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2b0mdy | what do ukrainian separatists have to gain by shooting down a malaysian passenger plane? | I hear everyone talking about the ramifications, etc. I haven't heard anyone explain why they would do it in the first place. It makes absolutely zero sense to me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b0mdy/eli5_what_do_ukrainian_separatists_have_to_gain/ | {
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"For now, the best answer is the fog of war. Nobody truly knows what was going on, and those who do are lying to you and themselves",
"They wouldn't. However, they would not likely have known (or believed) that it was civilian. They most likely mistook it for a Ukrainian military transport, command or refueling aircraft. Somewhere, someone is really regretting a poor decision.",
"For starters: We aren't sure who did it yet. To my knowledge there has been no confirmation as to who launched the missile.\n\nThere are several options\n\n1) Russia's making a play. Russia (well Putin) is claiming that it was an attempt to assassinate Putin that missed. This would be enough of an event to allow Russia to deploy troops and retake Ukraine by force.\n\n~Personally I find this extraordinarily stupid if it is the truth, but it is a possibility\n\n2) Mistaken Identity. The Russian Separatists have been shooting down Ukrainian military planes flying through the region for weeks now. They may have seen the plane on the radar and fired, not considering that its profile was more like a passenger jet than a military plane.\n\n3) Trigger Happy idiots/Inexperienced Crew. I group both together because they have the same effect. Someone saw the plane and made the decision to fire. Perhaps they just like firing missiles and didn't care what they hit OR they were not trained enough to judge what they were aiming at. In either case, they fired and the plane took a hit.\n\n",
"Simple answer, they didn't identify the plane first and shot it down thinking it was a Ukraine military aircraft",
"The theory goes that they thought it was a military plane.\n\nHere are 3 other planes they have brgouht down recently in the same area:\n_URL_0_",
"Nothing. It would seem Russia armed a bunch of people who shouldn't have been armed in the first place. They are doing Russia bidding and giving them plausible deniability for accidents like these.",
"The thing with separatist/terrorist organizations that not everyone is in communication and not everyone has the same opinions as everyone else. One group of people can be more radical than the bigger movement and take actions on their own.",
"We don't know that they did it. And if they did, it was likely mistaken for a Ukranian military aircraft.",
"Short answer, Nothing. Politicians are quick to accuse them of it to further their own political agendas, but they would never knowingly risk the ramifications of intentionally shooting down a commercial international passenger jet.",
"Does Malaysia have any powerful allies? The six dead British people will provoke anger here. But Russia is not really going to lose sleep over us stamping our feet. ",
"Ukrainian Army doesn't shoot down planes because the rebels have no air force of ANY type. The only plausible and logical explanation is that the rebels indiscriminately shot the plane down. Any other explanation is obvious propaganda or some type of conspiracy.",
"The separatists likely thought it was a Ukrainian military plane.",
"There is value in doing truly stupid things. If the chess game is not working your way tossing the board in the air works.\n\nWhile its reprehensible and clearly going to eventually cause a few of the perpetrators to be imprisoned or killed outrageous actions do return value. We fried Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII, reduced Dresden to ashes and sent our own bombers up without protection to lure the Luftwaffe into the air. There is an entire lexicon of crazy but works.\n",
"There is one thing that almost everybody is not considering. BUK is called an anti-aircraft *complex* for a reason: it's actually several vehicles that work together. BUK launcher itself has a radar system, but it is meant to be completed with another more precise radar vehicle and a command center vehicle which processes the data. By using BUK launcher itself it is possible to target an aircraft, but it's difficult or even impossible to identify it. So: most probably, an error on behalf of whoever fired it.\r\rP.s.: please consider that I have no close knowledge about BUKs, only general engineering background and some common sense."
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f80gzp | is it normal to have a ring of orange around each of my pupils? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f80gzp/eli5_is_it_normal_to_have_a_ring_of_orange_around/ | {
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"Go to the doctor. It may be something called Kayser–Fleischer rings, which are a symptom of Wilson's disease. This is a genetic condition which causes a build up of copper in the body and in the long term can cause liver, brain or kidney damage."
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59a0vr | how is it that men can ejaculate after a vasectomy but not get women pregnant? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/59a0vr/eli5how_is_it_that_men_can_ejaculate_after_a/ | {
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"Because the tube that carries the sperm from the testicles is cut, or tied shut. Therefore their ejaculate contains no sperm cells, so fertilization of an ovum cannot occur.",
"There are two branches in the male reproductive system. It starts at the testes, and the sperm is taken from the scrotum through the Vans Defrens, and then passes the prostate, which pushes semenal fluid into the sperm, and allow it to mix, and then the whole lot is ejected out the urethra. \n\nEasiest way to explain this is through an analogy. \n\nImagine a courier. He already has one package, drives to a point, picks up another package, and then drives to deliver it. \n\nWith a vasectomy, he doesn't have the first package, so he drives straight to pick up the second package, then drives the end point. ",
"Just a handy observation.....there is a little residual sperm left in the vas deferens when you get \"the snip\"....it IS possible to fertilize someone shortly after having a vasectomy. You will be warned about this at the time. Get rechecked (have a sperm count) sometime later to be sure the tubes didn't mysteriously regrow (it can (RARELY)) happen and that any and all residual sperm is gone.\nSource: have vasectomy. And a a brother-inzlaw who got snipped and then promptly got his wife pregnant.\n\nTL:DR wear a condom unless you KNOW. Even then...think about it."
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1lssve | what would happen if the sahara desert were to receive regular, moderate rainfall for the next year (local ecological changes and/or global ones)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lssve/eli5_what_would_happen_if_the_sahara_desert_were/ | {
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"This is actually a very good question I would like to see a good answer for.\nThe only thing I expect is that there would be growth of plants all over the place, but I might be uterly wrong."
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1acu0a | what are "whale trades" that jp morgan did in london and lost $$$? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1acu0a/eli5_what_are_whale_trades_that_jp_morgan_did_in/ | {
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"JP Morgan had a trader in London, Bruno Iskil, that was known for making extremely large bets on the stock market using very complex ways of making trades. Bets so complicated even his bosses had no idea what he was doing. The trades themselves involved something called credit default swaps, which are bets that a company or fund will go bankrupt.\n\nGamblers like to use the term \"whale\" for people that bet massive amounts of money in casinos, and Iskil got the nickname \"The London Whale\".\n\nIskil made a bad bet in early 2012 that cost his company a lot of money, and the bets were so complex that nobody had a real clue how much money could have been lost. At first it was thought to be USD $2 Billion, but now it looks more like more than $9 billion. '\n\n"
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crpbl4 | what is the reason for certain guns to not have a safety? | Every now and then in tv and movies someone will get a gun and someone else will say “careful there’s no safety on it” or something of the sort and I never knew the reasoning of it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/crpbl4/eli5_what_is_the_reason_for_certain_guns_to_not/ | {
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"All big brand name guns have safeties, sometimes several in fact. What you may be referring to is the fact that some guns don’t have external safeties, which is the “lever” which can activate and deactivate a mechanical safety. For example, the Glock 19, it features no external safety, but make no mistake, it actually has a built-in internal safety that prevents the gun from firing unless the trigger is pulled. \nSo when you hear the “there’s no safety on it”, there are actually safeties, it just means don’t be stupid enough to put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. \nHope it helps, I know it can be a little confusing.",
"Most firearms have some mix of passive and manually operated safeties. For example my 1911 handgun has a mechanical safety that prevents the gun from firing when it's in the safe position, it's got a grip safety that makes it so it won't shoot unless there's a hand on the grip and it's also got a little piece that covers the back of the hammer and makes it less likely to go off if it's dropped, it's got a little notch cut in the chamber to make it possible to see if there's a round chambered, and it's got a disconnector in the trigger mechanism that will keep the gun from going off if the chamber isn't closed. Some guns have even more features meant to make the gun safer, what exactly is present on any individual gun depends on what it's meant for and the design philosophy of the maker.\n\nWhen Glock first started selling handguns on the civilian market they were the first semiautomatic handguns with no manual safeties that most people had ever handled. The lack of a manual safety wasn't unheard of (most revolvers don't have them, and some mid 20th century shooting experts advocated pinning them permanently in the off position) but their instant popularity combined with the accumulated bad habits of a generation used to being able to rely on a manual safety lead to a bunch of \"ooopsies\" early on. \n\nThis lead to a lot of people thinking that designs like this were inherently unsafe. Modern training tends to really emphasize that you shouldn't pull the trigger unless you want bullets to come out and this seems to have solved the problem. However, most movies aren't written by people who are all that familiar with guns and old myths tend to pop up even in modern films.",
"My .380 Ruger doesn't have a safety. Or a lot of things. It has an internal hammer and no decocking lever, so you have to pull the trigger while the chamber is empty to decock it. It's a little nerve wracking.\n\nI've heard people say that they prefer simplicity in their concealed carry pistols because time is of the essence when you actually need to use it. You don't went to be fumbling with a safety when seconds matter.\n\nThe slide takes a good amount of force to pull back, and the trigger isn't terribly sensitive, so there's not much chance it'll go off by accident though.",
"Many people who carry for self defense would not use a safety if it was there, because it adds a physical step and adds to the time it takes to shoot. My Kel-Tec has no safety but it's double action only and the trigger pull is uncommonly long. This seems to me to be the best of both worlds for a carry gun."
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7l0988 | why does having the “high ground” on a combat its an advantage? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7l0988/eli5_why_does_having_the_high_ground_on_a_combat/ | {
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"Simple: Higher viewpoint and better ability to defend.\n\nTry looking up and fighting up a hill versus the opposite. Both metaphorically and physically",
"It’s from the art of war. High ground allows for more surveillance of an area as opposed to the limitations of low ground, also soldiers fighting uphill will get tired quicker than those fighting downhill. Projectiles like rocks and arrows(extending to modern weapons) will travel further going down, and difficult terrain going up will hinder the enemy. That being said, it’s not always advantageous to have the high ground. ",
"Several points\n\nBeing up on a hill gives you a better view of what is happening\n\nRunning/charging uphill is tiring and slows the attack down\n\nRunning downhill gives additional impact to a charge.\n\nFiring uphill reduces the range of the weapon\n\nFiring downhill increases the range of a weapon\n\nWhilst in combat bringing your weapon down on someone increases the impact of the weapon whilst thrusting up decreases the impact. ",
"You can run faster down hill, also the enemy can't run as fast up hill, so they are more exhausted apon arrival. Also the archers can have alot more opportunities to shoot them, one is from the enemy taking longer to arrive on site. Another is the kill shot range is smaller, making it easier for up hill to shoot down, than at down the hill up. The down hill has more kill shot range to cover, so their shots require more force, since fighting gravity, and are less likely to be fatal. Another is up hill can use gravity to roll big bolders down hill, or even flaming tar hay balls. In conclusion up hill, has more advantages than being down hill. ",
"A factor that others are missing is relative position wrt blades. If you're lower than me, you can't hit my head and neck as easily as I can hit yours, which means that I have a serious advantage on you in bladed combat. As well as the other reasons mentioned...",
"better line of sight\nbetter range\ndifficulty of historical objects to travel up making them slower",
"Very situational but stair spires in castle were designed so that (assuming right handedness?) A knight fighting down could swing his sword fully, while the knight fighting up would hit the wall, or have to use very short swings. And this was because usually invaders would be fighting up and defenders fight down. ",
"The Art of War talks quite a lot about terrain in general. Being on high ground has numerous advantages :\n\n- You easily see what's around you, while your enemies can't see your positions and numbers easily, which allows for nasty surprises.\n\n- Allows numerous tactics relying on height difference (rolling stuff downhill, breaking a barrage to drown enemy units...Go crazy !)\n\n- In more ancient times, it was much easier and safer for ranged units, due to increased range, easier aiming, and a harder time for enemy units (especially cavalry) to hunt them down. Range advantages still apply in modern combat.\n\n- On certain meteorological conditions, it can be a deadly trap to any units going uphill (Battle of Azincourt is a perfect example : Terrain was muddy as hell, so French knights were totally powerless against the insanely outnumbered English longbowmen while trying to get up the hill)\n\n- It's much harder to charge uphill : You have gravity working AGAINST you, tiring you out much faster.\n\n- It's much harder to battle uphill : In bladed combat, someone higher than you can easily aim at your head or chest, and will have much more power in his attacks."
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3agjz3 | why is the "follow through" in sports like golf or basketball so important? | Why in basketball or golf, for example, the follow through is so important? Once you impact, does it really matter if you flick your wrist all the way through, or finish your swing after impact? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3agjz3/eli5why_is_the_follow_through_in_sports_like_golf/ | {
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"If you stop right when you hit the ball, your muscles have slowed down your arms already. Youre getting a less solid hit. Also, youre fighting momentum, which stresses the body. Follow through and the stroke stops itself, and you get a full power, proper form hit.",
"You want to both a smooth motion and maximum velocity at the time of impact/release.\n\nIf you are already letting and arresting the motion, you'll get neither of those things.",
"The follow through is more like a thought thing. Think of it more like fully committing to the motion and only thinking about it. Like said previously, if you're thinking you're going to stop after the impact, then not only is your attention divided, but you're also already slowing down, or at least stopped accelerating/applying force."
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6qhum3 | what are those swarms of bugs actually doing when they seem to just be flying around in a small area? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qhum3/eli5_what_are_those_swarms_of_bugs_actually_doing/ | {
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"Could be for various reasons, depends on the situation, species, etc.\n\nUsually it's somewhere with a damp breeze (downwind of a river or pond), and food. They see something you don't and are hanging around where the food is for them.\n\nAnother reason is a mating swarm. At certain times of the year some bugs swarm up to make the task of finding mates a lot easier (basically like a big mixer).",
"Bazmonkey is right. Flies in particular choose a stinky spot with still air and the males loiter as females looking for mates fly in, pair off and fly out to mate. Not unlike our dive bars.",
"If they're isolated from anything just in empty air, it's 99.9% because they're mating. If they're around some object or the ground, they're feeding.",
"What about, like, gnats and really small bugs? Sometimes I see them in a large-ish cluster maybe 2-300 strong. Are they likely mating? ",
"Locust swarms for example eat vegetation. They are always either feeding or mating, depending on the species. "
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aes1bv | can the light passed through a prism be split or refined further? | Once light passes through a prism, does it become the purest form of the ROYGBIV colors or is there a way to purify the colors further? What would happen if let’s say the red light beam was passed through yet another prism? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aes1bv/eli5_can_the_light_passed_through_a_prism_be/ | {
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"If red light passes through a prism then red light exits the prism. If you pass any color of light through a prism that's not white light then you will see black bars in the ROYGBIV spectrum where certain wavelengths are missing. In the case of red light the OYBGIV portion will be black. ",
"This was one of the experiments Newton tried when developing a theory of light. His answer was essentially “no”, which was an argument against the existing theories that the prism effect was, in a sense, a kind of progressive darkening of light. If that were true, a second prism might be expected to turn green light red, but it can’t. "
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5r9682 | how come the us president can sign orders without input from congress? isn't thay undemocratic? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5r9682/eli5_how_come_the_us_president_can_sign_orders/ | {
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"Congress gives the president broad latitude over many areas of the federal government. The President can then use executive orders to exercise the powers granted to him by Congress.\n\nImagine Congress passes a law to build a house. All it says is \"We will build a house\". You, as the President, can then issue an executive order that says \"The house shall be colored blue and have 7 bedrooms\". You cannot issue an executive order that says \"Do not build a house, instead spend that money on video games\".\n"
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m226y | middleware | Middleware? What does it do? The whole 'software occupying a middle
position between application programs and operating systems' doesn't really make sense to me. Windows and MS Word has something in between that makes it work? If so, where does it come from (is it installed with Windows, or with MS Word?)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m226y/eli5_middleware/ | {
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"Middleware has no real solid definition and gets used differently in various contexts. But put simply: Software developers realise that they can save a lot of time and money by getting other developers to work on areas of their program for them. For example, say you have a team working on a computer game. The computer game needs realistic trees, and they decide that instead of writing the tree themselves, there's a company that sells middleware to generate these trees already. This is a smart choice for a couple of reasons:\n\na) The cost of buying the middleware is much lower than employing a developer to work on a tree generator.\n\nb) The company building the tree generator middleware have been working on this product for several years and have made it really good\n\nc) The development team making the game can focus their energy on making their game\n\nSo really, middleware is just the name for any bit of code that is sold to programmers in order to achieve certain tasks. The programmers buy it, and wrap it up in their product. It can vary, from handling a few background tasks (a simple networking API), to driving the core of a program (game engine).",
"Say you wanted to build a house. You can either go out into the woods with an axe and chop down trees until you have enough wood and then cut them yourself with saws you made from iron you mined out of the ground. This may be cool but isn't very efficient.\n\nInstead, you buy preprocessed wood and screws and work from there. The preprocessed wood is like middleware, they are products manufactured by other people that acts as a middle ground between raw material and finished product.",
"Middleware has no real solid definition and gets used differently in various contexts. But put simply: Software developers realise that they can save a lot of time and money by getting other developers to work on areas of their program for them. For example, say you have a team working on a computer game. The computer game needs realistic trees, and they decide that instead of writing the tree themselves, there's a company that sells middleware to generate these trees already. This is a smart choice for a couple of reasons:\n\na) The cost of buying the middleware is much lower than employing a developer to work on a tree generator.\n\nb) The company building the tree generator middleware have been working on this product for several years and have made it really good\n\nc) The development team making the game can focus their energy on making their game\n\nSo really, middleware is just the name for any bit of code that is sold to programmers in order to achieve certain tasks. The programmers buy it, and wrap it up in their product. It can vary, from handling a few background tasks (a simple networking API), to driving the core of a program (game engine).",
"Say you wanted to build a house. You can either go out into the woods with an axe and chop down trees until you have enough wood and then cut them yourself with saws you made from iron you mined out of the ground. This may be cool but isn't very efficient.\n\nInstead, you buy preprocessed wood and screws and work from there. The preprocessed wood is like middleware, they are products manufactured by other people that acts as a middle ground between raw material and finished product."
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64b1vp | why do our eyes not see color on the edge of our peripheral vision? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64b1vp/eli5_why_do_our_eyes_not_see_color_on_the_edge_of/ | {
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"We have two kinds of light receptors in our eyes: rods and cones. Rods are more sensitive to black and white; cones are more sensitive to colors and have a higher ability to focus. \n\nCones are more concentrated in the centers of our eyes, while rods are more prevalent toward the edges of our eyes. ",
"The cone cells that detect color aren't very good at low light or motion detection.\n\nSince motion detection is more important at the periphery than color (does it really matter what color that sabre toothed tiger is?) we evolved to pack mostly rods and few cones in the corners.\n\nYour brain remembers what colors things are and will attempt to color in the peripheral vision so you don't usually notice that it's basically grayscale."
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5wbmvg | the act of hydration and how drinking water gets distributed through the body and utilized? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wbmvg/eli5_the_act_of_hydration_and_how_drinking_water/ | {
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"Water and other nutrients get absorbed through the walls of the intestines. From there the water enters into the blood stream, where it is carried back to the heart and pumped throughout the body. \n\nThis process takes advantage of osmosis, which is a physical property that causes water to move from an area with higher water concentration to an area of lower water concentration. This means that water will passively flow from the intestines full of the water you drank to the blood vessels, which have a higher concentration of solutes with a comparatively lower concentration of water. The end result is somewhat akin to wiping a dry sponge over spilled water. "
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1ecns6 | d-day and the events leading up to it | I'm writing an essay on Juno beach but I'm having trouble understanding why the Invasion of Normandy was necessary. I think if I had basic understanding first, the research would be much easier. Thanks in advance! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ecns6/eli5_dday_and_the_events_leading_up_to_it/ | {
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"It was necessary because Stalin had been loudly (and justly, though he apparently didn't understand the tremendous effort required to actually *do* such a thing) demanding a second front against the Germans for three years. Several thousand Soviets had been dying every day during that entire period, and the vast majority of the war had been fought on that front. An invasion was necessary for political reasons (that without one, the USSR might well win and take over all of German occupied Europe, which was unthinkable), for strategic military reasons (that the pressure on Germany would be impossible to deal with once confronted with massive Allied armies on all sides), and also for moral reasons (that it wouldn't be right to force one's ally to do all of the fighting and dying for the cause). \n\nFor what it's worth, the invasion was largely at American insistence, as Churchill had been trying to put it off for some time and for various reasons. However, after he was finally persuaded to commit to the project, it was truly an allied effort, divided among Britain, the USA, and Canada.",
"After the fall of France in June 1940 (or one might even argue after the fall of Greece in April 1941), the Axis forces, primarily of Nazi Germany and Italy, occupied all of mainland Europe. \n\nThe UK and its Commonwealth were still fighting the Axis, but without a foot-hold on the Continent, their options were very limited.\n\nIn the end, the Allies invaded mainland Europe at Normandy, France in order to liberate France, to assist Soviet Russia by forcing the Axis to divert some of their forces away from the Eastern Front, and (later) to provide a bulwark against the Soviets from controlling all of Europe by ensuring that *some* of Europe would be liberated by the Western democracies instead of by the Soviets.\n\nIf you're asking about why France as the geographic location:\nInvading Germany directly was a no-go because it was too far, didn't have suitable beaches and would be too close to reinforcements\nInvading Norway was out because it was not directly linked to mainland Europe\nThey had already invaded Italy, but the Alpine Mountains blocked any possible advance into Germany from the South\nFrance had good beaches, had good terrain that would lead to Germany, and liberating a former Democracy would be a big PR win\n\nIt's also worth noting that as far as the absolute distance between England and France, Normandy was not the closest spot: The shortest distance across the English Channel would be to land at the Pas de Calais. The Allies instead ran a big disinformation campaign to make the Germans believe that they would land at the Pas de Calais instead."
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40evfv | how can someone die from one punch while ufc fighters and professional boxers can take hundreds of blows to the head and recover fairly quickly? | This [video](_URL_0_) got me thinking. How can someone kill someone with just one punch? Is it only possible if the person has some other underlying condition? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40evfv/eli5_how_can_someone_die_from_one_punch_while_ufc/ | {
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"Professional athletes are tested for heart conditions and other things before every fight. They have to pass these tests medically for them to fight. I think this was more from him smacking his head on the ground hard when he fell backwards. "
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1sj2q4 | there are an infinite amount of numbers between 0 and 1. that means there is an infinite amount of numbers between 1 and 2. why isn't there two times infinity amount of numbers between 0 and 2? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sj2q4/eli5_there_are_an_infinite_amount_of_numbers/ | {
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"Because infinity isn't itself a number.",
"Infinity is just a word, meant to represent an idea. If your brother has 4 widgets and your sister has 5 widgets, you can take all the widgets from your brother then take all the widgets from your sister and you will have all the widgets, not two times all the widgets.",
"Because there is a one-to-one correspondence between the numbers between 0 and 1 and between 0 and 2...there are exactly the same amount of numbers. Infinity is weird."
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2eu7uz | why are sites like google and facebook (and others) so intent on pushing video content? a lot of people don't want it, and it must be expensive to host | I've heard that google and facebook prioritize content in the order: video, then pictures, then text.
Videos pop up in most google searches these days and it seems like half of what I see in my facebook feed are videos, but (at least on fb) they don't get a lot of likes or comments and a lot of people complain about them.
Another example is upworthy, that will make you watch a 5-minute video about something they could've explained in one paragraph.
Also, news websites have gotten heavily video-saturated. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2eu7uz/eli5_why_are_sites_like_google_and_facebook_and/ | {
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"Google and Facebook are advertising companies. Advertisements appear within and beside videos. Videos keep viewers' attention longer than photos or text, and viewers are in a more passive state while watching videos, more likely to absorb ad content. It's strictly about money; likes and complaints have nothing to do with it. ",
"What metric are you using that people don't want it? I would be willing to wager that more than plenty of people want it. Provide something that people want oe they will gravitate elsewhere.",
"I can think of three reasons. First of all, when you open a video stream to these websites you are opening a direct socket connection between your computer and their computer and it remains open for the duration of the video; this is very useful which is why they don't bother to encrypt the stream. There is a lot of debate about why their video streams are NOT encrypted, if they were encrypted than it would be much more difficult to for 3rd parties to intercept the open socket and access your hard drive in real time. Most of their revenue comes from third parties who want this kind of access in order to plant cookies and cupcakes.\n\nA second reason has to do with the nature of their technology based business model. Adam Smith said that the purpose of technology isnt to make life easier it is to create new markets, so long as new markets are created profits will increase. Video streaming technology is still a new market and so these businesses will do everything possible to convince visitors to use the latest technology simply b/c it guarantees the expansion of the new market.\n\nThe third reason is related to the second, but has to do with who is footing the bill for the expansion of their new market. Most of the time if a business wants to create a new market they have to pay for it themselves, but if they're clever they will get the consumer to pay for it. By making the content with video (high band width) instead of text (low band width) the burden on the consumer is much greater, they will need to have an up-to-date computer that can handle hefty video streams, or they will need a more expensive contract with their phone company to cover the cost of this constant streaming night and day. All of these tactics work to effectively weed out the poorer population who is incabable of fronting the money necessary to create the new market. They see no point in tapping into a new market if it isnt already filled with money. So the videos act as a vetting process."
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1pph0u | why can't radio stations accept pay for play from record labels but they can take money to play commercials? | Especially when such a huge chunk of time is dedicated to commercials every hour, even on music stations? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pph0u/eli5_why_cant_radio_stations_accept_pay_for_play/ | {
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"Radio stations can accept pay for play. They just have to disclose it. \n\nHere is a brief history: _URL_0_\n\nTL;DR - Big companies buying their way into the markets. Scandal erupts throughout the country. Congress passes law on pay to play disclosures."
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"http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2176/whats-the-story-on-the-radio-payola-scandal-of-the-1950s"
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yynpi | what to do/how to act at a casino | I've never really gambled at a casino, only people watched, but I plan on getting some action going my next trip, just want to know the proper etiquette, I know nothing e.g. how do you join a poker or blackjack game, do you tip dealers, do you tip the free drink waitresses, basic table etiquette, the different type of poker and blackjack games buyins rules etc
Basically I want to play some poker and blackjack, maybe some others (recommendations?) without embarrassing myself, insulting othersr losing too much money! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/yynpi/eli5_what_to_dohow_to_act_at_a_casino/ | {
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"As long as you're gambling and spending money you will get free drinks. Tip $20 when she passes by the first time and tip her a couple bucks for each subsequent trip and you'll be good there.",
"You're 5, so don't go. But if you were an adult:\n\n > how do you join a poker or blackjack game\n\nHonestly you just sit down. If there are other people at the table, don't be afraid to ask if you can join or if a seat is taken. Be sure you look for a \"Minimum Bet\" sign. You don't want to sit at a $100 minimum bet table unless you can afford it. Ask the dealer for X amount in chips. For example: \"Can I have $40 in chips?\" and put $40 on the table in front of you. In some cases you don't have to ask and you just put cash down. The dealer will walk you through what to do. If you don't know how to play the game feel free to ask the dealer. They will be more than happy to tell you the rules. When you're done you can just walk away (even if you have chips). At the end of the day you can cash in chips at the counter.\n\nFor poker tables, make sure they're not tournament tables. You can usually find someone to ask before you make a move. Some tables are sit-down and others are for tournaments. Some casinos will separate the rooms.\n\n\"You should go during slow periods for your first time. I went at a steady time and the dealer was less than helpful because (I assume) having to slow down and explain things to me was taking away from potential tips for him. Other players are there to win and lose and don't always want to wait.\" - CMO_Ratchett\n\n > do you tip dealers\n\nYes. It's proper etiquette to tip after winning, especially if it's a big win. You want to give them a portion of your winnings (like $1-10)\n\n > do you tip the free drink waitresses\n\nAbsolutely! Usually about $1-2 per drink. Some casinos accept tips in chips, otherwise you can pay in cash. On a side note: In some casinos alcohol drinks are not free. Soft drinks are always free.\n\n > basic table etiquette\n\nBe respectful. Don't be afraid to talk to people, but don't expect them to tell you what their cards are. Don't come across as an ass and brag or you may be kicked out of the table.\n\n\"Depending on the casino (I'm speaking mostly from Vegas experience), it's best to not bring out your phone, iPod, or any other electronic device. In the past these have been used for cheating purposes, and while it might not get you thrown out to check the time on your phone, it's really best to just leave it alone in your pocket. \n\nAlso, the dealers are your friends! I know this sounds weird, but remember they don't get commission or anything from how much they take from you; they are wage-workers who also make a decent amount off of tips. Especially in blackjack, as them for advice! If you don't know whether or not to split those eights, ask your dealer! They will likely tell you what to do under basic strategy, which is your best odds.\n\nAnd definitely make sure to tip after a big win AND when you leave the table.\" - Lucky137\n\n\"I would suggest NOT tipping when you win, but determining some amount to tip and sticking to it. A dollar or two every half hour is what I usually stick to.\" - metaridley18\n\n\n > the different type of poker and blackjack games buyins rules etc\n\nI think I pretty much covered this. A good rule is to buy in at least 20x the minimum amount. If a table has a $5 minimum bet, you may want to purchase at least $100 worth of chips. Ask the dealers to go over the rules for whatever game you're playing. They're more than willing to and walk you through your first couple of games. You cannot ask them for tips, however.\n\nIf anyone wants to add on this feel free to. I'll edit as necessary.\n\nEdit: Edited based on comments.",
"For Blackjack, observe the table. Politely ask if you may join - some people are superstitious and will ask that you sit out a further hand or two if they (or everyone) are doing very well.\n\nThere are simple hand gestures for all the moves you need to make in blackjack, (hit, stand, split, double down...you can pick up on these by observing other players or asking the dealer - it's not rude to ask.)\n\nWhen you leave a table (no matter the game) you will usually have small chips and find it easier to carry around a larger denomination - before the next hand begins, ask the dealer to \"colour me up\" or \"cash me out\" - they will change your chips for you.\n\nIt's generally poor etiquette to people watch in the high limit areas.\n\nAs for strategy, I like to go by [The Wizard of Odds](_URL_0_). Any game you fancy playing, take the time to learn the basics to minimize your losses, but only gamble for entertainment - There's a reason the Bellagio can pay the water bill on that fountain in the middle of the desert, and it's not because they're in the business of giving away stacks of cash. :)\n\nTip the waitresses (in cash or chips) and generally be a polite lady/gentleman and you should do just fine. Enjoy yourself!",
"Don't be afraid to jump in a blackjack game, and make it known that you're a beginner. It's considered good etiquette for people at the table to explain the basic rules of the game to beginners, and give fundamental advice. That's not where you make or lose money on blackjack, anyway, so the house doesn't mind.\n\nSet a reserve value for how much you're willing to lose. If you get ahead, adjust your reserve value upwards accordingly. Personally, once I get ahead 25% of my original chip stack, I tend to play with those winnings and not dip into my own money.",
"One major rule that I always follow: Set a minimum and maximum limit. STOP when you cross those limits.\n\nex: I'll have a lower limit of $500 and an upper limit of $2000. Once I'm $500 in the hole or up $2000 I'm done gambling for the night. That way you don't go broke, and you don't waste your winnings by getting greedy.",
"Learn the basics of whatever game you're playing before you go try. I recommend blackjack because it's fairly easy. You can practice on free online casino games. But don't be too worried about being embarrassed, they are generally very friendly, and the dealers are happy to tell you the basics. If you do something wrong, they will tell you, and it's no big deal. If you have a hard time remembering what to do, the casinos will sell you a \"cheat card\" for a couple bucks.\n\nIf you listen to other people at the table they will often be friendly and have helpful advice like \"always split aces and eights\" and if they see you hesitating they might offer advice. You don't HAVE to listen to them, but I find it becomes more fun if you are all sort of playing as a team to beat the house.\n\nTip for your free drinks. Most people don't, so the waitress will be grateful and come back to you more often. In my experience, in Vegas, at least.\n\nAbove all, remember you're doing it for entertainment. Have fun, and make sure to not sit down with more than you can afford to lose.",
"In blackjack, you just sit down at any empty seat and put money down. When the hand is over, the dealer will change your money into chips, and then you place your bet. There is usually a card or plaque at the table that says what the minimum and maximum bets for that table are. Look at the plaque before you sit down - you want to make sure it's the betting amount you want to play for. The same casino might have $5, $10, $15, and $25 minimum tables all going at once. In a Native American casino you might find $2 or $3 minimum bet tables, but in a nicer Atlantic City casino on a Saturday night even the smallest minimum bet might be $25.\n\nIn blackjack, you can say \"hit\", \"stand\", \"double\", or \"split\", or you can tap the table to signal hit, or wave your hand side to side to signal stand. Normally your cards are dealt face-up and you aren't supposed to touch the cards. (It doesn't matter if the dealer can see your cards, since he is forced to hit 12-16 and stand on 17 or more regardless of what you have.)\n\nSome casinos offer other versions of blackjack with special rules, like Spanish 21 or double exposure blackjack. These are best avoided unless you know the strategies for them. Playing them the same way you would play regular blackjack can be an expensive mistake.\n\nIf you play blackjack 100% perfectly, the casino's advantage over you is less than half of one percent. Craps and baccarat are two other games that have good odds for the player, although some of the bets in craps are horrible so you have to know which bets are good. I personally find craps and baccarat boring since they are 100% luck, but many people enjoy them. Most of the other casino games have terrible odds - roulette, slot machines, or table game versions of poker like Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride, and Three Card Poker.\n\nIn poker, you can't just sit down at a table. There is normally a front desk, and you have to register at the front desk and tell them what games you want to play. Then you would say something like \"I want to play 1-2 or 2-5 no-limit or 3-6 or 5-10 limit\", and they would put you on the list for those games. The games you want may have a waiting list, but if they don't, they will seat you right away. If there's a waiting list, you have to wait for them to call your name.\n\nWhen you are seated at a poker table, you will usually put out your money and exchange it for chips. A typical $1-2 no-limit table will have a maximum buy-in of $200 or $300, and a minimum of $40, $50, or $60. If you have $300 to play with, and you are a beginner, you probably don't want to risk the whole $300 at once - you might prefer to buy-in for $100 at first. In limit holdem the minimum buy-in is normally very small, like $20 in a 2-4 limit game, and there is no maximum.\n\nThen you will have a choice - you can put out the same amount as the big blind and play the very next hand, or you can wait a few hands until you become the big blind.\n\nIn poker, you should know a few of the standard rules:\n\n-The first thing you say is binding. If you say \"I call your 25 and raise you another 25\", that counts as \"I call your 25\". You can't say \"I call...no, actually, I'll raise.\" That's so you can't say something, see how your opponent reacts, and then do something else.\n\n-You have to move your chips out all at once. You can't move one stack and then pause for a while and move out another stack - that's also so you can't watch for your opponent's reaction. If you want to make a big raise, say out loud \"raise 300\" and then count out and move out the chips.\n\n-There is usually a \"one chip rule\". If you put out one chip and don't say anything, it counts as a call no matter how large the chip is. If it's a $6 bet and you put out a $100 chip and don't say anything, that counts as a call, and the dealer will give you $94 in change. If you put out four $25 chips and don't say anything, that would be a raise.\n\n-Protect your hand. Many beginners constantly expose their hands to the players on the side of them. And don't leave your cards just lying there, or the dealer might fold your cards by accident. You might put a chip over your cards during the hand so this doesn't happen.\n\nMost casino poker rooms only have no-limit holdem and limit holdem. Even if you are interested in no-limit, you might prefer to play about an hour or two of limit holdem on your first time just to get the hang of things. Some places have seven-card stud, seven-card stud high/low, Omaha, or Omaha high/low. These are very different than Texas holdem - as with blackjack variants, don't play a game where you don't at least understand the basics. Casinos almost never have 5-card draw or 5-card stud.\n\nIn poker or blackjack or any other casino game, you tip the drink waitress a $1 chip. It's also expected to tip dealers. In blackjack, many people tip the dealer at the end of his/her half-hour shift. In poker, it's customary to tip if you win a pot, and the larger the pot, the larger the tip. You might tip $1 on a $25 pot, $2 on a $50 pot, $3 on a $100 pot, and $5 on a pot that is hundreds of dollars, for example.",
"Check your pockets. Make note of how much money you have.\n\nGo to the casino shop and buy a deck of cards.\n\nLeave the casino.\n\nPlay poker and blackjack with friends for low stakes over beers.",
"Most of the replies have covered your questions, but I just wanted to add a few things from my experiences in Las Vegas.\n\n1. The dealer can teach you how to play if you are interested in trying. Find an empty table at a cheap casino during off hours and ask the dealer to teach you. They won't teach you winning strategies, obviously, but they will teach you the rules of the game. Be pleasant, and tip them afterwards.\n\n2. In Vegas, they do not charge for alcoholic drinks when you are gambling. You can order a top shelf drink, and they will make it for you if they have the liquor. If they do not, then they will try to make a reasonable substitution. For example, I like a Hendricks gin & tonic. A luxury casino will have that at hand. Sometimes if they're all out, they'll offer me Bombay Sapphire or something else. Yes, tip the waitress.\n\n3. If you play prudently, even when figuring in your losses, sometimes it's cheaper to get your drinks at a game table than it is to go to a casino bar. Two weekends ago (I was at the Wynn when Prince Harry was there), my husband and I got good and blitzed on cocktails for a net loss of $8.\n\n4. Be careful where you put your hands. If you are carrying a purse or phone, that must be stashed under the table (there's usually a shelf underneath). If you are unsure when to pick up your cards or lay down a bet, simply ask the dealer when to do so. Otherwise, they will tell you not to touch this or that to prevent tampering with the game.\n\nHave fun, and don't lose too much. Know when to stop. Luck be a lady!",
"A couple of things I haven't seen mentioned here so far...\n\n1. Don't try to hand cash or chips directly to the dealers. Instead, place the cash/chips onto the table and ask for \"change\" (when buying chips) or \"color\" (when reducing the size of your chip stack with higher denominations, at the end of a session). The dealers cannot transfer anything directly to or from your hands. Everything they do must be clearly visible to the cameras, so there are a few things they do that seem strange, but it's all about security. \n\n2. Some folks have mentioned that it's fine to ask the dealers about the rules and odds of games, and it is, but many players may be annoyed if doing so will disrupt the flow of their game. I would try to find a dealer manning an empty table and ask them your questions, if at all possible. Also, most casinos will offer free gaming lessons at scheduled times. Just ask anybody at your casino and see if you can make it to a session.\n\nBut here is my strongest recommendation...\n\nPlay Craps! It has a couple of bets that give you the best odds in the building, plus it's really fun.\n\nIf you walk in to a casino and just listen, you will probably hear some loud, excited voices and cheering. If you follow those sounds, you'll find the craps table. That's where the party people are. Many of the other games are so quiet and serious. Craps is loud and fun (and chaotic if you are not familiar with it). \n\nThere are many bets on the layout, but there are only a couple of them worth playing and you can play all night by just knowing one bet, if you want. If you spend 20 minutes reading about craps, you'll be able to play when you get there.\n\nBest of luck to you.",
"If you're going to play slots, Pay attention to the cost of each spin. My slightly intoxicated friend lost 25 dollars on one spin, he thought it was a 25c instead of a $25 slot. ",
"For a blackjack game, you can simply sit in as long as there is a seat available. Simply tell the dealer how much you'd like in chips and hand him/her the money. Make sure to be mindful of the limits prior to sitting however. (There are usually a separate section in the casino for high limit players). If you don't know how to play a game (whether it is BJ, poker, pai-gow, or whatever floats your boat), do not be afraid to ask someone next to you or the dealer.\n\nIf you want to play poker that is not a table game (the game you see on TV played against other players and not the house) there will be another section usually dubbed the poker room. At the front they'll have a desk or a podium and that is where you sign up to play. This is one of the only places where you can't simply walk in and sit because there are usually waitlists. In addition most poker rooms have a rule against electronics at the table (because they can be used for cheating / colluding). Same rules follow once you are seated however. Tell the dealer how much you'd like (or you can go to the cage) and you're set. These games will often also have a minimum buy-in amount which you can inquire the dealer about (\"what's the minimum buy-in?\" is a pretty common phrase I hear. It's somewhat customary to tip $1 or more if you choose for each hand you win, but of course it is not required.\n\nSome casinos offer complimentary drinks / food, some don't. You can simply ask one of the cocktail waitresses, or a person next to you (do they offer free drinks?). And yes, don't forget to tip. A $1 per order is fine.\n\nSome casinos have free parking, others you must generally gamble for a set period of time. If the latter, you will likely be issued a parking card which needs to be validated. Don't forget to do this as it can be pretty expensive if lost / not validated.\n\nRemember to not gamble money you can't afford to lose, and have fun! Other people there will be looking to do the same so be sure to socialize with them and the dealers as well :)\n\n\nSource: professional gambler for the past year\n\n",
"You can take an empty seat (unless there is a button on the felt that says \"reserved\" or \"hold\", or something to that effect), but **DO NOT DO THIS AT A POKER TABLE.** Poker rooms are managed by the \"brush\", you need to go to them to be put on the lists for the games and stakes you want to play. When there is a seat open, the brush will call your name over the loudspeaker in the area (some rooms also have pager systems). If you do not show up to claim your seat, it will be given away to the next person in line. It is customary to tip the brush $1 or $2 when you are seated, but is not required. Usually, a chiprunner will come to the table to take your money and go get chips for you. You may tip the chiprunner $1 also, as you will get to play poker immediately, and will owe the pot when your chips arrive should you so choose.",
"In most locations, not only will the dealer happily explain the rules of the game to you (and its odds), but are legally required to do so.\n\nOften, you can call the casino ahead of time and ask for information on game rules and odds.",
"A lot of what everyone has already said are very good tips. Another thing I would point out would be to make sure youre dressed semi nice. Obviously no tux and tie, but don't look like a slob; some places will question you or wont let you in if youre looking like a mess. \n\nMost places I have been (Atlantic City and Saratoga Springs) will give you free drinks when youre playing the slots, and some on the tables. Definitely make sure you tip the servers well and they will make sure you are taken care of. \n\nWhen I was in Atlantic City I was at one table and could not have my phone anywhere in site. Some places are very strict on this so just be aware of the signs and rules they have. Many places are different with some of these rules. ",
"Honestly, I'd tell you not to play blackjack. Yes, proper playing will give you the among the best edge you can in the casino, but (and this depends greatly on the location and the venue) blackjack players *can* be a real pain in the ass. If you're not playing precisely by the book, be prepared to listen to a table full of people giving you grief. Admittedly, the gamblers in Atlantic City tend to be worse about this than the Vegas ones. Other countries didn't seem to mind too much.\n\nAside from that, I'd say that you should learn some new games. If you see a dealer at an empty table (with a limit you're comfortable with), do not hesitate to sit down and tell them that you'd like to learn how to play. I've learned nearly every table game around by doing just that.\n\nCan't really speak about poker, not my cup of tea.\n\nCraps is a lot of fun, but some people get antsy if you continually play the Don't Pass line. Stick to the Pass line and everyone at the table is your friend. You can play the Don't Pass line if you want to (something I do whenever I feel like it), but don't physically or vocally root for the shooter to crap out and commiserate with the table if they do. If you play the Pass line, cheer for the point with everyone else. Craps is a lot of fun to play, even if you don't make any of the other bets (field, come, etc.). If you do want to place bets on the rest of the table, a basic rule of thumb is the closer the bet is to the player (physically), usually the worse the odds. Don't play Big 6/8, waste of funds. Single roll bets are also a generally a waste; multi roll bets aren't a lot better.\n\nIf you blow your wad early on and funds are low, bingo takes a damned long time and is fun in groups. Of course, you will be surrounded by the walking dead.\n\nFinally, have fun. Gambling is not a good way to make money, but it can be a good way to have a good time. Set yourself an overall spending limit and stick to it. If you are down by that much, it's time to quit.",
"Table Games dealer here: ( & I apologize in advance for the wall of text as well as any spelling or grammatical errors- I'm at work on my phone, it's awful.)\n\nMost of your questions have been answered well- I only have a few things to add, and keep in mind that every casino is different. The one I work at is in a medium-sized city and is run by charity. In my area, all casinos must be charity-run unless they are built on reserve lands. This means that whatever charity happens to be in (every two days) takes a cut of all monies in the casino; slots, tables, etc. \n\nThe biggest thing I'd have to point out is that etiquette is very, very important when entering a table. If possible, wait until a new shoe starts; otherwise, ASK the players already there if it would be okay for you to jump in. If they are on a hot streak, they might ask you to wait. This is NOT being rude, it's strategy. And if you comply, they'll welcome you.\n\nNow, basic strategy (if you aren't sure how to play) is very important. If you want to learn, but are intimidated, ASK. Let the players know you're learning, the dealer will help also. Your actions directly affect the other players' hands- if you're playing $10 & someone else is playing $400 per hand, on multiple hands, be aware of this. Most people will be kind and give you advice. You can also ask for a strategy card from the dealer. Learn from others, and respect their teachings. Trust me- even an amateur can walk in with a few hundred and end up controlling an entire table, making thousands of dollars in a night. I see it every day. However- also remember that it is YOUR money- its YOUR decision. And the other people there that might get angry are going to spend their money regardless. But blackjack is a team game, and when played properly, can benefit everyone at the table.\n\nAlso, sitting to the rightmost of the dealer at the end of the table is a tough position to play, as is the first-action spot. If you're new, try to stick in the middle.\n\nTips: YES. Dealers LIVE off tips. We make minimum wage, we work minimum 7-hour shifts; I've worked as many as ten 12-hour shifts in a row. We deal with a lot of terrible people as well; and most of the time our staff/security/serving teams aren't in communication so when something breaks out (ex. a fight, threats) we are the ones who primarily deal with it. Even $1 here or there helps- and you can bet tips in most places as well. If you become a semi-regular, and are known for being kind, friendly, and you tip (no matter how much) you will make our jobs so much better, & in turn we'll make your experience the best we can. Dealers & pit staff also split tips, so remember that.\n\nAny other questions you have, feel free to ask! I'll answer everything; & if I can't, I'll find out!\n\nTL;DR- Gambling is awesome.",
"If you haven't played at a casino before, I highly suggest you play with a friend who has, this way he can sort of act as a teacher and tell you what to do if you need help.\n\nOkay, so since you specifically said blackjack, I will specifically reference that game.\n\nFirst, **basic table etiquette** is a really important thing. First, pay attention people get pissed off when you constantly hold up the game because you are distracted. There are a few times where it can be reasonable like ordering a drink. But in general, you are there to play, so you play.\n\nDo not be afraid to talk to the dealer or other players, but be mindful. Most dealers will have a conversation with you because they want tips. As far as players go, try to gauge whether or not they want to talk and keep the conversation away from controversy(politics). Sometimes the people I play with want to talk, other times they are silent.\n\nCheck your emotions. If you are losing, do not blame it on the dealer. They have to play by specific rules. You can be playful and say \"Wow, I wish I had your hands tonight\", but ultimately you chose to play and it is your fault if you lose. Also, no one likes playing with a jerk or someone who complains a lot.\n\nDo not joke about yourself, other players, or the casino cheating and for that matter, if you have any questions about your hand or the dealer's hand ask politely what happened. If you are sure they are wrong then elevate the situation. Also if you see another player cheating, do not make a scene unless it affect your hand or bet, it is not your job to make sure that everyone else is playing honestly. \n\nAlso, do not use electronic devices at the table, it is rude to the other people and the pit-boss will ask you to put it away for cheating purposes.\n\n**Other Advice**\n\nYou can ask the dealer the rules but do not ask the dealer what to do, they are not supposed to give advice. In blackjack if you really want help, then ask someone around you, but remember that you are responsible for playing your hand and if you decide to take their advice and lose.\n\nAs far as drink waitresses, if they are free, tip them. It does not have to be much but and they probably get paid minimum wage or lower. \n\nYou can also tip the dealer as well. Generally I will do this if I am winning, end up with an odd number of chips, or if I just enjoyed playing with them.\n\n**Blackjack Specific Etiquette**\n\nThe first is that you should have some idea on how to play. I highly suggest you look at the [Basic Strategy](_URL_0_) of playing blackjack. It tells you when you should hit, double, stay, and split. Also during this time you can download free game apps that will allow you to become familiar with the game.\n\nNow, regarding the **Basic Strategy**, it is generally expected by most people that this is how you play and many people get angry if you do not play this way. Ultimately, how you play is up to you may irritate people. \n\nWhen it is your turn to play; hit, stand, double, or split is determined by your hand signals not what you say(so it goes on cameras). To HIT you tap the table, to STAY/STAND you wave your hand, to DOUBLE you slide an amount equal to your current bet behind your bet, and to SPLIT, you place your equivalent bet off to the side of your original one. For clarity and practice say what you want to do along with the hand signal. \n\nAs far a joining, if there is an open spot on the table as in no bets are being placed in that location or no chips are in front of the empty seat(ie player went to bathroom), you can join in at any time. If there is someone sitting in that seat but not playing politely ask them to move, the seats are reserved for people playing, not watching. If there is a bunch of people waiting around the table and a spot opens up, I will generally try to find a new table, or let a person that was waiting for longer than me have it. There are superstitions that you should wait until the end of the deck to join/leave, but it is your money and the casino's rules, remember that. \n\nDo not touch the cards, only the dealer can touch them. \n\n\nFinal thing, **DO NOT** say \"Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! It is a superstition that gets alot of people angry.",
"**DO NOT SHIT ON THE CRAPS TABLE.**",
"DO NOT place chips in an outer jacket pocket.\n\nIf you are male, and doing very well (we're talking up 100's or 1000's) and start getting chatted up by a beautiful girl he seems intent on keeping your focus, she's either a) genuinely interested in ~~you~~ your money, b) she's a prostitute or c) a prostitute working with a pickpocket that may be waiting for you to gather your chips, get up from the table, and walk to the cage. Basically, always keep your money in an inside pocket on your way to the cage. This doesn't apply as much in the nicer casinos, but it does happen.\n\nIf you are staying in a hotel with a casino, use the $20 trick at the front desk. Generally get a good upgrade.\n\nDon't take out your phone at the table. It's not allowed most of the time and it's just bad manners. If you have to use it, get up from the table and step back. Never try to take a photo inside the playing floor.\n\nSpeaking of getting up, if you have to use the restroom but don't want to give up your seat, just politely ask the dealer to hold your position. Once they acknowledge, push your chips slightly in.\n\nAlways tip the waitress. 1-2 for each drink. Expect long wait times between drinks.\n\nALWAYS tip the deal when you have a good hand. Something small is fine. However, I have found that in games such as blackjack, the more you tip the more the dealer is willing to \"overlook\" stupid judgement by you and give you context clues as to how they would play the hand (which sometimes differs from what the book says). Many dealers prefer you to play the tip money as a side bet for them. If you do that, place it to the front usually of your money in play. After a winning hand where I had played one for them, I usually let them grab their winnings first before I grab mine, because occasionally you forget and grab the whole thing which is rude.\n\nStay away from most table games for the exception of Blackjack and Pai Gow (card version). Learn Pai Gow before you go. It's a slow game, but fun. All of those other games are rather worthless to play for the most part, and tend to have the odds more stacked in the houses favor.\n\nPoker, well, I'm sure someone's going to cover that. Consider looking at /r/Poker as well.",
"1. If there aren't chips infront of a chair, or it's not leaned forward against the table, then just sit down.\n2. Don't be an asshole.\n3. don't go reaching for your chips until you see everyone else at the table do it.\n4. tip if you feel like you want to. I tend to play craps alot, and as opposed to tipping, i'll place a small bet for the dealers and then they get tipped the winnings off that bet.\n",
"Just know that you will lose. Period.",
"**Please read this if you are playing Blackjack**\n\nThis game is not just about you getting to 21. When you go into a casino to play, you are also playing with and *for* the people at your table. Because of this you can easily piss people off if you don't know how to play because it is still all of you vs. the dealer. *This is especially true if you take the last seat where you have the last hand before the dealer has to play*. \n\nYou should know when to hit and when not to hit to avoid letting the dealer win. In order to to this try to get the dealer to \"Bust\". If you see they have a 2, 3, **4, 5,** or 6 then this is where you want to try to do that. \n\nYou might be thinking - well, what if I have something like a 10 or 11 and can't bust? You want to double down. Play these until you get close to busting. If you have less than 10 (total), play that hand. The idea is to take away the cards that are 6 or less so when the dealer draws, they draw a bust card (like a face card or 10). Again, only do this strategy if they're showing 2 through 6 (most especially 4, 5). When you do this you don't fuck other people over, including yourself.\n\nAlso sit in the middle somewhere. A lot of people are really helpful if you're candid about never playing before. Be sure not to reach for or grab your chips no matter what game you are playing - you must wait until they are pushed towards you. Also **keep your eye on your chips and money. I was in Reno once where I was sitting at the table, set down a $20 waiting to buy in and the person next to me thought I wasn't looking and just casually took my cash!! I was like...WTF, that's mine, and they acted like it was some \"mistake\" and said nothing**. \n\nTip the waitresses but don't blow a ton of money on them. Ideally you can tip a lot the first time so they return quickly for your second round and make you a stronger drink, expecting you to keep tipping that well.\n\nTipping dealers isn't as common, if at all. It's a nice thing to do if you want.\n\nI'd recommend playing Roulette, it's fun and you have pretty good chances with it. You walk up to a table and (make sure you aren't interrupting a game) get chips. You will get a certain color which you can place on the table. Red and Black just double whatever you put down so if you put down a $5 chip you'll get $10 back. The next row in is winning triple. So if you put a $5 chip in you'll get $15 back. You basically choose the lower, middle, or higher number sections and hope it lands in whichever range you choose. Or you can just spread chips around specific numbers. You can place them on the lines, intersections, etc. If you play this game there will be a set time when you are allowed to put chips on. After that the dealer waves their hand over the table (for security), and you can no longer move or add chips. Also, if you win anything the dealer will place the chips out for you and count them. Don't just grab them, they will be pushed towards you and THEN you can take them. I'm not a very skilled gambler but these are the basics of some of the games' etiquette. \n\n\nedit: See if you can learn how to play Craps. I am not good at it at all and don't really know all the rules but when I did play it, it was a TON of fun because everyone at the table is working together and you have fun and make friends that way. This is the game you see most in Hollywood movies where some person rolls dice and just by playing this game they end up with a lot of friends/hookers/diamonds/clout in the end. Or they roll that shitty 7 and they're out. but yea, learn it!",
"Craps and blackjack are your best odds at a casino. The line bet in craps is slightly better I think but they're super close. Never ever play slots. \n\nFor blackjack: Always split aces and 8s. Never buy insurance. Play big when the table's hot and small when it's cold. Most importantly for someone that's never gambled before, ASK the dealer what to do. They're you're friend. If you win, they get tipped, so they want you to win. Also, make sure you know the minimum bet at any table you sit down at and don't bother with tables with fancy side bets and weird rules (Spanish 21 for example).\n\nFinally, take out all the cash you're WILLING TO LOSE right at the beginning. When that's gone, you're done. Cut up your ATM card if you have to. You should go into a casino expecting to walk out with empty pockets, but not an empty bank account.\n\nAddendum: Buffets at casinos will always make you feel better. Whether you won $10k or lost a grand, just let the jimmies rustle through you. \n\nGood luck!",
"at a blackjack table, include a tip chip in your ante each round. if you win, give the dealer *both* tip chips. they will quickly figure out that giving you good odds advice will be lucrative for them as well as for you. (this is for low-stakes tables like $5-15 ante; use more tip chips if you want to impress a higher-stakes dealer.)\n\nif you or someone at your table is winning a lot and the pit boss changes the dealer at an odd time (ie it's not on the hour or on the half-hour), it probably means you're about to get sharked. pick up your stack and leave.\n\nsimilarly, if you're on a winning streak and it starts to cool off, don't stay and keep losing just because your friends still want to play. pick up your stack and stand behind them. you don't have to pay $100 an hour to talk and hang out with someone while *they're* gambling.\n\nfor hold'em, sit-down tables and low-buy-in house tournaments are usually full to the gills with perfectly mediocre players who think they're good because they watch WSOP on tv. learn a system - i recommend daniel negreanu's small ball - and start taking these people's money. the casino doesn't care who wins what at these things, because you're taking money from the other players that the house still gets a vig on.\n\nif you just want to drink, it's way more cost-effective to play nickel slots and tip your cocktail waitress well than it is to go to some touristy bar."
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9pu79j | how does the post office tell if stamps are counterfeit? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9pu79j/eli5_how_does_the_post_office_tell_if_stamps_are/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nNot much security. There's a shine, a special perforation on the side, special paper used, maybe a fluorescent dye. \n\nBut ultimately i think it's biggest defense is it's a high punishment for a small crime that acts to deter people. Think up to 5 years in prison and up to $250,000 fine for forging a stamp that costs what, 50 cents?\n\nAccording to the linked reddit post those single stamp takers are really small fish. The real way they catch people are the bulk mailers. Say you prepay 100 pieces a month or something and you send a lot more, their computers are going to catch that and stop the mail from going through until you pay up."
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66fthq | what is the difference between mirrored and mirrorless lenses in dslrs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66fthq/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_mirrored_and/ | {
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"The cameras are the ones with or without mirrors, and if they don't have a mirror they're not SLRs.\n\nDigital Single Lens Reflex cameras have an optical viewfinder which uses a mirror and other elements inside the body to look out through the lens. Mirrorless cameras don't have this mirror system, and instead simulate looking through the lens using a digital viewfinder. \n\n[For a more detailed, but good tutorial on the difference between the camera types, check out this article](_URL_0_). ",
"A mirrored lens folds the lightpath (similar to some telescopes).\nThis makes the lens more compact, but returns a horrible bokeh, fixed iris, and the one I tried had horrible CA.\n\nHere:\n\n_URL_0_",
"Mirrorless cameras don't need to leave a space between the back of the lens and the sensor. This means that the lens can be much closer to the sensor. This most affects short focal length (wide-angle) lenses so they can be smaller, simpler, lighter and better quality on mirrorless cameras."
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4x6kp6 | the five lesser-known types of magnetism? | I saw a Youtube video that talked about six types of magnetism:
Diamagnetism
Paramagnetism
Ferromagnetism (the common one)
Antiferromagnetism
Ferrimagnetism
Superparamatnetism
Can someone give me a rundown of each of these? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4x6kp6/eli5_the_five_lesserknown_types_of_magnetism/ | {
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"Basically, magnetic fields happen because electrons have small magnetic fields. There are various ways they can prefer to behave in a material, giving rise to their magnetic properties.\n\nDiamagnetism is most noticeable when there are no unpaired electrons in a material. This negates the magnetic moment of the electrons (each one has a partner that negates it). It opposes any external magnetic fields by messing with the magnetic moment of the electrons' orbit. Every material will do this, but most of the time, other effects overwhelm it.\n\nParamagnetism is sort of the opposite, when there are unpaired electrons. Those unpaired ones can point any which way they please and thus, can line up with an external magnetic field, amplifying it. The magnetic moment of an electron is much greater than the magnetic moment of it's orbit, so this effect outweighs diamagnetism if there are unpaired electrons.\n\nFerromagnetism is like paramagnetism, except that it's so strong, the amplified field can sustain itself. The field generated by other electrons in the material is strong enough to get other electrons in the material to also line up, so it can keep the field by itself.\n\nAntiferromagnetism is the opposite, the unpaired electrons want to oppose eachother, so they have no magnetic field. The reasons why this would happen instead of ferromagnetism have to do with complicated energy level nonsense in various materials.\n\nFerrimagnetism forms sheets, kind of. Antiferromagnetic materials have every electron trying to be opposite of it's neighbor, so it forms a checkerboard. Ferrimagnetic materials form rows as they try to be the same alignment in one direction but opposite alignment in the other direction. This usually results in a net magnetic field like a ferromagnet.\n\nSuperparamagnetism is only found in tiny pieces of ferro or ferrimagnetic materials. They're small enough that their temperature causes them to switch the alignment of their magnetic field too quickly to produce a stable magnetic field in any given direction. But when an external field is applied, they align. It's like paramagnetism, but because the material is a better magnet in the first place, it's stronger than normal paramagnetism."
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1ncb0f | why does data cost anything and how much does it cost the companies to provide it? | Im talking cell phones. Why does it cost me money to stream pandora on my phone when im not downloading anything? What does it cost the providers and why am i paying them and not the people who i get the data from? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ncb0f/why_does_data_cost_anything_and_how_much_does_it/ | {
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"You pay for the spectrum use. Other countries pay way less than the usa, but they have you by the balls.",
"You're also paying for infrastructure: cell phone towers, maintenance (and the salaries of the people who do the work), and profit.\n\nAlso, you are downloading something when you stream from Pandora: music. You think all those songs are stored in some secret hard drive on your phone?"
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278udg | why does your nose get watery with some really hot sauces? | Edit: Why does your nose get watery when you eat some really hot sauces? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/278udg/eli5_why_does_your_nose_get_watery_with_some/ | {
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"It is the result of capsaicin-sensitive nerves in the mouth and nose reacting and stimulating mucous flow. "
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1sclg4 | how do monitors work? | Computer monitors! Displays.. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sclg4/eli5_how_do_monitors_work/ | {
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"They have small dots of colored light that they can turn on our off (and dim). These are caked pixels. By Turing the pixels on and off across the screen, they can build up pictures."
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bpt4n2 | how do hormone responses occur so rapidly? when people are frightened/surprised, they can almost immediately feel a rush of adrenaline and heart rates rise, faces flush, etc. how do hormones reach appropriate organs so quickly? why isn’t there more of a delay for the hormones to travel? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bpt4n2/eli5_how_do_hormone_responses_occur_so_rapidly/ | {
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"It only takes a couple of seconds for adrenaline released from your kidneys to reach the rest of your body , so as soon as it reaches that tissue it will have an effect , i.e.braised heart rate , resp rate etx",
"Well, the hormones are dispatched through the blood, and the blood gets around the body in the amount of time it takes for the heart to beat.",
"Actually just learned this last semester!\n\nThe ELI5 version is that the hormone \"adrenaline\" flows through your bloodstream (endocrine system) and attaches to receptors on the cells of your heart muscles (could be wrong on the exact location) and causes a change in the cells and tells your heart to beat faster, which is why you feel more flush and why sometimes you can feel your heart beating through your chest. \n\nThe endocrine system is surprisingly fast, and rightfully so, because if you're in a life or death situation you need that adrenaline NOW. That's why it's called the \"fight or flight\" response, sometimes. \n\nA more in depth way of explaining why they happen so fast also has to do with the amount of change that occurs in the cell due to a cascading event starting from one molecule, which turns on a bunch of other proteins, and so on and so forth until one molecule essentially turns on dozens or hundreds of other molecules responsible during the adrenaline response.\n\n\nSome of my thoughts could be wrong, someone will have to correct me as i am pulling from memory and on mobile.\n\nEdit: \"feeling\" to \"response\"\n\nEdit: Some others have added some additional, useful details. Credit where credit is due:\n\nu/OwariNeko\n\nu/barelystanding\n\nu/theherbiwhore\n\nu/KrauMing\n\n\nhad some ELI5 and some non-ELI5 responses that add information I left out or did not know. Thanks!",
"Your brain also contains neurotransmitters that are stimulating. SO when you are frightened nerve cells will release norepinephrine in the brain which increases arousal, vigilance, etc. This would be the initial sensation at fright followed very quickly by the release of adrenaline which stimulates heart rate, etc.",
"Too comment is the most accurate. But to help you understand why everything is so fast realize this: your body is only a couple feet long; your blood is traveling around 3mph. \n\nYour heart is one of the hardest working muscles in your body for a reason. Your blood travels fast and your lymph travels nearly as fast(?)",
"So adrenaline is a neuro-hormone which means it’s release can be triggered by the electrical impulses from your brain. This makes the release of it suuuuper quick and it also happens to come from your adrenal glands above the kidneys, and the kidneys are getting 20-25% of all your blood flow which makes it circulate through the body super fast. The receptors for it are all on the surfaces of cells so it’s recognized pretty quickly too and the response is multiplied over a few stages inside the cell which gives it a quick and robust response. It’s basically just a speedy process overall",
"I think you are confusing the neurotransmitters epinephrine/ norepinephrine (aka adrenaline/ noradrenaline) with the hormone cortisol. The immediate response is so fast because norepinephrine works entirely in the brain and signals near instantly to affect your activity, heart rate, and breathing. The signal travels down the spine to the adrenal glands where epinephrine is released into the blood stream causing blood vessels to constrict, glucose to be used, and muscles to respond. After a couple hours, the hormone cortisol is secreted into the blood stream from the adrenal gland to maintain this burst if needed.\n\nAdrenaline and noradrenaline are both neurotransmitters (think fast acting) that have hormone properties. Most hormones act much slower because they travel in the bloodstream, whereas these two function together in the brain with electrical signaling speed.\n\nFun fact: tyrosine the dietary amino acid is converted to dopamine (pleasure molecule), which is converted to noradrenaline, which is then converted to adrenaline...",
"So there are already a ton of responses in this thread which explain it better than i can, i just want to add a reason why your heart can change its tune so quickly. You have a node in your heart which is called the sinus node. It has a \"natural\" tact of approximately 120 Beats per minute. As you know your resting heartrate is quite a bit lower (around 60-80). This is because your sinus node gets constantly throttled by your parasympathetic nervous system. Imagine someone who is pushing against a door -your sinus node- and someone holding against it from the other side -your nervous system-. If you experience a stimulus which needs a higher heartrate your parasympathetic system just stops blocking the door. Your sinus node suddenly has no resistance and burst through the door with full speed. This change can occur between two heartbeats so that this is the fastest way for your body to raise its heartrate.",
"Those are not purely hormonal. There are nerves in your heart and other organs and the nervous system has ways to regulate the rhythm of your heart, your breathing rate, oxygen and blood supply tp your organs, etc.\n\nSee here:\n\n_URL_2_\n\n > **Diverts blood flow away from the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract and skin via vasoconstriction**\n*You don`t need those when you are in panic and it also reduces bleeding from minor cuts*\n\n > **Blood flow to skeletal muscles and the lungs is enhanced** (by as much as 1200% in the case of skeletal muscles)\n*Run faster*\n\n > Dilates bronchioles of the lung through circulating epinephrine, which **allows for greater alveolar oxygen exchange**\n*Get more oxygen*\n\n > **Increases heart rate and the contractility of cardiac cells (myocytes), thereby providing a mechanism for enhanced blood flow to skeletal muscles**\n*Run, Forest, run!*\n\n > Dilates pupils and relaxes the ciliary muscle to the lens, allowing more light to enter the eye and enhances far vision\n\n > Provides vasodilation for the coronary vessels of the heart\n\nAnd here:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n > Constricting the bronchiolar diameter **when the need for oxygen has diminished**\n\n > Dedicated cardiac branches of the vagus and thoracic spinal accessory nerves **impart parasympathetic control of the heart (myocardium)**\n\nOr see this paper about the heart nervous system in heart transplant patients:\n\n_URL_1_\n\n > Furthermore, the exercise capacity in denervated HTx recipients seems to be diminished because **denervated hearts must rely on circulating, rather than cardiac, catecholamines (CAT) release to adapt to the increased needs of exercise,** although this adaptation is insufficient to reach normal heart rate (HR) and contractility.21 Early cardiac denervation in HTx recipients leads to the loss of the normal nocturnal decline in blood pressure.16 **It also causes a higher than normal HR at rest, and, in response to exercise, the HR increases more slowly than normal to reach a lower maximal HR, which descends during recovery from exercise at a slower than normal rate.** In addition, cardiac denervation causes an abnormal cardiac output (CO) response to exercise.",
"Short and very simple answer (in numbered bullets).\n\n1) **The major chemical messenger for fight/flight response is adrenaline (epinephrine).** **It is released into your blood from the \"adrenal\" glands** (they sit on top of your kidneys. They have epinephrine premade and ready for release).\n\n2) **The Adrenal Glands respond directly to nerve impulses from the brain. Nerves are extremely fast.** (Just like a baseball player can swing a bit at a 90mph fast ball in a split second -- your brain sees a tiger charging at you and says 'fire up the fight or flight response').\n\n3) **Your blood pumps very fast, so the message spreads everywhere.** (Roughly 100% of your blood volume is pumped through your heart every minute (avg. cardiac output 4-6L, avg. blood volume \\~5L). Adrenaline makes your heart pump harder and faster (propelling the 'fight or flight' message to your body even faster). (Furthermore your 'most important organs' brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver get like 75% of your cardiac output -- so they get the message louder and faster).\n\n4) **Other nerves in the \"sympathetic nervous system\"** (part of your 'auto-pilot' autonomic nervous system) **control a lot of other specific responses as well.** (Again, nerves are lightning fast -- they locally release a neurotransmitter (a chemical that conducts a nerve's message to an organ or muscle) called 'NorEpinephrine' (or NorAdrenalin) at a number of specific organs -- an example is your pupils getting big. This nervous input also occurs to increase heart rate). \n\n\nTL;DR : Nerve signals are lightning fast and start up the increased heart rate / big pupils stuff. Nerves also tell your body to release adrenaline into blood. Blood travels really quickly to the major organs.",
"At rest, your blood flows at 4 miles per hour. But your body is only about 5.5 feet tall. So if you do some math, you can say that your blood travels from toe to skull once every second (if you talk big blood vessels it is a little bit faster, if you talk small vessels it is way slower).\n\nWhen you get scared, your heart beats faster which makes your blood flow faster. Up to about twice as fast.\n\nThat means it only takes half a second (a little less) for blood from anywhere in your body to get anywhere else if it travels through the big blood vessels.\n\nThen consider that when scared, your adrenaline is starting from your kidney. It enters your blood in the middle of the body so it needs less time to get to the important places.",
"As said before, blood travels at roughly 3mph. That sounds really slow, until you realize it’s about 4.4 feet (140cm)/sec. Nerve transmissions are a couple of orders magnitude faster (60-100m/sec, depending on nerve type). \n\nSo, also as said before, brain receives and processes the stimulus very quickly (signals can go 10cm, or one side of the brain to another, in 0.1sec or less. \n\nParasympathetic blocks at this point (norepinephrine released in the brain), so sympathetic runs without restraint (fight or flight kicks in). One or two tenths of a second later, the impulses hit the adrenals, which release adrenaline into the bloodstream. It then travels less than a foot, in less than a couple tenths of a second, to receptors in the heart and lungs (heart rate, heart force, artery compression, breath rate, and breath volume all increase). This is why your startle response usually goes “oh sh^t .. OH SH^T”. \n\nIt takes a couple seconds longer to get to the skin (sweat, and either hot or cold skin depending on core body needs - more blood or dump heat).",
"Hey! So hormones dont actually work very quickly at all. In fact they move quite slow! Hormones get created in response to certain internal or external stimuli and then shipped through the body via the blood stream. As they move through your body they interact with different areas and cause wide spread responses. Think of them as slow, whole body action grenades. The high speed action molecule you are thinking of is a neurotransmitter.\n\nNeurotransmitters are small molecules that are directly targeted at specifics areas to create instant responses. A good example is seratonin dumps in your brain when something goes happens to you! Cells in your brain will dump large amounts of seratonin or dopamine into the areas between cells ( the synaptic cleft ) and these molecules will bounce around like pinballs dinging receptors that then cause other cells to do the same. These kind of interactions happen really quickly in a target area and tend to have short term effects on your body. \n\nSo if your body needs a fast fight or flight type response like being excited by a kiss, it will use neuro transmitters to communicate across cells. If it wants a slow and steady change to the body like increasing muscle it will use an hormone like testosterone that it can ship throughout the body via the blood stream.\n\nTldr: Hormones are slow, and illicit whole body reactions, neurotransmitters are quick targeted reactions between cells."
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4bmwrp | how do young people from places like europe and australia afford to travel extensively not work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bmwrp/eli5_how_do_young_people_from_places_like_europe/ | {
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"Just like in America, there are people with rich parents who fund these sorts of things for them. And like in America, some people save up money so they can travel for a while. However, people in the U.S. are more likely to go to college right after high school, and may save travels for things like spring break and studying abroad.\n\nYou're not really getting a representative sample. Of course you're much more likely to meet people from other countries who are frequent travelers--you don't meet all the people who stay home!",
"Many don't have to pay, or pay much, for college since it's subsidized heavily by the government. Also, they are much less likely to own a car and thus don't pay for all the car related costs (payments, maintenance, insurance, gas). So compared to an American 18-25 year old, they would have more money available for travel from gifts, jobs, etc. Also, many countries do have a military/service requirement and so they save their income from that year to travel... my wife grew up in Israel, where all are required to serve 2-3 years in the defense forces, and many spent a few months to a year post-military traveling to India, Thailand, Australia, South America before going to college or getting a job.",
"I've got a few friends from different places where a \"gap year\" is very common, almost expected if you have the means. If you plan on going to University in those countries there's not as much pressure to immediately go on to the higher education immediately after high school like in the US. In the United States the work culture is different from other places in the world and one of those cultural differences is that after high school you almost always go either straight to a 4-year University, a 2-year community college, a tech or trade school, or enter the work force. Those, or some combination of those, are the choices most frequently given to the average high school student and the option of not \"getting to it\" isn't really offered too frequently. Part of this is because of the process in which school semesters happens in the US and the way the University application process goes. \n\n\n\n\n\nI actually just learned this the other day, in the United States, where I live, application to University is usually done around October to December at the latest if you plan on going to that following year's Fall semester. You know what college you're going to before you even graduate in most cases. However, in Australia, for example, is very different, you graduate your final grade before you even apply to school so there's no rush. Whereas in the United States you have to apply before you're even done with high school if you want to join at the same time as everybody else. As well, the job market in the US is so competitive that you need to either go to University or College or work towards advancing your degree if that's the route you decide and the later you start on that the later you'll be behind everybody else you're competing with for the limited number of jobs. \n\n\n\n\nIt's a multi-fold issue but it's mostly that kids that can afford it or kids whose parents can afford to send them to another country for a year just to have fun or to teach English or something take the opportunity before getting down to work because they know if you don't you won't really get the same opportunity until you're either working in a company that provides for you to live abroad or until you're old enough to retire and go back and do those things. In the US we mostly just try to do that during summer vacation because that's the way our school years are divvied up. \n\n\n\n\nHope I answered your question without wall-of-texting you to death :P",
"If you have a lot of energy and low standards, it is possible to travel very cheaply. You spend a year living in poverty and putting every penny in the bank (often still living at home), maybe get some help from your family, get a few thousand together and you are off.\n\nTravelling like this means sleeping in hostels, camping, taking buses, sleeping in train stations, hitchhiking, walking, crap food, sometimes missing meals, and being dirty a lot of the time. It means you spend a good portion of your day simply figuring out how you are going to eat and sleep.\n\nIt also means working. I was in Vietnam and Cambodia last fall, and ran into a lot of the your people you describe. Many of them will find a resort (and I use that term loosely) that will let them tend bar for room and board and keep their tips. They do that for a week or too until they have saved up for the next thing.",
"I'm from Denmark and I took two gap years before starting college. I worked for six months, travelled for six months, came back and worked six months and then went travelling again. It was possible because I lived at home, college is free here, wages are relatively high and I travelled in countries with a lower price level than Denmark. ",
"I'm from the UK and moved to Australia when I was 21, I tried the whole backpacking and traveling thing, not my cup of tea, so I settled in Melbourne and got a job. I met loads of people who were doing exactly as you described 'chilling out, partying and not working' they call it living the dream. What I learnt was, they don't tell anyone that they are living off $2 noodles and toast, drinking cheap boxed wine ($8 for 4 litres) before hey go and party. They then don't buy another drink all night and go back to their cheap hostel and repeat tomorrow. This roughly equates to 40-45 australian dollars a day, that's for them to eat, drink and sleep. At the current exchange rate that is around £20. Let's say the average wage in the UK is £300 a week (I'm not sure on this so correct me if I'm wrong) that equates to 15 days of living the dream! Most of these people are young, lived with parents and had no finiacial outgoings, saving pretty much all of their weekly wage. \n\nThat's how I have seen it done anyway. I could be completely wrong and this could be a minority!!"
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2zic81 | why does more electronic storage cost more? | I'm just curious. I hope this isn't a silly question, but why for example does the 32gb iphone cost a lot more than the 16gb one?
Or computers for example. Why is 2TB of memory so expensive?
Surely the actual production of a 'bigger chip' doesn't cost the manufacturers any more? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zic81/eli5_why_does_more_electronic_storage_cost_more/ | {
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"In some cases, the manufacturing process is a lot more complex to make the item that has more storage, even if it isn't physically any bigger.\n\nIn other cases, they make many storage devices, all with the higher amount of storage. Some of them are faulty, and can't store as much as they're supposed to, so they get re-configured as lower storage devices and sold off cheaper.\n\nIn the case of the iPhone (since you specifically mention it), the amount you pay for a bit of extra storage is far more than the cost of that extra storage. They charge this much purely because they know that some people will pay for it. At the end of the day, remember if you're asking \"why does something cost X\", the reason is usually because that's what people will pay for it, far more than because that's what it costs to make. But this is especially true in high-end devices like iPhones.",
"You're partially paying for the research that went into making something that much data into something that is physically so small."
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3bql8g | how can a torrent that is said to have 0 seeds and 0 leechers download just as fast as a torrent with hundreds? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bql8g/eli5_how_can_a_torrent_that_is_said_to_have_0/ | {
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"I think some torrents might include out-of-BitTorrent sources.\n\nlike a back-up HTTP/FTP server used to initially seed the data exactly when there is no in-torrent seeds.\n\nor there might be other P2P networks.\n\nActually magnet-URI was exactly designed - among other goals - to download files from several p2p networks and/or non-p2p sources at the same time.\n\nSome tools like Shareaza may take advantage of it (not that I would recommend Shareaza for torrents though).",
"the S/L count on the torrent site isnt \"real\" , if your torrentclient tells you there are 0/0 seeds/leechers you will NOT be able to download the torrent.\n\nonce upon a time torrent relied on tracker... nowadys stuffs a little more decentralized\n\nheres a old TF article from 2009 that explains some of this stuff:\n\n_URL_0_\n\ntl;dr: magnet links, DHT, PEX and magic pixiedust",
"You can't download a file without and seeds or leechers. The seeds/leechers count in a BitTorrent client should be correct, but the count on sites are usually not for several reasons:\n\n* The site probably only checks the trackers, while proper clients also use DHT and peer exchange.\n* The seeds/leechers count on the site might be outdated. The tracker list on the site probably lists the last update time and lets you refresh the count.\n* Some torrents have a link to the content on a regular file server so it can be downloaded using HTTP for example. This functions like a seed (aside from using a different protocol), but is rarely included in the seed count, even by the download client.\n* Some trackers might be unreachable or unsupported by the site's software.",
"Simply because the information is false. It could be for a number of reasons but if you get data down then there are seeds that send it. "
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2puzjx | why do i feel sharp pains in my pelvis and ass when i see videos of people getting hurt? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2puzjx/eli5_why_do_i_feel_sharp_pains_in_my_pelvis_and/ | {
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"I've tried to research this and not come up with much, but I've been searching for a sensation between my navel and solar plexus. ",
"Physical empathy?\n\n_URL_0_"
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axtb7j | why does an open wound/abrasion not hurt when touched underwater? | If I scrape my knee from a fall, why does it hurt to touch but does not when I am submerged in water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/axtb7j/eli5_why_does_an_open_woundabrasion_not_hurt_when/ | {
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"You’re overloading the nerves with water pressure so that a touch won’t be noticed like it would out of water.",
"Until the wound crusts over, it continues to suffer damage from osmotic pressure (oozing) and oxidation. Putting the wound in water slows this down by slowing down the disruptions along the exposed cell membranes. \nThat's basically how aloe vera gel works as a pain reliever, except it has long carbohydrate chains which further slow down damage. \nThis make it hurt less because the damage and inflammation also affect the nerve endings in the skin. Once you reduce the ongoing tissue changes from drying And inflammation, the nerve endings stop firing as much, and you'd need more pressure to cause pain."
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3qdm7i | how do immigrants just move to another country? how is this possible? | I'm an Australian who lived in the UK for two years on a youth mobility visa. While there I noticed a really high population of Jamaicans, Indians, Pakistani people, etc.
How do they just move to the UK and live and work legally? I've even noticed it in Australia, where people working regular, legal jobs can't even speak English, but like in the country legally, and I've always been curious how they actually move to the country. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qdm7i/eli5_how_do_immigrants_just_move_to_another/ | {
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"Between the late 40s and early 70s, a lot of people emigrated to Britain while their countries were still part of the empire. You'll notice that all of the Nations you mentioned are commonwealth countries. \n\nOnce you have family in the country it's a lot easier to get an immigration visa. "
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2txahw | why should i believe the accuracy of any national poll, if i (or anybody i know) has never participated in any of them? | You'll often hear news pundits, magazines, or other forms of media referring to national polls about politics, preferences, education, etc. I'm aware of companies like Gallup. But I find it hard to believe their sample size is large enough to make such broad claims about 350 million people. Can they possibly have a sample size large enough to generalize an entire nation? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2txahw/eli5_why_should_i_believe_the_accuracy_of_any/ | {
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"Yes. Polling what seems like a small number of people to make broad claims about 350 million people is a fairly exact science. The hard part is getting a good representative sample, and controlling for variables. I forget which election it was, but the polls showed a landslide victory for one candidate, and he lost. This was because they did the polls by phone, and the people that were home at a time they could take the poll were not a good representation of the people that vote. When a poll fails, it's because of mistakes like that, not because of not polling enough people.",
" > Can they possibly have a sample size large enough to generalize an entire nation?\n\nThat's the beauty of random samples. It doesn't matter how large the population is, just how large the sample is, and you can get results with small margins of error with sample sizes in the hundreds or thousands.\n\nThink about it this way: you know that one of your friends flipped a coin 100,000 times, and another did it 100,000,000 times. If you ask them both for the results of 100 random flips, will you have a more accurate idea of what your first friend got overall, since you get a larger percentage of his flips? No, they're equally likely to be close to 50/50, which should be what both got.\n\nNow, pollsters can vary in how they draw their samples (true random samples of the nation aren't possible), as well as how they design their surveys, so there can be variation, and it's always good to look at more than one poll. Even with perfect polling, there can be weird results through random chance. The reality, though, is that many of these pollsters base their reputation on accurate results, and they'd lose business if they were consistently wrong."
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4o7peg | how can crocodiles never stop growing? | Would it be possible with enough daily food for a crocodile to grow to the size of a bus for example? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4o7peg/eli5_how_can_crocodiles_never_stop_growing/ | {
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"Some animals - like humans - will stop growing (mostly) once they enter adult hood. This is simply ingrained into their biology. Other animals do not have this built-in limitation and will grow as much as their environment and diet allow.\n\nHowever, there are still physical limitations mainly as a result of the [Squar-Cube Law](_URL_0_). Mostly, as organisms grow, the grow proportionately. However, proportionate growth is limited in the sense that the weight of the organism will increase faster than its strength.\n\nThis happens because the weight is related to the total volume of the organism (which increases by the cube of the growth factor; if its size increases by a factor of 2, its weight increases by 8) but its strength is related to the cross-sectional area of its muscles and bones (which only increases by the square of the growth factor; if its size increases by a factor of 2, its strength increases by 4)."
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3r67rc | why do city border street signs often list the city's elevation? who cares? | Like [this](_URL_2_) and [this](_URL_0_) and [this](_URL_1_). | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3r67rc/eli5why_do_city_border_street_signs_often_list/ | {
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"A lot of cooking instructions, particularly baking or other things involving the oven, are effected(or affected, can't remember) by the elevation. I don't understand how or why, I just remember seeing it quite often in cooking instructions.",
"Car engines used to have carbureators, which mixed the gas with air before it was injected into the pistons. This fuel-air mixture determines how the engine preforms, the temperature of the burn, the efficiencies of the engine, ect. These had to be set by tightening and loosening screws on the carb, and since air pressues is dependent on altitude you need to know what altitude you are at.\n\nNow days nearly everything is computer controled with automatic fuel injectors, so its not as important.",
"Back in the day, before GPS, determining the exact geographical position of a given location was a painstaking surveying effort. You had to start at the ocean and drive survey markets into the ground, take sightings, do a bunch of math, slowly working inland, one marker at a time. Being able to place he city's official marker with its official location was kind of a big deal, and knowing elevation was a key piece of information.\n\nAlso, in the western US, elevation varies a lot, and with it things like weather, vehicle performance, and personal endurance. I took a motorcycle ride today where I went from 5000 feet to 10,000, and it when from a 70^o day to snow on the ground. Knowing the town I just drove through was at 8,000 feet helped me extrapolate what the weather would be like at the top of the pass."
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"http://epochgetaways.s3.amazonaws.com/public/img/getaway/small/sandiegosign.jpg"
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2xlyz8 | why do american toilets clog up so much? | I'm from Australia and I see so many posts about American's having their toilets clog up, needing a plunger to fix it. And then it can back up and spill everywhere.
Why does this happen? I hardly never see this here. Is it the weather? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xlyz8/eli5_why_do_american_toilets_clog_up_so_much/ | {
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"America got indoor plumbing in a big way before most other countries. This is cool and it's cool to be ahead of the game but it mostly meant that now America is way behind in toilet technology. Both in that many people literally just have physically very old toilets designed decades ago but also that the standards for american toilets are way less modern than other countries. \n\nit's the same reason America really really is weirded out by bidets but other countries see them as totally normal. ",
"The US passed the Energy Policy Act of 1992 which determined that after 1994, common toilets can only use 1.6 gallons of water per flush.\n\nWhile this saved water, it made the toilets less powerful at flushing large amounts of solid waste, resulting in higher rates of clogging.",
"America uses \"siphon\" toilets. The bowl fills up with a lot of water, and then gets sucked down into the sewage line through a siphon.\n\nMost places ... don't. They used a forced water toilet where jets of water literally shove the waste into the sewage system.\n\nForced water toilets clog less often. This is why non-private toilets are usually this type (bathroom at work, the mall, ect).\n\nI'm sure siphon toilets have an advantage, it can't just be cost. They're more sensitive to water pressure, maybe that's it.",
"Thanks guys. It's something I always wondered about",
"On another note that hasn't been mentioned, Americans consume a lot (product-wise) and probably over-use toilet paper. People also like to put stuff in toilets that don't belong, like tampons and their applicators.",
"Sometimes the toilet pipe diameter is different. In Australia I think it is more commonly 100 mm (4.54 in). In the United States, 3 inch and 4 inch toilet pipes are the most common. "
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5ssnj5 | how do postal services between two nations work? since postage is paid in the originating country, who pays for the movement within the destination country? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ssnj5/eli5_how_do_postal_services_between_two_nations/ | {
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"The originating postal service pays the destination postal service. It is one of the reasons international shipping is more expensive.",
"In theory, roughly equal amounts of post are sent in both directions and it all works out. The money paid in the originating country pays to get that item to the destination country and also to deliver another item which was sent from the destination country.\n\nIn practice, it won't always balance. Postal services make payments to each other for any significant imbalance in the volume of post sent each way, either based on the number of items or the total weight.",
"The destination country essentially delivers the mail for free. At the end of the year, if the mail exchanged between countries was about the same, they call it a wash. Both countries benefit from being able to easily exchange mail, and it is not worth the effort to figure out exactly who owe who what.\n\nIf there is a large imbalance, like there is between the US and China, the country sending more mail will pay the other one at the end of the year. There is a UN organization that manages this, although some countries come to their own agreements.\n\n"
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8pb3n0 | -in all my science classes i've been taught "like dissolves like" referring to polar and non-polar solvents. what causes this effect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8pb3n0/eli5in_all_my_science_classes_ive_been_taught/ | {
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"Polar molecules are attracted to each other due to their dipoles. Therefore it's easy for them to combine into one homogeneous substance.\n\nSo it's really hard for a non-polar molecule to dissolve in polar solvents because they're not attracted to the solvent at all (whereas the solvent is attracted to itself since all the molecules are polar) so there's no real connecting the two to create a mixture/solution.\n\nIt's also hard for a polar molecule to dissolve in a non-polar solvent because of the same reason (no attraction forces between the two substances).\n\nAs for why non-polar can dissolve non-polar, that's due to the LACK of attraction forces between ANY of the molecules, so you can mix them all up with no resistance.\n\nYou can visualize all this by imagining a bunch of magnets as polar molecules and a bunch of plastic balls as non-polar molecules.\n\nIf I throw a bunch of magnets into a group of more magnets, all the magnets are going to stick to each other.\n\nIf I throw a bunch of magnets into a ball pit, the magnets will stay together, but not attract any of the balls.\n\nSimilarly, if i throw a bunch of balls into a tub of magnets, the balls will just sit there and not break apart the magnets.\n\nBut if I throw a bunch of balls into a ball pit, all the balls will mix together.\n\n"
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77ma0i | how doctor can guide a catheter through your body | By example, when doing angioplasty, doctors can guide a catheter through your arm or your groin and they are able to access small artery circling the heart. I'm just wondering how can they make sure the catheter get into the right pipe. I mean, it's like trying to push a cord through a clothe, it's hard as hell. Unless they use some unknown to me tricks. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/77ma0i/eli5_how_doctor_can_guide_a_catheter_through_your/ | {
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"It really is that simple. All blood vessels lead to the heart, so it's like threading a needle through a straw until they get it where it needs to be. They just need to be *really* careful not to rupture anything. Blood is only supposed to be in the heart or in the blood vessels. It's a problem if blood is anywhere else.",
"Different catheters have slightly different shapes. They usually have some form of curve at the tip, which causes the tip to point in a certain direction. They also contain markers which show up on X-ray, because plastic doesn't usually show up (typically heavy metals like platinum or gold). \n\nThe catheter is also designed to be flexible when bent, but very stiff when twisted. This allows the doctor to roll the catheter between their fingers, so that the tip can be pointed in a specific direction. There are many different shapes available: straight, 45 degree angle at the tip (1-2 cm long), right angle, hairpin turn, \"shepherd's crook\" and others; and these are all available in different tip lengths/radius to suit the requirement. \n\nThe property of the catheter can be affected by inserting a fine wire through the catheter, so it pops out the other end. These wires have different stiffness, different shapes of tip and different coatings which can cause them to catch on edges or follow blood vessels. \n\nKnowing where to go and where the wire/catheter is requires a detailed knowledge of anatomy. An X-ray opaque dye can also be injected via the catheter to show up the blood vessel where it is, and to see the blood vessel you want. Once you have an X-ray image showing the way you want to go, you can freeze frame it and use it as a reference. Put the wire back, move it around, until it catches and goes in the direction you want. \n\nSo the typical process would go as follows:\nLarge artery is punctured and a wide, short catheter (often called a sheath) inserted, with a rubber seal designed to stay in place, and allow smaller catheters to be inserted, without blood pouring out.\nA stiff guide wire is inserted, and guided using X-ray until it gets close to the destination, or until a tight turn needs to be made. \nA suitable shaped catheter is selected, and inserted onto the back end of the wire. The catheter is then pushed over the wire, until the tip of the catheter reaches the tip of the wire.\nThe shape of the catheter can steer the wire in one direction or another. The wire can be retracted and advanced to change the stiffness and shape of the catheter tip, to help with positioning.\nThe wire can then be removed, and dye injected through the catheter to see where the appropiate arteries are. \nThe catheter and, optionally, the wire are then adjusted to try and \"catch\" one of the arteries. \nThe wire is then pushed into the desired artery. Once it is advanced far enough up the artery that it is held in the artery by friction, the catheter can be pushed up along the wire, with the wire guiding it into the artery.\nThe wire is then removed, and the catheter is now in place with access to the artery of interest. "
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64p7oe | if a flight's overbooked, why would a seated passenger be forced to leave for someone who isn't seated? wouldn't it be first come first serve? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64p7oe/eli5_if_a_flights_overbooked_why_would_a_seated/ | {
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"With regards to the [recent situation involving United Airlines](_URL_0_) it wasn't that the flight was overbooked, but rather it was full and United needed to transfer four employees to another airport and therefore needed space on the plane.\n\nThey took ~~the last four passengers to book the flight~~ four passengers chosen randomly by a computer and asked them to leave. They are allowed to do this.\n\nThis is my understanding, anyway.",
"It's more like \"first priority, first served\". In the particular case you're thinking of, the airline needed to transport flight crew so they bumped coach passengers. You could also get bumped because someone with a higher ticket category (business class vs. coach) needed the seat or there was a traveller with some sort of emergency (the fellow transporting a donor organ, for example).\n\nIn terms of being already seated, this is obviously an undesirable situation - not for the least reason that its far more disruptive to remove a passenger once they're seated - but the seating process may have already occurred when its discovered that the seat is needed for someone else.",
"When a flight is overbooked, the flight attendant on the ground asks you nicely if you'd rather fly a different flight and they will compensate you economically. If they can find enough people to do that, it's fine. If not, the last ones to come are placed in a different flight, but still compensated economically for it (or given free flights). ",
"Moreover, wouldn't a policy of simply \"no refunds for no shows\" take care of the need to overbook period? You no-show, airline still gets their ticket money, everyone is happy.",
"The short answer is that they are unorganized as fuck. First to go is whoever paid the least amount for the ticket. They are so greedy that it's not enough to sell a flight out, they have to oversell every flight by like 17 percent and hope for no shows. It's disgraceful greed. Plenty of people have walked off of planes in tears, missing important things in life through NO fault of their own for no other reason than a revolting need to please stock holders. They sure don't pay most of the people you see much more than minimum wage, and they are difficult jobs, and they miss every holiday. There has to be a line, even in making money that employees and customers are treated like human beings. It's gross. ",
"Given that Louisville is about a four and one half hour drive from Chicago, it is not clear why the extra flight crew had to fly to their destination. It also seems exceedingly odd that an airline would consider it acceptable to have a customer wait about 18 hours to take a half-hour flight which could be driven in under 5 hours. The airline may have been within its rights but United was sorely lacking in commonsense. ",
"Given this is probably inspired by the United thing, I'll answer off that first. It was handled in a way that was completely wrong. In my 200 flights in the last year and a half I have NEVER seen it handled like that. They completely fucked up and it's a bad example of how it's supposed to work. I think what happened is they boarded and then realized they had to get a crew of four to another city so they could be the crew members on another flight because of the recent storms that stranded a ton of people for days. \n\nWhat should/usually happens is pre boarding they ask for volunteers to give up their seat. Continually raising the amount in vouchers they'll give you. They generally don't board the plane till this is figured out. Usually this is caused by overbooking or stand by passengers who missed a connecting flight because of weather/other unforeseen events. Once they have enough volunteers they have them wait and not board, asking them to sit off somewhere. Then about 20-30 later once they have boarded everyone else they'll either tell none/some/all the volunteers if they need them to board or if they'll put them on another flight. If the airlines lucky a few people don't show to the flight or missed a connecting so those volunteers will still get to go home. If they need those seats they'll cut the volunteers a voucher and schedule them for the next available flight to their destination. You're told in advance when the next flight you'll be put on when you volunteer so it's not a guessing game. ",
"I just find it bewildering how nobody would take the $800 they offered up first, I've never made $800 in a week in my life! These ARE coach passengers right? "
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3bps3t | why do artists (musicians, photographers, graphic designers etc.) predominantly use macs to produce their work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bps3t/eli5_why_do_artists_musicians_photographers/ | {
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"As much as it pains me to say this they are solid machines and with that kind of work the hardware it has make sense. The laptops are also nicely built with a good battery and some nice features like the magsafe(?) charger. From what I understand the Apple OS's have some nice exclusive software for that kind of work. ",
"The programs provided for free on macs are very good for audio and video editing compared to free software on windows",
"Nowadays, there really isn't a good reason to use macs over pcs, unless one only knows how to use the mac exclusive software. Its largely a holdover from the past. A lot of the best creative software was only available on macs, or had mac exclusive features. Not the case anymore. Macs also tended to use relatively high end components, thats not to say you couldn't build an equivalently powered pc. It has pretty much been the case for a very long time that you could build an equivalent pc for less than a mac. However apple simply had a reputation for customer service and quality components, that was important to people who were less tech savvy but still needed good performance out of your machine. ",
"Inertia. At one point, Macs had better software for those sort of things. Now, PCs are just as good but the artists are used to Macs and PC users are generally mocked. ",
"Software, I've asked and people just say things look prettier and Mac's are kinda meant for that kind of stuff. Aren't they?",
"I wrote this a few days ago for a similar question:\n\nMusic production (and other creative fields) was a market Apple targeted from the early days while Microsoft was more focused on business.\n\nMusic software for live performances requires low latency, that is from the time you press a button to the time you hear a sound you want it to only be a few milliseconds. This is something that was supported on Mac OS early on, but didn't get added to Windows until Vista. There was 3rd party support for Windows called ASIO that provided low latency audio, but it never worked as well as CoreAudio on the Mac.\n\nMacs also came with Firewire ports, while PCs didn't have them as often. Firewire worked better for low latency audio interfaces with more than 2 channels (something that's required for DJing). I seem to remember that 4+ channel USB audio interfaces didn't get popular until after about 2008 or so.\n\nOS X also has aggregate sound devices which are virtual audio interfaces where you can use several separate audio interfaces as one and OS X will keep all the audio in sync between them.\n\nOS X has audio units which are audio processing plugins like compressors, limiters, EQs, etc that can be used by any audio software on the Mac. There is also VST which is cross platform.\n\nOS X has it's own file format for loop files. Short bits of music that have their bpm, beats, key stored in the file so you can add them to music and they automatically beat / pitch match. There are also acid loops, but I don't think the format is open and it had to be reverse engineered for other software to use them.\n\nWith better support for audio, developers often focused on the Mac, so musicians bought Macs and the cycle continued. Apple also has it's own music production software like Logic Pro and Garage Band which draws musicians to the Mac. It also means there are lots of audio unit plugins for DJs to use.\n\nYou can see this happening again with iOS and Android. iPhones & iPads have 6 or 7 milliseconds of latency whereas Android is all over the place. The best Android device has 15ms latency, but that's with Samsungs special audio support, the best standard Android device is 29ms and the best Android 4 device is 39ms. All the good audio apps are only coming to iOS.\n",
"The original Mac architecture was built around the idea that it would be used for graphics. (Don't ask for details. That's way over my head.) This made the hardware and operating system more accommodating to graphics programs like Photoshop and Quark XPress. The original Mac displays had a resolution of 72 dpi because in typography the basic unit of measurement is the point, which is 1/72 inches. This made it easy to display type on the screen in the actual size it would be printed at. Early Macs also had built-in font activation and handling. The Macs were using WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) while the PCs were still running DOS. And the Macs had built-in sound when a sound card was an optional add-on for the PC.\n\nThis early head start made the Mac more attractive to artists and graphic designers, while its easy to use graphical interface attracted other creative types who just wanted to practice their art without having to become computer experts.\n\nThese differences pretty much disappeared some years ago. As a graphic designer, I still think I get some intangible advantages from the Mac, but it's probably just that I'm used to it after 20+ years. Since 2001 the Mac OS has been based on Unix, which gives it a robustness that Windows has never achieved, and its small market share keeps it unpopular with malware makers.",
"Some of these answers are pretty good, but there's an aspect to this that nobody has really gotten into.\n\nApple takes aesthetics and design *really* seriously, and the wider design community takes Apple's efforts along these lines seriously. Over the last decade, as Apple has become more successful, many other hardware and software companies have started to pay some attention to these things, but it's still the case that in the design world, Apple is respected in a way that other technology company's aren't (e.g. there are Apple products in the [MoMA](_URL_0_) permanent collection), a status they've earned through long, extensive, and deliberate effort.\n\nUsers who work in artistic or design fields often appreciate this aspect of Apple's products.",
"When I worked in the photographic industry, years ago, I repeatedly heard that Macs were popular for graphics work because the colour balance of the screens was identical to that of various brands of photographic paper, which made colour matching easier. How much truth there was to that, I don't know. ",
"iMacs have large, very high quality screens, which are important when you are working with images. In particular they have very good colour reproduction, so you can make sure than your colours are exactly right.\n\nAlso, they are much more reliable. They almost never crash, which is a huge bonus when you are working on stuff that is very RAM-intensive, such as visual effects work.\n\nThe reason for these benefits is that absolutely everything is manufactured and controlled by Apple. The hardware is not customizable like PC's are, so everything is designed to work together flawlessly - for example the graphics chip and the screen are designed for each other. Whereas Windows has to support an infinite combination of components from different manufacturers, so obviously there are going to be occasional problems.",
"In the past, there was high-end exclusive software on Macs for media production.\n\nThe two that come to mind are Pro Tools (industry standard for recording music), and a Final Cut Pro, which was the #2 video editing platform (and preferred by newer & younger editors) and arguably crept up to #1 just before they botched Final Cut X by simplifying it and removing pro features in its initial release.\n\nNowadays Pro Tools is owned by Avid and available on PC, and Final Cut Pro has lost the small/young/hip pro user base to Adobe Premier, with Avid still #1 for bigger, more established outfits.",
"Inertia.\n\nPhotoshop was originally released on Mac and was streets ahead of anything else on the market. Apple took that and ran with it. They had ad campaigns pushing Macs as \"the computer for creative people\".\n\nThese days, the entire Adobe suite is available on both Mac and Windows, as is a lot of other software used in the \"creative industries\", whether that be music, film making or graphic design, etc. Apple also make very well-designed products that people like using, and they have the legacy of those days when a lot of creative software was only available on Mac OS.\n\nThey also had their own Photo software (Aperture) and Film Editing software (Final Cut), which were only available on OSX, so if you wanted to use them instead of the Adobe options, then you *had* to buy a Mac.\n\nHowever, they're now losing share in Creative Industries - they loused up the jump from Final Cut Pro 7 to FCP X, losing a lot of pro film users, and they've just discontinued Aperture (as well as binning iPhoto) in favour of their all-in-one consumer and pro app \"Photos\", so quite a few people will be jumping to Adobe Lightroom.\n\nNow, they might still be running Lightroom on a Mac, but when it comes to buy new hardware, they'll have the option since things like PS, Lightroom and Premiere Pro run on Windows *and* OSX, whereas before it would have been a matter of replacing their Mac. Now they are on platform-agnostic software they can weigh up cost/benefit of MS vs Apple.\n\nThat dip in creative professionals though has been more than made up for by their surging market share in the consumer marketplace though."
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axs4xs | how am i able to eat a bag of salty chips so easily without it being 'too salty' for my body to handle? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/axs4xs/eli5_how_am_i_able_to_eat_a_bag_of_salty_chips_so/ | {
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"Excess \"salt\" is expelled by your body in the urine your kidneys produce. Therefore the level of salt in your body is always regulated and never too high or too low. You could even eat a tablespoon of pure salt and your body will be able to expell most of it, as long as you drink enough water which can carry the extra salt away once it becomes urine.",
"Also, your taste buds become desensitized to the taste, so your mouth doesn’t feel like it’s too salty after the first few bites.\n\nYou may also notice you get thirsty during or after the chip consumption. This is the body’s call to dilute or water down the salt.",
"Your body regulates the salinity of your blood, lymph and in cells all separately, trying to keep extra salt in you blood where it can be expelled through your kidneys. That's part of why your blood pressure changes when you eat salt, blood and lymph flow goes into overdrive. It will tend to stay that way until you drink more water if you eat too much salt though."
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bobzrz | how does monopolistic competition differ from a regular monopoly / oligopoly? | I have a major microeconomics exam coming up later this week and even after watching like 30 minutes of youtube videos on the topic, I'm still not 100% clear. Thanks in advance! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bobzrz/eli5_how_does_monopolistic_competition_differ/ | {
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"Here's the various environments in roughly the order you can/should learn them\n\n**Perfect Competition:** In this environment, several producers make *the exact same good*. Because the output from any firm is a perfect substitute for the output from any other firm, no producer has any leeway to charge a price above exactly what it cost to produce the good. \n\n**Monopoly:** In this environment, only one firm produces the good. Because they don't face any competition, they are free to set a price above cost and will typically do so. An industry dominated by a monopoly will have higher prices and less output than if that industry were competitive. \n\n**Oligopoly:** In this environment, a very small number of producers make *the exact same good*. The consequences of this can vary depending on how exactly you model the \"game\" the companies play (see for example Cournot competition vs. Bertrand competition). \n\n**Monopolistic Competition:** In this environment, several producers make *slightly different goods*. This is a departure from all of the models above. In anything above, we're thinking about a good like concrete. All concrete is basically the same, and the different firms that make concrete don't offer special \"flavors\" of it. Monopolistic competition applies more to the market for sodas. Some people just don't consider Coke and Pepsi to be perfect substitutes, so their producers can charge those people a bit more than it cost to make the sodas. The term \"monopolistic competition\" comes from the idea that each firm is a monopoly in its extremely specific market sector, but the markets are related enough that their choices are constrained by some competitive forces. Coke can charge *a bit more* than cost, but it can't charge a crazy high price and still expect to sell soda."
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6mzz78 | why software developers use error codes and not just say exactly what is wrong? | Was playing Watch_Dogs 2 and was unable to connect to the servers. Instead of just saying "No internet connection" It says a bunch of gibberish. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mzz78/eli5_why_software_developers_use_error_codes_and/ | {
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"An error code can display information much more efficiently than a message that displays the exact problem. So there will be an error code for \"could not connect to the server because of reason x\", one for \"could not connect to the server because of reason y\", and another for \"could not connect to the server because of reason z\". So instead of displaying a detailed description to the user, they'll display a code because it's easier to display in the application and because it's faster to determine exactly what's happening if you're already familiar with the error code",
"Drop a bucket of water and then explain to a cactus exactly what just happened, including the events leading up to you dropping a bucket and what you were thinking about while it happened.\n\nOr you could just shrug, say \"error code 346-17\" and move on with your day while the cactus farmer cleans up the mess.\n\nAn error code is not for the user, its for the developer/programmers. They have a list of codes that mean various things that the end user couldn't do anything with even if they understood the problem.",
"The gibberish is generally helpful to the developers, and usually comes in the form of a 'stack trace'. This is essentially the list of functions the program was working on at the time that the error occurred. There will also be a technical cause for the error, probably due to trying to access an invalid part of memory.\n\n\nIf the error comes up enough they can try to catch it and replace the gibberish with something helpful to the user, but that relies on coding a way of catching that particular error, handling it, and recovering the program to a usable state. ",
"Error codes report on the specific fault or symptom, not \"what is wrong\". \n\nAn error code that translates to \"Couldn't connect to server\" for example, means that *for some reason* the program couldn't connect. \n\nWhat exactly is wrong in that scenario? It could be that your internet connection is down, the server is down, both are down, you turned off your wifi antenna, there's a memory leak in the program's net code, the net code is poorly written, and many, many more possibilities. \n\nSo often, the error will be accompanied by *common* \"what is wrong\" causes of the error code \"Check your internet connection, check your firewall, server busy/try again later, etc.\"",
"Because pieces of code often are used by other code to create more complex programs, and it's much easier to parse numeric codes for errors than interpret plain language error text. Not to mention that they use up less space for storing and transmitting (not much of an argument these days, but very important 20-30 years ago).\n\nAnd in other cases because the programmer though he would look if no one understood his work.",
"Some of this comes from the early days of computers, when they had very limited memory. There wasn't room for full error messages, so a number code was used which people could look up in a reference manual if necessary. That is still somewhat true today when computer programs are built up of many components or modules. These often use a code to pass status (including errors) between them. It is up to the part of the program which tells the user about the error to decode it into a meaningful message, but that may be written by a different person to the rest of the program, and maybe they can't be bothered to provide a message for all the different types of errors which could occur. Or maybe they don't know all the codes which could come back and so they give up and don't bother to decode it. \nSOURCE: Can program computers",
"When you write a program, you add error detection at different locations in your code for all the kinds of things that can potentially go wrong. The error code basically tells the programmer what error detection mechanism was triggered so he knows where to look in his code. These errors are pretty specific and often don't translate 1:1 into something users can make sense of. An explaination for users can (and should) be added though when it makes sense (especially if the user can fix the problem themself, as in your example).",
"Error codes are used to help pinpoint exactly what went wrong.\n\nAs the other guy pointed out, \"couldn't connect\" can be caused by a lot of things...so the developer assigns specific error codes to each possible thing, so that when a thing goes wrong, they can easily identify WHICH thing went wrong, with a specific error code.",
"Two reasons: One, error codes usually aren't intended to be seen by end users. In an ideal world, only a dev will ever see an error code, and the vast majority of their user base have no way to resolve the ones they will see even if they do see them.\n\nTwo, sometimes the program *can't* tell you what happened, really. Especially in the case of crashes, which are literally cases where a situation has occurred that the program has no code for and thus can't continue. In the case of an 'unable to connect' error, there are so many things that could have gone wrong, and the program isn't necessarily equipped to tell you which one is the culprit. Did your internet go down? At what point? Are the servers too busy? Are the servers down? Did you fail some kind of authentication? It might not actually be able to tell.",
"Just to add to the other very good examples, some error codes can be made automatically-self-generating in the code or by the compiler, for example a programmer could write a single simple routine called \"print_error\" and call it 100 or 1000 times from all different spots in the program and get a useful (to them) error code every time in an easy-to-read format.\n\nThat routine could automatically grab some info, that is either compiled in (things called \"preprocessor macros\" can insert things like the name of the file, the name of the function you were inside, the line number of the source code where the call happens, the date / time the file or program was compiled, etc.) or worked out on-the-fly - for example the name of a file you couldn't find, some bit of data you were looking at, etc.\n\nAnother reason for \"meaningless\" (to the end user) codes is that it gives some degree of security and indeed hides embarrassing f**kups from end users.",
"For software developers, codes are convenient because they are searchable and you can look for an exact match. \n\nWords could be shown alongside to make the code human readable, but that means that each error code has to be localized for every language supported by the app, which is a pain. \n\nPlus sometimes it's not desirable to show the user all the internal details about what went wrong, so the opacity provided by the code can be a feature.",
"The biggest reason for gibberish error codes is that these are usually generated automatically when the program fails for some reason. For the program to present you with \"human readable\" error codes, the developer would have to write hundreds of lines of \"translation\" code that would take the \"gibberish\", look up a message to present to the user, and then present it. This is a lot of extra work that does very little to actually *improve* the application. There are other issues as well. For example, the programmer might be writing these messages blind. If the programmer is working on a phone app on a desktop computer and the error message would show up on a phone when there is no coverage, there is probably no way to see and test this error message in a real world environment, or at least it gets much harder to do so.",
"1. Lots of programmers are crap\n2. Communicating the causes of errors clearly to the user is *difficult*; it requires lots of hard work to achieve, it's easy to get it wrong even if you sink in the work, and more importantly, *it's often not seen as a priority*. The company making the game would rather put all that effort into \"cooler\" bits of the game.\n3. It's often impossible to say \"exactly\" what is wrong because, from the point of view of the code, there can be many different causes for the problem it observes. Even your \"No internet connection\" example, if you dig a bit, isn't telling the user exactly what's wrong. Did they lose their WiFi signal? Do they still have their WiFi signal, but their home router lost its connection to the internet? Maybe the home router still has an internet connection, but the user's ISP is experiencing difficulties. How's your game going to figure this out?\n4. When end users experience the program operating incorrectly, developers need to collect information that allows *them* to understand why the program failed, so they can fix it. This information is going to be very different from the information that helps the end users, but it does need to be collected and somehow exposed for the end users to send to the developers.",
"I think I can answer this one.\n\nMost of the time software devs use error codes that are thrown by the environment in which they exist. For example, if you are driving your car and your check engine light comes on, an exception has been caught and handled. The error light is handling the reporting of that error to you, and you can take it to a technician who can troubleshoot it from there. Don't worry, often times no one but Google knows what the error code means, I mean even with cars you need manuals for the codes it throws, in a programmers case it's the traceback we're looking for, that's a log of the last dozen or so commands that happened before everything went to hell, it can usually tell you more than the actual exception. But if you ever see that much in a game then someone really messed up somewhere along the line, it's not that hard to handle exceptions where you expect them to happen, like when a call out to the net is needed.\n\nIn your case it sounds like your computer attempted to call out to the server, probably timed out, and the information it was expecting wasn't returned, now we have an exception. From here the program can do 2 things, it'll crash or it'll handle the error. If I'm smart I know that when I need data from an external source I don't control, there might be times I can't connect. So I'd be wise to wrap that code up in a try/catch that allows us to say \"try this code, and if it throws an exception do this instead...\" Usually the \"do this instead\" is just give the user a more readable, helpful error, and close open connections, write to log files, and explode as gracefully as possible. Sometimes you can get around the lack of data in another way, try another data source maybe, see if there's enough data to continue on without what you were looking for, beg to your god for a way to not make the game crash, whatever you feel is appropriate for the situation.\n\nThere's reasons to give screens like this to users, hopefully some users may google the error code to solve their own problems (wishful thinking on the devs part), another reason is there's probably a function in the code to handle exceptions, I'd guess it gets passed the entire exception object and reports to the user based on that, but there's a chance that the exception text or inner exception might have thrown that unhelpful code which automatically got passed to your screen. \n\nLeading me to the reason I believe this code was shown is this was an environment issue, not a game issue. The game crashed, but it handled it, and it probably didn't know the computer/console had no internet at the time. So the game threw an error citing the environment error it got when it tried to call out, which is that code you saw. I bet if you Google it you'll eventually dig up an article about networking, which might be your first inclination that you're offline. Since the game didn't crash it just passed on the error, devs can't really do much about those errors, it's either inform the user and see if they can handle it at this point or don't, and it's the user's best guess as to what it means.\n\nTo explain like you're 5, the check engine light handles errors thrown by the environment, a flat tire is an unhandled exception. With no TPMS light (we're in an older car in this scenario) to tell us the tire exploded we have some random, mostly unhelpful details. We probably heard a pop, maybe the car is handling like crap, maybe the rolling tire is making a crazy noise, and with no handler for the tire exception we need to use our environment details to troubleshoot the problem. That code you saw would be like hearing a flat tire rolling along the ground, it's a symptom that you can use to figure out the solution that the game didn't have a case for.\n\nTL;DR: No internet access/timing out is an environment error, not a game error, the code you saw was probably thrown by the machine because of a timeout, and the game couldn't interpret it into a human readable error because it has no idea what the machine is doing. At that point it's either show the user and maybe they can fix it, or don't, so you got the code, thanks Watch Dogs 2!",
"An error code lets you know how the program died and a quick glimpse into what kind of error it is. It's like a symptom that would be used as a basis for diagnoses.\n\nWell-structured programs and network protocols tend to have structured, searchable list of status or error codes. For example, part of RFC 2616, the document that describes HTTP 1.1 that we use to browse the World Wide Web, goes great lengths to lay out a structure and specific HTTP status codes. Essentially, it means if an error starts with 4, especially the infamous 404, it's a problem from the client. Conversely, errors led by a 5 are server errors. This kind of structure not only gives a clear indication of what failed, but also who to blame.\n\nWhile programmers can set their programs to spew out any sort of error name or code, it is recommended that they follow a specific scheme that may be applicable. Python programming language has quite an extensive library of error names that are slightly informative, such as NotImplementedError. Why? We don't know. All we know is the feature may not be available, we don't have the correct version of a toolkit, or something else.\n\nNot very useful on its own, but at least that error means our code up until that point is correct, but someone is deliberately saying that part of the code is deliberately not (yet) implemented. If we do not have that function name available at all, it would have become an error about the name not existing instead, which is different.",
"The error codes are tied to the point of the code that encountered a problem, and why that problem was encountered could be many different things so it's hard for an unthinking program to say what was wrong. \n\nI'll give you an example. Lets say that I have an executable that takes your birthday and tells you what chinese year you were born in and what you astrological sign is. When you run the program it asks \"Enter your birthday, month, and year\". The program is expecting integers to be entered and it can't work right if anything other than integers are entered. \n\nSo you put in 11/11/11 and it's not a real birthday but there is an 11th month with at least 11 days and 1911 and 2011 are both valid years, so it would take the input. \n\nBut lets say you entered July 13, 2000. July is not a number and the program is expecting a number so it gives an \"invalid argument\" error that tells you the user nothing. But it tells the developer of the program that the date argument given to the software was invalid. \n\nIn order to make the program give a meaningful lay error like \"Use 07 instead of July and try again\" the author would have to anticipate every possible thing a person could type into the program, and write a way to handle that data. That would be time consuming, overly complicated, and it would not be useful since the idea is spending time on development to get rid of errors, rather than making errors easier to read. "
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nks2h | why a candle wick doesn't burn right to the bottom of the candle | I know there wouldn't be enough oxygen far down a deep candle but what is it about the wax in the candle that keeps the flame from tearing through the wick? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/nks2h/eli5_why_a_candle_wick_doesnt_burn_right_to_the/ | {
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"It is not the wick or even the wax that is burning. It is the vapor of the melted wax in the wick. The part of the wick that actually burns no longer has wax in it.",
"What is happening is that the liquid wax is preventing the wick from burning.\n\nLiquid wax is not flammable. Wax vapor is flammable.\n\nThis is why the wick seems to burn at the same rate as the wax.\n\n > more complicated stuff\n\nNew candles have a wax coated wick for this reason. When you light a candle, it is difficult to start the fire, because there is no wax vapors. You need to melt the wax, then vaporize it before the candle is fully lit.\n\nThe wick is there to pull some of the liquid wax away from the rest of the candle into the fire in order to vaporize the wax.\n\nLets say the wick is too short. The liquid wax below will make the flame small because it is not flammable, and the flame can only vaporize a very small amount of it (only the very tip of the wick will be hot enough).\n\nOn the other hand, if the wick is too long, there won't be enough liquid wax to travel up the wick to prevent the wick from burning, so the wick will burn and naturally shorten it to the right length. Also, the flame will be further away from the solid wax to melt it, so there will be less liquid wax to begin with.\n\nNow for the other comment.\n > I'm not an expert on this in any way but I've found when making candles at home this does happen sometimes. Any thoughts on why? I've had wicks burn straight down to the bottom in a matter of minutes.\n\n I suspect that either the wick/wax combo was not right. Either the wax had a high melting point, or the wick didn't absorb enough wax. It is quite possible that the wick was not thick enough for it to work and it simply burned faster than it could melt/vaporize the wax (that with the fact that it started as a dry wick).",
"It is not the wick or even the wax that is burning. It is the vapor of the melted wax in the wick. The part of the wick that actually burns no longer has wax in it.",
"What is happening is that the liquid wax is preventing the wick from burning.\n\nLiquid wax is not flammable. Wax vapor is flammable.\n\nThis is why the wick seems to burn at the same rate as the wax.\n\n > more complicated stuff\n\nNew candles have a wax coated wick for this reason. When you light a candle, it is difficult to start the fire, because there is no wax vapors. You need to melt the wax, then vaporize it before the candle is fully lit.\n\nThe wick is there to pull some of the liquid wax away from the rest of the candle into the fire in order to vaporize the wax.\n\nLets say the wick is too short. The liquid wax below will make the flame small because it is not flammable, and the flame can only vaporize a very small amount of it (only the very tip of the wick will be hot enough).\n\nOn the other hand, if the wick is too long, there won't be enough liquid wax to travel up the wick to prevent the wick from burning, so the wick will burn and naturally shorten it to the right length. Also, the flame will be further away from the solid wax to melt it, so there will be less liquid wax to begin with.\n\nNow for the other comment.\n > I'm not an expert on this in any way but I've found when making candles at home this does happen sometimes. Any thoughts on why? I've had wicks burn straight down to the bottom in a matter of minutes.\n\n I suspect that either the wick/wax combo was not right. Either the wax had a high melting point, or the wick didn't absorb enough wax. It is quite possible that the wick was not thick enough for it to work and it simply burned faster than it could melt/vaporize the wax (that with the fact that it started as a dry wick)."
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851xy0 | why don’t we have sprinklers in single family homes in the us? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/851xy0/eli5_why_dont_we_have_sprinklers_in_single_family/ | {
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"It's not worth it\n\nA multifamily dwelling is significantly more likely to have a fire than a single family home, the greater likelihood and greater potential damage justifies the increased cost\n\nSprinklers also require regular maintenance to function properly. If you don't drain your sprinklers every few months then they'll fail when you need them. Putting them in a home where you can't ensure maintenance is wasting money as they won't work when needed\n\nThere are about a thousand house fires per day in the US, there are 126 million homes. If sprinklers cost $10k and a burned down house costs $1M then it would take 34 years to pay back the investment. That's not remotely worth it to insurance companies so they don't push for it"
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a0y35c | mitochondrial dna can be inherited from fathers, what is the cell and why did we assume it was only inherited from our mothers given that the statement is true. | \*source: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a0y35c/eli5_mitochondrial_dna_can_be_inherited_from/ | {
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"From the study:\n\n > Our results suggest that, although the central dogma of maternal inheritance of mtDNA remains valid, there are some exceptional cases where paternal mtDNA could be passed to the offspring."
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555ddn | why does sticky tape stick so well to materials such as paper, but so poorly to others such as concrete or human skin? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/555ddn/eli5_why_does_sticky_tape_stick_so_well_to/ | {
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"It's the porousness of the object. Paper has less pores than concrete and the oils of skin are what make certain types of tape less sticky to skin. I.e scotch and packing won't adhere to skin as well as duct tape will due to the type of adhesive. Less pores means more adhesion due to extra room to stick to. More pores means less room. "
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3u7s62 | what is market economy? | I hear this word a lot, especially in relation to China. We think it is good. I want to ask, can market economy be bad? Are there any examples of market economy going bonkers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3u7s62/eli5_what_is_market_economy/ | {
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"If you would like a detailed answer, from someone that's not received a PhD in reddit, I would post this question in r/economics. They are pretty knowledgeable, explain thoroughly, and would give u the eli5 answer you are looking for. I have an Economics degree myself (just undergrad) and I still look up simple theory on that sub for helpful explanations. ",
"If a market economy is bad, then the demand & Supply of products are low.\nthat would affect the GDP.",
"In a market economy, prices are set by supply and demand, without an gov't influence.\n\nNo country has a pure market economy, as there are always some form of gov't subsidies or price controls.\n\nMarket economies can go wrong, resulting in price bubbles and collapses. The financial crisis of the late 2000s is a good example."
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zaix1 | how music travels through wires into speakers | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zaix1/eli5_how_music_travels_through_wires_into_speakers/ | {
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"Speakers only have two wires leading to them. A positive and a negative. So this is easy to be confused by how this shit actually works, when only two wires are used. \n\nSimply put, if you're listening to music (like I am right now), your computer takes the tune and transfers it into a bunch of pulses (like on off pulses, yes/no idea). These pulses travel through the wire to the speakers. The speaker has a magnet at the back, and the magnet takes these pulses and causes the cone to vibrate. The vibrating cone makes the noise, and then you hear John Mayer!\n\nMore complicated explanation, the magnet in the back of the speaker is an electromagnet. As the audio signal (the pulses) travel to the magnet, they increase of decrease the magnetism around the voice coil, which allows the diaphragm or cone to move and create noise. A speaker is a simple transducer, as it turns electric signal into something else: noise. ",
"First, it's important to understand how speakers work. A speaker vibrates and produces a sound because changes in electricity cause a change in a magnetic field which pulls part of the speaker (think of an electromagnet: when you switch it on it will attract magnetic objects, when you switch it off it let's go). When this happens quickly, the speaker vibrates the air and you hear that as sound. Different speeds of vibration correspond to different pitches. So when you play music, what happens is the computer in your music player takes the data about the song and changes it into a set of changes in electricity. Those changes in electricity drive the speaker back and forth and you hear it as the music. "
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2zooy8 | why are english accents used in most film/shows that are set in ancient times? | Is it because it sounds noble? That's my first guess. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zooy8/eli5_why_are_english_accents_used_in_most/ | {
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"That's a pretty good guess. In some cases that's exactly why the Queen's English is used, as that dialect helps to convey the idea of monarchies. In some cases, it's simply to convey the idea that the story takes place in an exotic location, while still keeping the language intelligible.\n\nUltimately though, most films and shows (coming out of Hollywood at least) are intended primarily for viewers in the US. Would you be looking forward to the next season of Game of Thrones if the Starks had Boston accents and the Tyrells and Martells had Texas or Mississippi accents?",
"The same reason most pop songs are sung in an American accent regardless of where the singer is from, and opera is sung in the same generic European accent. It's just the accepted norm.\n\nLooking at it more deeply, I would say it dates back to Shakespeare being so prominent in the world of theatre. Actors are trained to have that classical way of speaking, so it has become synonymous with period and fantasy pieces. A lot of these parts go to British actors and it just becomes accepted that you speak in an English accent, and even non-English actors adopt that accent.\n",
"Because America started in 1776, so there is no \"ancient times\" with an American accent. ",
"I read that it's because it's one of the easier to understand accents across demographics. ",
"Well it's not just an 'English accent', it's a Surrey/ southern accent. It's the Queen's accent. Northern accents are reserved for working class stuff, as is the south London or cockney accent. Nobody really uses the West Country accents, probably mostly used in horror movies, except for Hot Fuzz. ",
"Because once you get back much past the 17th century, period-correct accents and dialects would be basically unintelligible to modern audiences.",
"A little parallelism, here in South America when I was a child -until the arrival of cable- everything came dubbed in **neutral** Spanish, the dubs were done in Mexico or Argentina. When a character was speaking in \"English accent\" the dub was done with a little affectation and like speaking -in castellano- from Spain. It makes sense until you think a little about it.\n\nEdited to add, sometimes accent from Spain signified -besides being British- wise, old or aristocrat too -without being obviously from Spain since it could be a US European movie-.",
"It's because its for American audiences, and the English is a foreign sounding accent enough for them to understand and still sound other worldly.....yep it doesn't make any sense having an Egyptian talking with an English accent but anyhoo",
"Because the largest demographic is American audiences. If they had an ancient Greek speaking with an American accent it ruins the immersion of the audience. Using a British accent they're still able to understand yet not relating too closely to the voices.\n\nNowadays people are just used to it, British people included. I'm at the point where I hear a British accent playing an ancient Greek and it doesn't really bother me, but an American or Australian might sound weird, just because we're used to it now. That's my take on it.",
"Everyone has sort of answered the question. But I just want to say I think Rome used this trope the best. They used the many variations of British accents to show class in Roman society without a lot of exposition. ",
"Because it designates the location as \"foreign\" or \"European\" without using pronunciations that are too hard to understand. Not to mention we really have barely any idea what ancient accents sounded like anyway.",
"Because if the movie is make for an U.S. english speaking market, then the English accent allows for a hint of exoticism and a signal of difference, without using an accent so harsh that it could disengage the audience form the movie due to lack of clear understanding.",
"Ive noticed this in almost all films involving \"noble\" characters. In Troy, all the characters have British accents yet its set in Greece. No relation whatsoever. ",
"From an American point of view, the UK stands for the \"Old World,\" which is where most of these narratives are set.",
"The team behind Assassins Creed Unity actually tested and found that even though the game was set in France, the audiences responded better to English accents. That and you wouldn't understand anything back in ancient times, even ancient English would sound like complete nonsense",
"Most media you consume is probably intended for the US market. The US is young. Its parent country and close lingual cousin is Old, as a result you want to convey old while still being intelligible throw in some British accents. The type of accents used also tends to be related to the type of character conveying it. Scottish and Northern accents are used for barbarian peoples. Received pronunciation is associated with empire and the royalty, so that goes to lords and Romans, or other powerful civilised ancients. etc.",
"I know English accents are used in most fantasy stories, like Game of Thrones, because of Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings influenced a ton of fantasy stories.",
"We can figure out how they talked a little bit, but not really. So movies could use acurate accents, but nah. Most people are used to a british accent. So that's what movies use.\n\n_URL_0_"
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65fn8x | evergreening of pharmaceutical patents. | How is it that pharma companies are able to charge exorbitant prices for drugs that were invented decades ago and whose patents have run out. For example, insulin.
Also, how can Indian companies manufacture generic versions of these old drugs while US companies can't? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65fn8x/eli5_evergreening_of_pharmaceutical_patents/ | {
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"In order to manufacture a generic drug in the US, you have to prove that your version is just as effective as the original (while the drug may be the same, the fillers may be different and those can have an impact on things like absorption rates). Generic drug manufacturers in the US *can* make generic versions of the decades-old drugs, but often times they don't think they'll make enough money to justify the cost of getting the \"we're just as good as the other guys \" certification. ",
" > How is it that pharma companies are able to charge exorbitant prices for drugs that were invented decades ago and whose patents have run out. For example, insulin.\n\nThere are many forms of insulin. They have been modified in various way to make them long-acting, non-immunogenic, etc. and some of those varieties still have patents which have not expired. \n\n > Also, how can Indian companies manufacture generic versions of these old drugs while US companies can't?\n\nIndia and the US are different countries. They have different laws, different people, different levels of economic development, and as many other differences as you care to shake a stick at.\n"
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ece3vm | why can language encode vastly more abstraction or context than imagery? | For instance, the word caricature can have a representative image in someone's head that demonstrates a lot of its features, but simply saying the word or reading it encapsulates everything associated with it. Why is language inherently more abstract and less tangible in this aspect? Thanks in advance | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ece3vm/eli5_why_can_language_encode_vastly_more/ | {
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"Because in that context language encodes next to no actual data and just works as a tag referring to a bunch of related stuff already in the brain. It's like seeing an image of a beach compared to writing \"beach\" in google search."
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661e2d | how do reward systems make you addicted? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/661e2d/eli5_how_do_reward_systems_make_you_addicted/ | {
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"Excitement and anticipation are powerful motivators. If you repeat an activity, and get rewarded for it, your brain releases endorphins and other chemicals. Keep doing it and you begin to react with pleasurable chemicals *before* you open the box, the anticipation starts the cycle of your brain's reward center. \n\nIt's basically addiction, which is just how our brains naturally respond to repeated fun activity.",
"Reddit is a good example. Its reward system drives people to work hard to create posts, comment, etc, even if the reward has only psychological value. Imagine if you could eat Karma or cash it in at the bank.",
"The good feeling you get when you do accomplish something is your brain releasing Dopamine. This includes things such as eating your favorite meal after a long day, playing your favorite games, or even having sex. In a more primitive time, this was helpful because it motivated early humans to hunt, reproduce, etc. The problem is that in the modern world, there are countless dopamine triggers that abuse the evolutionary system in your brain. It is very heavily linked to evolution and the impact of it is very evident in the modern age. This system in our brain was not \"evolved\" for the modern world.\n\nAll of those smartphone games nowadays that just have you constantly tap the screen to keep unlocking stuff? The purpose of these games is to directly abuse your brain's dopamine response. You literally don't do anything but sit there and constantly get rewarded for something as simple as tapping a screen. You don't know why you like it, but you can't get enough of it. Now, the fact that this is such an easy thing to do causes you to want to keep doing it. You get rewarded (releasing dopamine) for doing almost nothing at all. This is why it's called a \"feel good\" chemical. You link the good feeling you're getting to an action and want more of it. \n\n\n\n"
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337i66 | what the hell do windows updates actually do? | I'm constantly having to download all these half-a-gig updates but there's no noticeable difference to my Windows experience. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/337i66/eli5what_the_hell_do_windows_updates_actually_do/ | {
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"Windows updates typically fix issues so that you never see them in the first place. A lot of their updates are security related, so the only time you'd see their effect, or lack thereof, is if they failed to protect your computer from a security risk. They do produce minor performance upgrades, but they are typically small and hard to notice.\n\nEdit: If you want a description of what each update is actually doing, try clicking on it, then searching on windows' website to see the details of the update.",
"Well depending on your Windows edition there are a lot of tools services coming that you probably don't know of. Also bug fixes for transparent issues that don't affect you but could compromise your security. Finally a lot of small changes can get a really large packages because of the way Windows delivers the updates ",
"What is a \"noticeable difference\" depends heavily on what you use your operating system for. Maybe it fixes an obscure bug in an administration panel that you didn't even know existed.\n\nBut what you actually see is a small part of the code of an operating system. Maybe an update fixes a security issue. Maybe it stops your computer from slowing down too much during certain tasks."
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6alqr3 | when drummers hold one drumstick like a chopstick (in lack of a better term), how and/or why is that better? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6alqr3/eli5_when_drummers_hold_one_drumstick_like_a/ | {
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"[Do you mean like this?](_URL_0_) Its called a traditional grip. Think about drummer boys in the civil war era. They carried a drum over one shoulder so they could match without the drum hitting their knees, and it was a better way to hold the stick in order to play. ",
"If you ask the drummers who hold it this way, most of them began their time behind the drumkit playing jazz rather than rock. ",
"The traditional grip comes from the colonial marching style and was necessitated by the way the snare drum was slung over the left shoulder. It's still taught today, despite the lack of a sling in modern snare drums, to classically trained rudimental snare drummers and percussionists. The grip is mandated in major competition drum lines such as the International Drum and Bugle Corps. Some DCI groups even cock their snares to the side to simulate the sling. \n\nOn a kit, it comes down to personal preference. Often, a kit player who plays traditional grip comes from a rudimental background. "
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5ll6g5 | in a box of tissue paper, how does the next piece of tissue come out when you pull out the one above it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ll6g5/eli5in_a_box_of_tissue_paper_how_does_the_next/ | {
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"Some fairly clever origami. Each tissue in the box is folded both to fit better in the box and to have a little flap that connects to the next tissue. When you grab the top tissue, the next tissue starts to come too. Eventually the friction force holding the next tissue to the tissue that you are pulling is smaller than the friction force of it being dragged through the opening. When this happens, the next tissue stops partway out of the box and separates from the tissue that you are pulling, leaving one tissue in your hand and the next tissue poking out of the box for convenient grabbing."
]
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30xzps | why does gmc as a brand exist? they sell nearly identical models as chevrolet. | At least with Ford and Lincoln/Mercury the latter are positioned as luxury offerings. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30xzps/eli5_why_does_gmc_as_a_brand_exist_they_sell/ | {
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"Back in the day, Chevrolet was \"consumer grade\" and GMC was \"professional grade\".\n\nQuite a few older work trucks have GMC badges. Some minor changes, like boxed frames or beefier suspension, were in place.\n\nWith Cadillac under the same umbrella (a Chevy Tahoe, Caddy Escalade, and GMC Yukon are all essentially the same), the lines got a bit blurred between the brands. GMC and Chevy were essentially the same thing for a few years.\n\nToday, Chevy is the professional/consumer grade and Cadillac is the luxury brand. GMC falls somewhere in the middle with their base versions coming better equipped than Chevy, and offering packages/trim levels (Denali) or features (rear wheel steering on the Sierra) not available through Chevy.\n\nEDIT: Since so many of you are interested in the car manufacturer relationships, check _URL_0_ for an in-depth reference. ",
"Just as an aside, in the EU, GMC are Vauxhall(UK) or Opel(rest of EU). Their vehicles are far from like chevrolets here.",
"GMC focuses on trucks. Not just pickups and SUV's. I mean large box trucks, flat beds and working vehicles.\n\nChevy is focused on the everyday consumer.",
"Chevrolet is the middle of the line. Just using one model as an example, the Yukon. You can upgrade the Yukon all the way to a Denali, which is basically the same thing as your middle of the Road Chevy Tahoe. You can Upgrade the Tahoe all the way up to the LTZ2 which is just a shade less luxury than the middle of the road Cadillac Escalade. All three are built on the same Chassis, with the same general parts, minus headlamps, grilles, moldings, handles and brand badges. ",
"Gmc is just gooder made chevys... But really this is why they went bankrupt a few years back. 7 brands all competeing with each other selling cars that had a different badge and grill. Gm still has platform sharing but the difference are more vast. Before a Yukon Tahoe and Escalade were almost exactly the same (escalade exterior was different). Now they are a lot different from interior to exterior. ",
"I had always heard GMC existed to allow non-Chevy GM dealers (Buick, Cadillac - and previously Olds and Pontiac) to offer trucks.",
"At some point, it was probably about trying to saturate the market. \n\nIf someone is going to buy a car (or truck), they want to feel like they have checked out the options and kicked a few tires. \n\nSo if the average consumer is going to check out something like 6 different brands before buying, it might make sense (to GM) if 4 of those brands are actually GM models. \n\nThey give the consumer the impression of options. \n\nOf course, making 5 different models of essentially the same car, isn't really all that efficient. When the market tanked and the (American) auto industry tanked, the big three had to take a closer look at how they were running their businesses. At that time, they consolidated some of their vehicles/brands.\n\n ",
"I was told years ago that GMC used lock washers and Chevy didn't.",
"GMC is only trucks. It was designed for non Chevrolet GM dealerships to have trucks to sell. ",
"These are the facts: GMC originally made the pickup and Chevy re badged it, Chevy sales grew far beyond GMC's and Chevy could lower the pick up price do to volume. The price difference today is about 1%. ($500 difference on a $50,000 truck) The GMC Sierra & Chevy Silverado are EXACTLY the same truck (except for the grill & head lights and rear bed fenderwells). The Sierra & Silverado are built on the same assembly line at the same time. There is NOT ONE option on either truck that is not available on the other truck. The option package(s) are just renamed (SLT vs LTZ). GMC markets as Professional Grade and Up Scale just to be different, which is a marketing illusion. Recently the high end GMC Denali & Chevy High Country have started offering different interior choices but still use the exact same seat bases & wiring harness. If you go online & build a GMC & Chevy you will see exactly the same choices. When GM re-organized in 2008 GMC was considered being knocked off but that would have made all the GMC dealers now Chevy dealers and that would have screwed up the dealer locations (too many Chevy dealers on the same block) so GMC remained. The GMC & Chevy part numbers are the SAME numbers in the parts catalog ! In the 1980's GMC & Chevy BOTH made the Suburban because it was so popular they both wanted the sales market. Years ago GMC made large tractor trailer haulers but no longer dominate the market, though they still build them. Cadillac Escalade use the GM truck frame but has exclusive engines (more HP), transmissions, bodies, interiors ... (truly upscale) and those Cadillac innovations end up in the high end GMC & Chevy trucks as the Caddy upgrades over the years."
]
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3nb7wv | what is a near death experience? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nb7wv/eli5_what_is_a_near_death_experience/ | {
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"Your brain is deprived of oxygen and fires off certain synapses (bridges between your thoughts) and makes you experience something peaceful to take away from the fact that you're dying.\n\nThis also depends on your religious belief. I had a near death experience, but mine (being an atheist) was just floating above my body, watching it be beat almost to death. Religious people tend to experience what we generally refer to as a near death experience; they see a guiding light because they're taught that it will be there for them. Maybe it is.\n\nBut the science says it's just your brain trying to compensate for the horror of the possibility that you will no longer exist.",
"Essentially a brain short circuit. Its called a near death experience because you are almost dead when you get one. What you have is a brain that has suffered massive trauma, is deprived of oxygen, and it flushes the body with adrenaline, dopamine, DMT etc. Basically this is nature's morphine. Its a dying brain trying to make dying easier.\n\nThese hormones not only induce a feeling of well being, even euphoria, they are also powerful hallucinogens. Add to that the fact that you might be shot up with actual morphine by doctors trying to save your life, and you are going for a ride. You're doped to the gills that's what an NDE is its basically a trauma induced LSD trip."
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2gdv2v | why does my pee stream appear to rotate like a spiral? | This is something I've noticed my whole life but never bothered investigating. Is this normal? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gdv2v/eli5_why_does_my_pee_stream_appear_to_rotate_like/ | {
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"Imagine a droplet of water in free-fall. It is held together by surface tension, and if it is disturbed it will wobble back and forth as the waves travel through it.\n\nImagine that drop being squeezed between two vertical plates until it is a thin oval of water. When it is released it will pull back toward round, but its momentum will cause it to overshoot. The vertical ends will collide and the drop will flatten out horizontally, then oscillate between the two states as it gradually stabilizes into a sphere.\n\nThis is sort of what is happening in a stream of urine, although instead of discrete droplets we have a stream of fluid. It comes out of the urethra from between flaps of tissue that squeeze it somewhat flat. As the stream continues it tries to pull itself into a cylinder but overshoots, flattening out horizontally and oscillating as it travels. The resulting shape of the stream isn't a spiral, but might be mistaken for one."
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3cqwgv | why is it tradition for brides' families to pay for the wedding? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cqwgv/eli5why_is_it_tradition_for_brides_families_to/ | {
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"because back in the day women were seen as a burden they didn't work in the fields or hunt so the brides family was like thanks for taking this useless person off our hands this is the least we could do, this obviously an over simplification ",
"At least the men folk don't have to give her new family their prized livestock for taking the bride off their hands.\n\nWomen used to, and I believe still do in some countries, come with a dowry in marriage to make up for the burden of taking her in. ",
"In many societies, women did not inherit property like men did. Instead, their \"inheritance\" was a dowry given by their old family to their new one.\n\nA better sub to ask this question would be /r/askhistorians.",
"Because it was tradition for a man to purchase the bride from her family and take full responsibility for her financial well-being from that point forward. Paying for the wedding and having a dowry was compensation for the financial burden of losing livestock and taking on someone else to provide for. "
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m34fh | how a subway system is built in an already developed city. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m34fh/eli5_how_a_subway_system_is_built_in_an_already/ | {
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"They use a [tunnel boring machine](_URL_0_). It's eats whatever is in its path, then pushes forward while adding supporting walls behind it.",
"See *Oceans Thirteen* for tunnelling devices used.",
"There is an Extreme Engineering Season 1 episode that covers how they overhauled and extended the New York subway. It is a really great episode and will answer all your questions",
"It depends on the system. For the DC metro, a lot of stations and segments where built by digging a deep trench in the middle of a road then they built the station/rail section, then back filled the dirt over the section of tracks/station. ",
"in some cities (taipei, hong kong) they just rip up the roads and dig a huge trench, this is much cheaper than a tunnel boring machine as mentioned below, but for some parts its still necessary.",
"Ask the people of Cologne/Germany...\nThey can tell you how [not to do it.](_URL_0_)",
"It isn't. Contrary to popular belief, cities are developed above preexisting subway systems. ",
"The London Underground is the world's oldest. They built tunnels by hand. \n\n_URL_0_",
"There are a million ways. In Leipzig they startet down in some holes in the city to build the \"City Tunnel\". And for the earth-level entrance, they moved the whole [\"Bayrischer Bahnhof\"](_URL_0_) sideways for a year or so. It looked insane.\n\nEdit: It took three years. You can see a lot of photos about the moving [here](_URL_1_)",
"By the way, a subway system is ALWAYS built in an already developped city. Also, in Paris, they dug open some roads to put the first metro rails.",
"In Rome they have quite a hard time expanding their subway system becasue nearly every time the begin tunnelling they uncover a hidden ruin or tomb of some sort.",
"In Vancouver the used a technique called cut and cover. This means they dug gigantic trenches, installed the trains lines and other miscellaneous crap, and covered the trench as they went along. \n\nThis made for roughly five years of having to figure out what bits of what streets to avoid while driving. It also made for a civil suit against the city brought along by a few business owners that lost a lot of customers due to the difficulty of getting to their shops.",
"I'd like to find more photos, but in San Francisco it [looked like this](_URL_1_), they ripped up the streets. It was quite disruptive, and I've heard some people say that parts of Market street never economically recovered from the project.\n\nHmm, there [a couple of old construction films at the Bart website](_URL_0_). Yeah, check those out.",
"In Amsterdam, in the 1960's and 70's, they just demolished all the buildings that were in the way of the subway. [Before.](_URL_1_) [After.](_URL_0_)\n\nThe tubes were then lowered into the ground. [As seen here.](_URL_2_)\n\nNow there is an expansion of the subway going on where there's a tunnel digging machine used. It's also quite the disaster, no one knows when it will be finished.",
"There are two ways of doing it.\n\nUsually the cheaper way is called \"Cut-and-cover\" and it involves digging up a road and then putting the subway tube down and then re-covering the dug up trench and re-paving so that the street is replaced.\n\nEven though \"Cut-and-cover\" is usually cheaper, it is far more disruptive to the people living in the area because that street is completely unusable while the process is ongoing. Also, this technique won't work if you have a subway line that is going to have to follow a path under buildings and off the roads. Finally, this technique also won't work if (for whatever reason) you have to dig down too deep. The deeper you have to dig, the more expensive it gets so this technique works best with shallow subway stations.\n\nThe other technique is using a tunnel boring machine and that's already been described by henry82.",
"They use a [tunnel boring machine](_URL_0_). It's eats whatever is in its path, then pushes forward while adding supporting walls behind it.",
"See *Oceans Thirteen* for tunnelling devices used.",
"There is an Extreme Engineering Season 1 episode that covers how they overhauled and extended the New York subway. It is a really great episode and will answer all your questions",
"It depends on the system. For the DC metro, a lot of stations and segments where built by digging a deep trench in the middle of a road then they built the station/rail section, then back filled the dirt over the section of tracks/station. ",
"in some cities (taipei, hong kong) they just rip up the roads and dig a huge trench, this is much cheaper than a tunnel boring machine as mentioned below, but for some parts its still necessary.",
"Ask the people of Cologne/Germany...\nThey can tell you how [not to do it.](_URL_0_)",
"It isn't. Contrary to popular belief, cities are developed above preexisting subway systems. ",
"The London Underground is the world's oldest. They built tunnels by hand. \n\n_URL_0_",
"There are a million ways. In Leipzig they startet down in some holes in the city to build the \"City Tunnel\". And for the earth-level entrance, they moved the whole [\"Bayrischer Bahnhof\"](_URL_0_) sideways for a year or so. It looked insane.\n\nEdit: It took three years. You can see a lot of photos about the moving [here](_URL_1_)",
"By the way, a subway system is ALWAYS built in an already developped city. Also, in Paris, they dug open some roads to put the first metro rails.",
"In Rome they have quite a hard time expanding their subway system becasue nearly every time the begin tunnelling they uncover a hidden ruin or tomb of some sort.",
"In Vancouver the used a technique called cut and cover. This means they dug gigantic trenches, installed the trains lines and other miscellaneous crap, and covered the trench as they went along. \n\nThis made for roughly five years of having to figure out what bits of what streets to avoid while driving. It also made for a civil suit against the city brought along by a few business owners that lost a lot of customers due to the difficulty of getting to their shops.",
"I'd like to find more photos, but in San Francisco it [looked like this](_URL_1_), they ripped up the streets. It was quite disruptive, and I've heard some people say that parts of Market street never economically recovered from the project.\n\nHmm, there [a couple of old construction films at the Bart website](_URL_0_). Yeah, check those out.",
"In Amsterdam, in the 1960's and 70's, they just demolished all the buildings that were in the way of the subway. [Before.](_URL_1_) [After.](_URL_0_)\n\nThe tubes were then lowered into the ground. [As seen here.](_URL_2_)\n\nNow there is an expansion of the subway going on where there's a tunnel digging machine used. It's also quite the disaster, no one knows when it will be finished.",
"There are two ways of doing it.\n\nUsually the cheaper way is called \"Cut-and-cover\" and it involves digging up a road and then putting the subway tube down and then re-covering the dug up trench and re-paving so that the street is replaced.\n\nEven though \"Cut-and-cover\" is usually cheaper, it is far more disruptive to the people living in the area because that street is completely unusable while the process is ongoing. Also, this technique won't work if you have a subway line that is going to have to follow a path under buildings and off the roads. Finally, this technique also won't work if (for whatever reason) you have to dig down too deep. The deeper you have to dig, the more expensive it gets so this technique works best with shallow subway stations.\n\nThe other technique is using a tunnel boring machine and that's already been described by henry82."
]
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[
"http://www.google.com.au/search?pq=tunnel+digger&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=9&gs_id=j&xhr=t&q=tunnel+boring+machine&safe=off&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1440&bih=731&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi"
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_infrastructure#Subsurface_versus_deep-level_tube_lines"
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[
"http://www.citytunnelleipzig.info/alter-tunnel/pic/bayerischer-bahnhof-leipzig-20.jpg",
"http://www.citytunnelleipzig.info/hs-bayerischerbahnhof.php"
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[],
[],
[],
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"http://www.sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/BART-construction-4th-Market-1969-AAB-6647.jpg"
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[
"http://www.mokums.nl/waterlooplein/wp_luchtfoto_1979.jpg",
"http://www.mokums.nl/waterlooplein/wp_luchtfoto_1969.jpg",
"http://www.waterloopleinmarkt.nl/aanleg-metro.html"
],
[],
[
"http://www.google.com.au/search?pq=tunnel+digger&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=9&gs_id=j&xhr=t&q=tunnel+boring+machine&safe=off&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1440&bih=731&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi"
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[],
[],
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[],
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[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_infrastructure#Subsurface_versus_deep-level_tube_lines"
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"http://www.citytunnelleipzig.info/alter-tunnel/pic/bayerischer-bahnhof-leipzig-20.jpg",
"http://www.citytunnelleipzig.info/hs-bayerischerbahnhof.php"
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[],
[],
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"http://www.sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/BART-construction-4th-Market-1969-AAB-6647.jpg"
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"http://www.mokums.nl/waterlooplein/wp_luchtfoto_1969.jpg",
"http://www.waterloopleinmarkt.nl/aanleg-metro.html"
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||
1bpp3i | what would happen if the president forgave all student loan debt? | Ex. Occupy Wall Street wanting Barack Obama to forgive student loan debt. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bpp3i/eli5what_would_happen_if_the_president_forgave/ | {
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"Banks would probably stop giving student loans altogether for pretty much any student not guaranteed to make money.",
"He doesn't have the power to do that.\n\nIf I take out a loan from a bank that is between me and the bank, the government has no right to just walk in and say I don't have to pay it back. \n\nIt would be like the government saying you no longer have to make any outstanding payments for your car, its just yours to keep. You might like that idea, but your dealership is going to want to have a word with Mr President. "
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9uoem5 | what goes on in our brain that lets us sing songs out of memory and in no effort needed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9uoem5/eli5_what_goes_on_in_our_brain_that_lets_us_sing/ | {
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"I am not an expert but I believe this has to do with \"learned states.\" Learned states are when you trigger certain memories or responses based on a particular set of circumstances going on around you. Think about the pledge of allegiance. Most people rattle it off without thinking when they are with other people. But try to say it but yourself and it's much harder for people. Being with a crowd is the \"learned state.\" So when you hear a particular rhythm or note your brain automatically associates that with the lyrics to the song. This allows you to repeat it. It's not 100% but it's a trick our brains have developed to help us remember stuff. \n\nEDIT: I believe the pledge of allegiance example only applies to Americans as most other countries don't do this. Another example would be saying something like the Hail Mary for Roman Catholics or other joint prayers/songs/pledges. ",
"Music is a natural inclination for memories. I used to wish there were popular songs for the periodic table of the elements or algebra formulas!"
]
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||
2bysv7 | if a human grew up with absolutely no other human contact other than the initial infant stage how would they behave? | Assuming it's past the infant stage and learned to walk upright dropped off in a forest with no human contact. And if they survived to grow up how would they act? Would they mimic other animals? Would they be able to understand how to make shelter, get food etc. would they know that they are *different* to other animals? If brought back to civilization would they be able to learn on their own certain things?
I know this is an inhumane question I'm just curious. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bysv7/eli5_if_a_human_grew_up_with_absolutely_no_other/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nIt's literally too complex to explain.",
"Of the two or three thoroughly recorded cases of feral children documented that I've seen, they tend to have some degree of mental retardation, as in an inability to develop full use of language, and to process and display appropriate emotional responses as a non-feral child would. It comes out as though they were suffering from some kind of autism. They tend to end up in mental institutions, sadly. ",
"Genie (aka Susan Wiley) is probably the most-studied and most-famous case. The only contact with other humans she had for most of the first 13 years of her life was the abuse of her insane father. Edit: ugh, linking to a URL with parentheses in it via reddit formatting not working right. _URL_1_\n\nFurther edit: Basically, she was raised normally (inasmuch as one can be raised normally in an abusive home) until age 3, when her father locked her in a small room in their Los Angeles house, where he kept her, alternately, strapped to a child's toilet chair during the day and strapped into a locked, covered crib during the night, almost never speaking to her. Most of his interaction with her consisted solely of physical abuse, and the other residents of the house (Genie's mother and brother) were forbidden from entering Genie's room or even speaking about her. She was rescued when her mother visited a Department of Human Services office in an attempt to get some financial assistance with raising her kids, especially Genie, whom she found too difficult to handle due to her prolonged isolation. She could barely walk, barely speak and was still in diapers at 13. The social worker who first saw her called CPS in immediately. Her father committed suicide before he could be prosecuted.\n\nThere's a decent, if old, NOVA documentary made about her that provides a good overview of the case. [It's on Youtube](_URL_0_).\n\nThere have been other examples throughout history, but none quite with as much clinical study behind it."
]
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1wfbz5 | what is neuroplasticity and what can i achieve through exercising it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wfbz5/eli5_what_is_neuroplasticity_and_what_can_i/ | {
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"It refers to the brain's ability to rewire itself in response to experiences or injury. For example, people who lose a portion of their brain (to cancer, for example) can sometimes redevelop the functions of that part of the brain in another part of their brain. It effects are greatest in children, but continue throughout life.\n\nIt's also become a bit of a pseudo-scientific new-agey \"unleash your inner Crystal Warrior\" sort of thing lately."
]
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||
3gg787 | why has botswana done so well compared to the rest of sub-saharan africa? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gg787/eli5why_has_botswana_done_so_well_compared_to_the/ | {
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"Tiny country with giant diamond reserves and made a deal with DeBeers early on where Botswana gets 70% of the money and DeBeers runs the diamond mines for them. \n\nA lot of African countries kicked all the whites out after independence and that hurt their economies. That wasn't likely to happen in Botswana as their first leader was married to a white woman.\n\nThe Tswana tribe that dominates the country is known for having their act together. Most Tswana live in South Africa and their Homelands were the most successful ones during Apartheid.",
"Probably the most mineral-rich country in Africa is DRC. They have the worst infrastructure as well. \n\nYes, Botswana does well because of diamonds, but mainly because they have managed to build a society where corruption is not tolerated."
]
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1h8j6q | how voyager 1 and 2 are able to send us signals so detailed about what they are finding from so far away? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1h8j6q/eli5how_voyager_1_and_2_are_able_to_send_us/ | {
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"In theory, radio waves travel forever because they are just a form of light. However, just like a star, they get really faint and hard to detect the farther away the source is. Most stars in the sky are at least as bright as the sun but they appear much dimmer because they are so far away. \n\nIn my opinion, one of the most impressive things about the Voyager mission is what they are doing on the ground to capture this incredibly weak signal. \n\n[From NASA](_URL_0_):\n\n > The sensitivity of our deep-space tracking antennas located around the world is truly amazing. The antennas must capture Voyager information from a signal so weak that the power striking the antenna is only 10 exponent -16 watts (1 part in 10 quadrillion). A modern-day electronic digital watch operates at a power level 20 billion times greater than this feeble level."
]
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||
3o77g4 | exactly, *how* are we running out of bandwidth? | I've heard about it, but I'm not truly sure since I thought Bandwidth was an infinite resource. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o77g4/eli5_exactly_how_are_we_running_out_of_bandwidth/ | {
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"**TL;DR**: *Bandwidth is not an infinite resource in and of itself. You can add to it by laying more cable and the various computing resources that control it - but that's not free.*\n\nPicture two computers talking on the internet. One sends a request for a webpage. This gets transformed into electric or light or radio pulses by the computer's connection, depending on what internet connection you have, and then various other devices transform that into signals that can ride the connections to the broader world. The same thing on the other side.\n\nSomewhere in that set-up there's a series of cable (with the networking hardware to run them), usually fibre-optic in nature, with a WHOLE BUNCH of individual strands, each handling a maximum number of pulses per second that carry the information in your request and its response. But even that ultrafast fibreoptic cable with its amazing capacity to handle information has limits based on number of strands.\n\nSo you have to lay more cables and build more management devices to juggle all of those signals to increase that ceiling bandwidth. And that's expensive, so telecommunications companies are careful only to expand this capacity when they have to or when it gives them a competitive edge... and some of them deliberately create the impression that bandwidth is a 'finite resource' so they can charge more for it and place caps on it.",
"The internet is made up of pipes, each pipe can only handle a certain amount of data. Recently people have been demanding more data (HD video streams for example) than some of the pipes can provide.\n\nYou can increase bandwidth by making your pipes wider or pushing the data through faster, both of these are things that are slowly improving with technology. You could also add more pipes but this is a relatively expensive option.\n\nWhat many ISPs choose to do is limit how much bandwidth people can use per month, so that overall they'll have enough bandwidth for all of their customers.",
"Bandwidth is not an unlimited resource\n Cables and wireless networks have limited data transfer speeds, which apply to DSL customers and ISPs alike (although on very different scales).\n\nHOWEVER there is little to no solid evidence that the recent uptick in usage caps/throttling by ISPs has anything to do with tackling network congestion or equitably sharing bandwidth. Google Netflix interconnection for further detail."
]
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b6jvnd | are we able to make edible products from the sap of trees other than the maple tree? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b6jvnd/eli5_are_we_able_to_make_edible_products_from_the/ | {
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"You can make syrup from birch trees too, although their sugar content is significantly lower so you'll need a lot more sap.\n\nPine sap has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, but I can't speak to the effectiveness of that.\n\nMore generally, trees usually aren't poisonous and their rendered sap is technically edible - although you may not want to.",
"Yes! Birch sap is probably the most popular, used to make birch beer and other drinks. You can also make a wintergreen-like candy out of it.\n\nThe resin or sap of pine trees can be chewed like a gum, or mixed with water for a pine-y tea.\n\nMany other trees produce edible sap, like sycamore or walnut, which can be boiled into a syrup - it's just not as plentiful and perhaps not as tasty as maple.",
"Birch sap beverages are out there. Root beer uses the bark of the sassafras tree. The issue is the volume and sugar content in the sap, which is far superior from the sugar maple (i.e. go after what's easiest to get).",
"Sweetgum, birch, sycamore, black walnut](_URL_0_) can all be tapped for syrup. They all produce small amounts of thin sap compared to maple. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of fuel, to turn them into syrup. The sap has to be boiled down immediately, or it will ferment. Bacteria can't live in syrup because the sugar sucks all the water out of their bodies. "
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d2j9vd | what is the difference between deductible and oop max? | What is the point of meeting a deductible if the out-of-pocket maximum is over twice the deductible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d2j9vd/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_deductible/ | {
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"After the deductible is met you will still have to pay 20% (typical) of the bill until you hit the OOP max. After that you pay nothing more.",
"Note this can get complicated in the fine print but the ELI5 is\n\nA deductible is the amount of money you have to pay each year before the insurance company starts to pitch in. In my case it's $1500. ie my insurance will not pay so much as a dime before I shell out the first $1500. \n\nAfter this they start to pay out depending on what I'm getting. Family doctor visit I pay $5 ER I pay $100 Hospitalization I pay 20%\n\nOOP is the most I can pay in one year. In may case its $6000 Say I get supper cancer. I get put on some crazy treatment that cost $30,000 a month. After I have payed $6000 for the year my insurance pay 100% of my medical cost for the rest of the year no matter if it's 100K 1 million or 20 million"
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67p4qh | is an orb the only possible shape for a planet? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67p4qh/eli5_is_an_orb_the_only_possible_shape_for_a/ | {
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"Basically, yes.\n\nAny planet that is sufficiently large will eventually be shaped like a sphere. That is because gravity it pulling all of the mass of the planet together. If the planet had bits that stuck out very far from the sphere then the weight of that part would crush whatever was underneath it and eventually pull it back into a sphere.",
"Yes, although of course they can have surface imperfections and equatorial bulges that make them not perfectly spherical.\n\nBy definition, a planet must be large enough that its own gravity pulls it into a spherical shape. Basically, the weight of all the \"Stuff\" (rocks, mountains, etc) is such that they tend to flow \"downhill\". A sphere has the least downhill left to flow to. \n\nOn smaller objects, gravity may not be strong enough, so that the strength of an object (like boulders) can resist this pull, and it can maintain a non-spherical shape. This object by definition would not be a planet. ",
"Above a certain mass, objects approximate a sphere because of their own gravity overcoming the compressive strength of whatever they're made of. Anything massive enough to clear its orbit is going to be well over that line, so yes, all planets are approximately oblate-spheroidal.",
"Large bodies tend to form spheroids. Io, because of it's orbit, actually alters it shape during its movement. It also helps that it is a very active volcanic body. The forces of gravity make it shaped that way.",
"Technically, you can have a [torus (donut) shaped planet](_URL_0_) and it would be stable, but there are two problems with this. One, it is nearly impossible (possibly completely impossible) for one to form naturally. And two, due to its different shape and the lack of a core, it likely wouldn't be classified as a planet.\n\nSo, for all intents and purposes, all planets are going to be spherical.",
"If something is large enough to be classified as a planet then its gravity will have forced it into a spheroid shape. So yes an orb is the only possible shape for a planet. It is a part of the definition of what makes a planet. ",
"One of the defining characteristics of a planet is it must have enough mass to become spherical under its own weight so by definition a planet must be a sphere ",
"A planet that rotates fairly slowly is an oblate spheroid, with the distance pole-to-pole a little shorter than the diameter across the equator. For example Jupiter appears noticeably non-circular.\n\nA planet that rotates fast will instead be an ellipsoid with three different diameters. The shape is like if you took a rugby ball, put it flat on the ground, and then stood on it to squash it a bit. The shortest diameter will be pole-to-pole and the others on the equator. Haumea, a dwarf planet in our solar system, is thought to be an example.\n\nA planet that rotates still faster will have a lopsided shape, with a wide end and a long end and a rotation axis towards the wide end. At this point the planet is spinning so fast that it's on the edge of breaking apart altogether.\n\nShapes: _URL_0_"
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1t0s9h | why do most viruses destroy your computer with no reason whatsoever? do people just wanna be dicks? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1t0s9h/eli5_why_do_most_viruses_destroy_your_computer/ | {
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"Most malware doesn't destroy your computer.\n\nThe most common things malware does is either make your computer part of a \"botnet\" so it can send spam e-mail or help with DDoS attacks (both of which can earn the virus authors money), or scan your computer for personal details (which the virus owner can sell on for money).\n\nThe thing is, with these types of virus, you can be infected and never even know it.\n\nViruses which make themselves known are starting to become more common: one particular type of attack that's gaining popularity is one which encodes your data so you can't access it, but offers to decode it if you pay a sum of money. (If you're ever hit by this, don't pay up - they don't actually decode it even if you do pay.)\n\nBut a virus that destroys the computer? How would it spread? It needs to keep your computer working for long enough that you can spread the virus, then it usually needs to do something to earn the virus author some cash."
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||
di4rzl | what is the difference between normal skin, a freckle, a mole, and melanoma? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/di4rzl/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_normal_skin_a/ | {
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"normal skin is just... skin. Not sure what you want me to say about that. A freckle is a cluster of normal skin cells where the cells just have more pigment than the surrounding skin. A mole is a skin lesion that contains higher than usual concentrations of pigment and the pigment cells themselves are different than normal skin pigment cells. Moles can be congenital (existing at birth or acquired. They are usually harmless. Melanoma is a cancer of the pigment-containing cells in the skin.",
"A mole is a benign neoplasm. It does not grow or grows very slowly, it stays in place and does not infiltrate other parts of the body. If a mole starts to do all those bad things, it becomes a melanoma, which is a malignant neoplasm, also known as cancer.",
"Your skin has cells called melanocytes which produce some black/brownish stuff called melanin. This is what gives moles and freckles their color. When melanocytes make melanin, it just transferred to nearby cells that would otherwise be mostly clear (these cells are called keratinocytes and are the most numerous cell in the top layer of your skin, the part you see when you look at your skin). When one of these cells produces a lot of melanin, it spreads to nearby cells, making a freckle. Sometimes, in one area, you may have a lot of melanocytes right next to each other; they’re not producing a lot of melanin, there is just a lot of those cells all next to one another. This is a mole. Sometimes when those cells replicate uncontrollably, we may call it melanoma which refers to a cancer of this specific cell type."
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4zw83j | what does the us handing off the internet mean? also why do they control (part of) it in the first place? | Article [here](_URL_0_). | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zw83j/eli5_what_does_the_us_handing_off_the_internet/ | {
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"The Internet was developed in the United States; it is an outgrowth of a military communications project called ARPAnet. Hence the crucial infrastructure was naturally in U.S. government hands. Over time the government has been transferring control of Internet infrastructure to international organizations set up for the purpose of administering parts of the Internet, which is somewhat controversial.",
"Well, the US military designed the Internet, and soon people saw value in it for normal people, so the military allowed other companies to begin using it.\n\nNow, what needs to be understood here is that, while the internet was designed to be mostly decentralized, it needs a central authority for a few things, mainly 2 different ones.\n\n1. To oversee IP address allocation. Each device* connected to the internet has an address connected to it, there has to be a way to make sure that internet data knows how to go from address A to B. This is currently overseen by an organization called the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a US controlled organization.\n\n2. The second is the overseeing of the Domain Name System. This is why you do not have to remember IP addresses to get to sites like Reddit, your computer can look up the IP of _URL_0_ and send information to it that way. This was originally also overseen by IANA, but a new international organization, ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, was created 17 years ago to take control of it from IANA.\n\nWhat the article is describing is that all of IANA's duties will be handed over to ICANN. This means pretty much nothing however."
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mr48a | how does a coin slot determine which coin is inserted? | I've always wondered this. This is for coin slots that accept more than one kind of coin. Is it a weight thing? Size? Appearance of the coin? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mr48a/eli5_how_does_a_coin_slot_determine_which_coin_is/ | {
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"It depends on the type of coin slot. In a vending machine such as those which have a [ball on top and dispense gumballs or bouncing balls](_URL_1_), the mechanism is usually based on size. There are some [washers](_URL_0_) produced that have a similar size to a specific coin (you just gotta look for the ones you want, somebody somewhere makes 'em). These are usually called ___slugs___ and often you can find them as the knockouts from [electrical panel boxes as well](_URL_2_).\n\nWhen we get into the range of much larger machines, such as soda or snack machines, the mechanisms inside have a lot more room for more sensitive measuring equipment. Those often detect based on magnetic signature as well as size and weight.\n\nWhat I wanted to find and don't see anywhere is a closeup of the top slot, to the right (since most turn clockwise) of the slot, showing the lever that measures size on the gumball size machines. If you look at those you can usually see where to insert a really thin pin to get the wheel to turn for free on older machines.",
"While we're on the topic of how machines recognize inserted coins:\n\n*Is it just a myth that one could tie a string around a coin and use it multiple times to get an item from a vending machine?\n\n*If so, why don't machines have mechanisms for counteracting against such fraud?",
"This question for some reason reminds me of old BBS text docs.",
"The machines I owned dispensed beverages and snacks. \n\nThey had magnetic sensors in them arranged to measure the size of the coins. The coins did not freefall, but rather rolled down an incline, such that different diameter coins rolled at different rates. The machine was able to measure that rate, as well as the size and magnetic properties of a coin. \n\nAfter that, they sorted according to size, first refilling the coin return storage, and if that was full(it had sensors too), into an unsorted box. The machine could actually make change based on what it had in reserve. For example, if it owed you 30 cents, but had no quarters, it would spit out 3 dimes. \n\nThe mechanism was quite ingenuous, relatively small and easily swapped out. The selection pad was another discrete component, which also stored prices, so if a coin acceptor failed, it was 30 seconds or less to swap out.",
"It depends on the type of coin slot. In a vending machine such as those which have a [ball on top and dispense gumballs or bouncing balls](_URL_1_), the mechanism is usually based on size. There are some [washers](_URL_0_) produced that have a similar size to a specific coin (you just gotta look for the ones you want, somebody somewhere makes 'em). These are usually called ___slugs___ and often you can find them as the knockouts from [electrical panel boxes as well](_URL_2_).\n\nWhen we get into the range of much larger machines, such as soda or snack machines, the mechanisms inside have a lot more room for more sensitive measuring equipment. Those often detect based on magnetic signature as well as size and weight.\n\nWhat I wanted to find and don't see anywhere is a closeup of the top slot, to the right (since most turn clockwise) of the slot, showing the lever that measures size on the gumball size machines. If you look at those you can usually see where to insert a really thin pin to get the wheel to turn for free on older machines.",
"While we're on the topic of how machines recognize inserted coins:\n\n*Is it just a myth that one could tie a string around a coin and use it multiple times to get an item from a vending machine?\n\n*If so, why don't machines have mechanisms for counteracting against such fraud?",
"This question for some reason reminds me of old BBS text docs.",
"The machines I owned dispensed beverages and snacks. \n\nThey had magnetic sensors in them arranged to measure the size of the coins. The coins did not freefall, but rather rolled down an incline, such that different diameter coins rolled at different rates. The machine was able to measure that rate, as well as the size and magnetic properties of a coin. \n\nAfter that, they sorted according to size, first refilling the coin return storage, and if that was full(it had sensors too), into an unsorted box. The machine could actually make change based on what it had in reserve. For example, if it owed you 30 cents, but had no quarters, it would spit out 3 dimes. \n\nThe mechanism was quite ingenuous, relatively small and easily swapped out. The selection pad was another discrete component, which also stored prices, so if a coin acceptor failed, it was 30 seconds or less to swap out."
]
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1x8mo4 | why do i get so nervous in class that i can't even say a full sentence out loud without feeling out of breath? | Sometimes I can't even get two words out without sounding like I just ran a mile. I get such anxiety over talking in front of front of people. What is happening during this process and how can I get better? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1x8mo4/why_do_i_get_so_nervous_in_class_that_i_cant_even/ | {
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"Not a doctor, this is not medical advice. However, you should see a therapist who is good at CBT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. There are medications too, but it's better to avoid their many and various side effects.\n\nTry exposing yourself to the situation a bit at a time. First, just think about talking in front of people. Then, maybe a few weeks later, you might be okay with it. Then, you can ease into it with a group of friends. Over time, if you expose yourself to public speaking little by little, you might get more comfortable with it.\n\nYou might never be happy about public speaking, but you can probably make it into a chore rather than a fear, given time.\n\n*edit: may be called glossophobia"
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2ceh1e | why do some people in mental institutions refuse to take their medication? | You sometimes hear that the staff at institutions need to restrain and force the person to take their medicine. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ceh1e/eli5_why_do_some_people_in_mental_institutions/ | {
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"I'M NOT CRAZY DAMNIT, ALIENS REALLY DID ABDUCT ME AND EXPERIMENT ON ME AND THEY'RE COMING FOR THE REST OF US, JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE. ",
"It's not just people in mental institutions. Medications have side effects that often leave the person feeling disconnected and cloudy headed, and not in an intoxicating way. This can lead to personality suppression. \n\nSo if you've got someone bothered by a mental condition then they're likely not comfortable to begin with. You leave them cloudy headed and feeling detached on top of that and their inclination will be to fight the dosing. Like I said, this isn't unique to mental hospitals. Oftentimes medicated bipolar patients that are functioning in society will occasionally go off meds for various reasons, usually because the medicine changes their personalities",
"Even if your brain and thoughts seem unbalanced or wrong, they're still YOURS. Some people would rather feel the pain, hear the voices, or relinquish control than lose a part of themselves that they value. ",
"Psych meds are not a cure-all. They may help with the disease, but the side effects can sometimes be worse than what they are trying to help. Say, for example... The voices may bother you, but if the pill that shuts them up makes you feel like someone is stabbing an icepick into your head, do you take the pills or not?\n",
"Because when you're on mood stabilizing medication there is a constant and overpowering urge to get off it. No matter how much I know I need to be on this medication I always, always have these thoughts and feelings that I'd be better off without them. All medicine is basically targeted poison that gets up in you and forces your body to work a different way, a way that it might want to fight against. This goes doubly so if your brain is fucking broken, because it wants to stay broken. It's part of the disease. I don't want to stop taking my medication, but I really want to stop taking my medication.\n\nWere I not on my phone I would make an effort post about this, and tell you some of the various times I've gone off and the flawed reasoning that got me to that point. Here are a few, simplified:\n\nWhen you start feeling the effects of the correct medication you can begin to feel really fucking good, which is basically just bringing you up to the very base line Blah. Not Good, exactly, just not awful. Because you've been so dark, so deep, so long, that base like feels like you Jesus just jerked you off. Then you get used to that feeling, the mood base line, and you remember that's as far as it's ever going to go. You'll never truly be healed, so why bother? And then you stop taking your meds. \n\nMeds don't start working right away. Some take days before you feel something, be it beneficial or deleterious. Some take weeks, months, to get a useful blood concentration worked up. Viibryd, for example, gave me really bad diarrhea - like five hours on the toilet every day - for almost a full month. Would your job allow you that kind of time? Would your patience? Would your tender asshole flesh be able to handle that much toilet paper, no matter how velvety soft, scraping against it over and over and over until it tears and bleeds like you've never seen your own asshole bleed before? And then you stop taking your meds, but you keep using neosporin because your asshole really hurts.\n\n\nAfter being on the right meds for a long time and finally coming to terms with your illness and clawing your way back into some semblance of a normal life, you may start to wonder if you need to keep taking it. After all, you're feeling okay, you've got a job, maybe a partner, and life is looking like maybe it's not all hopeless bullshit. And then you stop taking your meds. \n\nOr maybe you've tried every pill under the sun and not a single one does a god damned thing, but your doc keeps wanting to try something else. And then you stop taking your meds, because what's it really going to do, really?\n\nWhat if you miss a day? Missing a day may not be a big deal or it may be the biggest deal. It all depends on you, the meds, your condition, etc. ((Why would you miss a day? Have you been reading this post or just skimming?)) Missing a single day might send you into a brutal nose dive, the kind where you can not pull up on your own. And then you stop taking your meds.\n\n\n\nEDIT - Oh yeah, side effects. Sometimes you want a working penis or a mind that moves faster than a snail swimming through peanut butter or maybe you just want to fucking feel something, even if it's misery, because even misery is better than feeling absolutely fucking nothing. And then you stop taking your meds.\n\nALL OF THAT is in the context of major depression. Now, consider someone with a type of psychosis and imagine all the ways their brains will lie to them about the world in which they live. How will they view pills? How will they view doctors, medical professionals, etc.?\n\nIt's not a simple answer, but it's part of the disease. I don't want to stop taking my medication, but I really fucking want to stop taking my medication. My brain wants to stay broken and uses every dirty trick in the book, including lying to me about the existence I perceive, to stay that way. Fuck you, brain.\n\n\n\nYou dig? It's okay if you don't. These things aren't easy to understand if you've never gone through it yourself.",
"Often, people who have been taking medication for some time will start to feel better and decide that they are cured and don't therefore need to take their medication any more, without rationalising that it was the medication that made them feel this way. This is a significant problem in the treatment of mental illness."
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81o4yb | how do websites determine whether or not you have a capital letter, a number, etc in your password if they never actually get the password, just its hash? | Say a website wants my password to have at least one uppercase letter, one lower case letter, and a number.
* I try *password123*
* That string gets hashed and sent to the website
* Supposedly the website only ever has the hash, not the actual string, right? For security reasons?
* But if a hash is a nonreversible function, then how does the website know to tell me that I don't have an uppercase letter in my password?
Thank you in advance from us all! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/81o4yb/eli5_how_do_websites_determine_whether_or_not_you/ | {
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"The string is hashed after it is checked. When the website checks what you’ve put in, it is still just a string and not a hash yet. When all requirements are met, the website sends the hash to be stored. ",
"The cleartext is checked before it's submitted and hashed, usually by a client-side script. That's pretty normal behavior and there's no security risks there. Even if it's submitted in cleartext for validation and your connection is secure, then you've little to worry about. If they've broken the session encryption and can see the password cleartext then there's probably security breaches that make your password meaningless for validation anyway.\n\nOverall, it's better to validate it on the client side.\n\nWhere you should see big warning signs is if you go to change your password and are told it's too similar to a previous one. That means they're storing the cleartext somewhere to compare it against and that's a Very Bad Thing. Catching exact matches to previous passwords isn't a warning sign (since identical passwords will have identical hashes they can compare).\n\nOf course, password rules like are, in general, a bad idea. Passphrases consisting of several randomly-selected regular words (\"bovine stoneware eatery drapery rimless nail ogle petty\" for example) are much, much better options for passwords.",
"The clear text* is sent to the server, which processes it and then stores it as a hash. If the client submitted the hash that was stored, the purpose of hashing it would be lost** - anyone who got hold of the hashed passwords would not need to get the original password in order to log into your account, just send the hashed version.\n\n*It's clear text within the context of the session, but if you are logging in it should be going over HTTPS, meaning that the whole session will be encrypted.\n\n**Assuming their hash/salt is different to other websites, it would at least protect you from them using it on different websites, but you shouldn't be reusing passwords anyway and websites don't really care if they hack your account on someone else's website.",
" > That string gets hashed and sent to the website\n\nThis is not quite right. The plaintext string is hashed *after* it is sent to the website. The website should not *store* the plaintext password anywhere where an attacker might find it, but it can check whether it meets requirements before hashing it.\n\nHashing passwords on the client side is just as bad as not hashing at all, because then all an attacker would have to do once they have obtained the hash is send that hash to the server - there would be no need for them to know what the original password was."
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aq0dln | how does file transfer work over remote desktop connections? | I've tried looking for an answer specific to RDP but have been unsuccessful.
& #x200B;
More specifically, how does file transfer work over remote desktop connections, especially if the remote desktop is located in another country? Are there any limits to doing a file transfer in such a situation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aq0dln/eli5_how_does_file_transfer_work_over_remote/ | {
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"the rdp listening server on the target pc and the rdp client on the host pc establish communications. then when this connection is established it opens up another port for file transfers. as long as you are connected to the RDP server from a RDP client, it can do file transfers regardless of where the pc's are located. you are limited by the internet speeds of the server pc and the client pc. ",
"RDP is actually based on a *very* complicated set of protocols that were originally designed for multi-party video conferencing. A file transfer is just another data stream, like your video, audio or screen sharing would be."
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3q3trp | the genius of franz kafka | The poet W. H. Auden called Kafka "the Dante of the twentieth century";the novelist Vladimir Nabokov placed him among the greatest writers of the 20th century. Gabriel García Márquez noted the reading of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" showed him "that it was possible to write in a different way".
Can someone please help me to understand why Kafka is considered a genius? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q3trp/eli5the_genius_of_franz_kafka/ | {
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"I'm not a writer or a literary scholar. And I don't know much about the general opinion on Kafka. But I remember when/how I realized that Kafka is awesome. Maybe this will help you find the answer to your question:\n\nIn \"The Metamorphosis\", the main character wakes up one day to find that he can't get to work; he can barely get out of bed. He has turned into a giant bug. His family cares for him. His situation does not improve. His family cares a bit less, starts not cleaning the room as much, starts storing extra furniture in there, starts barely visiting him. They eventually injure him. He dies. His family members are relieved and can finally move on with their lives. \n\nThis is exactly the same as when my in-laws moved in with my family. They were ok. We were friendly with them. They got sicker. We went to their part of the house less, and they couldn't get up the stairs. We felt guilty, so we avoided them. Their health declined and declined. When they finally passed away, we were relieved, and our lives got better. \n\nIt's horrible, but it's real. And he figured out how to use the absurdity of a man turning into a giant bug to artfully communicate that awful situation in a way that people can hear and connect to on an emotional level. It's so weird, but it works so well. It's telling a story that is obviously not true (man turns into bug) but also clearly deeply true (how we deal with the fatally ill). Part of your answer will probably lie in Kafka's ability to tell real, deep truth."
]
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9396r7 | is the heart stopped for heart surgery, and how is blood flow controlled for the rest of the body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9396r7/eli5_is_the_heart_stopped_for_heart_surgery_and/ | {
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"The answer is [cardiopulmonary bypass](_URL_0_); they hook up pumps for blood and ventilator machines that transfer oxygen directly to the blood (with membranes, sort of like the lungs), and once that's hooked up they can stop the heart and breathing so there's no movement in the chest, and operate.\n\nEDIT: Re: your uncle, it wasn't the surgery that caused the brain damage, it was the heart attack. If the heart stops beating, the brain doesn't get blood, and neurons start dying very fast, within a couple minutes, causing irreversible loss of mental function.\n\nThis is why CPR is so important, to compress the chest to push at least a little bit of blood to the brain; CPR often breaks the patient's ribs because of the forces required, but it's still recommended because even a little bit of blood to the brain can help (and ribs can heal later).\n\nEDIT2: Regarding the temperature, doctors can't afford to sweat / have sweat drop into the patient, so the temperatures are chilly, usually 65 - 62 F in the room to offset the fact that everyone is wearing heavy duty surgical gowns and aprons over their scrubs over their under-shirts. Those things are designed to protect against contamination / liquids, and you get very hot in them at the normal office temperature.",
" > How is this accomplished?\n\nBlood is diverted around the heart through a mechanical pump which also oxygenates the blood as the lungs would. It is called a \"cardiopulmonary bypass machine\".\n\n > How is the heart restarted afterwards?\n\nThe heart conveniently contains its own spontaneous timekeeping cells so it will restart pumping on its own. Usually it is stopped by infusion potassium ions and then restarted by resuming blood flow through the coronary arteries to remove it.\n\n > What is the success rate of restarting the heart after surgery/reviving patients?\n\nQuite good otherwise the recovery rate for the surgery as a whole would suffer terribly, for reasons I hope are obvious.\n\n > Why is the surgical theatre always FREEZING?\n\nRelatively cold environments kill or reduce the reproduction rate of infectious organisms which could potentially enter the patient. Attempting to maintain a sterile environment when cutting someone open is very important, especially in such an invasive and delicate operation as open heart surgery.\n\n > He never recovered his full speech or mental faculties after that and had very limited motor skills. ... How was the first surgery able to impact him like that?\n\nThe surgery was likely irrelevant to his impediments. You said he had a major heart attack which prompted the operation and it was likely that which caused his trouble; the brain requires constant oxygenated blood flow and if it is interrupted will relatively quickly begin to die. It sounds like your uncle experienced some significant brain damage from the interrupted blood flow from the heart attack, and there is of course no way the ensuing operation could address such an injury."
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3hmo6y | why do american airports not have smoking sections?! | I'm string in Newark international and I want to smoke a cigarette but I can't because this isn't Europe. NOTE: I've experienced smoking areas for airports in Japan, Thailand, India, Europe, New Zealand, Mexico and Russia... Why not Murica? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hmo6y/eli5_why_do_american_airports_not_have_smoking/ | {
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"Having a smoking section in an indoor building is like having a peeing section in a pool. America has largely moved on from smoking. About two decades ago, there was a huge movement to get smoking banned in indoor public places, and that's what was done in most places. Basically, my right to not inhale secondhand smoke and breathe clean air trumps your right to smoke indoors.",
"Many airports allow smoking, but ONLY in certain areas.\n\nFor example, in Washington DC, they have basically a giant vented booth to stand in that filters all smoke through fans in the ceiling.\n\nIt's nice and all, but each one as at the opposite end of the airport and it takes too long to walk to one unless you have a long layover.\n\nAs far as New Jersey, I think they have it banned everywhere, but other states allow it (Florida, Mississippi, etc.)",
"It's not \"American airports\" it's \"New Jersey\" airports.\n\nPlenty of airports have smoking areas.\n\nAmerican laws are a patchwork of federal laws, state laws, county laws & city laws that can change as you travel around the country.",
"Japan has the best smoking areas. Some of the bigger airports here do have smoking areas. You might find [this](_URL_2_) list and maybe even [this older article](_URL_1_) helpful. \n\nSalt Lake City has the worst [indoor smoking area](_URL_0_). You feel like a damn zoo animal in that booth and people stare at you all judgy-judgy like. \n"
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"http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865567284/Salt-Lake-airport-one-of-5-large-US-airports-to-continue-to-allow-smoking-in-designated-rooms.html?pg=all",
"http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/baskas/2009-01-21-airport-smoking-areas_N.htm",
"http://www.airportsmokers.com/airports_of_americas/unitedstates/united_states.htm"
]
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|
4t17a2 | how can my heart rate be low but blood pressure high? | I've been really sick lately. My gastroenterologist and primary suggested I see a cardiologist for palpitations. When I went in I was told my heart rate was 50bpm and my blood pressure was 172/99. I have no idea what the number mean. Explain please? Along with with how one can be high and the other low? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4t17a2/eli5_how_can_my_heart_rate_be_low_but_blood/ | {
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"Big number is the systolic pressure, its the pressure in your arteries when your heart is actually contracting to force blood out of the ventricle into the aorta and out into the body. A value of 140 is considered high, 172 quite high. The other number is the diastolic blood pressure, its the pressure in your arteries when the heart isn't actively contracting and thus pumping more blood, its the base line. Its considered high past 90. \n\nHow fast your heart beats only determines how many times a second it goes from diastolic to systolic, the blood pressure says how forcefully it does it. Your heart is being forced to work very hard when it contracts, so its not contracting as much as would be normal. \n\nThink about it like carrying boxes up stairs. If you are carrying heavier boxes each trip will take you longer to recover and grab another box. ",
"Your heart is a pump. The heart rate is how many times a minute it pumps. Higher means it's faster. You're under one beat a second so that's pretty healthy.\n\nYour blood pressure is a measure of how much pressure your heart is needing to push. Higher means it has to work harder. The top number is how much the heart pushes when it pumps, and the bottom number is how much pressure there is when the heart rests between pumps. You don't want the thing that keeps you alive to be under a lot of pressure when 'resting' so your blood pressure numbers are a bit concerning. The numbers you gave are telling me that you heart is under 25% more pressure in the moments of rest than what's considered normal for a 20 year old, and 43% more pressure when it's working. (generally a 20 year old has a 'normal' bp of 120/80)\n\nSo how can your heart rate be low (good) and your BP be high (bad)? The heart is the pump, but the BP is a measure of pressure, which is a combination of the force of the pump, and the size of the pathways it's trying to move blood through. If your heart is pushing hard and slow you might be a great athlete, but if the pathways (your arteries) are narrow, you're working your heart a lot more than is healthy. \n\nIf you ever use a pressure washer, you can hear the motor changing sounds when you turn the water on/off, your heart is going through things just like that, and if the hose out is getting squished or kinked, it makes the motor work harder. \n\nThis can be cause by lots of things. I'm going to talk about probably the most common: a buildup of junk on the inside walls of the pathways. Smaller pathway, means working harder, so your BP goes up without effecting your heart rate. This buildup of junk is cholesterol.\n\nSo if you are an athlete with a buildup of cholesterol, but otherwise healthy, what can you do to prevent overworking your heart? There are three big things you need to know:\n\n1) Cholesterol is filtered/processed by your liver primarily and there is only so much your liver can do at one time. You can help it out by not giving your liver too much to do at once. Body fat, alcohol, medications, and many other things are processed by your liver, so if you can cut some of that down, your liver can have more time to work on cholesterol. \n\n2) Your diet is the most important factor in your control. Exercise all you want, it's not going to do jack shit. There is a set rate you can process what you eat, and if you are eating lots of the bad versions of cholesterol, your body wont keep up. If you want your cholesterol level to go down, you need to be paying a lot more attention to what you eat. \n\n3) It's a Genetic lottery. My whole family has a history of very low cholesterol and low blood pressure going back at least 5 generations. Most people didn't get so lucky, and some people have exactly the opposite situation, it's called [familial hypercholesterolemia](_URL_0_). Just like families who have a pre-disposition to diabetes, you might be genetically prone to cholesterol and blood pressure problems. Start talking with your genetic family and find out if they are having trouble too, it might save your life (or theirs) "
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92e4hy | why are "weeds" more fertile than other plants? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/92e4hy/eli5_why_are_weeds_more_fertile_than_other_plants/ | {
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"This is essentially *why* we classify them as weeds. The defining trait of weeds is \"they grow where we don't want them to\" and fairly typically this involves invasive growth, tolerance for disturbed earth, and rapid spread/growth. In other words, \"they show up where we're doing yard work, and won't go away\"\n\nBiologically, the plants we call weeds aren't necessarily all that closely related, they just share traits a particular population finds annoying. So the mechanisms for how, and even the environments they prosper in, can vary widely.\n\nBeyond that, many of the plants we *do* want, we are growing outside of their natural environment. We choose them for ornamentation, not suitability. So they may require specialized care and be relatively incapable of spreading in the garden, even though they could spread all over the place they call \"Home.\""
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264ayv | is there a maximum [sound] volume the brain can interpret? | If we assume that we can provide a raw signal to the brain, bypassing the physical limitations of the ear and related biological machinery - is there a maximum volume the brain can interpret? If so, how is it determined? Would providing a raw signal to the brain bypass the mechanism that makes loud sounds uncomfortable, or is that mechanism in the brain itself? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/264ayv/eli5_is_there_a_maximum_sound_volume_the_brain/ | {
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"The concept of \"Sound\" is actually created by our brains in a response to the stimulus it receives from the vibrating ear drum. This vibrating is known as \"Frequency.\" It would be possible to simulate the illusion of sound in the brain; however, the brain wouldn't be able to make sense of a stimulus that was \"louder\" than that which you could physically hear. To answer your question, no. Providing a raw signal to the brain would not allow you to hear any louder. Trust me, I'm your doctor. "
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3go8vx | why is it that china's government can devalue their currency at a moments notice while the dollar can't be by the us? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3go8vx/eli5_why_is_it_that_chinas_government_can_devalue/ | {
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"The US can, and sometimes does, devalue the dollar. But that comes with downsides as well as upsides. There's a time to devalue the dollar and a time to strengthen it based on the needs of the economy.",
"The US is technically allowed to do things like that. But the dollar is used as a reserve currency by so many other nations, there would be a big complaint were it to just arbitrarily shift. As a result, the US tries to use more 'natural' methods to control its currency by manipulating the money supply, as this is a more predictable and less abrupt way of achieving their goals. It makes the dollar more stable and appealing for international trade.\n\nChina's currency is mostly just used in China so there are fewer repercussions when they make arbitrary changes."
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2i7ifd | discrimination in hiring | What specifically is forbidden in discrimination for employment? I know you can't purposely not hire someone for being a certain ethnicity or gender, but could you say something like "We don't hire any graduates from X school"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2i7ifd/eli5_discrimination_in_hiring/ | {
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"In the United States, you can't make hiring decisions based on whether someone is a member of a [protected class](_URL_0_). That means you _can_ make decisions based on things like:\n\n* What school they went to\n* What sports team they support\n* Whether they are left-handed"
]
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aeupeg | how does ddosing work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aeupeg/eli5_how_does_ddosing_work/ | {
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"You just send way too many requests to the server to the point when it can't handle the amount of traffic and then it shuts down",
"It's a distributed denial of service attack, so it helps to know what a denial of service attack is. \n\nA denial of service attack is when a particular web server gets spammed with requests so it takes up the entire load that the server can take on (so service gets denied to legit consumers). \n\nA *distributed* denial of service attack is when that attack comes from a distributed location, as opposed to one location. Two major advantages to this. \n\n1. Each computer uses less of it's energy to contribute to the attack, so harder to detect. \n\n2. Attacks can be MUCH more severe because there's more computing power than just one computer behind them. \n\nHow do these distributed attack locations work? Attackers will infect millions of computers with code that will execute the attack. Well, a tiny portion of the whole attack so each computer doesn't detect it. Your computer is probably a member of one of these *botnets*. ",
"Think of the internet like the roads going everywhere. \n\nOn a normal day traffic. Moves fine and people to to places on time and without issue.\n\nNow think of getting thousands or millions of people to all visit the local coffee shop at the same time.... Your going to get a traffic jam, and the coffee shop is going to struggle to get anything done trying to deal with everyone at once. ",
"You know how during a football game, lines at the concession stand are reasonable during the game? But at halftime, it’s like everyone gets this signal and becomes a zombie who must go to the concession stand. By the time you get there and legitimately want to buy a hot dog, there’s 8,000 people in front of you and you can’t be served for quite some time. \n\nDDOS is basically the same thing. Malware on thousands or millions of computers allows them to be concession stand zombies when they get a signal. When that signal goes up, they all start trying to access a targeted website. The traffic overwhelms the web server and it can’t serve legitimate traffic. "
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4qesam | can one country steal wealth from another country ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4qesam/eli5_can_one_country_steal_wealth_from_another/ | {
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"Yes stealing resources is the main motivation behind most wars. It's famously said that the Spanish invasions of South America empires brought them so much gold that it lead to inflation in Spain. \n\n\nIn the past one of the incentives that would be offered to soldiers would be booty from war campaigns. Nowadays we have permanent armies so that incentive is no longer required. Nevertheless corporate interests do lobby for wars so that they can get access to the victim country's natural resources.\n",
"One classic way countries do these is that they in-act legislation to \"nationalize\". in other terms, government takes control of it without paying for it or usually paying too little. Land, natural resources, buildings, plants etc. have been nationalized. \n\nRight now one of the big problems in US opening up to Cuba are the properties US Corporations lost in Cuba when communists came to power. "
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||
2gpej6 | sony's $2.5 billion loss | Is that a drop in the bucket for them or...?
I've heard that companies record major losses when releasing new hardware and the profit comes much later. How bad is this loss for Sony? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gpej6/eli5_sonys_25_billion_loss/ | {
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"It's caused by a slow down in their mobile division, not some new hardware that they're eating early costs on still. The overall trend is increased competition in the mid-range from other Asian phone manufacturers.\n\nI wouldn't call this a drop in the bucket, but it's not the end of the world. They'll probably just refocus their phones to a higher end market and try to compete with Apple and Samsung. In the worst case scenario they find themselves unable to compete at any range and drop out of making mobile electronics. They've already dropped their computer and spun off their television groups this year."
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33jwv2 | how can builders put up a house in a couple weeks, but it has taken my state 25 years to? construct a 67 mile stretch of road in a loop around charlotte? | Just realized that it has been close to 25 years since they started building i485. And it should be opening fully in July.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33jwv2/eli5_how_can_builders_put_up_a_house_in_a_couple/ | {
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"The house doesn't have to withstand millions of tons of traffic a day. You can't build a freeway with 2x4s and drywall. Houses are built, freeways are engineered.",
"This isn't specific to Charlotte, but generally speaking, 1) a beltway around a city is a heck of a lot more planning, engineering, zoning, land acquisition and construction than a house; 2) highway construction has to comply with a mass of federal, state and local laws and permitting processes, like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, et al. which is very time consuming, and 3) public construction projects are subject to the whims of politicians and the annual budget process, so in any given year, work can be halted, budgets can be cut, contractors can be fired, or made to comply with new parameters. ",
"It's NC, we love road construction more than education.\nSource: Bumper Sticker "
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5dcxyf | what were the problems with "earmarks" and why was their ban so controversial, should i be concerned about the possibility of a ban being lifted as is being proposed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dcxyf/eli5what_were_the_problems_with_earmarks_and_why/ | {
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"The problem with earmarks is that they're often tied to legislation that \"can't be voted down\", such as the military or annual budget. If the bill can't be realistically voted down, it's really desireable to put that $1m earmark in for your buddy's failing construction company to build a few doodads in your district, or your sister's husband's \"green energy\" initiative trying to use cow shit to power cars.",
"Earmarks in and of themselves are not always bad. You might have one earmark where say--Michigan--wants to bring the Mackinaw Bridge up to date.\n\nBecause the bridge is in Michigan (a state), but carries Interstate 75 (a federal infrastructure project) across the gap between the Upper/Lower Peninsulas both entities get involved.\n\nNow if say a Minnesota legislator were to say \"ok, I can support that, but let's add a rider that I-94 across the Mississippi is also brought up to date\" in the same budget...it is unlikely that anyone would raise an eyebrow. This is an earmark, but it's related and one item is not necessarily holding the other hostage.\n\nThe problem arises when the earmarks are overdone. A third representative may refuse to vote on the bill unless money is included to build a school or community center, a fourth may ask for money for health care, a fifth may decide their district doesn't really need anything but there is a need for jobs (pressure from voters) and add on some unnecessary project on the side. They are taking advantage of the likelihood that this bill will pass in an effort to ride their own project (which should really have its own bill) through on the coat-tails of the title project.\n\nThis becomes an even bigger issue if they hold hostage a must-pass bill for a military or other critical item *that has nothing to do with their earmark at all*.\n\nSo for now I vote that each rep pull together their various related projects with other similar projects and propose them as smaller bills on their own rather than trying to tack on every little thing to something that they think will or must pass.\n\nYeah, some things will get bypassed, but those can be dealt with individually (and passed other ways) vs something that no one cares about being attached to something that everyone cares about simply for the sake of \"advantage\" or \"blackmail\" or \"hostage\" or \"coat-tailing\" or whatever you want to call it."
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678x9z | how does moving electrons power an appliance? | I understand that a current is electrons flowing through a wire, but how does moving an electron past something let a TV screen turn on? I guess what I'd really like to know is, what is "used up" when electrons pass through, to provide energy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/678x9z/eli5_how_does_moving_electrons_power_an_appliance/ | {
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"Well, it depends on the TV. Old school tube TVs had a layer of phosphorus on the inside of the picture tube. When speeding electrons hit the phosphorus they are absorbed, changing the energy state of the phosphorus atoms. When the atoms relax into their original state, they emit a photon of light. Flat panel TVs are typically lit by LEDs. In an LED, the electrons are forced to cross a band gap in the semiconductor. This reduces their energy ans results in the release of a photon. [This Wikipedia picture shows the process](_URL_0_ ).",
"The energy is either in the motion of the electrons, or in their interaction with the atoms of the material they pass through.\n\nFirst, the power plant uses the energy of falling water, or of boiled water (steam) to get the electrons moving (by way of an intermediary magnetic field in the generators). Then, this energy that's stored in the movement of electrons is converted back to useful forms of energy at your house:\n\n* Various motors transform the movement of electrons, again by using an intermediary magnetic field, into motion, to power your dishwasher, clothes washer, and various devices that have moving parts.\n\n* Electrons flowing through a metal and hitting the atoms / transferring their movement to the atoms cause these atoms to heat up, and that's how you get incandescent light-bulbs and electric stoves, heaters, and water heaters.\n\n* For the old cathode ray TV's, a beam of electrons would hit the surface of the TV, which was coated on the inside with phosphorus. Phosphorus atoms absorb the energy from the electron movement, and this energy bumps one of the phosphorus electrons to a higher orbital. This electron then falls back down to its regular orbital, releasing a visible light photon. So the screen would glow at the spot where the beam of electron was hitting it.\n\n* For new LCD displays, there are lamps behind the screen (again powered by electricity that excites a phosphorus or other coating that emits light), and a liquid crystal matrix that aligns itself in an electrical flow field to either let light through or not. For plasma displays, plasma ions glow when electricity passes through them (same principle as the phosphorus, atoms get hit by electrons, which bumps some of their own electrons to higher orbitals, which then return to their regular orbitals and release the energy by emitting a photon of light).\n\nBasically, electricity is a very convenient way to transmit power / energy, because all of chemistry and the interaction between atoms happens through the electrons that surround the nucleus of the atoms, and electricity can interact with them, producing motion, heat, light, chemical reactions, and various other very useful effects.\n\nThe electrons don't get used up, but their motion carries the power/energy. They're pushed into motion at the power plant, and their motion is \"consumed\" at the various appliances at your house.",
"The electrons have something called **electric potential energy** (EPE), which is a form of stored energy. Potential energy can be a difficult concept to get your head around - even after four years of a physics degree, I still struggle with the idea of what it physically is. So lets look at another kind: **gravitational potential energy** (GPE). \n\nYou can give an object GPE by doing work on it through a gravitational field. Practically, that can mean something like walking up the stairs - when you walk up the stairs you do work against gravity to climb, and that energy is stored as GPE in you. You can get it back later, if you want, by allowing gravity to pull you back down again, falling down the stairs. \n\nThe same sort of thing applies to electric charges, though it appears a little more abstract. If you push an electric charge through an electric field, you do work on it which is stored as EPE. You can get that energy back later, by allowing the charge to flow through the field in the opposite way. \n\nI get that the sense of your question is something more like: what is the actual mechanism by which an electron transfers that energy to an appliance, so lets look at the simple case of heating a resistor with an electric current. In this case, you can think of it as like the electrons bumping into the atoms and molecules of the resistor as they travel through each. Each time they do, they transfer some kinetic energy to them, and as heat is just the average kinetic energy of all the molecules of an ensemble, the resistor heats up. Other ways the energy can be transferred could be interactions between the electric fields of other charges, moving EPE around, and exciting an deexciting molecular electrons so they give out light. \n\nWhen it comes to energy, I find it easiest to think of it as the currency of the Universe. Things get some energy, which they can then spend to undergo a process, and in fact the Universe is a spendaholic and things tend to spend their energy very quickly. \n\nI hope this helps somewhat. ",
"Electrons hate being cooped up together unless there is an equal number of protons nearby. Equal numbers make for zero charge, zero volts, and zero amps. A battery (or other power supply) has an excess of electrons on one terminal and a lack of them on the other. That results in a voltage (or potential energy difference). They want to even out the difference but can't connect through the battery. If you connect a light bulb to the battery, they can go through the bulb (creating current), and in doing so, they give up their energy to the bulb, lighting it. Voltage times current equals watts. Watts are a measure of the rate of work being performed. Watts times time equals energy. "
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86ugsn | how is carbon monoxide able to pass through walls? | I’ve seen and heard from many sources that one reason why carbon monoxide poisoning is so dangerous is becuase it is somehow able to move through walls. If it is a form of matter like liquids, solids, and other gasses, what is special about carbon monoxide that gives it this special ability? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86ugsn/eli5_how_is_carbon_monoxide_able_to_pass_through/ | {
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"It doesn't have a special ability and it's no different in how it behaves than any other gas. The ability of any gas to pass through something has to do with the size of the gas molecules and how big the gaps in the material it might pass through are. The difference between these two affects how fast the gas can move through something.\n\nMost houses have walls made of drywall, and the pores (holes) in the drywall are about 1,000,000 times larger than a carbon monoxide molecule, so it can easily seep through walls.\n\nIf you had walls made out of something a lot more dense (like stone) you wouldn't have the same effect. "
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|
3hrjqi | loaded question, but what exactly is money? | For example, I hand someone a piece of paper that says 5 on it. What exactly does that piece of paper do? What exactly do I have 5 OF? I obviously know five dollars, but what exactly is a dollar in the grand scheme of things?
Edit: Wow, awesome answers guys, thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hrjqi/eli5_loaded_question_but_what_exactly_is_money/ | {
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"At this point, our money is a system that is only backed by the belief that other people will accept the money.\n\nYou have 5 units of time, effort, and supplies. You can use those units to trade with someone for something they think is worth 5 units of their time, effort, and supplies.\n\nIf we all decided that money was stupid and we didn't think that other people would accept these units, they wouldn't be able to be traded for much.",
"It used to be backed by a certain amount of gold. You could trade paper money for a physical piece of metal.\n\nNow it does not represent anything physical. It represents a promise that other people will accept your dollar in exchange for goods or services.\n\nIf you move to an island where nobody agrees to honor your dollar then you just have paper.",
"Money is just a physical token that represents the abstract concept of \"value\". Different goods and services have different values to people. \n\nWhat would you give up to get a loaf of bread? Would you give someone your car? Clearly not. What about a pack of gum? That sounds fairly reasonable.\n\nDifferent good and services have different values. We use money as a way to represent value as if it were a physical item. Then, instead of trading bread for gum, we can trade bread for some token (money) that represents the value of the bread, and later trade that token for something of equal value, or save up tokens and trade them for something more valuable. It prevents us from having to constantly barter to get the goods and services that we need."
]
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16ximg | why do i get lightheaded when i stretch my body? | Even stretches where my head doesn't go below my waist, like having one leg up on a beam and leaning forward, I always get lightheaded and have to stop. Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16ximg/eli5_why_do_i_get_lightheaded_when_i_stretch_my/ | {
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"Stretching tells your body to put more blood in a certain area. This decreases the pressure in other parts, like your head. Imagine your body is a long, semi-inflated balloon that's almost completely deflated at one end. When the balloon sends some of the air to the deflated portion, the rest of the balloon bets slightly less inflated as a result.\n\nThe lightheadedness is caused by a slight drop in blood pressure. Eventually, your brain gets used to it and you get back to normal thinking abilities.\n\nIANADoctor, so there's probably a more in-depth explanation, but this is ELI5.",
"What this is called is 'hypoxia'. Hypoxia is when an organ in your body doesn't have enough oxygen. When you stand up quickly, or do something after lying around for a while your body will send all the oxygenated blood out to your extremities( arms and legs) because they need oxygen to function. This quickly tricks your brain into sending the oxygenated blood away leaving it in a state of hypoxia( your brain is all like, \"Good going dipshit! Now I have a headache, and my vision is blurry\").\n\nSource: I'm in AP Biology and had this as a question :p ",
"You're probably bracing your core by bearing down slightly while you stretch. If you press out your abdomen and bear down (like you're taking a dump) you'll note that you get the same effect (this is called the valsalva maneuver if you want to look it up). What happens when you do that is the pressure in your abdominal cavity increases. This presses up on the diaphragm (the muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity and allows you to breath), reducing the volume of the chest cavity and thus increasing the pressure in the chest cavity. This increased pressure acts to compress the two major veins that return blood to your heart (the superior and inferior vena cavae). When these vessels compress, they return less blood to the heart. Your blood vessels are for all intents and purposes connected in parallel, so if you decrease flow at one point, you decrease flow at all points (there are exceptions but for the purpose of discussion here they're not important). So because you have decreased return of blood to the heart, you also have decreased output from the heart because it's not filling to the volume it normally would. This decreases blood flow to your brain, and thus you start to feel light-headed (pre-syncopal in medical speak) and if you continued, you would pass out (syncopal episode in medical speak). ",
"On a similar note, why do I get dizzy and blind when I stretch? And why the occasional \"seizure?\"",
"Just as a side note... to get rid of the lightheaded feelings, flex your abs and it will the lightheaded feeling will quickly dissipate.",
"Are you breathing properly? If this question doesn't make sense, chances are you are not. ",
"As others have said, changes in your body's blood flow while stretching can contribute to lightheadedness. This is worsened if you are dehydrated. I suggest drinking more fluids throughout the day (no soda or anything sugary, just water). You are the most dehydrated in the morning after going without any fluids for 8 hours of sleep, so drink a nice big glass of water after you wake up."
]
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dvak6h | why is it that when you yawn and hum at the same time the sound amplifies x100 directly in your ear? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dvak6h/eli5_why_is_it_that_when_you_yawn_and_hum_at_the/ | {
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"text": [
"The Tensor tympani muscle.\n\nYour mouth, ear and nose are all connected and sounds travel easily between them. There is a tube that connects the middle ear to the back of your throat ([Eustachian tube](_URL_0_))\n\nAt the top the tube is the [tensor tympani muscle](_URL_1_) and it can dampen sound like a valve.\n\nYawning opens the valve. That's also why yawning helps balancing pressure in the middle ear when taking off in an airplane."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustachian_tube",
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||
7es1v1 | what does the rpmx1000 meter in a car show? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7es1v1/eli5_what_does_the_rpmx1000_meter_in_a_car_show/ | {
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"text": [
"It's called a tachometer, and it depends on what car you drive, but most just show how many rotations per minute the engine is doing. ",
"In addition to the responses here, I did want to add that not all cars use RPMx1000 in the tach, although that is the most common measurement. Some cars also use RPMx100.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
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[],
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"https://ak9.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/4933859/thumb/1.jpg"
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