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oxtke | internet bandwidth and how we are running out of it | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/oxtke/eli5_internet_bandwidth_and_how_we_are_running/ | {
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"Where did you hear that we are 'running out' of bandwidth?",
"Bandwidth, in simple terms, is the amount of data that can be transferred from one point to another. It's measured in data per second. Small connections with limited bandwidth connect your home to your service provider. That service provider has much larger, faster connections to large switching locations. These large network switches move millions of times more data per second than your home connection can. \n\nI wouldn't say we're running out of bandwidth on a country or global scale, but if we did, these large switching locations would just have to run more physical fiber optic lines between themselves to increase the amount of data they can transfer. ",
"To echo what everyone has said, we aren't running out of it. ISPs want you to believe that, so they can charge you more for it. ",
"What I want to know is where do all these ISPs get their gigabytes from. They always seem to be running out of them and rationing them every month... & #3232;\\_ & #3232;\n",
"You might also be confused over IPv4 and IPv6. We are running out of IPv4 addresses. \n\nAn IP (internet protocol) address is how your computer finds another computer on the internet. Think of it as a street address. \n\nIP address' are hard for most people to remember. For example, [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) is _URL_1_. \n\nTo make life easier for humans, there is a service that converts names (like '_URL_1_') into IP address'. This service is called DNS.\n\nAlmost all of the available IPv4 addresses are in use. So the internet will begin gradually switching to a new IP scheme called IPv6. \n\nWhereas IPv4 has about 4,294,967,296 addresses, IPv6 has somewhere around 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 addresses. We should be good for a little while.",
"The internet backbone - the really big tubes that connect large data centers to other large data centers - are not running out of bandwidth. Bandwidth limitations, where they exist, are at the last-mile (your ISP).\n\nThink of it like this: The backbone is the interstate highway system. It has many lanes and room for plenty of cars - more room than it needs for the immediate future. In fact, there are whole highways that have been built but aren't being used yet because they aren't needed (dark fiber). But to get to your house, you have to get off the interstate and travel on local roads. These roads are smaller and not necessarily well maintained. While you can cruise along at 70mph on the highway, you might hit traffic once you get off and there are too many cars on the crappy roads in your neighborhood. Still, you have to take those roads because they're the only ones that lead from the interstate to your house.\n\nThese local roads are the lines from the backbone to your ISP, and from your ISP to your house. Much of this equipment (lines and routing hardware) was installed years ago when bandwidth demand was low. Now individual bandwidth demands are higher, and this old gear has trouble keeping up. Your ISP is lazy and hates spending money, so they don't want to upgrade any of this equipment. Instead, they limit how much bandwidth each person can use. If they'd simply spent the money you pay in service fees every month on upgrades (instead of pocketing it), there would be no need for limits. They know they can get away with this stuff because there is never more than two options (cable or DSL) in any neighborhood, so there's nothing you can do about it.\n\n**TL;DR** - Any \"lack of bandwidth\" is entirely the fault of your ISP for being too greedy to pay for necessary upgrades to *their* equipment. The internet as a whole is just fine.",
"Basically the internet is a highway and there's a bunch of cars on it. More cars = more traffic. City is too cheap to expand the road so they tell you you have to drive less often or pay them more for more road access.",
"Imagine you're going by road to see your grandmother. You have to go by local streets, then onramps, then a freeway, then an offramp, then local streets again.\n\nYou can be slowed down by traffic at any of these points. \n\nNow, the freeways are fine. Not only were they built big enough, but you can turn on the radio, and if you hear that one freeway is blocked, you can take a different one. And the big freeway-building companies are good at building more freeways.\n\nHowever, your local roads happen to be private roads, maintained by a company (an ISP). These are the roads you have to pay to get on. And there's only one road to your house; no alternate routes! \n\nThese ISP guys like to make profits, so they sell road access to all your neighbors, too, and promise plenty of good traffic lights, etc. But they *know* that not everyone is on the road at once, so while they promise that everyone can go fast on the local roads, they also know that, if everyone jumped on the roads at once, things would snarl and they'd break their promises.\n\nNow, over time, they sell more and more access. But people start jumping on all at once! But these ISP guys are pretty cheap. So they don't build more roads to keep up with traffic! Instead, they tell you \"it's a major crisis! we're running out of roads!\" And then they try to convince you that because of this crisis, big commercial trucks that pay more should get all the green lights. And they should put more stop signs on your street, slowing you down. And that the government should pass speed limits. And on the other end, your grandmother's roads are *much* less important than the roads to the sports stadium!\n\nWhen really, they're just too cheap to improve their roads.",
"Because the internet is not something you can just dump things on, it's not a big truck. It's.. It's a series of tubes!"
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assirz | why does powdered food/protein only start to spoil when mixed with water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/assirz/eli5_why_does_powdered_foodprotein_only_start_to/ | {
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"Bacteria needs water much like us to survive and importantly metabolize, however unlike us it cannot walk to the sink to get it and thus needs it in the vicinity."
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s2iq6 | why if prostitution is illegal, hookers do not simply go through a motions of 'borrowing' money upfront and then pretending to want have sex afterwords? | I know it obvious what they're doing, but it still would technically be within the law. Is there something else I should know? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/s2iq6/eli5_why_if_prostitution_is_illegal_hookers_do/ | {
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"The legal loop hole I've seen is to hire the girl as a 'model' for nude photos.\n\nThat way there is a legal excuse for a exchange of currency, and you can tell if the girl is an undercover cop if she doesn't agree to the 'photo session' before any talk of sex beings. ",
"Crack. This would work if they were sophisticated people, and probably does work. However, the people who are charged with and convicted of soliciting often have a drug problem in my experience. When I was at the public defenders office, the county I worked in (in Ohio) would offer women charged with prostitution treatment instead of probation or jail, meaning a free shelter to stay in, clothes, food, education to learn work skills, and some cash, if they would agree to drug tests and stay clean. Several women I spoke with tried and couldn't stay sober, and several others chose a little while in jail instead of sobriety. ",
"There are lots of games you can play...hire them to be your \"escort\" and anything that happens later is voluntary, accidentally leave money laying around the room, give them an expensive gift with the receipt inside they can return.\n\nAnd it will probably work that one time. But prostitutes and solicitors of prostitutes don't just do it one time. You let your guard down once, or you get caught talking to someone else without using the right code words, and you have established a pattern of behavior, laying bare the farce so now ever the times you got your story straight count against you.",
"What you describe IS how it works. That's what an escort \"service\" is.\n\nIf they ever outlawed escorting service then the service would change. The service could be anything. A \"Special\" house cleaner that you pay, and oh! look at that... you wanna have sex? how convenient. (That's what \"Special\" massage parlors are.)\n\nSex between consenting adults could never really be made illegal so long as the law permits those same two individuals to have sex under different circumstances. All the law can do is color it as illegal and hope people don't think it through. \n\nMoney for sex will always essentially be legal it's just people get too lazy and get caught because they forget to follow the formalities.\n\n"
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7cwomv | which nations didn't actively target civilians in ww2? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7cwomv/eli5_which_nations_didnt_actively_target/ | {
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"All the major combatants did at various times. Examples: \n\n * Germany in the Netherlands, where they completely flattened Rotterdam\n\n * The UK in the bombing of Dresden\n\n * Japan in China (from 1937) and Indochina, and various Pacific islands e.g. the [Sook Ching Massacre] (_URL_0_) in Singapore.\n\n * The USA in the fire-bombing of Tokyo\n\n * Italy in Greece.",
"What does actively targeting civilians mean? Bombing a military target when you know it will almost certainly cause many civilian deaths? Bombing a factory with civilian workers that makes tank parts? Randomly lobbing artillery shells into a defended city until it surrenders?\n\nTo some degree, just about every country involved in the war targeted civilians, especially if they did any bombing.\n\nIf you mean targeting civilians to the exclusion of anything of military value, I am sure everyone did it on at lease small scale. The German rockets targeting London would certainly qualify. And they certainly were not particularly gentle in Eastern Europe, as part of their overall plan was to displace Slavs and make that area an Aryan homeland.",
"Pretty much all majors combatants committed atrocities against civilians, or targeted them.\n\nBritish: Bombed German cities with the express purpose of attacking the civilian population.\n\nAmericans: The same but in Japan. American troops also committed a great deal of rape, plundering, and other mistreatment of Japanese civilians during occupation.\n\nGermans: Do I have to say it?\n\nRussians: There is the famous \"rape of East Prussia\", but Russian soldiers enacted a massive campaign of rape, loot, and outright murder against German civilians.\n\nJapanese: Massacred Chinese citizens, raped innumerable women, cannibalized citizens, targeted them with biological warfare, etc.\n\nItaly: Had concentration camps and committed brutal reprisals against civilians during their occupation of Greece.\n\nChina: Brutally attacked Japanese nationals living in China, from illegal imprisonment, to murder, to looting. The Chinese also targeted their own citizens, most notably in destroying the levies on the Yellow River.\n\nCanada: Rather mild comparatively. They set fire to German towns in response to an alleged killing of popular officer by a civilian. Though it is written that no civilians were killed during this. And it is safe to assume Canadian pilots took part in bombing German civilians. \n\nFrance: It is alleged that French Moroccan troops kidnapped, raped, or killed roughly 12,000 civilians in Italy and Germany, however this number comes from Italian sources, although some level of atrocities were committed. However, this was not on order of the French government, but was considered standard practice for these soldiers in their homeland. \n\nYugoslavia: Massacres of Axis partisans, who were illegal combatants, without trial. This blurs the line a bit as to whether it was against civilians. Partisans are/were illegal combatants, so there are different sets of rules. However, Yugoslav forces executed the families of prisoners of war, and hundreds of suspected collaborators, with little evidence in many cases.\n\nAustralia: There were records of rape and mistreatment of Japanese civilians by Australian forces, but this is seen to be the acts of men, not a government policy.\n\nPoland: I can't find any, but their pilots were active in the civilian bombing campaigns. \n\nIn summary, all major combatants(China, USSR, US, Germany, Italy, UK, France, Japan) targeted civilians, and some(US, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan) targeted them as part of strategy, which others(Canada, France, Australia, Poland) had groups of soldiers who targeted civilians and did not do it under orders of the government. \n"
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9le01j | why couldn't a rocket in space accelerate indefinitely with a constant force on it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9le01j/eli5_why_couldnt_a_rocket_in_space_accelerate/ | {
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"Because it would need an infinite amount of fuel meaning it would have an infinite amount of mass meaning any amount of finite force wouldn't actually cause it to accelerate.",
"Because space isn't actually empty.\nThere is a few molecules flying around there, about 3 per cubic metre.\nThis creates drag, which increases exponetially with speed, thus overcoming the thrust at a certain maximum speed.",
"It certainly could.\n\nIt would need:\n\n* enough energy (think fusion reactor)\n* enough reaction mass (something to accelerate out the back)\n\nIt wouldn't go infinitely fast, because there is a speed limit. As you get closer to the speed of light, your time runs more slowly (relative to mine) so your reactor makes less energy per second and you emit less reaction mass per second, slowing your acceleration (as observed by me).",
"F=ma which means that a=F/m so when you apply a force to a mass, the force divided by the mass determines your acceleration.\n\nHowever, because A) fuel has mass and thus trying to carry enough fuel to accelerate indefinitely would result in the acceleration you get from the thrust getting smaller proportional to the mass, and 2) relativity states that as an object's speed increases to a significant fraction of the speed of light, that object will gain mass, and thus require more force to achieve acceleration; this increases exponentially because of E=mc^2 and eventually the amount of force you need to attain any acceleration at all approaches infinity as you approach the speed of light.",
"It could accelerate to the speed of the fuel it expels. An Ion engine can accelerate to nearly the speed of light."
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65658b | what is the difference between an object, a class, and an instance? | edit: Yes, it is a programming question. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65658b/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_an_object_a/ | {
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"Think of a class as a template, where functions and fields are defined. \n\nFrom that template, we can build concrete instances/objects. \n\n\nA very simplified example:\n\nImagine, a Person class has the fields: name and age, and address. But it has no values since it's a template (but it could have a default value defined in the template, but let's make it null just for the sake of example). \n\nTo make a \"concrete\" person, you need to make an instance of a class, where you can store a specific person's name, age, and address. \n\nIn practice, \"instance\" and \"object\" are synonymous with each other. \n"
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aufj74 | why do movies and television often use a yellow tint for flashbacks/past events? | Is there any significance with yellow or was it just chosen at random. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aufj74/eli5_why_do_movies_and_television_often_use_a/ | {
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"It's called sepia tone. It's solely because it's the color of old photographs, and thus makes people think \"old\".",
"Early photographs had a yellow tinge because of the developing chemicals and paper used at the time. all of my childhood photos are like that. So for me, a yellow tinge brings me back to childhood memories."
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1fmw6s | the mass-energy equivalence equation (e=mc^2) | I've been reading on anti-matter and the fact that mixing matter and anti-matter is astonishingly powerful. What I'm trying to figure out is how much energy is released from a given amount of anti-matter.
For example. If I have 1g of anti-matter and I plug the equation accordingly, how much energy and in what sort of unit is that energy in, and how much anti-matter would be comparable to an explosion the likes of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima/Nagasaki? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fmw6s/eli5_the_massenergy_equivalence_equation_emc2/ | {
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"Matter and antimatter combinations convert completely efficiently, so you can just say that 100% of the antimatter is being converted to energy. So we can do it like:\n\n > E = mc^2\n\n > E = .001 kg * 300,000,000 m/s ^2\n\n > E = [9x10^13 J](_URL_0_)\n\nWhich is about 21.5 kilotons of TNT (a ton of TNT is 4.184 gigajoules).\n\nThe explosion at Hiroshima was about 15 kilotons of TNT and the explosion at Nagasaki was about 20 kilotons of TNT. \n\nYou could use this equation to work backwards and figure out how much matter in each was converted to energy. It is, as you can guess from the above, a very tiny amount, on the order of 1 gram for each bomb. The reason is that only a very tiny amount of mass is converted into energy with each fission reaction (it is a tiny bit of binding energy the comes from breaking apart the nucleus), and in each bomb, only a small percentage of their total fissile material actually fissioned (the Hiroshima bomb had 64 kg of enriched uranium in it, and the Nagasaki bomb had around 6 kg of plutonium in it). The complete fissioning of 1 kg of enriched uranium releases about 20 kilotons worth of energy. This is in stark contrast to the efficiency of matter-antimatter reactions.",
"There is a handy thing called [dimension analysis](_URL_0_) - if you know the units, you can figure out the equation.\n\nCheck out the [definition of a joule](_URL_1_). One joule is equal to one kilogram times metres squared over second squared. This corresponds exactly to the units in E = mc^2 , where m is mass, in kg, and c is the speed of light, in m/s.\n\nAll this information is out there and easily accessible - you just need to find it."
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2r6ynq | why do the special effects in district 9 (relatively low budget) look so much better than newer special effects (tmnt, the last transformers movie) despite significantly larger budgets? | I re-watched District 9 tonight and noticed how much better the SFX were than some recent popular films. I know a frailty of SFX is showing the world as being "dirty," so how did District 9 manage to pull off the prawns and their dirty existence better than Michael Bay and his big budget CGI films? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r6ynq/eli5_why_do_the_special_effects_in_district_9/ | {
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"It's a matter of style.\n\nDistrict 9 is a hard science fiction setting. It's designed to make everything look real, and it complemented the harsh and real look at how human cultures deal with minorities. But looking real isn't necessarily the film maker's goal.\n\nAction blockbusters are meant to be a visual feast, rather than looking realistic. They want bright colours, lense flares, and other things that make people's eyes glaze over while they eat popcorn. These effects are meant to be over-the-top to be paired with the over-the-top action and dialogue of their movies.\n\nI also prefer hard science fiction set in a realistic world. But it doesn't sell like a Michael Bay film regardless.",
"Yeah fuck you CGI films. 'Where the wild things are' went with puppets instead of CGI and it was so much better as a result. Until CGI gets way better it's going to look B grade."
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333rkg | aside from slight fluctuations over time, has the earth always been roughly the same mass (including organisms)? | Everything we build comes from matter on Earth, so we don't really gain any matter, and what we lose amounts to satellites and rockets sent to space, right? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/333rkg/eli5_aside_from_slight_fluctuations_over_time_has/ | {
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"Since its formation, yes, it has. There are minor processes - we slowly lose light gases to space, and sometimes a big rocks hit us - but neither is significant on the scale of the Earth's total mass.",
"There is a prevailing scientific opinion that says Earth was once hit by a stray planet called Theia, which was roughly the size of Mars. This happened in the very early lifetime of the solar system - possibly as little as 20 million years after its creation (roughly 4.5 billion years ago).\n\nThis impact is what we think led to the creation of the Moon. But crucially for your question, a sizeable proportion of Theia's matter would have mixed with that of Earth, significantly increasing the size and mass of our planet."
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5i72yk | the law of increasing returns | I've searched a bit about the law of diminishing returns and the law of augmenting returns but I don't really get it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5i72yk/eli5the_law_of_increasing_returns/ | {
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"The basic idea of a diminishing return is if you are losing a % of something each iteration as you approach 0 you will lose less and less (or are increasing by a flat amount as this amount will relatively be less over time), an augmented return is the opposite where if I gain a % of a principle each month, I will gain more each month (in total amount of the thing) than I did the month before. \n\nFor example:\n\nThink of a strategy game where I can build 2 types of buildings to make my piece of land more profitable, currently my land makes me 1 coin a month, and I get my money every month. I can build multiple buildings on my land\n\nBuilding A- increases my profit by 50% each month \nBuilding B- Increases my profit by 1 coin each month. \n\nAt first, building B is a great option because I double my money (1+1=2), but I will quickly notice a diminishing return as I build more (2+1=3, a 50% gain, equal to building A, 3+1=4, 33% gain, 4+1=5, 25% gain, etc). \n\nA on the other hand has the opposite effect, the first time I go from 1*1.5= 1.5, but as I build more I start seeing my return accelerate (1.5*1.5=2.25 *1.5=3.4 *1.5=5.1 *1.5=7.6, etc) \n\nmake sense? "
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73ymc9 | why is beer more opaque the colder it is? | And how exactly does it effect the taste? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/73ymc9/eli5_why_is_beer_more_opaque_the_colder_it_is/ | {
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"Well I never actually noticed that *but* it is consistent with the fact that beer contains proteins, and the colder it is, the less the proteins may be soluble in water, hence the coming out of solution, hence the cloudiness.\n\n\n"
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4gsje2 | can an object moving fast enough in a vacuum produce a visible shockwave similar to a sonic boom for advanced jet fighters? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gsje2/eli5can_an_object_moving_fast_enough_in_a_vacuum/ | {
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"If it's in total vacuum, no. There's nothing for the shock wave to be composed of. The visible shock wave you see on fighters is water vapor being squeezed out of the air.",
"Not in a vacuum, no.\n\nTo create a \"light boom\" you have to be going faster than the speed of light. Since in a vacuum nothing can go faster than light, you can't have a light boom. BUT, light can be slowed down by making it pass through something! For example, light moves more slowly through water than through a vacuum. It's possible to have particles (for example electrons) moving through this water faster than photons can. This results in the particles creating a \"light boom\" very similar to the way a sonic boom is created by a supersonic plane.\n\nThe actual scientific name for this \"light boom\" is [Cherenkov radiation](_URL_0_). All the \"booms\" from the individual particles flying around add together into one continuous glow. This is the reason for the eerie blue glow emitted from underwater nuclear reactors. "
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2afgvg | what hard drives do they use in space? | This is a question going around in office, we are wondering what hard drives do they use in space as zero gravity would surely affect the spinning disk. What do they use in space stations and rockets during launch? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2afgvg/eli5what_hard_drives_do_they_use_in_space/ | {
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"Gravity doesn't affect the spinning disk. It spins because there's a motor attached, not through force of gravity.\n\nThey use (or have used) regular IDE hard drives. _URL_0_"
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aal8rt | about what pixelation do my eyes see at? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aal8rt/eli5_about_what_pixelation_do_my_eyes_see_at/ | {
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"text": [
"About 576 megapixels is what I found out by copying and pasting your question into Google. ",
"The average *angular resolution* (the separation which two objects must have to be visually distinguishable as two separate objects) of the human eye is approximately one *minute of arc.*\n\nHere's what that means. If you consider a circle, you know that you can divide a circle into 360 degrees. You can further divide each degree into sixty minutes (and each minute into sixty seconds).\n\nA *minute of arc*, then, is the length of the circumference of the circle that's bounded by an angle, drawn from the center of the circle, of one-sixtieth of a degree. \n\nThe precise length of a unit of measure *of arc* depends on how far away you are; one minute corresponds to 0.3 meters at a distance of one kilometer, meaning that if two objects are more than a foot apart, and you stand one kilometer from those objects, you can distinguish them as being separate. Any closer, and you wouldn't be able to."
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33zwjo | why do lions or tigers that are living in the same enclosure suddenly start to roar and bite at each other? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33zwjo/eli5why_do_lions_or_tigers_that_are_living_in_the/ | {
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"It's how the communicate. Sometimes it's playful, sometimes it's them trying to show dominance, sometimes it's one saying \"Hey. Quit it.\" It seems to come from nowhere but really it's just them talking to each other."
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7gboa6 | why do humans have such revolting reactions to gore and death while animals don't seem to care and happily eat each others cadavers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7gboa6/eli5_why_do_humans_have_such_revolting_reactions/ | {
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"What animals are you thinking of that “happily” eat cadavers of their own species? ",
"Familiarity, or lack thereof, has a lot to do with it. There are people who work in abattoirs, butchering mammals to feed other mammals. Medical students have to dissect other people as part of their studies. They either get used to it or have to change job.",
"a lot of it is due to the evolutionary benefits of our feelings of disgust.\n\nWe are usually disgusted by things that pose a threat to our health - corpses, rotting meat, shit, piss.\n\nAs stereoroid says, we can train away that feeling of disgust, but it is hardwired into us",
"Because most humans are raised in a world where they do not require direct exposure to gore and death to survive.\n\nThere are lots of cases where humans in specific situations have resorted to cannibalism when the choice is either that or die,and occasionally societies of \"headhunters\" make it a specific point. But for most of us living conditions no longer require us to do it as a standard that we're exposed to since the day we're born, so we don't.\n\n"
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4h5b3r | why do some shops (costco, makro etc) have membership criteria before you can shop there? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4h5b3r/eli5_why_do_some_shops_costco_makro_etc_have/ | {
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"Because they can make extra money off of the membership fee and additionally the customer is more likely to continue shopping there if they have already invested money in a membership. It hooks people in.",
"It's so that they can guarantee a market and can figure out spending patterns just like having a free membership rewards card with something like ASDA.\n\nE.g Let's say you're a direct-to-customer store, like say McDonalds, KFC or Aldi. They can gauge how many people might come in on certain days by previous sales, but that's not guaranteed.\n\nNow, with something like Makro, they're a warehouse distributor that sells to business. They don't let just any customer in off the street for one-time purchases.\n\nTheir customers will be things like Newsagents and off-licenses-- let's say that these two stock up their inventories in bulk at the end of every month. Now, Makro will know what they usually buy and can generally count on their business each month-- and they can also figure-- ah, the Liquor store is buying a lot of Vodka every time, but no wine. Maybe we should update the warehouse and order more vodka since we're usually short on it-- and the newsagent is always buying a few thousands worth of cigarettes, better send him some offers for cheap bulk deals etc."
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1022y4 | shrodinger's equation and dirac equation? | I'm not talking about Shrodinger's cat btw, just the actual equation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1022y4/eli5_shrodingers_equation_and_dirac_equation/ | {
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"They both describes the change of a physical system over time according quantum mechanics. To do the calculations you should add anything that's relevant to the system. Like fields and whatnot.\n\nDirac's take special(not general) relativity in account when describing this change. \n\n[Particle in a box](_URL_0_) is probably the simplest example of such a system. It's basically a particle bouncing back and forth between two walls.",
"Schrodinger's equation is a special type of equation, where the solution to it is itself an equation (called the \"wavefunction\") that gives you the probability of finding a particle in a given region of space (and, in the most general form, at a particular time). Without going into details, because you are 5, I will just say that it applies in situations where the speed of the particle is much lower than the speed of light (like most daily situations - this is called the 'low energy limit').\n\nThe Dirac equation is very similar to the Schrodinger equation, except that it applies to particles going very fast (high energy), which requires Einstein's theory of Special Relativity to describe accurately, and so the underlying math (\"mechanics\") behind the equation are different.\n\nLet me know if you would like a more detailed explanation, and I will pretend you are more like 12 or 15."
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aa6elq | how do people smooth out ice in downhill ice skating? | I can't imagine them using a Zamboni for it, so how would they cleanup/smooth out the ice on those tracks?
[example of a race](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aa6elq/eli5how_do_people_smooth_out_ice_in_downhill_ice/ | {
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"The same way they make bobsled and luge runs. The ice isn't very thick, and you apply it with a mister or similar slow application method. Each layer freezes before you put the next one on, and freezes so quickly it doesn't have time to slide downhill.\n\nZambonis do that as well, but since the rink is flat and horizontal they can put more water down and rely on the water's ability to self-level."
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC635rC_1Us"
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4n8eas | why is the middle east constantly at war with the west? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4n8eas/eli5_why_is_the_middle_east_constantly_at_war/ | {
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"Couple hundred years of Western imperialism, the hitherto inability of many Islamic states to successfully adapt to modern international politics, and militarization prompted by insane oil demand. ",
"1. The era of colonialism fucked the Middle East all up. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed the Euros went in and carved up the territory with little regard for where anyone actually lived.\n\n2. Oil got discovered. Weak nations with precious resources *always* get fucked over when stronger nations start waiding in with armies, spies, and bribes to get that sweet stuff.\n\n3. The entire Cold War. The US and USSR spent 50 years purposely fucking with each other's allies, propping up dictators, and launching coups just to spite each other.\n\n4. This has lead to a situation in the region where governments are weak, people are poor, and arms and funding are hyper-abundant. Not a recipe for stability.",
"It's always been volatile in that area of the world. However, it has been exacerbated thanks to the United States and Russia playing proxy war games with each other. To a lesser extent China in recent years has been wanting to have more influence there too. Last and certainly not least, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been mortal enemies for ages and both wanna establish themselves as a regional power and dominate the other. Very very messy situation.",
"There are a number of reasons, each related to their own time period.\n\nThe most common is that it is the birth place of three religions that claim various cities as being sacred. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all claim basically the same set of cities as being their holy cities. But in terms of history this has been a side note as to why we go to war.\n\nThe biggest one is that the Middle East is strategically centered around Europe, Asia, and Africa. Without going through the desolate arctic the only way to get to any of these regions was by boat or through the middle east, but weren't economically for a long time.\n\nThis meant that all goods from each continent heading towards the other continents (slaves from Africa, silks from China, spices from India, fine goods from Europe) had to go through the middle east. This turned the middle east into a gateway of vast wealth. Whoever controlled it would get to place a levy on all other nations on the opposing sides of the world.\n\nThis made it a great place to be the centre of an empire like in the case of Egypt and the Byzantines. It also made it a way of peddling power like in the case of the Romans and the Khans..... and it also made for a great way to conquer the rest of the world like in the case of the Persians, The Greeks, The Muslim Empire, and the Ottomans.\n\nIn modern times Egypt likely has one of the most important ports in the world. All trade between China and Europe falls through the Suez Canal. An Egypt that is hostile to American and European business relations, is an Egypt at war with the world.\n\nA lot of this gives the conditions for conflict, but the final part is poverty. When everyone was doing business through the Middle East, the cities were bustling with activity. However a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Venice (both wanting control of the Silk Road) would lead to rapid advancements in sailing technology and sizes of ships that made bypassing the empire very economical.\n\nEven today if cargo isn't very valuable people will risk going around Africa rather than paying to take the Suez Canal.\n\nItalians became the world's greatest explorers and in kind discovered and mapped most of our world, all because of their on-going conflict with the Ottomans. This opened up a large number of sea routes to China and India, as well as to a new area, the Americas.\n\nWith less trade traveling through the middle east the Ottoman Empire was on the brink of collapse and was forced to use military might to put down rebellions among rivals. This created a lot of well known tensions that still exist today (Serbian-Croatian-Albanian, Turkish-Armenian-Kurdish, Iraqi-Iranian).\n\nSo complex answer but yes, there are many many factors involved in why the Middle East is an area ripe with conflict."
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1ub4ot | how does china raise money under a communist tax system? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ub4ot/eli5_how_does_china_raise_money_under_a_communist/ | {
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"China's tax regime is similar to that of most other countries, consisting of primarily:\n\n* Personal taxes, such as income tax, which is levied on individuals and small businesses\n* Business taxes levied on company profits and on goods sold\n* Property taxes levied on property owners and users\n\nThere are also plenty of other taxes in China, such as farming tax and vehicle tax which are charged under certain circumstances.\n\nTLDR: There is nothing unique about China's taxation system, nor any principles it applies which are not used in many other countries."
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4nnbxe | why do some animals immediately hate each other when placed together and other animals immediately fall in love and take to each other? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nnbxe/eli5_why_do_some_animals_immediately_hate_each/ | {
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"Why do some humans immediately hate each other when placed together and other humans immediately fall in love and take to each other?",
"The vomeronasal organ detects chemical cues that trigger sexual, aggressive and defensive behaviors.",
"I was told this a while back, and it has stood true for all my animals thus far. How true it is, I have no idea. When I brought a cat into the house with my dog, the cat was intruding on the dog's territory. The dog didn't care, and the cat loved the dog. My dog passed, and eventually my fiancee moved in with her dog. That dog is now intruding on my cat's territory. 2 years later my cat still hates her dog. The dog, doesn't care."
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dqrdzp | survivorship bias and how to apply it | I hear about survivorship bias, and I hear examples like "Bill Gates dropping out of college is survivorship bias". I don't really know how they correlate, or how to think of things with that in mind. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dqrdzp/eli5_survivorship_bias_and_how_to_apply_it/ | {
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"Survivorship bias is coming to conclusions based on what limited data survived or only on examples of people who succeeded.\n\nIf you look at a collection of arrowheads you would think that every arrowhead was made from stone, but the dominance of stone arrowheads in our collections isn't due to stone arrowheads being the only type. There are a few examples of wooden arrowheads but wood decays over time so very few have *survived* for us to find.\n\nFor things like \"these traits make people successful\" they often list traits that successful people have as though those traits are what lead to the success, but that ignores that there are far more people with those traits who have failed. The vast majority of new businesses will fail within 5 years, and those that survive may have done something right but are more likely to have just been lucky. If you look at a bunch of lucky samples and try to find a trend you'll draw bad conclusions because you've ignored the identical samples that didn't turn out the same and aren't around for you to study.",
"Survivorship bias is the idea that if we only look at the remaining subjects, it may skew our data. For instance, when armoring planes in WW2, the RAF (I think it was the RAF anyway) always added armor onto their airplanes in places where they found bullet holes. This did their planes very little good. Why? Because the airplanes that they were looking at were the survivors. If an airplane lands with a bullet hole in the wing, then that hole must not have done too much damage. If no airplanes land with bullet holes in the fuel tank, then the fuel tank is likely a critical component that needs armor.",
"It means that you only hear about the ones that got lucky.\n\nIf someone tells you that motorcycle helmets are overrated because he has been riding for 30 years without one and that he has never had a problem, that may be true, but all the motorcycle riders that died because they weren't wearing a helmet are no longer around to say otherwise.\n\nWhen evaluating a certain dangerous behavior you have to make sure that you don't just pay attention to the few lucky examples that made it, but also to the ones that have perished.\n\nAnother classic example is the story of the (now) successful business owner that had to mortgage his house, max out his credit cards and borrow money from friends to keep his company going, and now he's a millionaire. There are enough of those stories around, so people may get the impression that this is a winning strategy.\n\nBut chances are that for every success story like this, there are many more people who did the same, failed, went bankrupt and they're now delivering pizza for a living. That's because the media is only doing profiles on the ones that became successful, not the ones who failed.",
"Survivorship bias is basically looking at something successful and assuming that the success is because of successful strategy, without taking into account how likely the strategy is to be successful.\n\nIf you only talk to lottery winners you might get the idea that spending your entire salary on lottery tickets is a great idea, but if you talk to everyone who buys a lottery ticket you will realize that most of them don't win. \n\nIf you look at bill gates you might get the idea that dropping out of college is a good strategy for success, but if you talk to most college dropouts you will quickly realize that so is not the case.",
"There are 1000’s of college dropouts every year. Even looking specifically at those who drop out to start a business, only a tiny fraction become fabulously successful in spite of that, but those are the ones you hear about. You don’t hear about the ones who ran up credit card debt before his business fizzled out, and he couldn’t afford to return to school so now he works for Geek Squad at Best Buy, or ended up managing a Denny’s. Because you hear about the ones who best survive, it creates a bias thinking it’s easier to succeed even without a degree than it actually is."
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23qjxy | dungeons & dragons. i'm starting a game next week for the first time and kind of need a quick introduction/advice. | I guess we're playing the 4th edition and I have to create my character. This is a fairly new game to me but I know most of it is played based on dice rolls. I'm usually a card/poker player but I can't deal with all the smoke lately (major headache going home to shower then to the night shift job) and this group of players are non smokers. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23qjxy/eli5_dungeons_dragons_im_starting_a_game_next/ | {
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"People will help you with all the rules, which are pretty straightforward. What you probably want is a primer on what a role-playing game is all about.\n\nRPGs are about putting yourself into the mindset of your chosen character. For example, imagine you were playing as a thief. You probably wouldn't go around stealing from people just because you could, but a thief probably would. Think about it as if you are an actor playing a character without a set script; you write yourself a framework of the character and then adapt that to the given situation as well as you can. The \"DM\" (Dungeon Master) or \"GM\" (Game Master) is the person put in the role of defining the setting in which you are all interacting. Think of them like the director for the play. They don't tell you how to act your character, but they will progress the story and enforce certain rules. You cannot for instance just decide to walk through walls, or blast off into space by flapping your arms.\n\nThe dice rolls typically come into play when the question of your ability to achieve some challenge comes up. For example suppose you are a thief and you want to pick someone's pocket. There is a chance they could detect your efforts, and the determination if they do is left somewhat up to chance. Your character's statistics come into play here, and they are numerical representation of your character's attributes. As a thief you are probably fairly good at picking pockets, by being dexterous and stealthy. This can be added up into a number which you will add to the result of a d20 die which you roll. In this example the action would be opposed by the person's ability to detect you fishing around in their pocket, and they would apply their bonuses (or penalties) to such a thing to another d20 roll. Whichever total is higher \"wins\" the roll and succeeds at their action.\n\nOther dice rolls are trying to reach a set target amount. Trying to hit someone with a sword for example would be a d20 plus your attack attribute (in this case probably strength + level bonus) and your goal is to exceed your target's AC (Armor Class) which is the combination of their base defense for being a mobile person, their armor, and any bonuses for being especially agile, a shield, etc. They don't roll to oppose your efforts in this case, they just set the bar.",
"The game works like this:\n\nEach player creates a character to play as. This character represents a fantasy hero of some kind, maybe a young wizard throwing fireballs, maybe a brave soldier grizzled from years of battle, maybe a charismatic rogue who cuts purses and throats, maybe a passionate cleric who specialises in healing prayers.\n\nYour character (in 4E) is defined by its race (human, elf, dwarf, etc.), class (fighter, wizard, cleric, etc.), attributes/stats (Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma), Skills (the genetic types of things its good at, e.g. Athletics covers running, climbing, swimming, jumping; Arcana covers magical skill, sensing and identifying types of magic), Feats (special traits or moves that you know how to do, like fighting better with two weapons at once, using rare or special weapons, or dodging attacks from behind), and Powers (the attack techniques, abilities or spells you have, mostly chosen from a list for your class).\n\nThe Players Handbook gives the detail of how to create a character.\n\nThe gameplay then works as follows. One person, the DM, describes a scene that your characters are in. You decide what you want your character to do. The DM then tells you what happens.\n\nIf you are trying to do something tricky, the DM will ask you to make a skill check. You roll a 20-sided die (d20) and add any bonuses your character gets (e.g. +5 for being trained, +2 from having a good attribute for that skill, and +2 for using a helpful tool). If the result is high enough, your character will succeed. For example, your soldier might want to climb up a wall to get a better view of the area. The DM decides (but might not tell you) wjat you need to get, say a 15.\n\nYou roll a d20 and get 8. But your soldier is trained in Athletics and gets +5. He's also very strong, so he gets +4. And he has a climbing kit, for +2. Your total is 19 - so the DM says you succeed and tells you what your character can see from the top of the wall.\n\nAttacks in combat are very similar. You get a standard action, a move action, and a minor action each turn. Almost all attacks are Standard actions. Instead of choosing a skill, you choose one of your attack powers. You roll a d20 and add your bonuses for the relevant attribute (your Soldier would add his +4 bonus for strength), your weapon (a longsword adds +3 but an axe adds +2; each can add more if it is enchanted), and other situational bonuses that may apply (e.g. +2 for charging). If the total is higher than your target's armor score, you hit, and roll the damage specified for that attack power or weapon (e.g. a longsword rolls a d8 for damage, a dagger only rolls a d4) and add any bonuses the attack power says. Most attack powers have extra effects, like knocking the target over, pushing them away, setting them on fire, etc.\n\nEach character and enemy has a hit point total. If a character or enemy falls to 0 hit points they are unconscious and can't act. If they hit -10 they die. Defeating enemies or finishing quests gives you experience points; with enough experience points your character goes up a level, which gives new attack powers, better attack and skill bonuses, new feats, and more hit points.\n\nThe DM thus strings together dialogue, combats, and skill challenges to form the story of the game."
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5qo8iq | what is the difference between an expat and an immigrant? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5qo8iq/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_an_expat_and/ | {
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"You're an expat if you're temporarily living in a foreign country on a temporary visa. You're an immigrant if you have acquired a lifetime visa or citizenship from a foreign country, and have moved there permanently."
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fpweht | how do copper wires and fiber optics (light) transmit data? | Hi,
I am currently studying computer networks and I have been reading about how data is transmitted via copper wires and fiber optics.
I understand the very basics of computers, data, logic gates and binary code.
However, currently I am struggling to wrap my head around how data can be transmitted by copper/light? It just does not make sense to me!
Can someone shed light on this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fpweht/eli5_how_do_copper_wires_and_fiber_optics_light/ | {
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"Copper is used to send electrical impulses that get translated into data.\n\nSame.. with light for fibre optic. One end transfers data to a series of impulses and sends them, and then the other side receives them and re transmits them back to their original form (audio, video, file, etc) \n\nThis is the entire basis of how computers work, if you dont mind me asking, have you JUST started reading about computer networks and data transmission, or have you just ignored this part of it for a while?",
"Consider that you and a friend are on two hills far enough that your voices cannot carry but within sight of each other. You both have flashlights and know morse code. So by flashing the lights at each other you can send messages (ie data). \n\nInstead of flashlights, assume you have a wire between the hills and one side has a switch and the other a lamp operated by that switch. You can now send the same data by flicking the switches on and off according to morse code.\n\nNow replace the wire by a long internally reflective tube. By flashing a light on one end, the flash appears on the other, so you can send messages again.\n\nThis is how copper wire and fibre optics work - just an agreed upon method to interpret the on-off signals. As long as both parties agree what certain sequences mean, then you can send information.",
"In principle, it is just turning the light on and off or the voltage from 0 to a positive voltage. Compare to morse code on a telegraph where you both used wires on land and blinking light between ships. A computer can read and transmit more code. \n\nMorse is in a way a binary signal where a gap is a 0 a dot is a 1 and a dash is 111. It is not efficient for computer-like ASCII that gives you more charachters, is but it can be used. B is \" - . . .\" = \"111010101\" or 9 bits\n\nOn a fiber is a laser or a led that just blinks on and off to send the data. On the other side a light-sensitive part, a photodiode if I am not mistaken, is used to convert the light to electricity. \nIt is not just the raw bits you send but encoded in a way so you always have som bits as zero and some as one. You could, for example, send 10 bits for every 8 bits of data. Look up [8b/10b\\_encoding](_URL_1_) You have most of the time a pair of fibers one to send data and one to receive data \n\nYou can send multiple streams of data in the same fiber by using different colors of light then multiple lasers are used to send the and the signal optically combines. You also split the signal apart optically, a prism is a simple example of how to split light by color.\n\nThe hard part to do a simple receiver is not to convert light to electricity but to know when bist start and stop so you use designs like [Phase-locked\\_loop](_URL_0_) to get a clock from the data.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor copper wires, it is a bit more complex. You could just turn the between 0V and 5V (or what is used) like inside a circuit with the bit pattern. The problem is the signal can change because of the wire and the environment especially and high speed for long-distance.\n\n \nOften you use two wires where then one is high the other is low and vise versa. So you drive one wire with the signal and one with the inverted signal. This is to reduce the effect of external interference, this is called differential signaling. \nIf you signal like that after you encode bits a bit like the 8b/10 format, have 3 parallel data pairs and apart for the clock you have an HDMI cable. The system only allows for communication in one direction on the wires\n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor connection like gigabit ethernet, you have multiple voltage levels, two negative, tow positive and a zero. You have 4 pairs of wires and there will be interference between them so you need complex filters on the receiver to interpret the signal. \nIt also sends and receives data on the same pairs that make it a lot more complex.",
"Remember that every single object in the universe has electrical properties. Some things have greater values for them, some of them smaller, to the point that we don't notice them.\n\n* inductance\n* capacitance\n* voltage\n* resistance\n\nWe pretty much characterize everything based on those electrical properties. So, cabling systems and hardware are designed in such as way as to send a signal. The systems are designed to work within specific constraints of those properties. Examples of this that are easy to see:\n\n* Limits on cable distance\n* Twisted pairs in wiring\n* Separation space for communications wiring\n* voltage levels of the actual cables\n\nThe characteristics of those physical properties I mentioned above are the reasoning for this. Now, lets talk in general about signals. This is generally applicable to digital copper transmission systems (coax networks like cable use frequency modulation, which is different).\n\nThe network hardware will sit at some voltage. It varies based on the equipment, but it can often be at 0V. A cable connects two pieces of network hardware electrically. Signals are sent by applying a voltage to that cable relative to the 0V reference. That is just a fancy way of saying they will apply -5V, or +5V, for instance. There will then be some cut-off. The system will treat +/- 3V or greater as a 1 or 0. So, 3.5V is considered a 1. 4.5V is considered a 1, etc. -3.5V is considered a 0. -5V is considered a zero. This gives plenty of dead-band to help limit interference.\n\nNext, there is some kind of language that they will speak at this hardware level. For instance, in electronics, there is often a pin that will either have a voltage applied or removed by one side or the other. When this voltage changes, one side knows that it needs to receive data, because the other informed it that it was about to send data. This is commonly called handshaking. It can also deal, at the hardware level, with data collisions on the line, where everyone waits for it to clear to send data.\n\nSome important notes:\n\n* I left out fiber here. It essentially works the same, but it does so with pulses of light\n* It is important to remember that these networks switch VERY fast. Thousands of times a second. That is how you get your one's and zeros for the binary transmission\n* Networks have two main components: An electrical standard and a network standard. The electrical standard specifies things like cable geometry, voltage levels, power levels, pin-outs, etc so that hardware can be produced by many manufactures and won't blow up. So that it will work together. There are lots of them. You can check some out if you want. RS232, RS485, DH+ (odd-ball early implementation of a vendor-specific electrical standard), ethernet. Those are all electrical standards that specify how the wiring is to be installed. Network standards often involve protocols, which are like languages. Examples of these are: Ethernet/IP (uses ethernet electrical standard, but is an industrial protocol), Modbus RTU (uses modbus protocol on RS485 or RS232 networks), Modbus ASCII (Like RTU but uses ASCII for data encoding), Modbus TCP (uses the ethernet electrical standard, but with modbus RTU protocol), Ethercat (uses ethernet standard, but with very high speeds), Canbus (serial bus-type electrical protocol AND standard used in some industrial drive applications and pretty much every automobile). The list goes on, and as you can see, it is a fucking mess.\n\nThen, we move up a level. This is the protocol. The protocol is the language that they speak. Where the hardware gets the signals, it passes it up a level, where the information is read and actually processed. This is where you store that data you receive and manipulate it. Check it for errors, etc. It is important to remember that sometimes, this protocol level stuff is actually implemented in hardware for specific applications to speed it up. I'm not touch a whole lot on this, because it is very complex.\n\nNow, in summation, the hardware is designed in such a way that it shares common voltage levels and circuitry. Then, voltage levels / light pulses \"happen\", which is essentially just the circuit being switched very quickly. These events are then read, recorded, tracked and eventually stored and processed.\n\nOther useful tidbits:\n\n* FET-type transistors make these crazy switching speeds possible.\n* OSI-model for data transfer. Covers the hardware on up to the actual application. Each layer is an abstraction on top of the other, with the lower numbers being more \"basic\" and fundamental.\n* Remember to pay attention to install standards - they matter!\n\nIt is okay to be intimidated. This is a super-complex topic and even after years and years, no one knows all about all of it. Start by learning about basic Serial RS232 and wire it up, send data, play with it. Once you get an understanding there, you can move on to more involved stuff like ethernet and USB.",
"Copper - electrical impulses that are decoded by the receiver on the other end and turned into a frame.\n\nFiber - laser/led light going down an extremely thin strand of glass. That light is decoded by the other end into a frame.",
"Think about morse code. It's a series of long and short tones / beeps. And, people can known what someone is saying in morse code, by listening to those beeps, and assembling it into a message. \n\n* beep, beeeeeeep = \"A\"\n* beeeeeeep, beep, beep, beep = \"B\"\n* etc...\n\nNetworks work in the same way. But instead of using sound, they use electricity (copper) and light (fiber optic). \n\nAnd, instead of beep / beeeeeeep, they use (on / off). But, they still rely on a pattern on / off / on / off messages coming in. And, instead of morse code and English, they use a computer code and language.",
"You have the essence of the problem correct. We need to somehow send a signal or message out and have the other end be able to receive it. \n\nSignal on=1\nSignal off=0\n\nNext question then is how do we get it there? \nThrough some sort of channel or medium is the answer of course so for us here we are talking about wires or cables.\n\nWith wires or cables we suddenly are hit with the problem of how far can we send some message down the wire before it starts to lose strength and becomes just noise. Attenuates. This would be because of the resistance of the wire or cable. \n\nLet’s talk about how is the signal sent and received. If it’s a fibre cable, fibre optic, then the sending side will have a really fast transmitter that just sends out photons, pulses of light, that represent the bits. Usually a laser or LED will do the job here. \n\nOn the receiving side there will be a photo diode (?) that gets that pulse and turns it back into electrical pulses which then are turned into bits. \n\nFor copper it’ll be the same concept except the pulses will be whether the electrical signal is on or off. \n\nFibre optic is much faster because the energy you need to send photons down it is way less than having to shunt electrons and current around. Also the resistance is way less. Photons are massless so you can send a ton of them without heating up the wire. Electrons, not so much. \n\nIn both these case though you will also need to have repeaters set up along the cables to boost the signal when is weakens too much. Like for undersea cables it’s every 30kms or so?\n\nLastly, if we remember that no pulse or signal means bit=0 then how are we meant to know what to do if there is no traffic? No signal? Well this is where protocols come in. Communications protocols. Think of them as being able to understand wake words like “Ok Google” or “Hey Alexa” for when to start/stop expecting a signal.\n\n[fibre optics](_URL_0_)"
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2jwnn7 | the following chart puts ebola into perspective with other causes of death in africa. resulting question: why is ebola such a "huge thing"? | [Chart taken from _URL_0_](_URL_1_)
sadly they don't really explain their chart, so i was wondering if you could help me... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jwnn7/eli5_the_following_chart_puts_ebola_into/ | {
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"In addition to /u/Science_Ninja's response:\n\n- HIV/Aids - old news. It's been around for a while, and we all know how to protect against it.\n- Respiratory infections - Very general term. And usually treatable (in First World countries) with penicillin.\n- Diarrhea - Again, very general, as it is usually a symptom rather than a disease on its own. Many of the diseases can be treated or vaccinated against fairly easily with our medicine.\n- Malaria - not much of an issue in the First World due to the geography of where specific mosquitoes live. We can treat it too, which means not much of an issue that way either.\n- Stroke - Already gets some attention, but it's old news.\n- Preterm birth complications - modern medicine makes this much less of an issue.\n- Birth asphyxia and trauma - again, modern medicine.\n- Ischemic heart disease - we can deal with that, to an extent, with (you guessed it) modern medicine.\n- Protein-energy malnutrition - No eat, no live. Once again, not a major issue in the First World.\n- Meningitis - vaccinated in the FW.\n- Tuberculosis - vaccinated.\n- Road injury - Well, finally, something modern medicine can't fix. However, we can treat the injuries, and we tend to have cultures that encourage you to help someone you see injured (see HIV/AIDS above for reasons not to help someone bleeding in Africa)\n- Diabetes mellitus - Penecillin. Modern medicine.\n- Neonatal sepsis and infections - Our good old friend, Modern Medicine\n- Maternal conditions - care to guess? (yup, MM)\n- Congenital anomalies - many are caused by the mother not having access to, you guessed it, modern medicine\n- Cirrhosis of the liver - Happens here. Generally attached to hepatitis (vaccines) or alcoholism\n- Interpersonal violence - Not a medical issue - people kill each other.\n- Fire, heat, hot substances - Yup, they kill people. We can treat burns with medicine though.\n- Endocrine, blood, immune disorers - Some can be treated with modern medicine. Some can't.\n\nEbola, unlike most of the other causes, is a medical issue that *can't* be fixed with modern medicine. Additionally, it's mostly associated with the original Zaire strain, which had a 90% mortality rate (guess where?).",
"I'd say its because none of the other items on that list have the potential to blow up and kill a significant portion of the world's population. Just because its not killing people now doesn't mean it can't spread. And there are more carriers of the disease now than there have been at any point in history. "
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cb2qsm | why is it impossible to go back to automatic breathing without essentially just forgetting to breath | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cb2qsm/eli5_why_is_it_impossible_to_go_back_to_automatic/ | {
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"When you are 'thinking about breathing' and trying to go back to breathing automatically, you can't just 'stop thinking about breathing'. 'Not thinking about something' isn't really something people can do, outside of meditation perhaps.\n\nInstead, you end up 'thinking about not thinking'. You're basically repeating \"don't think about breathing\" over and over again, and end up consciously not breathing while waiting for your 'automatic' breathing to kick in.\n\nInstead, distract yourself. Think about something completely unrelated to your breathing, and you'll be back to breathing automatically."
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7i2cnp | how can diabetics do a keto diet when ketoacidosis is so bad for a diabetic? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7i2cnp/eli5_how_can_diabetics_do_a_keto_diet_when/ | {
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"You are right DKA is a state of ketosis. \n\nThe problem with diabetics is the ketosis is caused by lack of glucose getting into target cells. Which sets off a chain of events that results in DKA. \n\nFor diabetics this can be catastrophic but this is due to a huge number of factors that would be hard for me to do briefly. \n\nIn a healthy individual on a keto diet you don't have the huge amount of sugar in the blood causing all its havoc and these target cells are still getting the small amount of sugars whenever they can because you have an adequate supply of insulin to get it into cells. \n\nYou induce ketosis with none of the other detrimental effects of DKA such as hyperglycaemia and dehydration (which is the real killer in DKA). \n\nThe ketones will still exert some stress on your kidneys which can be an issue for diabetics as it is one for the common end organ complications. \n\nBasically everyone goes into and out of ketosis all the time. It is a way for your body to cope with no sugar. In DKA you are full of sugar but it can't get into cells to do it's job because no insulin. In keto diets all other things are hopefully going along well and your body can cope fine. \n\nI would recommend discussing this with your endocrinologist before starting. ",
"All the keto sites I have read do suggest treading extremely carefully around diabetes/ ketoacidosis and this diet. \n\nDiabetic DKA is triggered by a high blood glucose that the cells wont use due to lack of insulin. In a keto diet blood sugar *should* be low due to not consuming much dietary sugar, but only if you still have *some* insulin being produced.\n\nBasically, I would tread v carefully. Do the people giving you this advice know anything about diabetes, or is it just that their cousin's friend's wife used this diet? \n\nYou will want a relatively low sugar diet but I wouldn't go full keto without appropriate professional advice - even a specialist dietician might do the trick."
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301fjx | how does my horoscope always seem to relate to something happening in my life? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/301fjx/eli5_how_does_my_horoscope_always_seem_to_relate/ | {
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"Because these comments are normally generalized so that most individuals can make a connection.",
"General statements and confirmation bias.\n\nHave someone cut out the 12 horoscopes, carefully removing any reference to the sign or the date. Read them all and try to pick out which one is yours. You won't be able to do it more than one chance in 12.",
"Because horoscopes are all written to vaguely relate to everyone's lives. Any horoscope will probably have something you might identify with if gullible enough.",
"They keep them deliberately vague, for example-\n\nYou will have to make a difficult decision today.\n\nThat could apply to pretty much anyone at any time.\nThey keep them so vague to keep themselves in work, if they were to make them more exact-\n\nYou will have to chose between your current job and a new better job further away. For example. \n\nIt would be exactly right for a small number of people, but wildly wrong for 95% of the readers. Making it a terrible horoscope, putting them out of a job.\n",
"Let's see. I just pulled mine up\n\n > When someone starts a heavy conversation today, it may be an attempt to get closer to you. \n\nHuh, so someone attempting to engage with me may be attempting to engage with me. Shocking.\n\n > Don't shut down or be afraid to share, but don't let yourself be forced to say more than you want. \n\nNon-predictive. And really, just... basic advice.\n\n > Many new people will soon be showing up in your life, and their attention could surprise you.\n\nOh what's that, I will see people I haven't seen before? That only happens... daily? To everyone?\n\n > Get ready for big demands on your time, from many different directions.\n\nToo much to do and not enough time to do it? So... once again, everyone's problem.\n\n > Think about the type of energy you want in your life, and then cozy up to the people who can give it to you.\n\nAgain, advice for morons. Be friends with people that you like. Thanks.\n\nSo in summation, by making bland generic statements that anyone could agree with, and trusting that the reader is stupid enough to assume that it somehow applies *more* significantly to them because there's an astrological symbol referring to the time of their birth attached to it. That way it's less likely that they'll go read the other ones and realize they could also easily apply to themselves. "
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5hdfqf | could the united states government or the state governments invalidate all existing same-sex marriages? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5hdfqf/eli5_could_the_united_states_government_or_the/ | {
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"It would basically take a constitutional amendment at this point, and equal marriage has way to much support now for that to happen ",
"The US Supreme Court has ruled that the constitution gives every same-sex couple the right to marry, no matter what state they live in. There are only two things that could overturn that decision. The first is a constitutional amendment. The second is a new Supreme Court decision where the justices change their minds.\n\nHistorically, we would say that both of those things are extraordinarily unlikely to happen. That said, a lot of things about 2016 were extraordinarily unlikely to happen, and they just went ahead and happened anyway. You will need to keep an eye on which Supreme Court justices die or retire over the next few years, and who President Trump nominates to replace them. ",
"Any state cannot invalidate any other state's marriage rules so it would either have to be 50 individual state laws or it would have to be on a federal level. The SCOTUS stuck down the Defense of Marriage Act, forcing the federal government to recognize any state's same sex marriage as valid, effectively making it legal on a federal level. They have since struck down many \"around the edges\" measures states have enacted, indicating reluctance to allow states to pass such laws. The SCOTUS would have to reverse all of this in an series of overturning decisions. \n\nShort answer: Short of a constitutional amendment, it's \"lottery odds\" unlikely."
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af4why | how can the human body give birth without actively pushing? | I was reading the horribly sad new story about the woman giving birth who has been in a vegetative state for many years. [here](_URL_0_)
The staff called 911 after their baby was born because it was not breathing and they said on the call they had no idea she was pregnant. Birth is a pretty active experience for the mother in that there is a lot of pushing required.
Since the mother was physically unable to do anything, and there was no one who assisted with the birth, then how did the baby actually get pushed out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/af4why/eli5_how_can_the_human_body_give_birth_without/ | {
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"There’s actually a link to an article in the story that answers your question. Basically the woman wasn’t brain dead so her body is fully capable of carrying a pregnancy. Since we don’t know the type of diagnosis she has it’s possible she felt everything, maybe was able to push. \nAlso, strange shit happens and there is some autonomic muscle contraction that happens during birth. ",
"The human body can not give birth without pushing. However, a great deal of it is automatic, like the contractions in the bowel that move food/waste through it. When in labour are urged to push when their natural contractions occur to help those contractions.",
"I have read as a result, the male staff are no longer permitted in the rooms of female patients without supervision "
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qj8br | why is pokemon so great? | I missed the craze, but I love video games! When I saw a pic of two gameboys linked up I thought man, I bet I would have loved that.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qj8br/eli5_why_is_pokemon_so_great/ | {
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"It took classical RPG elements from early video games and allowed for nearly unlimited choices. You start with one of three but from there what other Pokemon you use and what attacks they use are highly customizable. Two people can play very different games based on the type of Pokemon they choose. This coupled with a strong ad campaign and toys/TV/movies led to a huge fad in America in the mid/late 90s. The. Games that are only slight changes but new Pokemon just continued the trends. \n\nAs for linked combat. All (I think) of the games where released in sets of 2. So that not all the new Pokemon where on one game. Linked combat and trades lets you get all the Pokemon so the games push the idea of talking to other people about your game and the Pokemon you have collected. ",
"I'm not really sure this is appropriate for ELI5...maybe /r/gaming, [/r/askreddit](/r/askreddit) or [/r/pokemon](/r/pokemon) or [/r/ludology](/r/ludology) . That said, I think a significant part of Pokemon's popularity simply came from the fact that, well, it was a fad. And that isn't meant as an insult. I was part of the \"first wave\" of Pokemon fans...born in 89. The majority of boys in my class loved the game.\n\nIn order for a game to become that popular--even if its with children--it has to be good. Or at least good at it's intended goals. It was a very addicting game. But what skyrocketed it to popularity was the fact that it was easy to create a culture around it.\n\nIn the late 90s, it was a symbol of pride to be able to rattle off all 150 pokemon in order. You fight tournaments during recess. Everyone around you (even the girls!) could identify any pokemon, and if they couldn't, they'd be mocked. We developed legends about Pokemon, like how to capture Mew and when Missingno was discovered, that rocked our world.\n\nOur school used to have a \"spaghetti supper\" every year, a fundraiser thing. It was a thing that happened at night. These became Pokemon conventions, where kids would bring their gameboys and battle and trade with each other. But it wasn't something we *planned*, it was something we *assumed*, because it was such a big part of our lives that of course we'll bring our gameboys there. Why the fuck *wouldn't* we fight pokemon there?\n\nAnd today it lives on. Look how many submissions there are on reddit about pokemon. Legends and myths and inside jokes about the original games are posted on reddit everyday, and few people say \"what the fuck is this?\" Only those born in weird countries or those who were too young or old say that. Everyone in the first wave though...they understand most of the jokes/references. \n\nPokemon is something that most late-80s early-90s children understand. It's something we all share. That is why so many of us love it so much. Not the franchise itself, but the sense of community and nostalgia we have about it."
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jpkoa | how does the american legislative power work? | I understand there's a difference between the Senate, the HoR and the Congress, but how does this marriage work? As things are right now, USA has a democrat for president, but the majority of congress is republican. Can congress block specific bills and such? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jpkoa/eli5_how_does_the_american_legislative_power_work/ | {
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"The Congress _is_ the House of Representatives and the Senate. A bill must be approved by a simple majority (in theory at least) in both the House and the Senate, and only then is it sent to the President to be signed.\n\nIf the House and Senate pass bills that are similar but have a few differences (because they were amended during voting), they convene a \"conference committee\" with a few Congressmen (i.e., House members) and a few Senators to iron out the differences. If it is possible, the committee approves a compromise bill that is sent to the House and Senate for approval (and no amendment process).\n\nIf the president disapproves of a bill passed by Congress, he may veto it by refusing to sign the bill into law. Usually he will send it back to Congress with the reason he refused to sign it, though sometimes he may let the deadline pass without doing anything with the bill if there was something popular in it and doesn't want it vetoing it on his voting record. Congress may override a presidential veto with only a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate passing it again.\n\nActually, the House is the only part of Congress with a Republican majority. The Democrats have a three-seat majority in the Senate. The crux of the problem is that the Republicans don't want to compromise on anything in the House, but of course the Democrats in the Senate won't pass anything without a bit of compromise. Thus, the House Republicans are willing to shut down government or refuse to allow the government to borrow money in order to make the Democrats in the Senate (and Pres. Obama) cave into their demands.\n\nAlso, the US Senate rules say that it must have 60 senators approve the chamber to vote on anything (it is a vote to end debate). Of course, the Democrats don't have 60 senators on their side, so the Republican Senators have been willing to prevent any voting in the Senate, which is how they blocked things when both houses were controlled by Democrats between 2009 and 2011. This is called a _filibuster_.\n\nAnd yes, the US system really is this screwed up.",
"The Congress _is_ the House of Representatives and the Senate. A bill must be approved by a simple majority (in theory at least) in both the House and the Senate, and only then is it sent to the President to be signed.\n\nIf the House and Senate pass bills that are similar but have a few differences (because they were amended during voting), they convene a \"conference committee\" with a few Congressmen (i.e., House members) and a few Senators to iron out the differences. If it is possible, the committee approves a compromise bill that is sent to the House and Senate for approval (and no amendment process).\n\nIf the president disapproves of a bill passed by Congress, he may veto it by refusing to sign the bill into law. Usually he will send it back to Congress with the reason he refused to sign it, though sometimes he may let the deadline pass without doing anything with the bill if there was something popular in it and doesn't want it vetoing it on his voting record. Congress may override a presidential veto with only a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate passing it again.\n\nActually, the House is the only part of Congress with a Republican majority. The Democrats have a three-seat majority in the Senate. The crux of the problem is that the Republicans don't want to compromise on anything in the House, but of course the Democrats in the Senate won't pass anything without a bit of compromise. Thus, the House Republicans are willing to shut down government or refuse to allow the government to borrow money in order to make the Democrats in the Senate (and Pres. Obama) cave into their demands.\n\nAlso, the US Senate rules say that it must have 60 senators approve the chamber to vote on anything (it is a vote to end debate). Of course, the Democrats don't have 60 senators on their side, so the Republican Senators have been willing to prevent any voting in the Senate, which is how they blocked things when both houses were controlled by Democrats between 2009 and 2011. This is called a _filibuster_.\n\nAnd yes, the US system really is this screwed up."
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5uu73s | how can a wireless router send millions of bits of information to a computer in only 1 second? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5uu73s/eli5how_can_a_wireless_router_send_millions_of/ | {
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"It sends them one after the other... and really, really fast. What are wondering about specifically?\n\nEdit: read the following answer",
"Correct me if I'm wrong but here goes\n\nThey used to be slow, but they all practically work the same way.\n\nIf we look at FM and AM (Frequency Modulation and Amplitude Modulation) it'll be easy to explain you the principle of how radio transmission works.\n\nThe transmitter sends out data in a waveform, imagine a sea wave, but way more in 1 second (WiFi would be 2 400 000 000 in 1 second, or 50 billion for 5GHz)\n\nThis wave is manipulated according to the type of modulation, AM manipulates the \"height\" and FM the \"amount of waves/second\".\n\nWiFi works about the same way as a FM radio, only at 2.4 and 5GHz instead of between 88 and 108MHz.\n\nThe WiFi signal is also coded, so the decoding defines its speed if it's not the frequency.\n\nThe higher your frequency the more bits you can send out per minute.\n\nThis \"decoding\" I'm talking about are the WiFi standards you see as 802.11A, B, G, N, AC...\n\nIf I recall correctly, B has the speed of 11mbit per second, N can reach about 150.\n\nA works on 5GHz but is still slow.\n\nAC is the most recent standard and can reach way over a gigabit of transfer speed."
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8qkyeq | why are car keys so different to normal ones? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8qkyeq/eli5_why_are_car_keys_so_different_to_normal_ones/ | {
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"text": [
"Cars contain a little computer that talks electronically to a little chip in the fat part of the car key.\n\nThat's quite expensive so normal locks don't have it."
]
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29bm5v | what is the difference between a union worker and someone who isn't in a union? | Also, why does WALMART dislike union workers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29bm5v/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_a_union/ | {
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"The basic difference is that in a Union, the union acts as an intermediary for all the workers, and negotiates salaries, benefits etc. on behalf of all the workers. In a non-union workplace, each worker negotiates these things individually with the employer. \n\nWalmart dislikes unions because they know the union will force them to pay decent wages and benefits, and of course Walmart wants to pay their workers the absolute minimum amount possible in order to keep their profit margins as high as possible. "
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1temna | when we swallow how do our bodies know if its food or a liquid to put it in the right intestine? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1temna/eli5_when_we_swallow_how_do_our_bodies_know_if/ | {
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"It all goes to the same place; you don't have separate intestines for liquids and solids."
]
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2dp0so | do those phone apps that say they can save power actually do anything? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dp0so/eli5_do_those_phone_apps_that_say_they_can_save/ | {
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"generally no.\n\nIf you take a look at what your smartphone uses the lion share of its battery for its the screen (40% to 70%). The easiest way for most smartphone users to extend their battery life is just to keep their screen brightness down and set short timeout for the screen (30 seconds) after that the phone will spend most of the remaining bulk of its power on maintaining its connection to the network when not in use (because most of the time its not transmitting) This percentage can go up if the phone has poor reception or if you spend a lot of time on a call or video.\n\nIts a common misconception also (especially with android users) that they have apps running in the background to blame for poor battery life.\napp killers have been the rage for a long time, but truthfully they do little to nothing to help. Unlike a PC a phone will not ususlly run two apps at the same time (some more advanced samsung models do this) but when you have multiple apps \"open\" it just means that their in a sort of suspended animation, waiting for you to open them again. this is why if you press home out of say a playing youtube video or an angry birds game it will pause until you go back in where on a PC, just changing to a new window won't do that. Music apps have to be designed with special permissions to keep running behind the scenes and are an exception not the rule.\n\nIf you are having exceptionally bad battery life (less than half a day) then the issue may be hardware related. You may want to bring your phone in to your carrier for them to look at."
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2wxslb | why is all tap water "chemically the same" when los angeles water clearly tastes different than iowa water? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wxslb/eli5why_is_all_tap_water_chemically_the_same_when/ | {
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"All tap water isn't \"chemically the same\". Tap water from different areas is going to have different quantities of dissolved solids and other impurities, all depending upon the source of the water and quality of purification performed.",
"I would bet LA has more prescription drugs in the water too. ",
"Correct me if I'm wrong but tap water is chemically the same as in H2O but that doesn't account for minerals and general stuff in the water. Water with more flouride is still chemically H2O but it's H2O with more flouride. ",
"Different places will have different amounts of dissolved stuff in the water, such as water from underground stone aquifers have different kinds of minerals in the water than water from rivers or lakes. different municipalities will also treat their water differently with more less less chemicals.\n\nIn some cases water with certain minerals can have a beneficial effect, New York's water (from underground aquifers) has extra minerals which enhances bread, bagels, and pasta making with NYC tap water"
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1dytae | how is it at all possible that a criminal could sue if they get hurt in the process of trying to steal/commit crime? | I was on another subreddit, /r/talesfromretail, and they were talking about legislation and why companies would prefer you not to chase thieves because it could cost them a bunch of money. Someone referenced an incident where a guy sued because he fell through the skylights of a building while sneaking in to steal merchandise. [WHY I ASKED, MY QUESTION ISN'T ABOUT RETAIL!]
My question is how could somebody even sue if they break in to another residence and injure themselves on a knife or whatever? (I don't know if that is real but I remember hearing something like that happened).
I feel like the judge would laugh it out of the court. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dytae/eli5_how_is_it_at_all_possible_that_a_criminal/ | {
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"Negligence resulting in injury is negligence resulting in injury, regardless of the circumstance.",
"As for chasing people out, the average retail worker is not trained on how to safely take down a fleeing suspect. If serious injury occurs, the company would be liable - there's no point in causing thousands of dollars of injuries over $50 of product. Even worse, the employee is putting themselves at risk of serious injury if there's any sort of resistance.",
"The frequency in which is happens is highly overstated, and even when a lawsuit is successful, it is usually overturned on appeal. Criminals actually seeing a dime from a lawsuit like this is very rare.\n\nI can think of two situations where the criminal might have a case:\n\n* A non-criminal could have hurt in the same way - if you slipped and fell on a wet spot while just walking along, it doesn't make a difference if you were carrying a bunch of shoplifted loot\n* Reckless disregard for human life - after being robbed, the property owner intentionally loosened the skylight, hoping the next thief would fall"
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2rsqcd | how betting works for horse/dog racing. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rsqcd/eli5_how_betting_works_for_horsedog_racing/ | {
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"It's \"para-mutual\" racing, mostly.\n\nEveryone bets, but they're not betting against the house, they're betting against each other. This explains the \"odds.\" If everyone is betting on one horse, then the odds go up on that horse.\n\nLet's say there's only 10 people at the track, and there are 10 horses in a race, but everyone bets $2 on the #4 horse. The odds on that horse winning would guarantee that the payout on your $2 bet might be as low as only a few cents. You're risking $2, but you might only make a profit of a few cents for that risk.\n\n*[More info on odds here.](_URL_0_)*\n\nEssentially, the entire group of betters is betting against each other. The winners are paid from the pool of money provided by the losers, less the house cut (or vig).\n\nWhy does the house get a cut? They built the track and have to pay the employees, plus make a profit on the entire venture.\n\nOf course, how they really make their money is selling you horse piss for $9 a pint and calling it beer.",
"Let's imagine 5 horses in a race, named A, B, C, D, and E. Now lets take a look at the betting on these horses.\n\nA: $500\nB: $250\nC: $200\nD: $100\nE: $50\n\nTotal Money Bet is 500+250+200+100+50 = $1100. The horse track has to make a little money ($100), too, so the prize pool is $1000. Now the odds are the amount bet on a horse, compared to the prize pool.\n\nHorse A is the favorite - there is $500 out there for a $1000 pool, so a $2 bet on A will get $4 if you win. Horse B and C are $250 and $200 for that same $1000 pool, so a $2 bet on B or C will get you $8, or $10 respectively. Down to Horse E, which didn't get many bets, but that $50 will split $1000 (or $40 on a $2 bet) as a longshot if Horse E wins.\n\nAfter the horses race, they determine the *exact* amounts of the payouts. So if your longshot hits, you might end up getting $39.80 or $40.60 instead of exactly $40.00 for your $2 bet. \n\nIn a horse race, there are actually many different betting pools going on. The three most basic are Win, Place, and Show, meaning that you are betting that a horse will Win, Place (finish 1st or 2nd), or Show (finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd). Each bet has it's own pool. \n\nUsually the payouts for Place or Show are lower - this is logical, because the probability that a horse will win is lower than winning *or* coming in second. But the different pools for different bets actually cause some quirks. Sometimes, a heavy favorite will receive heavy betting to Win, but less to Place or Show, as people want to increase their payouts on a 'sure thing', so they avoid the lower payouts of Place and Show. The quirk is that the favorite might end up paying out *more* on a Place or Show bet than they will on a Win. This happens more often than you'd think.\n\nThere are other bets, too. One is an 'exacta', where you are betting on not just one horse, but two: in order, 1st and 2nd. So your \"C-A\" exacta bet would only pay if Horse C finished 1st AND A finished 2nd.\n\nAnother popular bet at a track is a 'pick six'. This is a small bet on the winner of each of six races. If you are the only person to 'pick all six', then you win the entire prize pool. If you are one of multiple people, then you split the pool. On the other hand, if nobody picks six, I think they usually roll the amounts over until the next racing day, so a bigger jackpot tomorrow! ",
"In the UK, we have mutual betting too, which we call the Tote (oddly enough, it used to be owned by the Government, until it was privatised a few years ago and bought by one of the betting shop chains, Betfred).\n\nBut most betting here isn't done on the Tote and uses a different system from the Tote, which is what others have explained here. \n\nMost bookmakers (as we call betting shops) offer prices before the race, which you can take, so it's not just a proportionate cut of the total amount stakes minus the cut that you can win. The price might be, for example, 6/1, which means you get 6 times your stake back if it wins, plus your stake. So a £10 at 6/1 that comes in returns £70, of which £60 if profit for you. You can take this price when you place your bet and your return (if you win) is therefore guaranteed at 6/1, regardless of what happens.\n\nThese odds are calculated by statisticians and marketers and roughly equate to the actual odds they estimate the horse (or whatever) has of winning (obviously they will be a bit lower than the equivalent chance, because the house needs to make its money). \n\nThese prices will rise and fall as more people avoid that bet or take it, respectively. Bookmakers do this to mitigate the risks of a large loss. For example, if a lot of people are betting on a horse at 4/1, the betting shop may lower the price to 3/1 so that people who bet from that point onwards get paid less. Similarly, if a horse isn't getting many bets, they may increase its price to entice people to bet on it, because they're not worried if that horse wins because they've not many bets to pay out if it does.\n\nMy guess is that this second system probably allows for greater profits for the house overall, but does present a risk in an individual race of a huge loss for the house, if a heavily-backed horse wins, the house will have a lot to pay, even if they lowered the price several times. Mutual (Tote) betting guarantees the house a profit on each race via their cut, but it probably amounts to a lower amount over time."
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8jn7u0 | why do credit card scanners have to ask "credit or debit" instead of figuring it out automatically from your card? | I guess a follow up question is: why do some machines ask you, and other machines don't ask you? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8jn7u0/eli5_why_do_credit_card_scanners_have_to_ask/ | {
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"You can run a debit card as a credit card and the money will still come off of it but it will take a bit longer, like a day or two. That's all I've seen as the difference. Oh and no cash back options. As to why, I have no idea. ",
"Typically because the machine has to connect to a different endpoint for the two services.\n\nIf you leave the option to the cashier to choose which system to check into, it is future proof. If instead you try and make a complex system where you know different banking systems number formats for Credit Cards vs Debit Cards, it needs to be updated every time a new range is declared.\n\nSure, they are connected online for the submission, but they are also incredibly highly regulated, so pushing updates to card machines is a bitch. If you want to spend the resources to do the 'nicer' way, then you pass the cost on to the store using the machine. Are they going to spend that much more cash so their cashier doesn't have to ask 'debit or credit' ?",
"The bottom line is that the terminal *doesn't* typically know if a card is credit/debit; the number sequences on the card are in the same ranges for both, and it's the bank that knows what the account really is. What happens when you select credit/debit is that the communication between the terminal and the bank differs.\n\nIf you have a credit card and try to process it in debit mode, the bank should decline the transaction, period, as it is not a debit account. If you have a credit card and process it in credit mode, the bank will respond accordingly and (presumably) allow the transaction.\n\nIf you have a debit card and choose debit mode, the terminal also sends the pin to the bank and the bank can process that. The one distinction is that a debit card can also be processed in credit mode, without the pin. This is an important detail and is the reason why, even if it could tell from the card alone, the terminal cannot safely assume which kind of transaction it is.\n\nAnd all of this is important is because your legal liability differs between credit and debit transactions, sometimes significantly. When you pay with a debit account, the money comes out immediately; when you pay with credit, the money is being lent to you by the bank. But credit and debit transactions have different rules regarding recovery for losses sustained by fraud (credit offers much lower liability to the customer). This is why you may have heard that it's better/safer to use a debit card in credit mode when allowed than in debit mode (it's not as protected as a pure-credit transaction, but it's better protected than a pure-debit one).\n\nThe other difference is that credit and debit transactions often have different fees that the business has to pay (banks and credit/debit processors don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, after all). A credit transaction may cost the business, say, 1.5% of the whole transaction, while a debit may just be a flat $0.50 regardless of amount, and if you use a debit in credit mode it'll go by the credit version of the fees. So a business that doesn't want to process debit for less than, say, $20, can instead process it as a credit under those circumstances. Obviously those are just examples, but because of that businesses may enact rules accordingly for things like minimum purchase limits.",
"It's a network routing thing. If you're using a debit card (tied to a checking account) and select \"Credit\", it routes through Visa/Mastercard/Whatever and ask for a preauthorization from the issuing band or credit union that will be settled/posted to your account later. If you select \"debit\", it'll route through a network like STAR/AFFN/Plus/etc and most likely require a PIN and will be settled/posted to your account immediately.\n\n(I work in the industry)",
"Here in Canada a lot of the machines don't, particularly tap and go can be enabled on both debit and credit card, and you don't have to choose anything before tapping. "
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1st0f1 | why do my fingernails hurt (badly!) after a while when i take nail polish off? | I know I am not the only person who gets this. If I don't paint my nails right away after taking nail polish off, after about 2 hours my bare nails / fingernail beds start to THROB. And it's not just a little pain. It can be excruciating! And as soon as I paint them again, and the polish dries, everything is groovy again. Anyone know the deal? Cause Google sure doesn't... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1st0f1/eli5_why_do_my_fingernails_hurt_badly_after_a/ | {
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"Nail polish acts as a protective layer on top of your nails, and when removing it your nails are much more sensitive and softer because they're used to the protective nail polish. It could also be because when you're wearing the polish, your nails don't get oxygen. They get used to that, but once you remove the polish, they will have to get used to getting oxygen again, and in the meantime you will experience discomfort and pain.\n\nYou should always give your nails a few days break after a long period of wearing nail polish, otherwise you'll end up with the pain you're experiencing. Also, make sure you wear a good base coat and don't scrub too hard when removing it. "
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2rp94j | why is soybean oil labeled "vegetable oil"? | If you look at food oils, you'll see that almost all of them are labeled with the sort of plant they come from - canola, corn, olive, coconut, peanut, etc. - with one exception. Soybean oil is almost universally labeled "vegetable oil" on the store shelves. What makes it different?
Are there that many people opposed to soybeans that they have to hide the origins of the oil? Are there millions of people out there that just *expect* soy oil? What gives?
I've tried searching online & all the info is either from groups like "The Center for Soybean Awareness" or anti-science groups that freak out over anything that's come within a mile of a GMO or a factory. I'm looking for a sane, unbiased opinion on the subject. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rp94j/eli5_why_is_soybean_oil_labeled_vegetable_oil/ | {
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"It's common for all oils derived from plant seeds to be labeled as vegetable oils. I don't know how it started, but it's over a century old. This is why soy, a legume, has oil that is considered a vegetable oil."
]
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7uwvp1 | how do endowment scholarships work? | Say you donate 100,000 to a university for scholarship, but the market does really well, beyond the 4,000 or whatever per year that is given to a student. Would more money in subsequent years be given out? If after 20 years the endowment is worth 200,000, would more money be given out to students? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7uwvp1/eli5how_do_endowment_scholarships_work/ | {
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"text": [
"Yes. The payout of the endowment is dependent upon the market. Currently, it sits at about 3.75%, which changes year to year. So this year, the payout will be about $3,750 for a scholarship. If it were at $200,000 then the payout would be $7,500.\n\nHow many students receive a scholarship or how much the amount of scholarship is divided is dependent upon the gift agreement established between the university and donors. Some donors will say that they should receive the full tuition... or award to this # students based on $ paid out. Hope I made sense."
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216f91 | why tanks and other military vehicles occasionally fire depleted uranium shells. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/216f91/eli5_why_tanks_and_other_military_vehicles/ | {
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"Depleted uranium can penetrate armor that steel rounds can't.",
"Depleted uranium is incredibly dense. This gives it excellent properties as an armour piercing round, as it gets more mass behind a similar profile.",
"Short answer: depleted uranium is denser than most metals used in armor. Since it is denser, and because physics it can punch through the armor that steel or HEAT rounds can't. ",
"The amount of damage a projectile can be is relative to its mass and its speed. For example, a pingpong ball doesn't have much mass, but it still can destroy a pingpong bat when it goes fast enough (See _URL_0_).\n\nThe speed of a projectile is relative to the mass of the projectile, the length of the barrel of the tank and the explosion to send off the projectile. If you know these three, you can predict how much damage it does do at a certain distance and thus how thick the armour needs to be to be protected from it. (I saw some documentary years ago that the French used anti-aircraft guns to defeat German tanks because their anti-tank guns couldn't penetrate the armour).\n\nDepleted uranium is about 68% denser than lead, which means that it has a higher capacity to penetrate the armour.\n\nBut that is not all:\nDepleted uranium is self-sharpening and pyrophoric. On impact with a hard target, such as an armored vehicle, the nose of the rod fractures in such a way that it remains sharp, giving it a higher penetration power. The impact and subsequent release of heat energy causes it to disintegrate to dust and burn when it reaches air because of its pyrophoric properties. When a depleted uranium penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew and possibly causing the vehicle to explode. (from wikipedia).\n\n"
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2ydenb | why are sage and salt used to keep "bad spirits" out? | You always see that in horror movies and even mediums on reality (ish?) TV say if you have something negative in your home to cleanse it with sage and put salt at the threshold of the doors and windows. I would like to know the source of these practices. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ydenb/eli5_why_are_sage_and_salt_used_to_keep_bad/ | {
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"text": [
"Half answer. Salt symbolic of purity especially in religions. ",
"Centuries old connotations derived from folk lore and religion. \n\nSalt is used to purify and preserve food, so it is seen to do the same in a spiritual manner. Thus you can purify an area with the ritualistic casting of salt in some belief systems, and impure things (such as ghosts) cannot cross a boundary line drawn in salt in those belief systems that believe in ghosts. \n\nSage is similarly seen to have properties of purity and cleansing power. Additionally it is associated with various gods that you end up entreating to aid you when you do the ritual cleansing. "
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1oytrg | what is the difference between mortgage, rent and lease? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1oytrg/what_is_the_difference_between_mortgage_rent_and/ | {
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"\nMortgage: You get a loan for house. You buy the house with this loan. You pay interest and principle over decades. After you're done paying, you own the house.\n\n\nRent/Lease: You pay weekly/monthly for the privilege to live there. You don't own it.\n",
"* Mortgage: To own a house, you borrow from a bank. They \"buy\" the house, and the house itself is security against the money you've borrowed. Then, you pay the bank back every month, until you have paid off both the amount you borrowed and the interest that built up on that. A Mortgage is just a loan secured against a house.\n\n* Renting means that someone else owns the house, and you pay them money to live there. That's all.\n\n* Leasing a house is, to my understanding, the same as renting. You pay the owner for the use of that house. It's much the same when you lease a car - you are not the owner of it, you pay the cars owner for the use of it, and must hand it back at the end of the agreed lease time.",
"whats a good subreddit for home buyers? Im looking to buy a home for the first time and would like some tips. I been reading online allot about first time home buyers pros and cons. I'm mostly concerned about getting a loan and not being raped by the bank. So any tips on mortgages would be great."
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1mc50x | what's going on in philadelphia? why are they shutting down so many schools and rail lines and so on? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mc50x/eli5_whats_going_on_in_philadelphia_why_are_they/ | {
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"Money\n\nA government is like a business and needs to at least break even profit-wise to stay afloat. When they are losing money they have to either cut costs or raise revenue. In Philadelphia's case (and the same for most cities), their revenue options are extremely limited, so they have opted to cut services (such as schools and rail lines) to reduce costs.",
"The school system is broke. That's a gigantic mess unto itself.\n\nSEPTA isn't broke yet. The planned reduction in services would only happen in a worst-case scenario where the state doesn't give it enough future funding. It's problem is that more and more people are using it, but the state hasn't increased its funding accordingly and hasn't given it nearly enough money for its maintenance budget to upkeep rail bridges and such."
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5cljkw | what was the significance of debasing coinage in the byzantine empire? | I've read a couple of books about the BE and they seem to make a big deal about emperors' decisions to debase the gold content in Byzantine coinage, but they don't explain why it's such a big deal.
1. Why would a Byzantine emperor decide that debasing the currency is necessary or good?
2. Should they not have done that?
Basically what are the pros and cons? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cljkw/eli5_what_was_the_significance_of_debasing/ | {
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"The debasing of coinage was fairly widespread in both the Roman and Byzantine empires. Basically the emperors really didn't have any concept of inflation and they needed more money and since they had a limited supply of precious metals they had to resort to debasement. Of course they knew coin debasement was problematic, they literally are making their money less valuable in addition to inflation, but when they had an imperial government and army to pay for and the tax system of the empire was extremely ineffective and corrupt they didn't have any choice other than to debase coinage. There were attempts by Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine, among others, to fight debasement by regulating Roman mints more carefully and attempting to take the bad coins out of circulation but it wasn't extremely effective. Diocletian for instance collected taxes 'in kind,' i.e. collecting goods and services from imperial subjects as tax instead of money. There were later more successful attempts to fix the tax system, most notably by Constantine and later Justinian. In short, although they knew that the debasing of coins was bad they didn't know the full extent of the problems, inflation, and needed money because of an expensive imperial government and army and didn't receive enough from taxes and didn't have enough precious metals to avoid debasement. "
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2f6jhx | if ukraine is being invaded by russian forces why don't they declare war? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f6jhx/elif_if_ukraine_is_being_invaded_by_russian/ | {
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"The declaration of war is a dead legal construct these days. In the US congress hasn't declared war since WWII"
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ar6skp | why dont airport security get cancer with all the xray machines that are constantly on | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar6skp/eli5_why_dont_airport_security_get_cancer_with/ | {
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"You don't actually go inside the airport x-ray machine, otherwise all the x-ray techs in the hospital will get cancer too.",
"Very low energy x-ray, very thick lead barrier around the source to prevent any from leaking out",
"I've had some experience with a couple of X-ray machines, one for small bags/ personals and another for luggage, both had flaps on either side made of lead to stop \"leakage\" but deal a smaller amount of x-rays than your doctor's would since it doesn't need as much detail. Saying that I have also known some of my old colleagues to go through the larger one, can't say if it caused cancer but again it's not as powerful as a hospital X-ray",
"The thing you step through at the airport is a metal detector. The X-rays are only exposed to your luggage.",
"Hi,\n\nI work at an airport. For security. \n\nThe entrance and exit points of the x-ray machines are guarded by dual-layered lead curtains. The x-ray is only active at certain times.\n\nNo machine is constantly ON.\n\nWith your concern for radiation, though, you should really be asking [why don't pilots and flight attendants get cancer with all the cosmic radiation they are subjected to](_URL_0_)\n\n"
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mdnni | why 2 decibels is 10 times as loud as 1 decibel. | EDIT: So apparently its 20 decibels is 10 times as loud as 10 decibels. Not 1 and 2 like in the title. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mdnni/eli5_why_2_decibels_is_10_times_as_loud_as_1/ | {
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"Because decibels are apparently measured on a logarithmic scale, not a linear scale.",
"One thing that everyone got wrong on this thread: the premise is close, but slightly wrong. \n\nA change in 10 decibels is an increase in power by a factor of 10. \n\nIf you increase the power by a factor of 2, you go up by 3 decibels, or 10*log(2). ",
"Also, many natural processes scale with the log or natural log (ln). So in science, a lot of times data representation is made easier by taking a log scale or a log-log scale, so that you get a straight line, rather than some kind of exponential.",
"Because decibels are apparently measured on a logarithmic scale, not a linear scale.",
"One thing that everyone got wrong on this thread: the premise is close, but slightly wrong. \n\nA change in 10 decibels is an increase in power by a factor of 10. \n\nIf you increase the power by a factor of 2, you go up by 3 decibels, or 10*log(2). ",
"Also, many natural processes scale with the log or natural log (ln). So in science, a lot of times data representation is made easier by taking a log scale or a log-log scale, so that you get a straight line, rather than some kind of exponential."
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99jgc4 | how is water digested? | Does it just pass through your digestive system and go directly into your bloodstream? Wouldn't that dilute the blood and cause problems? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/99jgc4/eli5_how_is_water_digested/ | {
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"Some of it does get absorbed into the bloodstream. Some of it stays in your GI tract. The reason you don't overhydrate is your kidneys release excess water, salt, and other crap as piss. The more water you drink, the more gets dumped as piss",
"An increase in water in your bloodstream isn't a bad thing, since your kidneys are really good at adjusting for that kind of thing.\n\nIf you simplify the kidney greatly, then it is essentially a collection of a bunch of structures called nephrons that each play the same role. One of the roles that the nephrons play is regulating the amount of water in your blood.\n\nOne part of a nephron is called the renal corpuscle, which is in turn composed of Bowman's capsule and the glomerulus. You can think of Bowman's capsule as a sphere surrounding the glomerulus, which is a bundle of capillaries. Your arteries will send blood into the glomerulus, and as blood flows into the glomerulus, a certain amount of plasma will flow out of the capillaries into Bowman's capsule to be processed by the rest of the nephron. \n\nHow much plasma flows out of the capillaries into Bowman's capsule? That is determined by many things, one of which is how much pressure the plasma is exerting on the walls of the capillaries. This is easy to imagine-- the more plasma that is flowing through the capillaries, the more they'll push on the walls of capillaries, meaning that if you drink a lot of water, the volume of your plasma will increase, meaning that the plasma will exert more pressure on the walls of the capillaries in the glomerulus, which means that more plasma will leave the capillaries into the rest of the nephron, which means more urine will be released.\n\ntl;dr If you drink water your kidneys will just absorb more plasma from the blood to process and convert to dilute urine.\n\nps. This is a shotgun explanation of how one part of the kidney works. It's not super layman, so I can address any questions or confusions, or answer questions in more detail.",
"It's absorbed from your large intestine, into your blood stream. Your kidneys filter that blood to make urine. If you have a lot of water in your bloodstream, they form dilute urine (with more water), if you have low water content in your blood, they form concentrated urine (less water lost). So no matter how much water you consume, kidneys keep water levels in your blood, balanced. The process is called osmoregulation if you're interested in going in-depth."
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5uvxoh | why are rural and urban cultures so different? | One specific example: I recently asked my dad who lives in rural Australia if people in his community/town are homophobic, and he replied in a "D'uhh"-ish tone: "YES!!!" | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5uvxoh/eli5_why_are_rural_and_urban_cultures_so_different/ | {
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"A lot of prejudice towards minority groups of whatever type comes from a lack of contact and exposure to those same people. In an urban environment you meet a wider variety of people and more new people in a rural environment you see fewer people and it is the same few people again and again. For more on contact hypothesis - _URL_0_",
"Density and variety. You're squeezed into a much closer area, and a much more diverse one.\n\nIn terms of tolerance (sexually, racially, etc), one of the best ways to reduce intolerance is to expose people to different lifestyles.\n\nIn rural areas, it's not uncommon to have the same 100 or whatever neighbors for your entire life.You know them all by name, and they're all pretty much like you (immigration into rural areas is low). In the US, that usually means white and Christian.\n\nThis tends to lead to an \"us vs them\" mentality, especially when you add in things like news telling you about all the horrible things going on. Many rural people might never meet or meaningfully interact with someone who is gay/black/Muslim etc.\n\nIt's a lot harder to be afraid or hateful when your office mate who you BBQ with on the weekend is one of those things, and he's a decent guy.\n\nIn terms of other things, it often comes down to density. It's a lot easier to trust your neighbors when you know them all by name, and they've been babysitting your kids. In a city, you might buy a coffee, and never see that guy again. Even if say, 0.01% of the population are creepy, you probably pass by a few every day, just due to the sheer numbers.",
"In general, rural and urban communities are different because the community requires different cultures. One example would be the relationship with others in your community. Often, in rural communities, since you have few neighbors, you know them quite well, while in a city, you don't need to know your neighbors since their are so many people. Another example would be the position towards authority and self sufficiency. In rural places, police can be far and few between, so you sort out problems on your own, one reason why so many rural residents own firearms. An example I could give would be that my friends, who live in rural virginia, have a wood stove, because when the power goes out in the winter due to snow or storms, they are ALWAYS the last ones to get their power restored. ",
"Urban communities are more diverse, and people are forced to deal with different kinds of people all the time.\n\nRural communities are fairly homogeneous.",
"The cultures are different because the people within those groups are different. It's as simple as that. Consider it this way. We each have our own individual 'culture'. E.g., I might think it's ok to text somebody at 6pm, Bob may not, Greg might think 6 is sometimes ok. That difference in social rules, in whats acceptable is one part of our individual 'culture'. So if we accept that then, different groups are expected to have different cultures simply because the groups are composed of different people. \n\nThe question then becomes, 'in what way do the *people* of urban Australia differ from others?'\n\nThe most notable are homogeneity (fancy word for people are similar) and population size in general. \n\nObviously the populations are different, that's why one is a city and one is rural. However, what this means is more variance. In a city I am exposed to many more people than I am in the country. In that small country town I see the same people over and over. And over. And over. Instead, urban people tend to see different people. After a few years they might have a new group of friends with no overlap if they move to a different suburb. Good luck achieving that in rural areas. In rural areas you have friends and you have them for life. The same small, tight-knit group. Which makes the people more influential to the individual, they're more like family members. I guess the easiest way to think of this is try being friends with a million people and maintaining that social group. Impossible. Try it with 100. Piece of piss. Even in semi-rural towns, relative number of friends per person is higher. If I'm friends with 100 people in a town of 1000, that's a large chunk. Friends with 100 in a city of a few million is drop in an ocean. I'm a pillar of the local community on one case and a generic person in the other. \n\nOn top of that after the White Australia Policy ended non-whites could come Australia freely. To where did they go? Urban centres. The huge majority of immigrants when to cities (Melbourne and Sydney in particular). Rural Aus is overwhelmingly white Australians who are not first generation. Contrast that with the roughly 25% of people who are 1st gen Australians or the roughly 50% who have somebody foreign born in their family. Those statistics are not representative of rural areas where immigration is [down, down] (_URL_0_) **\n\nTo go back to the smaller communities being closer than urban communities and to try and tie it with your example. People have influence on other peoples views. Think of the example I mentioned with people having different views on when it's acceptable to text somebody. If Bob might convince me that it' not ok to text at 6pm. Both of us then may convince Greg that it's not ok to text at 6pm. The closer the person is the more power they have in shaping our views. Family is huge in shaping our views. Country areas have fewer families *and*, because of the closeness of the community, non-family members become major influences as well. All of these things lead to a very narrow range of variance. One of the things this homogeneity leads to is conservatism. It makes rural areas more resistant to change. In many respects, rural Australia is like time travelling 20 or 30 years into the past. And that is where the homophobic part comes into play. Because rural areas are more conservative and 'old school' in general and it's only been ok to be gay very recently. \n\nAlso, your dad would likely be thinking of others his age. If you're old enough to use reddit that would make him in an age bracket that grew up where homosexuality was very negative. There are historical graded as well as geographically graded aspects to homophobia. \n\n**Suffer in your jocks\n"
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1ldobl | why water leaves water spots on cars? and what makes spotless rinses spotless? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ldobl/eli5_why_water_leaves_water_spots_on_cars_and/ | {
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"Water contains dissolved minerals. These minerals are deposited as the water dries. They are deposited most where the water is thinnest and dries quickest - around the edges or the drops. \n\nRinses work by preventing drops forming, sheeting the water off, leaving the surface dry.",
"My time to shine. Former culligan man here. Did lots of car washes. Basically, water has minerals in it, either naturally occuring or added in. These minerals such as calcium and magnesium are left behind when water dissapates. This is what leaves spots. Now, spot-free rinse doesn't leave spots because it is nothing more than reverse osmosis treated water. Basically it means that the R.O. water has been filtered in such a way as to take 99.99% of contaminates out, therefore leaving almost 100% pure water. No spots. Hope this explains it."
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5p3bbe | when a woman cries, why does it have a powerful effect on men? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p3bbe/eli5_when_a_woman_cries_why_does_it_have_a/ | {
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"Human instinct makes us alert when we hear a high-pitched sound such as a woman crying, kids screaming or cries of a dying animal. It's similar to the \"fight or flight\" instinct and takes advantage of our muscle memory. The ears let the brain know something dangerous is afoot. \n\nThe shot of adenaline makes us more perceptive, more engaged with our environment. When that excitement is coupled with compassion for another person, the resulting energy is naturally redirected into making that person feel better. You might try to console that person by letting them \"vent\", or cheer them up with laughter or encouragement.\n\nAt the end of the day, you could say it's simply a matter of human empathy. ",
"Maybe its just me but if i see anyone cry it has an effect on me. Maybe its just because women are more likely to cry than men so you only notice women doing it. I mean if you saw one of your best friends tore up about something, it might have just as much a profound effect. \n\nEdit: Maybe moreso if there wasnt such a stigma against men having emotions too.",
"My husband gets turned on when I cry. So weird, it makes me laugh. But like, WTF. Happen to anyone else??",
"I think men process emotion so differently from women that it's often hard to find the right way to respond. As a man, I often can't comprehend the reasons why women cry; in my personal experience, I have noticed that women are just more likely to resort to tears in situations that would make most men scratch their heads",
"Because we put so much effort into pleasing women, make them happy and their lives worth living, when we hear them crying, it is really upsetting because we put so much effort into pleasing them, and seeing them upset is really painful because we feel as if we've failed them. "
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czdims | why did we need the word "cis"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/czdims/eli5_why_did_we_need_the_word_cis/ | {
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"Assuming organic chem, we needed to be able to identify the location of chem-groups with trans (opposite sides) and cis (same side) on a molecule",
"Why do we need the word \"same\" if we already have the word \"different?\" Same answer.",
"This will be hard to explain without linguistic terms so bear with me until the end.\n\n“Cis” means “nearer” or “same side” when most literally taken from its Latin meaning. Currently, it means “associates with the gender of one’s sex”. “Sex” in this case in a noun which means a person biological identity at birth. \n\nSo why do we need it?\n\nPersonally, I feel like it is a scientific definition applied to an ancient understanding. Most people feel like how they are born. Until very recently, it hasn’t been socially OK to define as something else. This mostly comes up with the discussion of transgender individuals.\n\n“Trans” means “further” or “on the other side of”. Currently, it means “one who associated with something other than the gender of one’s sex”. Trans individuals have only come to be accepted very recently. \n\nIn an effort to be more accepting of “trans” individuals, individuals who have historically been without labeled or “typical” individuals and now labeled as “cis”. \n\nSome people are upset that the historically “typical” identification now requires the label “cis”. It technically isnt necessary because people will probably assume most people are cis. Personally, I think that this is simply a more precise way of describing the way people identify. Feel free to disagree.\n\nTLDR: for most of history, people have been allowed to identify as their birth sex. Recently, now that people can identify as “trans” without consequence, classifying people as “cis” is useful.",
"cisgender: when your gender identity matches your assigned birth sex.\n\ntransgender: when your gender identity doesn't match your assigned birth sex.\n\nSince there was an official word for transgender but no official word for not-transgender, the word cisgender was invented.\n\nFor the origin of the word: Cisgender has its origin in the Latin-derived prefix cis-, meaning \"on this side of\", which is the opposite of trans-, meaning \"across from\" or \"on the other side of\".",
"What's the alternative? Perhaps you think \"normal\" means the same thing, but that's way past presumptive on the scale of insulting terms. The whole idea was to move away from judgemental language towards neutral language.",
"The word is actually very old and dates back to the Roman Latin and was reused in modern language, for instance there were two areas in Roman times known as Gaul there was Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul, the difference being which side of the alps the land was on. Cis is just the opposite of Trans.",
"In my opinion, we did not need the word, but they added it so as to be more “accepting” towards trans people. I think we didn’t need it because the vast majority of people isn’t trans so a new label wouldn’t have to exist. I don’t call people with two eyes “biclops” because having two eyes is common, it is expected. So why do we have a word for people that identify by the gender they were born with? I don’t know. Trans people have a label (which isn’t necessarily bad) because it is not common for people to identify by a gender they were not born with (only 0.6% of the population in the world identifies as trans) so it is obvious that they will have a word for it. But why do we have to label the other 99.4% of the population? Practically it has no use. It is estimated that approximately 1.3 billion people have some kind of visual impairment which is approximately a 24.00% of the global population, this is a lot, and we have names for each kind of eyesight impairment yet we don’t use any word for people who have normal eyesight even though, with such a high number of people with visual impairments, it is not really safe to assume that everyone has normal eyesight. So why should we do it with gender? That is your choice to make, personally I don’t refer to myself as “cis” or “cisgender” even though they are technically right terms that do apply to me. I don’t tell people that I’m cisgender because they should just assume it, if we didn’t make assumptions like that we wouldn’t have any common sense. Remember 0.6% vs 99.4% can you really misgender someone? Or are you making use of your common sense? It’s up to us to decide what we will do with our language. Let’s be careful."
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204ewn | why do things left outside fade, but when we go outside we darken? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/204ewn/eli5why_do_things_left_outside_fade_but_when_we/ | {
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"The colors get degraded by sunlight. \n\nHowever for us, our skin actively reacts to the light and creates a pigment which gives us that Darker color"
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1mkrs5 | "original streets" and underground cities | So on different vacations I've toured underground cities and other historic landmarks that have "basements that were originally entrances to the street". How does that happen? Will future skyscrapers and office buildings have entrances to nowhere in the basement? Will the streets of manhattan be built over or something like that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mkrs5/eli5_original_streets_and_underground_cities/ | {
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"text": [
"There are definitely examples through history of cities being built on top of older cities. Sometimes this had to do with geography, like to level or make more useable a piece of land. Check out [Edinburgh Vaults](_URL_1_).\n\nSome cities have 'undergrounds' that are planned out networks of tunnels to connect things like office towers and subway stations. Montreal's underground city is an excellent example of this, but many many others have them.\n\nProbably the coolest example though is Chicago. Basically, the city was prone to flooding. The solution was to literally jack the whole city up a few feet at a time to raise it above the flood level. Over time, this has lead to the construction of a pretty intricate network of multi-level streets. [Multilevel Streets of Chicago](_URL_0_). The topmost level is where most people access buildings and the lower levels are for through-traffic and service docks. There are a few bars and that type of thing down below the top level though.\n\n",
"Sacramento, CA has an underground section, which was risen to circumvent frequent floods they'd experience back in the late 1800s. Having many residents situated in a disaster-prone area was a prominent reason for the construction of most old underground areas. Not the case today. Besides subways and shopping centers, you probably won't see modern underground cities unless there's a dire need for one, and nowadays there's alternatives that don't require lifting an entire segment of a city (levees, aqueducts, etc.)",
"If anyone has ever toured Miller brewing in milwaukee wisconsin, the surface buildings on the street are only half of whats there. Huge complexes underground with connecting tunnles to all of the buildings. It seriously feels like a gritty version of the hive from resident evil",
"In seattle, it was because the entire city was built on mud. This cause a lot of problems, as it wasn't good foundation. Sink holes everywhere! \n\nThey decided to blast water at a mountain to cause a landslide to help harden the ground. A lot of people didn't want to rebuild, so they refused to move. Seattle as we know it today was built ON TOP of old Seattle and old Seattle was still in use. Even an easy location for speakeasies. \n\nEventually, the stubbornness went away and people moved on up. "
]
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| []
| [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_streets_in_Chicago",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Vaults"
],
[],
[],
[]
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|
86rwjh | how does a semi-truck/tractor trailer run into an overpass due to height issues? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86rwjh/eli5_how_does_a_semitrucktractor_trailer_run_into/ | {
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"What happens is that each time the road is repaved, the gap between the road and the bridge gets a few inches smaller. But the city/state/whoever in charge of the road rarely replaces the bridge height sign & city maps to reflect the new lower clearance. \nSemi drivers usually do know the exact height of their truck & load, and they commonly look up the bridge heights along their path to make sure they will clear before they head out. But when the posted height isn’t the actual height, that doesn’t do them any good."
]
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| []
| [
[]
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|
||
81ldvp | how can the government mass produce so many dollar bills with different serial numbers with only one type of stamp? do they record which serial numbers have been used? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/81ldvp/eli5how_can_the_government_mass_produce_so_many/ | {
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"text": [
"Note that all overprinting tasks (the serial number, plate number/positions, tresuary/FRB logos, etc) is done as a separate step from the main graphics printing.\n\nThe serial numbering, from my understanding, is a automatically articulated band stamp that can increment the digits as each individual note is printed (while still in the form of a sheet of 32/50). Also, sequential numbers are not printed on the same sheet, typically each plate position is incremented 10 or 1 thousand (I can't recall) from the one next to it, so that batches of 1000/10000 sheets can be printed after the numbering equipment is set up once.",
"The stamps for the serial numbers have rollers, kind of like the odometer on a car, that automatically advance each time a bill is printed. You set the machine to print from X10000000Y to X20000000Y one day, and just remember where you left off when you start up the next day.\n\nNote this isn't unique to money, many manufactured products are given unique serial numbers."
]
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[],
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7a35nt | in airplanes, why is the sound quality of the captain or staff announcements so bad? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7a35nt/eli5_in_airplanes_why_is_the_sound_quality_of_the/ | {
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"Because to have better or more speakers would mean that it would add more weight to the plane, also the acoustics in a plane arnt great it's essentially a tube with people, sound waves are muffled by people noise,\n\n\n\n also you have all sorts of systems like AC and engine starters and hydraulic pumps which all create noise which also muffles the intercom. \n\n\n\n\nBut really it's just not that important to have a very loud clear intercom on a plane they get used very rarely for things so the extra cost of more speakers and added weight just outweighs the need for it.\n\n\n\n\nFor an airliner if they can shed even a couple of kg it ends up saving a lot in costs of the plane over its lifespan. ",
"There's no real point in having high quality audio, it's an afterthought at most. That and most planes are basically models from the 70's-90's, just with newer engines and nicer cabins (regardless of date that construction was completed) so technology like the cockpit equipment and announcement system aren't great. There's a fair amount of noise in the cockpit too."
]
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[],
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2cc9xx | as someone with semi-yellow teeth, will brushing/mouthwash/flossing alone be able to make them whiter, or is the damage irreversible? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cc9xx/eli5_as_someone_with_semiyellow_teeth_will/ | {
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"From what I've read, no. Unfortunately, without whitening products, your teeth will still be yellow. This happens because teeth are like onions ( and subsequently, ogres), they have layers. The first layer is a hard white substance called enamel. Enamel is the initial line of protection for you teeth, however this can be erroded down over time if it is not taken care of. This reveals the next layer, dentine. Dentine is a softer, yellowish substance underneath enamel which is revealed when enamel gets worn away. There are ways to get whiter teeth, but this usually involves bleaching of the dentine via over the counter products or laser whitening. Hope this helps! (If anyone can verify this, I'd be greatly appreciative, it's been a while since I researched it)\n\nEDIT: I also just remembered that other factors can contribute to yellowing of the teeth. Things like coffee, dark soft drinks and tobacco can stain the teeth yellow over time, in which case properly brushing CAN have an effect on the whiteness of your teeth.",
"I'm no dentist, but I've had some luck with the crest whitening toothpaste"
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4btbq9 | if all commonly-used-and-abused drugs were suddenly legal, affordable and readily-available for purchase, what would actually happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4btbq9/eli5_if_all_commonlyusedandabused_drugs_were/ | {
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"The biggest effects would be a reduction in the violence associated with the currently illegal drug trade, higher prosperity due to reduction in non-violent criminals in prison working productively, increased tax revenue from a controlled marketplace, a decrease in law enforcement and prison costs, and a decrease in drug related health costs/mortality rates.",
"Alot of drug addicts would die I'd imagine, as would quite a few new attendees. After those unfortunate few go, it'd end up just like any other chemical pleasure; lots of tax money, posters at the doctors or dentist telling you to quit, a whole range of 'healthy' alternatives. Pretty much chocolate in a nutshell.",
" > On the short term, we'd see a lot of overdoses, I get that.\n\nNot necessarily. Look at all the real world examples of drug legalization. Usage actually drops, as do overdoses."
]
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66h6fe | what dictates a tornado's path? what about duration? | There's a clip of a tornado sitting stationary I've seen a handful of times and I'm curious as to what influences or controls the traveling the behavior. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66h6fe/eli5_what_dictates_a_tornados_path_what_about/ | {
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"text": [
"Short answer: The Illuminati.\n\nLong answer: Topography + windpatterns\nHave a look at: _URL_0_"
]
} | []
| []
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[
"https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-334.50,54.68,373"
]
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|
5rmed3 | if parallel universes exist, how come we are not being visited all the time by people who have figured out interdimensional travel? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5rmed3/eli5_if_parallel_universes_exist_how_come_we_are/ | {
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"Why would they be?\n\nJust because alternate dimensions exist doesn't necessarily mean that people can travel between them.",
"Let's agree on a few assumptions, even though these might not actually be true:\n\n1. There are infinite universes.\n\n2. Travel between universes is possible.\n\n3. Some percentage of universes contain humans that learn how to travel.\n\nEven given that, it's very likely we would never see a traveler. Not all infinities are equal. If there are infinite universes, and 1 in every 1,000,000 universes figures out inter-dimensional travel, and each universe that figures it out eventually travels to and interacts with 1,000 other universes before they stop (either thanks to war, or running out of fuel, or political pressure), then:\n\n1/1,000,000 x 1,000 = 1/1,000\n\nIt would still be only 1 out of every 1,000 universes that gets visited by inter-dimensional travelers. There would be infinite traveling universes and infinite visited universes, but any given universe is still unlikely to be visited.\n\nAnd then imagine the odds that those universes developed a the same rate. That traveler universe might have never had the Black Death, or the Inquisition, or World Wars. They might be more or less scientific. They might have never had an Einstein or Newton. Maybe they're a thousand years ahead of us, so they visited us while we were in the middle-ages and haven't bothered to come back since. Maybe they haven't visited us yet, but will in our year 3000.\n\nJust because a thing might be possible, and because there might be infinite opportunities to do the thing, doesn't mean the thing will be happening continually."
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19kr7x | why does jam say "refrigerate after opening" on the jar if i've never seen it go bad? | Same goes for pickles! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/19kr7x/eli5_why_does_jam_say_refrigerate_after_opening/ | {
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"When jam and pickles are jarred, the company makes sure their are no contaminants like bacteria in the container. There's nothing in there to make it go bad. However, once you open it, things can get in. This is why you put it in the fridge. The cold slows down the bacteria. It makes them reproduce slower, ensuring the jam is still good for a lot longer."
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2qw43v | how does the weather anchor know what's happening on the green screen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qw43v/eli5_how_does_the_weather_anchor_know_whats/ | {
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"he looks at a t.v of to the side that displays the same thing you are seeing ",
"If you watch him closely, they're rarely looking directly into the camera. There's a monitor TV next to the camera that shows the picture that's going out over the air. It's like a weird kind of mirror.\n\nAt many stations, the news desk also has a pane of glass set into the top. Underneath is a TV monitor that also shows what's going out over the air, and the anchors can use that to watch live-coverage and prerecorded video outside of the newsroom."
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1vy995 | why do people tend to make bad decisions under pressure? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vy995/eli5why_do_people_tend_to_make_bad_decisions/ | {
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"Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.\n\nSeriously though, it is. Flight/Fight fucks with your ability to think rationally. You know all the shit that soldiers have to put up with during Basic training and drills? A lot of it is there so that they can learn to control Flight/Fight, because in a firefight, you still need to be able to think and deal with tactics/strategy to whatever extent is possible.\n\nYou place a civilian in a combat situation with no training, and they are dealing with their body telling them to book it or headbutt the motherfucker. Not everyone has a natural ability to handle that kind of pressure.\n\nIn general, Pressure fucks with your ability to think rationally, and the feeling of being 'rushed' or 'pressed' for time means that when the decision is made, its highly likely that there was less thought put into it than would be normally. This is also why skilled/experienced leaders in *any* pressure role are so valuable - they know how to make decisions, while under pressure, while still retaining enough 'cool' to take into consideration the consequences of said decision."
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59cjk6 | why are vr games so much more difficult to make and why do they require so much more processing power? | Developers have been making 3D worlds for years and it seems reasonable to assume the primary difference in VR is needing to have two viewpoints active at all times (one for each eye) to give the illusion of virtual reality and interactivity methods.
Is having those two corresponding viewpoints active simultaneously much different than split-screen on a FPS where each player has a different view?
Does reading movements of the goggles and hands require the huge difference in processing power? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/59cjk6/eli5_why_are_vr_games_so_much_more_difficult_to/ | {
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" > Is having those two corresponding viewpoints active simultaneously much different than split-screen on a FPS where each player has a different view?\n\nNot hugely different in principle but significantly in execution.\n\nFirst, your average console peasant is used to their game being presented at about 30 fps and somewhat distant on a television which takes up a relatively narrow field of view. Even 1080p televisions then cut that in half for a split screen.\n\nPC players prefer a 60 fps standard (taking twice as much rendering power) and also they tend to sit closer to their monitors which means they take up more of their field of view. This means games designed for PC will have wider fields of view to avoid nausea which results in more things on screen to render. The result is significantly more than twice the required rendering horsepower.\n\nVR is even more of a challenge. As the view for each eye takes up the entire field of view it needs to be a reasonable resolution in its own right, not half of 1080p, and of course the field of view for that camera needs to be extremely wide. In addition to avoid nausea you want to shoot for at least 90 fps which means even greater demand on hardware. Now do it twice over from slightly different viewpoints without stutter or delay!"
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2w5cap | why is american beer typically watered down while european beers have more flavor? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w5cap/eli5_why_is_american_beer_typically_watered_down/ | {
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"Those companies have a demographic that likes that beer so they produce what they know what will sell. There are many other brands in the US that aren't \"watered down\".",
"You are aware that Budweiser doesn't represent American beer as a whole. right? There's plenty of non-watered down American beer.",
"As someone who has had beer in the US and Europe, beer has slight variations based on ingredients used, brewing methods & materials, and preferences in taste by the expected buyer.\n\nHowever, I have found just as much \"watered down\" beer in Europe as I have in the US; mostly from on-tap products. Generally, things from a bottle or can taste relatively the same, especially products from larger brewers.",
"You need to drink better American beer. There are over 2400 breweries in the United States making thousands of different beers in many different styles. I believe that the US produces the best beer in the world.",
"Op - where do you live?\n\n\n\n5 breweries in our city and none have beer that tastes watered down."
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bev2o9 | would a person feel g-force in a vacuum (such as astronauts in space)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bev2o9/eli5_would_a_person_feel_gforce_in_a_vacuum_such/ | {
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"If they were accelerated, yes. If they were free floating in a spacecraft that suddenly started moving, they’d hit the wall just like in an accelerating car if you’re not strapped in.",
"G-force is the force of gravitational acceleration on the mass of an object, overcoming inertia due to mass.\n\nAs such, resistance due to air and weight due to pressure do not perceptibly affect the G forces a person feels.\n\nIn other words, yes. Unless the person were already dead from asphyxiation."
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37ii2t | how can there be hundreds of thousands of privately owned restaurants and bars if the industry has such a dramatic fail rate? | You often hear how non-corporate bars and restaurants have a very high failure rate, (the usual statistic you hear is 90%), and that the ones that do not fail don't really make much money, so how can millions of them exist under these conditions? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37ii2t/eli5how_can_there_be_hundreds_of_thousands_of/ | {
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"Yes, most fail. But some are in the process of failing, some are thriving, and some may lose money but are supported by owners who have other profitable businesses. \"Corporate Owned\" only implies a larger entity has ownership or can suffer losing money without having to close. Private owners cam have deep pockets, too. ",
"Lets say you start your own restaurant, selling whatever food. You sign a lease, do some renovations to make the place your own, and buy all nice, new shiny equipment. \n\nYou operate with a positive attitude and cash flow for a year or so is great. But then, new businesses open around you giving people other choices in places to eat. Your clientele gets a little tired of coming to you all the time or you make menu changes to try to stay fresh, changes that don't always pan out and can be expensive. Your opening staff, which was very experienced, starts to turn over and you have to hire and train some new people, all while you're now competing for employees with the newer locations that prospective employees are often more eager to work at than the place that's been around a while.\n\nYour food and service quality start to decline with a new staff, your customers that are already coming less frequently take note and come even less frequently, though they don't stop altogether. After a while you're not getting any new customers, everyone in the area has had ample time to become a customer and acquiring new customers through marketing is terribly expensive, which is money you probably don't have to spend come year 2 or 3. \n\nAt this point your lease is close to renewal and you have to decide to renew or move on. Your equipment is several years old and the warranties are starting to lapse, meaning you'll be facing higher repair and maintenance costs over the next 12-24 months. \n\nThen you lose one of your good managers, someone you've relied on and you have a string of bad replacements or you have to step in yourself and spend more time in the store, increasing your stress level. You're starting to dip into the red month to month or you've been there for a while. You then have to make a decision, sell the business as a whole or close up shop and liquidate. \n\nThat's the 2-3 yr life cycle of a restaurant, especially one that is a mom-n-pop or just a few stores. The larger chains/franchises generally have better marketing plans with the cost spread out over a territory to be as cost effective as possible. \n\nYou close up shop, sell off the equipment, and someone else rents your location for another business of whatever type they want to run."
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2m25kv | how can hospitals charge as much as they do? | I read and article on Reddit earlier today about a lady who was hospitalized for like 10 days in a coma. Her bill came out to close to $250,000. How is this even possible or legal? How do they justify thess ludicrous prices? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2m25kv/eli5_how_can_hospitals_charge_as_much_as_they_do/ | {
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"They have large overhead that not only includes the running of the building, paying people, but massive malpractice insurance rates and other things. This is also a free capitalist country and you can charge whatever you want for any product or service and either people will pay it, or they wont. If you do not pay you will either have to lower your price, or go out of business. With hospitals most people pay. ",
"Capitalism\n\nThe US doesn't have public healthcare. It's entire sector is for-profit and they can charge for their services as much as they want. Don't have the money? You can die for all they care.",
"That capitalism for you.\n\nIn the UK, we had a socialist government after WW2 who brought in the welfare state, free; health care, education, school meals etc. Meaning even you had no money at all you could still be healthy and educated. The down side is we pay a lot more tax than you guys.",
"If you go back to that article and read it, you'll see that she ended up being charged about $10k while the rest was covered by her insurance ($150k) and the hospital \"negotiated\" 90% of the rest.\n\nThey charge so much because hospitals are incredibly expensive to operate. They have highly educated and trained staff, cutting edge technology, and insane insurance premiums.",
"In addition to all the other good points, they bill out this huge number to make up for the people that didn't have insurance or enough insurance and didn't pay what they owed, sticking the hospital with the bill. ",
"In addition to the high costs issue and the captive market issue, another issue is actually the reliance on health insurance. Hospitals can't charge ordinary people hundreds of thousands of dollars for surgeries; people simply don't have that cash. But large insurance companies do. By going through the middle man (insurance companies), it makes it easier for hospitals to charge significantly higher prices than they otherwise could as the final cost ends up being dispersed among the entire base of insurance customers. \n\nProof you ask? Well anecdotally, I've seen multiple cases on reddit where hospitals quickly negotiate down their prices when the invoice is going to an actual person and not an insurance company (including the case mentioned in this question). \n\nHealthcare is also one of those complex areas where price is often taken as an indicator of quality, and seeing as no-one wants their lives in the hands of the cheapest doctor available, the normal demand law (i.e. demand drops when you increase prices) does not apply. I have only a very, very basic grasp of economics, so any econ major is free to correct me on this.",
"That is so ridiculous. I knew of a girl Who was hospitalized for about a month before she passed away, and just to add to the burden her family received a bill that was close to $1,000,000 for the treatment. It's so awful.",
"You know I am really not sure why, legally. Here is the thing: you don't agree to go to the hospital or pay the bill in most cases. Lets say you fall off a ladder, hit your head, get knocked out. You are taken to a hospital and they perform what they need to on you and then you wake up ok. You never agreed to pay anyone for anything - there was no contract. In law however you are liable for something called unjust enrichment. You received valuable medical care, you are better off, the hospital is worse off, and you need to compensate them for that.\n\nHowever unjust enrichment is not supposed to give the recipient a profit. It is just supposed to compensate them for their loss. Thus I really don't see how the hospital can: 1) turn a profit 2) use your treatment to subsidize other departments/patients 3) charge more than the minimum anyone else would be charged (i.e. if they take medicare for 70% of their normal rates it would be hard to argue they deserve more than that under unjust enrichment).\n\nAnyways I really don't understand how they can charge so much when a person doesn't enter into a contract with them.",
"You also have some people who get treated and just leave without paying. They still have to pay for the bills so they jack up the price for everyone else. There are some operations that are incredibly cheap but people keep leaving without paying.",
"They can charge what they like and if you don't like you can take your business elsewhere (=die in the street)\n\nThe people who have the muscle are the insurance companies who tell the hospitals what they will pay and if the hospitals don't like it they can take their business elsewhere (=get very few patients and go bust)\n\nIf you're not insured don't live in the USA.",
"It's possible because they have a captive market. Pay us, or suffer/die.\n\nIt's legal because our law makers are paid well by lobbyists to keep it legal.\n\nFor some reason, the US believes schools are infrastructure (because you can't be too dumb to work a job!), but hospitals shouldn't be (living is less important than passing standard tests).\n\nThe key arguments against government healthcare are that the quality would go down. Not a concern for our schools though. Let's keep paying those teachers less!",
"Factor 1: To cover for people who can't afford the care but the hospitals are required to operate on them to prevent them from dying in the ER. This is also true in European hospitals too.\n\nFactor 2 (the major contributing factor): Hospital expenses are not subsidized by government unlike Europeans. Reason why US doesn't subsidize healthcare is because we spend the majority of our budget on military (international military bases, carriers/nuclear submarines maintenance etc.) in order to protect American interests and alliances overseas and able to respond to emergencies (civilian or military) around the globe at the drop of a hat. No other nations has the same global projection capability as the U.S. and that costs tons of annual $$$$$. \n\nNot to mention U.S. is basically subsidizing the rest of NATO's defense budget so the Europeans can have their comfortable, cushy lifestyle without expending too much on military. What happened when Russia and China started to bully their neighbors (Ukraine, South China Sea disputes etc.)? What happened when ISIS is blowing the shit up in the Middle East? The first thing they did was begging the Americans to intervene and help. Yeah if you guys can start to take up responsibilities for your own defense and safety, that'll be great, because then we can have more money to spend on our own issues and not keeping you guys out of trouble. ",
"US Hospitals are legally required to treat all emergency cases. However, 55% of all of emergency room visits in the US are never compensated. The poor and uninsured disproportionately use the emergency room since they don't have a GP and it's generally their only choice. So hospitals have to shift care costs to insured patients to make up the difference. But since they can't make up that difference and keep racking up debt costs keep exponentially increasing."
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2fmp2n | how on earth do we know where we are in the universe? | So I saw a photo showing where we are in the universe (_URL_0_ if you missed it) and I was baffled as to how we know where we are! Like, how do we see so far out and how are we able to pinpoint our location so well? And how do we create the images, such as this one, where we are actually in the picture and we are looking at us as well as a load of planets from a different perspective? Because I highly doubt we send a camera out 150 million light years away to take the photo | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fmp2n/eli5_how_on_earth_do_we_know_where_we_are_in_the/ | {
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"We found a mirror really far away and we're taking selfies. No kidding that's really interesting I'm saving and upvoting, I want to know. ",
"It's CG; we have a decent model as to what our galaxy looks like because we're actually pretty far from the center of it. We have also seen other galaxies that look like ours.\n\nThat said: How do you know where you are on the earth? We have GPS, but we didn't back in the 1950s, and certainly not in the 1500s when we were discovering the earth; we basically took what we knew as a center point, did some exploring, and then drew maps. Then as we measured shit, the maps got more accurate.\n\nWe have a very rough idea of where we are in the universe, down to a level of precision that is not very precise on a human scale, but good enough when talking about the scale of galaxies. That image could be off by a few hundred lightyears.",
"If I'm not mistaken, our galaxy position is our main fixed point in it, the rest of the cluster galaxies positions are estimates based on light-year distance between us and the galaxy through the telescope and estimates on how it would come to interact with other galaxies near it (ie get away from each other or attract each other) along the *usual* divergence movement from the very space expansion. With this ready, it's really just like placing results from a highschool math function into graphics, except this time the graphics scale are *out of this world* and in 3D."
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6jqv4t | how do loading bars know how far along a download is? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6jqv4t/eli5_how_do_loading_bars_know_how_far_along_a/ | {
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"When you begin a download, it creates a \"box\" that says there is a specific amount space that the file will be contained in. As pieces in the box fill in, the box says \"hey, I currently have been filled with X number of the Y required pieces.\""
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1z4brb | why does my digestive system fail to fully process capsaicin during its journey? | Very spicy foods burn on the way in and often on the way out. Is the body not able to break down this compound? In reading various forums on this topic, some people are affected and some are not. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z4brb/eli5why_does_my_digestive_system_fail_to_fully/ | {
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"Capsaicin does not fully breakdown in digestion. To my understanding, the 'immunity ' to spicy food is actually nerve damage. The capsaicin receptors have essentially been worked too hard and the nerve endings die off. \n\nIf someone else could verify, that would be splendid, but if I recall correctly this is accurate. ",
"It's an oil, and like olestra, it seems to be an oil that we don't break down.\n\nLuckily it's basically harmless when it's on the inside. [But the fun is over when the oil hits the anus](_URL_0_). "
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3uz12j | how did "cheese" become the word to get people to smile? when did people start smiling in photos? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3uz12j/eli5how_did_cheese_become_the_word_to_get_people/ | {
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"Most people smile when then say 'cheese' because of how you have to move your mouth to say it. Same could be done with saying \"1... 2... 3!\"",
"To answer the second part of your question - people started smiling (on a regular basis) in photos when taking a photo stopped requiring you stay perfectly still for half an hour. Or 10 minutes. Or 5 minutes. Or 1 minute. It's a lot harder to hold a smile for a good length of time than it is to just look very passive - and in the early days of photography you needed to stay perfectly still for a long time. That's why a lot of people have a misconception that people back then were miserable. \n\nNonetheless, you *can* find old photos of people smiling. It's actually delightful to see. ",
"Anything with an \"eeeeee\" will make people smile. \n\nModern cameras and photography have made smiling much easier- for a number of reasons. First- you don't have to hold a smile for forever. Second- photography when it was first invented was a much bigger deal than it is today. Getting your picture taken would be considered more of a formal occasion due to expense, time, rarity, difficulty, and so on. \n\nConsider the way you act at a fairly formal event, and translate that + victorian era taciturnity into how you'd behave getting your picture taken. \n\nAlso, a lot of the pictures of that era that you will see are of famous people, who tend to not want to protect a goofy image, but rather a serious one. ",
"_URL_0_\n\nThis article talks about it a bit. \nUsed to be that you couldn't smile in a photo, because you needed to expose it for a long while - so people had to be serious or neutral to hold their expression. \n\nThen the thing to say was 'prunes' - to tighten the lips - it gives a small smile. \n\nFinally we moved to 'cheese' as a way to get people to smile widely. ",
"Cheese has a long \"ee\" vowel, which is a high front vowel and tensed, which causes you to naturally pull your lips back into a smile-like shape. Even if you are not happy, you will look mildly happy when you say \"cheese\"."
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69cta1 | why do we get tired of hearing the same things over and over again? | Like hearing the same song multiple times or hearing a certain story a lot? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69cta1/eli5_why_do_we_get_tired_of_hearing_the_same/ | {
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"text": [
"It's really fun for your brain to predict beats/lyrics and once you have everything perfected i think it makes it boring to listen to"
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4kftva | how can a company make you sign a non-compete? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kftva/eli5how_can_a_company_make_you_sign_a_noncompete/ | {
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"The no compete clause is often written into the contract you sign when you take the job. But it can also be included in a redundancy agreement if you lose your job rather than quit. If you refuse to sign you don't get a redundancy payout other than what you're legally entitled to (which I assume in some places is nothing)."
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60clhm | in marxist theory, where did the term 'bourgeoisie' come from and why is it still used in english? | ^ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/60clhm/eli5_in_marxist_theory_where_did_the_term/ | {
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"The word \"bourgeois\" comes from French, being derived from the Old French word \"burgeis\" which meant walled city.\n\nBefore the French revolution, the \"bourgeois\" and \"bourgeoise\" (masculine and feminine respectively) were a social class identified as the rich who were members of the Third Estate (the commoners), so it came to mean the ruling upper class.\n\nMany years before the revolution, the bourgeois were the people living inside the bourgs, which were walled market-towns (so, the craftsmen, merchants etc.) and were the class between peasants and landlords.",
"Bourgeois is French for Bürger (vice-versa) and in both German and French, the word designated people who lived in the protection of the city walls (Burg is the German word that designates a castle that also has a surrounding protected area), as opposed to peasants outside those walls. Due to how trade guilds developed and the increased importance of merchants during the late middle ages/Renaissance/Reformation Era, being classified as Bourgeois meant you had some more socio-politcal weight to throw around due to controlling some aspect of how money moved within the city where your lord, earl, duke, archbishop, etc. lived; even though you didn't have a fancy aristocratic title (like the German \"von\" used to mean) or necessarily own land. Fast forward to the mid-1800s and Marx is looking at this established class of people who have beat out the Aristocrats in America and in France for a little while, and who continue to grief the \"Germans\" and Austrians up to WWI. This group owns all the stores, farmland, and factories (what he calls means of production). But just like how these new people are wrestling more and more political power from the previous people in charge, he theorized that the next political struggle would come from the people underneath the Bourgeois; the proletariat.\n\nWhy does English use the word Bourgeoisie? The same reason we tell people to RSVP (repônde s'il vous plait) to parties, call giant bread sticks baguettes, and sometimes label appetizers hors d'oeuvre. English had/has a hard-on for stealing words from other languages, and whom better to steal from than those people that you were constantly fighting/fucking for hundreds of years. "
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3be2of | why do the letters f and j on my laptop keyboards have indents on the keys? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3be2of/eli5why_do_the_letters_f_and_j_on_my_laptop/ | {
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"Those letters have indentations because they denote where you should put your index fingers. Left index finger on 'f', right index finger on 'j'.\n\nThat way you can still use your keyboard with your eyes closed.",
"They're the index finger positions for [touch typing] (_URL_0_)"
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7ld1wa | if we are trying to harness the wind and use it as a natural resource for electricity, then why are there windmill farms out there with a stopped windmill? exceptions being maintenance or malfunction | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ld1wa/eli5_if_we_are_trying_to_harness_the_wind_and_use/ | {
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"1) Maintenance, as you guessed. Stuff breaks down; if you visit a normal power plant you'll find a few of their turbines are off as well.\n\n2) You'd think that more wind = better for a windmill, but there's a point where the wind becomes *too* strong, enough to damage the machinery. At that point they have to lock the windmill in place for its own safety.\n\n3) Low demand. It's possible that the grid just didn't need that much power at the time you were driving by, so not all the turbines were active.",
"If *all* the windmills are feathered [turned off] it is likely that there is too much wind or that the wind is somehow bad for the mills. [Example: too gusty to be useful].\n\nIf *some* are feathered and some are active, it is likely that the operators are creating enough energy for current demand. If this is the case, turning all the windmills on would likely overload the system and cause damage to one or more spots in the wires or transformers."
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4hlkjq | how do same power predators interact in the food chain? | Do they try to avoid fighting because it would be a loss for both? I imagined Savannah with let's say lions and leopards "meeting". But I think it's also maybe valid for insects too. What about sane specie but different herd? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hlkjq/eli5_how_do_same_power_predators_interact_in_the/ | {
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"This will vary by animal, species, and herd, but one important clarification is that it's more realistic to imagine a food web, with many interlocking and multi-directional links rather than a strict hierarchy. In that sense, there's no clear \"same power\" but will come down to whether or not an animal is hungry and/or aggressive. This is, of course, a major simplification."
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1rgvft | why do i cringe? | For example, if I read an embarrassing story or see and embarrassing picture I "cringe". Even though this person has absolutely no relation to me I "cringe" about it anyway, why?
Thanks in advance for your answers. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rgvft/eli5_why_do_i_cringe/ | {
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"You are very empathetic. You are able to put yourself in the emotional position of a stranger and sympathize with their emotional state. I am the same way... even watching shows like \"Punk'd\" or movies like *Bad Grandpa* or anything where people are uncomfortable makes me cringe, so much so that is is not enjoyable for me. Your empathetic response is strong like mine. Everyone has different levels of empathy depending on experiences and environmental factors. "
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7a1pzl | bureaucracy. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7a1pzl/eli5_bureaucracy/ | {
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"Have you ever heard of Robert's rules of order? It sets the rules for meetings, proposing motions, seconds and such. A bureaucracy is a government that is tied up in rules and procedures. It's a system that is stuck fighting through red tape to get anything done. ",
"It's a mid-level government employee who has no power to make rules but must simply follow the rules handed down to them. It generally involves filling out lots of paperwork to get anything done.",
"The word *bureaucracy* literally means \"rule by desks\" or \"rule by offices\" etymologically. It refers to the body of government officials appointed to run a specific government institution. All the people who run the DMV, for instance, are part of the bureaucracy of the local Department of Transportation.\n\nBut the word \"bureaucracy\" carries a connotation of inflexibility and especially inefficiency, because it's associated with government institutions that are not particularly flexible or efficient. Terms often used in conjunction with \"bureaucracy\" are \"red tape\" - basically, time-consuming procedures that don't serve any real useful purpose - and \"overhead\" - time and money wasted on such procedures.\n\nAny government institution needs rules and regulations, but often too much time and money is directed towards making sure the regulations are being followed to the letter, by way of lots of documentation and paper trails, at the expense of the actual purpose of the institution. Paper forms get redirected from person to person to person - perhaps because the first person didn't have the knowledge or authority to deal with it, and passed it on to someone who *could* deal with it but just didn't want to, and passed it on to someone else... and so forth - without ever being filled out, which wastes time. And if the rules and regulations state that a task cannot be done until that form is filled out, but it keeps not getting filled out, then a task which might take 5 minutes to complete ends up taking days. \n\nThis hinders the institution's ability to get any meaningful work done, with an emphasis instead on paperwork for paperwork's sake, and such stringent compliance to rules that extenuating circumstances often get tossed to the side.\n\nAnd at the end of the day, the stereotypical bureaucrat is a salaried worker whose job is to enforce the rules, no matter how pointless. The stereotypical bureaucrat is, often as a consequence of the job, lazy and indifferent.\n\nI know that was all a little abstract, but basically **TL;DR your friends calling you a bureaucrat implies that you waste an inordinate amount of time in obedience to pointless rules for pointless rules' sake.**\n\n",
"I happen to do a lot of Social Security Disability work so I can cite my own experience.\n\nSo lets say you want Social Security Disability, you can apply over the phone (talking to a bureaucrat) apply online, or apply directly at a local Social Security branch office, again talking to a bureaucrat.\n\nNext step. Usually the application gets forwarded to the state disability agency (in New York these are the people who handle short term disability). \n\nThey review your application, gather some medical records(and may receive more from the applicant and/or there attorney.). They may require the applicant to fill out some additional questionnaires and see a doctor who is subcontracted with the agency (the agency doctor then prepares a report). Then, they can approve or deny the application based on a narrow set of criteria. If they approve the application, the local Social Security branch office sets up payments.\n\nIf you are denied, the applicant can then appeal the decision. Once appealed the file is turned over to the Social Security Administration, Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). Here, the Social Security administrative law judge (ALJ) conducts an in person hearing with the applicant (and depending on the situation the applicants attorney). By this point, the applicant's file is hundreds of pages in size and includes financial information, medical information, medical records, and questionnaires. The ALJ relies on his/her staff to organize and to aid in making an evaluation. The ALJ has more leniency then the state agency, but their decision is also bound by statutes and regulations.\n\nIf you are denied by ODAR, you can appeal to the Social Security Administration Appeals council in Falls Church Virginia, the appeals council reviews the entire file, including a transcript of the hearing (also created by a bureaucrat) and then can approve the ALJ's decision, approve the application for benefits or order a second hearing at ODAR with additional instruction.\n\nThat, is bureaucracy..."
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2pcrgo | why are uncooked eggs dangerous but sunny side up eggs are ok? isn't the yolk uncooked? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pcrgo/eli5_why_are_uncooked_eggs_dangerous_but_sunny/ | {
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"They are still dangerous, just *less* dangerous. The less of the egg that is cooked, the higher the risk of bacteria living in them. \n\nArmy dining facilities (at least none that I've been to) won't serve **anything** but fried hard specifically for that reason. ",
"**Important Point of note:** when cooking a Sunny side up egg (or other, lightly cooked food), quite a bit of this is psychological. You may not be cooking it enough to fully kill bacteria, but since you are cooking it, it goes from \"raw/dangerous\" to \"cooked/safe\" even if it is still \"partially cooked/somewhat dangerous\"\n\nOne potential reason is the same reason that you can eat a seared/raw in the middle steak and it isn't considered \"dangerous\" but a raw steak is. This is because most of the dangerous bacteria live on the surface of the meat, or in the case of the egg, the egg shell* (only partially correct, see E11 for more information), and lets assume the bacteria get transferred to the egg itself. In either case, if you fully cook the exterior, the chance of killing the bacteria is very high (in the case of the egg, they wouldn't have had a chance to infiltrate the yolk, even if they could). \n\nObviously this relies on probabilities, fully cooking the egg reduces the chances further than simply cooking the exterior (or only part of it), but cooking the exterior cuts down the risk a lot. \n\nSide note; when cooking ground meat and poultry, it is more important to fully cook the meat for similar reasons. Ground meat is all mixed up, so dangerous bacteria could be distributed throughout the meat, and poultry meat is more porous (appears incorrect, see E7), allowing the bacteria to reach the center. \n\nEdit 1: Because of some important notes from comments, it should be noted that raw eggs are generally safe to eat from a disease standpoint (i.e. you have a low chance of sickness from eating a raw egg). That being said, I am answering the more detailed question of why does only partially cooking an egg (sunny side up, yolk isn't fully cooked) cause it to go from being considered dangerous to safe, this all being separate from the consideration of the actual (statistical) danger of eating a raw egg. \n\nEdit 2: when I think of a sunny side up egg, I think of one that has a just barely fully cooked white, but yolk that is not cooked (although warm inside/hot on the exterior). However, apparently based on those more skilled in the culinary arts than I, that is more cooked than appropriate. In any case, this explanation works on a sliding scale; the more you cook something, the more bacteria you kill, so the safer it (theoretically) is. \n\nEdit 3: because of bad phrasing leading to a number of questions, I just want to make it clear that bacteria can get from the exterior of the egg to the interior, there is no magical barrier. However, assuming that you have an uncontaminated (i.e. fresh) egg that is then contaminated by the egg shell, the bacteria is only on the exterior of the egg and simply does not have the time to get to the interior before it is killed during the cooking process. \n\nEdit 4: On the debate of washing vs. not, it is a tradeoff. If we wash the egg, we strip off much of the exterior coating, [which is referred to as the cuticle or bloom as pointed out by 7thhokage](_URL_2_), making it easier for salmonella to get in. But the process also makes the egg exterior semi-sterile, so there is a lower chance of salmonella being present. Washing eggs properly, just prior to cooking, would be the best, but Americans are lazy and would rather the eggs be washed earlier in the process, even it if is not the absolute best method. Other note from that post, this is also why older eggs float; the gas byproducts of the bacterial digestion/replication in the egg. \n\nEdit 5: If you though \"eggs are not steak\" you are correct, it is a simplification to get the basic point across of most of the bacteria being on the exterior of the object. Obviously it breaks down under closer scrutiny. \n\nEdit 6: [A good point brought up by GetOutOfBox](_URL_4_). If one is to eat moderate amounts of raw eggs consistently, one runs the risk of biotin deficiency. So don't go full Rocky, even if the eggs wont give you food poisoning. \n\nEdit 7 and 9: [A good point by RabidMortal that studies show bacterial penetration is equivalent for chicken/beef, but since poultry cuts are thinner, full bacterial penetration occurs faster. Or another way, if you cook beef/chicken to the bacterial kill depth, you'll end up fully cooking the chicken, but the center of the beef may remain untouched.](_URL_1_). [However, as pointed out by Shalmanese](_URL_0_), that was looking at spoilage bacteria, not pathogenic (the ones that make you really sick). My best recommendation; fully cook your foods to be on the safe side. \n\nEdit 8: **TL;DR Uncooked eggs run the risk of contamination with various bacteria, the hotter they get, the more bacteria are killed. However, the chances of actually getting sick from an egg are pretty low** Additional note, the most likely source of contamination is the egg shell, which is why eggs in the U.S. are factory washed (for lazy, sue happy consumers) and cooking it somewhat is considered better than not at all, as in theory you kill some of the bacteria. \n\nEdit 10 (See E7 for E9): A lot of questions have focused on raw egg/beef foods such as Steak Tartare and ice cream. In the U.S. as we wash our eggs, the likelihood of a bacteria remaining present is relatively low. If the eggs are then kept refrigerated (or frozen w.r.t. Ice Cream), the chance of the bacteria growing to dangerous levels is even lower. Meanwhile, we typically surface treat our beef before grinding, reducing the chances of bacterial contamination. So the odds are pretty low of getting sick, the above point still stands; under the assumption that there is bacterial surface contamination, grinding the meat will mix the bacteria throughout necessitating cooking the entire thickness fully to kill the harmful bacteria. \n\nEdit 11: [A good point by brooklynerd](_URL_3_) salmonella can get into the egg during development and exist inside the shell. I didn't know this, and I unfortunately can't find anything with respect to how far it penetrates the egg itself (i.e. does it stay on the inner surface of the shell or permeate the entire egg). ",
"What about people who drink raw eggs? Surely that's even more risky.",
"Man. I used to eat raw eggs in my protein shakes. Apparently, I'm alone in that",
"Anyone know what temp eggs should reach to be considered safe?",
"American chickens are unvaccinated and the eggs are washed. This means that there is a chance that viruses can be transferred to the eggs. Its the same reason those in NA keep their eggs in the fridge. As such, there is a risk eating any egg not fully cooked in the US. \n\nIn Europe, chickens are vaccinated and the eggs are unwashed and kept at room temperature. There is an absolute minute chance of infection so there is no danger to eating any form of raw egg. ",
"A sunny side egg can give you salmonella just as easily as a raw egg. I used to work in a restaurant that got a bad shipment of eggs in from its egg supplier. About 20 people got salmonella from that shipment of eggs. Some had their eggs sunny side up, some had it over easy, and others had an omelette. An infected egg would need to be cooked completely to over hard to kill the salmonella. And people do not care for their eggs like that. Ultimately, the restaurant had to close down because it is impossible to come back from something like that. The most eye opening thing about the entire experience was how sensationalized the news media made the whole thing out to be.",
"[the probability of getting salmonella from raw eggs is 1 in 20,000](_URL_0_). So any under-cooked egg like sunny side up or raw eggs are potentially unsafe, but the likelihood of getting sick is very low.\n\nThis number was also confirmed by Alton Brown",
"Raw eggs have had an occasional issue with salmonilla, much like spinach, bean sprouts, and numerous other raw veggies have over the years.\n\nUnlike fresh spinach, the reputation stuck with eggs. The odds are somewhere around 1 in 20,000 as listed below, but it's *even lower* if you get eggs from a smaller farm which has higher standards than the mass facilities, someone that does free-range, no growth hormones, or otherwise is a local, small-scale farmer will have even lower odds.\n\n\nI've eaten over 6 dozen eggs raw in the past few years, no issues...\n\nThe other issue is the term \"Dangerous\" Salmonella is only dangerous at all to someone with a weak or suppressed immune system, an infant, a senior, someone with a immune deficiency.\n\nFor most people, salmonella only shows itself by a few days of upset stomach and the runs.",
"The shell of the egg helps protect the inside from salmonella getting in. Unfortunately, since in the US we wash our eggs, it removes some of that protection and gives salmonella another chance to get into the white. \n\nFortunately, the high-protein fat-free white isn't very conducive to salmonella in general, and the cold temperature keeps their numbers even lower. The yolk is a more attractive environment for salmonella, but (a) the membrane helps keep out salmonella and (b) the temperature helps keep down the population within the white (IF it ever got there in the first place). \n\n**TL;DR:** It's not likely that salmonella gets into the egg in the first place, but if it does, it's more likely to stay in the white than the yolk if you keep them properly refrigerated. ",
"In the military I'm not allowed to ask for sunny side up eggs for that reason.",
"_URL_0_\n\n > Salmonella enteritidis can infect a chicken's ovaries, contaminating a yolk before the shell firms up around it. Cooking usually kills the bacteria before they can harm you; still, eggs contaminated with salmonella are responsible for about 142,000 illnesses a year in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug Administration.\n\nSo no, it isn't exactly entirely safe to eat uncooked yolks but it's a chance we gotta take if we want our \"dippy eggs\" for brekkie.\n\nI make mine over-easy, this way I can convince myself I've cooked the yolk just enough to kill the salmonella, while the egg stays runny enough for dipping. Win/win!\n\n",
"Most of the risk of salmonella infection come from eating restaurant eggs. Many times a restaurant will crack a bunch of eggs into one container and cook as the eggs are ordered. Eggs are perfect bacteria food, so if one infected egg gets mixed in with other eggs, it's very easy for the bacteria to spread to the entire batch. \nAlso, salmonella needs to reach a \"quorum\" to be virulent. They don't start causing trouble until there is a large enough group. So sometimes just eating one infected egg means you aren't consuming enough bacterial cells to even get an active infection. ",
"Not worried. I'm one of those guys that doesn't open the carton to inspect before I buy so I'm already living on the edge. ",
"I eat a fuck load of eggs and they are delicious. ",
"People drink 8 raw eggs at a time during their body building regime. Raw fresh eggs aren't dangerous.",
"correct answer:\n\nif the eggs or meat came from an upstanding facility you have nothing to worry about. factory farming and factory processing practices result in horrendous levels of bacteria & fecal matter on the product, then storage and transport give that shit plenty of time to multiply and grow\n\nmy eggs come from the farm, there's feathers stuck to em and they have never ever been refrigerated.. i would eat them raw anytime \n\nmy meats come from the butcher, they are reliably clean and the animals are well treated so need no hormones or antibiotics to give rise to superbugs.. i eat blu sear steaks and ground lamb burgers quite rare\n\n\nwhen living in sweden few years ago there was a salmonella outbreak which was unheard of due to their clean farming practices (and cold winters) turns out it was in grocery store frozen chicken imported from asia\n\n\n**tl;dr** wash your eggs with peroxide if you are worried, the bacteria live on the SHELL not the inside which is sterile & don't eat meat thats been sitting around pre cut in trays.. grocery stores usually get that stuff in from poorly regulated meat factories",
"Uncooked eggs are not dangerous unless the shell hasn't been properly cleaned. Salmonella comes from the chickens shit not the actual yolk, you have nothing to worry about. I always have raw eggs in my protein shakes.",
"I took a class on the science of cooking. And the reason is that the bacteria dies at temperature X and the protein in the egg becomes cooked at temperature Y. Temperature X is lower than temperature Y, so you can heat up the egg enough to kill the bacteria but not cook the protein. \n\nFor example, there was an interesting set of experiments we did in class that involved cooking eggs sous vide. Which is a method of cooking in a temperature controlled water bath. Basically you set the water bath to a set temperature and wait until the egg comes to the same temperature as the bath. You can \"cook\" an egg this way so that the egg is essentially pasteurized and safe to eat but looks raw. ",
"Food contaminated by bacteria can make you sick in one of two ways: infection or poisoning. Poisoning occurs when a toxin enters your system and (usually) makes you sick rapidly, for a short time. Infection occurs when a bacteria, actually alive, colonizes you (delayed reaction, usually makes you sick longer). \n\nEggs can make you sick because they have Salmonella spp. (not of the kind that cause Typhoid fever) on the outside of the shell. The egg, if not obviously contaminated inside, is remarkably unlikely to have any bacteria. \n\nThus, proper cleaning can make eggs safe to eat. The Salmonella on eggs is very heat sensitive, and it doesn't release heat stable toxins. Therefore, even the moderate heating of a sunny side egg is sufficient to destroy the bacteria that might go from the outside of the shell to the egg. \n\nNot all food can be made safe by heat, though. Some bacteria release heat stable toxins that can be boiled for hours without destroying them. Some bacteria also form heat-resistant spores. Toxins are often found in mishandled rice, and heat resistant bacteria are often found in improperly canned non-acidic goods (home canning)",
"On most restaurant menus it states that eating raw or undercooked meat, seafood, and eggs can be \"dangerous\". Personally, I've eaten raw cookie dough *and* had a coddled egg in my Cesar salad for years and I'm still kickin'",
"Raw eggs are really not dangerous. You'd be lucky to eat raw eggs daily for the rest of your life and have a slim chance of getting sick. Estimates are between 1 in 20K and 1 in 30K.",
"Everyone talking about the bacteria... don't forget raw eggs contain avidin which can be dangerous to some people!",
"This isn't the answer you're looking for but actually raw eggs are very safe anyway. In some countries they're more often eaten raw than cooked.",
"Eat anything you want. Bacteria-laden or otherwise. Fight the nanny state!",
"It also may be helpful to add that as long as the egg was cooked to reach a specific temperature, then the bacteria will be killed and the egg is safe to eat. I worked in a bakery a few years ago and when I would make lemon meringue pie topping I always had to heat the egg and sugar mixture to 160 degrees F so that it was safe to eat and sell. The yolk may not be \"cooked\" in your situation, but it may have been heated to this safety temperature so that any bacteria is killed off.",
"Actually, the eggs can have bacteria inside them as well. Chickens that are infected with Salmonella have the bacteria in their ovaries, so there will be bacteria present in the whites and the yolks as well. This source explains it well:\n_URL_0_",
"It's also worth noting that the eggs need to be introduced (contaminated) to some sort of pathogen in the first place. Only if the pathogen happens to be there, is there a chance that you could get sick from it.",
"The temperature at which the egg proteins become cooked and harden may be at a higher temperature than the one that kills some of the dangerous bacteria. So if the whole egg can be brought to a temperature above the bacteria-killing one without coagulating the whole yolk then it's safe to eat. This is easier to do with a slower cooking technique like sous-vide because the water bath can be held at that exact temperature.\n\nSome great examples: _URL_0_\n\nA lot of the official sources seem to be overly conservative on their estimates of temperature required to kill bacteria. A source that is not: _URL_1_",
"When I was a teenager I would regularly eat raw eggs, mixed up with milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. That was my, \"protein shake.\"\nWas there some interaction with those four ingredients that allowed me to not die after ingesting them in unison, or is the world turning into a gang of hypochondriacs and germaphobes?\nTalk amongst yourselves.\n\n",
"This is amazing that so many people have this wrong.\n\nIn a lot of cases of food poisoning, it isn't the bacteria that makes you sick, it's their waste. That's why you can't just cook the shit out of an off steak and make it ok to eat again. Bacteria (generally) crap poison. This isn't to say that the bacteria on the outside aren't going to harm you, but what they leave behind can be worse.\n\nNow for eggs. The egg, as a few people mentioned, protect the insides from just about everything. If it had salmonella before you cracked it, you're pretty much screwed anyways. Salmonella is one of those lovely ones that infects you. To reduce the chances of contracting it, you just cook the egg right. But this brings me to the biggest problem that no one here has mentioned:\n\n**THE SALMONELLA IS PREDOMINANTLY FOUND IN THE WHITE, NOT THE YOLK.**\n\n*Most* people cook the whites pretty thoroughly, even with a sunny side up. Sure, if the white is a bit goopy still, you're both risking disease and being a disgusting human being, but that would be why the yolk isn't the part to worry about.\n\nBTW, leaving eggs out a while is a really bad idea, and is why a lot of people are sketchy about things like eating cookie dough raw and stuff.\n\nI did a bunch of research on this when I made home-made uncooked nog, which was both super delicious and caused no illness due to proper food handling.",
"Pregnant and immunocompromised people are recommended to only eat eggs cooked all the way through. No over easy, sunny side up, poached or runny scrambled eggs.",
"Eggs aren't very dangerous. Most people eat raw eggs all the time. That's what's in mayonnaise. If you make your own mayonnaise then there's raw eggs in it for sure. ",
"Bahhh. One of those things someone read once. People eat raw eggs allll the time. Mayo for one is raw egg. Have you ever made cake batter? How many cake batter spoons have you licked in your lifetime? ",
"Uncooked eggs aren't really all that dangerous. The very young, very old, and auto-immune compromised individuals need to avoid them. Other than that your chances of getting ill are ridiculously low.",
"It has to do with how they are processed\n\nIn the USA, eggs are washed and pasteurized due to federal health regulations. This means that the eggs are technically safe to eat raw and fresh, BUT, the washing compromises the integrity of the shells by removing a coating that keeps out bacteria, so they have to be refrigerated. \n\nRaw egg is considered unsafe because you can't be 100% sure that bacteria hasn't made its way through the shell. On the other hand, the refrigeration means that even if bacteria has made its way in to the shell, the bacteria won't have been able to multiply much or reach deeply in to the egg. Even a sunny side up egg cooks the white of the egg well enough to kill off any bacteria that might have penetrated, and the yolk will have been sterile from the pasteurization during processing.\n\nNote, however, that European countries have different standards for processing eggs, and may not wash the eggs, which will preserve the protective coating. (this is also why, in many places in Europe, eggs don't necessarily have to be stored cold.)",
"I'm Chinese and i've been eating raw egg with hotpot since I was young.\n\nAlso, isn't eggnog made with raw egg too?\n\nNot sure if it's \"dangerous\".. maybe higher risk?",
"Most chickens in the USA have salmonella. This is why it needs to be fully cooked at 160F min. But eggs do not have it (or they'd go bad very quickly). Uncooked eggs aren't generally dangerous to eat, per se. It's not the uncooked egg, it's the question of salmonella infection. But eggs are generally not infected... but the outsides of the shells can be.\n\nWhen an egg is cracked, it can easily get a small amount of salmonella into the egg from the outside. If the egg sits, the bacterium will grow. If it's cooked or used or eaten quickly, it won't grow (and your body can kill a small amount of salmonella, it's a big infection that'll overcome your system).\n\nThe issue isn't uncooked eggs. It's uncooked eggs that sit for long periods.",
"Is it unsafe to eat raw eggs? I eat raw eggs quite often. From a carton not from the chicken, of course.",
"I think a lot of misconception with this is that raw chicken is associated with raw egg. Raw chicken will definitely get you sick, but raw egg has a very small chance as others have said already. It's just that association between the two that is confusing. ",
"This has always baffled me. I have been drinking eggs every morning for close to a decade and have great cholesterol and zero e. coli. I have actually never seen actual evidence that drinking raw eggs is bad.",
"Tbh eating raw eggs isn't dangerous. My dad's a gastroenterologist and said the probability of getting sick is ~0. I used to put them in my protein shakes for years and never had a problem ",
"I still eat the raw cake batter even though the box tells me not to. D:",
"The egg has its own mechanisms for preventing harmful bacteria (mainly salmonella) from entering the yolk. An egg actually has 3 main parts, not 2. There's the white and the yolk and then there's the actual egg which floats on the yolk. This is a single cell that's invisible in chicken eggs but you can sometimes see it in larger duck eggs. The egg actually has some fascinating structure designed to keep the yolk properly suspended and separate from the white. Part of the reason for this is to prevent salmonella from growing in the yolk and killing the chick. Salmonella bacteria need iron to grow and different structures in the egg regulate the availability of iron in the yolk and access between the yolk and whites to prevent salmonella from growing there. \n\nWhen you're a fully grown human, a few cells of salmonella probably aren't going to hurt you. But there was a time when you were just a cell and you needed all the help you could get to fight invaders that were literally on your level. An egg is no different.",
"I only heard the 'raw eggs are bad' idea a few weeks back.\n\nIve eaten raw eggs via cake mix, 'runny' yolks and even occasionally crack a raw egg into a milkshakes.\nI know gym enthusiasts that drink raw eggs daily, many parents I know also place raw egg into milk/milkshakes to get their fussy eater children the nutrients.\n\nIt only came to be a fact via buying an american brand cake mix and seeing a warning on the side stating 'Do not eat cake mix as it contains raw eggs'. I, not an american, thought that was the weirdest thing id ever read and had no idea why it was written on the box.\n\n",
"Only unpasteurized raw eggs are dangerous. All eggs you buy at the grocery store are pasteurized, and therefore safe to eat raw (as long as they aren't expired)",
"A true sunny side up egg is only cooked on one side, until the white area is no longer runny. Technically, they are more dangerous than eating an egg thats been flipped. But the risk of serious harm from eating a couple ounces of contaminated eggs is pretty slim.\n\nSource: chef and certified in food health and safety ",
"It should also be noted that the temperature that bacteria is killed, is not that same temperature as meat is browned, or yolk turns solid.",
"Aside from the obvious risk of getting sick from bacteria egg whites contain Avidin. Avidin is a protein that binds Biotin. Biotin is a necessary micronutrient so consuming avidin can cause Biotin deficiency. Cooking egg whites denatures the avidin protein making it unable to bind biotin therefore preventing biotin deficiency! ",
"Maybe this has already been said, but pasturiezed eggs, which have been processed at high temps to kill off bacteria, are perfectly safe but still liquid (you buy them like regular eggs at the supermarket). Its the same deal, just because its not solid doesnt mean its not safe. Though in this case, i think its more that there is such a small concentration of salmonella post cooking due to various factors (the little bit of cooking, the lowered bacteria penetration deeper in an egg, etc etc), and that eating a raw unpasturized egg only has a chance of getting you sick, that the chances of getting ill from a sunny side up egg are rare. Im no expert on the topic, but this is what i suspect",
"Health inspector here (Texas). Eating an egg in a raw or undercooked state (less than 145 degrees F) is risky, period. That's why we make restaurants put a consumer advisory stating that eating raw or undercooked foods may cause food borne illness. \n\n",
"At a certain temperature (57 degrees C IIRC), the egg becomes pasteurized i.e. most bacteria are killed off at that temperature. However, the first of the proteins in an egg don't begin to denature and set until about 63 degrees celsius, the yolk starts to set even later (close to 70 degrees). Even though the yolk of sunny side up eggs isn't in contact with the pan to heat it up by the time that all of the white gets too/past 63 degrees, the yolk will generally have reached 57, and thus be safe to eat but still with the texture of the raw yolk. Most eggs you buy in supermarkets are pasteurized anyways. \n\nEDIT: I was wrong about the temperature that the egg first sets, it's about 60 degrees C. [Read this cool chart and article if you want to see how quickly the texture of eggs change as temperature increases](_URL_0_)",
"A part of the conversation should also be around just what is considered \"uncooked\". For example, meat that has reached a safe temperature could still have *some* pink. Brown isn't necessarily the sign of meat that has hit the temperature to kill bacteria. Like...water that's 200 degrees would be hot enough...it doesn't *need* to boil. Are there temperatures that would kill the bacteria and yet still leave a slightly runny egg, or is that temperature past that point? Does the yolk *need* to be hard for it to be considered \"cooked\"?",
"My doctors have always told me to be careful of sunny-side-up eggs, precisely because the yolks AREN'T cooked properly... You just kinda hope that the heat has cooked the yolk enough to kill the bacteria. ",
"You can get salmonella from a sunny-side-up egg, but you probably won't IF: 1) the egg is fresh, 2) the egg is clean, 3) the yolk is in the middle of the proto-embryo white. Two membranes separate the yolk from the ouside, this way. If the egg is otherwise MOSTLY cooked? then you'll probably be OK. The risk is about the same as with well-prepared sushi: minimal but not zero.",
"I'm surprised no one have touched on the viral part of desieases (e.g. H5N1 avian flu), I assume it's more relevant in Asia than in the US?\nAnyway, according to both [WHO](_URL_0_) and [FDA](_URL_1_) the virus can be found both on the shell and deep inside the yolk, so if you're in the region with H5N1 concern it would be highly recommended to fully cook the egg, so no sunny side up, no runny egg, and no unpasteurized raw egg based food (e.g. home made mayonnaise.) ",
"Commercially sourced eggs are dangerous because of the way they are produced and then processed afterwards. If you have your own chickens, and they are healthy, then eating raw eggs isn't such a risk. "
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pcrgo/eli5_why_are_uncooked_eggs_dangerous_but_sunny/cmw1vct",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pcrgo/eli5_why_are_uncooked_eggs_dangerous_but_sunny/cmvw5ky",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pcrgo/eli5_why_are_uncooked_eggs_dangerous_but_sunny/cmw0e3m",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pcrgo/eli5_why_are_uncooked_eggs_dangerous_but_sunny/cmw1paf",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pcrgo/eli5_why_are_uncooked_eggs_dangerous_but_sunny/cmvsyf6"
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[
"http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/egg-safety/eggs-and-food-safety#2"
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[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt"
],
[],
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[],
[],
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[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
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"http://www.livescience.com/10016-salmonella-eggs.html"
],
[],
[
"http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/sous-vide-101-all-about-eggs.html",
"http://www.yourdoctorsorders.com/2013/06/dont-overcook-healthy-cooking/"
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"http://hoerup.dk/how-to-cook-an-egg-sous-vide-the-egg-chart/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr66/en/",
"http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm085550.htm"
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1qete2 | if i chill a (crappy) glass on the freezer then take it out and immediately pour boiling water in it, it will crack and possibly shatter. what exactly is going on? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qete2/eli5_if_i_chill_a_crappy_glass_on_the_freezer/ | {
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"When you change the temperature of an object, its size (usually) changes. When you chill the glass, the glass shrinks. When you pour in the hot water, parts of it expand quickly while other parts expand slowly. This difference in expansion causes a lot of stress. If a substance is very tolerant of this sort of stress, it will just warp a bit until the temperature stabilizes and then return to its original shape. Glass is very intolerant of these sorts of stresses, so just a bit of stress of this sort and it breaks.",
"Part of the glass gets hot, and before it can conduct that heat to the rest of the material, the rest of the material is cold. When things heat up, they expand, so one part of the glass is expanding while the cold part remains contracted. This results in thermal stresses causing the glass to break. If you let it heat up gradually over time, the glass would heat at a much more uniform temperature and thus there would be lower thermal stresses. "
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2ng842 | what are firemen doing when they "vent" the roof, windows, or doors, of a burning building? what is the danger if they don't do this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ng842/eli5_what_are_firemen_doing_when_they_vent_the/ | {
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"Venting the roof allows smoke to escape, which might give people inside a better chance, because most fire related deaths are caused by suffocation.\n\nIt also reduces the chance of explosions, both by releasing pressure, and letting smoke (which can be flammable) out. \n\nIt gives the fire room to grow upwards so that the building can burn down faster if there's risk of explosion or spreading to other structures. "
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e86zqf | what/why does distance have anything to do with time? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e86zqf/eli5_whatwhy_does_distance_have_anything_to_do/ | {
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"Light is not instant. Light travels at roughly 300.000 km/s (or 1 lightyear per year).\nIf you are 60 lightyears away light needs 60 years to get to you\n\nEDIT: may or may not have dropped a few zeros at the speed...",
"Light travels at the speed of light (obviously), a light year being the distance light can travel in a year. So if someone were 65 million light years away from us looking at us. They would see the image we were projecting into space 65 million years ago. Cause that is the age of the light reaching their eyes. The light we receive from our sun is 8 minutes old. So every solar flare we see from the sun actually happened 8 minutes prior.",
"In the same way it takes time for sound to travel from a source to your ears, light also takes time to travel when it bounces off of a surface and travels to your retina. Even the light reflected from the moon would take a fraction longer to reach the eyes of someone on Earth than it would someone who is actually standing on the moon. \n\nTheoretically, if you were travelling away from the earth at the speed of light, time would appear to be ‘frozen’. \n\nThat’s my understanding at least.",
"So it takes time for light to travel - hence the concept of travelling at light speed - you're literally travelling at the speed of light. Everything you see is just light bouncing off of an object and being transmitted into your eyes. \nSo now think about being 65million light years away. Given that its LIGHT years, it's taking the light that's reflecting from earth 65million years to reach your telescope. So you'd be seeing something that happened 65million years ago.\nIf you were one light year from earth and looked through a telescope, you'd see stuff that was happening one year ago.\n\nJust to confirm, we will never be able to actually see the dinosaurs through a telescope from 65million light years away, as we'd need to be that distance away RIGHT NOW. And humans cannot travel at the speed of light.\n\nHope that helps 👍",
"Light has to actually travel to reach your eyes so that your eyes are able to see it. Light travels at an incredibly fast speed so in everyday life you don't actually notice the time it takes for you to be able to see something happen.\n\nHowever when it comes to outter space, the objects that we see are so far away and the light has to travel all the way from the object to your eyes. \n\nA \"Light-year\" is a measurement of distance. One Light-year is equal to the distance that light itself can travel in 1 year.\n\nIf a star is 65 millions years away it means the light has to travel for 65 million years before it actually reaches our eyes. Now let's say that one day that star exploded. We would just continue to see the star normally for the next 65 million years because the light from the explosion has to travel for 65 million years before it reaches us and we see the explosion.",
"If you've ever seen a lightning strike, and then some time later you hear the thunder roll, you're familiar with the idea that your senses don't all pick up things at the moment of the event - the noise was created at the same time as the light, but because sound is slower than light you see it before you hear it.\n\nLight also takes time to travel - that lightning bolt happened, and then there was a short period of time while the light flew to your eyes, and only then did you see it. Light is so fast, though, that in most situations it is essentially instant.\n\nSpace, though, is vast. How big? Well, to travel around the world at light speed would take just 0.13 seconds. To get to the moon? A second or so. Mars? That's just 3 minutes away - noticeable, but it's a whole other planet, so it's understandable that it takes some time. Pluto? Well, at it's nearest your trip now takes 4 hours or so - you aren't maintaining a conversation. We're still pretty close though - how long would it take to get to the nearest star? It's only 4 hours to the furthest ~~planet~~dwarf planet in our solar system, so a few days, tops? Actually, it's 4 years - stars are hugely separated. If we want to see something more impressive, let's go to the center of our galaxy. We're only about halfway out, so it will only take, err, 25,000 years. \n\nYikes. \n\nBut as big as galactic scales are, there is another jump like that between distances inside a solar system and distances between stars. The nearest galaxy to our own, Andromeda, is 2.5 million years away - that's our closest neighbour!\n\nWe can continue to go further and further out until we are limited, not by the edge of the universe, but by the speed of light itself. We can't see further than 13 billion years away because light from further away would've had to be emitted before the start of the universe itself. In fact, some of the light we can detect (the cosmic microwave background) was actually the first light emitted - the flash of creation."
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1l2jvm | how is that we can't reach other galaxies but know they're there and how they are? | If they're so far we can't get to where they are in a lifetime, how is that we have photographs of them? It's just because of really powerful telescopes? How is that even possible?
I have no idea about astronomy. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l2jvm/eli5_how_is_that_we_cant_reach_other_galaxies_but/ | {
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"we can see where they were. The light emmited from them is billions of years old. Light is the fastest thing in the universe and it is impossible for any object with mass to reach light speeds",
"Light moves incredibly quickly. We aren't able to move things anywhere near as quickly as light moves.\n\nThe speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s, or 670,616,629 mph.\n\n[The fastest vehicle we've made](_URL_1_) goes about 36,373 mph. That's about .005% of the speed of light.\n\n[The closest galaxy to our own is the Canis Major Dwarf galaxy](_URL_0_), and is about ~~42,000~~ 25,000 (thanks, /u/Phage0070!) light-years away from us.\n\nWhat that means is that the light reaching us from the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is 25,000 years old. It took twenty-five thousand years to get here from there. So we're seeing what it looked like that long ago.\n\nBecause our fastest vehicle moves about .005% as fast as light does, we can figure out how many years it might take **us** to get there by dividing the distance in light-years by .005% (or rather, by .000054238 or so).\n\nThe answer is something like 460,930,242 years.\n\nEven if we could figure out how to make a vehicle that was a hundred times as fast, it would still take over four and a half million years for us to get there.\n\nSpace is *big*, but light is *fast*.",
"Forget galaxies, we can't even get to the nearest star in our lifetimes. But that doesn't prevent us from seeing it. I think the confusion might be because you can't see far away destininations on earth. The reason you can't see far away destinations on earth is because the curve of the earth is in the way. Let's pretend there are two ants on the surface of a sphere. The further away from each other they crawl, the harder it becomes for them to see each other. That's exactly what's happening on earth. The farther away from us something becomes, the harder it is to see. But when we're talking about stars or other galaxies, nothing prevents us from seeing them because nothing is getting in the way. Sure they look smaller as they get farther away and their light gets fainter, but they never disappear completely. That's why we can zoom in on these stars and take their picture. ",
"The light travels at a speed. 186,000 miles per second. When we see a galaxy that is a billion light years away, that light was emitted a billion years ago and it traveled at light speed to hit the telescope lens today, so that we are able to see it.",
"I really recommend doing some personal study in this area. Without an understanding of astronomy and astrophysics you are really missing out on some of the most amazing and though provoking discoveries of mankind. "
]
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[],
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_Major_Dwarf_Galaxy",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons"
],
[],
[],
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]
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|
325fn5 | how exactly does marvel's character licensing work? (tl;dr warning below this point) | Hey guys, I'm hoping some of you can give me a bit more insight and clarification into how Marvel's current licensing structure with studios works. I know the gist of the deal: Marvel was in dire financial straits during the 90's, sold the rights to a bunch of characters to various studios for quick cash, and put us in the predicament we're in today. But how, exactly does this whole thing work? A few questions (and questions within questions) below:
1) How was it determined which characters the studios would get, and where is the cut-off? For example, the X-Men franchise as owned by Fox... obviously they were given the core X-Men characters and rights to the word "mutant" in regards to the MCU. But given that this deal was made back in the 90's, before many characters like X-23 were created, who decides/how is it decided that ANY new X-franchise related characters from that point on also becomes part of Fox's stable? Same question applies for Spider-Man and Sony, etc.
2) How about the licensing for characters who originated in books those studios don't own the character rights to? Somehow, both Fox and Marvel are able to use Quicksilver, who has featured prominently in both the Avengers and X-series. But what about someone like Wolverine, who first appeared in The Incredible Hulk, which Marvel still retains the rights to? Ultimately, I guess I'm asking where the line is drawn in the sand, as to who gets to use whom.
3) Are the deals open ended as long as the studios keep making money with the characters, or is there any contract stipulations that determine when/how Marvel/Disney will regain those rights? Obviously they've done some horse trading to reacquire Daredevil, Punisher and Ghost Rider... but I'd like to know how they could ever gain those rights back for their core characters, either through breach of contract due to misuse or misrepresentation, disuse, time, money etc. Fox went nearly ten years between Fantastic Four movies, as a good example.
4) Even though he first appeared in an X-book and is currently being used by Fox, how is Deadpool NOT in the MCU? Marvel sold his rights, along with Cap, Thor, Black Panther etc to Artisan back in the early-2000's. So how did Fox get the rights?
5) Shouldn't the Marvel buy-out by Disney have null and voided some or all of those previous licensing agreements?
6) Also, what about animated shows/characters? Do the same rights extend to non-MCU animated characters as well?
I apologize for the inordinately long post, and thank you for your time in reading. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/325fn5/eli5_how_exactly_does_marvels_character_licensing/ | {
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"1. It depends on when the character is created and who claims rights to it. Seeing as they are apart of the marvel universe and marvel has this big plan of intertwining all its movies together now they have been working on many fronts to get rights to use them all and keep them away from other studios. As for Spider-Man and Sony they already worked out a deal where Marvel can now use Spider-Man and Sony can use some Marvel characters.\n\n2. Not really able to answer this so I will let others do so.\n\n3. Most of the deals have clauses where they have to make a movie in x number of years or they lose exclusive rights to it. Most of these would require new deals, generally involving sharing more characters between studios to gain others, while others they will simply wait since a movie hasn't been made in so long and they can pick it up that way.\n\n4. Deadpool is more of a X-men type character and since it is incredibly hard to make anything with only Deadpool as a mutant marvel kind of left it away and made sure they got the others back. \n\n5. Marvel can't buy out Disney or else they would have already tried and its not really Disney they have to deal with, the only thing standing between them is Fox and the rest of the characters that they don't already have rights to.\n\n6. Yes, as the studio has to obtain rights from the respective companies to use certain characters.\n\nHere is a good picture to show the updated marvel universe and who can use who. _URL_0_",
"1. When a studio buys the rights, they are gaining access to that franchises entire library. So when new characters are added, they can be used. Marvel have reportedly started to stop producing and promoting characters for the franchises they don't own because any new X-Men characters are ultimately new inspiration for films that help delay the rights to lapse. \n2. The contracts are about where characters are established/associated. Deadpool, regardless of where he started, is an established X-Men character. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are established X-Men characters so Fox has them, but both are also Avengers so Marvel can use them. Can't use them in the same way, but can still use both. The Inhumans first appeared in Fantastic Four but they aren't FF characters so Marvel keeps them instead of Fox. \n3. A studio has to make a film every X amount of years. I think for X-Men, it's every 10 years and same with Fantastic Four. \n4. If I remember correctly, a studio was allowed to make a Deadpool film but it was not, under any circumstances, allowed to be connected to X-Men. They had their own Deadpool, while Marvel was allowing another studio to make their own, independent Deadpool. It's essentially the Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch situation. \n5. Nope. These contracts were signed by Marvel, Disney owns Marvel, so if Marvel tried to back out, that company could still be sued which means legal action taken against Disney. \n6. Films are exclusive contracts. TV is completely different and the film studios have no rights to them. That means Agents of SHIELD could introduce any of the X-Men or Fantastic Four, Spider-Man (before the new agreement) and so on. They won't however because it ultimately means more promotion for those characters when films are done.",
"When Marvel signed there characters away, they were trying desperately to stay afloat as the comic market had completely crashed. Film studios were not particularly interested in or paid attention too the fact that comic series were interconnected. All the studio was concerned with was how many copies were the comics selling.\n\nWhile I have not and doubt I ever will see whatever contracts these companies signed, it appears neither side really put that much effort into defining the grey boundaries within this contracts until Iron Man ended with those [words that changed comic book films forever](_URL_0_), and the Avengers pulled a billion at the box office. Now the studios needed to sit down and figure out just what they owned and only now discovered how many gaping holes they left in the contracts."
]
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[
"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2f5-WHCPPlA/VNth3jxXsuI/AAAAAAAAyUM/WhTw9G5hSGU/s1600/marvel-rights-3-1200x960.png"
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZdQyRnBNh8"
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2cd0h5 | when is an unrecognized state considered recognized? e.g. the islamic state | I was just looking at wikipedia and it considered the Islamic State as an unrecognized state? Does the State have to be recognized by the western powers before it is actually a country? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cd0h5/eli5_when_is_an_unrecognized_state_considered/ | {
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"\"Country\" isn't some objectively defined label. Depending on who you ask there could be +/- 20 countries at any given time.\n\nWhat is \"actually a country\" isn't really important honestly. If you convince enough people that you hold territory and no one is willing to take it from you, then you're effectively a country now.\n\nObviously some groups might not agree, but no one agrees on all the countries anyway.",
"There's lots of unrecognized states in varying degrees of \"realness\" in terms of being a real country. For example there's \"micronations\" which is where crazies declare their own nation on an island or in their home or something, and basically no one recognizes them. There's also active resistance movements, which the Islamic State would be considered, who have de facto control over some land, but are not recognized by any foreign government, and are currently fighting with the recognized rulers of the land (in this case, Syria and Iraq). There's also places which have de facto control over an area, and aren't even fighting with the recognized rulers of the area, but have no or limited recognition (a handful of states recognize them) this is places like Abkhazia and Northern Cyprus. And then there's real countries, who have all the characteristics, total control over the land, a functioning government with an army, officials, infrastructure, etc. but are still only recognized by some countries. This is places like Taiwan. Also, in Korea for example, both North and South Korea consider themselves the true government of the entire Korean peninsula and do not officially recognize each other as legitimate countries. "
]
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85smpa | if i chew the skin off my lips, am i more likely to get cancer because i'm forcing my body to make new cells faster? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/85smpa/eli5_if_i_chew_the_skin_off_my_lips_am_i_more/ | {
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"Microbiologist/Genetics student here, it has to be a bunch of cells turning cancerous at the same time to really post any threat. You see, the body sees cancerous cells in the same way it sees viral infected cells: as dangerous foreign matter that needs to be excised. So, when a cell turns cancerous, the immune system starts mobilising against it, and the smaller tumours die out without ever progressing into cancerous cells.\n\nIn fact, in most cases, flushing the old cells out of your body is actually beneficial, as it encourages newer, cleaner cells to form. This is why your urine is reddish yellow: the body constantly destroys old RBCs and the hemoglobin partly converts into urobilin, a red coloured pigment secreted into the urine. Cell metabolism, cellular respiration as it is called, is basically a slow, controlled fire. The soot and wastes will slowly build up in the cell and damage it, and so the body is constantly destroying the old cells and using the recycled materials, along with new material from what you eat to build new ones. Red blood cells last for 120 days, most white blood cells inly live for weeks, and lymphocytes, those superimportant ells that make antibodies and destroy virus infected and cancerous cells, those only last 22-23 hours.\n\nSo, don't worry! The chances of you inducing skin cancer from eating your lips is miniscule at best! However, don't chew on your lips, it's stressful to constantly create new cells, and you'll end up creating scar tissue. Also, it's just plain distasteful. ",
"Your assumption that chewing the skin off your lips causes you to make more cells is somewhat flawed. Assuming you're not physically mutilating your lips, what you're actually chewing off is already dead and replaced by healthy cells under your skin. Basically you're exfoliating your lips. \n\nNow, lets assume that you were actually doing damage to your lips that caused it to need to regenerate cells. The number of cells you're actually generating is very small in the grand scheme of things. You're constantly replacing your cells almost everywhere in your body. In fact, a common (although *somewhat* inaccurate) saying is that you replace your entire body every 7 years.\n\nSo, regenerating a few lip cells isn't going to make much of a difference. "
]
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| [
[],
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||
511k54 | is mixing wet paint a chemical change? | I know what physical and chemical changes are but wouldn't mixing colors, like for example the paint used to paint wall, be a chemical change? Like if you're mixing red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet and it turns brown. Wouldn't that be a chemical because you can't get the colors back.
I explained the details like a 5 year old because I don't know how to exactly explain what I mean. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/511k54/eli5is_mixing_wet_paint_a_chemical_change/ | {
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"In general, no mixing paints will not cause a chemical change. The color in most paints is caused by a pigment, or a powdered colored substance, suspended in a solution. When you mix together two differently colored paints, then you are mixing together the two different types of powders.",
"No, that isn't a chemical change. Paint is made up of tiny flecks of pigments suspended in some carrier like water or oil. You can't get the original colors back because you can't separate billions of tiny objects, not because they have bonded on a molecular or atomic level.",
"A chemical change is when molecules form a new arrangement by making or breaking bonds. H2 and O combine to create H2O and heat. \n\nMixing paint doesn't change the chemical make up of paint. If you could shrink your self down magic school bus style, you would still see water, latex and pigment particles all separate. If you had super micro tweezers, you could pick out the colour particles and get back the original colour. "
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4bbpy5 | how does a house receive an internet/cable/telephone wire from a neighborhood node, without digging up the yard? | I am trying to understand how internet (or cable or landline telephone) works.
So, basically there is a big box in every city that "supplies" the internet connection. And then, every neighborhood has a box in it that is connected to the aforementioned city box. And then, every home receives the wire from the neighborhood box.
So, my question is: How is all of this wiring connected without digging up the ground (and destroying lawns) to insert and connect all the wires? It's not like the wires are above-ground!
Also, do all ISPs use the same boxes? For example: do Time Warner and Comcast, while direct competitors, share the same neighborhood box? If not, wouldn't there be tons of these nodes sticking out everywhere? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bbpy5/eli5_how_does_a_house_receive_an/ | {
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"text": [
"In over 99% of cases, either the ground is dug up, or a wire is left hanging through the air overhead.\n\nIn a few cases, a conduit is laid underground, so that cables can be added over time.\n\nIn rare cases, the connection is made wirelessly using a radio antenna.",
"When you're building a house, you dig up the lawn and lay the cable. Simple as that. In all the chaos of construction, digging up a trench in the lawn fits right in."
]
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| [
[],
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|
41de5k | how don't kilograms and pounds measure the same thing? | Just taking my first physics class this year and learned that kg measure mass while lbs measure weight, can someone explain why/how they measure two different quantities if both are measured by a scale? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41de5k/eli5_how_dont_kilograms_and_pounds_measure_the/ | {
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"Well that's wrong anyway. In physics weight is measured in Newtons. \n\nThey're both used to measure \"weight\" in the everyday sense but science uses the metric system. Forget about feet, inches, pounds, and gallons and get used to metres, kilos, and litres.\n\nI don't know exactly how the US curriculum handles it but the entire scientific community uses metric, so you need to know it.",
"Mass doesn't change, even if there's no gravity. Weight however, is specific to it (approx. 9.81 newton here on earth). So the weight of an object changes from planet to planet, mass in turn not.\n\nEdit: a word.",
"Mass is basically a measure of how much 'stuff' an object has. It doesn't matter whether it's on earth or in space or on the moon, an object always has the same amount of 'stuff' in it so it always has the same mass. That means it doesn't matter where you are, your mass in kilograms is the same. \n\n\nWeight is how much force gravity pulls you down with. This matters where you are, your weight on earth isn't the same as your weight in the moon. Your weight in pounds matters where you are. In fact, it can even go up or down in an elevator when it starts or stops moving. \n\n\nNow weight arises from mass. Gravity pulls mass down, which creates weight. While the strength of gravity may change and so will an objects weight, an object with more mass on any planet will always weigh more than one with less mass. In fixed gravity, the weight is directly proportional to mass. Twice the mass is twice the weight. \n\n\nNow on earth, the easiest way to measure both mass and weight is a scale. The scale measures force, so that can easily tell you your weight in pounds (or Newtons in metric, though rarely used to describe a human). But since earth's gravity is a constant, and your weight depends on your mass, you can just as easily find mass using it and display kilograms (or the imperial units for mass called slugs). \n\n\nNow if you were to take this earth scale to the moon and stand on it, it would still tell you your correct weight in pounds. It would be less than on earth, but it would still be correct. Your mass in kilograms however would be wrong, the scale was calibrated based on a earth gravity to convert a force into a mass. You would have recalibrate the scale to tell you your correct mass on the moon. \n\n\nNow as I said, the imperial system has a unit for mass called a slug. Though to make it more confusing, it sometimes also uses pound-mass as a unit for mass. A pound mass being the mass that has the weight if a pound on earth. A slug is not the same value as a pound-mass though. "
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