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3wolhj | if omega 3 fish oils are so good for you why don't we just fry everything in that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wolhj/eli5_if_omega_3_fish_oils_are_so_good_for_you_why/ | {
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"You can cook with it, but: \"However, due to its high concentration of polyunsaturated fats, fish oil should never be used for cooking. It’s best used as a supplement, one tablespoon per day. Keep in a cool, dry and dark place.\"\n\nAlso, taste. Do you want your french fries to taste like fish?",
"In addition to what /u/BlenderMech said, it's actually far from clear whether & Omega;3 oils are really good for you, and this is a matter of considerable controversy among physiologists and dietiticians. The reason for this is that nutrition is complicated, and teasing out the effects of any one dietary element is really, really hard.",
"Open your fish oil capsules and taste it and you will know why.\nApart from the taste/flavor, extensive heating (like frying) can turn them into bad things.",
"Not to forget fish oils can be much more expensive. A recent survey of NZ fish oil supplements showed that they were all so oxidized to be useless or may be even harmful. ",
"It's just not economical. If it were, you'd bet it'd see at least some prevalence, although I cannot say health would win out over taste.\n\nThe cooking oil needs of the food and grocery industries outstrip supply of things like fish oil by tremendous amounts.\n\nYou also have to factor in things like smoke point, which is a big consideration with frying. Frying in polyunsaturated fats is totally fine, unlike another poster here claims -- the issue is that they oxidize/go rancid quickly, and have a shorter shelf life. Otherwise, we'd not be frying with things like corn or soybean oil, which also have fairly high polyunsaturated fat content. ",
"It's not just about costs, it's also about the keeping the quality of the oil intact. Heating oil breaks it down at a certain point. Fish oil would not retain the benefits if you heated it too much. "
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5shiye | how does the "telephone," using cups and a string to communicate work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5shiye/eli5_how_does_the_telephone_using_cups_and_a/ | {
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"You talk into one cup, the pressure waves of sound causing the cup itself to vibrate. This causes the string (if kept taught) to vibrate as well which in turn vibrates the cup on the receiving end. The receiving cup creates pressure waves in the air inside it which can then be heard as sound.",
"Your voice is concentrated by the cup, and ultimately vibrates the bottom of the cup, which it passes along to the string. With the string pulled tight, it is fairly efficient at carrying the vibration. When it reaches the other end, the string vibrates the bottom of the other cup, and the vibrations are amplified by the other cup. \n\nHonestly the same way that the original record players worked. A funnel/microphone amplified your voice enough to vibrate a needle, which made marks in a was cylinder. This recorded the audio. Then the reverse of this setup was used to have those marks jiggle a needle, which was amplified by a funnel/speaker to reproduce the noise. "
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85bc1o | why do tropical storms never cross the equator? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/85bc1o/eli5_why_do_tropical_storms_never_cross_the/ | {
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"Hot air moves from hot to cold areas, getting pushed by other hot air rising. It is warmest near the equator so it typically goes away from the equator."
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8kcbzu | why does the ground around leaves dry slower? | After it rains, the concrete goes darker. Then it dries and it gets back to its original color. But wherever there are leaves, there's a dark spot around it. Why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8kcbzu/eli5_why_does_the_ground_around_leaves_dry_slower/ | {
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"I'm guessing because the leaves hold moisture that the concrete absorbs from them while drying itself...?"
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4a725w | why do you always feel completely awake the moment you try and go to sleep? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4a725w/eli5_why_do_you_always_feel_completely_awake_the/ | {
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"Your circadian rhythm is out of whack, your body expects you to go to sleep and wake up around the same time each day. If you go to bed at the same time each night with no phones or electronics or pretty much any other source of light for about an hour before bedtime then your circadian rhythm will get back in check after about a week or two and you'll start falling asleep like a baby every night.\n\n\noooooorr you have some kind of disorder in which case i can't help you"
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4j53nl | how do you determine the value of diamonds/precious stones? | Inspired by the post about a Brazilian slave girl finding a diamond. Is it the rarity, size, craftsmanship, etc.? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4j53nl/eli5_how_do_you_determine_the_value_of/ | {
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"[1](_URL_0_) One of the first things most people learn about diamonds is that not all diamonds are created equal. In fact, every diamond is unique. Diamonds come in many sizes, shapes, colors, and with various internal characteristics.\n \nAll polished diamonds are valuable. That value is based on a combination of factors. Rarity is one of those factors. Diamonds with certain qualities are more rare—and more valuable—than diamonds that lack them.\n \nJewelry professionals use a systematic way to evaluate and discuss these factors. Otherwise, there would be no way to compare one diamond to another. And there would be no way to evaluate and discuss the qualities of an individual diamond. Diamond professionals use the grading system developed by GIA in the 1950s, which established the use of four important factors to describe and classify diamonds: Clarity, Color, Cut, and Carat Weight.\n\nThese are known as the 4Cs. When used together, they describe the quality of a finished diamond. The value of a finished diamond is based on this combination.\n",
"There is basically a global monopoly on diamonds and they are nowhere near as rare as their price suggests. ",
"The monetary value of almost everything is determined by supply and demand.\n\nThe things you mentioned influence both of those things, e.g. rarity obviously limits the supply, craftsmanship / form influences demand (if it´s more beautiful more people want it) and supply (pure diamonds are even rarer than \"normal\" diamonds).\n\nSo the answer is all of the things you described.\n\nHowever if you limit it to just diamonds, the value is mostly impacted by:\n\n* Purity\n* Size\n* Form"
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c52r65 | why is it bad to "blank" fire a bow? to release the string with no arrow in it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c52r65/eli5_why_is_it_bad_to_blank_fire_a_bow_to_release/ | {
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"When you loose (fire) a bow with an arrow in it, all of the stored energy goes into the arrow, which is what makes it fly. If you dry loose it, there's no arrow, and nothing to absorb that energy, so it goes into the frame of the bow which can do serious structural damage.",
"When you fire a bow all that potential energy you gain from tensing the string is released into the arrow - i.e. it's what makes the arrow go forward. Without an arrow (it can also be a problem but not as severe if you use arrows that are too light for the bow design) all that energy is instead distributed through the bow itself which can cause it to break.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nIt's particularly a problem with compound bows because they use a lot more tension and have a lot more moving parts that can be damaged.",
"When you pull back the string, the actual bow frame, or the pulley system on a compound bow has an incredible amount of potential energy building up. By releasing the string, the bow snaps back to its original at rest position. All of that built up energy is imparted on the string. In a normal situating, the string then imparts all of the energy into the arrow, sending it rapidly towards its target.\n\nWhen you dry fire the bow, all of that energy is released, but the bow has no where to send the energy and has to absorb it all. It can snap the string, or more likely, the frame absorbs the energy, and it doesn't do it well. It can crack or even shatter a bow frame."
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8qjgng | how does dopamine work in the brain on methamphetamine and other dopamine releasing chemicals? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8qjgng/eli5_how_does_dopamine_work_in_the_brain_on/ | {
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"Methamphetamine is a dopamine agonist, so when you take it you overflow the dopamine receptors amd get the corresponding reactions, just more intense. With frequent use the receptors cannot tolerate the constant \"high\" so they either diminish in number or grow less sensitive to dopamine. This leads to the need of increasing the dose to feel the same effects you felt at the beginning and when the effects wear off you feel the oposite ones, but with higher intensity. This is called a physiological addiction, your body needs the substance to feel \"normal\"."
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5p2yfp | how is charging $10+ for a pack of cigarettes in ny and other states not price gouging? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p2yfp/eli5_how_is_charging_10_for_a_pack_of_cigarettes/ | {
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"In Canada a decent pack of smokes will cost you around 13.85 and something a little lower than that will cost you about 11.85. These are regular or King size 20 cigarettes. "
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1gzhfj | how does racial identity work in brazil? | How someone identifies racially seems to work very differently in Brazil than it does in the United States. For example, I have heard that the same individual might be considered "white" if they are wealthy and "black" if they are poor. Is this accurate? What are the racial groups in Brazil and how did they come to be? Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gzhfj/eli5_how_does_racial_identity_work_in_brazil/ | {
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"There are three categories for Brazilians of European and/or African descent: *Branco* (\"white\" - just under half of the population), *Pardo* (\"brown\" - about 40% of the population), and *Negro* (\"black\" - under 10% of the population). These categories are based on a person's physical appearance, not their heritage, which means that a child of two *pardos* who has typically \"white\" features might identify themselves as *branco*. The same thing applies at the other end of the spectrum if the child has typically \"black\" features. Because of the relatively high level of intermarriage in Brazil, it's not uncommon to have families that are made up of all three categories, and brothers can easily belong in different categories to each other.\n\n\nThe category that someone puts themselves in can easily be different to the category that someone else would put them in: the lines between *branco*and*pardo*, and between *pardo* and *negro* are very fuzzy indeed, and social status is one factor that affects that decision. For example: a woman who is CEO of a company and considers herself *negra* is far more likely to be considered *parda* by others than a woman who self-identifies as *negra* and works as a cleaner. There have been studies that suggest that people don't tend to re-classify themselves when they come into money, however.\n\n\nSo, basically, there are three main racial categories in Brazil. Deciding what category you or others belong to is a very subjective thing, and money/social status is something that can push someone into/out of the middle category."
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2o0qu5 | how do electrical capacitors block dc current but allow ac? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2o0qu5/eli5_how_do_electrical_capacitors_block_dc/ | {
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"A capacitor stores charge. That means that, if you push DC into it, the capacitor will eventually \"fill up\", and no more current can flow into it. By contrast, AC will have current flowing alternately in and out, and so the capacitor never fills up, but merely charges and discharges over and over.",
"A capacitor is two plates next to each other with a gap in between.\n\nWhen you hook it up to a current, the plates will begin to accumulate charge until they are \"full\". This happens fairly quickly, but not instantaneously. If you're using DC current, the current will stop when the capacitor is fully charged. Current can't flow in between the gap of the plates.\n\nAC current switches polarity continuously. It does this faster than it takes the capacitor to fully charge. Before the capacitor is \"full\", the polarity is switched and the capacitor want's to change the polarity of the plates as well. ",
"I've actually explained AC versus DC to a ~5 year old with this analogy:\n\nBoth AC and DC are trying to transmit energy. With DC it's all one solid push (*I proceeded to shove him a few feet across the room, careful that he didn't fall or anything*), but with AC it's alternating pushing and pulling (*I shake him back and forth*). Both transmit energy, but they have a different feel.\n\nA capacitor (installed inline) would be like a tether, anchoring you to one place. It resists my shove more the farther you get from where you started. After a short while of shoving you wind up far enough away from your anchor point that the tether is offsetting my shove, so I'm not able to transmit any more energy to you. If I had been using the AC method of shaking you back and forth then you're always pretty close to the anchor point, so the tether does very little. Exactly how little it does depends on how tight the tether is.\n\nTo jump from analogy land to electricity land, capacitors oppose the flow of current the more current flows through them. DC has current that all flows one direction, so the capacitor charges up and opposes that current, ultimately reducing it to zero. AC has current that changes direction frequently, so the capacitor is constantly charging up and discharging, but it's always mostly discharged (as long as the AC frequency is high enough) so it's not having a major effect.\n\n*******\n\nNote, also, that you can use capacitors to filter AC noise while letting DC through if you install them differently. You send your signal line from source to destination, then you put a capacitor between that signal line and typically ground (although any current source/sink would work). See [this](_URL_0_) diagram. The capacitor charges up to the point where it's not allowing any current to flow from the signal line to ground based on whatever DC voltage the signal line is at, then if the signal line gets a voltage spike it sends the extra current into the capacitor (or draws extra current from the capacitor if the voltage dropped suddenly). The capacitor can only sustain this for a short period of time (how short depends on the capacitance), but for short jolts like with AC this may be enough that the signal is much more steady with the capacitor installed.\n\nThis is the more common use of a capacitor that I've seen. It's not the setup that relates directly to your question and it doesn't lend itself nicely to ELI5 analogies, but I though it was an important use of capacitors to bring up. "
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cpm8yi | why does boiling water kill germs? | More specifically, does almost boiling water have the same effect? Or is there something particularly special about boiling water that kills germs/bacteria? - if so what is it, and why is it special? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cpm8yi/eli5_why_does_boiling_water_kill_germs/ | {
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"It’s just the temperature. You don’t need to boil it necessarily, usually just keeping it above 160°F for long enough will kill most bacteria, but boiling water for a little while is usually faster and you can tell when water is boiling by just looking at it and leaving your stove on, whereas you’d need a thermometer and/or some fancy tech like a Sous vide to keep it at around 160° or any other specific temperature.",
"High temperatures disrupt their enzymes, rendering them incapable of carrying out their cellular functions. Even higher temperatures cause their plasma membrane to burst open, causing the death of the bacterial cells.\n\n\nEdit: At lower temperatures, their enzymes also get disrupted and crystallisation of their cytoplasm also causes cell death, however, they may have enough time to form spores, toxins, etc. which also get disrupted at high temperatures. So, boiling or UV radiation is generally preferred.",
"The increased temps denatures (ruins the function of) proteins. Like egg whites (high in protein) losing its elasticity and hardening when you cook them.",
"heat can cause proteins (the things that allow all living things to function) to denature. Proteins rely on having a certain shape to function and when they denature, they loose that shape (this is the same thing that happens when we cook food). \n\nAs for can this happen at lower temperatures, kinda. This happens in food all the time (chicken is safe to eat at 165, well below boiling). pasteurization can be done below boiling point as well. But it depends on the bacteria, and it depends on the proteins that you need to destroy. Another thing to keep in mind is that for pasteurization, the hotter the temp, the faster you can do it. So while it's possible to do it at lower temperatures, it takes longer. Another thing to keep in mind is that boiling is readily identifiable, you don't need a thermometer to identify the temp."
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1ptyyi | why do you always look bad in photographs, is that what you really look like? | This is confounding. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ptyyi/eli5_why_do_you_always_look_bad_in_photographs_is/ | {
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"I read a neat article about this. There's actually a reason you think you look bad. It turns out, that a photograph is a reverse image of yourself. As opposed to a mirror, which is not. The photograph looks odd to you, because it is backwards. It's almost impossible to notice that one side of you is just a bit different... but when you see yourself one way for your entire life, and then see yourself in a photograph the other way, it's a bit off-putting, isn't it?",
"I have a few female friends who are stunningly beautiful but look awful in photos. They all have the same problem. They have lovely smiles, but when they pose, they fake their smiles. Instead of smiling with their whole faces, they only use their mouths, and it looks bizarre, like they're not really happy to be there. ",
"I can't be the only one on reddit that follows VSause. In his video titled \"[INSIDE a Spherical Mirror!](_URL_0_)\" he talks about the \"mere-exposure effect\" which talks about this question. \n\nIn short you don't like your pictures of you because your aren't used to seeing the \"real\" you. You've become comfortable with the mirrored you that and something just seems off when you see a picture of yourself. "
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6xsthu | what is kim jong-un's plan? why is he flexing for a war he won't win? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xsthu/eli5_what_is_kim_jonguns_plan_why_is_he_flexing/ | {
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"I'm going to repost my answer to a similar question:\n\n\"It's complicated. North Korea is itself quite weak, but they have the backing of China who view it as a useful buffer zone between it and Western allies, e.g. South Korea. North Korea, however, isn't essential for China so they need to make themselves seem threatening. By constantly doing missile tests, they're sending the message that if they're invaded they can take out South Korea and maybe Japan with them. They also know, however, that if they actually attack South Korea or Japan, they'll lose China's backing and be invaded. Thus, the never ending posturing without the actual full-on assault of neighbor nations. As well as that, Kim Jong Un is a reasonably weak leader compared to his father, so he's been making moves to consolidate his power by executing his family members, who could challenge him as head of the NK government. By using America/the west as a scapegoat, he's trying to keep the backing of the North Korean people to forestall a coup by his generals. But again, if he orders an actual attack on a neighboring nation, that may actually trigger a coup since the generals know that any retaliation from an attack would lead to their deaths or at least a loss of their power. So posturing is the best option because it allows him to portray the need for him to remain a stable figure against the dangerous foreign aggressors without actually triggering an all out war.\"",
"He's attempting to be in a position in which war with NK means huge losses for South Korea and US. His conventional army is big enough to inflict lots of deaths and material losses. Add weapons of mass destruction to this and war with him would be not worth overthrowing him."
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6jsxhm | when someone dials 911, how is it determined where there call will be directed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6jsxhm/eli5_when_someone_dials_911_how_is_it_determined/ | {
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"It's determined by the local phone exchange. That means the place where your hardline phone is connected to. Or the tower that your cell phone is connected to. Both of which will be within 10-20 miles in urban and prob 50-100miles rural depending on where you are."
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3zeteb | 'making a murderer' controversy? | Could someone explain what's going on with this show? It seems like there's a huge controversy surrounding it. How come Anonymous got involved? Thank you. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zeteb/eli5_making_a_murderer_controversy/ | {
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"The basic story of the *Making a Murderer* documentary is that there's this guy (Steven Avery) that went to jail for 18 years for a crime he was eventually cleared for once new DNA testing was available. He's out for a few years, is possibly in line for a multi-million dollar settlement from the state and the country, until he's implicated in and convicted of a second crime and sentenced to life in prison.\n\nThe documentary filmmakers had access to Avery's family and lawyers, while the prosecuting team and law enforcement chose not to participate. So the film very clearly takes a side -- while Avery may or may not be innocent, the sheer number of questionable moves by law enforcement make the conviction seem ludicrous and very possibly a frame job by local law enforcement. \n\nThose questionable moves include 1) local law enforcement who was excluded from the case due to conflict of interest, but who showed up as \"volunteers\" and uncovered vital and damning evidence in an area that had already been extensively searched; 2) a call from a deputy asking to ID a license plate belonging to the victim, days before her car was found; and 3) a clearly leading/coerced videotaped confession from a \"slow\" teenage relative, when he obviously doesn't understand the gravity of what he's saying. There's a lot more, but that's what stands out. \n\nThe documentary was released on Netflix December 18. It's been watched quite a bit since then, and a number of the viewers are outraged at what seems a miscarriage of justice. Anonymous is among those viewers, it seems. "
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wqt7s | why is your credit score not usually free to find out? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/wqt7s/eli5_why_is_your_credit_score_not_usually_free_to/ | {
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"It is, I believe up to once a year or any time you're turned down for a credit application.",
"It is, though. Once per twelve months (or calendar year, can't remember offhand) you can request your score for free from the three credit reporting agencies. \n\nAnything past that can negatively affect your credit rating. Seeing your credit constantly is considered a privilege in the US, and not many people know how to actually access the information. So companies charge a fee. Plus, since you can see it technically up to three times a year for free, disregarding declined credit card applications, you shouldn't need any more times.",
"[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\nI do believe this is the one officially sponsored by the FTC. More info here:\n[_URL_1_](_URL_1_bcp/edu/microsites/freereports/index.shtml)",
"Because they want to fuck your credit up even more. ",
"ELIM5: Credit Reporting agencies offer a service for businesses, so that businesses can tell if people are good or bad at paying back money that's lent to them. It's not free, because they do it to make money.\n\nAsk Reddit Version: Credit bureaus don't exist for consumers. They don't really care about you, you aren't their customer. They don't make more money, or less money, if their reports are accurate, or not accurate. They make money by charging banks, credit unions, and other lenders about 20 bucks a pop for collecting information about you and then sharing that information. Oddly enough, the information they're selling comes from the same people they're selling the information to, so basically they're charging a pretty hefty premium for aggregating it all.\n\nUntil consumer right groups started making noise, aside from having a buddy at a bank willing to pull your report, there wasn't much chance of you ever seeing yours. It wasn't really considered \"your business,\" by banks and lenders. Of course, people disagreed, so now there are a number of ways to pull your report, but getting your actual SCORE is still kind of tough, unless you're willing to fork out money to the agencies. \n\nOther amusing facts: Credit records are generally stored on digitized tape still, and fedexed once a month to the agencies. Hence, your credit report is usually about 2 months behind. \n\nApplying for credit generally doesn't hit your score in a negative way. The only way it will negatively hit your score is if applications are coming in from multiple types of sources, over and over again. So if you're shopping for a car or home loan, go ahead and apply with as many places as you want, they'll all be combined into one \"hit\" that won't negatively effect you. \n\nLenders decide when they report to credit. Most Lenders report 30/60/90. Some report on day 10. The biggest things that effect your credit is debt to debt allowance (ie if your credit cards are maxed out, that's bad), and lates. Don't be late.\n\nTechnically, in the US, if you're 30+ days delinquent, and it's not your lenders fault, it's illegal for the lender to remove the mark. However, if your rich, it will almost always get removed. If you're not, it probably won't. Some lenders are more or less lenient about this, but US law says that it's illegal to discriminate like that, but it happens all the time.",
"Why does checking it hurt your score? It seems like a bunch of pointless arbitrary rules to artificially lower your score.",
"How does creditkarma get paid?",
"I saved this from an article I read a while ago, for future reference.\n\n**Obtaining your credit reports and score**\n\nGiven the importance of your personal credit report, you may be pleased to know that you’re entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report annually from each of the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).\n\nIf you visit www._URL_0_, you can view and print copies of your credit report information from each of the three credit agencies (alternatively, call 877-322-8228 and have your reports mailed to you). After entering some personal data at the Web site, check the box indicating that you want to obtain all three credit reports, as each report may have slightly different information. You’ll then be directed to one of the three bureaus, and after you finish verifying that you are who you claim to be at that site, you can easily navigate back to _URL_0_ so you can continue to the next agency’s site.\n\nWhen you receive your reports, the best first step is to examine them for possible mistakes (more in a moment regarding fixing problems in your reports). I recently did that myself and found minor errors on two of the three reports. It took me two minutes to correct one of the errors (by submitting a request to that credit reporting agency’s Web site), and it took about half an hour to get the other mistake fixed (a small doctor’s bill was erroneously listed as unpaid and in collections).\n\nYou may be surprised to find that your credit reports do not include your credit score. The reason for this is quite simple: The 2003 law mandating that the three credit agencies provide a free credit report annually to each U.S. citizen who requests a copy did not mandate that they provide the credit score. Thus, if you wish to obtain your credit score, it’s going to cost you.\n\nYou can request your credit score from Fair Isaac, but you’ll get whacked $15 for every request (that can set you back $45 to see your FICO score for each credit bureau). Save your money. If you’re going to purchase your credit score, you can do so for less from the individual credit bureaus - Equifax, for example, charges just $7.\n\nIf you do spring for your current credit score, be clear about what you’re buying. You may not realize that you’re agreeing to some sort of an ongoing credit monitoring service for say $50 to $100 per year."
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4fiaj6 | is the severity of the flooding in houston an example of the effects of climate change? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fiaj6/eli5_is_the_severity_of_the_flooding_in_houston/ | {
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"It's difficult to attribute singular weather events to climate change. Rather climate change is more likely to be expressed as an increase of incidence of weather events that differ from what we consider normal. \n\nSo we can't necessarily say \"This flooding couldn't have happened without climate change.\" 'Freak Weather Events' happen even without that factor. But we can potentially say \"this flooding is more likely with climate change,\" as a contributing factor.\n\nClimate change may not directly cause a 1000 year storm. But it might make a 1000 year storm a 100 year storm.",
"It exists within a climate that has changed. Pointing to any specific climate event is not useful - there have been big weather events periodically throughout history. What climate change predicts is that the frequency of what we regard as 'abnormal' weather will increase. So...will we look back and see this storm as part of a pattern of changes to Houston's weather? Most likely, yes.",
"Houston floods pretty frequently. It's what happens when you have a city that is only 49' above sea level, almost completely flat, covered in concrete and asphalt, near enough to the gulf coast that moisture can easily be pulled up from the gulf air. The only way for water to drain off is the bayous. And when they fill up from too much rain, it floods.\n\nI've lived here for my entire life. I've seen a lot of floods- some worse, some not as bad. Flood events are just a fact of life in this area.\n\nHere's a list of all the Houston floods (minus yesterday's): _URL_0_"
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3xf8yv | why do fighting sports divide themself based on the athlete's weight? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xf8yv/eli5_why_do_fighting_sports_divide_themself_based/ | {
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"So that lighter guys or girls don't get the shit beaten out of them by bigger brawlers. Your size is indicative of the amount of force you can generate and also your reach, so you can hit harder and hit them before they get close enough to hit you. Sure a smaller fighter can be faster and more nimble but a big hitter only needs to land one punch and connect well to kill them. Kill them all the way into yesterday. ",
"For reasons of competition. And so that people do not get killed. Athletic Commissions won't commission fights if one fighter is significantly bigger. "
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6npqoo | why aren't we supposed to top off our gas at the gas station? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6npqoo/eli5_why_arent_we_supposed_to_top_off_our_gas_at/ | {
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"There are a few reasons, but the most like you're five answer is so that you don't spill. \n\nThere's a little tube inside the big nozzle that can tell when gas reaches the end of the tube. That last bit of tube accounts to a few ounces (or milliliters) and really won't add much to your tank or the mileage you expect. When you stick the nozzle into the gas hole (I'm sure that's what it's called) it only goes on a little (just the tip), and isn't actually in your tank (unless you're on a motorcycle, filling a can, or maybe a small motor), so you've already filled the tank and all that's left is the gas filling tube (or gas colon, if you will).\n\nHowever, if the gas flows freely for just a few moments while you realize the blunder you just made, it can amount to lots... Including running down the side of the vehicle, leaving a flammable puddle, and possibly getting on your clothes or person. It's full of waste, environmental icky, and potential fire.\n\nAll of that \"maybe\" far outweighs the drops of extra gas.",
"there are emissions control devices(evaporative canister) that can be damaged by over filling your gas tank causing the check engine light to come on, and in some cases causing costly repairs.",
"Mechanical friend has told me it can also cause a problem with the system that seals the tank closed (also keeps gas from backing out the filler tube). Most (all?) Modern cars have a slight pressure in the tank when running - which is why a loose gas cap can cause the check engine light to come on.\n"
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6u2vem | why do english voice actors sound so awkward when dubbing anime shows compared to voicing american cartoons or video games | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6u2vem/eli5why_do_english_voice_actors_sound_so_awkward/ | {
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"A small part of it is when you're translating something a lot gets lost in it. Little social and cultural quirks that aren't shared by both societies can make translating weird.\n\nAlso note that anime really doesn't invest that much in the dubs, their target audience isn't the West in most cases so the voice acting suffers. Most of the voice actors are probably phoning it in at that point and they aren't given much direction.",
"At least for me, a lot of times the things they are saying are kind of cheesy. Hearing it in japanese and just reading the translation, for whatever reason, doesn't make it seem as lame as actually hearing it in english. also, it's pretty obvious that for the most part, the japanese voice actors are much more talented than the ones they get for the english dub.",
"The problem is that most animation is done by recording the voice actors first and then doing the animation second. This happens in Japanese language anime. The english is dubbed after the animation is done and the words they choose aren't really a direct translation, they're trying to be close to the translation while also making the mouth movements look like the words being said in English."
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4ch3er | the origin of the bible and if there is any proof of it's events, places or people | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ch3er/eli5_the_origin_of_the_bible_and_if_there_is_any/ | {
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"Over the last 50 years or so, the Bible's historical accuracy has taken a pounding. In the 60s-70s, the Mideast was opened more to archaeological exploration that that didn't have some sort of religious basis, and so independent scientists started doing research, and they found that a lot of the Bible's historical claims just don't hold water.\n\nPerhaps most troubling for the Abrahamic religions is there is zero evidence that The Exodus ever happened, and a fair bit that it didn't. That's kind of a seminal moment for the Jews, and if it didn't happen, it casts doubt on the religions that sprang from Judaism as well.\n\n"
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3o9hcg | why are all big trucks and tractors diesel? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o9hcg/eli5_why_are_all_big_trucks_and_tractors_diesel/ | {
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"text": [
"Mostly economy. Diesel gets better mileage.\n\nThere are other reasons - a diesel engine lasts for years - generally much longer than petrol engines. Also they produce a lot more torque at low revs which is what truck drivers need to get a heavy load started.",
"Diesel-powered engines produce a good bit more torque then gasoline-powered engines giving them the ability to handle towing much more weight then gasoline-powered engines. Diesel-powered engines also last much longer. A diesel engine can last a million miles or more if properly maintained and tractors can last decades before needing a rebuild. Diesel engines are also cheaper and easier to rebuild most of the time thanks to inserted steel cylinder walls that can be removed and new ones inserted in its place."
]
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5v26ak | what is the difference between a get request and a post in html? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5v26ak/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_a_get_request/ | {
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"Not really an HTML thing but I get what you are going for. In REST API you have a few \"verbs\". Verbs, just like in spoken/written language represent an action. \n\nSimply put \"GET\" is reading data while \"POST\" is writing data. So let's say you were using PHP as your language. You might write a script to use \"GET\" to pull a phone number from a database. you may have another script to use \"POST\" to write (save) a phone number to a database.",
"The simple answer, get is attached to the URL (_URL_0_) while post is sent in the body of the request. ",
"It's a part of HTTP, the protocol that defines how webpages are transferred, not HTML, the language in which they are written.\n\nSo in HTTP, there is a field in the request called \"method\" which can be GET, POST, or a few others.\n\nGET is for reading data, and cannot have a request body, i.e. the request contains only the URL of the resource you want to get. At most the URL can contain some parameters, like the \n?id=123 & lang=en & page=5 you often see at the end. A server is not supposed to make any changes to the data in response to a GET request and always return the same data, because GET requests can be cached or sent multiple times.\n\nPOST requests on the other hand are for changing data, and they can have a body, i.e. contain arbitrary amounts of data. So you can use them to upload files, they can change data and are not cached - which is why browsers warn you when you try to resend a POST request. If it was sent before, the data may already have changed, and you may not want to have the same change applied again.\n\nHowever, webapp developers often ignore these rules and use GET requests to change data or POST requests to read data. Sometimes they can get away with it, sometimes it causes problems. For example if you try to misuse a GET request to upload files, it will work for small files. But the URL parameter will get ridiculously long, and at some unknown point the browser or server will refuse to process it, or even truncate it."
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qhkfu | why i can hear static of the tv in another room? | So technically, this is ExplainLikeI'mThirteen, but why when I'm in a different room, or if the Tv is just at 1 Volume, I can tell it's on because I hear a static-like sound? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qhkfu/eli5_why_i_can_hear_static_of_the_tv_in_another/ | {
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"The [Flyback Transformer](_URL_0_) in a CRT (old-style big TV) operates at high frequencies, something like 15khz - plenty audible to pretty much everyone. It's the same effect that causes you to hear \"mains hum\" near normal transformers, just at a much higher and more annoying frequency.",
"Yea I can hear that too, I've always wondered what exactly it was. Even when I had just woken up I would immediately know if someone's watching TV in another room, regardless of volume"
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1q92ff | why do humans cry, with tears and loud sobbing noises, when they are sad? why don't other animals do this when they're sad? | What do the tears have to do with being sad and what is the point in the noises? Also, Why does my chest hurt when I think about something really sad, even if I'm not crying? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1q92ff/eli5_why_do_humans_cry_with_tears_and_loud/ | {
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"Because it's a response to emotional stimuli. It's a natural way for the body to relieve stress hormones and toxins from the body. \n\nIt's also a way for humans to manipulate others. Someone has something you really want? Cry and they'll give it to you. \n\n_URL_0_",
"The noises are a physiological response to the mental desire to be comforted. You are calling for your mother.\n\nThe tears... that's harder to explain. You're feeling threatened. It must have its roots in the hind-brain somewhere. Maybe your body glands are flooding your system with fight-or-flight drugs and tears are a side-effect of that. ",
"Not really sure why but I have noticed something very interesting, different cultures cry differently. Here in the US it's minimal compared to the Middle East where it's literally wailing. It made me very uncomfortable.... Especially at funerals",
"After reading through these responses, I think you'd be better off at r/askscience. Yours is an interesting question, and it deserves to be answered by more than speculation and anecdotes.",
"I don't know but maybe it's just an emotional response to stress. If you listen closely to sobbing, it sounds exactly like someone laughing. So really, your question should be: why do we have this universal emotional response and what's its function?\n\nOne reason could be that it's a habit left over from infancy. When babies cry, they're comforted. That is its first mode communication. When we're hurt or need conforting as adults, we cry.",
"ASAPSCience offers a few theories.\n\n* It is a social signal as either a \"cry for help\" or display of joy.\n\n* Both joy and sadness are experienced in the hypothalamus which is connected to the tear ducts.\n\n* Tears carry stress chemicals from the body. \n\nASAPScience explains...\n_URL_0_\n\nEDIT: answer too short for rules perhaps.",
"I posted this to a similar question. From an anthropological perspective, this somewhat explains why crying would have been carried into adulthood. \n\nImagine humanity 300,000+ years ago. Language is just beginning to develop yet we are still the same curious and social animals that we are today. Early humans were aware that living in groups was beneficial for survival, so tribes form. How would an early human signal trustworthiness without language to back it up? Things like laughing and crying became social markers signifying truth of thought. A human that cried and laughed more would have been seen as more honest and trustworthy, whereas humans incapable of expressing emotions were seen as mysterious and less predictable. Therefore the most emotional humans survived longer because they were able to be accepted into groups. And interesting enough, we still feel that way. Think of the cold blooded killer stereotype in movies. They are typically portrayed as soft spoken and stoic.",
"Tears provoke a sharp drop in the levels of adrenaline of the surounding people through pheromones, they're a \"stop the aggression, i surrender\" signal devised by evolution ",
"Other animals do cry, and sob, but it's really only seen in species that have parents which invest a tremendous amount of resources in their young. It's an evolved response, and one that's reinforced in life through positive gains. There's no such need for the response if it doesn't work, so even in animals which have the built in crying & sobbing response, the individual will stop using it, if it is negatively reinforced. There are documented cases of psychotic, sociopathic, or sadistic parenting by authoritarian types doing exactly that. And it is a well known tactic used by paramilitary organizations that abduct and train child soldiers, in some cases they managed to intentionally put a stop to the behavior in as little as three days. The dead-eyed looks on the kids faces after being broken in such ways is the stuff of nightmares.... ",
"My boxer used to cry whenever he got in trouble. Every softie conned.\n\nHe actually wiped his tears using front leg.",
"Crying is an \"honest signal\" or something that's difficult (though still possible) to fake. Tears are part of the routine as when you are teary-eyed, you cannot see quite as well so you are signaling you are vulnerable (sort of like how criminal suspects are expected to put their hands up and drop their gun when caught by the police). It opens yourself up to help from others without them feeling that you might take advantage of the moment as they help you. Sobbing also audibly broadcasts your location. Humans are very social animals, so that's why they may do it more readily than other animals, but you should expect any social animals to have similar behaviors. \n\n*Note: the above is rather well accepted in evolutionary biology (google Robert Trivers for more info). The stuff below is more conjecture, so take with a grain of salt.*\n\nEmotions are a social \"sense\" as opposed to physical senses (seeing, hearing, tasting). You \"feel\" emotions somewhat differently then you do the physical senses: they take a combination of different physical feelings like your eyes watering, chest hurting, lump in your throat for when you are sad. When you are angry, you feel your fists clench, your brows furrow muscles tighten. It might be different for different, people, though. You can differentiate an emotion from a physical thing better if it involves multiple different feelings rather than just one. (If you cut onions, your eyes will water but you know it's not because your sad - but it might still influence you a bit). Since social behavior is so important in humans, emotions affect us a great deal. It allows us to trust each other and work together, as mentioned above.",
"I think some animals do. My little pot belly pig sounds like a kid sobbing when he is really upset. Faces into the corner and just wails. It's heartbreaking, even though it's usually about something like me taking his bed away for a while to wash it.",
"There is actually relatively new finding that heart has neurons on it and thus the poetic \"heart broken\" can really have physiological background. Heart is not just \"dumb pump\", the relationship is more complicated. Might also explain at least some part of the weird phenomena some transplant patients have had.",
"Just an anecdote/example of animals crying: Koko, the gorilla trained in sign language once had a cat that got ran over. When she was told All Ball was gone she wailed inconsolably.",
"The best explanation I've come across (I study private behavioral ecology) is that crying is an honest signal of emotional distress and is meant to elicit emotional support.\n\nCrying blurs your vision, and heaving sobs make it hard to function.\n\nA behavior like this poses a severe handicap, so unless it elicits a strong response of support to outweigh the handicap, it can't exist as a behavior in the long term."
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1swcag | what does the nike fuelband, fitbit, or other exercises bracelets do? | I've read up on each of them, but I just don't understand why an exerciser would want one. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1swcag/eli5_what_does_the_nike_fuelband_fitbit_or_other/ | {
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"text": [
"to keep tabs on themselves. read as \"to fill the need for measuring every step; a need nike has created and told them must be filled.\""
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38evt4 | "v-sync" in reference to video games. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38evt4/eli5_vsync_in_reference_to_video_games/ | {
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"Your monitor refreshes at a certain speed (usually 60Hz or 120Hz). The game updates at a different speed (the framerate, which can very depending on your card). If the game is updating faster than the monitor, you can end up with a situation where the top half of the monitor shows one frame and the bottom half shows another. You'll see [screen tearing](_URL_0_) in this case.\n\nV-Sync (or vertical sync) restricts the framerate so that it will never be faster than the monitor refresh rate (so if you have a 60Hz monitor, the framerate will be capped at 60Hz). It makes it so that the game will never try updating the screen in the middle of a draw.",
"Your computer interacts with your monitor through a chunk of memory. The computer writes to the memory periodically, and the monitor periodically reads from that memory and updates the screen with the contents.\n\nSo one address in the memory might correspond to the top left pixel on your screen (this is an oversimplification), the computer might put something in that address that says \"set this pixel to bright red,\" the monitor then reads that memory and sets the pixel to read. All good so far.\n\nHowever, if the monitor decides to read that memory *while* the computer is updating it, you get a weird mix of old and new data which creates a thing called \"screen tearing.\" So if you're playing a game, the computer starts writing the next frame to memory, gets half-way through and the monitor starts reading, you get half of the new frame on screen and half of the old one.\n\nV-sync (\"Vertical synchronization\") prevents the computer from writing to memory while the monitor reads from it, so the monitor only ever reads complete frames from the memory, thus preventing screen-tearing.",
"Most modern video games use double buffering to reduce the appearance of flickering. In double buffering, you have two frame buffers. The program draws to one buffer while the other is being displayed. When the program has finished drawing, the two buffers are swapped and the program begins drawing the next frame. This reduces flickering because it allows the whole frame to change at one, rather than incrementally drawing the new frame on top of the old one, which is what older games used to do.\n\nNow, the monitor also has a refresh rate, which is independent of the games frame rate. The monitor will scan the currently active frame buffer from start to finish, updating each pixel on screen as it goes.\n\nThe problem is, because the monitors refresh rate is not independent of the drawing code, the program might swap the buffers while the display hardware is halfway through reading the buffer. If this happens, half the screen will show the old frame and the other half will show the next frame. This creates an artifact known as screen tearing.\n\nWhen V-Sync is enabled, it causes the graphics driver to wait until the display has finished drawing a frame before swapping the buffers, which prevents this from occuring."
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7k3f7m | why does olive oil have 100+ calories per serving and olive oil cooking spray have 0? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7k3f7m/eli5_why_does_olive_oil_have_100_calories_per/ | {
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"Because the amount of spray oil you apply is negligible, while a \"serving\" of olive oil, as dip, in salad dressing, or cooking, is not.",
"For the same reason that a Tic-Tac which is 100% sugar can be sold as sugar free\n\nRounding\n\nThe FDA says that you can round the values so if your product has less than 0.5 grams per serving you can report it as having 0 grams. My cooking spray says to use a 1/4 second spray(0.25 grams), if the entire spray is only a quarter of a gram then there could be anything in there and it would all round down to zero and report zero of everything\n\nRealistically, your olive oil cooking spray has a fair number of calories to it, you're just getting tricked by marketing"
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5t1qe0 | why are car batteries lead-acid monstrosities and not cutting edge 18650's cells? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5t1qe0/eli5_why_are_car_batteries_leadacid_monstrosities/ | {
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"The cost is way lower.\n\nBoth initial cost, and also in service lifetime over endless recharge cycles.",
"Lithium-ion batteries have an energy density that is 3-5 times higher than lead-acid batteries. However, lead-acid batteries have a power to weight ratio that is much, much higher than comparably sized lithium-ion batteries.\n\nA fully charged lead-acid battery (12.6 volts, or 2.1 volts per series cell) in a passenger sedan with a gasoline engine should be able to provide around 500 amperes for a duration of 30 seconds before the terminal voltage drops below 7.6 volts (1.2 volts per series cell). This battery can do this again, and again, and again suffering negligible degradation each time.\n\nHigh current 18650 cells can provide a draw of about 10 amperes at 3.7 volts per cell. Providing 500 amperes at > 12 volts would require 150 cells. While the combined weight of this is not quite lead-acid territory, the expense is far beyond it. Furthermore, discharging lithium-ion cells creates quite a bit of heat and this heat causes the battery to degrade. Since the car battery is primarily used to start the engine, the higher energy density of the lithium-ion batteries wouldn't be taken advantage of."
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2i9bwu | what is the difference between coke and pepsi? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2i9bwu/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_coke_and_pepsi/ | {
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"They're made by different companies & they taste different. Take $2 and go buy a can of each and taste it for yourself.",
"Pepsi is noticeably sweeter, coke has a little more throat bite. I prefer pepsi, if I'm going ingest things that are bad for me that day. ",
"Pepsi uses a little more sugar and a little less fart. \nCoke uses a little more fart and a little less sugar. ",
"They are both cola drinks made by different companies, and the ingredients and manufacturing processes are probably slightly different."
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1ufwek | if depression is a chemical imbalance, then were my chemicals balanced once i "got over" my depression? | I used to suffer from depression and anxiety, especially about a year ago, when I was having suicidal thoughts. I have never taken a drug for those problems, nor did I see a therapist, but I did read a lot of philosophy, which eventually led to me being the happiest me I've ever been. When my perspective on life changed, did my chemical imbalance balance itself out? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ufwek/eli5_if_depression_is_a_chemical_imbalance_then/ | {
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"The chemical imbalance thing is a bit of a myth. Pharmaceutical companies use it to make you believe your depression can get fixed by buying their pills to fix the chemical imbalance when in truth it is much more complicated than that and antidepressants often have limited to no effect on patients. It used to be a popular hypothesis but has now become a misconception most medical professionals would not agree with. It is not that simple.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n_URL_1_\n\n\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\n\n_URL_2_\n\n\n \"To our knowledge, there is not a single peer-reviewed article that can be accurately cited to directly support claims of serotonin deficiency in any mental disorder, while there are many articles that present counterevidence.\"\n\n\n\nSo you might never have had a chemical imbalance to begin with but your depression was caused and eventually helped by something else. Like improving your outlook on life and not by swallowing some pills that somehow magically \"fix\" everything by changing a hypothesized imbalance. Bottom line is: it's not that simple."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_imbalance",
"http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/10/18/mental_illness_is_chemical_imbalance_theory_a_myth.html",
"http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020392"
]
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83mm9x | why does north america have an obsession with grass/lawn's? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/83mm9x/eli5_why_does_north_america_have_an_obsession/ | {
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"I don’t think it’s just a North American thing. It’s often about “keeping up appearances “ - like ironed shirts, polished shoes, etc. Tells everyone “we’ve got our shit together”.",
"We don't want to live in the middle of a three-foot-tall weed patch, plus it gives more room for activities like baseball, american football, and fireworks shows."
]
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3sa26y | social "safe zones" on college campus' | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sa26y/eli5_social_safe_zones_on_college_campus/ | {
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"Recent students feel it is the college's job to ensure that every student is protected from anything insulting or offensive (by their personal views) while on campus.\n\nCollege administration feels it's their job to keep students safe, educate them, and foster discussion, expression, and learning.\n\nDiscussion and expression violate the \"Safe space\" idea. There has been conflict between students and administration as students fight to remove the right of free speech and expression from others in order to keep themselves from ever being exposed to something they personally object to.",
"If you're referring to the recent incident in Missouri, it was a protesting group not understanding the rights to access on public property and calling their barrier a \"Safe Space.\" \n\nIf you're referring to the main use of \"Safe Space\" on college campuses, it refers to meeting rooms, offices, etc., where marginalized groups are given the ability to meet and discuss things without judgement. At the personal level, many professors (myself included) have stickers up on the doors of our offices with a specific logo and the words \"Safe Space,\" meaning that a student won't be judged by their race, gender, or orientation in our offices, and we as professors feel comfortable talking about things like race, gender, orientation, etc., with them. \n\nIt's kinda what it says it is in the name. A place where marginalized groups can feel safe. ",
"Safe spaces are not about actual safety(as in being protected from potential harm), they are more about creating an environment where people can be \"protected\" from offensive speech, views, etc.\n\nThe genius part of it is that whoever coined the term used safety as the premise. Safety is a serious matter, and as an administrator, when you hear that someone's safety is compromised you more or less have to do something about that. \n\nSafe spaces come mostly from good intentions (people wanting to get rid of/move past racism, homophobia, etc). The problem is that these safe spaces can't really be created without censorship, and censorship is not good. Some, if not most, would argue that censorship would be a much bigger problem than the occasional asshole making a racist remark.",
"Safe Zones are areas where the most vile hateful speech is encouraged, provided that it is only directed at whites, males or christians.\n\nAny honest discussion about any other group is forbodden. Any other group must be praised for their victimhood.",
"Whatever happened to good manners? You know, biting your tongue, taking a moment before you speak to make sure you don't offend the person you're talking to, basic diplomacy? Maybe the fact that so many people raise their kids to be boors is the problem, not some kind of deep conspiracy to marginalize people. ",
"If college have Safe Zones shouldn't they also have a \"Fuck You Zone\" to balance this shit out? ",
"This is a corruption of formerly open-minded, inclusive, liberal, left-leaning ideals into close-minded, exclusionary (us-vs-them), right-wing autocracy and mob rule that seeks to eliminate and/or ban dissenting opinions.\n\nThis is typically an example of affluenza exerting itself, particularly members of society (and particularly prevalent among the 1%) who have never had to objectively deal with ideas and real-world evidence that conflict with their own mindset, and who would rather avoid dealing with subjects that might offend them.\n\n**Switching over to my own personal opinion:** the Real World simply doesn’t grant anyone the ability to not be offended or judged. Sorry, but *not yours*. The Real World is all about being offended and judged on a daily basis, and if you aren’t offended by something in your higher education’s curriculum or environment you are either at a very poorly-run institution or you are the reincarnated Dali Llama. Offensive subjects make people think. When you think, you grow and are educated. Particularly on how the Real World works. Some people are born with skin colours that make them disadvantaged in our society. Others are born with a sex that forces them to work harder to be accepted. THAT’S REALITY. How you overcome adversity is how you become a better individual, and whining about it is not the solution.\n\nPardon me for being a part of the “suck it up, buttercup” generation, but pandering to every ‘woe is me’ individual, rather than attacking the root of the issue, is a big part of the problem that our society is having right now. We are compensating for everyone’s perceived deficiencies instead of setting goals and challenging them to overcome it. We are building a nation of sand people, when what we need are tough-as-granite achievers that ignore barriers and just plough through them as if they weren’t even there. Like Margaret Thatcher, who became Great Britian’s first female Prime Minister *for 15 years straight*. Or like Obama, who clearly showed that his skin colour had no bearing on his ability to effectively and successfully helm the greatest republic in history for two unbroken terms.\n\nI am one of those who believe that educational institutions of any kind should be anvils that hammer out individuals that have overcome challenges and will succeed in life, not fluffy poofles and padded rooms that do everything to protect people from the Real World. Because that’s not how you build a successful nation or society. Education should challenge and offend at every possible opportunity, forcing people to confront and deal with their own interpretations of the subject matter. It should make them think, consider alternative viewpoints, and force them to effectively defend their own.\n\nIMHO, “safe spaces” should really be “solutions centres”. Where people can go to professional psychologists and counsellors, who will listen to the problem, provide viable evidence-based solutions and alternative actions, and then say, “Okay, these are your options. Now, *what the f--ck are you going to do about it?*”\n\nGreat societies are not built upon dreams and wishes and coddling people on the off chance that they might be offended. They are built by people who go out, overcome & solve problems and get sh*t done.\n\n*drops mic*",
"It's a place to avoid reality. You can't be letting people be offended by things, can you!? No really. That's what they are. I'm fucking serious.[South Park has a pretty good example.](_URL_0_)"
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3wbra7 | what's going on in this gif of snake venom being added to blood? | [So this gif showed up](_URL_0_) on r/interestingasfuck. It's probably not safe for lunch.
I'm trying to imagine this going on inside your body when a venomous snake bites you. What processes are going on to make this happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wbra7/eli5_whats_going_on_in_this_gif_of_snake_venom/ | {
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"This specific type of snake venom basically clogs up the proteins in your blood, leading to clots of blood in your veins. This basically stops your blood circulatory and will probably lead to death.",
"Your blood is made up of a bunch of proteins, which is collectively called \"serum.\" Proteins are like chains kinked in a certain way where they gain a certain shape and can perform various functions depending on that shape. This shape is somewhat delicate and if it's broken the protein becomes \"denatured.\" You can see this when you boil or fry an egg, the clear and soft yellow parts of the egg denature and become white and harder. The venom denatures the proteins in the blood.",
"Think of it as cooking an egg. Instead of heat effecting the proteins in the egg (blood) its snake juice."
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1ay4wb | what is the point of money? | I don't understand how money works. It's physically almost completely worthless until we write a number on it and then it becomes worth that. We are just giving a worthless item an imaginary unit that everyone decides to follow. It just seems confusing to me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ay4wb/eli5_what_is_the_point_of_money/ | {
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"It facilitates trade.\n\nI want apples, but have oranges.\n\nYou want oranges, but want bananas.\n\nJim wants bananas and has apples.\n\nNone of us can make a deal we want by dealing one-to-one, we'd all have to be together at the same time and value the fruit identically.\n\nMoney let's us do one-to-one deals and sequentially get the stuff we want.",
"It helps to understand the barter system. \n\nBefore we had money, you would travel to a central trading post a few times a year to get things you couldn't make yourself. You would haul things with you to trade - maybe a stack of animal pelts, or jars of jam, or sacks of wheat flour. You would negotiate with the people at the trading post to get what you needed - six pelts for a sack of salt, two dozen jars of jam for a bolt of cotton cloth. Each person had valuable goods, and they traded that value.\n\nA problem happens when you can't easily trade for what you need. A shoemaker is a very useful guy to have around, but he can't really trade a whole pair of shoes every time he wants to buy a meal. If I was an innkeeper who needed boots, I might make him a deal for credit - we might agree one sturdy pair of boots is worth 30 meals. The Innkeeper might keep a ledger saying who has meals coming to make sure it stays fair.\n\nStill, the Innkeeper's ledger doesn't do the shoemaker much good if his roof is leaking. The shoemaker needs to trade with someone to repair the roof, which is fine if the repairman needs boots. If not, maybe the shoemaker could trade the repairman his credit for 10 meals at the Inn? If he can pass his credit to the repairman, then everybody gets what they want.\n\nThis is a basic kind of money - it's backed by the Innkeeper, who says that the credit is worth a meal. It's worth hanging onto even if you don't plan to eat at the Inn, because you can trade it to other people for goods or services. That way, you can trade with someone even if you don't have anything to trade that they want.\n\nEventually, it doesn't matter if the Innkeeper even provides the meals anymore. People use the credits as markers for trade - 3 credits for a pelt, 2 jars of jam for a credit. Nobody eats at the Inn, so the money is only backed by what people agree it's worth. As long as everyone is free to negotiate, the credit is still worth exactly what people believe it is worth.",
"Lets think about this. Every day, millions of people get into metal boxes, accelerate to speeds of 60 miles an hour, and drive toward one another. The only thing that keeps everyone alive? a line of yellow paint. \n\nThe rules of a society have value, they are things that we can rely upon. Given how easily they are actually broken it's shocking that things do not go badly more often.\n\nSo to money. money has value because the government says it does. The government issues debt in exchange for money, and it is the debt of the government that backs the money in circulation. Note that this sounds super fucked up, but it's how it actually works. \n\nBut money works for day to day transactions because people have come to find that the barter system of transactions sucks donkey balls. We need a universal item of exchange that allows us to buy and sell things in a sensible manor. It does not matter what that unit of exchange is, as long as it is scarce, and not easily replicated. \n\nGold worked for a while, but we actually need way more money then we have gold. So someone had an idea why don't we pass 2 laws. The first making it illegal to copy our money. The second outlawing other kinds of money. Then we just make some paper and call it money. At first people thought this was a stupid idea. But it's the law so lets give it a try. It worked, as long as people accept it then money has value no matter what it is \"worth\"\n\nSo to answer your question. Money works because it works, if one day is stops working then it won't work anyone and we'll all be fucked. Because no one wants to be fucked then money is not likely to stop working any time soon. ",
"Let's say I make beds for a living and you grow apples. \n\nMaybe I want to make some apple pie, but you already have beds in your house so you don't need any more. \n\nOr you want a bed but I'm allergic to apples for some reason and can't eat them. \n\nIn both cases we can't trade but if we had money then we could just buy these goods from each other. "
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16kboj | why is there a debt 'limit' in the first place if it constantly gets raised anyways, effectively making it useless. its only function seems to be to cause some media hype every time the us is closing in on it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16kboj/why_is_there_a_debt_limit_in_the_first_place_if/ | {
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"It was in fact specifically created to cause some media hype every time the US closes in on it. There's no other possible function; we can't just decide to stop running the government because some number is higher than some other number.",
"You're actually thinking of it backwards. Initially the debt limit made it easier for the government to borrow money, not harder. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Congress had to approve every instance of borrowing money. In World War I, it became a hassle, so Congress passed a law saying the Treasury was approved to borrow up to $X amount when needed, without specific congressional approval. It's been the system the country has used since, with the $X being raised every so often."
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1qhn91 | what exactly is buying debt, and how did occupy wall street just do it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qhn91/eli5what_exactly_is_buying_debt_and_how_did/ | {
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"When banks or whoever else might have a bunch of people owing them money decide that they're never going to see enough money from the debtees for it to be worth it - so basically when someone isn't paying any of the debt off for months and they can't seem to get it by force - they offer to sell the debt off to others. Collection agencies adept at squeezing the money will buy this debt for cents on the dollar so that the bank or whoever gets some of their money when they otherwise would get none, and they're happy, and the collection agency makes a profit if they collect even a portion of the debt from the debtees.\n\nNothing forces the buyer of debt to be a collection agency though, so OWS just offered up enough money to get the sale, bought the debt and as the new owners of it were allowed to simply forgive it.",
"So if you borrow money, you have debt. If you are struggling to make the payments, the bank may try to sell the debt to someone else if they feel it's a sound financial decision. As far as you are concerned, you still owe the money and such, but to whoever bought the debt. Occupy Wall Street just bought the debt and then basically erased it, freeing the people from financial retardation.",
"Say I have a deadbeat friend who owes me $300 for rent money. He keeps saying he's gonna pay me, but he never does. After a while, I sort of give up on the idea that he'll ever pay me back for the full amount. I consider that $300 to be \"bad debt,\" as in a debt that will never actually get paid. For all intents and purposes, my money is gone.\n\nI know that I can't get the money from this guy, but maybe someone else can. I approach you, and tell you that if you give me $50 cash right now, you can keep whatever portion of the $300 that my deadbeat friend actually pays back, since you will now own his debt. You agree, and give me the $50 cash. \n\nNow, I have $50 more than I ever thought I'd get back, and you are holding the I.O.U for the $300. You can now either bug the deadbeat and try to get money out of him, or give up entirely and let him get away with it. If you wanted to be like Occupy Wall Street, you'd never bother him again, and be happy knowing that your paying $50 saved some poor bastard from $300 worth of debt. ",
"The name of the group that does this is called Strike Debt, and their project to buy and eliminate debt is called [Rolling Jubilee](_URL_0_). I've been following this since I first heard about it last year, and it's actually pretty fascinating. Check out their facebook page, too. \n\nOf note, this is a separate organization started by a group of Occupy Wallstreet protesters. So while the organization is a spin-off of OWS, Strike Debt should really get the credit here, not OWS. "
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2ynuxq | what happens to medicine that is past its expiration date? is it stronger, weaker, or different somehow? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ynuxq/eli5_what_happens_to_medicine_that_is_past_its/ | {
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"Most of them will lose potency after it expires, although this is a gradual process and the expiration date is when the drug lose enough potency that taking the same dose would no longer produce the same effect. ",
"Not to take as a 100% true rule but usually the activity of the drug will decrease (due to the degradation of the molecules that are the active components)",
"I read in an old kind of \"explain it all\" book when I was a kid that meds expire generally when they have lost 10% of their effectiveness. So 500mg of Tylenol would actually be 450mg active.\n\nIn other word, meds get stale and you need fresh drugs to be healthy.",
"Loss of potency, usually when they pass the 90% mark (they've lost 10% of their effectiveness). Tetracycline becomes toxic and maybe a few others but nothing you'd get at a pharmacy. \n\nSource: pharmacist ",
"Part of my job is to test shelf life of pharmaceuticals in a lab.\nMedicine will lose potency as the API gets decomposed into a waste product.\n\nFor the sake of example, lets take a common product as aspirin, commonly used to combat headaches and general minor pain.\nAspirin is also known as acetylsalicylic acid. Acetylsalicylic acid will decompose to salicylic acid over time.\n\nThese type of pills will usually be \"to old\" when 10% of it is decomposed, as u/TheScamr pointed out. this dosen't apply to all medicin however.\n\nwhile salicylic acid isnt unhealthy in those small doses, some medicin can have some unhealthy decomposition materials. Throw away your old medicin.",
"In some cases, nothing for a long time. In others, it will slowly stop working. For these, the expiration date is sort of a cover-your-ass thing, to say \"we can't guarantee its efficacy after this date.\" \n\nBut for others, like tetracycline antibiotics, can break down into toxic byproducts. Expired tetracyclines can be very toxic for your liver and kidneys, causing [Fanconi syndrome](_URL_0_), organ failure, and death. So don't put those in your zombie prep bag."
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7jvf5t | why aren't faucet pipes straight? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7jvf5t/eli5why_arent_faucet_pipes_straight/ | {
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"Well, for THAT pipe I would imagine the bend helps slow the waterfall so it doesn't splash too much. But for the ones with the S-bend, like in the USA and other places, it traps water so smells and gas doesn't come back up the pipes."
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2ziq8y | how do djs work together to form collaborative music? | It's easy to understand for vocalists, because they would be singing different parts of the song; I'm not sure for DJs though. Do they just do different songs and put them in the same mixtape, actually mix together in the studio, or break the songs into parts than try and blend them?
I'm using the new Jack Ü project by Diplo and Skrillex as a reference. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ziq8y/eli5_how_do_djs_work_together_to_form/ | {
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"No one else has an answer, I'll give it my best shot. Every producer or DJ uses a DAW. A digital audio workstation. It contains synths, keyboards, everything you need to make a full blown electronic song. Some you can record in as well. You may know FL studio or garage band if you're a Mac user. These programs save a file of your music, that contains the samples and tells the DAW what goes where and when. DJs will share these files with each other, improve on it, and send it back to be added to or vice versa. Sometimes they work together in the studio in person, using one daw and sharing their ideas.\n\n\nSource- I've been into music for 10 years now. I don't do much as far as production but I'm a how-it-works guy.\n\nAlso, look up deadmau5s' videos on YouTube. He has some of him collaborating with other artists and you can see his setup in his studio.\n",
"0100114 gave a good answer. I'll add that \"DJ\" isn't really the proper term for someone who creates new music from scratch. The term used is \"producer\". Diplo and Skrillex are both producers in addition to being DJs. The reason they are DJs is that a lot of electronic music is complicated to reproduce in a live environment, so many producers also tour as DJs (playing the music on turntables instead of reproducing it) to allow people to experience their music \"live\". This of course has roots in disco, which was the first form of popular electronic music, and hip-hop, which was arguably the second."
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jhfxw | elia5: the origins/history of the bible | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jhfxw/elia5_the_originshistory_of_the_bible/ | {
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"Along time ago (1500 bc) there was a tribe of semitic people in the middle east called the Hebrews. The Hebrews, like all tribes everywhere, had a whole bunch of creation myths and stories that got passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. The middle east, or fertile crescent if you will, is kind of like a junction between three continents, so lots of empires use it when they want to fight thier neighbors and gain power. The hebrews were smack in the middle of this junction, so they got invaded all the time, and at one point almost completely enslaved and taken to Babylon. \n\nIn Babylon the various Hebrew tribes (there were a lot of people) decided they had to come together as a group and strengthen thier identity. They realised all they had in common was thier beliefs in a single god, and ideas about who he was and what he did, as well as language. When the hebrews left slavery and returned to where Israel is today, they pursued this idea of cultural unity, and eventually ended up writing down thier origin myths.\n\nThere were actually lots of differant takes on certain stories, and two major groups had very similar, but differant ways of telling them. One group called thier god Jehovah, and the other Elohim. Another group belived they were descended from Aaron, a friend of moses, and thus considered themselves to be the intellectual authority of the Hebrew 'religion'. These were the priests, and they took responsibility for mashing together the differant stories and laws, perhaps rewording things to make priests look better, and writing it all down into a 'holy book' or Torah. \n\nAs time went by and the Hebrews really began to take thier identity seriously, people came along who belived they had a special relationship with god, and had received divine revelations and instructions. These people were called prophets, and if they convinced everyone, they were allowed to add thier own little 'book', officially or unofficially\n\nFast forward to the early roman empire days, when the greeks began translating everything they found that they thought was hebrew. They compiled it all, but many hebrew scholars disagreed, and still do about what was added. This collection is what we call the 'old testament'.\n\nThe reason we call it the old testament is because of Jesus. in AD 50, a guy called Paul comes along with a whole collection of writings about some guy he claims to have known called Jesus. Everything we hear about Jesus is just what this one man (with maybe a couple of sketchy accounts to back him up) has said. \n\nWay back at the start of the bible god makes a promise (or testament) to moses about how god will take care of his people. When Jesus comes along (i won't tell that story) he was what maybe considered a rebellious prophet. He thought he had a special relationship with god, and that god had told him to disregard the old testament, and preach a new testament, with all new laws and rules etc. Paul and written down this new testament and used it to fuel the new 'christian' faith. \n\nAt this point you have to look at a history of christianity, but for our purposes well just say that the roman empire adopted christianity as an official religion under constantine, and at that point lots of very top people started to argue about what should and shouldn't constitute the official 'book' of christianity. This was a long gradual process that involved lots of politics, but essentially it was agreed to recognize the hebrew root of the religion with the old testament, and follow it up with the new testament to show how things had changed. \n\nBear in mind that the bible is actually a collection of books, and was still being added to well into the medieval period. However, priests agreed on a specific composition to carry around and preach in Latin, and that became the bible we all know and... know\n\nHoly shit i wrote way too much...\n",
"Along time ago (1500 bc) there was a tribe of semitic people in the middle east called the Hebrews. The Hebrews, like all tribes everywhere, had a whole bunch of creation myths and stories that got passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. The middle east, or fertile crescent if you will, is kind of like a junction between three continents, so lots of empires use it when they want to fight thier neighbors and gain power. The hebrews were smack in the middle of this junction, so they got invaded all the time, and at one point almost completely enslaved and taken to Babylon. \n\nIn Babylon the various Hebrew tribes (there were a lot of people) decided they had to come together as a group and strengthen thier identity. They realised all they had in common was thier beliefs in a single god, and ideas about who he was and what he did, as well as language. When the hebrews left slavery and returned to where Israel is today, they pursued this idea of cultural unity, and eventually ended up writing down thier origin myths.\n\nThere were actually lots of differant takes on certain stories, and two major groups had very similar, but differant ways of telling them. One group called thier god Jehovah, and the other Elohim. Another group belived they were descended from Aaron, a friend of moses, and thus considered themselves to be the intellectual authority of the Hebrew 'religion'. These were the priests, and they took responsibility for mashing together the differant stories and laws, perhaps rewording things to make priests look better, and writing it all down into a 'holy book' or Torah. \n\nAs time went by and the Hebrews really began to take thier identity seriously, people came along who belived they had a special relationship with god, and had received divine revelations and instructions. These people were called prophets, and if they convinced everyone, they were allowed to add thier own little 'book', officially or unofficially\n\nFast forward to the early roman empire days, when the greeks began translating everything they found that they thought was hebrew. They compiled it all, but many hebrew scholars disagreed, and still do about what was added. This collection is what we call the 'old testament'.\n\nThe reason we call it the old testament is because of Jesus. in AD 50, a guy called Paul comes along with a whole collection of writings about some guy he claims to have known called Jesus. Everything we hear about Jesus is just what this one man (with maybe a couple of sketchy accounts to back him up) has said. \n\nWay back at the start of the bible god makes a promise (or testament) to moses about how god will take care of his people. When Jesus comes along (i won't tell that story) he was what maybe considered a rebellious prophet. He thought he had a special relationship with god, and that god had told him to disregard the old testament, and preach a new testament, with all new laws and rules etc. Paul and written down this new testament and used it to fuel the new 'christian' faith. \n\nAt this point you have to look at a history of christianity, but for our purposes well just say that the roman empire adopted christianity as an official religion under constantine, and at that point lots of very top people started to argue about what should and shouldn't constitute the official 'book' of christianity. This was a long gradual process that involved lots of politics, but essentially it was agreed to recognize the hebrew root of the religion with the old testament, and follow it up with the new testament to show how things had changed. \n\nBear in mind that the bible is actually a collection of books, and was still being added to well into the medieval period. However, priests agreed on a specific composition to carry around and preach in Latin, and that became the bible we all know and... know\n\nHoly shit i wrote way too much...\n"
]
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[],
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8hgxov | why do artist still release singles? especially now that with streaming services, you can buy/listen to individual songs. | Especially when a single releases after the release of an album. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8hgxov/eli5_why_do_artist_still_release_singles/ | {
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"Publicity mainly. Big singles generate buzz for artists in the run up to an album release and can pump up sales.",
"Publicity, plus the music business hasn’t really caught up to the technology that’s available now, minus the embarassing attempt to make everyone with an apple device own a U2 album.",
"Singles are solely used to promote the artist's actual projects like albums, EP's and stuff. They also can be used to keep an artist's work alive if they haven't been active for a while. Basically the entire purpose of singles is to hype the listeners up for an artist's future and upcoming work, or to promote him in other words.\n\nEdit: spelling mistake.",
"To add to the other answers, some artists nowadays just release everything as singles precisely for this reason.",
"They still need songs to play on the radio. Usually, radio stations can only play singles released by the artist."
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34ghhp | why do baby carrots split when they get dry in the fridge? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34ghhp/eli5_why_do_baby_carrots_split_when_they_get_dry/ | {
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"I would guess that the carrot is losing moisture unevenly, probably from the outside in. The stress that builds up as some parts of the carrot shrink faster than others would cause it to split, relieving the tension."
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54o1rw | what is the difference between an alternator and a generator in a car? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54o1rw/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_an_alternator/ | {
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"An alternator is a type of generator that lacks a commutator and only produces AC power. Generators can be built to produce either AC or DC power.",
"Permanent magnets versus electromagnets. \n\nAlternators use electromagnets in one coil, to energize another spinning coil which produces current. This has 2 neat effects. \n\n1. The power output of the alternator can be controlled by adjusting the voltage of the energizer coil so that it can produce stable voltages at a wide range of engine RPM's. \n\n2. I has no brushes which could wear out and need replacement \n\n\nGenerators have a permanent magnet to energize the coil that produces electricity. The amount of power it outputs is directly relevant to the speed at which it is rotated. In an engine that is constantly changing speed, this isn't a good thing. Permanent magnets also lose their charge in high heat environments and there are more parts to wear out in the brush systems. \n\n\nAlternators are a simple and elegant solution to the problems of generating power in a system with a variable input speed. Say that you have an alternator spinning and you have a battery connected to the output coil, but you apply no voltage to the energizer coil. Even though it's spinning, little or no electricity is generated. Say that the battery is already charged. You wouldn't want to over charge it so it's cool that you can turn off the alternator without actually stopping it since it's mechanically connected to the engine. \n\nNow lets say while it's spinning you apply 5 volts of power to the energizer coil. Now it's acting like an electro magnet causing the other spinning coil to do work, which generates a voltage and the battery begins to charge. The more voltage you put into the energizer coil, the more power for a given RPM is generated on the output coil. The alternators energizer coil is usually controlled by a circuit so that regardless of the engine RPM, it's power output is steady and always just enough to charge the battery and keep the electronics in the car powered at a steady 13.6-14.2 volts. "
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4bz6cf | where is voyager 1 now and do they actually recieve much data from it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bz6cf/eli5_where_is_voyager_1_now_and_do_they_actually/ | {
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"Voyager 1 is currently 20,077,434,531 km from the earth and decreasing (as the earth is currently orbiting towards voyager faster than voyager is traveling). It is in a zone called \"Interstellar Space\", an area between our solar system and the next. \n\nSignals from voyager 1 take approximately 18.5 hours to reach the earth. NASA expected to lose connection with voyager years ago but due to advances in receiver technology they are still able to receive the very weak signals. \n\nThe signals are being received by the arrays of the Deep Space Network of large radio telescopes at sites in California, Spain, and Australia. \n\nSadly we may never see photos of where voyager goes next since the camera system was turned off in 1990 to save battery power (and the camera program was deleted to free up storage and processing power). So the only signals being sent back from voyager are about plasma, magnetic fields, and radiation. \n\nHave a great day! :-) \n.\n\nThanks to Slash178 for correcting my typo.\n.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nHere is a nice map from NASA so you can picture where the voyager spacecraft are. (Just shift the arrow a bit to the right since the image is out dated) \n\nNOTE: Map is in logarithmic scale. So voyager is over 100 times the distance of earth from the sun. ",
"Is it not damaged by space trash or rocks floating in space? I heard that those fly as fast as bullets in space and can easily kill you if you get hit",
"[Voyager 2 has an unofficial twitter account that describes how far away it is and what activities it's performing.](_URL_0_) Occasionally the account also provides information regarding Voyager 1. ",
"Go see for yourself! _URL_0_\n\n(Disclaimer: this is their projected position around 3300 CE.)",
"So where is Voyager 2 in comparison to 1?"
]
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[],
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[
"http://news.discovery.com/space/voyager-probes-found-in-online-elite-dangerous-universe-141231.htm"
],
[]
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78d9bz | do multivitamins and omega-3 pills actually do anything? or is it more of a placebo-type thing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/78d9bz/eli5_do_multivitamins_and_omega3_pills_actually/ | {
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"Yes they help, but it’s obviously way better to eat a balanced, nutritious diet. It can’t hurt (if you take the recommended amount). Don’t waste your money and buy some cheap Kirkland ones on Amazon. ",
"**TL;DR**: *Depends on whether you have a terrible diet or a good (or even average) diet. They only really help if you have a complete absence of some nutrients; you'll get enough to get by if you eat a variety of non-junk foods like most of us do.*\n\nWith a terrible diet, such as if you're a senior citizen that can't cook and eats very small portions or you live off of low-end ramen noodles or something, you're simply missing out on a ton of nutrients, particularly vitamins but also protein and fibre. \n\nSince you're not eating any greens or organ meats at all and stick to inexpensive pre-prepared foods with soft drinks on the side only, you're not going to get any Vitamin A, C or K, for example. The first is important for a lot of stuff like vision and immune system, the second helps keep your blood systems healthy, and the last is critical to avoid a condition known as scurvy (but doesn't actually do much else despite what the marketers tell you). \n\n(Omega-3's are needed in there too, but it's kind of overstated as to how much they help unless you have cardiovascular issues. Bad if you don't eat any fish at all ever, usually okay otherwise if you get a trace of 'em from that Tuna Helper casserole or have anchovies on that pizza.)\n\nAnd there's lots of similar vitamins that can be missed if you go the other route and stay completely uniformly vegan too.\n\nSo if you have a really shitty diet, that once-per-day vitamin pill gives you SOME of those vitamins when otherwise you don't get any at all. That's good and helpful...\n\n...but most people don't need them if they have a mixed salad once in a while or eat \"fortified\" foods which have them added. In that case, they get arguably limited value out of multivitamins. ",
"Vitamin D is typically included in multi-vitamins as well, although the dosage is inadequate for anyone who may need it in a dietary supplement. We get vitamin D naturally from exposure to daylight, so some people in northern latitudes (or anyone who spends way to much time indoors - talking to you Reddit) can avoid a variety of conditions related to vitamin D deficiency. Buying just vitamin D is a small fraction of the cost of multi-vitamins. ",
"It's very difficult to get scientific evidence on this. A person who takes the vitamin pill every day is quite likely looking after themselves in other ways too. For a comparison group, you'd need a variety of people living off things found in trash cans and lighter fluid, but who still remember to take the vitamin pill every day.\n\nI've heard the phrase \"If you can afford vitamin pills, you don't need them\", meaning your diet is likely enough to provide you with vitamins.\n\nIt's also debatable how well the vitamins get absorbed in pill form.\n\n",
"Science Vs. just did their weekly podcast about this very question. You should give it a listen. The conclusion on multivitamins was that they don't do much, but they also do no harm, so why not. ",
"[Science vs.](_URL_0_) podcast just did a show on this. \n\nScurvy and Rickets are diseases that were very real in the not too-distant past. These were due to a lack of Vitamins C & D. Today these conditions are very rare because we understand them and have vitamins added to common foods.\n\nThe science on long term benefits of vitamins is a mixed bag without any clear answers. The best they could come up with is that there is good scientific evidence that taking a multivitamin a day isn't going to have any negative consequence.",
"I input literally everything I ate in a week [into this site](_URL_0_) to get my nutritional data for the week.\n\nI ate at least 4 servings of vegetables a day, along with 2 servings of fruit. A few servings of fish, some small amounts of steak, some chicken. Pretty healthy stuff - no junk food, no fast food, no candy, cakes, ice cream, etc.\n\nI still fell short on quite a few nutrients and vitamins. I just input this ordinary day of eating - just the healthy stuff without butter and oil and other stuff that isn't going to give you anything significant vitamin/mineral-wise:\n\n* 2 c spinach\n* 1 c brussels sprouts\n* 1 c strawberries\n* 1 c carrots\n* 4 oz cod\n* medium chicken breast\n* medium sweet potato\n* 2 eggs\n\nI still fell way short on 7 minerals and 5 vitamins, some by a huge margin. So I take a supplements to round everything out, especially Vitamin D, magnesium, and potassium."
]
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[],
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bkr9nk | what mechanical aspyhxiation means | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bkr9nk/eli5_what_mechanical_aspyhxiation_means/ | {
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"Snakes wrap around the chest, where the lungs are, but that's how it works. In the case of this guy, he couldn't breathe because he was in a choke hold, and this had the same net effect (keeping him from breathing).",
"Mechanical asphyxiation means that something is physically preventing air from getting into the body or oxygen to the brain. For example, by the mechanical action of compressing the trachea. Alternately, choking on food, or water. \n\nAsphyxiation, assuming sudden onset, usually takes the same amount of time to die or pass out. It’s speed is basically the amount of time needed for a body without incoming oxygen to lose consciousness or die. It’s generally the same amount of time regardless of *why* the oxygen isn’t getting there. \n\nThere are other forms of asphyxiation as well, such as chemicals that prevent the body from absorbing the oxygen properly. This is different because no external force is preventing the movement of air itself, but you can’t make use of the air.\n\nThink of how you imagine mechanisms and mechanical things. They’re physical objects that do things by physical force some how. \n\nA clock (a mechanical clock) moves the arms around by gears and springs. It’s mechanical. A car is mechanical because the engine moves the parts around physically to make the wheels turn and spin. A digital watch isn’t mechanical because it’s using a little computer to display things, though. \n\nMechanical asphyxiation is when you can’t breath because something is physically stopping you."
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4wh8d6 | how does water get transported from the stomach/intestines to blood stream? | My wife and I were trying to decide if it was broken into specific molecules or if it streams or what, and then the blood stream takes it around? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4wh8d6/eli5_how_does_water_get_transported_from_the/ | {
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"The inside of your intestines is made of a semi-permeable membrane - only certain molecules can pass through. Think of it like an air filter, but with molecule-sized holes. Water, being a pretty small molecule, can fit through, and the lining is designed to absorb water. On the other side of the membrane are capillaries - tiny blood vessels that weave throughout your tissues to pick up waste and deliver oxygen and resources. The water dissolves through the membrane more or less directly into your blood. The other resources in what you're digesting gets absorbed by different parts of the membranes designed with channels that will grab those particles, or actively absorbed by cells along the lining that grab food bits, wrap a cell membrane around it like a box, and send it along. Or there are active channels in the cells that use certain kinds of chemical bonds to manipulate and move molecules around.\n\nAt the same time, waste molecules are being dissolved across the membrane the other direction.",
"I Googled and found [this](_URL_0_), which seems to have some good information but is slightly too hard for me to completely understand, so I'd appreciate it if someone else could chime in.\n\nOkay, so the vast majority of water absorption occurs in the small intestine. (Keep in mind that the digestive system is basically a long tube and that something that's \"in\" your intestines can be \"outside\" your body, in the same way that if you put a coin in your mouth it'd be outside your body.) The cells of the small intestine can more or less control where sodium goes. So first of all they pick up sodium, whether from the food you eat or from your blood, and then they push it into the spaces between cells. \n\nNow, if you'll remember from high school, water likes to balance itself out. If you have a 5% sodium solution and a 10% sodium solution and stick a filter in between that lets water through but not salt, then water will flow through from 5% to 10% until they're the same concentration.\n\nYour intestines use this to your advantage. Since the watery spaces between intestinal cells now have more sodium than the water actually in your intestine, the water flows in without your cells having to use any extra energy.\n\nFrom there, fancy membranes that I can't understand proceed to push this salty water into the capillaries (tiny blood vessels) wrapped around your intestines, and it's integrated into your blood.\n\nTo answer your confusion, it's essentially a lot of very thin streams throughout your small intestine."
]
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33u3cy | why do we see fruits growing in the wild but never any vegetables? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33u3cy/eli5_why_do_we_see_fruits_growing_in_the_wild_but/ | {
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"You probably do, but you don't recognise them. Vegetables look like they do because they have been bred to have large edible parts and their wild equivalents look just like random weeds.\n\n[Comparison of a crop carrot and a wild carrot](_URL_1_)\n\n[Wild cabbage](_URL_0_)\n\nMeanwhile fruits evolved naturally to entice animals to eat them and spread their seeds, so they look tasty and edible even in the wild.",
"There are wild vegetables growing in many places. They just don't look like what we see in the grocery store. There are many species of [wild potato](_URL_1_) and [wild onion](_URL_2_) that look nothing like the sweet onions or Yukon gold potatoes in the produce section. We've breed them to have the characteristics we like - larger, tastier edible parts that can grow in a cultivated setting and will handle being shipped and stored.\n\nAnd it's the same with fruits. You can find [wild grapes](_URL_0_) but they don't have the same growth habits of the grapes you find in the store. ",
"There are a lot of root vegetables which grow underground like carrots or potatoes so you wouldn't even see them unless you knew exactly what their respective above ground plant parts looked like. On the other hand fruit grows on trees and bushes and often has a vibrant colour so they're easily visible and much more noticable.",
"Here are some examples from western North Carolina, USA: [Ramps](_URL_0_), [Brook Lettuce](_URL_2_), [Dandelion](_URL_1_). I'm sure you can find more!",
"And for the best example: corn \n\nCorn cannot and would not exist w/o humans. _URL_0_\n\nSo much of what you think of as normal, wouldn't exist w/o intervention at some point in the past \n\nLeft is still a cultivated version of the original teosinte that corn started from",
"The same reason you rarely see wild dogs (not stray dogs btw). Most dogs, like vegetables, have been bred to keep certain characteristics we find useful, or enjoyable\n\nThey're all still dogs, but over thousands of years, we've, changed then so much, that some are virtually unrecognizable from the original, wild, dog.\n\nIf you want, you can look up the history of the mustard plant, since from this one single plant, we've grown brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, radishes, watercress, etc.\n\nFrom one plant! Which, if you saw it in the wild, would look *nothing* like any of those vegetables I mentioned.\n\nTl;Dr - because evolution, and artificial selection.",
"I see vegetibles in the wild all the time. Carrots are pretty common as are onions, clover, asparagus, chicory, cactus and so many other edible wild vegetables. They look completely different than the store bought ones though because they havent been bred for the traits consumers desire.",
"They do grow wild, but you'd probably never recognize them because we have artificially selected the ones we like best. Those ones you're familiar with have characteristics which are well suited to farming and human consumption, but are no longer subject to natural birds and bees style procreation. "
]
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"http://www.dorsetnature.co.uk/images/wildflower/wf-04a2.jpg",
"http://www.ijdvl.com/articles/2011/77/6/images/ijdvl_2011_77_6_731_86511_f2.jpg"
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_drummondii"
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_tricoccum",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum#Edibility",
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[
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Maize-teosinte.jpg"
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[],
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6k9dnk | the loud buzz when you plug a cable into a sound system? | Especially when the volume knob is turned high. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6k9dnk/eli5_the_loud_buzz_when_you_plug_a_cable_into_a/ | {
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"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's something like the signal arcing. So just before it's seated nicely there will be what's basically a loose connection, so you'll get a momentary spark or a sudden chaotic signal that the speakers will interpret as your basic average garden variety white noise."
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aweysf | how can some states have zero income and/or sales tax? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aweysf/eli5_how_can_some_states_have_zero_income_andor/ | {
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"text": [
"Generally if they have no sales tax, they get the revenue from elsewhere. For example, Delaware has no sales tax, but there are a large number of tolled roads. (There's a joke that none of the roads into Delaware are tolled, but every road out is.) So while the roads aren't supported from Sales tax, they are supported by the tolls to utilize them. Additionally there is still the issue of property taxes, vehicle registrations, etcetera.",
"In short, sales taxes and/or shitty services. Here in Washington, there is no state income tax, but we have high sales taxes (Oregon nearby has no sales tax but has a state income tax. So many people live in Washington and do their shopping in Oregon). \n\nOther states just don't prioritize services like roads, libraries, and other activities, like Wyoming. Some others with no state income tax derive revenue from the use of their natural resources (Alaska and Texas), and they may or may not prioritize basic and essential state services like roads and libraries.",
"Only Alaska has no income tax or sales tax. They get most of their money by taxing the oil companies. The state makes so much from that, they give eligible residents $900 per year to live there.\n\nAll other states have either an income tax, a sales tax, a gross receipts tax, or a combination of those. A gross receipts tax is very similar to a sales tax except, the customer doesn't directly pay it - the business just pays a percentage of their sales to the state. States also make money on property taxes; special taxes on certain businesses like oil, casinos, hotels, etc.; vehicle and gas taxes; as well as other things like toll roads and a variety of government fees.\n\nEDIT: Apparently New Hampshire has no income tax and just a very limited sales tax.",
"States tax other revenue. Alaska gets royalties from oil extraction. Florida and Nevada charge taxes on their large tourism industry, such as hotel room taxes."
]
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3by6ll | why the government and media use different acroynms for the islamic state? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3by6ll/eli5_why_the_government_and_media_use_different/ | {
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"Originally, the name was ISIL(Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or ISIS(Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).\n\nThe Obama usually uses the acronym ISIL because he thinks Levant is more accurate.\n\nThen it changed to IS, the Islamic State."
]
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[]
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|
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2zf8tw | how do they produce these shitty infomercials? | Now, I know about 99% is fake and a scam. But how do they make the actual infomercial, i.e. how do they make it so magical? Like in the Shamwow video, where the guy simply scoops up all that liquid with this cloth. Or the new superbroom that scoops up virtually everthing and leaves the surface stainless.
Do they actually get "superproducts" and then just make them look like the cheap stuff they sell? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zf8tw/eli5_how_do_they_produce_these_shitty_infomercials/ | {
"a_id": [
"cpid5up"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Magic of editing, for example its VERY easy to fake shamwow cleaning everything, just erase shit from the table on post.\n\nanything that shows stuff disappearing is something that is child's play in modern programs.\n\ntoday you cant tell.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\nyou see this everywhere and never notice.\n\nedit: there is a bunch of these demo reels:\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_3_"
]
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| []
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[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKZio1NA15I",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CknLD0B4LpA",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnnTUKVdZuI",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tMKk7cuqqI"
]
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1jkmum | why does sugar sometimes act as a preservative (sugar-cured fruits, honey) and sometimes encourage bacterial growth? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jkmum/eli5_why_does_sugar_sometimes_act_as_a/ | {
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"Moisture is the enemy of preservation. \n\nA high salt or sugar solution around the food will attempt to reach equilibrium with the salt/sugar levels inside (Osmosis). You end up drawing water out of the food and having sugar and salt molecules flow into the food to try and balance the levels. With less water in the food it resist spoiling.\n\nThat said, there are some bacterias and yeasts that love high sugar and salt foods so they can actually flourish in preserved foods. Also, in lesser concentrations sugar is an excellent food source for some bacteria, like the ones that cause cavities.",
"Everything in nature tries to end up in as boring a state as possible. (Entropy) What does this look like for liquids and dissolved solids? All mixed together in the same proportions. Water goes through cell membranes freely. Sugar does not. The water, trying to find equal concentrations of dissolved solids, rushes out of the cell. The bacterium dies.\n\nWhen it is not so concentrated that it sucks the water out of cells, it serves as food for them."
]
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8uvan7 | why isn’t every bone in our body made to be as strong as our femur? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8uvan7/eli5_why_isnt_every_bone_in_our_body_made_to_be/ | {
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"Pure thickness. If your fingers were as strong as your femur you'd look like a old well trimmed tree.",
"The femur is the largest bone in the body. Making all the bones that big would not work. Try to type with your knees, and you'll immediately see the benefit of those tiny, breakable, finger bones.",
"Cost. Building strong body parts isn't cheap, and energy/materials in the form of food isn't infinite.\n\nIn eons past there were mutations that favored building muscle and bone and everything else, but they didn't reproduce as prolifically and successfully as the ones that prioritized brain development.\n\nNeedlessly strong bones beyond what's needed to find food, procreate, and put up with reasonable stress... that's a waste of precious resources.",
"Besides everything already mentioned, weight.\n\nThe femur *needs* to be that strong because it carries the entire weight of the torso, arms, head, etc, while also providing a place for large muscles to attach/pull— muscles that lift all that weight.\n\nIf the ribcage, arms, etc were equally big the femur would need to be bigger as a result. Otherwise, it would break more often not only because it carries more weight, but nothing else gives way first if the body’s subjected to bone-breaking levels of force ",
"Because they all have different functions, some of which require thinner or smaller sizes, necessitating a different overall strength for the bones.\n\nAny material, be it bone, metal, or paper, is going to be easier to bend or break depending on it's shape and size.\n\nThe tiny bones in the inner ear help with hearing, and are required to be easily vibrated, having them big and thick and strong would not be advantageous."
]
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3q2tzn | what exactly happens in the eye of a storm? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q2tzn/eli5_what_exactly_happens_in_the_eye_of_a_storm/ | {
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"in the eve of the storm it is very calm, not much wind is present due to wind rotating around the eye not past it. if you are able to stay in the eye you will be completely safe. the wind spirals upwards due to convection(pressure difference) around the eye."
]
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edpfbb | how long do you have to be exposed to an environment where viruses are active to actually catch cold? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/edpfbb/eli5_how_long_do_you_have_to_be_exposed_to_an/ | {
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"Varies extremely based on many factors, including the strength of your immune system, how exposed we're talking, if you're vaccinated, if it's a new stain of [insert disease]. If you're willing to give specific information you can probably get some estimates from r/askdocs but asked in the way this question is it's not really answerable.",
"A cold is a virus, which is a tiny little creature that is not quite alive, which you usually breathe in or eat. \n\nIt only takes one individual viron to infect you, but first it has to run the gauntlet of your body’s defence system.\n\nYou have a whole army ready to defend you against viruses. The first is in your nose and mouth. There are little hairs in your nose that actually “beat” in time to sweep viruses and other debris towards the back of your throat where you swallow it and it gets destroyed in your stomach. That works a lot of the time.\n\nIf the viron gets through that, though, next it faces your intrinsic immune system. These are the cells that patrol your blood looking for intruders like viruses or bacteria. Natural killer cells, macrophages, that kind of thing. These cells will try and destroy the virus, and they will raise an alarm that it is here. \n\nThen, your acquired immune system arrives. If you have ever encountered this virus before - or even one that is very similar to it - you will already have antibodies in your blood that will recognise it. They will attach to it and act like waving red flags alerting the body, and enhancing the response, drawing white blood cells to the site. Death will be quick and brutal for the viron.\n\nBut - sometimes, the viron makes it past all of that. It makes it to your cells and gets settled inside. There, it begins reproducing. You get sick. Your immune system will fight it, but the virus has made itself an army instead of one lone scout.\n\nSo that’s *how* infection with a virus works. Your question was how long you need to be in a place with a virus to get infected. The answer to that is: it completely depends. \n\nYou need to be there long enough to be exposed to a virus. But that could happen in the first second, or it might not happen for hours. And if you *are* exposed, there is a chance that you won’t ever know. Most viruses you are exposed to don’t make you sick, because your very good defence system is looking out for you. Honestly, you’re probably looking at a timeframe of seconds or minutes before you are exposed to viruses in a crowd. But don’t let that scare you.\n\nTldr: Literally any length of time is sufficient. Everything is riding on how your immune system handles the virus, that is what determines whether you will get sick - not the length of exposure."
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2hb15c | how can no deaths caused by cannabis be recorded? surely someone has died due to lung disease or other complications from excessive smoking of the drug. | This is not a loaded question. I am totally pro legalization.. like totally, I am high right now. but this question has been bugging me since I see so many people saying weed has caused no deaths | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hb15c/eli5_how_can_no_deaths_caused_by_cannabis_be/ | {
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"Those deaths are usually attributed to the disease itself, or they fall into the category of \"smoking\" deaths or \"inebriation\" deaths. But either way, it's a lot more difficult to gather statistics about a drug that is illegal in most places.",
"Most likely because most of the lung diseases can be cause by multiple different things. At any time, you can breath in something that can contribute to cause one of those diseases, making it very hard, if not impossible to pinpoint the exact cause.",
"I think a better statistic would be accidental deaths where marijauna or THC was found in the body during autopsy. Something along those lines. I had a friend killed on a ski slope about thirty years ago. I was with him. He was an expert skier who had skied in that same location for years. He got super high on some weed he shared with a guy he met on a really long chairlift (I was on the chair behind him), lost control in a mogul field one run later and broke his neck. Right before we started that run he told me that he was \"flying.\" I suggested we take the next run over, which was much easier, but he just took off. Say what you will, but you'll never convince me his utterly stupid death wasn't due to his marijuana use that day. But the fact that he was high never came out publicly. ...And I am sure his accident is not singular - pull back the curtain and I'd bet we'd find this happens quite often. I've never touched the stuff since. Watching a close friend die like that will do that to you. It seems like OP is questioning along these lines somewhat, and I'd just say 'be careful' and strongly consider quitting.",
"Because it isn't toxic. There are plenty of deaths where thc was both present and a relevant factor if not leading cause. Alcohol, for instance, is incredibly poisonous which is why there are deaths caused by it.",
"When they say it's caused no deaths, they mean no one has ever died from marijuana intoxication. So it's impossible to smoke so much weed that you'll overdose and die. This is unlike other drugs like alcohol and heroin. Even if you're sitting at home, not doing anything dangerous, if you drink enough alcohol in one sitting, it will kill you. Now, I'm sure smoking marijuana has probably given someone lung disease or circulatory disease. And I'm sure people doing stupid or dangerous things while high have ended up getting themselves killed. But no one has ever overdosed on marijuana. ",
"It's careful wording. When they say 400,000 people die from tobacco, they don't include the person who was burned to death because their lit cigarette caught the house on fire. They only count the deaths that are medically attributable to tobacco use. Because cannabis has an unreachable toxicity for humans(the LD50 is estimated at 1500 pounds in one sitting, but doctors have never been able to illicit a toxic response from cannabis ingestion), and is not associated with life threatening illnesses(sorry, but there is not a demonstrated link between cannabis consumption and lung disease), people can claim that the plant itself has never killed anyone.\n\nAs with other things though, that doesn't mean there aren't cannabis related deaths, where it is cited as a secondary cause. This would be the times you make poor decisions because you are intoxicated. Like drunk drivers, and the person who burned to death in my example above, these are not strictly a result of the material consumed, and so aren't attributed as a primary cause.\n\nI think that many activists(but not all) can be a bit disingenuous when they make this claim. Then I read about a few more teenagers dying of alcohol poisoning over the weekend, and kind of don't care. It is an important part of the conversation, but like with ecigs and tobacco, the conversation should be about **safer** alternatives, not about **safe**. ",
"To explain your last sentence, it's like saying Ford cars caused deaths by crashing into trees. It's not the fact that they're made by Ford that makes them crash into trees, but the fact they're cars, regardless of the brand. When people discuss drugs in general, it is a discussion of danger of the substance itself rather than the inhalation method."
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1vurc2 | if my dog isn't self-aware, why doesn't she react to the other dog in the mirror? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vurc2/eli5_if_my_dog_isnt_selfaware_why_doesnt_she/ | {
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"Theres a difference between self awareness and abstract thought. She's aware she's a dog, and of her own body. Doesnt freak out when she sees her tail either, usually. Tho some dogs are particularly stupid and do in fact freak out over their own tail and reflection. Most of them are clever enough not to. ",
"Dogs are much better at smelling and hearing than they are seeing, so that's usually what they go off of (even playing fetch dogs are most likely using smell to find what you threw rather than sight). The image in a mirror has no sound or smell, so many dogs wont react to it. Some dogs are more sensitive to movements (why some dogs do react to themselves in the mirror), but many times that reaction doesn't last forever."
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2xnxh2 | why are some governments perpetually corrupt (i.e. as soon as one corrupt leader is overthrown another takes their place) whereas other countries have managed to avoid this cycle? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xnxh2/eli5_why_are_some_governments_perpetually_corrupt/ | {
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"I'd say it has much to do with a history of colonialism/conquest. when an empire collapses, or is driven out of a particular country, it tends to leave that country massively unstable for decades, perhaps centuries. it's a pretty complex matter, but that's the short version of one particular viewpoint."
]
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43vhzd | who do political polls seem less and less reliable nowadays? | Thinking not only of the American political race, but also examples like last year's Canadian election. Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43vhzd/eli5_who_do_political_polls_seem_less_and_less/ | {
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"If you want to vote for a controversial candidate/party, people will crucify you for it on social media. Reddit is basically a Sanders machine right now, imagine what responses I'd get if I was bigging up the Trump. So, people keep quiet, or say the right thing until they're in the little private stall.",
"You could also cite Israel's last elections and a lot of recent European elections.\n\nPolls are struggling because they used to have good methods to get representative samples that aren't working as well anymore. For example, everyone used to have a landline, so a telephone survey of landline numbers used to be able to get you a pretty representative sample. Not so much anymore. \n\nAnother factor is that there are many more polling agencies than in the past. With slightly different phrasing in their questions and slightly different methodologies, this leads to a wide spread in polling results without a clear answer as to which poll is the most accurate.",
"They have been unreliable in the past too, as in [the famous \"Dewey Defeats Truman\" poll result.](_URL_0_) That one happened because a higher percentage of Truman voters lacked phones, which were used to do the survey."
]
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5onmkm | when rolling a ball on a flat surface, it produces a rolling noise (eg. going bowling). what is actually causing this noise? being a sphere, there isn't really an 'impact' while its rolling for the noise to be produced is there? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5onmkm/eli5_when_rolling_a_ball_on_a_flat_surface_it/ | {
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"Actually, a rolling object could be more thought of as having many more impacts, just with less force. A square object \"rolling\" would have four big impacts, while a bowling ball would have tons of tiny ones, which add up to the smooth rolling noise.\n\nSource: It makes sense in my head so I hope that's how it is\n\nEdit: think of the atoms. As the ball rolls, the object itself stays on the ground, but each surface atom is constantly going up and down, taking turns hitting the ground and then getting rolled back up. That's what makes up all the tiny impacts that cause the sound",
"The [roundest object on Earth](_URL_0_) , if scaled to the actual size of the Earth, would have 14 to 40 meters of difference between the highest peak and the deepest valley. Bowling balls are reeeally irregular, so they make many tiny jumps every second. The rolling sound is the sound of the ball bouncing towards its target. \n\nEdit: grammar and amount of meters",
"I'm no expert, but I'm thinking this is because the flat surface you're talking about isn't actually totally flat, and the ball isn't totally spherical. I'd bet perfectly round object rolled on a perfect flat surface wouldn't make a sound aside from the slight wind noise it would create, which our ears probably couldn't pick up anyway."
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3o8ru6 | why is men's fashion so much more limited than women's? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o8ru6/eli5_why_is_mens_fashion_so_much_more_limited/ | {
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"A variety of reasons. First, more expensive places and lines of clothing will have a lot more variety because someone who's willing to spend more actually cares what they look like. The value lines usually cater to the larger majority of men who don't want or need to care how they look.\nSecondly and more importantly, even in the higher end fashion women will buy more items and spend more overall than men. There are of course many more reasons and subtleties, but these are the largest two for a company deciding on what to carry.",
"In general, we have this cultural idea that beauty is a lot more important in women than it is in men. So it's not just fashion and clothing but all appearance-related industries cater mostly to women and therefore give them a much wider range of options, because they're taught to care a lot more about their appearance than men are.",
"Same reason parents are more conservative with boys' names than girls' names: the consequences of non-conformity are much more severe against men than women.\n\nStrange women are alluring; strange men are threatening.",
"As a man I can say I really don't care as long as it's comfortable and darker shades of any given color. Only check list I go by when buying clothes. Names and brands don't matter much but maybe that's just me lol. And I realize I didn't even come close to answering your question or even attempting to lol.",
"Men are taught to be the \"simple sex.\" When a mother or father finds a boy doing something girly, they're quick to correct him. The aspects of male and female beauty are pretty much wired during early childhood.\n\nFundamentally, male style is best when it doesn't stand out, and female style is best when it does stand out. Men cut their hair short and wear solid colors, while women grow out their hair and wear more elaborate colors. \n\nIronically, we are one of the few species where men are expected to be more basic than women when it comes to appearance.",
"Because it's easier to ascertain differences in status based on clothing if the clothing is as uniform as possible. Women are expected to compete in the arena of beauty, while men are expected to vie for status.",
"Alternatively, why is women's fashion so much more of a pain in the ass than men's? I have to have all these varying degrees of formality for this event and that one, whereas there are maybe four options for a guy: t-shirt and jeans level; business-casual slacks and collared shirt; three-piece suit; tux. There are super nitpicky things when you get to suits, but let's be real, nobody outside the Hamptons is going to notice as long as it kind of fits."
]
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88djew | how do turtles spread to new areas? | If turtles return to the same beach that they hatched on to lay their eggs [and in the same vein, fish returning to the same stream to spawn] how do they 'return' to once abandoned beaches [or rivers] or spread to new areas? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/88djew/eli5_how_do_turtles_spread_to_new_areas/ | {
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"text": [
"Sometimes turtles get lost and wind up on the wrong beach and lay their eggs on the new beach, meaning that nearly all the hatchlings that survive will now return to the new beach to lay their eggs."
]
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3xdosc | my internet provider has had data caps for a couple years now and nobody made it a big controversy- why is there one now when comcast all of a sudden introduces them? | I have Mediacom and pay $125/month for TV, Phone (which we don't use) and 500GB of data a month. We kept going over our limit (Netflix, YouTube...) and would get charged $10/every 50GB we went over. I called them to see if they offered any other packages- Yep- for $10 more a month, I can have 999GB per month. All the while charging us $10 for every 50 we went over.
Why isn't Mediacom being called out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xdosc/eli5my_internet_provider_has_had_data_caps_for_a/ | {
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"Never heard of them. From a cursory google they seem like a small company. Do you have other options in your area? Comcast is being called out because their low data caps are actually negatively affecting the market, and because they are a huge company that many people have no choice but to use.",
"Well Comcast is setting there cap at 300gb and charging $15 for every 50gb after that, so it's a lot more money for less internet. Comcast is also the biggest is in the country so when they do things it makes news. Many people are also stuck in area where Comcast is the only option besides dsl/dialup which is vastly slower or satellite which is also slow and has even harsher data caps. Comcast has also admitted in leaked memos that these caps are really just a way to make more money and have nothing to do with over taxed infrastructure or limited bandwidth.",
"This is an issue becuase its a shitty attempt for ISPs to keep cable television relevant. They know its on the way out and it's losing to companies like Netflix, so they're doing everything they can to stop it. Cable is a billion dollar industry and they aren't going to go away without a fight. It's going to get ALOT worse before it gets better. "
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1n3n9v | the hacking of the federal reserve | Please go into detail as to what the federal reserve is and what happend there. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1n3n9v/eli5_the_hacking_of_the_federal_reserve/ | {
"a_id": [
"ccf2pl8"
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"The US Federal Reserve system is the central banking system of the US, and acts as a stabilizing influence for the economy.\n\nThe hack that occurred (or was revealed) during the Super Bowl was the theft and exposure of emergency contact information for various bank executives, some of which included home phone numbers. To put this in perspective, it is like someone strolled into a bank and snatched a Rolodex off a desk. Naughty and illegal, but not really threatening to bank security."
]
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3ez2e1 | cecil the lion | Before people say "Google it" I tried, everything right now is about this dentist. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ez2e1/eli5_cecil_the_lion/ | {
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"Cecil was a national favorite in Zimbabwe and was huge for tourism. Officials in Zimbabwe are saying the lion was lured off of the reserve and intentionally and illegally killed. Dentist is apologizing and saying he is blameless and he simply payed guides.\n\nThen there's the whole ethical debate of killing for sport on top of the hunting of an endangered species.",
"He was a lion on an animal preserve. He was a particular favorite of people because he was friendly, full of personality, and willing to pose for pictures, and had been there a long time. \n\nBy the way, when you google something and you keep getting results you don't want, such as in this case, you can add a word you want to *avoid*, next to a - sign. It will then give you only results without that word. In other words, google \"Cecil the Lion\" and -killing. Google will then give you \"Cecil the Lion\" and skip search results that contain the world \"killing\".",
"For the record bow hunting is viewed as far more sporting and more humane. When an animal is shot by a bow it means it is close (35-40 yards is a typical max range for a bow, and crossbows probably aren't much further) and the arrow kills by blood loss which should only take 2-3 minutes tops. Gunshots typically kill by shock and that is why gunshot animals can run a few hundred yards and you should wait a few hours before attempting to find the kill. Animals killed with a bow don't go nearly as far, but a poor shot obviously negates this.\n\nI was unaware about the luring off the reserve part of this case, in many similar instances people who get angry about endangered species hunts fail to consider that the individual animals being hunted is on a game preserve with carefully managed populations, is old, cannot breed and will likely die of starvation, age, or poaching soon. So auctioning off a permit for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars which are earmarked for conservative on and supporting a community is far more useful to the species than 1 more individual animal."
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2r22au | why do people want europe to be diverse but no one is demanding multiculturalism in first world asian countries such as japan and south korea? | I've never understood this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r22au/eli5why_do_people_want_europe_to_be_diverse_but/ | {
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"This is a really interesting question; I've heard things about the Japanese and the Russians being really quite xenophobic, and both of those countries are nominally Western. \n\nIf I had to guess, it's probably a backlash against Eurocentrism, and the heightened sensitivity Europe has to diversity given that it already contains divergent cultures within itself. Which makes sense, since it's essentially the meeting point of--not just the European cultures--but the North African, the Middle Eastern and the Baltic cultures, too. ",
"The thing is, Europe is already very multicultural, it always was. Plenty of differences between German and French and Italian and whatever cultures. And lets be real here, pretty much nobody gives a fuck if an englishman settles down in Italy. We don't whine that they hold onto some of their own cultural ideals. \n\nAdditionally, the reason we're expecting ourselves to be multicultural because we are also the reason a lot of those people are here. I can only speak for my own country (The Netherlands) but I am certain there are similarities in other European countries.\n\nTake after the second world war, for example. The Netherlands really needed manpower at that point. During war, many young men had died, and a lot of the survivors had gone to Canada. So we had a labour deficit. So what do we do? We invited so many young men from other countries to come work here, first from the rest of Europe then from Turkey and Morocco. We expected these people to stay here for a short time than go home when we didn't need them anymore. Which, personally, I find a pretty douchey assumption. Oh please come solve our problems, but then you do not get to reap any of the rewards, cause you should go back to your own countries and try and build up something there after decades abroad. \n\nAs you can expect that didn't work very well.\n\nThese people didn't go. They settled down here, brought over their families or created new ones here, their children were born here, they have never known their 'home countries'. They helped us out when we needed it, we kinda owe it to them to allow them to live here as well. \n\nAnd that is not even the only way people got here. The Netherland used to be a huge colonial power. We had colonies all over the world. We forced our culture and politics on these people, not always to positive effect for the people there. Take the Maluku Islands and Indonesia. After the world war, The Netherlands was all to eager to get their hands back on Indonesia. The people of Indonesia were not very happy with this and they fought for their freedom. Of course The Netherlands were not exactly going to take that lying down. Now we had a colonial army in that time, filled with people from the region. One of the most elite corps in it were the Maluku corps. These men had fought and died for us. But when Indonesia became independent, suddenly they were considered traitors there because they had sided with the Dutch. We couldn't abandon those people exactly so those that wanted to were brought over here 'temporarily'. So temporarily we took the liberty of discharging them from the army too. Oh but they could not work in the Netherlands either, cause no, they were going home soon, right? We allowed them to live here but only barely. We did not allow them to integrate into our society until years and years later. And now we are complaining about how they are not properly integrated.\n\nIn short, a lot of the expectations of European multiculturalism come forth from the fact that in the past we created our own problems with the politics of that day and age. ",
"Presumably the people who want Europe to be diverse are themselves European, or have some kind of connection to Europe. If \"no one\" is demanding multiculturalism in Japan and South Korea, then you should ask the Japanese and South Koreans about that.",
"Actually, there is backlash against racism and xenophobia in Japan and South Korea. Japan slaughtered millions of Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Filipinos in World War 2, and because of this, WW2 memorials are treated as something to be avoided. The current Prime Minister of Japan is kind of an ultranationalist and when he visited this shrine to Japanese soldiers of WW2, it caused a big scandal, because Japanese people are ashamed of their racist imperialist past, much like Germans are ashamed of their Nazi past. No other Prime Minister of Japan in recent history has visited this shrine, because it's seen as condoning the atrocities of Japan in WW2. In South Korea too, there's a lot of bigotry against foreigners, and there's commentators and activists there criticizing their country for being racist.\n\nThe myth that only white countries are pressured to be anti-racist and embrace multiculturalism is spread by literal white supremacists who have recently come up with these nonsense narrative of \"white genocide.\" Neo-Nazis and the KKK are claiming that immigration to Europe and North America is an attempt to eliminate white people via racial admixture. It's insane and it's racist. "
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khzn2 | when two people have guns pointed at each other's heads, why doesn't one of them just pull the trigger? | Does this only happen in movies to build suspense or do you really risk getting shot back by the other guy? I think i read somewhere that if you get shot in the head, you just fall like a rag doll, so wouldn't the first one to pull the trigger win or do you really have enough time after getting shot in the head to pull the trigger and kill the other guy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/khzn2/elif_when_two_people_have_guns_pointed_at_each/ | {
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"Are you asking in reference to some specific event? Something in the news, or whatever?",
"It you shoot someone in the head they will reflectively pull the trigger of their gun with a muscle spasm. Professional snipers will instead shoot people through the neck to cut the spinal cord and the body will fall like a rag doll.",
"***Very*** relevant:\n\n* _URL_2_\n* _URL_1_\n* _URL_0_?",
"Are you asking in reference to some specific event? Something in the news, or whatever?",
"It you shoot someone in the head they will reflectively pull the trigger of their gun with a muscle spasm. Professional snipers will instead shoot people through the neck to cut the spinal cord and the body will fall like a rag doll.",
"***Very*** relevant:\n\n* _URL_2_\n* _URL_1_\n* _URL_0_?"
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qq8pb | eve online particulars | ELi5 differences, advantages and disadvantages of
Weapons: Laser vs. Projectile vs. hybrid vs. Missile
Defence: Shield vs. Armor vs. Passive shield
Ships: Amarr vs Minmatar vs Gal vs Caldari
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qq8pb/eli5_eve_online_particulars/ | {
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"Maybe /r/eve would be better than eli5?"
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3y838r | the advantage/disadvantage of seeing a digitally projected movie. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y838r/eli5_the_advantagedisadvantage_of_seeing_a/ | {
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"As opposed to a 35mm film projection? 35mm is around 4K equivalent, the majority of movies today are only 2K, and not all theaters have 4K projectors either (you usually see a 4K intro on theaters that have 4K projection, usually Sony). Film projection is noisy, you will hear it during quite scenes if you sit near it. Film degrades fast after multiple showings, if you see a blockbuster movie a month after it's release, you will see scratches, dust, and other imperfections, which are very distracting. Film also has a wider color space than standard DCI (I believe IMAX's new dual 4K laser projection is even wider). \n \nThere are a lot of types of digital movie theaters (Premium Large Format (which may have Dolby Atmos), Digital IMAX, etc.) so I can go into that if you want. \n \nThere are other major film types, like 70mm (The Hateful Eight) and 70mm IMAX (The Dark Knight, Interstellar, and one scene in Star Wars Ep VII (which I saw 2 days ago at MOSI and it was great)), I can explain those as well if you want.",
"One disadvantage is that old-fashioned xenon projector bulbs would crap out on you all of a sudden, and it took a while to cool them down to change them. But digital projector bulbs dim gradually, so there's the chance you may not be seeing a digital film at the brightness it was intended.",
"Whether \"35mm is equivalent to 4K\" is debatable. \n\nKeep in mind that if you're watching any contemporary film, chances are very high that it was originally shot digitally and in some cases at 2k, which means printing it to film is doing nothing to increase fidelity. \n\nAlso keep in mind that most VFX are finished at 2k which means throwing that onto film doesn't magically make it sharper. \n\nI grew up watching 35mm from the third row and it was mostly a mess of grain and shit caught in the gate, nothing I'm nostalgic about. Now if I watch digital projection I can see pixel shapes from the third row. Neither perfect, both fine from the right distance and if processed well. \n\nColor gamut is an interesting question... Most people won't notice the difference between film and digital. The most gorgeous movies I've seen, color-wise, were shot digitally. It's more what you do with it. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was shot on film and I wouldn't say the color was more amazing compared to digitally-shot cousins. \n\nTL;DR: Hope that true 4K digital projection gets widespread soon, and we won't need to wonder whether we miss film. ",
"The advantage is that the digital film looks just as good after 20 viewings as it did at the first viewing. It doesn't wear out or get scratched after many viewings. Film movies look their best on opening weekend with declining quality every night after as the reels get worn from the mechanical movement of the projector and you start getting scratches, blemishes, dust, and other defects that degrade the picture quality. \n\nThe advantage of film is that it is still much higher resolution that digital projection. A top quality film projector on any decent format is going to have 3-4 times the resolution of the best DCP projectors. \n\nCurrently the digital cameras which can shoot digital film, are much higher resolution than the projectors that can show digital film. So even if a movie is shot on digital and you print it on film, it's still generally going to be higher quality than if you projected it with digital cinema projectors. Even Imax digital caps out at 4k resolution where as imax film has upwards of 8,000 vertical lines of resolution, almost 4 times the 2160 vertical lines of 4k. ",
"From an IT Guy and self-proclaimed audio/videophile:\n\nAnalog projection is pretty awesome. You get the film grain and splice marks that can help lend a unique feel to certain kinds of films. Every viewing is unique, due to film wear, cuts, splices, repairs, dirt, dust, damage, etc., which for some folks adds character and charm. Analog also scales well to different screen sizes, as long as you have the right bulb and optics for it. The only time you'll ever get a \"screen door\" effect on analog projected films is if the camera perspective is through a screen door itself.\n\nDigital brings some new features to the table, though, to make it worthwhile. For one thing, it's phenomenally easy to distribute and cheaper to project (depending on your POV - I'm sure many theater owners may disagree, due to equipment costs upfront). Digital films also don't degrade - whether you're at the midnight showing, or the last showing before it's removed from theatrical run, it'll look and sound identical. The problem with digital lies in its fixed resolution - 2K projectors frequently leave films looking blurry if viewed up close or on larger screens, which can be distracting to the viewer. Watching Skyfall on IMAX was particularly distracting, as it looked like I was watching the movie through vaseline due to the sheer size of the screen relative to the 2K digital projector they had to screen it with.\n\nOne of the bigger perks of digital, though, used to be an old hallmark of really nice analog films: color gamut and contrast. With newer projectors (4K, laser, LED, etc), we can finally reach color gamuts and contrast ratios we hadn't seen since the old Technicolor days of traditional film. With mastering processes beginning to integrate things like High Dynamic Range or P3 color spaces, some movies will look astoundingly beautiful on a modern, up-to-date digital projection system.\n\nUltimately, it boils down to what theater you're seeing the movie in. If you live near a nice, 4K theater, and can see your movie in such an environment, you likely won't regret it, since it'll look as good (if not better) than the finest film projected movies back in the 90s. If you're thinking of checking out, say, Star Wars at an IMAX with an old 2K digital projector, you'll be sorely disappointed. For niche stuff, like 70mm Hateful Eight, Digital is still a ways behind, and likely will be for a while yet, so it's best you track down a cinema doing the 70mm projection of it if you can.\n\n**TL;DR:** For most folks in traditional theaters, digital will be best. Exceptions are if you sit close to the screen, the screen is abnormally large, or the movie uses special cameras/film, like 70mm. If you can find a 4K theater, that's your best bet.\n\n(*Author's Note: So cannot wait to see Star Wars at the renovated IMAX in Reading this weekend. Hello, 4K laser projection!*)"
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3dsox0 | what is the great filter and the fermi paradox? | I was reading posts on a scary theories thread in /r/AskReddit and Great Filter was brought up a lot. According to a link given, it's based off of the Fermi Paradox, but I don't understand a single goddamn word of any of it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dsox0/eli5_what_is_the_great_filter_and_the_fermi/ | {
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"The idea of the Fermi Paradox is based on a number of potentially faulty assumptions, but goes something like this: the universe is very old. Logically, there were Earth-like planets within our own galaxy long before Earth itself existed. Some of those planets would likely have supported life. Some of that life would have developed civilizations. Some of those civilizations would have developed space travel. At even the pace we can travel at now, they could have colonized the galaxy in the space of millions of years, which compared to the age of galaxies and universes is very short. It would only take one civilization, out of the potential millions that developed before us, to do this so why aren't there any aliens that we know of?\n\nThere are lots of problems with the \"paradox\" some of which you can probably think of yourself. But one of the answers is the existence of some sort of great filter. An event that happens in the evolution of a civilization that ends up destroying most/all of them (or in less extreme versions simply preventing space travel). The idea goes that there are many filters, such as the development of an appropriate life supporting planet, the development of life, the movement of life towards complexity, etc. and that there is another filter that we have not yet encountered which makes expansion unlikely. One example might be that it's just too materially expensive to travel to other planets. A grimmer version might be that the energy source needed to travel great distances ends up destroying the civilizations that use it."
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skr2r | time isn't real. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/skr2r/eli5_time_isnt_real/ | {
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"You are a living creature. All living creatures do stuff in a kind of specific order-- you eat, then you go to the bathroom. You're born before you die. That kind of thing. The way that living creatures experience time, it seems to be real. We measure time by clocks, but we also measure time by how long it takes for certain things to happen to our bodies. How long between drinking a bunch of soda and having to pee, for example. \n\nThere are other things in the universe that are not biological like you and me. There are tiny little bitty things we can't even see with our eyes. Things like atoms, which are like little bitty legos that make up all the bigger stuff, like your bones and my blood. There are different types of atoms that make up different things. And there are other little bitty things, like protons, which are the things that make up light. All those atoms and protons move, just like you and I do, through space. We can move backwards and forwards, side to side, and up and down, and lots of combinations of those directions. So can the little bitty things. But we all also move through time. Because the little bitty things aren't biological, the rules are different for them. That's why when you read advanced scientific stuff time looks different than the way you experience it.\n\nTry reading \"Chronos\" by Klein.",
"Here's how I see it. Time is the measurement of change. It was invented by humans and, if things cease to change, will become non-existent. I don't have the facts but I reckon until then, time is very real.",
"Time is real in our sense of the two words. \n\nIt's not necessarily linear, even though we perceive it as such.",
"Time is just a measure we use to understand the universe; the chronological difference between events. Time itself is said not to exist because without us to measure it, it's not really there, events just happen. We need to have some sort of measurement to comprehend events. "
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1m6cvi | if north korea is shielded from the internet and outside world, how then are they able to progress in fields like nuclear power (weapons) etc. | Where does the knowledge come from? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1m6cvi/if_north_korea_is_shielded_from_the_internet_and/ | {
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"I'd wanna say that the general population is shielded...the govt and higher up have access to anything they want",
"They get a lot of help from their allies. Also, like Superbob said, the higher ups have access to internet.\n\nFun fact: North Korea is one of the world's largest fresh fruit producers.",
"Um...\n\nYou realize that everything that was known about nuclear weapons work up until 1936 - including the fissibility of uranium was publicly available in printed journals right? The US, Britain, france, Russia, Israel, India, South Africa, Pakistan and China all developed nuclear bomb programs without the internet. The internet didn't come into being until really the 1990's. \n\nThe internet is rarely a source of knowledge it's merely a distribution mechanism, and there are other distribution mechanisms out there. Everything you need to make nuclear weapons or reactors can be found in undergraduate nuclear physics textbooks, which haven't changed much in well over 20 years. \n\nAside from that, North korea has both a small number of external internet connections, and an internal internet. When you're talking about advanced research or engineering work, those people are going to have access to the outside world. It might be tightly controlled and monitored, but they will have access. And there are always the embassies and diplomatic relations arms of the government, who certainly can get whatever they want, print it off and send it home. ",
"North Korea gets How-To Guides from China on the assembly of Nuclear Weapons. ",
"We didn't have the Internet back when we developed nuclear power in the 1940s. Who says you need the Internet to perform scientific inquiry?"
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f1sqsj | why shouldn’t you leave your single-use contacts in for over a day? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f1sqsj/eli5_why_shouldnt_you_leave_your_singleuse/ | {
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"I once got put in the hospital and didn't have my single-use contacts taken out for several days. When I did take them out and put in new ones they didn't seem to be working at all. Everything was extremely blurry and I was basically blind for a while.",
"It is unsanitary. Bacteria begins to grow in them and make them misshapen and blurry, which also reduces their effectiveness. You can do it, but it will suck and isn't good for your eyes, getting worse with each extra day.",
"One of my friends slept with a single-use accidentally and it was stuck to his eye the next morning. It looked really painful and the eye was bloodshot when he got it out.",
"I wore single-use lenses for days on end in college and eventually scratched my cornea as a result! Do not recommend. Further the risk for infection/disease is heightened due to the unsanitary nature of the practice"
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ar6ni5 | what are the differences between good quality fruit and bad quality fruit in terms of nutrients? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar6ni5/eli5_what_are_the_differences_between_good/ | {
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"Bad quality fruit usually has a great deal more protein. It used to be difficult to keep lion tamarinds alive in captivity despite a great deal of work spent duplicating their natural diet. Once the caretakers realized how much bug meat there was in wild versus supermarket fruit, the problem went away."
]
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38rw1g | do any countries not use arabic numerals for most things at this point? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38rw1g/eli5_do_any_countries_not_use_arabic_numerals_for/ | {
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"Chinese merchants have their own numbering system, but any globalized country uses arabic numerals most of the time"
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4efaoh | why do we sleep a lot when we're sad, depressed? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4efaoh/eli5why_do_we_sleep_a_lot_when_were_sad_depressed/ | {
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"Also, depression is heavily linked to trouble sleeping due to rumination, worry and anxiety. You have unrefreshing sleep or trouble sleeping altogether so you are sleep deprived which worsens the depression. It can be a downward spiral. If you can treat the insomnia or depression, it usually improves the other as well. ",
"Depression isn't just sadness. For a lot of people, it's a lack of any emotions at all. Or you're just left with the unpleasant emotions. So imagine you wake up everyday and you just don't care. But people expect you to care so you try to and it's just exhausting. And then when you're alone you're bored, because you just don't care about anything that used to make you happy. So you figure you'll just sleep, because then at least you don't have to think. But when you lie down your brain won't turn off and you lie there for hours thinking about all the ways you've fucked up or could fuck up. You're in bed for twelve hours but only get a few hours of good sleep and then you start all over again and all you want to do is sleep more. Or at least, that's how it worked for me. \n\nEdit: Thanks anonymous gold giver!\n\nAnd to everyone who commented that this sounds like them, I just want you to know that you can get through this. It's hard and it sucks, but you can get past it. Just remember to be kind to yourself and ask for help when you need it. There's nothing wrong with seeking treatment or going on meds. ",
"When your brain doesn't work like it should, the regions of your brain that control hormone secretion and regulation don't work like \nthey should. Many of these hormones are critical for energy regulation, like melatonin, cortisol, adrenaline, ACTH, TSH, T3/T4 (thyroid), and so on. This doesn't explain the \"why\" (a much more complicated answer that we're still learning about), but the \"how\". So basically, depression changes brain chemistry. And brain chemistry affects body chemistry.",
"From a psychological standpoint, excessive sleeping might be used as a coping mechanism, specifically [Avoidance](_URL_0_)\n\n\n\n\nCoping mechanisms are the different ways in which we deal with stress/problems/etc. One of these, avoidance, is exactly what it sounds like: avoiding the stress-causing stimulus in any way possible, and for some, that could be sleeping.\n\n\n\n\nThere are other really good answers here though, this is just coming from a psychology major's point of view. Also, this is referring mainly to the 'sad' part of your question. Depression is a different story I think.",
"Partly because the brain creates melatonin when we are in the dark. \n\nDuring depressed stages we can say that we are much more often in bed, in the dark, out of the sunlight, etc. and we know that melatonin induces sleep, therefore, we sleep more. And it's somewhat due to this cycle that continues a depressive cycle, but not necessarily starts it. \n\nBut this is also why depression is more prevalent during the winter months: less sunlight.",
"Depression in particular is long thought to be caused by an imbalance, or low levels of serotonin. \n\n\nSerotonin is a chemical in the body most known to be a neurotransmitter that helps control mood balance and sleep cycle. An unbalance in serotonin levels can effect the bodies ability to control it's sleep wake cycle adequately, causing excessive sleepiness. \n\n\nThis is a pretty black and white version as the process of neurotransmitters are obviously pretty complicated, but the body is either not making enough serotonin or is not receiving enough in the cells. This is why drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used to treat depression. \n\n\nThese drugs work by blocking the reuptake, or reabsorption of unused or unbound serotonin which essentially allows more to be used by the body. Think of opening a gate and letting, let's say ducks cause I like ducks, out to go to different duck pens. Rather than leave the gate open, the gate where they were released is closed. Essentially this doesn't give the ducks the option to return to the original gate. "
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1ydet6 | how did child rearing work before diapers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ydet6/eli5_how_did_child_rearing_work_before_diapers/ | {
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"People just used cloth which they had to wrap around the baby then wash when it was used. Same with tampons.",
"As far as infants, cloth and linen were often used as diapers, this is shown in native tribes. Disposable diapers are relatively new. Many people still use cloth diapers as they tend to be better for an infants skin. Thorough cleaning was just very important. "
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3hyy1f | escargot vs. garden snails | What's the difference between escargot snails and the regular old backyard snails? Do they breed special ones just to cook up and serve to people, or could I grab a few out of my garden, season them up a bit and charge a shit load for them? I've never tried escargot myself, I really don't understand how people can willingly put snails into their mouth, but I've always wanted to know if there was a difference. Any avid snail eaters care to enlighten me? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hyy1f/eli5_escargot_vs_garden_snails/ | {
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"I don't eat snails but I do know that the ones they breed are guaranteed not to be poisonous, unlike some that you might find in other places.",
"There are many different species of snails. Some species are favored for eating in certain cultures.\n\n In some cases snails may be farmed, but in other cases they're caught in the wild. Some species may be inedible or maybe even poisonous.\n\nThe difference between escargot snails and backyard snails is you know escargot are safe to eat, and they taste good (at least to people who enjoy eating snails). Backyard snails may not be safe to eat, and may not taste good.",
"This wikipedia article offers some species names of specific snails commonly eaten _URL_1_ I've had escargot before but would not be in a rush to have it again. not bad but nothing special imo.\n\nHere in Newfoundland we sometimes eat sea snails. Periwinkles, commonly called winkles or wrinkles, are edible but fairly small so you need quite a lot of them. I've eaten quite a few of them! _URL_2_ \n\nI've never seen a garden snail big enough to bother eating, but your local species may vary. A few edible species have been *introduced* to north america so you might find them _URL_0_"
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4g091v | the pentagon papers content and while it was so negatively viewed | Can someone please ELI5 what the pentagon papers actually said that was so upsetting to the American public.
No matter where I search, nowhere can I find a detailed and understandable explanation as to what the papers said, that wasn't part of the deal the US entered Vietnam in the first place. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4g091v/eli5_the_pentagon_papers_content_and_while_it_was/ | {
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"Here's a quote from the New York Times concerning the Pentagon Papers:\n\n > They demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance.\n\nBasically the Pentagon Papers disclosed that the government had been lying about the aims, causes, and scale of the Vietnam War.\n\nA modern equivalent would be if the War in Iraq really was for oil, Bush lied about the WMDs, and that the US had also secretly bombed Iran and Syria.",
"The US government lied about the reason for going to Vietnam. \n\nThe US intentionally aided in a coup to depose the leader of South Vietnam in 1963, trying to provoke war. \n\nThe US engaged in covert warfare to intentionally provoke war with North Vietnam. \n\nSouth Vietnam existed solely as a US enterprise to contain China, the goal of the relations was to provoke North Vietnam into war, US and South Vietnamese victory of that conflict would prevent any expansion vision of China. \n\nThe US used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to intentionally manipulate public opinion into support for a war. \n\nThe US escalated the war by bombing neighboring nations and raiding North Vietnam directly, none of this was covered by the media. \n\nSo basically the US said the war was about protecting an ally from communism. What the papers showed was that the ally was really a creation by American foreign policy, the war was the result of American aggression, and was only about containing Chinese ambition. Thousands of Americans died for geopolitical positioning. \n\nAdd in the war was extremely unpopular, with protesters getting shot at Kent State and riots erupting at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Americans hated the war. The papers showed the military and government misled the public to start a war. "
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2pe9tp | why do sandwiches taste better when you layer the meat instead of laying it flat? | So, I've noticed a sandwich always tastes better if the meat is folded, creating volume and pockets of air between the meat, instead of simply placed flat on the bread.
I realize this is a dumb, simple question, but I wanted to see if there were any culinary experts out there that can explain how this affects the taste. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pe9tp/eli5_why_do_sandwiches_taste_better_when_you/ | {
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"Flavor is more than taste. Texture and scent contribute as well. \n\nAltering the texture can make the whole experience more or less enjoyable ",
"Dear god this.\n\nI like all my meat thinly cut,and folded....mmm I can already taste it",
"More surface area for your taste buds?\n\nMore saliva required for absorption = more particles activating taste receptors?"
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5p82gi | why do hot temperatures make you irritable? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p82gi/eli5_why_do_hot_temperatures_make_you_irritable/ | {
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"Because it's fucking HOT!!!!! It makes me feel like I can't breathe right. I struggle taking breaths. I get tired faster. I feel like there is a weight on my fucking shoulders that I'm carrying. I get throbbing headaches, and it fucking sucks! Plus I'm sweaty as fuck and feel like I'm going to pass out!\n\nThat's why sir! I'm sure there is also a scientific answer to this. Mabye the temperature does something to endorphins or something .. but my answer is the troof!"
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fdttqt | what are "twin cities" ? | What are twin cities have been seeing them a lot through city entrance signs | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fdttqt/eli5_what_are_twin_cities/ | {
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"Two cities that are each independent and distinct — they have separate mayors and city halls — but are close enough that they form the core of the same metro area. They are also reasonably close in size — one is not a whole lot larger than the other.\n\nMinneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota are a famous example. They formed separately ten miles apart in the mid-1800s. Minneapolis has a waterfall that powered the milling industry while Saint Paul is the state capital. Before long, the city limits of each grew until they touched. From the outside, it is just like one big city — but with two downtowns!",
"There are two types of twin cities. One type occurs when two cities are founded nearby and grow together (like Minneaopolis and St. Paul, Minnesota). \n\nThe other is effectively a marketing exercise where two cities or regions will pair up to boost tourism and trade and cultural exchange between the two cities. They'll often have programs to make it easy for students to exchange between the two cities for a year, or have a cultural center for the opposite city's culture in each city, or programs to help small businesses in the each city access the other nation by sharing knowledge about the the legal processes to export and import between the two nations.",
"Typically a metropolitan area will either be dominated by single city (New York) or will be a conglomerate of several cities (San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose). Even when there is a second fairly large city (Las Vegas-Henderson, Phoenix-Mesa, Denver-Aurora), one is usually culturally dominant. If you grew up in Henderson and a stranger asks where you are from, you are probably going to say Las Vegas.\n\nTwin cities are when there are two main cities each with it's own cultural identity. Minneapolis -St. Paul is the canonical example. Not counting metropolitan areas split by a state border (Kansas City KS vs. Kansas City MO), other twin cities in the US include: Dallas-Ft. Worth, Raleigh-Durham, Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale."
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2t956s | why do companies so frequently use songs in advertising without permission? | In the news, I often see stories about a company being sued over an ad campaign using a song they don't have the license for. Isn't it more affordable to either pay royalties or just use another song? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2t956s/eli5_why_do_companies_so_frequently_use_songs_in/ | {
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"text": [
"Because only the entire song is licensed. Any deviation from the original state is not privy to the licensing term. See Sting v. Vanilla Ice"
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9n8zz6 | why does milk go bad in the heat, but milk can be baked in high heat without the product going bad? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9n8zz6/eli5_why_does_milk_go_bad_in_the_heat_but_milk/ | {
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"There's a temperature range (roughly 40 degrees Farenheit to 140 degrees Farenheit) that harmful bacteria is able to grow. When you bake something with milk in it, the item typically going from below the bottom of the temperature range to above the top of the temperature range fast enough that the harmful bacteria has time to start growing.\n\nThe harmful bacteria is what makes the milk go bad.",
"Because the curve of the growth rate of microorganisms vs temperature is shaped [like this](_URL_0_). As you increase the temperature from fridge to room temperature and a bit above, the growth rate first increases steadily - that is why we put food in the fridge, to slow down the growth of any molds or bacteria. But soon after passing the optimal temperature for the bacteria or mold in question, the heat starts to actually kill them, and at the > 100 C temperatures encountered in baking, all but the most extremophile bacteria, and certainly all that can cause any sort of illness, are rapidly killed.",
"Milk goes bad because of bacteria in it, that develop more quickly at warm temps. But once you go above a certain temp they die. So milk left out at 90 degrees is a great environment for bacteria to develop and spoil milk. Boiling it, or baking something that includes milk to a temp that kills off bacteria means it doesn't spoil. Typically, over 140 degrees is the temp needed to kill off harmful bacteria, which is why we cook meat to over that temp, hold foods above that once cooked, etc."
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4hapmb | how does a captcha know i entered the correct word? are there hundreds of people each day just filling in captchas in an office for the servers to make a match? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hapmb/eli5_how_does_a_captcha_know_i_entered_the/ | {
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"They have a database of images and what the answer is. It simply checks to see if your answer matches what the database says the it is.\n\nFun fact with captchas - Google's captchas (which show you 2 words - often one more legible than the other) are only half testing you. The first word (the one that's usually more difficult to read) is the actual test - the second one is a word from Google Books that their software couldn't positively identify. So it shows you the word and asks you what it says, so they can make the book transcription better. They're basically using captchas to perform Mechanical Turk style word identification - pretty clever.",
"If it's just a mangled word with some squiggly lines and other stuff to confuse a computer, then the server knows what the word is because it generated the image. It may not be able to separate the text from the background in the final image, but it knows what text it drew.\n\nThe version of reCaptcha that asks for two words does show you words that it doesn't know, because they came from scans of books that Google is trying to digitise (and later, signs in streetview images). The trick there is to show you one word that it already knows the answer to, and one that it doesn't. If you get the known word right then it lets you through and assumes that you also got the unknown word right. Once lots of people have given the same answer for that unknown word, it becomes a known word.",
"Also, how does \"I'm not a robot\" captcha work? You just clicking on the checkbox, how can it tell if I'm not a robot? ",
"A computer can take a word and generate a messy image of it, by deforming it and adding lots of noise and random artefacts/shapes that aren't part of the word. But a computer would find it pretty much impossible to do the reverse, that is, to take the messy image and turn it back into real letters. However, it isn't much of a problem for us humans! And there you have a way to test for a human, at least for now!\n\nSo the words are generated, and the images are generated based on the words. The server stores them and compares them to the answers the humans provide.",
"The original capchas had two words. One word is computer generated so the computer knows the answer. If you get this word you've already passed.\n\nThe second word the computer has no idea and you can type whatever. That word can be the first or the second though so you have to try to get both.",
"NPR/TED had this guy talk about his work on CAPTCHA and how it works/is used, especially with its imperfections. Really interesting [16 minute long video](_URL_0_)."
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2jdwlg | why are some people against capitalism/what are the main arguments? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jdwlg/eli5_why_are_some_people_against_capitalismwhat/ | {
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"The main arguments I've seen against capitalism are as follows:\n\n1) Unchecked, it will create a divided society in which a small number of people hold all of the money.\n\n2) By its very nature, it places greater importance on the creation of wealth than it does on the well being of the people in the society.\n\n3) The concentration of wealth into a few hands will lead to a closed system of politics in which only those that gain the favor of the elite will be able to rise to power in either the private or public sectors.",
"It's not an optimal distribution of resources. The idea of an open-market, a capitalist will say, is to get resources where they're most needed. People willing to pay more clearly need it more therefore it rightfully goes to the highest bidder.\n\nThis ignore very wealthy entities buying up things for a meagre portion of their wealth despite the needs of poorer entities that can't outprice them with their resources. You also get a lot of anti-competitive behaviour in totally free markets like big purchasers threatening to buy nothing from a vendor if they don't sell to them exclusively.",
"I am against capitalism, and this is my reasoning:\n\n1) Life should not be centered around obtaining material goods. I understand this is not a major point of capitalism, but it is what it becomes in practice.\n\n2) Capitalism focuses upon competition. I believe mankind should focus more on cooperation.\n\n3) The divide it inevitably creates between classes (in some cases more pronounced than in others). The best example I've seen personally is that many people in the United States live far worse than many people in say Bulgaria.\n\n4) The idea that wealth will always continue to grow, I believe to be flawed and will eventually collapse.\n\nAll that being said, I cannot think of a realizable alternative (I do like Thomas More's Utopia but that in and of itself, is a Utopia). What we consider social democracies today are in essence still capitalist, just with more checks in place. I believe that Germany, or even a second world country's (ie. Serbia) has better social systems in place than the United States - the latter of which I believe to be one of the most capitalist societies in the world.\n\nI think eventually, out of capitalism mixed with social democracy/welfare states, another economic system will emerge, which will prove to be superior. ",
"Capitalism is inherently undemocratic. In markets free of regulation business are able to impose themselves on people with little or no fear of reprisal, in effect becoming unelected governments. The unchecked power of industry in nineteenth-century America is a great example of how dangerous unregulated business can be. Unregulated consolidation of wealth is worse, because it allows those who own industry to buy whatever government they want, essentially handing them total power over the vast majority of people who are not wealthy.\n\nBasically, in a true capitalist state, business can do whatever it wants to you short of robbery, murder, or assault. Your only potential responses are not buying from business—good luck in a society that doesn’t regulate monopolies—or filing and winning a civil lawsuit.",
"One of the main arguments against capitalism specifically is that it commoditizes workers rather than humanizing them. You end up with a race to the bottom as more and more people are competing for less and less jobs for worse and worse wages. This is most pronounced in the service and retail industries, but is also becoming more and more common in public sectors and even larger private companies. As wages stagnate and the middle class shrinks, tax revenues drop, and there is less money to pay social servants such as teachers and nurses. In turn, people in these industries have less money to spend, ultimately contributing less to the economy and exasperating the cycle.",
"some people value goods & services beyond materialism & monatary value.\n\nworkings for menial wages, to create goods we cannot afford is not the dream we aspire to.\n\ncapitalism works for the industry leaders, factory bosses & company commanders - but to many, working without a living wage, benefits, respect or even recognition is not worth pursuing.\n\ntake eastern ukraine: nato & the eu are anxious to seize ukrainian resources [natural & human] for the sake of the empire. many prussians [pro russians] aren't interested in taking out loans to kill their self determinations or care to work for petty wages to buy into the latest fad.\n\nfor many of us, living from the earth & within your own means is enough.",
"We must first be clear what we are talking about, capitalism is a method of PRODUCTION, it is not buying something for X and selling it for X+, its not what happens in shops but in factories. \n\nOne argument against capitalism as a form of production is that it is a form of slavery, wage slavery. Let me explain, in economics we use supply and demand diagrams, if we place \"number of people employed\" on the x axis and \"wage levels\" on the y we find that the only place we see everyone gets a job is when wages are at zero, thats slavery. Every other level of wages is just a degree of slavery. \n\nOn a similar note under capitalism in order to take part economically, buy the things we are told we need etc you HAVE to (workers have fought to get unemployment benefits but in general if you don't sell your labour you starve) get a job (some can become capitalist but not all) yet every economic theory has an inbuilt number of unemployed, its called \"the natural rate of unemployment\". The unemployed keep the costs of labour down, if everyone needs a job bosses can get people at a lower wage, if everyone is employed the only way you get people to work for you is higher wages, higher wages mean lower profits. A system where everyone needs a job yet there is systemic unemployment and unemployment is a necessary feature is an immoral system. The capitalist exploits this for his own benefit at the expense of the worker.\n\nProfit is defined as the difference between costs and prices, the only cost the capitalist can control is wages, wages and profit have an inverse relationship, one rises at the expense of the other, this causes a conflict between the two groups, class war. its an inherently divisive system. It also inverts the \"natural relationship\" of labour. let me explain, if you want your walls painting you ring a decorator who will come round,look at the job and tell you how much it will cost you. You don't tell him how much you'll pay, he decides what his labour is worth. under capitalism this is turned upside down, the boss tell you how much you'll earn for selling him your labour. \n\nUnder capitalism, profit is king that means that what we get under this system is not necessarily the BEST products but the cheapest, two examples: VHS vs betamax, betamax was far superior to VHS, but VHS was cheaper so VHS became the dominant standard. When i was growing up Apple computers were far better than IBM ones, they have GUI, a mouse whereas IBM had MSDOS command line, but IBM were cheaper so it became dominant. Look at all the cheap shit in shops, pans that break within a few years vs lifetime guaranteed pans. Quality is reduced under capitalism cos its price and profit that matter not providing for people's needs and wants. \n\nThink of any social problem we have, you can easily think of ways to solve them but in policy terms there will always be economic (capitalist) reasons why it cant be done. For example, homelessness. do we know how to create homes? yes. so it seems easy, build home for the homeless, simples. But the capitalist will go \"No No, if we spend money building homes, that will raise the public sector borrowing requirement, that will mean more money in circulation, which will lead to inflation\". Inflation is their go-to excuse. We could solve the problem but the rules of capitalism wont let us do it. Whenever you hear \"inflation!\" as the reason, they are really saying \"capitalism wont let us do it\" It holds us back. Capitalism is a hinderance to progress.\n\nTL/DR it's slavery, it's exploitative, it's divisive, it's anti-quality, it's immoral and it hold's back human progress.\n\nEDIT: add TL/DR and spelling.\n\nEDIT: Wooah, someone gave me gold, I'm not really sure what that is, i've only been here a week but thank you kind stranger :-)\n",
"From what I've witnessed personally, the main arguments I've encountered are as follows.\nDisclaimer: These arguments are in some cases exaggerated in the severity for example's sake. They don't reflect my belief that we should all stick it to the man and go live in the forest.\n\n1) A slowly increasing class divide between rich and poor. When the goal is to make as much money as possible, people are often motivated to keep that money from others. As a result, \"the rich get richer and the poor get poorer\"\n\n2) A feeling of moral unfairness where financial compensation (reward) should fit the job's social importance. Capitalism rewards stupid, racist, loud celebrities who seemingly have no actual talent beyond the desire to stay famous, and the people who get paid for keeping them in the public eye. Meanwhile the people who clean the public services covered in filth, feces, and disease are getting minimum wage.\nIt differs from country to country so this argument may not always apply, but there's a general feeling of undeserved entitlement.\n\n3) Corruption. In a capitalist society, money = power. Whether it's bribing government officials, or government officials owning large stakes in private companies, it can create an anti-competitive system where nepotism and \"friend of a friend\" systems will define who gets paid, and everyone else is left picking up the scraps.\n\n4) Mistreatment of employees. If the primary motivation is to make money, then by extension there's motivation for CEOs and managers to work people as hard as possible, and pay them as little as possible. This would correlate with points 1 and 2. The result is a lower quality of life for \"the 99%\" where companies will skirt the bare minimum in terms of employment perks.\nIn the low paid, low skill, low education jobs, people don't generally work because it's their life's dream to be a waiter or a toilet cleaner. They do it because they need money to eat and have very few options available to them. In these jobs, it's an employer's market and the volume of applications they get allow them to pick the people willing to work for as little as possible, accept the cheapest treatment, and work the longest hours.\n\n5) Social services do not exist.\nHomeless line the streets because nobody wants to spend money putting them somewhere safe and clean, because there's no financial gain within their own lifetime for doing so.\nThe poor are malnourished because they can't afford basic food, and nobody is willing to share their own supplies because what do they gain from altruistic behavior?\nFree medical? What do I get out of it?\nUnemployment funding? Give money to people for not having a job? Why?\nGive money to people for having children? Caring for their parasitic elderly relatives? What is this madness?\nThe poor are affected by social problems much more severely than the rich. A rich parent can pay someone else to look after their 4 year old child while they go to work.\nA poor parent has to look after the child themselves, which means giving up working, which means having less money, which enters them into a perpetual cycle of poverty.\n\n6) Everything is owned by someone.\nAs the rich acquire more land and resources, it becomes harder and harder for any one person to \"opt out\" of society.\nIt might seem like a good idea for a small group of capable, like minded individuals to head out to the wilderness and try to make it on their own.\nExcept, all farmable land is owned by someone - even if it isn't used, all mineral deposits are held by companies, even derelict caves with no financial value are owned by tourism companies to bleed as much money as they can out of sight seeing.\nThe only places left you could possibly go are arid, infertile, dangerous lands that are not conducive to human life.\n\n7) We're destroying the planet.\nIf the only goal is to make money, who cares what damage we leave behind?\nFilling the ground with toxic substances, mowing down forests, stripping the planet of all its resources, filling the sky with poisonous gasses, melting the ice caps, heating the planet, and then when we run out of space in the unpopulated zones, we'll move these industrial resource-stripping mechanisms into poverty stricken neighbourhoods where the people have no power or influence to stop \"progress\" from spreading sickness and poison throughout their homes.\n\nThat isn't to say capitalism is the worst form of economic thinking. Communism, socialism, anarchy, and other theories and practices all have their own issues. Nothing is perfect.",
"Capitalism is a system whereby a majority earns money through labor and is paid wages, a minority earns money by virtue of a claim of property, and prices are set for the most part via a market.\n\nSo just knowing that there's a sort of injustice involved. The owner hires a worker based on the assumption that the value created by that worker is greater than the compensation given to that worker. The difference goes to the owner. This is what is meant by exploitation. If I create $100K in value but I'm compelled via property rights to give half to the owner who didn't do any of the work that produced that value, that's not really fair.\n\nMost people that I know that oppose capitalism are OK with a worker/owner relationship to a small degree. Suppose you own a lawn care business and you hire a few kids. They produce more than their cost, but you took the risk creating the business. So a little is OK.\n\nBut when it starts to get big it gets exploitative. The heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune literally do nothing. And they use the same wealth that they have to create conditions that make it even more difficult for workers to capture a reasonable share of the value they produce. Sweat shop workers in Haiti and the Philippines really create a lot of value, but because of pressure from wealthy corporations they're unable to sustain governments that try to do what it takes to allow them to get something like a living wage. In China unions are illegal, and that's true throughout the third world. It's not an accident that democracy was undermined in Colombia and today they lead the world in execution of union organizers. Pressure from corporations leads the US government to undermine democracy there because this is better for profits. This is the result of the capitalist system, where demands for endless profit increases produce this result.",
"The profit motive is also immoral in some industries like defense and health care. It encourages war and denying care to sick people.",
"It relies on scarcity and competition but is apathetic as to what the effect of these factors is upon society and the environment. "
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2bfzq1 | why does tapping a screen fix dead pixels? | I just did this to fix a dead pixel on my monitor. Why does tapping fix it? I searched and couldn't really find an explanation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bfzq1/eli5_why_does_tapping_a_screen_fix_dead_pixels/ | {
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"The crystals move to change colors. Sometimes they get stuck and tapping them allows them to move again. \n\nThat's why they are called \"stuck\" pixels. "
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1ai8d1 | what happened in the steubenville rape case? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ai8d1/what_happened_in_the_steubenville_rape_case/ | {
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"So last August, a 16 year-old girl went partying with members of the \"Big Red\" high school football team of Steubenville, Ohio. The next day, she woke up with no memory of the night before, and in a place she did not recognize. She was able to fill in the gaps, and get info from others, and, apparently, she had been dragged around, house to house, party to party, unconscious, by members of the team, and repeatedly raped because it was \"funny\".\n\nNow, Steubenville is one of those little towns where football is like a goddamn religion. A \"Saturday Night Lights\" kind of thing, going, so everybody has a love for these players. Nobody wanted to touch them, but the parents of the victim kept pushing, and gathered tons of online posts from players with pictures of the girl passed out and such. One YouTube video* shows a cocky player laughing about how he did actually rape the girl. That all was written off as not being sufficient evidence to call it rape by local police. Coaches, parents, and the rest of the community swept it under the rug. Anybody who might have seen anything would not talk.\n\nThat's when Anonymous got involved. The story got some attention on the internets, and Anonymous got hold of the players personal info, and released it to the world (for social justice). Apparently, they wanted an apology, nothing more, but made threats because that's what the internet does when Anonymous goes social justice on your punk ass. Again, the town loved its kids, so they freaked out at this and kissed the players' asses like they did nothing wrong. They called it a social media witch hunt, pretty much, so of course Anons were not appeased. Protests came to town, and threats were made against the local police for being so uncaring about the case. FBI got involved with the case, since the sheriff was threatened with death, awarding the town even MORE media attention.\n\nThing is, two of the massive number of suspects-- Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond--, once the damn thing got legal attention, were just convicted, since, under state laws, the internet and video evidence was enough to convict them of sexual assault. Mays was found guilty of rape and distributing an explicit picture of a minor (getting him at least 2yrs jail time), while Richmond was convicted of just rape (at least 1yr jail time). The judge called them \"delinquent beyond a reasonable doubt.\" They were tried as minors, though, which would explain the lower number of years of incarceration, and the lack of jury in the trial.\n\nThe investigations are still ongoing, since there are so many that could have been involved. \n\nNow, however, a lot of the media is going towards a voice of compassion for the convicted players. There are a lot of reporters talking about how terrible it is that these kids with bright futures and promising sports careers now have their lives ruined. some of that comes from the crying the two convicted did after they heard the sentencing. As per a post in /r/AdviceAnimals today, you might understand that the internet tends to think they shouldn't have raped somebody if they didn't want to ruin their lives. \n\n*The video in question: _URL_0_"
]
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"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1oahqCzwcY&bpctr=1363648415"
]
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||
7mpxz1 | why do electronics need a certain voltage? wouldn't current be what's important? | Wouldn't the flow of electrons be what's important for powering a gadget rather than the electric potential? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7mpxz1/eli5_why_do_electronics_need_a_certain_voltage/ | {
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"Voltage is potential difference, think of it like water pressure. Its how hard it is pushing the current in. This is important because of all the resistances it needs to push that current across to do things. Like how high the water pressure needs to be for an apartment building. The more floors/faucets the higher the pressure needed.\n\nSo the current is what is important, the voltage determines if the current is strong enough to make it all the way through the device.",
"You can use the analogy of water flowing through a pipe.\nCurrent is the flow of the water\nVoltage is the water pressure\n\nAlthough the flow through your pipes might be adequate without water pressure you would not be able to take a shower",
"Resistance is how difficult it is for power to pass through a conductor. Resistance is voltage divided by current. In a computer, if you set the voltage a tiny bit too high, you get more resistance than necessary which means more heat. You don't want more heat (you're often already producing enough, that's why there are fans and heatsinks).\n\nIf you set it even higher, the potential is high enough that it can jump through the air to places it's not supposed to be. In a tiny tiny computer, the distance of arc needed to jump between two circuits that aren't supposed to connect is very small, so the voltage has to be small as well. Otherwise, erratic or damaging effects can occur.",
"Voltage determines how much current will flow through the circuit.\n\nThe fundamental relationship between Current (I), Voltage (V), and Resistance (R) is V=IR. With basic algebra, this can also be expressed as I=V/R or R=V/I\n\nResistance is more or less a result of the physical design and composition of the circuit, so thw only practical way to increase current is to also increase voltage.\n\nEdit: I shouldn't do algebra on mobile."
]
} | []
| []
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[],
[],
[],
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|
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1b66uu | china's role in world war 2 | We studied WW2 briefly in years 9-11 (aged 14-16) at school but it was mainly the European front. After reading on Reddit today about China having 15,000,000+ casualties I realized how little I knew about their role in WW2.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
***********EDIT***********
Thank you for all your responses today, has certainly sped up my day at work before this Easter weekend. I think the following quote from /u/popsumpot describes the role China played in WW2 perfectly:
> It is fairly evident that the Japanese occupation in China was a bloodbath. It is often under-looked in history as a theatre of war. The reality is, China is to the Pacific theatre as Russia was to the European theatre. Both these countries paid enormous tolls in blood and soil in order to tie up the vast majority of German and Japanese forces respectively. It is estimated that Japan lost 2 million fighting men in China alone (At the height of its size, the Imperial Japanese Army did not number much more than 5 million), while the Russians fought around 80% of German forces for extended periods of time. It is a shame that these 2 conflicts generally do not get the education and recognition they deserve. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b66uu/eli5chinas_role_in_world_war_2/ | {
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"Very very basic: China at the time of WWII was just coming out of a period of being ruled by colonial powers. The British, French, Russians, Germans, Austrians, Italians, Japanese and Americans all had economic interests in China in the early 20th century. The Chinese were angered by Christian missionaries entering the country, and so the [Boxer rebellion](_URL_1_) broke out. The [Eight Nation Alliance](_URL_2_) came together to put down the rebellion, and in the process the last Chinese dynasty was destroyed, leading to the first Chinese republic. This lead to a period of turmoil in China, as the European countries that colonized it and had been such a large influence began fighting amongst themselves and gradually left China to it's own devices. Without the money or protection of foreign powers, China was left nearly defenseless against [an Imperial Japan](_URL_0_) that had spanked the Chinese once already in the 1890s and was looking to take more. The truly notable thing about the conflict is that the Communists, led by Mao Zedong and backed by the USSR, teamed up with the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek and backed by the US, UK, and French, to fight the Japanese. They had been bitter rivals before the Japanese invasion, and would fight a civil war after, but managed to put that aside and fight the Japanese together.\n\nTL;DR: China fought against Japan on the side of the Allies. They had been invaded by Japan in 1937, long before Germany started the war in Europe, and were supported by the US, UK, France, and USSR. They held out for 8 years before Japan was finally defeated.",
"Before World War II, China and Japan were already engaged in the [Second Sino-Japanese War](_URL_0_), which began in 1937. Japan's imperial goals include controlling the resources within its sphere of influence, which extends to China and the Pacific. From the beginning, it was clear that China was not putting up a powerful resistance. However, they adopted the strategy of \"trading space for time\", where they would delay the advancing forces in order to move key demographics and resources out west, with the eventual goal of outlasting its enemies. Eventually, by 1939, Japan was unable to advance more (they basically took all they could, given the supply and manpower). Much of the casualties listed occurred during this time. It's only after the introduction of the United States into the war that things would begin to turn around.\n\nIt is interesting to note that, while Japan will eventually join the Axis, there was significant cooperation between Germany and China at the time. China sought out Germany's expertise to modernize their army.\n\nFurthermore, I should note that \"China\" isn't one singular entity at the time - it was in the midst of a civil war between the Nationalist and the Communist. Even though the two banded together against the foreign threat of Japan, they always had an eye out for what happens _after_ the war. They had to make sure that the other party did not gain significant advantage in any eventual Chinese victory against the Japanese.\n\nIn line with the role of China in the majority of the 20th century, they were pretty much determined to be their own power, never really committing to one side or another. As stated before, prior to World War II they had close ties with the Germans, but also received aid from the Allies later on. After the war, a similar trend of back and forth liaison between the US and the USSR during the Cold War continued.",
"Japan first invaded China in 1931, and set up Emperor Pu Yi (the last Qing Dynasty emperor) as the emperor of Manchukuo. China was a mess at the time. It was run by several warlords, some of its territory had already been given to Japan at the end of World War I (Qingdao and Taiwan). Chiang Kai-shek was unifying the country--half by military conquest, half by buying off the other warlords--and his main opposition was the Communists. \n\nSo Japan was facing three forces that were largely uncoordinated. The Nationalists' (Chiang Kai-shek's KMT) military that was supplied the U.S. and U.K., received a fair number of U.S. advisers (including GEN Stilwell and LTG Chennault). Chiang Kai-shek's wife (Soong Mei-ling, one of three sisters that were enormously influential in China, see _URL_0_) made impassioned speeches in U.S. Congress looking for aid against Japan, and she got it. A lot of it, though, did more to help her family get rich than it did improve the fighting capabilities of the KMT. The second was the Communists. They also got some aid from the U.S. (though I think this was limited to high-level military and political contacts, and not actually materiel), but were largely a guerrilla force that spent as much time fighting the KMT as they did the Japanese. The third force was the remaining warlords, each of whom may have fought (or not) Japan but primarily in their own territory. (One, though, from Manchuria named Zhang Xueliang, kidnapped China Kai-shek to force him to cooperate with the Communists against Japan.)\n\nPopular opinion in the U.S. was in support of China--it was the cause du jour on college campuses; young women would refuse to wear silk that came from China using the slogan, \"If you wear cotton, Japan gets nottin' (nothing).\" Japan sank a U.S.N. patrol ship on the Yangtze River. The Panay was escorting refugees west to flee the Japanese from southern Jiangsu in late 1937--four years before the declaration of war. \n\nWhen Japan took Nanjing, their soldiers went on a killing and raping spree in what was appropriately called \"The Rape of Nanking.\" Recently I heard that Nanjing wasn't too unique in that, and that the violence was typical of what happened in southern Jiangsu (but I have no sources on that). They also conducted horrific military experiments on prisoners in Manchukuo, most famously at Unit 731. \n\nSo China was deeply divided and uncoordinated, already embroiled in its own civil war, and Japan was acting well outside what we would consider acceptable conduct in war today.\n\nSources: Life Magazine January 10, 1938; Tuckman, Barbara \"An American Experience in China;\" \"China: A Century of Revolution\" documentary by Sue Williams.\n\nFurther wikipedia reading: Unit 731, Rape of Nanking, Burma Road, Flying Tigers, Panay Incident, Xi'an Incident.\n\nEDIT: Chennault was a Lieutenant General, not a four-star General.",
"Just a side note. You have probably seen the iconic WWII fighter planes with the shark teeth painted on. Those were the flying tigers. American pilots who volunteered to fight for China against the Japanese before the US was officially in the war."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soong_sisters"
],
[]
]
|
|
2rsmgz | why does hollywood insist on remakes and reboots? | I mean, couldn't they just re-release the film?
If they just did some marketing then ok sure, they may not get as much revenue but then they wouldn't have all the associated costs involved in developing a 'new' movie so wouldn't there still be a sizeable profit margin?
I know there are many films I'd pay to go and see at the movie theatre even though I've seen them loads at home.
It would make a nice change. :/ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rsmgz/eli5_why_does_hollywood_insist_on_remakes_and/ | {
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"text": [
"Because there is an already established audience. Saves a lot on marketing therefore more profit. It's all about the money.",
"Because it's easy money its safer to make a sequel of a popular movie than a new idea its sad but true",
"Excerpt from 'save the cat' by Blake Snyder. \"...they call them \"pre-sold franchises\"...A pre-sold franchise is something a good chunk of the audience is already sold on.\"\n\nWhen someone makes a choice on what to watch they'll pick something they know over something they don't. ",
"If you put Spider-Man (2002) back into theaters for an additional run, you may make a moderate profit with little up-front costs.\n\nIf you remake it and make The Amazing Spider-Man, then you're almost *guaranteed* to make a profit, even if it stinks, and you have the possibility of making a whole lot more.\n\nBasically, it's almost zero risk for a larger return. And you have the possibility of turning lesser-known talent (like Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield, who were medium-famous before the series) into household names... which means that the next movie your studio makes with one of them makes even MORE money.",
"Think of it like posting on Reddit. If you were to post on an already established and well-known subreddit, you know for a fact that it's going to be seen by a relatively wide audience and subsequently get more upvotes (for our purposes we'll equate money with upvotes).\n\n\nThis being weighed against if you were to try to start your own subreddit and post on there in an effort to garner attention and upvotes. Your subreddit may be an incredibly intelligent and creative one, but the likelihood that the post you made in this new and unfamiliar subreddit will get as many upvotes as a post made in, say, /r/pics is very unlikely. And if you consider that if you were a movie producer and every \"post\" (movie) you made involved you gambling with millions of dollars, you don't want to take any chances.\n\n\nAnother factor to consider is that with movies, just like with subreddits, it's very easy to measure the exact amount of exposure to an audience you can expect. Movie producers definitely know that if they were going to put out another Avengers movie that there is an extremely wide audience for that franchise (i.e. Marvel fans, Iron Man fans, Captain America Fans, etc.) and that they can pretty accurately measure a minimum expectation of a return on their investment. Such an estimate is harder to make on an entirely new and original movie because that established audience isn't there.\n\n\nTo put this into Reddit terms, it would be the equivalent of you posting a funny puppy gif on /r/awwww vs. /r/funnygifsofpuppiesonskateboards. You're most likely going to hedge your bets on /r/awwww because you know that that subreddit at the very least has an established audience and more than likely an active following, and therefore will get you more upvotes (aka:$$$$).\nAnd even if you were new to Reddit and didn't know which subreddits were popular, there's a numeric metric (followers) for the popularity of one subreddit over another, just like with movie remakes (i.e. comic book sales, older movie ticket/dvd sales, etc.)\n\nHope I answered your question and wasn't too tedious or redundant in the process!",
"You like cookies, right? Everyone loves cookies. But some people like certain cookies more than others. You like to try different cookies sometimes, get some different flavors. Oh, a rum and raisin? Nah, that's not your style. Maybe you'll try it, ask a friend if it was good. Now oreos, those are your favorite. You love oreos. You buy a pack every week. New flavor? You know its still going to have that trusty chocolate cookie, but with a new twist in the center. The Oreo is reliable, and it gives you what you want, with enough variety to keep from being boring.\n\nMovies are the same. They could make all kinds of cookies, and they still do. But they know that turning up the budget on the Oreo (reboot/comic franchises) line will make them good profits, because people love them, and there's enough variety to keep people interested."
]
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[],
[],
[],
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1b1lbt | why can't we wear contacts when we sleep? also, what is preventing technology from letting us wear contacts 24/7? | I know it would be rather unfortunate for a 5 year old to have to wear contacts, but i'm wondering. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b1lbt/eli5_why_cant_we_wear_contacts_when_we_sleep_also/ | {
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"It depends entirely on the type of contact. The ones I have are designed for me to wear 24/7 (including while I'm asleep) for a month at a time.\n\nThe main concern is the fact that your cornea (the clear part in front of your pupil) has no blood vessels. But it's still living tissue that needs oxygen, so it actually absorbs oxygen from the air. Most contact lenses prevent enough oxygen from diffusing into the cornea, and so need to be removed from time to time. However, some specific types of contact lens material are more highly permeable to oxygen, which allow for extended wear. If you *don't* have that type of contact, wearing them for too long can result in something called \"neovascularization\" (fancy medical speak for \"new blood vessels growing\") in your cornea, in an effort to get oxygen to the tissue that is now being deprived of enough oxygen. This can irreversibly impair your vision. ",
"They advertise 24/7, 31 day contacts on my TV all the time. I've never used them (I wear glasses but don't like contacts), but I know they exist."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
]
|
|
pycfx | why semi-stale bread gets new life after a round in the microwave | So, if I have loaf of bread that is past its prime - not bad in any way - just not fresh and juicy anymore, why on earth does cutting a slice and sticking it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds return it to moisty goodness?
My logic, which is not directly applicable to baked doughs apparently, tells me that if anything the bread should get even *more* stale, but the exact opposite happens. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/pycfx/eli5_why_semistale_bread_gets_new_life_after_a/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Microwaves excite water molecules, such as those in the air, causing them to travel more. This causes water vapor to enter the bread, making it slightly moister.\n\nEDIT: Above is the simplest explanation, and apparently incorrect. The following is the best one i've found:\n\nFlour (from which bread is made) is largely composed of the protein gluten, and the carbohydrate (big sugar) starch. Gluten is soft and chewy, starch is not so much. \n\nWhen bread is baked, starch is gelatinized (made soft) when it is dissolved in water and heated. This breaks down the crystal structure of the starch and makes it soft. Over time and at low temperatures, these broken starch pieces can come back together and recrystallize into the crunchy unpleasant starch. This process is called retrogradation.\n\nWhen you heat the bread up again, you are turning some of the reformed starch back into the soft stuff. [Source of most info](_URL_2_) and the [Retrogradtion of starch wikipedia](_URL_1_ with special guest star, the [wikipedia article on staling](_URL_0_)\n\nSeveral sites also suggest that microwaving your bread with a moist paper towel, or brushing a bit of water on the bread also helps. I don't know if that is true, but it sounds like a comparative experiment is in order."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staling",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrogradation_(starch)",
"http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/11606/why-does-bread-soften-after-heating-it-up"
]
]
|
|
3c87jn | why can't cars go as fast in reverse as it goes going forwards? and what produces the sound of the car going in reverse? | And by the sound I mean that whirring they produce when going fast enough while reversing | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c87jn/eli5_why_cant_cars_go_as_fast_in_reverse_as_it/ | {
"a_id": [
"cst4c7b"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Gears. The transmission has multiple forward gears that change the input and output ratio, allowing the car to go faster. However, there is only one gear for reverse. \n\n[As for the sound, reverse gears are straight cut, rather than slanted, which is what produces the whining noise.](_URL_0_)"
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"http://image.streetrodderweb.com/f/34513362/1010sr_25_o+quick_change_rear_end+straight_cut_and_helical_cut_gears.jpg"
]
]
|
|
29gmla | why are movies typically cropped, leaving black horizontal stripes above and below the picture? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29gmla/eli5_why_are_movies_typically_cropped_leaving/ | {
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"text": [
"I think that happens because the theater screen is wider than most tv/computer screens, hence having horizontal stripes above and below in order to fit the whole film on every screen, but I might just be wrong as well\n\nEDIT: I don't think anybody mentioned so: for TV broadcasting, films are usually rendered under certain settings which make them playable without cropping or shrinking in almost every TV depending on region (have a quick read on, for instance, PAL rendering, which explains the usage of various aspect ratios (as already mentioned the 4:3 or 16:9) as well as safe-margins, footage cropping and other details!",
"You see black bars because the film *wasn't* cropped. If it was cropped to fit your screen, there wouldn't be empty space.\n\nThe 16:9 aspect ratio of HDTV was chosen to be \"close enough\" to common movie aspect ratios. They couldn't exactly match it because movies come in a bunch of different sizes. These days, it's mostly an artistic choice - a recent example, [The Grand Budapest Hotel](_URL_0_), actually uses three different screen dimensions inside the same movie.",
"This is because movies are filmed in aspect ratios different than the aspect ratio of your TV. An aspect ratio being the ratio of width to height. The black bars allow TVs to show movies in their original format by changing the aspect ratio. Adding black bars reduces the height, but increases the aspect ratio since width stays the same. Doing this you lose resolution, but you gain information on the sides.\n\nOriginally, movies were shot in 4:3 (4 units wide to 3 units high and by the Pythagorean Theorem the diagonal is 5 units) and when TV came about, TVs originally adopted the same aspect ratio. When TV began to eat at the movies' popularity, they introduced widescreen movies, which were 2.35:1, which is about 75% wider. To do this, they had to come up with new film (70MM) and new cameras. To save money and to still compete with the widescreen films, many movies started being shot in 1.85:1. This was basically just 4:3 (35MM) film masked on the top and bottom. The Shining is a prime example of this. You can find copies of the Shining in its theatrical 1.85:1 and also its unmatted 4:3 version. When HD TVs were being introduced, they went with the 16:9 ratio, which is basically 1.85:1.\n\n",
"The simple answer is a typical TV is/was a square while a movie screen is a rectangle. If you want to fit a rectangle into a square there are several ways to do it.\n\n1. Leave blank areas at top and bottom.\n2. Instead of leaving it blank, stretch the rectangle to fit so every one is tall and skinny.\n3. Trim the edges of the rectangle off and hope it wasn't important.\n4. Instead of hoping try and follow the main characters with your square and trim off the unimportant sides.\n\nWhen we all had 13 inch tv's #4 (pan and scan) was a great solution. But often movies used the whole screen and we lost one of the actors who ended up talking off screen. This was a trade off we had to take to be able to see the movie. Now that most tv's are plenty large enough to spare a little off the top and bottom a better solution is to show the entire screen (1-Letterbox).\n\n\n\n"
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Budapest_Hotel"
],
[],
[]
]
|
||
43i7d6 | why do people sometimes have to pay the government on their tax return, even though they already take their taxes from the persons pay checks? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43i7d6/eli5_why_do_people_sometimes_have_to_pay_the/ | {
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"There are two different things going on. First, throughout the year, the government is trying to predict how much you will end up owing in taxes (based on what you fill in on form W-4). Ideally, it'll withhold about that amount from your paycheck.\n\nBut then, after the close of the year, you file your return and calculate how much you *actually* owe. This is the important number! If your withholding was more than this, you get some money back. If your withholding was less, you've got to pay some extra--but what you are paying in taxes is the same either way.",
"Sometimes you have additional sources of income which has too little (or no) tax withheld.\n\nOR, you have two jobs and each of them is taking out tax assuming that it is your only job, so the withholding rate is too small."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
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|
||
98aeue | why are the faces of face transplants recipients so swollen even after healing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/98aeue/eli5_why_are_the_faces_of_face_transplants/ | {
"a_id": [
"e4enkwp"
],
"score": [
5
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"text": [
"People after transplants tend to have swelling, because they often use steroids to suppress the immune system so that the transplant is not rejected. This can cause weight gain and a puffy face. Also, a face transplant is a big fucking procedure. As it heals, there will be local inflammation and swelling for a while."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
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