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4fb6zz | how does the gpa system in us schools work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fb6zz/eli5how_does_the_gpa_system_in_us_schools_work/ | {
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"Some schools do it differently, but most are on a 4.0 scale (5.0 being the highest you can get on a 4.0 scale). In your classes, you get a letter grade: A, B, C, D, & F, those grades equal a GPA number. Now, many high schools, like mine, did away with the +/- system. \n \nThe GPA:Letter Grade goes like this (usually): \n \nA/A+: 4.0 \nA-: 3.67 \nB+: 3.33 \nB:3.0 \nB-:2.67 \nC+:2.33 \nC: 2.0 \nC-: 1.67 \nD+: 1.33 \nD: 1.0 \nD-:0.67 \nF:0.0 \n \nNow, if you have an Honors course, that's an extra 0.5 for the course, if you have an AP course, that's an extra 1.0. \n \nIf you have A's in 4 regular classes (16 points), 1 A in Honors (4.5 points) and 1 A in AP (5 points), that is this 25.5 points/6 courses = 4.25 GPA. \n \nIn college, courses have different weights, Calc I is usually a 4-credit course and Chem I is usually a 3-credit course, so the math is worth 1/3 more, and you have to add those up. So a B in Calc (12 points) is the same ~~GPA~~ points as an A in Chem (12 points). "
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20vasl | how exactly does front windshield defrosters work? | Besides just evening out the temperatures on each side of the pane of glass. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20vasl/eli5_how_exactly_does_front_windshield_defrosters/ | {
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"The basic principle is that the air conditioning system removes moisture from the air inside of your vehicle. Said system is removing moisture from the interior of your windshield. Just try defrosting without a functioning air conditioning system; it blows."
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4u7txs | what do countries exactly do when they devalue their currency? | I have a basic idea of how it works, but I'd like to know the exact steps that governments take and events that lead up to the devaluation. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4u7txs/eli5_what_do_countries_exactly_do_when_they/ | {
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"Mr Canada wants to sell more candy to Mr Italy, but with the current price Mr Italy is happy buying it's candy from Miss Spain. Mr Canada decides to print more Canadian dollars, the more money printed the less value the money tends to have. If Mr Canada does not want to print more money, they may decide to sell some of their debt to Lady China. This makes Mr Canada's currency value less and Lady China's currency value more. \n\nNow that Mr Canada's candy is cheaper, Mr Italy might consider buying that candy from Mr Canada rather than Miss Spain. Mr Italy's friends might see Mr Italy get the same candy for cheaper so they all start buying their candy from Mr Canada. \n\nMr Canada is now selling more candy, creating more jobs, more consumer spending = Mr Canada grows.\n\n\nHowever it doesn't always end well.\n\nedit: I see a few of you were offended by how I interpreted \"ELI5\" and how I answered OP's question, it's my first time posting on here, sorry friends.\n\nedit2: for those asking what happens if it doesn't end well:\n\nsometimes reducing your currency's value may literally bring no benefits (for example no new buyers).\n\n Reducing the value of your currency also may: cause inflation or cause other countries to reduce their currency value as a direct result of changing yours (to keep their customers from coming to you) Lastly, reducing the value of your currency will make purchasing abroad more expensive for those in your nation. ",
"Take Switzerland [as an example](_URL_0_).\n\nIn 2011, with all the turmoil in the Eurozone currency traders fled to the relative safety of the Swiss franc, that is, they sold euros and bought francs, and by the laws of supply and demand, the price of francs relative to euros went up.\n\nThat was good for Swiss people who wanted to buy things from the rest of Europe, because their imports got cheaper. But it was bad for Swiss people who wanted to sell things to the rest of Europe, because now all of their goods (priced in francs, because their manufacturing costs, real estate, labour was paid for in francs) were more expensive than before. And being a small landlocked country, Switzerland depends a lot on exports.\n\nSo, they devalued the franc by printing more and buying euros with the new money - i.e. increasing the supply of francs and decreasing the supply of euros in the market, so again by supply and demand francs got cheaper. \n\nThey \"pegged\" francs to euros to keep relative prices fixed. And that worked for a few years, but as the European Central Bank started talking about printing more euros, the Swiss got worried about how many more francs they would have to print too to keep up, and decided to scrap the peg - and so it shot back up against the euro, or was \"revalued\".",
"In order to drive prices down governments just create money out of nothing (print it) and keep selling it until price reaches their target.",
"Most responses so far mention \"printing\" more money. In reality, the production of paper currency has little to do with the \"printing\". Printing usually involves buying back government debt from the banks and giving them more money to lend which gives people more money to spend which gets put back in banks and lent again. It's the same net impact but the total number of bills and coins in circulation doesn't need to change. Simple explanation in attached link. \n\n_URL_0_\n\n",
"The country increases the supply of money within the economy. Now that there is more money chasing goods and services, each individual dollar is worth less. ",
"Look at currency as just another commodity in the sense that its value can be determined by supply and demand. If a central bank (the Federal Reserve, for example) wants to devalue the dollar, then they print more of the currency.\n\nAnother way to devalue a currency, although more indirectly, is to lower interest rates. By lowering interest rates, currencies become less in demand by investors since often times people hold currency positions to play interest rates. \n\nDevaluing currency is a way to provide some sort of stimulus to the export sector. China has been known as a country that constantly devalues their currency, but I think in their case, the fundamentals justify it. And, they actually spend reserves to keep their currency strong.\n\nSource: I lost a lot of money trading currencies ",
"[Edit: initially, I said this first line backwards, and I've corrected it for accuracy]\n\nMost of the time, devaluation consists of a country buying foreign assets using its own currency.\n\nLet's take China for an example. China has a currency peg - which is to say, they have a preferred price for Chinese Yuan. When the price is too high (i.e. currency appreciation), they sell more Yuan to lower the price. But price is not a single, fixed value, but actually a whole set of bids that might look something like this:\n\n* $20 billion - Asking for 6.8 Yuan per dollar\n* $10 billion - Asking for 6.79 Yuan per dollar\n* $2 billion - Asking for 6.78 Yuan per dollar\n* $1 billion - Asking for 6.77 Yuan per dollar\n* 10 billion Yuan - Bidding for 6.75 Yuan per dollar\n* 15 billion Yuan - Bidding for 6.74 Yuan per dollar\n\nThe mid point is 6.76 Yuan per dollar, so if you bid or ask that amount, you will most likely find a buyer immediately. But if you want a high Yuan price (for bidders who are trading out of Yuan) or a lower price (for askers who are trading out of dollars), you need to wait for someone to take you up on your offer.\n\nChina has a lot of dollar assets (e.g. debt and other securities). They also have Euro assets, etc, and they also have cash in other currencies. They can trade any of the above to buy Yuan on the open market. Or they can take Yuan to the open market and use it to buy foreign currency/foreign assets. If China wants to devalue, they do the latter.\n\nLet's say China decides to devalue from 6.76 Yuan per dollar to 6.8 Yuan per dollar. All they have to do is, sell $33 billion ($1 billion at 6.77 Yuan per dollar, $2 billion at 6.78, $10 billion at 6.79, and $20 billion at 6.8) worth of Yuan to the Askers in the example above and Bid for dollars 6.8 Yuan per dollar to keep the price at that point. They accumulate dollar assets, and sell Yuan to lower the price of the Yuan.\n\nLikewise, they could *raise* the price of the Yuan later on by selling off those $33 billion in dollar assets to bidders in exchange for Yuan. So as long as a country like China has a lot of dollar assets, they can control the price of their currency, somewhat. This is what people mean when they say China is manipulating their currency. They are intentionally trading Yuan for dollar assets and accumulating those assets, so that they can decide how to price their currency for maximum competitive advantage.\n\nNow, sometimes a country doesn't have enough dollar assets to set the price of their currency. Let's take the example of Venezuela's currency, the Bolivar.\n\nVenezuela needs to buy stuff that they can't produce in sufficient quantities inside the country - toilet paper, high-tech equipment, etc. So they need dollar assets in order to fulfill their basic needs. But they're relying on oil sales to obtain dollar assets, and oil prices are way down. This means they don't have enough dollar assets to offset the impact to the Bolivar. So what do they do?\n\nThey mint a lot more bolivar and trade them for dollars at higher and higher multiples. But everyone notices that oil prices are down, and that Venezuela is trading more and more Bolivar for fewer and fewer dollars. So no one wants to take the other end of the dollar trade without getting a *lot* of Bolivar. This creates a wide \"spread\" of prices:\n\n* $40 billion - Asking for 700 Bolivar per dollar\n* $20 billion - Asking for 600 Bolivar per dollar\n* $10 billion - Asking for 550 Bolivar per dollar\n* $2 billion - Asking for 500 Bolivar per dollar\n* $1 billion - Asking for 480 Bolivar per dollar\n* 100 billion Bolivar - Bidding for 460 Bolivar per dollar\n* 150 billion Bolivar - Bidding for 450 Bolivar per dollar\n\nSo if Venezuela wants to get that same $33 billion in dollars, they have to devalue the Bolivar all the way from 470 to 600 Bolivar per dollar (vs China's 6.76 to 6.8). And this just makes matters worse, because when the price moves so much, people expect it to move even further. So individuals refuse to hold Bolivar, and try to trade their currency for \"hard\" currencies like the dollar.\n\nThis is why Venezuela has currency controls in place. They don't want anyone except the Venezuelan government to be trading out of the Bolivar (which is \"officially\" worth ~10 cents). If they let everyone trade out of the Bolivar, everyone would, and then the price of their currency would fall so far that the Venezuelan government might lose control of the ability to provide scarce resources like toilet paper and high-tech goods to their political cronies. And without that power, they might lose the country.\n\nSo there are two kinds of devaluation - Central Bank devaluation (China), which is a deliberate effort to acquire assets in a foreign currency, and is only possible due to their trade surplus. This is sometimes called currency manipulation.\n\nThen there's the other kind - market devaluation. This is when no one wants your currency any more, unless you offer it at a fire sale price, but your country can't make the things it needs to operate independently, so you *have* to offer the fire sale price. This sometimes leads to hyperinflation - a self-fulfilling panic in which everyone *expects* your currency to devalue, so no one wants to buy your currency. This means that to trade for the things your country needs and can't produce internally, you have to pay terrible prices. Or you just have to deal with shortages, like Venezuela is doing.",
"The US central bank has three primary tools it uses to decrease the value of its money relative to goods and services.\n\nOpen market operations: Using money that it creates out of thin air (generally speaking electronically rather than actual printing or minting) it can buy or sell any asset on the open market. One of the major assets it buys and sells are US government debt instruments such as treasury bonds. If it buys assets, it creates more money, this reduces the purchasing power of the money and bids prices up. If it sells assets it bought previously it takes money out of circulation driving prices down and increasing the purchasing power of money. \n\nThe discount window: the federal reserve lends money to banks at what is called \"the discount window\" and it sets the interest rate that banks pay. If it lowers the interest rate it makes borrowing money cheaper and all else equal banks will generally borrow more of it thus increasing the money supply and driving the value of money down. If it increases the interest rate banks borrow less and less money is in circulation driving up the purchasing power of the remaining money. \n\nThe reserve requirement: the federal reserve determines the percent of deposits banks can lend out called their reserve requirement. This in theory has the ability to change the quantity of money in circulation, but is more complex and arguably doesn't have as much of an effect. \n\nAll of these topics are more nuanced and complex than I've described, and there are other ways that governments and central banks can change the supply and demand for their money. But hopefully this gives you a basic idea. ",
"If I want something you have, but don't have anything you want in return, then I can give you an I.O.U. that you can trade, in the future, for something I have that you want. Say, \"IOU one apple, signed sprocket_monkey.\" If you want to, you can then trade that IOU to someone else who trusts that I will honor it. \n\nBut say I've given out 10,000 \"IOU 1 apple\" and I don't actually have 10,000 apples. People will realize that and therefore those IOUs will be worth less in trade. Maybe you won't sell an apple for one IOU, anymore, but you will for ten. That currency has been devalued.\n\nThat's basically what happens when money gets devalued. Money is an IOU from the government: \"Good for one euro's worth of services, payable on demand.\" If there are 200 million euros in circulation, and there aren't 200 million euros' worth of services that people are willing to sell them for, the euro is devalued.",
"From what I read, all of the explanations here failed to explain a very key point: the role of the money market and interest rates in all of this. So, here it goes--there are a certain number of people who have money and want other things, just as there is are a certain number of people who have other things and want money. However, some of those people who want money do not, at present, have other things to trade for it--but they CAN promise that they will have ONE thing--money in the future. So, they trade that promise of future money for money now. But, nobody who has money now would really be willing to give it away for the same amount of money in the future, for a variety of reason. They will give money now away in return for the promise of MORE money in the future, though. \n\nAs there are a bunch of people (and banks, and other institutions) at any given time who have money they would be willing to trade for future money, and there is a corresponding group that NEEDS money now in return for the promise of more money in the future, there is 'competition'--people look for the best deal they can get in terms of promising the least future money in return for money now. So, the more money now is being offered at any one time in return for future money, the less the people who want money now will have to pay in the future, since there are more places they can get that. The different between the amount of now money and future money is what we call and interest rate. Based on the amount of money available of any one currency type at any given time, interest rates move up or down, compelling more or fewer people to be willing to trade money now for money later. When people who have another currency decide that they want to lend someone dollars because people will give them more future money for dollars now than for that other currency now, the value of a dollar goes up relative to the other currency, because those people are added to the pool of people who want dollars now. If there were more dollars floating around, then the amount of future money you could get for dollars now would be less, so people with other types of currency would be less likely to want to turn it into dollars, so dollars become worth less in terms of those other currencies--because of the 'price' of a dollar now set by the interest rate and the way that affect the 'price' of a dollar now relative to another currency now. \n\nSource: Am economist ",
"The first step is to clarify the question. \n\nDo you mean to reduce the value of the currency within the country? That's inflation. A central bank buys up stuff (usually government bonds), and pays for it with newly created money, which then enters the economy. More currency means it's less rare, means it has less value. There are other methods which involve changing policies related to how banks decide how much money to store in their accounts at the central bank (where it's not in the general economy) vs. how much to lend out to the public. Examples include changing how much money banks are required to keep in those account or how much interest money in those accounts earns from the central bank. Central banks have other methods too, but the above is a good enough basic story.\n\nIf you mean devaluing the currency in relationship to other currencies (i.e., the exchange rate), it can be different. There are two basic ways a country can do things:\n\nFloating exchange rate: The market decides the exchange rate based on the demand and supply of each currency. Central banks can add or subtract from the amount of their own currency that exists in the market by buying or selling securities. If they buy stuff, the securities goes into their vault, and the money they print to pay for it enters the economy. When they sell, the security goes back into the public economy, and the cash that's used to pay for it gets stuffed in a vault and removed from the economy (this isn't necessarily physical, can just be numbers on computers). Of course, the whole idea of a floating exchange rate is that the central bank isn't trying to force the exchange rate to be one thing or another. They just let the market do what it wants and let the exchange rate do whatever it does.\n\nBut usually, when we talk about a country choosing to devalue it's currency, it's with regard to fixed exchange rate systems where a country has a desired exchange rate in mind, and wants to change the market to match that desired exchange rate.\n\nBasically, imagine the Fed says \"we will always exchange 1 USD for 1 Euro.\" Now imagine two scenarios:\n\n1. Prior to that announcement the current market exchange rate is 1 USD = .5 Euros. That is, currently a Euro is more valuable than a dollar, and the Fed wishes to make the dollar stronger. 1 dollar only buys you half a Euro, but the Fed wants to make it so one dollar buys you a whole Euro. What will happen? People with Euros will buy USD and exchange them at the Fed. Imagine you have 1 Euro. Since .5 Euros can buy you a dollar, you can get 2 USD for 1 Euro. You take those 2 USD, go to the Fed, and they give you 2 Euros. You started with 1 Euro and ended up with 2. Free money. But, in the process, you handed over dollars to the Fed, which they removed from circulation. They pulled Euros out of their vault (from out of circulation), and gave them to you (causing them to enter into circulation). The end result, in circulation, there are now more Euros and less Dollars. Dollars go up in value, Euros go down in value. This means you will now need more than .5 Euros to buy a dollar. This process repeats itself until enough Dollars are pulled out of circulation and enough Euros are put into circulation until the market rate is identical to the 1-to-1 rate offered by the Fed. Note, this can only be maintained IF the Fed has a supply of Euros in it's vault. Thus, the Fed is limited in how strong it can make the dollar by how many Euros it has stashed away in its vault. Central banks who do this sometimes run out of foreign currency and must abandon their guaranteed exchange rate. They have run out of ability to keep their currency \"strong\" by buying up their currency with reserves of foreign currency. Usually, when they run out of foreign currency for this purpose they are said to have \"abandoned\" the exchange rate peg. It usually means their currency will then fall in value as they can no longer maintain the \"high\" exchange rate. This is what happens when people say a country is \"forced\" to devalue their currency. (e.g., Thailand, 1997)\n\n2. Now, instead, imagine that prior to the 1-to-1 announcement by the Fed the market rate is .5 USD = 1 Euro. The dollar is worth more than a Euro (you only need half of a dollar to buy a whole Euro). The Fed's announcement of a guaranteed 1-to-1 swap is now an announcement that they want the dollar to be weaker (so that you need a whole dollar, not just half a dollar, to buy a Euro). Anyone with dollars will use 1 USD to buy 2 Euros on the open market. They will then take those 2 Euros to the Fed and exchange them 1-for-1 to get 2 dollars. They just turned 1 dollar into 2 dollars. When this happens, that person gave Euros to the Fed. Those get shoved in a vault, removed from circulation. Less Euros out there means Euros become worth more. Now you're going to need to spend more than .5 dollars to buy a Euro. The Fed simply prints the USD's that it gave in exchange. There are now more US dollars in circulation, they go down in value, thus meaning you need even more USD to buy that Euro. This continues until dollars decrease in value enough and Euros increase enough that the market rate now matches the Fed's desired 1-to-1 exchange rate. Notice, that unlike in the previous scenario, there are no restrictions to the Fed. It's only handing out dollars, a currency it can print at will, endlessly. They can lower a currency's value to their heart's content. The central bank is devaluing the currency, but here it's by choice (usually, to make it's country's goods cheap to boost exports).\n\nNote that for pegged exchange rates, the central bank doesn't really have to do anything but make a promise to exchange rates at a specific amount. People's desire for \"free money\" will cause them to do all the real work. They'll go out and exchange money on the market, bring the money to the central bank, and ask the central bank to swap it for another currency. They will continue to do so as long as there is \"free money\" to be had, until the market rate matches the promised rate of the central bank.\n\nThings can be more complex, but that covers the basics of what strikes me as the most common uses of the term \"devaluation\" (a term that, on it's own, is vague).",
"Basically they buy things with money that didnt exist until the purchase.\n\nSay you are a shop owner and the head of the central bank came in to buy some shoes. The money you get in your hand had no previous owner, and the central banker now legitimately owns some new shoes.\n\nThis is important to understand because now there is more money being circulated in the economy, than there was before. Slightly devaluing all the existing money that was circulating, solely because it is slightly less scarce.\n\nThis shoe monetization programme is just one way to implement this result, and in practice is done by buying bonds from the government and corporations with new money. The new money is given to the government and corporations to spend, ideally in the economy on other things like more new employees, and also has the effect of lowering interest rates on everything else so people would be more likely to consider borrowing for houses and cars and other things",
"I would like to hear this in response to countries such as Ukraine, who's currency devalued like crazy because of war with Russia, and the same thing about Russian currency.",
"I gave a more real (but not fully adult) explanation before. Here's a more true, \"You're a 5 year old\" explanation.\n\nImagine at your school, the kids like two things: marbles, and hot wheels cars.\n\nCurrently, at the school, the total combined number of marbles is 100. There are 50 hot wheels cars. The kids therefore think a trade is \"fair\" if you trade 2 marbles for 1 car.\n\nYou want to devalue marbles. Let's say you think it should take 4 marbles to buy a car. You have a secret weapon. Unlike every other kid, you have inherited thousands of marbles from your parents. You have so many marbles...basically, an unlimited number.\n\nAll you have to do is say, \"I will buy any car for 4 marbles.\" All the kids with cars will think this is a hell of a deal. It's double the playground rate! Kids will line up and hand you their cars, and you give them marbles from your giant stash. You just shove the cars into your locker. \n\nThe kids think this is awesome, they have so many marbles!\n\nNow after this happens for a while, they start to realize something. Everyone has tons of marbles, but cars are increasingly rare. Marbles are awesome and all, but cars are neat too. And now that everyone has marbles, they're not so cool. But cars? They're now rare. They're pretty cool now.\n\nThe kids, being curious creatures, do a count and realize there are now only 37 cars left on the playground, but there are now 152 marbles. They then decide that a \"fair trade\" is 4 marbles per car. (my numbers didn't quite work out...but close enough)\n\nCongratulations. You just changed the car/marble exchange rate. Specifically, you \"devalued\" marbles. You did this by increasing the number of marbles on the playground while simultaneously decreasing the number of hot wheels cars, making them more rare and special.",
"Currencies are traded on global markets. People want the currency of a country, largely to buy things in that country. One desirable thing that every country has are government bonds. Trillions in bond investment flows across countries, seeking high interest rates (and low default risk). \n\nThe most common way countries devalue their currency is through open market operations. The central bank buys bonds, injecting cash into the economy. Depository institutions have more money to lend, driving down interest rates, and thus, international demand for the currency. \n\nFiscal policy can also have this effect. When governments cut spending/raise taxes, this also lowers interest rates (default risk is lower, less crowding out). This could also devalue the currency, and indeed, the G-7 tried coordinating these actions in the Plaza and Louvre accords to deal with the overvaluation and then undervaluation of the dollar. That said, central banks may often sterilize fiscal effects (in general it bugs me when people say \"tax cuts/government spending will create jobs\" in the absence of monetary policy considerations).\n\nThis is a simplification. There are other things governments can do to impact currency values (if they are highly credible, even an announcement of a devaluation can cause movement). Most countries today operate floating exchange rates, which means that they do not (officially) intervene in currency markets. ",
"I'll ELY5. So let's say you're a country with 10 kilograms of gold. And you make 10 one dollar bills to represent your money. So theoretically your dollar is worth 1 kilogram of gold. Well if you produce 90 more one dollar bills, you're dollar is worth 10/100 or 1/10 of a kilogram of gold. Or a hectogram of gold to be precise, pretty simple.",
"They lower interest rates and reduce the amount of money a bank must hold on to. They can also buy commodities with \"new\" money created by whatever the central bank is. This is the most common form of quantitative easing. There's more money being circulated.\n\nThe end result: accelerated money, an increased supply in the money market and the overall value of the currency depreciated. This is the \"printing\" of money that people confuse the US of doing. It's actually just basic monetary policy.\n\nThis is what happens where there's a \"federal bank\" handling policy, usually. Now, they could also just literally print currency and cause hyper inflation (of goods).\n\nThere is also the buying and selling of their own currencies at depreciated values, which other posts in this thread explain very, very well.",
"That was good for Swiss people who have other methods too, but the above to buy up its own currency.",
"There are three ways to manage a currency. Free floating, fixed and a mixture of both, a managed float. It's only possible to devalue a currency under the last two systems. \n\nThere are two ways to devalue a currency. The first way to devalue a currency is called an open market operation and would involve the central bank buying foreign currencies by printing more money. \n\nThe second way a currency can be devalued is through regulation. There are many ways governments can influence the value of a currency through regulation. The most common is to force banks to comply with a certain exchange rate. This can lead those disadvantaged by the unrealistic exchange rate to avoid using the official exchange rate where they can. However, if the difference between the fixed exchange rate and the free floating is small it is possible. \n\nMost of the times a government attempts to influence a currency through regulation they would actually be trying to increase the value of their currency. ",
"They create more money, so that your money is worth less.\n\nThen they employ an army of PhDs to make it look like what they're doing is way more complicated, and definitely not a form of taxation.\n\nThis only works with fiat currency i.e. money backed by \"full faith and credit\" and not a scarce commodity like gold.",
"Devaluing a currency is always understood relative to another currency. If we ignore the reasons why for a moment, we can imagine 2 countries with their own currencies pricing the same good. Say an apple is $1 in the US and 2 Euros in Europe. So $1 can buy you 2 Euro. A currency is devalued if it becomes worth less in terms of another currency. For example, let's say now it costs $2 to buy 2 Euros. Now it takes more dollars to buy the same number of Euros. In this case the US dollar was devalued by 50%. \n\nTwo interesting results come from this: First, as you can see 1 currency weakening is the exact same as another strengthening. In other words, in this simple case currency devaluation is a zero-sum game. Second, devaluing is very similar to inflation. For example, if inflation in the US was 100% then it would twice as much money to buy the same thing - the apple would be $2 and a euro $2. So inflation affects currency values.\n\nBeyond the ELI5, inflation is not the only thing that determines currency value. The country's economic growth and interest rates also affect it because people will want more of your currency when growth is strong and interest rates are high because with the dollars they can invest in your country and get a better return. Also policy makers care a lot of about exchange rates because lower exchange rates mean your goods are cheaper to other countries, so other countries will buy more from you. It's a much bigger and more complicated subject than all this suggests, but I think those are the most important points. ",
"a period of either a slow economy or economic stagnation that affects multiple countries.\n\n devaluing currency can hurt a country's economy by making cost of living go up if the country in question does not adjust the cost of goods and services to the average persons income (people would be forced to cut down on spending to afford the bare essentials and businesses would fire employees which could lead to a chain effect of jobs lost and business closures because more and more people would not be able to spend without taking out loans and creating debt which could lead to another financial shock if a large enough percentage of those people were unable to payoff that debt) and if the country relies on imports more than exports (which would make average income to goods's price adjustments for economic relief damaging to the country's economy). \n\ncountries are like corporations, if people are buying (when exports are doing better than imports) then that means the country would have more influence on other countries than other countries have on it. \n\ncompetitive devalueing is a gamble for some countries- for others it is a strategic game of chicken used as a last ditch effort to lower the odds of economic self sufficiency of the countries participating- the countries that have what everyone needs and wants and also has the infrastructures in place that are capable of keeping the supply up with the demand always ends up on top.\n\n the countries that dont have the capabilities to provide for their people and for their business partners end up in debt or easily influenced by the economic superpowers. but when multiple worldpowers exist, it usually leads into a confrontation that may end up in a hot war. currency wars lead to cold wars which may lead to hot wars. \n\nbombs destroy infrastructure and send the work force into chaos, bullets eliminate hostiles (and possibly workers). the opposing side's resources (both civilian and military) run dry as a result of the invaded country's economic collapse. \n\nthe war is over, and the winning team's economy is doing much better thanks to the increased demand for food, water, military manufacturing, and the jobs that were created at the expense of the defeated nation's lives and livelihood. \n\nnot only have you triumphed over your competition but the people of your country are thanking you for it too.\n\navoid the standoff- follow cubas example- self sustain and stay out of it."
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[],
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9ccba0 | how are solids and liquids separated during the digestion process and how come stomach acid doesn’t damage the intestines? | How is solid food routed into the intestines for nutrient absorption while water enters the kidneys/bladder.
Also, how is stomach acid prevented from entering the intestines and kidneys? I know the stomach has a protective lining, do the intestines have the same thing?
Does water entering the stomach dilute stomach acid and does this affect digestion? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ccba0/eli5_how_are_solids_and_liquids_separated_during/ | {
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"Water doesn't enter the kidneys.\n\nEverything that enters your mouth goes into the small intestine. The small intestine has little \"fingers\" that stick up and absorb water and nutrients into the bloodstream, they greatly increase its surface area and therefore increase how quickly things make it to the blood stream. By the time it all reaches the large intestine, the acid is pretty much gone as is all the good stuff so the large intestine just absorbs all the water out of it and forms it into poop shaped poops.\n\nThe small intestine has a lining similar to the stomach, but the acid is rather diluted by the time it is released into the small intestine\n\nYour kidney's are connected to your blood vessels and will pull toxins/gunk out along with water and form it into urine. When you drink a lot of water and have to pee its because your blood was carrying a lot of water so the kidney's started pulling it down to a normal level, not because the water was routed from your stomach to your bladder.",
"Also, both your stomach and intestines create a very basic mucus layer to counteract stomach acid. That’s why when you eat acidic foods you get heartburn, that is literally your stomach acid burning your esophagus. The acidity of the food puts the acidity of the stomach acid just over the point that the mucus layer can counteract it. Ulcers in your stomach come from stomach acid burning it, so while it can do damage, your body is always trying to balance pH to avoid that.",
"I havent’t seen it said here yet, so I’ll go ahead and say that stomach acid isn’t just free to flow anywhere. There are multiple sphincters (the cardiac and pyloric sphincters) connecting the stomach to the esophagus and the small intestine that prevent the acid from spilling out. When the stomach has adequately digested something you’ve eaten, the pyloric sphincter opens into the intestine, which continues the digestion, and then closes. "
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50cto1 | why not do a controlled release of pressure from a volcano/caldera vs waiting for it to release on its own? | I am thinking of the caldera under yellowstone. Why not drill down and pop a hole now releasing some pressure vs waiting for it to wipe out a large area of the U.S. when it blows on its own?
Edit: I did not add flair as it seems the answer might span a few categories. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50cto1/eli5_why_not_do_a_controlled_release_of_pressure/ | {
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"For one, drilling to the depths involved is a massive and difficult undertaking. I couldn't find any direct info as to how deep we would need to drill, but getting even a tiny width hole down to 40,000 feet _URL_0_ was a big undertaking.\n\nSo you are talking about a borehole that is microscopic in comparison to the amount of space / pressure that is going on under there. You would need many of these to even begin to make a dent. Even landfills use dozens of pipes to release methane gas in way way way way way smaller amounts.\n\nNow if you are talking about releasing superheated gases that presents its own set of problems for anything above it. And if the pressure is caused by magma then its just going to fill up any tube you create and possible cool inside it rendering everything you did worthless. Or worse you might cause a constant destructive eruption.\n\nWe just don't have the tools to deal with it at this time."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole"
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203vk1 | do people die instantly in the event of a plane crashing hard in the middle of an ocean, or can passengers survive the crash but succumb to other factors (e.g hypothermia, smoke, etc). | Air France 447 and Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 are scaring the hell out of me. Wanted to know if in such an eventuality, death would be instantaneous or would involve prolonged suffering. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/203vk1/eli5do_people_die_instantly_in_the_event_of_a/ | {
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"It depends on the crash. If it wouldn't be survivable on the ground, it won't be survivable on the water either. But the chances are worse for survivors, as any merely knocked unconscious will likely drown and those who are floating in the ocean are susceptible to hypothermia depending on where the crash occurred."
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14mnza | why can't i run x86 applications on an arm cpu if i use the "same" os (so, e. g. debian) on both. | Let me be clear - I *do* know that different architectures have different instruction sets but I always thought, one of the major points of having the same OS on different hardware is, that I can use basically the same applications on both, so the OS acts as some kind of "translator" between CPU and application.
Specifically, I've got a Raspberry Pi (though I'm relatively new to Linux, but then again, that's one of the things it's for - learning things) and even though there's a Linux version for an application, I can't necessarily run said application because of the ARM nature. But then, what's the point in having Linux anyways? Might as well use a custom OS... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14mnza/eli5_why_cant_i_run_x86_applications_on_an_arm/ | {
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"The OS provides a common set of functionality and services for programs, but it doesn't usually abstract away all the differences in the underlying hardware. By choosing to write a program in a language like C++ that compiles to machine dependent assembly language, the authors of the program typically realize that the program will only work on a specific kind of processor. If they didn't want that restriction, they might use a different language like Java, C#, or Javascript.\n",
"Nope. An OS does not translate between different instruction sets. To do that, you need an emulator.\n\nAn OS does provide a standardized way for programs of a given instruction set to access the hardware. If your program opens a file using the Linux interface, you can be confident that the same program will be able to open files on any of the millions of arm-Linux machines in the world. However, if you used a custom OS, you would have to use programs matched to that OS's interface. Those programs would not be able to run on any Linux machines."
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48zdm3 | why are quadcopters suddenly a thing, it's not new tech (is it?) so is it just just good marketing or something? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48zdm3/eli5_why_are_quadcopters_suddenly_a_thing_its_not/ | {
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"Quadcopters share many components with smartphones. They have to have a large rechargeable battery, they need sensors like cameras and accelerometers, and they require microprocessors to control and compute all the information from the sensors. \n\nSmartphones have gotten cheaper and more powerful over time and this translates into quadcopters that have more functionality while remaining cheap enough for regular consumers.",
"Cheap cheap cheap. China and mass production has drastically reduced the cost of the electronics (and every other part for that matter). Quadcopters have 3-axis gyros; back in the day I spent about $300 on a 1-axis gyro for my rc helicopter. ",
"It's not that new no.\nBut it's now cheaper and easier to make. Which means you can put it in the hands of anyone, not just dedicated hobbyists who can afford to spend a great deal of money on their passion.\n\nAnd lastly, because they have gotten simple to the point of needing no skill to use for the reasons PrionBacon mentioned. So you can have no prior experience or skill with flying an RC device and still be able to pick these up and use them without an issue. (using them smartly is another matter entirely)",
"Quadcopters are actually naturally pretty unstable, you need a computer and sensors onboard to constantly correct for that instability. This adds weight so now your copter also needs to be a bit bigger than it was originally planned to be. The larger copter needs a larger battery. Thanks to the prevelence of smartphones, large batteries and decent tiny computers are cheap",
"They haven't been easy to mass produce until recently.\n\nEasy to mass produce means cheaper to buy. Cheaper to buy means more people get them. \n\nThat $200 drone at best buy? That would set you back $1500 8 years ago. That $2000 drone? Yeah that was unthinkably expensive back in the day. "
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6lb21s | the physical effects of ptsd | What physical happens in the victims brain when they have PTSD? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6lb21s/eli5_the_physical_effects_of_ptsd/ | {
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"Not much really. They may have a Traumatic brain injury from the incident but ultimately PTSD is just very vivid memories and reactions.\n\n\nThere's no real physical effect on the brain other than the neural links that create the memory. ",
"Nothing really changes in the brain. However a stressor can induce the release of chemicals and impulses in the brain that induce fear and anxiety. The stressor is anything that may remind the person of an event, such as a loud noise, a smell, or even the sight of blood. During this period of stress the person's sympathetic system is elicited, or the fight or flight response. Some people would completely shut down, run away, or even cover their ears.\nSo no nothing changes in the brain, as in if you do an MRI of the brain it wouldn't really show any physical changes that can be associated to PTSD. ",
"**Psychological trauma** causes both acute and long-term impacts on victims. The acute impact is the mind and body’s response immediately after the event and may include confusion, dissociation, panic, agitation, or amnesia. \n\n**Studies show** that trauma causes changes to the brain, but the extent to which trauma affects the body in the long term is still being explored. Several recent studies published by the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the long-term effects of trauma on physical health make interesting links between the two.\n\n*Children* commonly experience somatic symptoms as a result of trauma. Symptoms may include fainting, stomachache, headaches, muscle aches, and constipation. \n\n**“Fight-or-flight:”** When the brain perceives a threat, the adrenal glands flood the body with adrenaline and cortisol. This is the body’s “fight-or-flight” response. \n\nExperts believe that the brain becomes trained over time to maintain its fight-or-flight response and that persistent states of hyper-arousal or dissociation may lead to permanent neurological changes. \n\nCortisol regulates the immune system, blood sugar, and depression, and is thought to be connected to some of the long-term changes that the body undergoes in times of overwhelming stress. \n\nResearch shows that combat veterans with PTSD have a smaller hippocampus-the region of the brain that controls learning and short-term memory-than those without.",
"I'm no doctor, but I had a fairly severe case of PTSD until I started taking MDMA about a year ago. IIRC a brain with PTSD actually shrinks due to just constantly being bathed in cortisol and stress chemicals; it's essentially a brain injury. It's kind of like having a brain riddled with spyware -- it functions much more slowly and inefficiently, and there are loads of pop-ups, but those pop ups are all just you vividly re-living all of the worst things that have ever happened to you. Wouldn't recommend it."
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9w8j8d | would an acid dumpster work ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9w8j8d/eli5_would_an_acid_dumpster_work/ | {
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"Every single piece of reactant trash you put in would neutralize the acid solution by a little bit, until the solution would no longer do anything. The cost of acid by the millions of tons will be staggering compared to cost of burying or cost of natural gas for burning.",
"Sort of — you'd start out with an incredibly dangerous vat of toxic corrosive liquid, and you'd end up with a pretty dangerous vat of toxic mystery mix liquid, so I don't see how that solves anything.",
"It would be insanely expensive to the point it wasn't worth doing, and even if it were free acid isn't some magic \"melts everything\" chemical. It reacts with other chemicals. So while it might melt some things, it also will react with other things and could potentially create things like toxic gases that would be released into the surrounding area. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nUnless it's crazy strong concentration levels, it will also take a very long time to break down most things to the point they are really \"gone\".",
"Everyones just talking about acid neutralizing things and then being used up. Is anyone consider that acid doesn't just \"neutralize\" things and then it's over an done with, it just really likes to react. It breaks down everything it comes into contact with, releasing the most dangerous chemicals in the process. Believe me, dumping and burning trash is less dangerous."
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3c55dz | why is the weather app on my iphone always wrong? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c55dz/eli5_why_is_the_weather_app_on_my_iphone_always/ | {
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"text": [
"It gets its data from Yahoo, so that's were the problem lies, the newer iOS versions use The Weather Channel.",
"Do you have the location set wrong?"
]
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4ymozx | when a server experiences too much traffic and goes down, what exactly do the server owners change to make it work again? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ymozx/eli5_when_a_server_experiences_too_much_traffic/ | {
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"Usually nothing. All that is needed is to stop allowing new connections/requests, flush out the existing ones and then put the server back online. The whole part where you wait around is sometimes just to get people to lose interest so that the server doesn't crash again.\n\nIn most cases the server is simply restarted.",
"For bigger websites/applications, it's not \"a\" server. Those are a bunch of servers grouped into something called either a Load Balanced Set or a Cluster. Both do essentially the same thing; they spread all the people who want to access that website or application across all those servers. It can be done by Round Robin (1st request gets the 1st server, 2nd request gets the 2nd server and so on), by Least Busy (server that is using the least amount of resources such as CPU or memory get the next request) or a number of other methods. \n\nWhat they do when the site/application is too busy is simply add more of those servers into that set. "
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5wi5h5 | how are cults of personality formed? how are they maintained? and how can they be destroyed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wi5h5/eli5_how_are_cults_of_personality_formed_how_are/ | {
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"Aka how can I become a cult leader?",
"It's pretty complex and it varies from culture to culture. A good (non-controversial) example to mention would be the Kim dynasty of North Korea.\n\nBetween the end of Japanese Empire and the Korean War, the Soviet Union installed Kim-Il Sung as the nation's Generalissimo. Within years he had been lifted to immortal godlike status. Unquestioned authority. Infallible decisions.\n\nHistorically, Cults of Personality *all* fall apart. It's not a matter of *if*, it's a matter of *when*. Eventually something happens that drops the curtain and everyone can see the real \"wizard of Oz\". The illusion is gone.\n\nHowever to counter my own point, the Cult of Personality political phenomenon does not have a lot of non-Modern examples... Elizabeth II? Augustus Caesar?\n\nAdolf Hilter's cult ended (mostly) with the fall of Germany in WWII... but what would have happened if Germany never lost? Would his Cult of Personality still be going strong and defining German politics in the 21st Century?\n\nMy personal opinion is that Cults of Personality are unsustainable. The personal ambition of the Leader (almost) always leads to a downfall. Overconfidence. Paranoia.",
"Be a popular person with the ability to promote people who match your personality. Especially if you can train them to be like you.\n\nLater they do the exact same thing.\n\nNow you've got a large number of copies of yourself working beneath you. Your policies, agenda, and opinion will always have an advocate at any level of discussion. \n\nNow rig the system. If you fall or fail, they go too."
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6qu6xb | why is it that when i'm driving and i stop at a light or whatnot it appears i am moving in reverse when i'm not moving at all? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qu6xb/eli5_why_is_it_that_when_im_driving_and_i_stop_at/ | {
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"This is a variation of what's informally known as the [Waterfall effect](_URL_0_).\n\nBasically what it is is your brain trying to make sense of continuous motion, and to a point, trying to compensate for it. \n\nIf that motion stops, your brain's compensation doesn't, so you perceive movement in the opposite direction. \n\nThe way to visualize it is imagine one of those flat moving walkways you get at airports. If you walk backwards on one of those, just fast enough to slow but not stop yourself, that's comparable to your brain doing it's thing. \n\nIf the walkway then stops, but you don't you'll now be walking in the direction opposite to the way you were.\n\nThat's kinda what's happening. \n\nIt's called the waterfall effect because you get the same phenomenon, but vertically if you stare at a waterfall for a minute or two, then look away at something stationary like a tree. It'll appear for a few moments to be rising. "
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f7k6g1 | why do large tomatoes have lots of seeds and a core, but cherry tomatoes are totally seedless and coreless? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f7k6g1/eli5_why_do_large_tomatoes_have_lots_of_seeds_and/ | {
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"text": [
"At its most simple.. they're entirely different species of tomato. Cherry tomatoes aren't just small regular tomatoes. They're a different thing altogether.",
"Cherry tomatoes are not seedless. Just look at [this photo](_URL_0_). They have a core and seeds just like a regular-size tomato, only smaller."
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72rqds | why is the spinal cord so difficult to attach? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72rqds/eli5_why_is_the_spinal_cord_so_difficult_to_attach/ | {
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"Nerves in the spinal cord and brain scar for reasons we do not understand, causing a blockage for connections to otherwise form. \n\nAlso blood is actually toxic when placed directly on nerve cells so if you got spinal trauma that doesn't help. ",
"If you mean \"**re-**attach\", as in re-connecting the spinal cord after it's been severed as a result of some trauma, the answer is that the spinal cord is basically just a big bundle of nerves. If it gets severed, that's a problem. *Physically* stitching the nerves back together isn't *that* difficult (though there are so *many* nerves in the spinal cord that this is impractical), but that's not good enough. It'd be like breaking a circuit board for your computer in half and taping it back together. Sure, the relevant parts are now physically connected again, but that doesn't actually restore the severed circuits. \n\nIn particular, nerves tend to form scars at the points where they're cut (called \"neuromas,\" though not all neuromas are traumatic in origin). Neuromas don't transmit nerve impulses very well, if at all, so even if you put the nerve itself back together, the scar is still a problem. "
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4im7un | what is the difference between the wto and nafta? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4im7un/eli5what_is_the_difference_between_the_wto_and/ | {
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"The World Trade Organization is a membership based institution with 162 member states. The goal is to regulate international trade by setting standards, reducing trade barriers, and settling disputes between member nations. \n\nNAFTA is a regional agreement between three countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This regional institution creates a trade bloc or free trade area that goes a bit further than the WTO.\n\nBasically, the key differences are the WTO is international with many members, whereas NAFTA is regional and localized. "
]
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7m2tf7 | why does the temperature at which you cook your food matter? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7m2tf7/eli5_why_does_the_temperature_at_which_you_cook/ | {
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"Most cooking methods involve blasting the outside of the food with heat, so the inside of the food is insulated from the heat. If you cook at too high a temperature, the outside will start to burn before the inside is fully cooked. You need to cook at low enough temperature that the whole thing is cooked without burning.",
"Cooking serves different purpose :\n\n* killing bad things that are present in your food : here you understand why temperature is important. Just like you won't die in a hot bath, bacteria won't die at 30°C.\n\n* changing texture and taste. Here, we are looking at chemical transformations. Just like when you touch a hot metal rod, you won't burn yourself until a certain temperature is reached. Therefore to obtain a sear on a steak, having your cooking pan blazing hot is necessary. "
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5lpohy | why does it seem that when consuming alcohol you need to use the bathroom far more frequently than if you were drinking a comparable amount of non-alcoholic liquid? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lpohy/eli5_why_does_it_seem_that_when_consuming_alcohol/ | {
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"That's because it doesn't just seem like it, you **do** have to go pee more often. Alcohol plays around with your brain a little, causing a gland to stop producing a hormone that regulates the levels of fluid in your body and causes you to \"open the floodgates\".\n\nFor reference, [this Youtube video.](_URL_0_)"
]
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[
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||
3szudx | what causes that crackling sound when you walk on hardwood floors? | It's not full-blown creaking, but whenever I step on the floor it has this light noise it makes. It sounds a bit like snapping, crackling, popping, if you will. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3szudx/eli5_what_causes_that_crackling_sound_when_you/ | {
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"Well hardwood floors are typically made of multiple pieces of wood, and you can only be so precise when laying the hardwood. By some fraction of an inch, the floor is probably misaligned or uneven. ",
"Are you talking about real hardwood floor or laminate flooring? "
]
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7uhdn6 | why are the survival methods when encountering a black bear different from encountering a brown bear? | One you have to be aggressive and loud, and the other you need to lie down on your stomach and put your arms on your neck.
What is the reason for this, and how are the bear personalities' contributing to this difference in reaction? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7uhdn6/eli5why_are_the_survival_methods_when/ | {
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"Black bears are much, much smaller than brown bears. Brown bears include grizzly bears. So you can intimidate a black bear much more easily than a brown bear. \n\nA startled black bear's reaction is to run away. A startled brown bear's reaction is to attack. Don't startle a brown bear.",
"Black bears and brown bears are different species. Their \"personalities\" are the reason. Black bears are much more skittish, and will not be as aggressive if met with resistance. They're also *much* smaller, so fighting back will often cause them to back off when it's apparent that you are not going to roll over for them. Brown bears are huge comparatively, and they are *not* afraidnof an animal the size of a human. Playing dead can cause them to lose interest.",
"They are two very different animals. Black bears are very small and mild creatures. There's not many records of black bear attacks and you can usually just scare them off.\n\nGrizzly (or brown) bears, on the other hand, are not to be trifled with. These bears are almost twice as big as black bears (5'6 vs 10' in length) and they run/climb faster than humans. Grizzlies are also very protective -- they will attack you if you unknowingly wander near their cubs. Your only hope against a brown bear is to play dead, protect your vital organs and hope it gets bored and leaves.",
"They are different species. They live in different (but overlapping) territories, have slightly different diets, are of different sizes, and have different behaviors. ",
"FYI, a lot of people are saying black bears are smaller and they are.\n\nThat doesn't mean they are small. Black bears can get very large and not all of them get scared away as well as people would like to think.\n\nI live in the mountains and we have black bears in our yard. The younger bears are very skittish and will run away at any noise from me.\n\nThe older ones, not so much. We had an at least 350 lb black bear at our bird feeder last year. I yelled, I banged the window, the dog was barking and that bear did not care at all.\n\nIt took me opening the back door (not close to the bear) which makes a very metallic sound for that bear to mosey on down the hill and away from our house.\n\nThey are also incredibly quiet so it's important to keep a lookout at your surroundings when you are in black bear country.\n\nI was sitting in our living room, which has a door leading to our deck. The door was open. The deck is about 15 feed wide. I look up and there is an enormous black bear sitting on our deck railing. I didn't hear him at all. Neither did our dog which was sitting at my feet. I, of course, screamed like a little girl and that bear casually put one paw on the rail and swung itself down to the ground (about 6 feet) and wandered off. I have no idea how long it had been sitting there.",
"They are different species with different behavior. It's not like Black and White people, same species with different colors adapted to their (pre modern transportation) environment, it's more like humans compared to gorillas. Major differences in size and behavior. Black bears are smaller and more timid than grizzly (brown) bears. They are still big and strong enough to wreck an unarmed human though. Perhaps they had more competition from other big predators in their evolution and developed more cautious instincts as a result. Most problems with black bears come from ones who've become accustomed to humans and lost their fear but even then attacks are rare. Grizzly bears on the other hand are much bigger and stronger making them the undisputed top of the food chain when compared to anything not packing a high power rifle and they know it. "
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1pse2m | why is it that data is always unavailable for greenland? | When you look at Wikipedia articles for the Human Development Index or Economic Freedom Index or any of the sort, Greenland is always listed as "Data Unavailable". Very few other places are listed as such, including North Korea, Somalia and South Sudan.
Greenland obviously isn't the most advanced nation in the world, but it was founded by modern Europeans. Why is all of it's data unknown? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pse2m/eli5_why_is_it_that_data_is_always_unavailable/ | {
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"Greenland isn't an independent country, for starters. It's still part of Denmark. Considering that it has a population of 60,000 people, using the same data as for Denmark proper wouldn't be an accurate representation. ",
"Majority of the population consists of Greenlandic Inuit. The Europeans are only a small part of the population. I can imagine that it's hard to get data from a country that has mostly indigenous people.\n\nSource: I live with, and am an Inuit myself.",
"I think the real reason is that it is huge (slightly larger than Saudi Arabia) and very sparsely populated (60 thousand people). On top of that, its mostly ice, so it would be costly and physically difficult to acquire reliable data."
]
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61trnz | how did we go from speaking like shakespeare to how we speak now? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61trnz/eli5_how_did_we_go_from_speaking_like_shakespeare/ | {
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"From the Google\n\n > \"Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.\"\n\nPeople never really talked this way. Shakespearean writing is special in the fact that almost all of it is written in poem. Sonnets in iambic pentameter to be exact.\n"
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7znmi4 | open source: why are so many people willing to write software to give for free? also, why is it in similar areas, eg game dev or digital media design, open source is much less common? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7znmi4/eli5open_source_why_are_so_many_people_willing_to/ | {
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"Reasons to develop open source:\n\n1) Because other people can use it and therefore it is useful for human progress.\n2) Because people can then customize it for their own use, and look through the source code to ensure that they are not being spied on by inbuilt spyware or nagware\n3) To practice and showcase their skill and prove that they can code\n4) Because they like the fun of solving a puzzle rather than developing software for some goddamn clueless manager who doesn't know or give a shit about it.\n\nReasons not to develop open source:\n\n1) Because you gotta get paid somehow"
]
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3a26tc | what is at & t next and should i do it | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a26tc/eli5_what_is_att_next_and_should_i_do_it/ | {
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"Instead of buying it in full or getting a subsidized price for 2-year contract, you pay $0 down and instead have monthly payments on top of your bill. You can upgrade your device at any time, you just have to pay the remaining x amount of months. The caveat is that you have to return the phone in good condition, so if you are the type of person who scratches, dents, breaks phones, do not get this plan, as the insurance plan is outrageous, like $300 deductible plus the $8/mo or whatever it is. \n \nI had the 12 month version with my iPhone 6, I fell into a pool, and had to get a new phone, I got the new phone on a 2-year contract and have about $400 left on the old phone that I still have to pay off. \n \nIf you have the 10GB family plan, you get $25 off every month for every line. In my case, once I got the new phone, that $25/mo discount ended, so now I have to pay $37/mo insead of the $12/mo if I still had the phone. \n \nI would advise doing the rental, I would either get the contract or buy the phone for full price and sell it after you are done.",
"I got a phone recently and found that the salespeople were no help (they just repeat some nonsense phrases that don't actually tell you anything about prices) so I had to look into it for myself.\n\nThere are two phone service plans for individuals. The Mobile Share Value plan (I think that's what it's called - it's basically the no contract plan) and the 2-year contract plan. The 2-year contract has a higher monthly fee and requires you to be on a contract. The MSV plan doesn't have a contract and has two fees: one for device service and one for data. The fee for service depends on the device, but I think it’s $40/month for smartphones in my area. The fee for data depends on how much data you want. I think it’s $40/month for 3gb where I am. That would be a total of $80/month for service and 3gb of data for smartphone with no contract.\n\nSo that’s for service. Now for the phones. If you get a 2-year contract, you can get a hefty discount on the phone. So you pay more per month and are under a contract, but you get your phone at a reduced price. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but if I remember correctly, you end up paying more over two years with the contract. That is, the discount on the phone is not enough to make up for the higher monthly charges. Plus, you have a contract so you’re stuck with AT & T until it’s up (or you pay a contract break fee). \n\nThe NEXT plan basically provides you with a smartphone for $0 down. The cost is instead split up over some number of months (20, 24, or 30) and you pay on the phone each month. You pay full price for the phone, though. And you have to have some sort of service with AT & T to get this. AT & T isn’t trying to make money on the phone here – they’re just trying to make sure you have a phone that uses data so you’ll sign up for their service. If you cancel your service with AT & T you have to pay the remaining balance on your phone. This isn’t a bad deal. Basically, you get an interest free loan to buy a smartphone at full price. \n\nI believe you can also bring your own smartphone and put it on your account with a MSV (no contract) plan. That’s probably your best option if you can get a smartphone for cheap. If you’re going to pay full price or close to it anyway, there’s no reason not to split the payments up over months into the future since there’s no interest or anything for NEXT. If you’re bad at managing money or just hate having monthly payments, though, then you may just want to buy your own phone up front for full price.\n\nTl;dr -You can get a two –year contract that provides a discount on your phone, but the high monthly rate makes it not worth it.\n\nThe Mobile Share Value plan is a no contract plan with a lower monthly charge that doesn’t give you a discount on any phone purhcases. You can bring your own phone or get one through NEXT. NEXT just lets you pay full price for a phone over a set number of months instead of having to pay it all up front.\n\nEdit: I forgot about upgrading. You can upgrade your phone if you get it through NEXT before all the payments are due, but your phone has to be in good condition. I prefer to buy and keep my phones rather than upgrading to new phones all the time, so I didn't really pay attention to this. I don't think this is ridiculous, though, because you would be responsible for the condition of your own phone whether or not you wanted to trade it in."
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1xt1z1 | how is the comcast/time warner merger legal, but the at & t/t-mobile blocked by the doj? | It seems like Comcast would have the biggest of monopolies if this deal were to go through. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xt1z1/eli5_how_is_the_comcasttime_warner_merger_legal/ | {
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"The merger hasn't been approved yet. It's very possible that it'll be blocked.",
"The DOJ hasn't ruled yet on whether the merger is legal.\n\nThe way it works is that the companies work out the financial details of the merger, and THEN the DOJ rules on whether it can happen.\n\nThis is how it worked for other nixed mergers, like AT & T/T-Mobile and Worldcom/Sprint."
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2lhad1 | why do i not smell perfume i've sprayed on me but other people do? | I love wearing different perfumes so it's not like I'm used to the same fragrance. Once the fragrance sets in, I never smell it unless I bring my shirt or wrist up to my nose but people around me will tell me I smell good. Why can't I enjoy the damn fragrance I spent so much money on?! :P | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lhad1/eli5_why_do_i_not_smell_perfume_ive_sprayed_on_me/ | {
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"text": [
"Why don't you see your nose? It's within your vision.\n\nYour brain filters out your nose, because it's always there, and likewise, it filters out smells that are \"always there\". \n\nThe phenomenon is called [sensory adaptation](_URL_0_), this is the brain caring less about constant stimuli. Olfactory neurons also fire less frequently.\n\n",
"You probably just get used to it, so your brain tunes it out as background noise and then you can't smell it anymore."
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_adaptation"
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47v73k | why are organic foods cheaper in some countries (like sweden) as opposed to others? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47v73k/eli5_why_are_organic_foods_cheaper_in_some/ | {
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"I think there's two simple economic explanation that should answer your question:\n\n* Because Swedish like to buy organic food, there's a higher demand for it, so many businesses want to sell organic food, driving the prices down through competition\n\n* Sweden and Europe (additionally with organic food certifications like Krav that gives legitimacy to organic food productors) may subsidies organic food more than \"classic\" food making them cheaper for the consumer",
"Sweden is a big farming country thanks to Skane. In fact, last I check there is a little movement right now to keep the dairy farmers in business by opposing the the big companies coming from other parts of Europe. Many other countries actually really on local farmers to supply food. These farmers still gotta compete with each in order to make sales, and in turn drives prices down. \nNow in the other countries, like the US, Germany, and maybe England, but certainly many other countries, the food is not supplied by local farmers and in fact is provided by large, commercial company farms. These products are the \"un-organic\" foods we think of. Industrial nations with a large populus are fed by Industry standard farms that supply large yield- naturally. These large companies compete with each other, and ultimatly drive prices down. However, due note that the \"local\" farmers that provide \"organic\" foods with in these nations still need to compete, however can not compete without either raising their prices to compensate for lower yields, or without raising their yields by commercialization. \n\nPlus Note: in areas where in-organic is common, but definatly not wanted- organic goods can be sold at a \"premium price\" to fulfill that threshold.",
"In the US certified Organic labeling is as much a branding exercise invloving favors with the USDA as it is anything. Hence the premium.",
"They also have a totally different set of rules dictating what type of production is considered to be organic, so I'm sure that has some kind of effect on prices. I believe they are less stringent than the U.S. as to which \"chemicals\" can be used, making it easier for your average farmer to produce certified organic food in larger amounts. Government subsidies play a big role in determining food prices, which is a big reason why fresh produce in general is more expensive than it should be in the U.S. The big bucks are in corn, soybeans, and milk, so the supply of those products is made artificially high, while simultaneously decreasing other produce production, organic included. Hence the higher prices."
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3g6kug | when i'm touching my skin with my finger, does my finger feel my skin or does the skin feel the finger? or does it both? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3g6kug/eli5_when_im_touching_my_skin_with_my_finger_does/ | {
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"Both! There are some areas of the body that are more sensitive than others though. Lightly rub your fingers across your lips. You'll feel a lot of sensation on your lips but little on your fingers. Then run your finger across the bottom of your foot near the heel. You'll feel the touch sensation much more on your finger than on your heel.\n\nFun fact: There are two main types of touch receptors. The first is the type that lets you feel your finger drag across your arm, and these mostly do this by sensing the disturbance of the hairs on your skin. Remember, humans are still absolutely covered in hair but it's so small and fine that you don't really see it unless you look for it. The second type is much deeper in your skin and is responsible for sensing pressure."
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3qulo9 | how and why does dickbutt exist? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qulo9/eli5_how_and_why_does_dickbutt_exist/ | {
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"Origin\n > On July 2nd, 2006, artist K.C. Green published a webcomic in his titled “Tree. You’ve Been Good to Us\" as part of the Horribleville[1] series, which featured an artist who illustrates the Dick Butt character after being scolded for wasting tree resources as a child (shown below).\n\nmore information [here](_URL_0_)"
]
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| []
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[
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||
82cqx3 | why do properties in the starting corner of monopoly such as park place or boardwalk have a lower chance of being landed on than others? | I just played a game, and I landed on St. James multiple times while my opponents rarely landed on my hotel'd Boardwalk. What's the math behind this? Or do I just have bad luck? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/82cqx3/eli5_why_do_properties_in_the_starting_corner_of/ | {
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"I don't remember the game that well, but I do remember that you occasionally restart from Go or Jail or other spaces when you land on chance or community chest. Spaces that are closer to restart points and those points will be more likely to be landed upon. ",
"Every space on a Monopoly board has a certain probability to land on, and these have all been figured out. It is quite complicated unless you already have a good understanding of probability, but for your example of St. James Place vs. Boardwalk, there are a few factors here against you:\n\nRolling two dice, the odds are that the sum 7 is the most likely, followed by 6 or 8, 5 or 9, 4 or 10, 3 or 11, and 2 or 12.\n\nJail is the most frequented space on the board, due to the many ways to get there, either in jail or just visiting. \n\nGo is another very probable space to get to, due to the Chance and Community Cards.\n\nKnowing that, you can see why it is much easier to land on St. James than it is Boardwalk, since many of your next rolls begin on either Go or Jail. Many times going around the board, you are sent to either Go or Jail before you can get to Boardwalk. \n\nSt. James is also a roll of 6 from Jail, which has a high probability of being rolled.\n\nTo get to Boardwalk, you have to get past all the opportunities to either get sent to Go or Jail, plus all the other random places being sent, only one of which is Boardwalk.\n\n\n"
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3pb1lj | why is china's economic growth dipping below 7% such a big deal? | Just read about this on WSJ (_URL_0_).
Assuming economic growth and GDP growth are synonymous, isn't 6.9% growth still great compared to the US GDP growth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3pb1lj/eli5_why_is_chinas_economic_growth_dipping_below/ | {
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"For starters, China's economy is run by its politicians, so nobody believes that 6.9% number is real. All anybody knows is that the lower government numbers mean the real number is also getting lower, and investors and analysts use other kinds of data (demand for steel, for instance, as a reflection of how many buildings are getting put up) to estimate just how low that might be.\n\nAnd while the real number is probably around 3% or 4%, which is very good by Western standards, it's still lower than what was expected, and expectations are everything in economics. Over the last few years, companies have poured billions of dollars into China expecting their economy to grow at a certain high rate in the future and for that growth to fuel demand for their products and boost their profits. If growth slows down from where it was expected, that means their assets in China are worth less because they're going to bring in less money than was projected. It also discourages any future investments that may no longer make sense, which can have a domino effect on the economy.",
"It's a lot easier to \"catch up\" in terms of economic growth than to innovate yourself. For example, it is easier to copy a tractor that another country has designed and switch from horse drawn plows to the tractor that to design and build a better tractor. China is in the midst of a giant industrial revolution like this. Their population is moving from the rural center towards the industrial coasts and their is a huge shift from agriculture to manufacturing. Every year on they are increasing their abillity to make \"stuff\" by over 7% per year in monetary terms.\n\nEven though they make a lot more things than they buy, China's low growth is significant because it means they will buy and invest a lot less in other markets, and that will effect other economies."
]
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| [
"http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-economic-growth-falls-below-7-for-first-time-since-2009-1445221368?mod=djemalertNEWS"
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[],
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1m98qj | russia- communist, secular, religious, democrazy? what's their deal? | A quick Google search yielded too many detailed and long explanations that I simply don't have time for. Essentially, **can someone give me Russia's political history for the past ~100 years in a few sentences?**
I'm confused. They *WERE* secular and without religion for a while, but now they are orthodox or something? And they are still communist, but who exactly is Putin and what's his role? Many thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1m98qj/eli5_russia_communist_secular_religious_democrazy/ | {
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"text": [
"Autocratic empire until 1917, then communist for nearly 75 years. The USSR collapsed in 1991, and Russia has been an increasingly autocratic semi-democracy since then. Russia is absolutely **not** a communist state any more, and hasn't been for more than twenty years. Putin is the current president, who had a lot more personal power and influence than many would like. He served his terms as president, then had his handpicked successor elected, so then immediately appointed Putin as Prime Minister. After Medvedev had served a term as president, and Putin was eligible to run again, he did, and is now back in office. He managed to get the presidential term increased too :) \n",
"Okay.. this is super brief and missing a lot of information. But its a good start.\n\nAhem..\n\nWell, before 1917 - Russia was a monarchy ruled by Czars. The term \"Czar\" (also spelled Tsar) comes from the word \"Caesar\", and these rulers were Russian royalty who ruled with supreme power. Russia was an empire, not a kingdom. It is considered an empire because Russia is divided up into several states called \"oblasts\". \n\nIn early 1900s, ruled a Tsar named Nicholas II. Meanwhile, the Russian poor people got really fed up with the rising gap between rich and poor, the shitty treatment of workers, the *massive* wealth of the upper class, etc.\n\nThe Bolsheviks (translates to \"majority\") was a political party lead by Vladimir Lenin, inspired by Karl Marx's writings, represented these disenfranchised poor workers. During World War 1, the Bolsheviks saw weakness in Tsar Nicholas II - and in 1917 stormed the Winter Palace and SHOT UP THE ENTIRE FAMILY. His daughter's (Anastasia) body was never found. There was rumors that she escaped the shootings and led a full life in France or something. That's what the Disney film, \"Anastasia\", is all about.\n\nAnywho.. Lenin seized power. The Bolsheviks became the Communist Party. Russia became Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Civil war followed, but Lenin took out all enemy mo'fuckers. Bolsheviks were \"reds\", and the resistance was called \"whites\". \n\nThe term \"Soviet\" means council. So like.. \"Council of Defense\" would be \"Soviet of Defense\". The term \"Soviet\" eventually came to mean citizen of the Soviet Union. \n\nPeople LOVED the new country. Workers get treated fairly! Unions are amazing! Everyone is equal! Healthcare! Schools! Fuck yeah! Over the next few decades, quality of life improved DRASTICALLY. \n\nOther countries wanted in on the action too. Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, etc, etc. They all became Soviets as well - forming the Soviet Union. Made of 15 countries, with Moscow as the Capital City. \n\nSoon, Lenin died. Everyone has a sad. Stalin took over, he's fuckin' crazy and mad with power. He has these two \"5 year plans\" which DRAMATICALLY improved Military Power, Industrialization and other technology. New cities built up overnight! Sounds good right? Wrong. Stalin punished people that didn't see eye to eye with him, or that were too weak to continue working. Stalin KILLED millions of his own people.\n\nThen WW2 happened. Hitler and Stalin didn't get along. Soviets almost single-handedly wins the war. Lots die. Like.. 1 in 3 didn't make it home. \n\nSoviet union rebuilds. Cold war and shit happens with the US. Americans fear Commies. Commies don't really care that much Americans, turns out. Mostly just wanted to be buddies. Eventually, shit gets competitive. Arms Race. Space Race! America claims they win space race when they sent a guy to the moon. Russia said, \"Uh what? We sent the first object AND dude to space. That literally means we won.\". Americans fear climaxes in the Red Scare and McCarthyism. Nothing of the like happened in the Soviet Union. Americans were viewed as silly and disorganized. \n\nNow here comes Gorbachev. Russia's in an economic depression. Gorby knows what to do! He knows oppression doesn't work, he lived through Stalin afterall! Gorby sets up a policy called \"Perestroika\" (Rebuilding) and \"Glasnost\" (openness). This opens Russia to the west. New businesses like McDonalds and Macy's enter Russian market. Everyone's happy. \n\nThings were really good for Soviet Union in the 1980s. They saw American television and saw all the gang shootings in Detroit, the crack epidemic in NYC, the homeless people in San Fran and thought to themselves \"Thank fuck I live in the Soviet Union! Where I'm well taken care of!\". \n\nWell.. people wanted more freedom. After experiencing some of it, states like Latvia were like \"Hey umm.. independence?\". Soon, all the states were like \"Yeah! I wanna control myself!\" and they all sort of succeeded. Eventually, they dissolved the Soviet Union in 1992 and drafted a new constitution, with free markets (no more communists) placing Boris Yeltsin in charge. \n\nEarly 90s Russia SUCKED. Severe economic depression because they didn't have the government telling anyone what to produce anymore. Cities fell apart. Homelessness became a problem. Yeltsin did everything he could to keep shit together. \n\nPutin gets elected. Fixed a lot of problems. His friends get rich in the meantime. Cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg are every bit as well off as any powerful/wealthy American City, maybe more. Rural Russia sucks, but noone gives a shit about them. \n\nPutin goes mad with power, gives up presidency. Becomes Prime Minister. \n\n\n"
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71dkvf | how many planes, vertices, edges and faces does a sphere have? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71dkvf/eli5_how_many_planes_vertices_edges_and_faces/ | {
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"A perfect sphere? Infinite. Every point on its surface is all of those things. 1 dimensional points have no area, so it has infinite of each on a perfect mathematical sphere.\n\nImperfect (i.e. Real) spheres have about as many as they do imperfections. A cube is a really really imperfect sphere and it has 6, 8, and 12.",
"1) none - planes must be flat, 2d, and infinite\n\n2) none - a vertex is a place where two lines, curves, or edges meet.\n\n3) none - an edge requires two vertices, with no vertices, a sphere cannot have edges\n\n4) none - faces must be flat, 2d geometry.\n\n\nEdit\n\n\n\nYou could claim infinite vertices and edges. That more a philosophical discussion on does the surface of a sphere connecting to itself constitute two lines or curves meeting."
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67ogmw | how did police, fire and ambulance become the 'standard' emergency services? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67ogmw/eli5_how_did_police_fire_and_ambulance_become_the/ | {
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"text": [
"The only other \"emergency services\" are generally only needed in times of large-scale disaster - National Guard usually fills this role.\n\nYou need someone to enforce the law. That's the police.\n\nIf a fire's burning, you need to put it out quickly so it doesn't spread and if possible, rescue people who are trapped. This requires specialized training and equipment, that's the fire department.\n\nIf someone's having a medical emergency, they need to be stabilized ASAP and then taken to a hospital for treatment. This requires medical training. That's your ambulance.",
"Name an emergency besides crime, fire, or medical that you would need a specialized service for. ",
"All localized emergencies fall into one of those categories and non-localized emergencies are handled by non-localized emergency service providers. ",
"Well, the police one is a bit off topic. Police forces existed since (at least in America) since our country's inception. Albeit, police forces did expand over time, and the advent of phones, cars, and other more specific technological advances came to what we have today. I will talk about police, but only on a modern standpoint.\n\n & nbsp;\n\n***Let's start with the ambulance***. The ambulance first saw successful usage in WWI, partly by the young *American Red Cross* (fun fact, Walt Disney lied about his age and became an [ambulance driver](_URL_9_) for them at the end of the war). According to [Wikipedia](_URL_4_) however, the ambulance first came about in 1865, but that was done via horse-drawn carriage, and thus is irrelevant to the overarching point. But the ambulance started to see more civilian usage in what we know of, came about in the 1960's by [R. Adams Cowley](_URL_3_) who created the first EMS (*Emergency Medical Services*) in Maryland. And if you wonder why every *EMT* vehicle looks the same, the Federal Government has [standards on design](_URL_8_) named *intriguingly* **KKK-1822** and it was created (or at least updated) [August 1, 2007](_URL_7_). From skimming through Wikipedia, it seems that the *EMS* programs we know became major city, county, and state issues around the 60's to 70's. \n\n & nbsp;\n\n***The Fire Dept.***: Now, we've come a long way in technology since the advent of the [*fire brigade*](_URL_0_)(YouTube; probably down future people). But with this comes advances. The Chicago fire of 1871 showed from what I can see, a horse pulled [fire \"engine\"](_URL_1_) (no source on date, but it seems accurate). It seems that [1905](_URL_5_) was the year that the fire engine became a usuable driving vehicle. In the same year, *Knox Automobile Company* started selling vehicles in Massachusett; pictured [here](_URL_6_). As you can see, it has the same setup current ones do. Fire Hydrants were invented in [1817](_URL_2_) but used gravity mostly - as with San Francisco. So basically the fire department as we know it was invented in the early 20th century.\n\n & nbsp;\n\n***Tl;dr***: The systems for public safety as we know it have been invented at different times; partly technological and partly desire. When health care became prevalent in the 60's (1965 was when Medicare was created), ambulances became the mainstay we know today. Fire engines were created in the early 20th century because fire has always been issues (Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and San Francisco Quake of 1906). Virtually the second the ability to have a water truck on wheels operate horseless, it happened. The same for police. Police forces have just relied on advancements, as the same principles of the job, and the desire of the public to have them, have existed since the dawn of the US (and probably before).\n\n**EDIT**: Grammar, etc."
]
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| [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0JLVDnpt4&t=3m35s",
"http://www.firefightersenemy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2010/05/IMG_1516.jpg",
"http://www.usd116.org/ums/apple/service/department/history/hydrant.html",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-20",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_the_United_States#History",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_engine#cite_ref-21",
"https://readtiger.com/img/wkp/en/Knoxfireengine.jpg",
"https://www.nasemso.org/documents/KKK-A-1822F-Cumulative-Change-Notice7-02Feb2015.pdf",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-32",
"https://chicagoredcrossstories.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/volunteer-walt-disney-1919.jpg"
]
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|
||
e6rbec | what is the difference between nadh and nadph? | My teacher posted a quizlet but she used these 2 different terms, so I’m a little confused. Is there any real difference between the two? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e6rbec/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_nadh_and_nadph/ | {
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"text": [
"They are different. NADH(Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) has a chemical composition of C^(21)H^(27)N^(7)O^(14)P^(2). While NADPH(Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) is C^(21)H^(29)N^(7)O^(17)P^(3). As you can see, slightly different chemical compositions. Also, while NADH is used in cellular respiration, NADPH is used in photosynthesis. But, I am by no means a expert, so feel free to correct me.",
"Say you eat some sugar. It goes in your bloodstream to your cells. Your cell then converts that sugar into energy. One of the way it does this is by turning some of the energy from the sugar molecule into NADH. That NADH goes to your mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) and is used to generate ATP, which is the main energy molecule your cell uses. This can power a bunch of other things. So NADH is used for ATP production.\n\nNADPH is a little bit different. It's also made out of sugar. But instead of sending the energy down the path to make ATP, your cell forms NADPH instead. This NADPH can be used for building new things. For example, if your body wants to make a new fat or cholesterol molecule, it uses NADPH to help make it. Or say that there are some dangerous reactive oxygen species floating around in your cell. Your cells use NADPH to provide a hydrogen atom to help eliminate the danger. It can flip this around and generate reactive oxygen species in order to kill bacteria too. Also, in plants, NADPH is essential in photosynthesis, which the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar."
]
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23xuce | how do sexual thoughts trigger unconscious reactions like erections and wetness? | How is it that when you're aroused, your body knows you're aroused and prepares? I ask because unlike hand movements breathing or blinking these don't seem to be directly controlable. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23xuce/eli5how_do_sexual_thoughts_trigger_unconscious/ | {
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"score": [
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"text": [
"I don't think it's possible to answer this ELI5",
"All thoughts can cause physical reactions in the body. Ever watch a thrilling movie and feel your heart race? Physically you're sitting on your butt. But your heart races because you get sucked into the movie and your brain thinks it's your bus that just blew up. ",
"Brain releases hormones, hormones prompt bodily reaction.\n\n\"He's feeling horny. Get that blood flowing to his nethers, we have a tent to raise, dammit!"
]
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4cesir | doctorate (doctors degree) | The non-medical degree.
Pure curiosity here, so after somebody does their Masters they can go towards their Doctorate.
What separates the two ? What are the requirements for a Doctorate dissertation ?
Edit: Thanks to all. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4cesir/eli5doctorate_doctors_degree/ | {
"a_id": [
"d1hit0n"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"FWIW you don't have to have a masters degree to do a PhD. \n\nI was offered a PhD position straight out of my undergrad. Don't expect to get paid very well though...\n\n\n\n\n\n\n | Bachelors | Masters | Doctorate\n---|---|----|----\nScope | Very broad| More focused | very specialized\nyears (average) | 3-6(4) | 1-2(1) | 2-6(4)\nfocus | foundational knowledge, how to think | specialized knowledge, prepping for a specific career | research/ adding to the knowledge base \nmedium | taught/lectures/assignments/exams | some teaching/exams, often a large 'project' or research paper | only a heavy teaching element in very specialized areas, usually researching a thesis, experimenting, writing up results with peer review/guidance\nstudent demographic | mostly kids straight from high-school | a lot of professionals seeking specialization, mature students, grad students etc as well as Ba graduates | some professionals but mostly academics graduating from BA/taught masters \nSchedule | Usually full time | Very often part time/night school | Usually full time \nCost| in some places blanket funded by the government, often covered by grants, often covered by student loans | rarely blanket government funded though there's sometimes higher-education schemes, often employer funded, some grants also | very rarely government funded though lots and lots of grants exist, not unusual to be paid a reasonable wage to do a research PhD \nAt the end you do... | exams, sometimes a 'final year project' is worth a lot of marks | exams, often a 'dissertation' or a large project | A thesis, only exams in very specialized professionals\nat the end you get... | Some form 'bacelors' degree of Ba or Bsc (e.g. Ba Hons, Bachelor of X with Y, _URL_0_, BA computer science, BSC History) | Some form of 'masters' degree (e.g. Msc, Ma, MBA etc) | A PhD, you get to use the title 'Doctor'\nTag line | Foundational/ student-development focused | Practical/industry focused| research/academia focused \n\n\nYMMV - this is just how I've always seen the distinctions. But it's all quite wishy-washy, and there's a lot of overlap though. A lot of places have their own meanings for these terms, and there's a lot of frameworks in different countries to define them. Even in the same university, an academics-focused student can do a research focused masters, and produce a very high quality dissertation, that may closely resemble a thesis produced by a more practically-oriented Phd candidate. "
]
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4w0z3o | are the individual cells of a multi-cellular organism subject to natural selection? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4w0z3o/eli5_are_the_individual_cells_of_a_multicellular/ | {
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"text": [
"They moderate themselves, in a way, by stopping division if they find something wrong, but I don't believe they fight each other all the time.",
"Middle/High School Science teacher here, is there a flair for that?\n\n\"Natural Selection\" is more than just \"The strongest will survive\" - a better definition would be \"The strongest will survive to pass on their genes, and their genetic traits will be passed on to the next generation\".\n\nCells live and die and are subject to stress just like organisms do, but in a multi-cellular organism, their genes are all the same (generally). So genetic traits of the cells don't change from parent to daughter cells. So \"natural selection\" doesn't really occur because every cell's DNA is the same."
]
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bcdlue | why do human need to have ears that hear up to 20khz when our human voice frequency range is between 300 to 3khz? | Was wondering why audio amplifiers need to have up to 20kHz bandwidth when we can only create up to 3kHz of sound with our voice | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bcdlue/eli5why_do_human_need_to_have_ears_that_hear_up/ | {
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"text": [
"Because we need to hear things that arent human. Like predators, or natural disasters or all sorts of things that could signify danger.\n\nThe ability to communicate is useful but still comes second to the ability to dodge dangerous things.",
"There’s many things we want to hear that’s out of human voice range. Birds singing, instruments , whistling , cat hissing , water boiling in a pressure cooker, etc.\n\nOnly hearing human voice would be pretty disadvantageous.",
" > **Why do human need to have ears that hear up to 20kHz when our human voice frequency range is between 300 to 3kHz?** \n\nEars predate speech by millions upon millions of years. The existence of human speech is not a factor in their evolution.",
"We can create much higher than 3kHz with our voice.\n\nHiss like a snake and record it with an FFT showing the frequency spectrum of the sound and you’ll find it’s mostly above 8kHz extending well up to 20kHz and even beyond. \n\nThat’s called sibilance, and you produce it when you make s, t, f sounds, some people even have a sibilant d sound. \n\nThen there’s also plosives, like p, b, c/k, g. The hard attack sounds of c/k and g especially hover around 2kHz to 6kHz. \n\nYou produce all of these sounds with your voice. \n\nWhile you may not be able to make a sustained vowel sound singing or speaking much higher than 2kHz, speech certainly contains more frequency information than just fundamental tones.\n\nThe premise is false.\n\nNB. I just hissed into the dB meter I have on my phone, which has an FFT, and the fundamental frequency of my s sound is around 12kHz. T is around 6kHz, f is around 4kHz, k is around 2kHz. That’s 3 sounds I’ve just made with my voice that are higher than your presumed range."
]
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7r0k8w | why is it hard to speak when we are emotional? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7r0k8w/eli5_why_is_it_hard_to_speak_when_we_are_emotional/ | {
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"text": [
"Emotions are caused by chemicals being released in the brain. These chemicals can cause love, panic, fear, nostalgia, etc. When surprising information hits your brain, it can get flooded by these chemicals and can hinder other non essential brain operations.",
"Emotions take up processing power and influence our responses.\n\nAs soon as you start having feelings some portion of your brain is going to be taken up feeling those feelings and thinking about those feelings. This reduces the processing power left for thinking about what you should say/do.\n\nFrom there emotions are not just thoughts, they are \"modes\".\n\nFeeling love? Your going to start craving intimacy and what is more intimate than getting your partner pregnant? No time for condoms, considering whether this is a good idea, thinking about pulling out, your brain is geared to HAVE SEX NOW mode. Though more romantic like.\n\nFeeling angry? Your brain just went into \"KILL THEM\" mode. Violent thoughts, physically readying yourself to fight, lowering inhibitions about being injured or taking risks.\n\nEtc.\n\nObviously these modes are not conducive to logical thinking or speech writing. "
]
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37iuch | why is pencil writing so much easier to erase than pen ink? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37iuch/eli5_why_is_pencil_writing_so_much_easier_to/ | {
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"text": [
"Pencil writing, usually graphite, is leaving a mark on the top of the paper. It is putting stuff *on* the paper. \n\nPen ink, meanwhile, is staining the paper. It is putting stuff *in* the paper. Paper is made up of small fibers, and ink will bleed into these fibers, effectively being inside of the paper. Take an old fountain pen with a bunch of ink to a piece of paper to see it in action.\n\nIt is much easier to scrape stuff off of a surface than it is to actually remove it from the fibers of a paper."
]
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4f38ch | when sleeptalking why do we only say snippets of the speech in our dream and not all of it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f38ch/eli5_when_sleeptalking_why_do_we_only_say/ | {
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"Anecdotal: I know from my experiences that the only time people here me sleep talking is during the most intense part of the dream (either physical or emotional). Usually people will only hear me at regular volume if I'm yelling in the dream. Regular talking only comes out as murmurs or humming.\n\nThis in know way explains anything but this has been my experience."
]
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z6638 | wtf is that little pi symbol doing in the bottom right corner? | Seriously. Scroll down. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/z6638/eli5_wtf_is_that_little_pi_symbol_doing_in_the/ | {
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"text": [
"It's from the 1995 Sandra Bullock movie \"The Net\". [This should explain everything.](_URL_0_) Be sure to Ctrl+Shift "
]
} | []
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"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXPXMxsXT28"
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3q3zwk | why have remote tribes not created better/more efficient tools for themselves? are the tools available now the best they will ever be? | Possible that tools now are relatively young conpared to mankind's existence just wondering if there was any legitimate reason. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q3zwk/eli5_why_have_remote_tribes_not_created/ | {
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"text": [
"\"Necessity is the mother of invention\" Advances have historically been made in response to problems. We need to carry water, we use a hollow gourd, then maybe later an oiled skin, then a bucket. We need to cut meat, we use a sharp stone, then we learn how to make a stone sharp, then later we find metal and we beat it sharp with a hammer, then we discover that we can heat it up and forge it into a good shape, eventually we make a knife. But, if you can carry enough water with the gourd and cut enough meat with the stone, why would you need something better? You will notice that these people mostly live in tropical climates, they don't have to worry about saving food for the winter because there is no winter. They don't have to worry about sewing clothes to avoid freezing to death, or building strong houses to keep the cold out. They can find enough food by hunting, gathering and fishing. Their children are happy, warm and fed. They have no need to innovate."
]
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|
|
7q95d3 | why do women’s breasts change so much after breastfeeding and not return to original condition? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7q95d3/eli5_why_do_womens_breasts_change_so_much_after/ | {
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"text": [
"Gravity is the biggest enemy of women's breasts. Having breasts stretch to make room for milk will make permanent changes. ",
"Coopers droop. The cooper ligaments are what hold the breast shape. Pregnancy and age cause the ligaments to stretch and loosen. ",
"You know how your body changes during puberty thanks to all the hormones flowing through it? After those hormones have done their thing for a while, the changes (e.g deeper voice, facial hair for men, breasts for women, etc) stay, because the hormones told the body to change/grow, but there's nothing telling them to change back. It's a one-way transformation. "
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4nifs6 | why would someone design a virus that obviously messes with your computer? wouldn't they want it to be as subtle as possible to steal the most information? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nifs6/eli5why_would_someone_design_a_virus_that/ | {
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"text": [
"nowadays, that's exactly what they do: the software sneaks into a system, grabs as much information as it can without alerting whoever is in charge, then sends it to whoever created it. The more 'obvious' viruses now are typically ransomware. They infect your computer and get you to pay someone money to 'undo' it. The people who own the ransomware have a spotty track record of actually turning the virus off (because it's harder to code, so why bother?).\n\nThe more obvious viruses you might be thinking of were from when coding them was more a hobby than a business. People wanted to show off, and the only way to show off is to let someone know that you made it into their computer.",
"Some people aren't in this for the profit, they're in this to mess with people. You know, the \"It's not about the money, it's about sending a message\" types. There's plenty of those.",
"Usually, viruses that are openly messing with your system try to convince you to buy an \"antivirus\" that will help clear your system.\n\nIf not that, then it's probably a programmer messing around and just being obnoxious about getting into your system."
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3s1bq7 | how do flocks of birds and shoals of fish communicate to make instant and sharp turns in the same direction? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3s1bq7/eli5how_do_flocks_of_birds_and_shoals_of_fish/ | {
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"To put it as simple as possible, they basically don't really communicate. They try to maintain a constant distance to the nearest neighbor at all times. So when someone at the edge turns, the whole group ends up turning as a result.",
"In flocks of starlings (murmurations), one individual's actions affects its seven closest neighbours. Then each of those 7 starlings affect another 7 neighbours and it ripples outwards in a chain reaction.",
"In addition to what others have said, it's not instant - a change in direction propagates through a flock or shoal at a certain finite speed, which can be most easily seen in large flocks of birds.",
"They are watching the animal in front and beside it. Any changes in velocity are almost reflexively responded to. It's like when you're trying to lift food to your mouth. You don't think of every individual muscle movement to achieve it. You just do it. ",
"Programmer here. When trying to model and replicate this sort of behaviour in computer systems it turns out that this is a sort of emergent behaviour. To be more specific this means that a set of simple rules leads to some much more complicated (and cool) larger scale patterns. If you're looking for more detailed information you can look into either steering patterns in AI or sometimes they are referred to as flocking patterns.\n\nAs others have mentioned the birds don't actually communicate and there's no larger flock behaviour working here. Each bird is trying to keep itself in a position relative to the other birds. This is pretty similar to cars on the road. In a traffic jam the cars aren't yelling at each other to slow down or merge lanes, they just know what to do in the context of the situation and based on what the other cars are doing.\n\nIt's also similar to people walking around in large crowds (try people watching at a convention or something, it's actually pretty fun).\n\nTLDR: There's no super large pattern just a bunch of smaller systems that create the illusion of that communication."
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8k096g | how does a stock's price get calculated from day to day in response to supply/demand? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8k096g/eli5_how_does_a_stocks_price_get_calculated_from/ | {
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"People who have shares make offers to sell at a certain price, and people who want shares make offers to buy at a certain price. When the two prices coincide, a trade is made, and that determines the reported \"share price\".\n\nIt's simply the latest price at which a trade has been made."
]
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2vehas | why do i tend to start disassociating a word with its meaning the more i look at it? like, "cat." cat, cat, cat. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vehas/eli5_why_do_i_tend_to_start_disassociating_a_word/ | {
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"text": [
"The more you focus on the word the less you are preoccupied with the idea of what the word represents and the more preoccupied you are with the actual letters and sounds themselves.\nIsn't that funny? Funny funny funny funny \n",
"If your brain is receiving the same information for a while, it starts to ignore it so you can focus on other things. It's like how you forget about a smell if you're around it for a while. The same thing happens with words and their meaning."
]
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[],
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3pnnf4 | is it true that disproportionally large numbers of syrian refugees in europe are young men? if so, why is this? where are all the women and children? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3pnnf4/eli5_is_it_true_that_disproportionally_large/ | {
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"text": [
"They are waiting for the man to get asylum/resident permit, so that they can safely travel. \n\nBasically the guy risks his life going with human smugglers and once he lands on his feet he can bring the children and wife to the new country through lawful means. ",
"Young men can better handle the rigors of travel, and are better able to make (or sneak) their way into a new country, and send for their families later.\n\nAlso, young men are in greater danger in Syria, as they are seen as possible combatants. They are also in danger of being drafted by whichever army finds them first."
]
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[],
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eilps2 | someone please expain me sporophytes and gametophytes | I am having a really hard time to understand them. Like I need a detailed explanation from the beginning. If you can put a link so that I can directly read it from there. Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eilps2/eli5_someone_please_expain_me_sporophytes_and/ | {
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"I had completely forgotten about this. I found [this link](_URL_0_) gave enough information to help me understand it. I'll try to explain some points below:\n\n**Diploid & haploid**: A cell with one copy of each chromosome is haploid. Two copies is diploid.\n\n**Spores**: It's like a seed, but haploid. In animals, haploid cells need to combine to make an embryo. In some plants, a haploid spore can make a whole haploid plant.\n\n**Gametophyte**: The stage or part of a plant that is haploid. In flowering plants, this is a part of the plant that produces pollen and/or egg cells. In ferns this is a completely separate plant (looks nothing like the characteristic fern) that produces sperm and egg cells. In mosses this is the characteristic green plant you'd see.\n\nThe gametophyte's job is to make haploid cells that can combine to make a diploid cell. It does this with mitosis - the chromosomes get copied, and split up into two cells.\n\n**Sporophyte**: In various ways, the sporophyte combines two haploid cells to make a diploid cell that grows into a plant, or part of the plant. In flowering plants and ferns, this is most of what you see. In mosses, this is a stalk growing out of the green plant.\n\nThe sporophyte's job is to take diploid cells and make new haploid cells from them. It does this with meiosis - the chromosomes don't get copied, and split up into two cells.\n\n**In summary**:\n\nTo compare this to human reproduction, we are diploid and make haploid cells through meiosis of diploid cells. These haploid gametes combine to make a new diploid human.\n\nPlants add extra steps. The diploid plant makes haploid cells through meiosis. The haploid cells make haploid plants through mitosis, and eventually release haploid spores. These combine to make a new diploid plant. Depending on the evolutionary stage, the haploid plant is the one we recognize (mosses), or the diploid plant is the one we recognize (ferns and flowering plants)."
]
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| []
| [
[
"https://www.thoughtco.com/gametophyte-sexual-phase-4117501"
]
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|
|
3i4lxx | if the purpose of a water tower is to supply water pressure, than how does the water get up into the tower? if pumps are used, then why can't they just provide the water pressure themselves? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3i4lxx/eli5_if_the_purpose_of_a_water_tower_is_to_supply/ | {
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"text": [
"They would rather use small pumps to push some water on top of the tower and abuse physics to do the rest then have to have massive pumping station everywhere."
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2hi194 | why was the state of iraq under saddam hussein's reign "better" than the current state of iraq | Which was actually "better" for the people? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hi194/eli5why_was_the_state_of_iraq_under_saddam/ | {
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"Also to add to /u/agnos' comment. Having Saddam as the dictator there resulted in the land being controlled. Like he said if you were against Saddam you were in for a bad time. But if you just lived your life then you could live it in a mostly peaceful environment. \n\nNow without a government that controls the land and keeps order you come back to a main problem in these countries (this is also present in large parts of Africa). The [borders](_URL_0_) of these lands are as you can see very linear. \n\nThey were literally drawn on to a map during colonialism and imperialism. So instead of having borders based on cultural, ethnical or similar reasons you just have a bunch of people with totally different ways of life or religions (e.g. Kurds, Shias, Sunni, Christians etc.) living together. \n\nNow this combined with nobody keeping up the order results in a much more chaotic place. \n\nIMO it was way better when Saddam was around because even though minorities were pursued and oppressed you still had a relatively functioning country and a government who kept up laws (even if some of these laws were bad). \n\nNow you have a group of religious fanatics which impose their own laws, you don't have a real functioning infrastructure, you will be killed or raped or both or worse if you don't comply with them and you have a war going on which is always bad for the people. \n\n**TL;DR:** While Saddam was a cruel dictator he still kept up law and order in the country and most people could live mostly carefree (as long as you didn't oppose the government)."
]
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"http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Map_of_Middle_East.png"
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a2mtg5 | what is a mormon and why are people so relieved when they stop being so? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a2mtg5/eli5_what_is_a_mormon_and_why_are_people_so/ | {
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"A Mormon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints, a sect of Christianity that was founded in the US in the 1800s. They are, as religious groups in the US go, fairly restrictive in their behavior, and encourage a very community-oriented life for all their followers, which leads to a social structure where people tend to police each other's behavior by what is appropriate in the church's view. Because of this, leaving behind the strict rules of the church and life behind is seen as very freeing to people who exit the church. ",
"Mormonism is a Christian religious movement, established in the 19th century.\n\nLike most religions it has some more fundamentalist and restrictive factions. The people who leave the religion are usually those who belonged to those factions, so they are relieved to shed those restrictions off. The same is true fo ex-Christians, ex-Muslims and others.",
"On r/exmormon you see a lot of the relief coming from no longer viewing sex as evil, being free to drink coffee or even alcohol, wear clothing that isn't totally conservative, not have to donate time and money to the church, etc.\n\nThe weird little thing that tickles me is women being excited about their \"porn shoulders\" i.e. wearing tank tops or dresses with narrow straps after having been told all their life that only sluts wear clothes where their shoulders are visible. Not exaggerating.\n\nAlso Mormons are expected to donate 10% of their income each year, like the Church will literally call you in for an audit and make sure your bank records verify that you're paying the right amount. So you get exmos showing off how they just bought a Harley or took a couple's scuba diving trip to Jamaica with the money they saved from not having to pay the church anymore.\n\nLastly, the Church is really time-intensive. It's not just that the Sunday services are long (they are), but there are administrative meetings during the week about church business, study meetings, additional training, and they're always demanding people volunteer for tasks even as simple as cleaning the church (instead of using all that money to hire a janitor). So exmos will post online about the cool things they did on a day when they would normally have been all tied up with church obligations.\n\nIt's really fascinating stuff, worth checking out r/exmormon."
]
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49e2r4 | why we have hdmi, vga, dvi, displayport, even if they do the same thing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/49e2r4/eli5_why_we_have_hdmi_vga_dvi_displayport_even_if/ | {
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"VGA is analog video. DVI is digital video which allows it transfer more data than VGA. HDMI does digital video and audio. And i was also wondering why DisplayPort exists. It does digital video and audio as well. I think its capable of transfering more data than HDMI.",
"If we omit technical differences and answer as like to a child, in my opinion XKCD has the best answer:\n_URL_0_",
"They are all different standards fighting to be number one. Well, perhaps not fighting. They do have different uses, however. VGA is a really old standard. In fact, it's the only analogue one out of your list of four. HDMI and DVI both carry high bandwidth digital signals, however, as HDMI supported audio as standard (it's possible to put audio through certain DVI cables), it became a TV standard, whilst DVI and DisplayPort are more common for computers. DisplayPort has a higher max resolution than DVI and should be set to takeover, but DVI still works well",
"[this](_URL_0_) might help you out\n ",
"Simplified?\n\nVGA/DVI dont cary sound. VGA is analog. DVI can be analog or digital (DVI-I vs DVI-D)\n\nHDMI/Displayport DO pretty much the same thing (digital sound and video on the same cable), HDMI came first, but any device manufacturer that wants to use an HDMI connector in their device must pay royalties to the entity that owns HDMI. DisplayPort is a different beast. It TOO can transmit sound and video at the same time, but it was late to the game and HDMI is still recognized as the A/V standard, while DP is becoming the \"computer\" standard. HDMI is more expensive to implement than DP, but HDMI has more copy protection (HDCP) available to it, so while its more expensive, is \"safer\" in ways.\n\nTheres a lot to it if you dont understand the underlying technologies and pay attention to the politics of these different connectors. I may have left out some details or what not, but in a nutshell, vga/dvi arent the same as hdmi/dp and the main difference between hdmi/dp is copy protection and early adoption (as in one has a leg up on the other in the market already).\n"
]
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3o9b8h | how is it that digital music is considered worse quality than the audio produced by spinning records? | Music aficionados often rave about how much better the audio is from a record player than a digital download. Aside from nostalgic value, what is the reason for this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o9b8h/eli5_how_is_it_that_digital_music_is_considered/ | {
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"Audio from vinyl is absolutely not better than digital. CD or 24-bit audio trashes vinyl in terms of how close they are to the master. \n \nWhen you read most articles discussing the quality of vinyl, they almost always address the \"warmth\" and imperfections which give it character, the latter is a good way to spin a negative into a positive.",
"I worked at a radio station back when digital first came out. Two anecdotes:\n\nA friend of mine had made a digital recording of a concert. He knows how to set up mics properly, and he had good-quality mics. I sat in his living room with my eyes closed and he played the recording. Even with my tin ear, I could identify and correctly place every instrument on stage, and even say how wide and deep the stage was, just from listening. I could never do that with vinyl.\n\nOne time I walked into the station and someone was playing a digital recording of George Winston. My first question was: \"wow, who tuned the piano?\"\n\ntl;dr: digital is much better than analog unless you're partial to the \"warm\" sound of vinyl, which I think really just means the muted high frequencies.",
"it all boils down to this, in a digitally recorded sound the sound waves are made out of \"steps\" if you look closely, and for analog (spinning records) the sound waves are more smoother and in a straight line. \n\nImagine drawing a curve with a pencil freehand, and doing the same in a computer with pixels. ",
"In reality neither are inherently better. Oftentimes the vinyl master of a song is better than the digital master for a variety of reasons.\nThe thing that really bugs people about digital mastering is that it usually involves a fair amount of normalization. This makes the music much louder and compressed sounding at the expense of dynamic range. This kind of normalization would be impossible to press onto vinyl because of physical limitations in the medium itself.\n\nPractically speaking, vinyl mastering is more pleasant because of this limitation. It forces a mastering engineer to choose where a song gets loud and where it's quiet, so music sounds more lively because of this dynamic range.\n\nDigitally this dynamic range is potentially much better, but usually it's untapped potential.\n\nFurther reading _URL_0_"
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26hor2 | what did the boomer generation do exactly to cause millennials to resent them so much? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26hor2/eli5_what_did_the_boomer_generation_do_exactly_to/ | {
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"One thing they did was set themselves up nicely for retirement to the detriment of those coming after them. This includes things like Social Security, Medicare, and pensions for government employees. They enjoy these benefits, but now we are being told that they were poorly managed and underfunded. \n\nWe, the younger generation, must now pay higher taxes and fees. We deal with a government that passes laws which blatantly seek to bleed more money from us. All this to pay for the benefits that were promised to our parents. We, however, have no such promise. We are told that there must be severe cuts for those programs to survive at all.\n\nWhat the fuck Mom and Dad?",
"I'm actually learning about this in my macroeconomics tract, but the baby boomers royally fucked up the economy for people after them. Not just on a personal level but on a global level. \n\nThe standard practice of the U.S. government after WWII was to lower interest rates steadily over time. This benefited everyone as it made it extremely safe and beneficial to take out huge long term loans. Business could flourish and home sales were safe as it was known that interest rates would decrease. The gist of it is that because of the baby boomer's actions, interest rates have hit rock bottom and cannot practically decrease anymore. Which is great for people already set in retirement and business assets, as the status of their money will not change. It is horrible for everyone else. We could theoretically have negative interest, where people PAY YOU to lend them money. So if at -5% interest I lend 100 dollars, I will only get back 95 dollars. There is no way an economy can run on this. The US government is actually stuck on this, as it is one of the reasons why the recovery has been so slow. Their normal reaction is to pump money into the system to lower interest rates, but they can't go any lower so the debt just piles up. \n\n-side note, we also cannot monetize our national debt, a surefire way to eliminate all current debts and put us on a road of economic recovery because the baby boomers would never pass it.\n\ntldr; Baby Boomers road a wave of short-term success on an economic model that is inherently flawed. Yell at every other generation about how lazy they are, and don't pay attention to how much they fucked up the future."
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293122 | what are the effects of pornography on my mind and personality? | I'm a male in my early 20s and have noticed that I have plenty of energy and endurance when watching porn. Time passes much faster and it is already 3am and I still don't feel like going to bed. Without it, I get tired earlier and already fall asleep by 12 or so. why does that happen and is my brain messed up chemically when I do this?
are there also any harmful side effects to the way I communicate with women when I spent too much time in it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/293122/eli5what_are_the_effects_of_pornography_on_my/ | {
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"Someone actually tried to study the effect of porn on the mind.\n\nThey went looking for adult males ages 20-35 who had never watched porn to act as a control group.\n\nThey could not find a single person that fit the criteria who had never watched porn.",
"Watching porn was found to decrease gray matter in the brain and the area linked to decision making. Scientists aren't sure how this affects men in the long term yet, but they intend to find out.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"you become desensitized both physically and mentally to the stimulus",
"Only speaking to your 2nd question (communicating with women):\n\nThere are only harmful effects if you believe sexuality with real women will imitate what you watch in porn. Real life intimacy and sex has so many factors that affect it - unrealistic expectations driven by porn can end up affecting you negatively. Simple things - you like watching mainly busty blondes? You may be ignoring the cute brunette who's your soulmate because your preferences are solidified by what you can instantly generate at the click of a mouse."
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"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/02/porn-less-gray-matter-brain_n_5418607.html"
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52cl47 | do meteors ever hit satellites? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52cl47/eli5_do_meteors_ever_hit_satellites/ | {
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"Space is big. Really big. You'd never believe how vastly, hugely, enormously big space is.\n\nMeteors and satellites, on the other hand, are pretty small. There's loads of space for them up in space, and we only have one recorded instance of a satellite being hit by one big enough to actually cause it any damage.\n\nThe real problem is random junk we've left up there ourselves. Because of how orbits work, things in space are moving stupidly fast. If a random bit of debris the size of a pencil eraser hits you, it punches through any material known to man and creates a potentially fatal breach to anything inside. There's a ton of stuff like that, from screws left around when Hubble was repaired to thousands of antennas the US put up there for no good reason at all. "
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||
5mk7fa | what does the mandelbrot set have to do with chaos theory? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5mk7fa/eli5what_does_the_mandelbrot_set_have_to_do_with/ | {
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"In chaos theory, there's this concept known as bifurcation, which is when the behaviour of a system changes drastically as a parameter of the system crosses a certain threshold. The particular bifurcation that's relevant is this situation is the bifurcation of the logistic map. Let's break that down a bit.\n\nThe logistic map is one of the simplest examples of a chaotic system. It's a very simple set of rules, as follows:\n\n1. Pick a number x between 0 and 1\n\n2. Multiply x by (1-x) and then multiply that by a parameter r, to get the number rx(1-x).\n\n3. Repeat step 2 ad infinitum.\n\nYou can represent this graphically by drawing the quadratic equation y = rx(1-x) on a graph, and then drawing the straight line y = x on top of it. The rules then effectively become:\n\n1. Pick a point on the straight line\n\n2. Move vertically until you hit the quadratic curve\n\n3. Move horizontally until you hit the straight line again\n\n4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 ad infinitum\n\nThe behaviour of this system depends on the value of the parameter r.\n\nIf r is less than 3, then the numbers you get will eventually approach a single fixed point between 0 and 1 (the fixed point might *be* 0 or 1 for certain values of r).\n\nIf r is between about 3 and ~3.45, then the system will end up cycling between 2 values that are in the 0 to 1 range.\n\nIf r is between ~3.45 and ~3.54, then the system ends up cycling between 4 values, still in the 0 to 1 range.\n\nAs r increases up to ~3.57, then the period of the system, the number of values it cycles between, will repeatedly double, to 8, 16, and so on. This is what's known as the period doubling bifurcation.\n\nFor r between ~3.57 and 4, then the system is chaotic. It doesn't settle into any cycle and just goes on forever, never approaching any value, though it'll stay in the 0 to 1 range. There are certain boundaries between ~3.57 and 4 where it becomes stable again, with a period of 3, or 6, or 12 and so on.\n\nIf r is greater than 4, then the numbers you get will end up outside the 0 to 1 range, and will just start heading off towards infinity.\n\nWhenever we cross one of those thresholds in the value of r, we call that a bifurcation.\n\nYou can capture this behaviour by looking at what is called the bifurcation diagram, which for the logistic map, looks like [this](_URL_0_). The horizontal axis shows the value of the parameter r, and the vertical axis shows the values that the map approaches. It might look confusing, but compare it to what I've written here. You can see that for r < 3, there's only 1 value that it approaches, for r between 3 and ~3.45 there are two values, so it cycles between them, then it shifts to 4 values, then 8, then it gets all crazy and chaotic once r goes past about 3.57. You can also see stable regions, like I mentioned, for instance just after r = 3.8.\n\nNow, what does all this have to do with the Mandelbrot set, which I haven't even mentioned so far? Well, look at [this](_URL_1_). The Mandelbrot set lines up perfectly with the bifurcation diagram for the logistic map. This is the connection. The boundary of the Mandelbrot set is exactly the set of points where the logistic map bifurcates. Neat, huh?"
]
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| []
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[
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Logistic_Bifurcation_map_High_Resolution.png",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Verhulst-Mandelbrot-Bifurcation.jpg"
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3qf97q | np-hard problems | What makes a problem NP-hard and what are the steps to solving these problems.
Thanks, you guys are the best | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qf97q/eli5_nphard_problems/ | {
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"NP-hard problems relate to the difficulty, and how much harder they get if I increase the size of the problem.\n\n\nFor non-NP-hard problems, if I multiply the size of the problem, then I either add or multiply the difficulty. For example, if I want to sort some group (say, books by author last name), it takes about 3 times as long if I double the number of things I need to sort.\n\nFor NP-hard problems, *adding* to the size of the problem multiplies the difficulty: for example, listing every possible arrangement of items in a list: adding one more item multiplies the number of arrangements by a number."
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2ek16a | what effect the russian sanctions have on people's day to day lives specifically in the uk and russia | I've searched, but it's not quite turned up exactly what I wanted. I know that in Russia, Western Snacks have been bidded farewell, but surely they can just buy stuff from China?
What about daily life in both the UK and Russia?
What is the **real** impact of the sanctions for everyday folk? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ek16a/eli5_what_effect_the_russian_sanctions_have_on/ | {
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" > I know that in Russia, Western Snacks have been bidded farewell\n\nRussia banning food imports means stuff like Norwegian fish, or Australian kangaroo meat, things they can’t produce, disappear. \n\nLay’s chips, Snickers bars etc. are not imported into Russia so they continue to be sold.",
"#According to Russian Wikipedia, salmon is 15-20% more expensive in stores, while beef/pork products price have gained about 10%.\nedit: According to the same source, damage to Russian economy caused by Western sanctions will significantly increase inflation and potentially, taxation levels.",
"It has cause the wholesale price of milk to plummet, giving real problems to dairy farmers.",
"None here (that is noticeable). Britain stronk!"
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23dkmg | when can a police officer search me on the streets? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23dkmg/eli5_when_can_a_police_officer_search_me_on_the/ | {
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"I was walking down the street at nine the other night heading towards a party that was going on. I was carrying a zipped up backpack with alcohol and wasn't causing any disturbance when suddenly a cop pulls up and asks to search my backpack. I told him no and that he needs a search warrant. He told me that I could be arrested for saying no and then I decided it would be best just to let him. He found the alcohol immediately, but since he understood and was cool about it he just let me off with a warning and told me to go home. I'm not mad or anything, I just want to know when they can or can't search me because when I search on Google there are fifty different answers. I'm not sure if this will effect the answer or not but I am 17 and I live in Ohio.",
"It's complex, but this flowchart will break it all down for you:\n\n_URL_0_"
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5rhjih | why does global warming cause flooding? | How do the ice caps act any differently than melting ice in a glass of water? Why would the melting cause any extra displacement of water in the oceans? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5rhjih/eli5_why_does_global_warming_cause_flooding/ | {
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"While it is true the ice caps will act like ice in a glass of water. The problem is permafrost melting which causes huge chucks of land and water to enter the ocean, like if you drop a pebble in a glass, then another, and another, eventually it will overflow. ",
"The southern ice cap is on land. The northern ice cap is in the water, but the glaciers of greenland are also on land.\n",
"Much of the ice in the tundra is above sea level. When it melts it drains into the ocean. Imagine a sheet of thick ice dripping into a bath tub. ",
"In addition to all of the ice above the water level, like that on land, melting, you also have the smaller effect of warm water taking up slightly more volume compared to colder water. It isn't a huge effect, barely noticeable on the scales we deal with in day to day life, but when you're talking about the ocean, a small decrease in density can make a big difference.",
"Apart from ice caps currently on land melting, part of the rise in sea level is due to the water expanding. Water is at its lowest volume when at 4 degrees Celsius; anything warmer than that and it expands. This effect is smaller than that due to ice melting, but it is still significant because the entire ocean is expanding ─ that's a **LOT** of water.",
"[A glass of water](_URL_0_) has ice that is already below the surface so when it melts it takes up the same area, just as a liquid instead of a solid. [Ice in places like antarctica] (_URL_1_) or on [glaciers] (_URL_2_) is above sea level. When all that ice melts, it will flow into the oceans and cause the water level to rise. In places like [Florida](_URL_3_), where the average elevation is about 6 feet above sea level, even a small rise in the ocean level would swamp many coastal areas. So there is enough ice above sea level today that will be added to the oceans and will raise them a couple meters. "
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"https://www.colourbox.com/preview/2667943-glass-with-ice-water-isotated-on-white-background.jpg",
"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PXDUQd1l_h8/maxresdefault.jpg",
"http://assets.climatecentral.org/images/made/6_25_15_chelsey_inland_720_421_s_c1_c_c.jpg",
"https://assets.rbl.ms/6640428/980x.jpg"
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7fjoli | how come most (or all) tv remotes are black? | I just realised I’ve probably never seen a tv remote in any colour other than black (and I sold TVs for a year). How come? Are they easier to find around the house that way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7fjoli/eli5_how_come_most_or_all_tv_remotes_are_black/ | {
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"They usually color match the TV’s main color, a lot of the silvery colored TVs have silver remotes. I think it is just a default color since most TVs are black and you can use the same plastic that way. ",
"It's only older television sets/VCRs I had that were lighter. Usually grey. I once had a silver TV/VCR combi in silver and it had a silver remote. I'd say when lcds came on the scene was when most started being black. Not sure of the reason, maybe to stop them looking dirty as easily? Stop discoloration (see also: nintendo snes yellowing)",
"I’ve seen plenty of silver/grey ones, too, but they tend to match the color of the main electronic exterior. Since most TVs are black, so too, are the remotes. Also, lighter colors of plastic can discolor with continued contact to skin oils (like white MacBook) so black will best hide that.",
"Black may be used because it can be made from mixed recycled plastic. You just add more black coloring. \n\n I have several grey ones at work, but they are mostly from older models. ",
"TV remotes are colored to match the TV they go with. Recently, consumer electronics (such as TVs, stereos, etc.) have all been black. Black is a great color, because it doesn't clash with most home decors.\n\nBlack has been the most fashionable color for a while. In the 80's the color of choice was silver/grey. In the 70's it was fake wood paneling. (And I've seen remotes with fake wood paneling stickers. Really.)"
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2l5d2l | why does a slow internet connection often result in pages not loading as opposed to logically just loading slower | As the title says, often a slow internet connection results in pages not loading as opposed to just loading slower. My connection shows it's connected (like when I go over my pocket wifi limit, but still have unlimited slow internet) but pages die in the middle of loading.
What's happening? A fast connection goes fast so why can't a slow connection at the very least go slow instead of dying? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2l5d2l/eli5_why_does_a_slow_internet_connection_often/ | {
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"Because of something called time out. You can think of it as a protection mechanism. It is used in many cases when programs have to wait for something outside their control. As soon as they start waiting, they begin a countdown from a predefined value. If they reach 0 before finishing the task the \"give up.\" In many cases, this prevents programs from getting stuck waiting for something forever.",
"Most requests your browser send have a limited lifetime. If the page or browser does not complete the \"hand shake\" in time, the result is a broken or dead page.",
"Your connection could be timing-out. You might notice sometimes you'll load up a page and instead of the page (even half-loaded) you'll get the browser error page saying something about the connection timing out. Other times the HTML of the page will load but the CSS (the styling of the page) will time out leaving you with something that looks like a plain text document. Other times images or javascript or any combination of all that will time out"
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3a0o4n | what are the issues of hobbes and locke's beliefs on government | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a0o4n/eli5_what_are_the_issues_of_hobbes_and_lockes/ | {
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"Locke's basic premise is that government, and this echoes heavily in the drafting of the U.S Constitution, should be a willing agreement between citizen and government in which the citizen gives up basic survival rights (killing for food, defense in some senses) in order for the government to do a much better job (hopefully) protecting these rights. Hobbes had the whole \"original sin\" thing going on, and believed that people were going to be evil and greedy murders unless government kicked them into shape."
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5ifxs1 | how and why deep web exists and why can't we access it through 'normal' browsers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ifxs1/eli5_how_and_why_deep_web_exists_and_why_cant_we/ | {
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"The Internet is a space of IP messages. \"Normal\" browsers use one kind of IP message to talk to web servers. A different IP message is used by mail transport agents to relay email from server to server until it gets to the destination. The email web is \"dark\" to browsers, because they don't process the messages it uses.\n\nThere are parts of the web that work through Tor messages, mostly to protect the message traffic from outside observation by governments. Some governments are mean to some people; that's why this part of the Internet was built, so they could collaborate without mean government interference. Of course, \"mean\" is in the eye of the beholder.",
"You own a spare desktop computer. You, being an audiophile, own an enormous collection of old vinyl records. However, you have lost track (heh, heh, get it?) of some of the vinyl you've loaned out, so you decide to write the name, artist, and tracks of your whole collection in a little MySQL database, with a simple web interface to it. Your buddy the next state over is also a big collector of vinyl; you share your code with him so he can set up his own database of his vinyl as well, and a VPN between your houses so you can see each other's vinyl collection databases.\n\nCongratulations. You've now created your own Dark Web.\n\nThere are other ways to do it, too. Send a hard drive to a friend, set up a port-forward, and store your backups at each other's houses. Boom. Dark Web. Set up a private BitTorrent tracker, and only your friends have logins. Boom. Dark Web.\n\nBasically any web that isn't public is a \"Dark Web\", but the reasons range from the lightest of the light to the darkest of the dark. It's not that your web browser can't see it. It's that your network cannot get there at all, or you don't have access behind some other authentication gateway.",
"The dark web or deep web is just all of the websites that are not available to search engines so dont turn up when you search. Most can still be accessed using a normal browser assuming you know the address. Many of these are just normal websites but the ones you hear about are used for illegal activity so people tend to access them using tor. Some of them will only accept these kinds of connections."
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em6yqr | what does it mean when a scientist says ‘per second per second’? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/em6yqr/eli5_what_does_it_mean_when_a_scientist_says_per/ | {
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"It means that the rate of change itself changes.\n\n\"meters per second\" is speed - the rate of change of an object's position. \"meters per second per second\" (m/s^(2)) means the rate of change of the object's speed, i.e. acceleration.\n\nIf a car is accelerating at 10 meters per second per second then it means that every second, its speed gets 10 m/s faster.",
"It means that they are talking about the rate of change rather than the change itself.\n\nFor example if you are talking about 1 meter per second you are talking about a speed. If you are talking about 1 meter per second per second you are talking about the acceleration or the rate at which a speed changes.\n\nAnother way of saying \"per second per second\" would be to say \"per second squared\" or just \"s^-2\".",
"Lets take speed as the simple example.\n\n\nSpeed is thought of as the Time taken to move a Distance.\n\n\nE.g. 5 miles per hour.\n\n\n\nNow lets see what happens when you accellerate.\n\nE.g. 5 miles per hour becomes 10 miles per hour.\n\n\nOk but how long did it take to get from 5 mph to 10mph?\n\nE.g. 1 second.\n\n\n\nSo then the acceleration is 5mph per second.\n\nOr, 5 miles per hour per second.\n\nThis is what we mean by the rate of change as well.\n\n(Hope this helps)",
"Perhaps it is more helpful to look at it more generally:\n\nMeasurements have units. There are many different units, so for example you can measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, etc. Similarly, you can measure distance in kilometres, centimetres, inches, you name it.\n\nTo avoid confusion, and to make sure people speak in the same language using the same units, we have developed an international system of units (called SI from the French name) which is intended to be the \"basic\" system of measurement. ^((Disclaimer: Other systems are used and I pass no judgment on whether one is better than the others...))\n\nThere are seven base units, which are:\n\nkilogramme (kg) for mass\n\nsecond (s) for time\n\nmetre (m) for length\n\nampere (A) for electric current\n\nKelvin (K) for temperature\n\nmole (mol) for the amount of \"stuff\" you have (physical substance)\n\ncandela (cd) for how much light there is (intensity of light)\n\nEverything else is derived from these units.\n\nSo how does that help with your question? Well, the metre per second square (or metre per second per second) is the SI unit for acceleration. Let's break it down into the base units:\n\nImagine you want to measure a car's speed, and you want to express it in SI units. To explain speed to someone you say that the car moved X metres (distance) in Y seconds (time).\n\nSo your unit for speed is X (m) / Y(s) = m/s or metre per second. The way to look at it is that units in the SI system form part of the equation, so if you divide metres by seconds, your result is in m/s.\n\nNow, let's imagine you want to know what the car's acceleration was. What is acceleration? Acceleration is the rate of change of speed over time.\n\nIn very basic terms, if you have a car going from a dead stop (0 m/s) to a speed of 1 m/s (so in one second it has moved one metre), you calculate the average acceleration of the car as:\n\nspeed / time interval, which is (1 m/s) / (1 s) - this gives you a result in m/s/s or m/s^(2)\n\nTLDR: The SI unit of acceleration is m/s^(2), sometimes called metre per second per second. It measures the change in speed per time interval, and speed is measured in m/s, so change in speed over time is measured in m/s per second or m/s/s."
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e4jws9 | how does an octopus adapt to his environment? what are the biological processes behind that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e4jws9/eli5_how_does_an_octopus_adapt_to_his_environment/ | {
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"Homeostasis. It is the process of maintaining the same state in various environments. The process involves many different parts of the organism working in concert to achieve this. \nIt isn't really possible to explain it as a simple concept."
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5cwito | why are radio waves used for communication in space instead of lasers? | I understand that several demonstrations of the technology exist, but I do not understand why it is not the standard form of communication. With the upcoming maned mission to Mars, this technology seems to be the solution to the thirty-two minute communication delay.
Here's a link to the wiki page on the matter:_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cwito/eli5_why_are_radio_waves_used_for_communication/ | {
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"unless you have some new laser technology, refraction is still an issue with lasers. Its not terribly difficult to communicate a distance the length of the moon with lasers...but mars?",
"How do you figure it would eliminate delay? It is still limited by the speed of light, same as radio waves.",
" > but I do not understand why it is not the standard form of communication.\n\nThe communications are generally sent from the ground toward satellites and radio waves pass through air much more easily than light. It is also much safer to be transmitting a powerful radio signal than shining a super-bright laser into the sky if anyone happens to be flying by.\n\n > this technology seems to be the solution to the thirty-two minute communication delay.\n\nNo it isn't. Light moves at the speed of light. Radio waves also move at the speed of light. A laser isn't going to arrive any faster than a radio wave.",
" > this technology seems to be the solution to the thirty-two minute communication delay.\n\nLaser light and radio waves travel at the same speed. They are both electromagnetic radiation. "
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9fhtkh | in non-mathematical terms, what are people who study octonions trying to figure out? | Many of the explanations of octonions I've read seem to be entirely theoretical. I recognize that octonions are not visible and that what they are trying to prove/figure out is largely theoretical, but what is the point of figuring them out or using them? I suppose I don't so much need a definition of them, as I'm asking for information about their use. For example, "They're used to try to find out more about the connection between gravity and weight." Can anyone help me understand? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9fhtkh/eli5_in_nonmathematical_terms_what_are_people_who/ | {
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"Octonions are a mathematical construction, they are no more visible than prime numbers or square roots. Octonions are a 8-dimensional extension of quaternions, which in turn are 4-dimensional extensions of complex numbers, which are 2-dimensional extension of regular numbers.\n\nPhysicist Cohl Furey's work on relating octonions to particle physics has been getting a lot of attention recently. This is a vast oversimplification, but her theory suggests the eight dimensions of octonions can somehow be related to the eight fundamental particles, electrons, neutrinos, and the six quarks. \n\nThis could be an important relationship or just a coincidence. Higher dimensional mathematics have lots of moving parts, and if you look long enough, you can find similarities, much in the same way you could eventually find your phone number in the digits of pi. Some question the significance of such relationships."
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1a4cdm | the difference between authoritarian, autocracy, monarchy, and totalitarian | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1a4cdm/eli5_the_difference_between_authoritarian/ | {
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"These are all similar, and in some cases, overlap. \n\nOnly one of your terms is really a system of government: the monarchy. This is when a king or queen rules the country, and passes the title to their children. Generally, the ministers and other government officials do the same. \n\nThe rest describe government, and can be varied by degrees.\n\n* An autocracy is when all decisions are made by one person. For example, a historic king would have been an autocrat, but even some democratic leaders can be described as autocratic. \n* Authoritarian means that the power is concentrated on a small group, and no one else can really question it. The Soviet Union was like that, where people who challenged the rulers were sent away to camps. Many accuse the USA of moving in that direction. Many developing democracies have a phase where their corrupt leader manages to keep power for a very long time. \n* Totalitarian means that the government tries to control all aspects of daily life. Music and movies have to be state approved, debate clubs are labelled unpatriotic, and calling in sick may be seen as working for the enemy. \n\nAs you can see, a country can be all of the above, or just some, in the same way a vehicle can be spacious, large, comfortable, and a sedan."
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2dy6l4 | why can't all human behavior be explained evolutionarily? how do we choose the ones that can? | EDIT:
Examples include suicide, not wanting to have kids etc. Additionally, making certain life choices that we know are going to result in a shorter lifespan (smoking, drinking etc.) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dy6l4/eli5_why_cant_all_human_behavior_be_explained/ | {
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"Can you think of an example of human behavior that *can't* be explained evolutionarily?",
"Because evolution is hardly a complete science, meaning that every proposed aspect of it does not have solid evidence to back it up.",
"Not every behavior or psychological proclivity has an effect on producing more offspring (living too long after raising children can actually be counterproductive as you rob the community of vital resources), especially with humans. \n\nNot all behaviors are equally beneficial or harmful in the same environments or the same eras. A character trait that's a drawback near the equator, could be an advantage in the arctic circle. Traits such as caution may help in more primitive times, but now might lead to not wanting to \"risk\" having children without more than necessary financial stability.\n\nSome negative traits only have their most detrimental effects later in life after the person has reproduced. So, vices and bad habits aren't going to stop you from passing on your genes just because they shorten your lifespan from 70 to 50."
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bppdam | can small non repettitive electrical shocks cause damage to my body? | I work in an office building where the elevator's console is known (to me, at least) to cause an electrical shock sometimes when a button on it is pressed. It doesn't always happen but it's frequent enough that i've gotten accustomed to use stuff like my wallet to press the button for the floor I want to go to.
It's a bit annoying, as you can imagine.
I've reported it at one point but they just ignored me.
It's been 5 years. I'm just wondering if those random shocks happening irregularly will do any damage to my meat suit in the long run if I only use my finger to access the console. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bppdam/eli5_can_small_non_repettitive_electrical_shocks/ | {
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"If you get a brief zap when touching the button, it is static which is harmless. Static electricity can be made by walking to the elevator. \n\nIf you continue to feel a shock if you keep your finger on the metal, then it is AC leakage which is likely excessive and may not be harmless. It could be a sign of a very dangerous situation. I would not stop complaining until they fixed it. There is always a local government office which issues permits for elevators and is responsible for investigating unsafe elevators. Call them if you do not get a satisfactory answer."
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f5xswz | can anyone explain why salt accelerates corrosion | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f5xswz/eli5_can_anyone_explain_why_salt_accelerates/ | {
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"As I recall, salt makes water conductive. The movement of electricity through water is part of the process of corrosion, as the reaction which forms rust is similar to the reaction in a battery. Water without salt is not very conductive, but water with a lot of salt is very conductive."
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3ypijv | why does gallbladder hurt your back? | How is it that this organ in the front of our bodies can cause pain in the back when there are several organs in between them that don't hurt at all? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ypijv/eli5_why_does_gallbladder_hurt_your_back/ | {
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"text": [
"What you're talking about is called [referred pain](_URL_0_). Pain in the upper right side of the back (scapular pain) that people experience with inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis) is similar to the pain some people feel in their left arm when having a heart attack. \n\nAs you'll see in the wikipedia article linked above, there are a number of explanations for referred pain. A common and simple explanation you may see is the Convergent-projection Theory, which explains that the nerves entering the spinal cord from the actual site of injury are in close proximity to nerves that carry sensory information from other parts of the body, or that they converge into one spinal neuron/nerve. These nerves can interact in such a way that a pain signal from the site of injury (i.e. gallbladder) may stimulate the nerve that carries sensory information from another site (i.e. the scapula), resulting in the sensation of pain there."
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13pizr | how did flak anti-aircraft fire work? | How did Flak anti-aircraft guns work? How did discrete rounds manage to hit mortally damage targets flying at such high altitudes and velocities, not to mention with such efficiency? Did the characteristic black smoke patches in the air have to do with the mechanism of damage?
Thanks in advance. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/13pizr/eli5_how_did_flak_antiaircraft_fire_work/ | {
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"There are two types of anti aircraft guns. The first are pretty much big machine guns where you just fire as many rounds as you can and hope to hit something important. The second are modified artillery pieces which would use much larger ammunition that would blow up using a timed fuse (corresponding to a specific altitude) or later a proximity fuse (first implemented in significant numbers in the pacific theater of WW2) to actually explode near planes. These shells were used to create shrapnel that would damage the aircraft and also create the smoke patches you mentioned. Also, as far as I know flak style anti-aircraft was never very efficient and instead based on high volume fire.",
"Planes back then didn't have precision munition and relied solely on the force of gravity. They would fly at a target at a certain approach and then based on various sight systems, release their bombs and hope things go well. That said, air attacks were notoriously inaccurate.\n\nAnti air weapons weren't designed to shoot planes down; that would be impractically difficult. What they did do was make it difficult for the planes to complete their approach to release their payloads properly, and thus, either miss their target or breakoff altogether.",
"Basically its a shell fired by something that resembles an artillery piece that fires a timed or proximity activated shell, the idea is that you set the time for a specific altitude and when enemy planes are at that altitude you fire at them, hopefully the shell will explode near them (or hit them if you are really lucky) and the shrapnal/explosive force will damage the plane.",
"Timers in the shells cause them to explode at a certain height without hitting anything, metal from the explosion clouds the air(black clouds) which gets sucked into engines and destroys the engine causing the plane to crash.",
"The other answerers have some good explanations. I'd just like to add that flak weaponry was effective against early jet engines because they'd suck the flak into the fans and destroy the engines. Nowadays, we know how to make engines that can work with most of the fan blades gone.\n\nSource: My brother is an aerospace engineer."
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3r9ul2 | the basics of reddit etiquette and lingo | So being absolutely new to reddit, there is a lot of things I do not know or understand. Can someone explain Reddit etiquette and such to me so I may no longer suffer from being a pleb?
A good help would be what abbreviations are, how toxic the community generally is, what is taboo amongst reddit(as far as you know) and other such things.
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3r9ul2/eli5_the_basics_of_reddit_etiquette_and_lingo/ | {
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"Don't be an ass cause you can be an ass.\n\nDon't troll and think others will find it funny.\n\nHave good grammar, something people fuck up including myself. But focus on using paragraphs and they're, their, and there correctly.\n\nOP means original poster, the person who you are replying to. OP can be a commenter that started a comment chain that people are reply to.\n\nDon't censor yourself. Say fuck, shit, bitch, etc. No reason to say \"b****\" on here. \n\nIf you are sarcastic end your post with /s VERY IMPORTANT\n\nSafes are stupid. Don't hold your breath if somebody found a safe.\n\nAll hail Burnie Sanders, our supreme overlord.\n\n",
"Well just don't be a dick. You shouldn't treat people bad just because you are anonymous.\nAnd the community is very different depending on the subreddit you visit. Just see for yourself which subs you like. Abbreviations are also different in each subreddit. \nThese are just a few of them and created by a deleted poster in this post:_URL_0_ \n\nTIL = Today I Learned\n\nOP = Original Poster\n\nFTFY = Fixed That For You\n\nOC = Original Content\n\nIAMA = I Am A\n\nAMA = Ask Me Anything\n\nAMAA = Ask Me Almost Anything\n\nIIRC = If I Recall Correctly\n\nITT =In This Thread\n\nSRS = Shit Reddit Says\n\nOrangered = The term used for the little envelope in the top right corner to let you know you have a message\n\nDEA = Does Anybody/Anyone Else\n\nWoosh = previous commenter didn't get the joke and it went over their head.\n\nTL;DR = Too long, didn't read\n\nSO = Significant Other\n\nDM;HS = Doesnt Matter, Had Sex.\n\nIMO = In My Opinion\n\nIANAL = I am not a lawyer\n\nIRL = In Real Life\n\nGTFO = Get The Fuck Out\n\nNSFW = Not safe for work\n\nNSFL = Not safe for life\n\nYMMV = your mileage may vary\n\nAFAIK = As Far As I Know\n\nYTMND = You're The Man Now Dog\n\nSMH = Shaking my head\n\nFSM = Flying Spaghetti Monster\n\nDIAF = die in a fire\n\nLSHMSFOAIDMT = Laughing So Hard My Sombrero Falls Off and I Drop My Taco\n",
"I've been on reddit for 3 1/2 years and I still don't know what a pleb is, so you have me beat on the lingo."
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tp5qb | what is human capital? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tp5qb/eli5_what_is_human_capital/ | {
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"Your employees, the training you provide for them and they skills and education they had when you hired them",
"Human capital is the value of a person who does work. \n\nAn untrained person may be capable of performing small, uncomplicated tasks that don't add much value to a good or service. \n\nA trained person may be capable of performing more complicated tasks that add more value. \n\nAnd a well-trained, highly educated person may be capable of performing complex tasks with a high degree of problem solving that add a lot of value to the good or service they provide. \n\nMore training generally allows a person to add more value to their product, so the person is more valuable and is said to have a higher degree of human capital. \n\nHuman capital is not limited to training and education, but that is a very common aspect of it. "
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2t92ce | why is primerica and other "pyramid scheme" companies viewed as being a scam | I've always heard this and even though it's probably true I'm just curious as to why. I understand it requires people below you to make money, but that's also true of sales managers. Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2t92ce/eli5_why_is_primerica_and_other_pyramid_scheme/ | {
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"It's not so much that it requires people below you to make money; it's that the only way to make money is to recruit a downline. You can make some money actually selling the products, but from what I have read, the products aren't that great, the prices aren't that great, and the commissions aren't that great. You'd be better off working for another financial services company, selling better products for less money and keeping a larger commission.\n\nThis is the same thing that gets a lot of MLM businesses into trouble - your earnings are driven more by recruiting than by sales of the product. The guy at the top of the pyramid rakes it in; the guy at the bottom kinda takes it in the shorts when there aren't any more fresh recruits to be had.",
"The first thing they got me to do when I joined was give contact information for 100 names of family and friends and then try to sell them the products/services, using my relationship as their credibility.",
"Modern pyramid schemes don't rely on selling product to make money. They make money by recruiting you, and then you are motivated to recruit in turn. Most of them charge you a fee to join the \"network\". So you give (as in the case of my sister who fell for one) $600 to the person who drafts you into the scheme. They are your boss and contact. Your job is to sell product, and to create your own \"sales team\". You give $300 to your boss, and keep $300 for each person you recruit, plus you get spifs for the product your \"sales team\" actually sells, whatever garbage that may be.\n\n In the case of my sister they sold bundled telecom packages, you know, the same thing your semi-reputable cable company sells, with some cheesy video phone with hardware from the late 90's. Nobody is going to buy into that except old people who don't know any better. So, once you're in it doesn't take long to figure this out. Either you bring in idiots who you make a quick 300 off of, and they actually believe they can make money selling and maybe you make a few bucks off of that. Or you bring in somebody semi intelligent who figures out the scam and starts bringing people to make their own \"sales team\"\n\nSo these things are scams because from the outset the only goal is to get people to sign over $600 bucks for the privilege of tricking other people to sign over $600 dollars. "
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31i90g | why does fire adopt a spherical shape in space? | Like this _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31i90g/eli5_why_does_fire_adopt_a_spherical_shape_in/ | {
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"A normal flame is that shape because hot air rises, stretching the flame upwards from the wick. In space everything is weightless, so there's no \"up\" and hot air doesn't rise. Hot gasses spread out equally in all directions, giving the flame a spherical shape."
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4uk3eh | how is the cost of damage determined after a natural disaster? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4uk3eh/eli5_how_is_the_cost_of_damage_determined_after_a/ | {
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"The cost of a natural disaster is generally quantified by insurance claims.\n\nSo if your house burns up in a fire, and you get a $1M payout from your insurance company, that fire caused $1M in damage.\n\nFor a major disaster like an earthquake, you just add up all of the insurance claims for homes and businesses and cars and any other property that was damaged. "
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6y98wn | bahá'i is one of 17 sanctified religions of the world. i've done a little bit of research but i am still very confused about what this religion is about. can someone help me? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6y98wn/eli5_bahái_is_one_of_17_sanctified_religions_of/ | {
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"I don't know if the Baha'i themselves would think of it this way, but from reading the books themselves, it looks like a syncretic movement based on Roman Catholic Christianity and Shi'a Islam. The idea of guardian sounds a lot like the Pope, with the UHJ sounding a good bit like the Curia. Bahaullah rides the fine line between \"God man like Jesus \" and \"prophet like Muhammed \", and the strict rules based morals seem fairly Islamic.",
"Baha'i faith basically believes that God sent profits to different times and places to teach what they could be taught . Jesus Muhammad ect.. and Bahaullah was the latest Prophet to teach the new teachings. Racial Unity ,equality between men and women... there are nine points of unity but I can't remember them all right now. I was born and raised Bhai and all my family are very religious,I am not so much . \n Edit-*Baha'i",
"As a disclaimer, I know barely nothing about the Bahá'í faith but from what I do remember, I think the basic belief is that all religions and all people are fundamentally the same, with religious teachers like the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, etc. all being manifestations of one God, who may be called by different names. To me it seemed like a thoughtful belief system that gives a nod to a common good that unites us all. I know it was one of the later formally formed religions but can't really help beyond that.",
"To add ,the reason to don't here a lot about it because you're not supposed to talk about it unless asked. There are no preachers or churches. The community get together every 19 days(Baha'i month) for feast,which rotates houses, to discuss ,pray and eat. It's a pretty low key religion. And in my experience most of the Baha'is I've met have been pretty decent people.",
"Okay, I'm not Baha'i, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of this, but I've been really curious about the Baha'i Faith recently and have been doing some research, so here goes:\n\nIt's easiest for me to understand the ideology of the Baha'i Faith in two main parts. It is both:\n\n1. A philosophy for understanding and reconciling the religions of the world.\n2. A religion in itself.\n\nWhat I mean by the first point is that the Baha'i Faith emphasizes the unity of all religions more than any other religion I've ever heard of. Baha'is believe that the figureheads of all the world religions (Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, etc.) are all messengers of a single God, and that the differences in religions come from cultural differences in the time and place the divine message was given. All religions are essentially true, and the little details are either unimportant, or are tailored specifically for the time, and are meant to be abolished or tweaked as needed by the next divine messenger.\n\nThis is all pretty cool, but there's more. The Baha'i Faith is also a religion in that, instead of just commenting on the rules and details of previous religions, it also makes its own rules and details. There is a new divine messenger, Baha'u'llah, and, in addition to giving us some insight into what is going on in the grand scheme of things, he has the new guidelines for how to live a good life. These include educating yourself (both in the everyday sense of the word and in the spiritual sense), reciting obligatory prayers, communicating with God through more personal, unscripted prayers, not participating in partisan politics, abstaining from alcohol, and improving your community and the world.\n\nMy first time answering an ELI5--probably too detailed--oops!\nAnd again, I'm not Baha'i so this might not be totally accurate. If there are Baha'i redditors here pretty please correct me and also maybe tell me all about your religion because I'm super curious. "
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3a0q35 | how do recruitment agencies work on behalf of job seekers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a0q35/eli5_how_do_recruitment_agencies_work_on_behalf/ | {
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"Company A needs temporary workers for a project. But it costs time and money to interview people, find those who are suited for a project, and then have to do the process all over again next time they need temporary help. But Recruitment Agency says \"pay us the money you'd have spent on human resources to hire people, and we'll send you temporary workers from the roster of folks we've already gone through.\"\n\nCompany A pays Recruitment Agency, because they would have spent more time and effort trying to do it themselves. Recruitment Agency sends Temps that they've picked up from their pool of workers. Everyone wins. ",
"Instead of a company doing the usual song and dance of advertising a job opening, reading resume's, doing interviews, dealing with complete flaky applicants who probably walked into the wrong office, they let the recruiter do all the sifting and qualifying and then send over the best candidates for employer to choose from.",
"The recruitment process involves sourcing, interviewing, reference checking, matching candidates with clients (both in terms of the work culture and the specific requirements of the position, and finally selecting suitable candidates for a job vacancy.\n\nThe agency will then facilitate an interview with the client company seeking to fill the position. The agency will remain the point of contact between the client company and the candidates put forward for the position. \n\nBoth clients and candidates are vital to the success of the recruitment agency, and therefore a long-lasting relationship of trust should exist, and be maintained between all parties.\n\nIn this case, it really is true to say that if an agency does what it is supposed to do, then everyone benefits:\n\n The client gets a suitable candidate for the vacant position\n The candidate is placed in an appropriate and satisfying position\n The agency receives an appropriate fee for their work\n\nThis is all about partnerships and relationships. A client is more likely to continue to work with an agency with which it has developed deep relationships. This can only be achieved by the agency maintaining a high level of customer service, and submitting only pre-qualified and appropriately skilled candidates.\n\n The same thing applies to the candidate. A candidate is more likely to continue to use the agency with which it has developed a deep and trusting relationship. This can only be achieved by the agency maintaining a high level of customer service, and submitting resumes only to those clients suitable for the candidate, and honoring the candidate’s wishes in which employers to submit their resumes to.\n\nThe focus of recruitment agencies is often on the sourcing and placement of permanent , or part-time staff on behalf of the client. However, clients often require temporary staffing to fill short-term vacancies or seasonal or emergency positions. Although these positions may be short term and routine, the same processes and procedures should apply to the sourcing and selection of suitable candidates. In many cases these temporary positions can result in the candidate being offered a full time position with the client company. It is for this reason that the agency should be as diligent in sourcing and selecting a casual or temporary position as it would be in sourcing and selecting for a full-time position."
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3d6iwe | why are intel processors stuck but mobile processors (apple, samsung, qualcomm) gain plenty of performance each year? | Considering Intel has more experience and is solely dedicated to doing this why is it that every year the same processor family on get a modest 5% boost in performance why mobile are getting 50+% each year? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d6iwe/eli5_why_are_intel_processors_stuck_but_mobile/ | {
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"The problem is heat.\n\nIntel could theoretically make processors that had faster clock speeds but they don't have a good way to cool them. There's a relationship between the speed of a chip and the amount of heat it generates and making chips faster means some kind of liquid cooling system which would be expensive and very prone to failure - too much failure for a mass market product, plus it wouldn't work very well in anything other than a desktop-sized case.\n\nInstead what they've been doing is putting multiple cores on the chips and adding RAM to the chips so that the chip, as a whole, can do more things with each iteration, it just doesn't do those things **faster**.",
"We have reached some sort of plateau in processor speeds, but we are gaining in efficiency. Because mobile devices run on batteries, their chips need to use as little power as possible. But as we make gains in efficiency, mobile chips can become faster and close the gap with desktop CPU's."
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7rwhpe | why is thirst a sign of a heart attack? | One of my father’s last words was “I need water. My mouth is so dry”. He died soon after of a heart attack. This is the third time someone around me has had that symptom. They seem to be fine one minute and then like severely dehydrated the next. I still have the image of his dry pale lips...
I’ve tried looking up an explaination but I’m getting answers that just say it’s a sign of a heart attack. Not why it’s a sign of a heart attack. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7rwhpe/eli5_why_is_thirst_a_sign_of_a_heart_attack/ | {
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"So I’m going to place the caveat that I’ve never seen severe thirst in any reviewed papers linked biochemically to heart attack. But, I’m willing to take a stab at a possible mechanism. \n\nSo the heart the brain the lungs the liver the arteries and your kidneys all play a role in blood pressure regulation through a hormone chain called the renin angiotensin system. \n\nIf the kidneys notice a decrease in blood flow they release the first signal renin which triggers a cascade of events causing us to hold on to salt (which ultimately pulls back water) in the kidneys, constrict our blood vessels, and increases our thirst. All these things are designed to increase the volume and pressure of the blood so that our organs can get the oxygen/nutrients that they need.\n\nSo heart attacks occur because of a blocked / narrowed artery in the heart. When that happens the heart muscle may be unable to contract with the same force it normally can. It then doesn’t generate the same blood pressure (especially if the heart muscle being affected is the left ventricle - a common location for heart attacks to affect), which means the kidneys go oh shit we aren’t getting enough blood trigger the renin angiotensin system. That hormone chain gets triggered causing your body to do everything it can to hold on to water, leading to thirst. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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320izd | why do you taste metal in your mouth when you work out really hard and push it to the max? | I could taste the metal in my mouth and my teeth were tingling. It was unpleasant, but it went away after a while. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/320izd/eli5_why_do_you_taste_metal_in_your_mouth_when/ | {
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"It can be due to salivary duct stones (similar to kidney stones) developing, which can cause an infection whereby physical excercise may increase saliva production tasting metallic, it could be tooth decay or you might be tasting blood (which contains iron) which may be sent into your mouth from mucus containing excess red blood cells coming from your lungs.\n\nIf you're not coughing up blood or noticing any of it in your mouth, it's probably no big deal.",
"Common side effect to high amounts of adrenaline. "
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4rgtpm | what exactly is 'first past the post' voting? | (Sorry if it's the wrong flair, culture was the closest I saw on my phone.)
I've been to the Wikipedia article and maybe I missed the explanation but I don't really get it.
Also I only recently got interested in politics. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4rgtpm/eli5_what_exactly_is_first_past_the_post_voting/ | {
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"Everyone who can vote gets one vote, and the majority vote wins.\n\nCheck out CGP Grey's YouTube videos on voting systems using an imagined animal kingdom's voting system as analogue. It is an excellent series of videos that showcases why something like First Past the Post has numerous problems in getting an accurate representation of its people's wishes, and how it promotes a two-party system due to incentivising strategic voting, and how gerrymandering is problematic especially in this kind of election as well.",
"FPTP is the voting method most people recognize, where the person or option that gets the most votes becomes the elected choice. The name is a reference to a race, where one person wins and everybody else, no matter how many, are all losers. That's why this form of voting gets a lot of flak; when there are lots of people or options in the vote, the amount any one needs to have the \"most\" can be quite small, and the number of people who don;t get their voice heard can be quite large. If 100 people are voting to paint their apartment building either white or beige, then 51 people is a pretty good chunk of the tenants if only a slight majority; but if every tenant had a different color choice, then the two old ladies who liked magenta would win, and the other 98 people would be pissed off. ",
"It has two basic features:\n\n1) Each voter chooses a single candidate. You don't get to say \"I like Candidate A, but if he doesn't win, I would be fine with Candidate D, and Candidate B is my least favorite.\" You only get to say \"I vote for Candidate A.\"\n\n2) The candidate who gets more votes than anyone else wins, even if most people didn't vote for him. If Candidate A gets 4 votes and Candidates B and C each get 3, Candidate A wins, despite 6 out of 10 people voting against him. \n\nOther systems change at least one of these rules. For example, you could ask voters to rank their preferences instead of choosing only their favorite. A candidate who would get *zero* votes in first past the post because he is nobody's *favorite* choice might win because he's *everyone's* second choice.",
"Okay all three comments so far have actually helped quite a bit. I understood that it wasn't a great system according to many but now I think I know why.\n\nIf it's getting through to me then it doesn't really work as well as it could because it is essentially most votes win but only one vote per person. This causes issues when the minority of votes all go to the same person but the majority are split into smaller voting segments amongst other candidates.\n\nI can see how a third party has little to no chance in a system like this. At least my thinking is that even if some did outright vote for 3 chances are they will not get as many votes as 1 or 2. If voters of 1 and 2 found that they partially agreed with 3 and decided that 3 would be their second choice, it wouldn't matter in this system, but in others they could say I like 1/2 but 3 is better than 2/1. In a situation like that all votes could be counted for all candidates and totaled thus allowing majority vote, not most, to win.\n\nIf I am understanding it correctly, if I'm not please help me to grasp it better, then this seems not quite as democratic as I feel some would have us believe.\n\nIt also makes sense to me as to why those it favors wouldn't want it changed. Though I guess that can and will be said about everything.\n\nUnrelated question: is there something I should do to my post once I feel it has been answered?",
"it means even quite popular parties can be unrepresented, or under-represented. for example, you could have something like a parliamentary election in the uk, which uses pure first-past-the-post. one party's candidates might get 25% of votes in every constituency, but if in each constituency someone else gets 26% of the votes or more, that party on 25% won't get a single seat in parliament. is that unfair? maybe. the alternative or if you prefer the solution is proportional representation, where parties are represented in a parliament according to their percentage of the overall vote. the disadvantage of pr: you, the voter, are not choosing a specific person, you are choosing a party, and the party decides which people are on its list of candidates, and in which order of preference. example of the two different systems in action: ukip, the uk's main independence from europe party, has only one person in parliament in the uk, due to first-past-the-post, but 22 members in the european parliament it hates, due to pr! ironic or what.",
"It is a system where the person with the highest amount of votes wins. It has its flaws, particularly in single seat constituencies. So if one candidate got 40%, the next 35% and a third got 25%, the candidate with 40% would win although the majority of people did not vote for that candidate. If that result was repeated across the country, in theory you could have a party that got 40% of the vote getting 100% of the seats, and leaving 60% of the people with no voice. This is why largest parties in countries that don't have a majority of the support like the idea of FPTP. Proportional representation is better, as combined with multi-seat constituencies, it gives a fairer result in line with how people voted."
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b03ar2 | how is there ice in space? what is it forming from and how is it forming? | I know there’s a lot of ice floating around in various places in space. How does ice form without water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b03ar2/eli5_how_is_there_ice_in_space_what_is_it_forming/ | {
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"There's definitely water in space, and nearly all of that is ice if it isn't on a nice warm planet. There are lots of other things that can also become types of ice, like carbon dioxide (dry ice), methane, and ammonia.",
"It’s water left over from comets, some of which are billions of years old. Some of that’s probably produced in supernovas; there’s hydrogen and oxygen in the stars when they nova, and there’s loose hydrogen and oxygen throughout the universe, too. \n\n",
"[Hydrogen and oxygen are 2 of the 3 most abundant elements in the universe](_URL_0_) and, when they meet up, they *really* like to react and form water. It shouldn't be any surprise that there's tons of water in the universe."
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|
|
1z5qup | why don't plants produce heat like mammals? | How come plants in general (like trees, bushes ect.) do not produce heat like mammals do? Both cell structures are somewhat similar, but yet plants produce very little heat. Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z5qup/eli5_why_dont_plants_produce_heat_like_mammals/ | {
"a_id": [
"cfqrxww"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Heat is created in mammals to keep out bodies at a constant temperature. This is the ideal temperature for our enzymes to function and allows our bodies to be constantly in the same state of functioning. This heat also takes up a HUGE amount of energy, which is why we have to eat all the time. In reptiles and other cold-blooded animals they have to thermoregulate to keep their enzymes working at the correct efficiency. They need to go into the sun to be able to move around, digest food etc, but stay out to not get too hot. Snakes are even known to sit in the burrows with a small loop sticking out in the sun right where their food is, so that digestive enzymes will work.\n\nIn plants, they can only really grow and such when there is sunlight. At night, they have some functions, but most plants just sit there and do almost nothing. Their enzymes are able to function in the sunlight at optimal efficiency and they do not have a reason to function at night due to no energy source. Therefor there is no advantage of plants producing heat since it is so costly to produce and will not have much purpose."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
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20oi24 | why can't government agencies try tracking pings from cell phones on board flight 370? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20oi24/eli5_why_cant_government_agencies_try_tracking/ | {
"a_id": [
"cg590w0"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"There are no cell towers in the middle of the ocean."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
||
1c6hfk | radio atennae. how do they work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1c6hfk/eli5_radio_atennae_how_do_they_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9djbgo"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"I wondered the exact same thing. First, remember those magnets on your fridge? It's kind of cool how they can stick on to the fridge, however, they are not sticky when you touch them. Those things are called magnets because they allow us to experience a very special thing about the nature of our universe called electromagnetism. As it turns out, electromagnetism (that stick to the fridge stuff) shows up in everything we know of, including our bodies, food, clothes, books, toys, dirt, actually just everything, it just isn't as easy to see as in those fridge magnets. Lots of really smart people like yourself, have studied electromagnetism for a long time and have learned that it can do some really cool things, once you know how to play with it. One of the things we learned to do with electromagnetism is to convert it between electricity (the stuff in batteries and wall outlets) and magnetic fields (the stick to the fridge stuff). As it turns out, if you repeatedly change the amount of electric current flowing through a wire, like really quickly turn on the power and then turn it off, the wire will create a magnetic field that will correspond to the change in the electric current. If you have enough electric current flowing in the right length of wire, and you turn it on and off fast enough, the magnetic field can travel a long distance away from the wire. If you have done this, you will have created a transmitting antenna sending out the magnetic field in the pattern corresponding to the changing electric current (on and off). If you take a second length of wire and place it near that changing magnetic field, a little bit of the field will be converted back to a changing electric current which will represent the original on/off pattern, however there just won't be as much of it. That second wire is a receiving antenna. Over time, we developed clever ways to encode information such as telegraph, voice, music, video, and internet data to send it long distances through space using this same process. "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
||
2t3er8 | what's the point of making (indie) movies and not making them available? | I like indie films a lot and often find myself interested in movies that exist but I'm literally incapable of watching.
I know most producers want their films distributed in theaters because that'll help them get awards and stuff and make your movie profitable; but if your movie has been made YEARS ago and you (I would assume) haven't found any better way to distribute it, why not just put it on Netflix or Vimeo or iTunes and make SOME money, instead of having it sitting in some vault without a chance for people to see it and making ZERO money? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2t3er8/eli5_whats_the_point_of_making_indie_movies_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cnve10j",
"cnvf9am"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"They're still hoping someone will buy it. Putting it on Netflix is an admission of failure. It's an embarrassment, like movies that go straight to DVD.",
"In some cases it is entirely possible that they are not allowed to legally release the movie. "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
]
|
|
f14wba | how does a small portion of chemicals create sudden bursts of energy, like a stick of dynamite creating lethal explosions. | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f14wba/eli5_how_does_a_small_portion_of_chemicals_create/ | {
"a_id": [
"fh20pwn",
"fh22qxt"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Explosives work by having a rapid reaction. Instead of undergoing a slow reaction, like wood burning and giving off heat, the reaction in an explosive happens very quickly, creating a pressure wave and heat.",
"The bonds between atoms take energy to create, and when the bonds are broken, that energy is freed again. Some substances have more energy packed into their bonds, and those substances can be collected and purified to create things like explosives. In an explosive, many of those bonds are broken very rapidly, which does two things. Transforming a solid into a gas takes up a lot more room, so the gas expands violently. Also, heat is released by the breaking bonds, and hot things also expand. The sudden expansion throws objects, but also pushes a hard wave of air that smacks into things as it expands."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
]
|
|
eokhoj | why does the windshield defroster in automobiles require the air-conditioner (a/c) pump to be running? | As I understand it the car is heated via coolant used to lower the engine temperature being circulated through the heater core in a liquid to metal to air exchange. Why then do most newer vehicles require that the A/C pump be running when you are defrosting your window with heat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eokhoj/eli5_why_does_the_windshield_defroster_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"fed90fr",
"fed90lh",
"fed91v9",
"fedeuri"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
10,
3
],
"text": [
"To remove any humidity from the air to so that the warm air isn't making the glass steam up even worse.",
"The a/c acts like a dehumidifier in the car keeping the air dryer so the windows don’t fog up.",
"It doesn't require it, it's just quicker, as the AC removes moisture from the air. Without the AC you are having to wait for the heater to warm the windshield up to the point that water vapor from your breath won't condense on it.",
"Many car defrosters settings are setup to automatically run the AC so that it's usable year round. It won't make much difference in the winter, as the almost no moisture in the air to wring out. You are close with your other comments, in that AC can't remove much moisture below about 48-50 degrees F.\n\nHowever, during the summer the AC is needed to wring out the moisture before hitting the heating coil to heat the air temp back up and raise the dew point. By making the AC default ON when the defroster is enabled, manufacturers avoid incorrect complaints about a system not working because the operators don't understand they're doing it wrong."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[],
[],
[]
]
|
|
54l2db | why do we use rockets to leave the atmosphere? why can't we use something like a plane to gradually climb out? wouldn't reentry at an angle rather than straight down be more gentle on the craft as well? | As the title suggests, strapping ourselves to a controlled explosion seems kind of stone age in the end. Is it simply not possible to gradually climb at 20-30° with something like a plane or a more aerodynamic craft? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54l2db/eli5_why_do_we_use_rockets_to_leave_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"d82q2hp",
"d82q5f9",
"d82qs9i"
],
"score": [
8,
5,
4
],
"text": [
"Airplanes need air to produce lift. Where there is no air, or the air is very thin, airplanes cannot fly.",
" > Is it simply not possible to gradually climb at 20-30° with something like a plane or a more aerodynamic craft?\n\nYou can to a certain extent, but eventually you run out of air. Airplanes can't fly in vacuum. Also as you run low on air you need to compress it more in order to drive your jet engines, and when you do that it heats up more which will eventually cause problems with your engines melting.\n\nYou *could* fly a rocket up high and then launch it, but it gets a lot more complicated and dangerous to launch a huge rocket from an aircraft than if you just did it from the ground.",
"Airplanes needs air to gain lift. There is no air in space. A rocket only spends a few seconds of its launch in the atmosphere and most of the ten minutes is spent in space gaining velocity to get into orbit. There are rockets that launches from airplanes but they are just as big as the ones that launch from the ground. This also limits their size as medium sized rockets are around the same weight as the biggest airplanes. You would have to construct worlds largest airplane by far to get any sizable payload to orbit (yes, people are working on it).\n\nYou might be thinking why you could not get up to speed while still in the atmosphere. The problem with that is that you get a lot of air resistance. In addition to slowing you down it will heat up your airplane. It can work for bleeding off speed during a reentry but is no good if you want to get up. There is also no engines that is powerful enough to get you to those high speeds and get you through them fast except rocket engines.\n\nFor reentry all spacecrafts go at a very shallow angle to bleed off as much speed as possible before they get to the thicker atmosphere. Capsules are also built to be flat on the bottom to catch as much air as possible and act as wings. Apollo even generated enough lift to go back up during parts of their descent. The wings on the space shuttle were built with this in mind and there were people who stood upright throughout the decent and landing without falling over or having to sit down. However the huge weight of the wings means that the lifting wing space crafts today only have tiny wings which is just enough to make them land horizontally.\n\nHowever you may want to look at the Skylon project which have been under development since 1990 and hopes to get a prototype space plane flying by 2025."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[],
[]
]
|
|
1cnxcc | why won't mexico extradite criminals fleeing from american authorities? | Maybe there have been cases where they have, but when criminals run to and cross the Mexican border, are the police really just like "Welp, that's it I guess"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cnxcc/eli5_why_wont_mexico_extradite_criminals_fleeing/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9ibh4r"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"They will, and do, about 100 a year. A couple hundred more non-Mexican fugitives are deported each year and picked up by authorities at the border - there's no need for extradition if the person doesn't have a legal right to be in Mexico in the first place.\n\nOf course, before they can be extradited or deported, they have to be caught by the Mexican authorities, and people who are evading capture in the US are likely to keep evading capture elsewhere."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
|
490i3c | what male body part produces the tiny amount of estrogen men do have? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/490i3c/eli5_what_male_body_part_produces_the_tiny_amount/ | {
"a_id": [
"d0o3gp0",
"d0o3hc0"
],
"score": [
19,
9
],
"text": [
"Since men lack ovaries, they need to produce estrogen through a process involving an enzyme called aromatase that transforms testosterone into estradiol. \nThe enzyme aromatase is produced by the adrenal glands.\n",
"Mainly the testes, but also adipose (fatty) tissue. Estrogen in human males actually starts off as an androgen (like testosterone), but is then converted to estrogen by the use of an enzyme.\n\n[This journal article](_URL_0_) explains it a little more."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[
"http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2015/165215/"
]
]
|
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