiation, however, can linger in space for a long time, which has implications for satellites and radio communications.\n\nThere would be no mushroom cloud, which is a function of the fireball being in an atmosphere as well. (The fireball is hot and less dense than the atmosphere, so it rises. The movement of a less dense substance through a dense one produces the familiar mushroom-cloud appearance.)\n\nGravity has no effect on allowing the blast to expand or compressing it. It is too weak a force to affect that. It is not possible to make a black hole from a nuclear explosion; black holes are formed by putting _lots_ of matter into one place. A nuclear explosion does not do anything like this. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3kbnsj | what ever happened to all those cash for gold companies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kbnsj/eli5_what_ever_happened_to_all_those_cash_for/ | {
"a_id": [
"cuw8bw0"
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"text": [
"_URL_0_\n\nThe value of gold was climbing until 2012, when the market suddenly trended downwards, and it's predicted to get worse. Since gold isn't as valuable anymore, there's less incentive to run a business that collects it. \n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-prices-100-year-chart"
]
] |
||
8pwq31 | why is it easier to gain fat than to loose it? our body reacts when we eat too much, why dosen't it do the same when we try to loose fat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8pwq31/eli5_why_is_it_easier_to_gain_fat_than_to_loose/ | {
"a_id": [
"e0eme0s",
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],
"score": [
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5,
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],
"text": [
"It used to be harder to gain fat when we used to live in caves and had to run from predators on a regular basis. ",
"Fat actually has a purpose. It's a reserve of nutrients for when food is hard to come by (like winter). In our current society a lot of our primal features are no longer useful (like fat reserves and body hair etc.) but in our primal time this was very useful. Basically society moves faster than evolution.\n\nTherfore if fat was easily lost, all the food you ate to build up the reserve would be lost. It's simply out nature.\n\nEdit: just Adding some info.\n\nOur current foods are very high in fat, a lot higher than what we would eat In our primal times (fat is cheap, meat is not). Also we don't hunt for our food, which was the main exercise many Manu Years ago. ",
"Your body gains fat as a survival mechanism, so that you have some energy to live on in time of famine. Our ancestors often had periods without food. Your body doesn't know that we don't currently have this need, and that we *want* to lose fat."
]
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[],
[],
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||
7dlkbg | what are you thinking before developing language ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7dlkbg/eli5_what_are_you_thinking_before_developing/ | {
"a_id": [
"dpymkfz"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Babies/infants learn through patterns, noises, and repeated stimuli, all by closely watching their environment. Babies of only a few days old understand depth perception and a few months in, they can count and understand so-called “impossible events” (term coined by child psychologists). \n\nOne such example is having a baby watch a diorama of a toy mouse walking through a house; the toy was moved by a researcher and visible through windows. The wall facing the baby was moved to show a researcher placing a wall between the 2 windows, and the same scene was put back together and shown. There were 2 mouse toys now which showed what appeared to be identical to the first scene without the wall. The babies always showed shock/amazement when the same mouse was shown walking continuously through the wall which supports the theory that babies are born to acquire innate instincts and a rudimentary understanding of physics.\n\nAs for how they think, or in what quasi-language, some researchers think it’s largely done by pattern, association, and images. Learning via pattern is, after all, how infants learn language in the first place.\n\nSource: took child & developmental psychology courses in college"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4gl0gc | what would time dilation feel like? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gl0gc/eli5what_would_time_dilation_feel_like/ | {
"a_id": [
"d2iguvl",
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3,
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"text": [
"You wouldn't perceive time slowing down. That is the entire basis of relativity, that no matter what constant speed you move at, light moves at the same speed relative to you. This is the basis of all the math, which came to include time dilation. So if you are standing still relative to earth or moving at 0.99999c you will experience time the same",
" > Here's a scenario: I am going 90% of the speed of light.\n\nIt's not just a scenario, in some frames of reference you are indeed going at 90% the speed of light. There can be neutrinos going past you at 99% of the speed of light. Physics sees this as no different from you going past the neutrino at 99% of the speed of light.\n\nDo you feel different? No, because in *your* frame of reference, you are stationary. \n\nYou are stationary, you're going 3 mph, you're going 1000 mph, you're going .5c, .9c, and .999999999c. Which one is correct? All of them. They're all equally valid. Relative to some frames of reference your time is going very slowly.\n\nBut in your frame of reference, you are stationary, and your time is 1 second per second.\n\n > there is a beam of light traveling parallel to me. we both started moving at the same time accelerated at the same rate\n\nThe beam of light doesn't accelerate. It's going c. \n\n > Why would I still observe light going the speed of c?\n\nBecause relativity demands it. You can't 'accelerate' at the same rate as a beam of light. \n\n > how would i perceive it if we eliminated all the possible ways to die and I was able to do this?\n\nI don't know what this means. 'Being able to die' is not a special consideration for relativity. \n\n > how would I perceive \"time slowing down?\"\n\nYou *can't.* Only *external* to your frame of reference can this be perceived. Relative to some frames of reference, your time is going *extremely* slow **right now**. Can you feel it? Nope. This is *always* true. Likewise, you can perceive *other* frames of reference as being very slow through time compared to yours. But your frame of reference is always going to be the same relative to you. Stationary. \n\n"
]
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[],
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||
4c13cq | how the us justice system handle rape accusations? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4c13cq/eli5how_the_us_justice_system_handle_rape/ | {
"a_id": [
"d1e656i"
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"text": [
"Well it depends. \n\nIf you are a politician, then the accuser has their life turned upside down and is often accused of being a slut (even by the politician's wife). Or if you are a beloved famous personality then you are simply ignored unless enough people complain that it can reach a \"news media critical mass\" and start to stick. \n\nIf you are a college student or a normal career minded male, then your life is utterly destroyed. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4jzeey | does the time warner cable/charter merger violate anti-trust laws? | The [merger](_URL_0_) certainly seems like it should violate established anti-trust laws. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jzeey/eli5_does_the_time_warner_cablecharter_merger/ | {
"a_id": [
"d3avk53"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Anti-trust laws give the Department of Justice the authority to make that call. It is decided case-by-case by the courts.\n\nThe Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice did indeed file a lawsuit arguing against the merger. In court, \"New Charter\" agreed to a list of concessions and regulations in order to complete the merger, most related to net neutrality. New Charter agreed to keep with the regulations and the DOJ agreed to let the merger go through."
]
} | [] | [
"http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/18/media/time-warner-cable-charter/"
] | [
[]
] |
|
x0zkk | the story of the soviet union | I know the basics so a nice in depth explanation would be nice. anyone? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/x0zkk/eli5_the_story_of_the_soviet_union/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5ial40",
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"score": [
9,
2
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"text": [
"This is one of my favorite topics, because it allows me to expand on a couple points.\n\nThe first is exactly how bad things were in Tsarist Russia. Russia was one of the last honest to god Feudal societies on Earth. They had actually progressed past this earlier, but then reverted. The Serfs were considered literal property of the land-owner whose estate they were born on. Those born on Imperial land were State-owned. This ended in the 1860's, and the resulting situation wasn't much better. Think Jim Crow laws on steroids, and applied to everyone who wasn't a noble or aristocrat. \n\nThe second is how wildly successful communism was. Don't consider this an endorsement, it's just a statement. It took the society I just described and by 30 years on had created one of two super powers the world has ever known, with mastery of the atom and a space program. Think of it like the dinosaurs- They may have died off, but they shaped, and dominated, the world. Indeed, the Twentieth Century can be seen as the story of the Soviet Union. America's adventure in Vietnam was a direct response to Soviet activity fostering an uprising in the country. Osama bin Laden got his start in the Mujaheddin, an American-funded guerilla force put forward to hinder and ideally end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The Soviet Army (and Soviet winters) are a large (possibly largest) tangible contribution to Hitler's downfall in WW2. We went to the moon not for any specific reason, but to make sure we beat the Soviets there. Many of the international organizations began as a way to facilitate communication between the Soviets and the West.\n\nCommunism failed, and the Soviet Union collapsed. I'm of the mind that Communism will always collapse under its own weight eventually. Others differ in their opinion of that. But it's hard to overstate just how much influence the Soviet Union had on the world we know today. ",
"Alright. [Here's a song](_URL_0_)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWTFG3J1CP8"
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|
5c6bs8 | why do certain animals mainly appear when it begins to rain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5c6bs8/eli5_why_do_certain_animals_mainly_appear_when_it/ | {
"a_id": [
"d9u0l2p"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Can you give an example of the types of animals you're thinking of?\n\nOften snails and such come out because it's wet and they can range further without drying out.\n\nWorms come out for similar reasons and because their burrows sometimes fill with water.\n\nWhat specific animals were you thinking of?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
afxc7a | how did we come to the conclusion that gravity has the same speed as light? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/afxc7a/eli5_how_did_we_come_to_the_conclusion_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"ee1zcvy"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"We measured it. \n\nBy which I mean we measured both the gravity and light coming off a stellar collision and found that the difference could be explained by the vacuum of space being very slightly imperfect so the light wasn't going at the speed of light in a vacuum, while the gravity was. \n\nSince the collision happened 130 million lightyear away/years ago and the light and gravity arrived only 1.7 seconds apart, there really isn't any better explanation available than that they were going at basically the same speed. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
82nq3t | why does foam act like a solid when it is made of just liquid and gas? | For example, in a bath you can add one liquid (bubble bath) to another liquid (water) and it creates a foam. You can then pick up a handful of that foam and blow on it which causes the foam to fragment like it was a solid... but it's not a solid, it's still just a liquid! ELI5, please? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/82nq3t/eli5_why_does_foam_act_like_a_solid_when_it_is/ | {
"a_id": [
"dvbf917",
"dvbfq5s"
],
"score": [
12,
6
],
"text": [
"A balloon behaves like a solid ball, but it's mostly air. Foam is just a big pile of tiny balloons made of soap.",
"Surface tension, the molecules on the outside of the bubble line up (much like a solid) and pull on the other molecules which makes them take up a shape with the smallest surface area to volume ratio (a sphere). Foam is just a collection of these bubbles."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
4145yj | why is apple the most valuable company in the world? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4145yj/eli5why_is_apple_the_most_valuable_company_in_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyzhgu9"
],
"score": [
26
],
"text": [
"You reap extremely high profits when you charge $3,000 for $500 of hardware and people keep buying it because it's pretty and white.\n\n\nI'll be down at the bottom in a few minutes for my factual, but unpopular opinion.\n\nRegardless, if I could do 1998 over again, I'd have invested everything I made in Apple stock."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
9n4gpz | has anyone thought to send a drone to scout north sentinel island? what are the ongoing studies conducted on the sentinelese if there are any? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9n4gpz/eli5_has_anyone_thought_to_send_a_drone_to_scout/ | {
"a_id": [
"e7jjuy6",
"e7jkn7u"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"The Indian Government recognizes the Sentinelese's desire to be left alone. They don't even try to prosecute them on the occasions they have killed trespassers to the island. \n\n",
"Sentinel island now is closed for anyone by the indian law as the previous comment said the gouvernement recognize they want to live the old way, there are no publicly published study right now about the sentinel island maybe in the futur."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1reh3w | what is fire actually doing to wood/paper/gasoline, etc? | I'm watching wood burn. What is actually happening to it? What is taking place in the chemistry between the fire and the object and why do burned things eventually disintegrate? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1reh3w/eli5_what_is_fire_actually_doing_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdmfube"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"The chemical bonds that hold the wood together release energy when they are broken. These bonds break apart at a high enough temperature, and their breakage yields more heat, which in turn breaks more bonds. It forms a chain reaction. \n\nOnce enough of the bonds are broken, the wood loses shape. Much of the wood is converted into gas, and it's physical remnants (ash) is just leftover carbon. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
38geix | why do cop cars not pull all the way over when giving a citation on a busy street? | I often see cop cars blocking half of a lane while giving a citation. This causes a backlog of cars trying to merge out of the lane and seems dangerous to me. Why do they do this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38geix/eli5why_do_cop_cars_not_pull_all_the_way_over/ | {
"a_id": [
"crutwj0",
"crutxej",
"cruud5t"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
7
],
"text": [
"Many states (including Florida and Tennessee) have laws requiring motorists to change lanes for stopped emergency vehicles; by blocking half a lane, the officer ensures that people comply. By slowing down traffic, officers can increase safety of the occupants of the stopped vehicle and themselves.",
"Depending on which state/country you're in, it's by law that you have to move over out of the right lane, when not possible, around 15mph slower than the speed limit is required.",
"As an emergency responder, the real reason is to put a physical barrier between the officer standing beside your window and traffic. You'll see firetrucks and ambulances do the same type of positioning when responding to an accident."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
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