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1dwxv3
When I see gray, what wavelengths am I seeing?
I saw an answer on Wikianswers which said that gray is all wavelengths being half-absorbed, but I don't see why this wouldn't just be white how something could half-absorb every wavelength.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1dwxv3/when_i_see_gray_what_wavelengths_am_i_seeing/
{ "a_id": [ "c9uy84d" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Many times the color grey is generated by a mixture of compounds. Some which absorb and some which reflect. For instance if you mix white paint with black paint you will end up with a grey color because the mixture contains compounds which reflect all light and compounds which absorb all light. So at any given point in the mixture you would expect to have both compounds and depending on which compound the light hits determines if it is reflected or absorbed. \n\nYou can also have large molecules with multiple groups some of which absorb multiple wavelengths of light while other parts of the molecule reflect." ] }
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3vfjz8
how do people get hd clips from tv to the internet?
I know it's probably super simple, but I was curious as to how people are downloading/streaming TV and then making clips to put on YouTube or making GIFs. Thank you!
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vfjz8/eli5_how_do_people_get_hd_clips_from_tv_to_the/
{ "a_id": [ "cxn217l" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "A PC with a \"Capture Card\" of one kind or another.\n\nHD material from a cable/satellite box gets fed into the computer, where it's \"captured\", and can then be edited and uploaded. It's not legal, but it is rather easy with modern software." ] }
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4heahh
Are there any animals whose blood is not red?
When I googled this all I could find was sci-fi stuff
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4heahh/are_there_any_animals_whose_blood_is_not_red/
{ "a_id": [ "d2qfop8" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Yes, but it's not particularly common. A common example is the [horseshoe crab](_URL_0_), which has hemocyanin in place of hemoglobin. Vertebrate blood's red color comes largely from hemoglobin, which is bright red when oxygenated and a darker red when deoxygenated. Hemocyanin is blue when oxygenated and colorless when deoxygenated, so horseshoe crab blood is generally described as blue. Hemocyanin is also used by molluscs (like some snails) and other arthropods (like some spiders)." ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_crab#Blood" ] ]
16ss7m
degrees of education
What is the difference between a bachelor's, master's, doctoral's, Ph.D., etc.?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16ss7m/eli5_degrees_of_education/
{ "a_id": [ "c7z09x2", "c7z0d4r" ], "score": [ 4, 2 ], "text": [ "Associate's Degree: 2 years \n\nBachelor's Degree: 4 years \n\nMaster's Degree: Bachelor's + 2 years \n\nDoctoral/Ph.D: Bachelor's + 4-6 years. ", "A bachelors degree is usually a four year degree at a university. While doing this you can consider yourself an undergrad student. A masters degree is obtained after earning your bachelors and applying to and being accepted to graduate school which may or may not be offered at the same university that you got your bachelors degree at. A Doctorate and a PhD are essentially the same thing as far as I know and they are the next step after a masters degree. Obtaining a PHD in a field requires original research of your own in a field of your choosing. " ] }
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23apur
why has easter turned into a time to celebrate finding chocolate/eggs from a bunny?
In all honesty i don't get how they relate
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23apur/eli5why_has_easter_turned_into_a_time_to/
{ "a_id": [ "cgv51zv", "cgv56ip", "cgv6dvj" ], "score": [ 6, 6, 4 ], "text": [ "You might ask why did Easter turned into a Christian holiday \"celebrating\" the torture and death of their god when it is actually (and originally) about the Spring Equinox and fertility.", "They don't.\n\nDecorating eggs seems to be a festive activity dating back to antiquity. The rabbit, or the hare, was a common symbol in Christianity, and European culture in general.\n\nThe practice seems to come from German Protestants, who rejected the Catholic practice of fasting during Easter in favour of continuing to dye and eat eggs. Given that eggs were prohibited during Lent, this also made them significantly cheaper, so it has a semi-practical explanation.\n\nLike a lot of things, German practices came into English practice through the royal family, which was 'imported' from Germany in the 17th century, when George I ascended to the British throne.", "Like every christian holiday it is actually a pagan holiday that predates the invention of Jesus. The eggs and the bunny are symbols of fertility that have absolutely nothing to do with christianity. They come from the festival of Ishtar. An ancient pagan festival that was folded into christianity by Constantine. " ] }
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77oer8
Why we're African slaves not more common in the uk?
Firstly, apologies if this question comes off as ignorant or offensive. With England being a huge player in the transport of slaves from Africa to America and the Caribbean, why is there not more of a black minority with heritage going back to this period? Most African Americans seem to have slave ancestors; whereas most of the Afro Caribbean minority in England migrated from the colonies during the post war era (or so I was told during my history classes). Is there any particular reason for this? Thanks.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/77oer8/why_were_african_slaves_not_more_common_in_the_uk/
{ "a_id": [ "donmmbz" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "There was a legal question regarding whether or not the state of enslavement could exist on British soil. The situation was ambiguous, and certain West Indian plantation owners did bring slaves back to Britain with them, as personal valets/maids and the like. However, it became increasingly common, as the 18th century progressed, for enslaved persons to bring a legal challenge against their 'owners' in the courts, to claim their freedom and avoid being sent back to the harshness of plantation life. The earliest such case was in 1690. Judgements varied - there are cases of enslaved persons being granted their liberty, sometimes permanently and sometimes temporarily; as well as cases where the state of enslavement was confirmed rather than overturned.\n\nThe most high-profile case of this type was that of James Somersett, a slave 'owned' by a Boston government official, with whom he travelled to Britain. (This is at a point where the US is still a British colony, just about). Somersett escaped, but was recaptured and sent aboard a ship bound for Jamaica. A suit for his release was brought by abolitionist campaigners, and after a lengthy deliberation, the judge Lord Mansfield determined that Somersett had the right not to be forcibly removed from the country against his will. Crucially, he did not rule that slavery on British soil was illegal, but it was interpreted this way by many slaves and masters alike.\n\nSo, in short, the number of enslaved black people in the UK was always tiny, due largely to the fact that their ambiguous legal status there meant that their 'owners' risked losing their slaves via legal mechanism. There was a small community of free black people in 18th century Britain, primarily of former slaves who had been granted freedom - the writer Olaudah Equiano was one, as were Francis Barber (the servant and heir of the writer Samuel Johnson), and Ignatius Sancho. It's estimated that there were around 15,000 black people living in London by the end of the 18th century, although these numbers are difficult to fully reconstruct because racial identity is not always recorded in datasets such as parish registers." ] }
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6xqbbq
Does a satellite experience centrifugal force or centripetal force?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6xqbbq/does_a_satellite_experience_centrifugal_force_or/
{ "a_id": [ "dmhsxng" ], "score": [ 15 ], "text": [ "It depends on your frame of reference. In an inertial frame stationary with respect to the Earth, the satellite is only subject to a centripetal force (gravity).\n\nIn a reference frame co-rotating with the satellite, the centripetal force is still there, and there is additionally a centrifugal force equal and opposite to the centripetal force." ] }
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7i45d5
how was the internet made? like how did they discover coding, etc?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7i45d5/eli5_how_was_the_internet_made_like_how_did_they/
{ "a_id": [ "dqvzwvk" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Computers predate the internet by several decades, but the origins of the internet can be traced back to a US Military project in the 1960's called Arpanet. They wanted to see if they could get computers to communicate with each other. The first data packet was sent from a computer at UCLA to one at Stanford in 1969. The technology that came out of Arpanet ultimately led to the commercial internet." ] }
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14srt3
Does boiling the same tap water multiple times change anything in it?
I make and drink a lot of tea. I have formed a habit of pouring out the previously boiled water and starting fresh. My roommate thinks I'm crazy, but I think I can honestly taste a difference sometimes. Water the is boiled couple times seems to taste more "mineral"ly and heat it enough times, it will sometimes taste like a burn circuit board (I use an electric kettle). I found that there is a slight taste change even if I use a traditional kettle (on gas stove). - Would it be that water that is boiled multiple times is just picking up the previously deposited minerals? - Is there a molecular change in the minerals in the water? (hot water is dissolving them) - If the minerals are being dissolved into the water, does this make brewing less efficient?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/14srt3/does_boiling_the_same_tap_water_multiple_times/
{ "a_id": [ "c7g3cbd", "c7g52sc" ], "score": [ 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Boiling water multiple times reduces the dissolved oxygen and any other dissolved gases, as the solubility for these decreases with temperature.\n\nNo new minerals are added or dissolved upon multiple boils - whatever minerals come out of your tap are mostly unchanged during the events you describe, but one major chemical change is that water treated with chlorine will allow chlorine to evaporate. However, many municipalities use chloramine, which does not evaporate.\n\nI don't think any of this will have a significant effect of the solubility for your tea, so the brewing process would be identical in all cases.", "In addition to what everyone else is saying, depending on how long you let it boil, the concentration of the minerals that are already in water will increase. This is simply because there is less water and the minerals didn't go anywhere ( as long as they aren't being deposited on the surface of the kettle).\n\nMy guess is that the taste you are describing is this." ] }
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p5yfy
Russian Drug Epidemic - Krokodil - Causes Necrosis. Is there any way that this can be healed? [Medicine] [NSFL]
I just read about this synthesized opioid which causes necrosis in the flesh. The following links are extremely graphic, word of caution. What you see is necrosis so severe it actually falls off exposing the bone. The youtube video shows a patient who has an entire area of his lower leg without bone or muscle. I know nothing about medical science, but I cannot see how this could possibly be healed. Especially since muscle and veins are absent. So I was curious if I could get a more in-depth analysis of what is happening in the video/picture than what is currently available on google, but still on a laymen's level so I can comprehend it. Basically, * Why does this drug cause severe necrosis * Could this possibly be healed/reversed after it happens? * What are the medical repercussions? i.e. amputation? * If amputation is necessary (as I can't see any other option in the youtube video patient's case) - *what exactly are they doing in that youtube video/why?* Links: _URL_0_ _URL_1_ Again, word of warning, the content linked here is extremely graphic. Thanks in advance for any explanation, I have a very morbid curiosity here.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/p5yfy/russian_drug_epidemic_krokodil_causes_necrosis_is/
{ "a_id": [ "c3mt7l4" ], "score": [ 34 ], "text": [ "Let me clear my throat a little and thank you for the warnings.\n\nThese people have packed on every kind of cellular stress imaginable. They are throwing acids, aromatic reactive species, most likely heavy metals, and who knows what else, *directly* into their circulatory system.\n\nNow, let's stop and talk a little bit about the circulatory system:\n\nYour circulatory system perfuses all your tissues (anywhere your tissues are, your circulatory system is too). It is the expert nutrient delivery system and waste removal system. That is, under normal circumstances, as in when you don't have an addiction to zombie cosplay.\n\nAs with any drug addict that injects, they are hijacking that system in order to efficiently and effectively administer and feel their drug. \n\nNow, with that preamble, let's start tackling your questions:\n\n**Why does this drug cause severe necrosis?**\n\nFirst of all, this is not just a drug, this is a cocktail of chemicals created with a cave man's sense of precision. Based off the io9 article's description of a couple of the chemicals, I took the liberty of referencing the Material Safety Data Sheets for each. [Iodine](_URL_2_) is corrosive and can cause chronic health issues with the thyroid gland and possibly many other organs. [Gasoline](_URL_0_) doesn't have many immediate effects but contains benzene which is a known carcinogen. [Red Phosphorous](_URL_1_) is an irritant and does not have known chronic effects.[Hydrochloric Acid or HCl](_URL_3_) is tricky because they probably aren't preparing exactly the same molarity every time and so we cannot easily assess the severity of the consequences of injecting it. I should add that on the first page in bold letters it says \"POISON! DANGER! CORROSIVE!\" \n\nThese all have a fairly low Lethal Dose for Rats.\n\nIn fact, none of these MSDS's indicate the toxicology of intravenous exposure to these chemicals let alone as a mixture, but the chronic effect of all of them together is evident. My guess is that chronic inflammation, DNA mutations (resulting from prolonged carcinogen exposure), and oxidative stress triggers massive hemorrhaging, widespread inflammation, and apoptosis (cell suicide) radiating from the initial site of injection, but also appearing in random locations throughout the body (because of the nature of exposure), including more often the feet and arms. In short, necrosis in krokodil users is a result of intravenous exposure to a menagerie of chemicals, that are toxic in a variety of ways, for an extended period of time.\n\n**Could this possibly be healed/reversed after it happens?**\n\nAfter what happens? This is a progressive necrosis of the tissue through chronic exposure to chemicals. The ability to ameliorate the effects are entirely dependent on the progression of the disease. More often than not, amputation will be required, but many will have damaged their internal organs as well. Remember that the cardiovascular system perfuses every tissue. The first systems damaged will most likely be the liver and kidneys. Tough organs to fix without altogether replacing.\n\nMore importantly, there is the physical and psychological addiction of Desomorphine to remember. You don't want to waste time trying to treat a patient with a replacement organ that could be used on someone that needs it more and will keep it healthier. Moreover, why enter the user into some expensive new therapy that can heal the self-inflicted wounds at the expense of the government's (tax payer's) Rubles when he is going to begin the process again.\n\nAs a stem cell biologist, my unethical side would suggest using these patients in experimental cell replacement therapies since they are doomed to die anyway. My ethical side says that many of these people should just be put to death quickly so they don't have to endure the mindless rat race of literally rotting to death just to get a useless high.\n\n**What are the medical repercussions?**\n\nI think we have answered that by now. Loss of Limbs, extensive damage to internal organs, including but not limited to the kidney and liver.\n\n**If amputation is necessary *what exactly are they doing in the youtube video/why*?**\n\nI'm not entirely sure, but I'm guessing the patient did not go to a high-level care facility to be treated. They are using a wire saw to cut through the exposed fibula and tibia to remove the necrotic tissue. The tissue appears to be soaked, probably in disinfectant. This is to prevent the spread of infection. I'll be frank, this is really shitty to talk about man. I hope I answered your questions. You are obligated to answer one of mine. Why are you so curious about this?" ] }
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[ "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yfd_7jrnMk", "http://io9.com/5859291/krokodil-russias-designer-drug-that-will-eat-your-flesh" ]
[ [ "http://facilities.fit.edu/documents/forms/MSDS/gasoline-all-grades-9950.pdf", "http://www.hummelcroton.com/msdsp/redp_p.html", "http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927547", "http://www.coopernatural.com/msds_hcl.pdf" ] ]
9zs4y8
What did people in the 'Old West' name their pets?
Dogs and horses I know were much more than pets, they were useful tools out on the range. But I'm curious if humans have always named their dogs 'spot' or horses 'Thunder'
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9zs4y8/what_did_people_in_the_old_west_name_their_pets/
{ "a_id": [ "eabls1v" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "I'm honestly more curious about horse names " ] }
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6bidsm
How did Italians preserve the tomatos needed for many of their dishes, prior to the invention of canning?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6bidsm/how_did_italians_preserve_the_tomatos_needed_for/
{ "a_id": [ "dhnered" ], "score": [ 26 ], "text": [ "Sorry, other poster is dead wrong, tomatoes were eaten fresh only rarely before the invention of commercial canning, getting down on fresh tomatoes is a pretty modern thing, your pre-canning tomato breeds would not make for tasty fresh eating, pretty acidic. But they were certainly preserved, it's a smart question you've asked! What they did was make a paste of tomatoes, called conserva. [I have previously written here about how they made (and make!) conserva,](_URL_0_) including a video! \n\nHowever, in the era of conserva (and in Italy today, depending on region of course) tomatoes were a minor vegetable. For a little on how the tomato came to be seen as #1 Most Italian Food, [read here.](_URL_1_) (Despite it not being my specialità at all, I've apparently made myself a little side career in tomato history here, because people ask about it so often!) " ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3xubkl/comment/cy7z4al", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2fcqkd/comment/ck8dirc" ] ]
b4r8ll
why does the burn of putting your leg in hot water seem to come a second or so after it’s been pulled out?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b4r8ll/eli5_why_does_the_burn_of_putting_your_leg_in_hot/
{ "a_id": [ "ej8tqk2", "ej91qg2", "ej94ax9", "ej9l6u3" ], "score": [ 162, 10, 4, 3 ], "text": [ "So there’s ‘two’ nervous systems that usually work together. This is an example of where one takes over first.\n\n- CNS = Brain. It controls the actions you think about so it takes longer to work.\n- PNS = No Brain. Controls reflex actions, ones you don’t have to think about, so it’s faster.\n\nThe leg in hot water reaction would work something like this:\n1. Leg goes into water\n2. PNS realises you are in danger.\n3. PNS moves leg out of the water because it knows you’re in danger.\n4. CNS realises leg is out of water\n5. CNS realises leg is in pain and lets the brain know, meaning you only then feel pain.\n\nI hope that’s simple enough, ask any questions if you need clarification.", "I don't think the other answers really get to the root of the question. You have different types of nerves. Big nerves and little nerves, insulated and non-insulated nerves. Big nerves are fast. Insulated nerves are fast. There are two types of pain nerves, and both are small (one is insulated, the other is not). \n\nAs for why you move your leg: the nerves send a signal to not just your brain but also special nerves that live in your spinal cord. These nerves (called interneurons) \"short circuit\" the system with a \"reflex arc.\". It sounds confusing, but what it means is the signal going up to your brain is always diverting just a bit to nerves that can make decisions without the brain of they hit a danger threshold to protect the body. It is the same system you see when doctors tap your patellar tendon at your knee (the brain kinda turns these off, and when you have an interview to the spinal cord, there is no off signal.... Just an on signal)", "The central nervous system (CNS) is the brain **and** the spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is all the nerves that come off the brain and spinal cord (like in your arms and legs). Nerves are the way information in your body is communicated around (like a network).\n\n1. When your leg touches the hot water, a nerve in your leg 'senses' this heat and passes the info to your spinal cord (because that's where that nerve is connected to).\n2. In the spinal cord, this 'sensing' nerve passed the info to a 'moving' nerve.\n3. The moving nerve is connected to your leg muscles and when it receives the info, it makes the leg muscles move your leg out.\n4. At the same time that step 2 and 3 is happening, the spinal cord is sending this information up to your brain for you to process. By process, I mean 'feel' the pain and scream.\n5. Because it takes longer for the information to reach your brain than to go back to your leg (literally just compare the distance from leg to brain vs leg to leg), steps 2 and 3 will happen quicker than step 4.\n\nFor a bit of terminology, we call this a 'spinal reflex'. This means you don't actually need your brain for this reflex to happen, it just needs to spinal cord. But our brain is there to process the info so we know next time not to put our leg in the hot water because it will hurt like hell.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n & #x200B;", "Oh man!\n\nNone of these cover the real reason it **burns** when you take it *out* of the water rather than why it takes a while to feel. It's super interesting!\n\n\nIt burns because of the mixture of hot and cold feeling in the same area at the same time. \n\nThe body has pressure and temperature sensing nerves. **But the body doesn't have a way to sense burns. Instead, it senses hot and the feeling of nerves not being able to send any signals because they're dying — which happens to feel like cold.**\n\nTry this experiment:\n\n*Take out 2 butter knives. Run one under cold water and the other under hot water for a few seconds. Feel the full back of each on the underside of your forearm and notice the sensations: hot and cold right?*\n\n*Now put both knives side by side so the flat parts are close together and touch the dull backs to your forearm at the same time. You haven't hurt yourself — but notice that it feels like it burns!*\n\n\n\nSo when you pull your leg out of very warm water, what happens? The warm water starts rapidly evaporating a few seconds later. And evaporating water — just like sweat, cools down your skin sending the cold sensation at the same time that deeper parts of the skin are still sending the hot sensation. Just like the two butter knives, it feels like burning. \n\nCool right?" ] }
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7r7k49
Why don’t everyday movements cause sub-concussive impacts?
I’m aware that the brain’s motion is dampened by the cerebrospinal fluid it floats in and by its tethering to the spinal cord and the meninges, but I have trouble seeing how this is sufficient to protect the brain from subtle damage just short of a concussion. I tend to visualize a brain-sized egg (with strange holes through the middle for ventricles) in an egg-shaped capsule filled with water (or at least some fluid with the same viscosity) bouncing around as it’s shaken. The brain as an egg isn’t the best analogy for a number of reasons, but it seems to me that motions like head banging, shaking rapidly, turning the head quickly to the side and back, etc. would crack this egg, or at least push it against the walls of its egg-skull with some nonzero force, especially considering that there is little distance between the brain/egg and the skull, and that the fluid isn’t very thick. My question therefore encompasses a few questions several of which likely do not have or can not have full answers: 1. Is our brain really moving a lot less than intuition might suggest? 2. If so, how do we know? Have simulations of this been performed? 3. If not, and the brain does move within our skull as much as such analogies might suggest, does this actually cause any real damage? 4. Adding to that last bit, what are the mechanisms of potential damage? Are neurons actually dying? Is our brain just chemically disrupted? How resistant to compression is brain tissue (does it “bounce back”)? And given shearing forces can rip axons apart, how much force does this take? Does it occur on some minimal level with all grades of TBI? Is there a particular number of g’s associated with symptomatic damage? 5. To what extent does this depend on individual anatomy, and what research has been done into this? 6. Finally, what is known about the brain’s ability to recover? Does it depend on region (impacted, not geographic)? Genetics? Environmental factors? On a less clinical note, does the brain tend to rewire itself similarly to how it was previously wired, or does it form newer connections based on environment and other factors? What research has been done on these effects in vitro/in vivo/in Volvo? Are we really us after sustaining a brain injury or a series of cumulative small hits? Also, as an aside, the argument that evolution has developed mechanisms that prevent significant subconcussive damage (even if we don’t fully understand them) doesn’t seem too convincing either, because evolution only requires that we survive long enough to reproduce, not so much that we perform the kinds of higher order thinking tasks we do today, let alone well into our old age when consequent neurodegenerative disorders might manifest. (I hate to add this because it seems rude, but please don’t just link to previous instances of this question on Reddit, as I assure you I wouldn’t post here had I found information that satisfied me. I’m primarily looking for a fairly in depth overview of the state of research into these questions, and perhaps a more rigorous intuitive understanding of the physics of the brain’s motion in everyday movement.) Edit: excuse the shitty formatting and text blocks, I posted this on mobile
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/7r7k49/why_dont_everyday_movements_cause_subconcussive/
{ "a_id": [ "dsv5rqc" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "This is counterintuitive, but if the density of the egg in your example is roughly the same as the density of the fluid (so that it can float in it) then shaking the jar wouldn't make it bounce, it would keep floating roughly in the middle no matter what you do.\n\nSudden acceleration only causes problems proportional to differences in density, causing different parts of the system to experience different forces corresponding to that acceleration, so that difference becomes a force between components and can cause deformation. If the density is roughly the same (and the stuff is mostly incompressible) then nothing much happens in response to small accelerations. " ] }
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ar47hf
why are commercials so bad? why dont companies hire comedians or any other kind of professional to create commercials for them?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar47hf/eli5_why_are_commercials_so_bad_why_dont/
{ "a_id": [ "egko5j6", "egkoge7" ], "score": [ 3, 3 ], "text": [ "Cost. Using big stars or producers is expensive, add on the cost of the time slot for the commercial and it cuts into company money.\n\nThe smaller the business, the lower quality production", "Great minds think alike. Ahoy, matey! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained:\n\n1. [ELI5:Why are there so many bad commercials? Aren't there teams of expert marketers who sign off on them? How can so many people approve something so bad? ](_URL_2_) ^(_58 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: Why can companies with massive advertising departments, like Geico, not realize that their commercials aren't funny? ](_URL_0_) ^(_ > 100 comments_)\n1. [ELI5:why does local media (especially commercials) look so bad compared to national? ](_URL_1_) ^(_8 comments_)\n" ] }
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[ [], [ "https://np.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20513k/eli5_why_can_companies_with_massive_advertising/", "https://np.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35uaht/eli5why_does_local_media_especially_commercials/", "https://np.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40u7us/eli5why_are_there_so_many_bad_commercials_arent/" ] ]
3xs2x9
What exactly are virtual particles? For example, a Weyl Fermion is apparently exciting for semiconductor applications, but what properties does it have that make it so?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3xs2x9/what_exactly_are_virtual_particles_for_example_a/
{ "a_id": [ "cy7jj7x" ], "score": [ 17 ], "text": [ "Virtual particles appear in perturbative field theory. When calculating observables in a field theory, it is almost always impossible to solve the problem exactly, so you develop a method to compute things approximately (this is called perturbation theory). The most useful way to do this is to introduce Feynman diagrams - it turns out that every term you need to calculate can be represented by a picture which looks like some process occurring, so all you need to do is write down all possible pictures and translate the pictures into math (much easier than deriving the exact terms from scratch every time).\n\nIn these pictures, one has lines which represent (or maybe just \"look like\") particles which violate the equation E^2 = (pc)^2 + (mc^(2))^(2); we call these \"virtual particles.\" They only appear when doing this particular approximation. Virtual particles are never detected in real life, and they never appear in cases where you can do exact calculations, but they are useful mnemonics to use when discussing a calculation to a fellow physicist. I wouldn't describe them as ever \"coming into existence;\" they're just a tool which comes from a very specific type of calculation, and don't necessarily correspond to anything physical.\n\nI recommend [Matt Strassler's writeup on virtual particles](_URL_2_) if you want more info re: virtual particles.\n\n > For example, a Weyl Fermion is apparently exciting for semiconductor applications, but what properties does it have that make it so?\n\nI think there's a confusion here. The Weyl fermions which have been of interest in recent condensed matter physics are **not** virtual particles; they are [quasiparticles](_URL_0_). Quasiparticles are a kind of collective excitation which occurs as an aggregate excitation of many degrees of freedom. Basically, when you have an enormous amount of electrons interacting, the low-energy excitations which are made up of many electrons may look nothing like an electron, but rather like something totally different. Especially in the last ~30 years or so, we've found systems whose quasiparticles with extremely exotic properties, such as quasiparticles which are neither fermions nor bosons, or quasiparticles with fractional charge.\n\nRecently, people have found that Weyl fermions can be realized in condensed matter applications ([theoretic review](_URL_1_), plus [experiments](_URL_3_)). Weyl fermions are massless particles which obey fermionic statistics. The interesting thing about their recent realization in condensed matter is that they remain massless under any sort of perturbation in the system, and the way in which they arise and their mass is protected is very interesting (it'd be hard to elaborate in this post without either getting technical or by making it twice as long). \n\nI can't really speak to applications - it's really fundamental research. We've only barely found that this sort of object exists, let alone found ways in which it can be engineered for a real purpose.\n\n(Weyl fermions also appear in particle physics, though the realizations are rather different from the recent condensed matter one)." ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasiparticle", "http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.0330", "http://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-physics-basics/virtual-particles-what-are-they/", "http://physics.princeton.edu/zahidhasangroup/index.html" ] ]
1ey8lm
why is the water contained in a source like soda any less beneficial?
It makes sense there are bad contents in some things but no sources ever give credit towards water intake to anything except actual water.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ey8lm/eli5_why_is_the_water_contained_in_a_source_like/
{ "a_id": [ "ca4xdgd", "ca4xxui", "ca50r2f" ], "score": [ 2, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "I cant really tell what you are asking, the title is confusing.", "Soda is > 90% water (probably 98% or so). If you want to drink 8 glasses of water a day, 8 sodas would do it but the sugar and sodium would be terrible for you're health. Someone who says they don't drink any water, just soda, or that drinking soda doesn't count as water has no idea what they're talking about. It would be like saying you're not eating beef if you eat a hamburger. ", "Water is good. Water with a small amount of sugar is better, your body can start using it faster.\nSoda has water and bad things in it. Water is better for than drinking water with bad things in" ] }
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5b4l98
how are some mods in gaming compatible to new game versions while other mods need to be updated? (eg. skyrim - compatible after patch but minecraft - mods need updates)
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5b4l98/eli5_how_are_some_mods_in_gaming_compatible_to/
{ "a_id": [ "d9lpez8", "d9lteyj", "d9lzlkd" ], "score": [ 7, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "It depends on what those mods were doing to the game files, and what was changed in those files between versions.\n\nFor example, if you alter the \"running speed\" value in the movement script, it's not likely the company is going to change the way movement works between versions, so your mod will still work.\n\nFor a counter example, if you use a mesh or model reference, or change a script for object physics, when the new version is released with updated models and textures, or new things that use/affect the physics script, you're going to need to change your mod.\n\nIf you don't, you may end up with any assortment of bugs:\n\n* invalid texture/models, and so your stuff just doesn't show up (animations don't work, invisible objects, clipping through things, etc)\n\n* your mod to the physics script breaking (your fireball now throws upwards. not where the camera is looking)\n\n* your mod breaking the new changes to physics (walking off a ledge on a horse results in their flying)", "I mod for skyrim so I can explain why the updates don't effect skyrim can't really speak for mine craft \n\nIn skyrim the game is composed of many files called esp (elder scrolls plugin) now the main game and the DLCs are in their own versions of esps and when you open the game it loads the main game first and then the dlcs. Then it loads the mods on top of those files in the order that you set the mods to load in. When a file or any part of the game is modified it takes the form of the most recent load. So if I have 3 different mods for an iron mace only the last one will be used. ( it's a little more complicated than that but you get the point) this mean that any conflicts between versions and stuff are usually just handled by load order. \n\nThe other thing is you can have a lot of errors and stuff that just does not make sense from a computer science standpoint in your mods and the game will mostly work fine. This is evidence by the amount of bugs in Bethesda games. ", "It depends on how the modding is accomplished. If a game is designed to read in a lot of settings from text files, it can usually be modded just by changing those text files, and doesn't know the difference. When the developers update the game, in order for it to continue working correctly, it must still read in the text files in more or less the same way, so the mods will usually keep working too.\n\nIf a game is designed to load big chunks of computer-readable instructions (binary) into memory, modding can usually only be accomplished by figuring out what those instructions were (decompiling), creating a file that modifies them (patching), and re-making that big chunk of slightly-altered instructions (re-compiling). But the big chunk contains a lot of very specific things like 'go to location #100045644 in memory and do something with that information'. Those specifics are too tedious to make by hand, so the tool that creates them (the compiler) hands them out first-come, first served. That means that even the tiniest update can change many or even most of the specific instructions by bumping things down the line. Continuing the example above, if the update requires the game to remember something new, since memory locations are handed out first-come, first served, that same instruction might now need to go to location #10004564**5** because the information it works with got bumped down the line a little bit. That means that the mods have to be re-built again to re-align their instructions to match the ones in the updated game.\n\nSkyrim is an example of a game that works mostly by reading in configuration files. Minecraft works mostly by loading binary chunks into memory.\n\nYou might wonder why the compiler doesn't try to keep things easier to find, and the answer is that it thinks the code is private, something that will never be accessed by anyone but itself. That is, binary code-injection mods are basically hacking into the program to change what it does in a way it was never designed to allow. Sometimes the original developers are okay with this even though it wasn't planned or supported, other times they're not.\n" ] }
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iq44d
Why do specific laws apply to the universe?
I've tried to find answers for this, but I am having a hard time discovering answers which are unrelated to a deity of some sort. To specify my question, why do the "laws" which govern how any or all matter works in our universe exist and operate the way that it does?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/iq44d/why_do_specific_laws_apply_to_the_universe/
{ "a_id": [ "c25r3be", "c25rdsl" ], "score": [ 7, 3 ], "text": [ "Physicists are much better at answering 'how' than why. E.g: \"How do magnets work?\" \"How does gravity work?\" \n\nWhy is a much more philosophical question and is, in a sense, much less defined (and therefore less interesting :P) than actually learning *how* things work. ", "This is a philosophy question. There is no scientific answer. The universe just is. Now let me ask you a question in response: does there have to be a reason? Why did life originate? Why does the the Earth orbit the sun? If you want my opinion, ask *how* instead of *why*. " ] }
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2hhckf
what exactly happens to your skin when it reacts to posion ivy?
I have a nice little patch of it on my arm and I've just been staring at it too long.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hhckf/elif_what_exactly_happens_to_your_skin_when_it/
{ "a_id": [ "ckso98f", "cksooyd", "cksp2pv" ], "score": [ 27, 6, 15 ], "text": [ "It's called a type IV hypersensitivity reaction, more commonly known as an allergic reaction. This is a special type of allergic reaction that is not caused by histamine like most allergies are. This type of reaction is due to T cells attacking your own cells because they have an antigen (poison ivy) in them and your immune system thinks that it's a virus or bacteria. The end result is that your immune system ends up attacking your own cells, which activates the inflammatory response, which is what causes the redness and itchiness. \n\nOne thing to note is that you need to be sensitized in order to have this type of reaction. That means that you brushed against some poison ivy at some other time and that \"activated\" your immune response. Since it has now been activated, the next time you come in contact with poison ivy, you will get the associated dermatitis. \n\nEdit: Sorry, I forgot to mention this. Cortisone should help with the itchiness and inflammation. Antihistamines won't do shit. ", "A poison ivy rash is an allergic reaction. There's this stuff in poison ivy sap (poison oak too) called \"urushiol\" that about 85% of people happen to be allergic to. When this sap gets on you via the plant or something the plant has touched, it is absorbed through your skin and into your body. Your body begins to break it down, but due to some fluke of evolution (maybe - the science behind this is still being studied), the immune cells that are constantly checking for foreign invaders recognize urushiol as a threat. This is despite the fact that poison ivy itself does not contain any substances that are \"poisonous\" or that should harm your body.\n\nAnyways, the immune cells basically instigate dermatitis, the body's response, by sending signals that call white blood cells to the scene. The white blood cells eat/break down foreign substances, but in the process they also damage your tissue.", "The Urushiol oil bonds to the cells and your immune system say \"what the hell is that?\" and attacks. If you get it, and this is probably really bad for you, take a shower as hot as you can stand with the water hitting the rash. We call it an Oakgasm" ] }
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3wdqip
What makes some cancer "inoperable"?
what prevents a surgeon from just getting the thing out?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3wdqip/what_makes_some_cancer_inoperable/
{ "a_id": [ "cxvfdox", "cxvgm08", "cxvgo9h", "cxvmq3p", "cxvn3qk" ], "score": [ 73, 8, 3, 60, 4 ], "text": [ "Sometimes the cancer can occur in places where it would otherwise kill the patient. Like a tumor deep inside the brain might require a surgeon to do too much damage getting it out, or risk breaking up the tumor and causing it to spread in the body (the cancer cells can take up residence in other places, including the wound channel on the way out). With something like lung cancer, the cancer might just be spread in too much delicate tissue (lung tissue is very volumous; they say that you have like a tennis court of area in your lungs), and they wouldn't be able to just cut it out without damaging too much tissue or destroying the organ.", "Operable tumor is relatively contained within a finite space. It has not invaded large vessels or delicate tissue, has not spread to multiple places (metastatic), and/or is generally considered to be curable after surgical removal.\n\nSmall cell lung cancer is an example of an inoperable tumor type. This cancer type usually presents as small lung tumors in multiple places. Since many mini surgeries would be more risky for the patient (and a generally futile exercise in whack-a-mole), we use focused radiotherapy and targeted chemo.", "In addition to the comment of the tumor being impossible to cut out without damaging local tissue, there's also the principle that it might do more harm than good, although technically feasible. For example the tumor may have spread, and removing the primary tumor would not benefit the patient in any way. \n\nAlso,even if a tumor is inoperable at one point, it's not uncommon for it to shrink after chemotherapy and become operable. Finally, there are situations where \"debulking\" is beneficial to the patient. This is cutting out as much of the tumor as possible, knowing there will be tumor left behind.\n", "I am an oncologist. There are a couple points that are getting missed in these comments.\n\n\"Surgically inoperable/ unresectable\": All of the cancer cannot be removed with surgery. For many cancers, if the surgery cannot remove all of the tumor, it is better to not put the patient through it since there is no benefit if disease is left behind. This can be for several reason such as \n\na) The tumor cannot be safely removed- i.e. it is in a sensitive location like within the spinal cord, or so locally advanced that it involves major arteries etc. \n\nb) The cancer has already spread to other areas (metastasized). It has probably spread to more areas that are too small to see as well.\n\n\"Medically inoperable\": \nThe patient is not fit for surgery due to other health issues such as with their heart or lungs\n\nAdditionally, some cancers or stages of cancer are not treated with surgery, and \"getting the thing out\" isn't the treatment that gives the best outcomes. Cancer that isn't operated on doesn't always mean it is incurable\n\nEdit: Even when cancers are not curable, there can sometimes be a role for palliative surgery for instance to relieve obstruction or symptoms in specific cases", "So cancer if a funny old thing, people think that when we say \"we've found cancer\" they mean a big ol' lump of badness nestling neatly somewhere but the truth is often a lot scarier.\n\nSome cancers do start off at a defined place. For example bowel cancer starts off in the... bowel. This is the site of the \"primary\". But that bowel cancer may only have been picked up when it gets to the liver where it has metastasised too. On the way to the liver it's dropped off a lot of little baby cancers each wanting to grow into another tumour but each too small for a surgeon to take out.\n\nSo now we have a tumour in the liver, a tumour in your large bowel and whole lot of micro cancer between the two. Now we might be able to kill off the micro cancers with chemotherapy before surgery and then reassess but if you've still got a primary in your bowel, a large metastasis in your liver and possibly another metastasis in say your kidney the operation becomes so unfeesably large that the tumour is for all intents and purposes \"Inoperable\".\n\nAnother reason a tumour may be inoperable is due to it's location. Imagine you have a tumour neatly sitting next door to your brain stem, while a lot of it can be neatly sliced away - or debulked - to get it all would essentially mean severing the connection between brain and body - not a great idea!\n\nAnd some cancers don't have such a defined \"primary\" source, leukaemia for example isn't a nice neat lump of cells you can chop out, it;'s your bone marrow misfiring and the best treatment we have for that is to completely eradicate your bone marrow and donate someone else's to you.\n\nSo in summary cancer is not just a neat lump of stuff to cut out, it's a complex array of many diseases each with their own prognosis and treatment. " ] }
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5dqmd7
resting membrane potential. why it hyper/hypopolarizes?
I'm taking an A & P class where we are currently learning about resting membrane potentials and I am completely lost with a quiz on Tuesday... I am being asked to explain what happens when there are increases or decreases in extracellular potassium concentrations and the same for sodium concentrations, but I don't completely understand. What type of changes are caused? What are the effects of changing the amounts of K+ or Na+ and what is the reason why? Thank you to everyone for your time in reading and helping answer my questions.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dqmd7/eli5_resting_membrane_potential_why_it/
{ "a_id": [ "da6lz6u" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "The potassium and sodium ion concentrations are what cause the neuron to fire. Or actually they allow the action potential to propagate along the nerve.\n\nA nerve cell starts off polarized,meaning the outside of the membrane is positively charged and the inside is negatively charged. the outside contains excess sodium ions the inside excess potassium ions. For the action potential to propagate a stimulus reaches the neuron, which opens gated ion channels allowing sodium ions to rush in which start the depolarization of the neuron. At a certain point the depolarization becomes an unstoppable wave as the gated ion channels all along the neuron open and sodium rushes in. this is the threshold potential. The neuron is completely depolarized and the signal transmitted. \nAfter the cell is depolarized gated ion channels on the inside open and allow potassium ions to flow out. Restoring the polarization but now by a different ion balance. At a point more potassium ions are on the outside than sodium ions on the inside and the gated ion channels close.This causes the membrane potential to drop below resting potential and is said to be hyperpolarized. During the following refractory period ion pumps restore the original ion balance and the nerve cell can't transmit during this period." ] }
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29gyw8
How fast was the decline of civilisation in Europe (including Britain) after the fall of the Roman empire?
My childhood history books seem to suggest that there was almost an immediate reversal back to what civilisation (that may not be the right word) was like hundreds of years before the Romans, but I find that kind of hard to believe. Also a follow-up question: did civilisation revert back to being significantly better than pre-Romans, was it similiar, or was it worse?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/29gyw8/how_fast_was_the_decline_of_civilisation_in/
{ "a_id": [ "ciktbqu" ], "score": [ 11 ], "text": [ "This is a difficult question to answer, due to the size of the empire and how different regions reacted differently to the decline of Roman authority, but generally I would say that though decline was visible in the West, it was a gradual one. In the Eastern Mediterranean, not much has changed at all - Egypt was as prosperous as ever, fringe areas such as the Negev desert or the Limestone Massifs in Syria were still densely populated and cities continued to grow in size. In the East, the economy and the empire were as vigorous as ever. Even in the West, things weren't so grim. Vandal Africa for instance was still very productive and Chris Wickham has suggested that Roman taxation system didn't collapse there because they were reverting to a more 'barbarian' form of rule, it was because the Vandal elites were getting so rich from confiscated estates that they didn't need the Roman taxation system any more. \n\nThere is plenty of evidence that the West declined in material terms of course, with Bryan Ward-Perkins' book *The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization* being a very accessible overview of the archaeological evidence - tiled roofs, which were available to all Romans, even the poorest peasants, disappeared when Roman rule disappeared, and more generally, expensive and complex pottery became rarer and can only be found in a few ports in the Western Mediterranean, rather than widespread as before. Britain in particularly declined significantly, as it was a fringe province anyway - things such as patterned mosaics (a very Roman form of decoration) generally arrived a century after they reached Gaul, a much more Romanised province. When Roman authority disappeared, the integrated trade networks connecting cities and provinces faded away too, as there was no centralised bureaucracy overseeing the distribution of goods or friendly armies protecting the means of exchange. Instead, locals had to make do with local goods, with only the elite still capable of procuring luxury goods abroad. \n\nHowever, though there was a decline in material prosperity, there wasn't a collapse of civilisation. People liked the things they had, and even if there was no longer an emperor ruling over them, they wouldn't abandon the things they were used to. The 'barbarian' Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Vandals that took over the western provinces of the empire were all used to the Roman way of life, and they didn't want to lose all its advantages either. Above all, there was still a Roman Empire for them to look up to - the emperor in Constantinople was still an awe-inspiring figure and we have letters from Francia and Ostrogothic Italy all clamouring for titles and recognition from the East. Rome was very much alive after 476 and post-Roman warlords recognised that. They all made an effort to keep in place local elites, such as local senators and bishops, to secure their rule. These tribes were never the majority in any given province and they needed to placate the local Romanised population. In Italy for instance the Senate still met, the Romans manned the bureaucracy and education was kept at a high standard. The same was less true in Francia and Visigothic Spain, due to warfare and the less integrated economy they had, but the decline in Roman institutions was slow and generally unwanted, since Roman institutions and luxury goods were good things that leaders didn't want to destroy. \n\nLet me know if you have any more questions :)" ] }
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379ulx
do people in other countries have the same view of the moon that i do if we look at it at the same time?
I live in the United States, and right now the time is 21:18. I just went outside and I could see about half of the moon. For people that live in Western Europe, it is about 03:18 right now, so still pretty dark. If someone over there went outside right now, would they have the same view of the moon that I do? If my understanding is correct, clouds are covering the other half the moon right now. If someone from Western Europe were to go outside at the same time that I do, would they have the same view of the moon that I have, or would they possible see a full moon or even no moon at all?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/379ulx/eli5do_people_in_other_countries_have_the_same/
{ "a_id": [ "crkwloh" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Because the moon is tidally locked (the sun only shines on one side at any given time), only one side of the moon is illuminated. This is why we had to send spacecraft to the far side of the moon to see what it looked like.\n\nIn other countries, the moon may be in a different position in the sky due to its position on Earth, and because of the angle the moon may seem to look different, but the part of the moon you can SEE (as in the part that is bright) is the same. " ] }
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5jlyyy
why is it now 4k and 8k instead of 2160p and 4320p
[deleted]
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jlyyy/eli5_why_is_it_now_4k_and_8k_instead_of_2160p_and/
{ "a_id": [ "dbh6knt" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Well, for one thing, it's easier to say, and easier to remember. \n\nBut I believe the real reason is that using the horizontal pixel count a more consistent number to use over vertical, since number of vertical pixels changes according to the aspect ratio of a movie, e.g. 1.78:1, 1.85, 2.35:1, etc all have a different height in pixels. yet the same 4K of horizontal resolution. Indeed, this is what they use in digital theaters now; 2K, 4K, 8K. \n\n In the days of old, that didn't matter - everything was 4x3 or 16x9, and movie's original aspect ratios were an afterthought. But we've moved more and more towards home theaters and watching movies, it just makes sense to normalize the terminology with what they use in the cinema world.\n" ] }
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1r578q
What would have Mary called her son?
I am certain it wouldn't have been Jesus as it doesn't sound very middle-eastern. Was is some Hebrew name? What about the Arabic name "Isa" which the Arabs use to refer to Jesus. Where did that come from?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1r578q/what_would_have_mary_called_her_son/
{ "a_id": [ "cdjpbdl", "cdju015" ], "score": [ 9, 3 ], "text": [ "Jesus is his name as passed through a number of transitions through other languages. The original Hebrew or Aramaic name would be something like Yoshua.\n\nSome modern groups make a big deal of calling Jesus by his \"real\" name. Earlier centuries didn't worry about that though. It was common for names of biblical figures, foreign royalty, etc to be changed into a fitting form in your own language. Mary wouldn't be Mary either, but more like Maryam, with the \"a\" as in \"hard\". Medieval kings were known by many different names: Charles would also be Karl, Carlos, Karel... the view that there is exactly one version of a name that is the proper name is a rather modern idea.", "His name would be something like Yeshua, meaning \"Yahweh is salvation\" or \"Yahweh's salvation.\" Names with this meaning are pretty common in the Hebrew Bible. Joshua, Elisha, and Isaiah are all variants of it, using different prefixes or suffixes to refer to god's name. \n\nIsa may have come by way of the Greek form Iesous." ] }
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2kgrn8
why don't artists just release their entire album as singles to increase chart performance and song sales?
In the digital age of music, songs are a la carte anyway. I could buy a non-single without buying the full album. So why not release every song as a single? "Bad" and "Teenage Dream" released almost every single song as a single, and those two had some of the best chart performance in history. They dont need to make a new music video for each single or anything, either.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kgrn8/eli5_why_dont_artists_just_release_their_entire/
{ "a_id": [ "cll5iot" ], "score": [ 9 ], "text": [ "A lot of artists produce songs which are meant to be listened together and in sequence as they enhance and compliment one another. If they were sold individually and listened to individually they would sound a lot worse because the artist would have failed to create an atmosphere needed to enjoy some of their works.\n\nSomething that goes along with this is, people tend to ignore a lot of songs released by artists because they're not considered hits, they may not necessarily be bad, but as mentioned above they don't stand well on their own. " ] }
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3v13ed
what is the physiology behind being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3v13ed/eli5what_is_the_physiology_behind_being_gay/
{ "a_id": [ "cxjdpxz" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "We're not really clear on it yet. There's some studies that suggest that transgendered people have brains that are physically closer to that of the sex they identify as, and some theories about hormone differences while in utero altering brain chemistry, but there's no real concrete answers yet." ] }
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bevdr9
How were the craters on the side of the moon facing earth created?
How come there are craters on the side of moon facing us if the moon is in a synchronous orbit (tidal locking) in relation to earth. The moon is only one quarter the size of the earth and 252,088 (405,696km) at apogee (furthest distance) so any meteorites and asteroids must have really lucky shots at the right angle of approach to miss the earth but still hit the moon.
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/bevdr9/how_were_the_craters_on_the_side_of_the_moon/
{ "a_id": [ "elb0c3s" ], "score": [ 12 ], "text": [ "[Here are Earth and Moon, to scale](_URL_0_)\n\nDoes that answer the question?" ] }
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[ [ "https://i.imgur.com/fx9wKIH.png" ] ]
3zo2hg
what type of data is obtained from underground nuclear tests?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zo2hg/eli5_what_type_of_data_is_obtained_from/
{ "a_id": [ "cynttoa" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "The main purpose of a test is find out whether the device can be safely armed and successfully detonated. The tests are performed underground for environmental and safety purposes, but can make taking precise measurements difficult. \n\n\nIf buried at an adequate depth, yields can be roughly estimated based on the size of the melt crater.\n\nOther data includes shockwave propagation rates, measured using pulse reflection. This has been used in the past to identify and correct early shell ablation, among other timing issues.\n\nToxic byproducts and radiation are also a point of interest. \n\nThe timings and magnitude of seismic and air waves, along with radiation, can be used to pinpoint the source of slow reactions and incomplete yields " ] }
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12tx8j
How dense does air get in the compressor of a jet engine?
How dense does air get in the compression and propulsion stage of a jet engine? Is there a way to conceptualize how incredibly dense this is in simple terms?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/12tx8j/how_dense_does_air_get_in_the_compressor_of_a_jet/
{ "a_id": [ "c6yrhjk" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "For an isentropic (idealized) compressor, the density change is equal to the pressure change raised to the power of 1/gamma (1/1.4 for air). So a (high end) compressor ratio of 40:1 will give a density ratio of 14:1.\n\nAt sea level, you're looking at 1.2 kg/m^3 ambient density, so it'd be compressed to ~17 kg/m^3. Less than half that at cruising altitude.\n\nI wouldn't really characterize that as \"incredibly dense\". That's about 1 pound per cubic foot." ] }
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1vu3gq
Why did the Romans have so much trouble with the Germanic tribes?
Tacitus says "Neither Samnite nor Carthaginian, neither Spain nor Gaul, nor even the Parthians have taught us more lessons. The German fighting for liberty has been a keener enemy than the absolutism of Arsaces." What made the Germans so implacable?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1vu3gq/why_did_the_romans_have_so_much_trouble_with_the/
{ "a_id": [ "cevwgmr", "cew62fj" ], "score": [ 26, 2 ], "text": [ "I wouldn't say I'm an expert on the Germanic tribes, but having read fairly extensively on Caesar, Varus and Germanicus, I can give you some background.\n\nThe Romans actually did a pretty good job of whipping German butt. At the end of the first century BCE, Tiberius (soon to be emperor) and his legates had done a damn fine job extending Roman borders East of the Rhine and North of the Danube rivers. So much so, they declared the tribes there pacified. Tiberius peaced out to go and deal with an Illyran revolt and Varus, a former governor of Africa and Syria was appointed to watch over these lands with three legions (soon to be extremely infamous legions).\n\nEnter Arminius, a commander of auxiliary German forces during the roman subjugation, a roman citizen AND a Germanic Prince of the recently subdued Cherusi? tribe. He was a sneaky fucker. Playing off Varus' lust for political glory and his own ambition to unite the German tribes, Arminius convinced Varus to march north with his legions to proactively subdue a rebellion (which he was organising).\n\nVarus being impetuous and also extremely trusting of Arminius (they had been bros for ages), rallied his troops. The legions were the 17th, 18th and 19th and took off toward modern day Mainz to expand the borders further and expand Varus' political penis. \n\nWhat followed was the greatest ass kicking the Romans would receive since Cannae... The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.\n\nLed down a narrow trail, which according to Cassius Dio, had been ravaged by storms, the Romans were ambushed. Unable to properly form up and completely cut off from a retreat, the three legions were harassed and slaughtered all day and night as they made a cannonball run down the trail in a doomed attempt to punch free of the hell they found themselves in. I get chills thinking about how horrifying that experience would've been. Some estimates put the Roman losses at 6000 to 1, but these figures are highly disputed... though they do give you an idea of how utterly obliterated they were getting.\n\nThe 17th, 18th and 19th standards were lost. Rome was shamed. Apparently Augustus never lived it down and was often found mourning the lost up until the day he died.\n\n\"QUINTILIUS VARUS! GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!\" ... Awesome.\n\nIt ended Roman dominion in Germania and pretty much Roman expansion in general.\n\nGermanicus was tasked with retrieving the standards years later and did so, because Germanicus was one of the baddest motherfuckers to ever Don the purple. You don’t get renamed Germanicus Gaius Julius Caesar for eating grapes and having orgies.\n\nEssentially, to answer your question - the Romans didn't have a problem fighting the Germans, they were actually quite successful, having administered victorious campaigns both before and after Varus... But Varus' complete and total defeat at Teutoburg was so haunting, the Romans wanted nothing to do with the place. So much so the 17th, 18th and 19th legions were never risen again, instead those numbers were left to rot in the mud of the Black Forest forever, as a reminder to Rome of its shame. \n\nI also think we see the Germanic tribes as implacable because culturally, the Romans chose to remember them that way - as seen in your Tacitus quote\n\nEdit: I shot a lot of this from the hip from my mobile- can tidy it up tomorrow/others can call me on my bs.", "The first thing to be acknowledged (in regards to your quotation) is that Tacitus mention of a “fight for liberty” (duly opposed to the Persian despotism) is hardly a suitable explanation. There are two traditions in Roman historiography regarding the depiction of barbarian people: they can be either (and sometimes, both) (i) animalised or (ii) praised for their unsullied virtue. Tacitus, though he exhibits features of the first, is well-known for having used quite heavily the second process to criticise indirectly the Roman empire (a similar (and more radical) take-on the same theme can be found in an interesting work of the 5th century, *De gubernatione Dei,* by Salvian of Marseille). The consequence of this is that he tends to mix ethnographical considerations with moral (in its original sense) subtext.\n\nHowever, his opinion does have some historical ground. The Romans' relations with Germanic people began before the annexation of Gaul, and they were not exactly to the advantage of Rome. Most notably, several legions had been defeated by a massive migration coming from the North, which aggregated several Germanic tribes (the best-known of which are the Cimbri; it also included the Teutones, whose ethnic name has had a surprising fortune). The defeat of Arausio (Orange, in southern France) was particularly humiliating, and resulted in the death of several legions; sources (such as Livy, 67.1) point to a body count higher than in Cannæ. This first encounter arguably gave the Germans a durable aura, even though later engagements were to favour Roman troops (*e.g.* against Ariovistus: Iulius Caesar, *Commentarii de Bello…,* 1.50). A recension of victories and defeats is not the good way to think about these events; for the Romans, winning was the normal thing to do. A people that managed to crush Roman troops was a force to be reckoned with.\n\nIt is also true that individual Germans were considered to be worthy warriors. It is hard to know what to do of such an assertion; fierceness is a traditional feature of barbarian people in Roman representations, and the more barbarous you are, the best fighter you are (actually, there might be some truth in this idea) [1]. Germanic societies, before they came in contact with the Romans, were fragmented in several small tribes, which must have known a good deal of infighting, therefore guaranteeing a constant military training. It must also be underlined that a good part of the male population of a given tribe must have taken part in these fights; this is the reason why Germanic coalitions succeeded in fielding troops that matched the Roman Empire's, even though their lands were far less populated than, say, Italy or (the province of) Africa.\n\nA final element of importance is that tribal societies were much harder to control and conquer than “states.” The Roman troops had no problem in conquering the Hellenistic west: they only had to topple the local king (sometimes the ruler went as far as bequeathing his kingdom to Rome!) and to replace his bureaucrats by their own (often by recycling members of the former élite). On the other hand, if you vanquish a tribe (or even wipe it out), you still have to deal with numerous neighbours. Indirect control is also harder, because you have to deal with multiple actors. And even if you manage to exercise some kind of overlordship over the area, revolts are probable — much more than in societies where people are used to be submitted to distant powers (a good example for the Germans would be, in Tacitus, the account of the revolt of the Batavi, in 69 AD (*Annals*, 4.15 and sq. [2]).\n\n*Voilà* for the Republic and the early empire. The picture is different in later periods: Roman influence (in the guise of subsidies, army recruitment, trade) had contributed to a concentration of power in the Germanic world, and therefore to the apparition of larger confederations. There was still an outstanding military culture amongst the Germans, arguably more threatening than before, but the gradual evolution towards vast entities and the increasing levels of social stratification had changed the situation.\n\n[1] A striking illustration of this view: “the Belgae are the bravest, because they are furthest from the civilization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind.” (Iulius Caesar, *Commentarii de Bello…* 1.1)\n[2] Also famous for being the first account of someone being raised on a shield as a coronation rite." ] }
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7nyl36
How did mammoth hunting cultures harvest the meat?
Obviously a mammoth is a little too big to just pop on your shoulders and carry back to the village, were the tribes mostly nomadic and just set up camp around the kill or did they have some system in place for transporting the carcass for butchering?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7nyl36/how_did_mammoth_hunting_cultures_harvest_the_meat/
{ "a_id": [ "ds5qfot" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "you should also try to ask this over at r/askanthropology but the current thinking is that the mammoth would be butchered where it fell. Bison (*Bison bison*), were much smaller and they tended to be butchered where they fell as well. There is a paper where they experimented by butchering a dead zoo elephant but I don't have my memory stick with me at the moment so I can't give you a reference, will try add it later" ] }
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1ihefr
Do electrons really 'relolve' around the nucleus?
If an electron exists as an electron cloud, how can it 'revolve' around the nucleus? For example, let's say it is in the p-subshell. The subshell is dumbell shaped. The electron cannot really go in a circular orbit. Does the whole subshell 'rotate' to allow the electrons to revolve? Or do they not revolve at all? If so, why do we say that they have some angular momentum? edit: Subshell, not sushell. Darn, I even misspelled the title
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1ihefr/do_electrons_really_relolve_around_the_nucleus/
{ "a_id": [ "cb4gj3w" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ " > If an electron exists as an electron cloud, how can it 'revolve' around the nucleus?\n\nYou've just realized one of the gaping holes in the Bohr model.\n\n > Or do they not revolve at all?\n\nNot really. They just have certain probability distributions that describe where they're most likely to be.\n\n > If so, why do we say that they have some angular momentum? \n\nBecause they have certain numbers that act like normal angular momentum mathematically." ] }
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12ckou
How were hurricanes tracked in the 17th and 18th centuries?
Unrelated to the current hurricane we're experiencing, I happened to be reading the Wiki article for the [1780 hurricane season](_URL_0_). I understand that there's no way that every storm would be detected. I'm most curious about how the meteorologists of the time followed the storms, especially over the ocean. The storms traveled faster than the ships of the era, so how could the storm tracks be determined? What kind of communication system was in place between ships and the shore to report these events? How did they know that a storm that hit two different ships a few days and a few hundred miles apart was the same storm, and not two separate storms that happened to be form close together?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/12ckou/how_were_hurricanes_tracked_in_the_17th_and_18th/
{ "a_id": [ "c6u470l", "c6u4xjm" ], "score": [ 5, 4 ], "text": [ "hurricanes were not 'tracked' in the 17th and 18th centuries. There was little understanding of cyclonic storms and no means of instantaneous communications. A track could be made well after the fact, but that was not 'tracking' in the sense we use the word today.\n", "Astrology attempted to predict hurricanes and other \"acts of God\" by setting horoscopes to determine the position of the planets and their influence on the earth below. Of course, they weren't very accurate, but they *were* trying." ] }
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[ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1780_Atlantic_hurricane_season" ]
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mtk9k
The question that my professors/teachers have never been able to answer. What's the lowest temperature a flame can have.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mtk9k/the_question_that_my_professorsteachers_have/
{ "a_id": [ "c33qsa7", "c33snqf", "c33sv7z", "c33qsa7", "c33snqf", "c33sv7z" ], "score": [ 17, 37, 2, 17, 37, 2 ], "text": [ "It depends on what's burning. If you want to get into real technical territory, it also depends on the atmospheric pressure and the partial pressure of oxygen in the air.", "You question is nearly impossible to answer because there really isn't a good formal definition of a flame or fire. It's more of an, \"I know it when I see it\" thing. There are plenty of chemical reactions that give off both heat and light that can occur at low temperatures. \n\nIf you managed to get a photoluminescent molecule like luminol into the gas phase and catalyzed it's oxidative decomposition, it would make something that you would probably call a flame, but it wouldn't be hot at all.", "I am interested in this, but all of the answers seem to be arguing semantics. So if I may I would like to restate the question. \n\nWhat is the reaction with the coldest flame at standard atmospheric temperature and pressure? If you have one that can only happen under extreme conditions I would love to hear about that as well. For definition of flame think would a 5 year old be convinced it is on fire.", "It depends on what's burning. If you want to get into real technical territory, it also depends on the atmospheric pressure and the partial pressure of oxygen in the air.", "You question is nearly impossible to answer because there really isn't a good formal definition of a flame or fire. It's more of an, \"I know it when I see it\" thing. There are plenty of chemical reactions that give off both heat and light that can occur at low temperatures. \n\nIf you managed to get a photoluminescent molecule like luminol into the gas phase and catalyzed it's oxidative decomposition, it would make something that you would probably call a flame, but it wouldn't be hot at all.", "I am interested in this, but all of the answers seem to be arguing semantics. So if I may I would like to restate the question. \n\nWhat is the reaction with the coldest flame at standard atmospheric temperature and pressure? If you have one that can only happen under extreme conditions I would love to hear about that as well. For definition of flame think would a 5 year old be convinced it is on fire." ] }
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f3j589
what happens after you burst a blood vessel? does the vessel itself reform or do you have a gap there forever?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f3j589/eli5_what_happens_after_you_burst_a_blood_vessel/
{ "a_id": [ "fhj4bhy" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "It's called a bruise. The blood leaks out under your skin and makes a spill. The body patches up the vessel, or seals it off if it's too damaged. Then it cleans up the mess, that's why the bruise turns colors as the crashed blood cells get cleaned up, like after a highway crash. Then you are fine. Other nearby vessels expand and/or new ones grow to ge4t the traffic flow back to normal." ] }
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jrl87
Do any non-human animals "remember" things in a way like humans, or only through conditioning? Can an animal "remember" another animal that harmed it? Can an animal plot revenge?
It seems that conditioning (non-innate behavior?) can happen for many (if not most?) animals, but humans can become angry, violent, spiteful, and plot revenge based on specific memory of events and based on abstract ideas. Do any other animals have anything approaching this capacity? (Or, how do you distinguish between conditioning and memory?)
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/jrl87/do_any_nonhuman_animals_remember_things_in_a_way/
{ "a_id": [ "c2eju1z", "c2ek69h", "c2en6nx", "c2eju1z", "c2ek69h", "c2en6nx" ], "score": [ 10, 12, 2, 10, 12, 2 ], "text": [ "Elephants can and do remember poaches years later and kill them. They will also stop at spots where elephants died. Their memory is very very good", "Crows remember shit for years. [here](_URL_0_)\n\nAnother example is a silverback that, through sign language, described his mother being killed by poachers. He was full grown. [here](_URL_1_)\n\n...now if only my dachshund would remember us saving her when she was a pup next time she has the urge to leave us a \"treat\" on the floor...\n", "Apparently Moby Dick is based, slightly, on a real story -- there was a whaling vessel that was rammed, seemingly at random, by a sperm whale until it split in two, forcing the crew to abandon ship. The survivors said that they saw harpoon scars on its head, characteristic of whales that had survived previous attempts to kill it before. ", "Elephants can and do remember poaches years later and kill them. They will also stop at spots where elephants died. Their memory is very very good", "Crows remember shit for years. [here](_URL_0_)\n\nAnother example is a silverback that, through sign language, described his mother being killed by poachers. He was full grown. [here](_URL_1_)\n\n...now if only my dachshund would remember us saving her when she was a pup next time she has the urge to leave us a \"treat\" on the floor...\n", "Apparently Moby Dick is based, slightly, on a real story -- there was a whaling vessel that was rammed, seemingly at random, by a sperm whale until it split in two, forcing the crew to abandon ship. The survivors said that they saw harpoon scars on its head, characteristic of whales that had survived previous attempts to kill it before. " ] }
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[ [], [ "http://news.discovery.com/animals/angry-crows-memory-life-threatening-behavior-110628.html", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_\\(gorilla\\)" ], [], [], [ "http://news.discovery.com/animals/angry-crows-memory-life-threatening-behavior-110628.html", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_\\(gorilla\\)" ], [] ]
34jj7k
How much radiation does a single banana give off? How many bananas would it take to kill someone and how long would that process take?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/34jj7k/how_much_radiation_does_a_single_banana_give_off/
{ "a_id": [ "cqwae1k", "cqwnq9d" ], "score": [ 6, 4 ], "text": [ "You basically couldn't kill someone by just piling bananas around them. The amount of radiation you need to get someone to kick the bucket is on the order of 2-5 Gy (joules per kg). Even using natural K metal (with a small % of K40), being surrounded by an infinite sphere wouldn't even come near a harmful dose. You'd need to separate out the K-40, then pile it around/in someone. I suspect you'd need on the order of a couple of Ci (1Ci = 3.7E10 Bq) to cause harm, which would require you refine ~10^6 - 10^7 kg of natural potassium. TL;DR: Ain't happening", "Ahh yes, Banana Equivalent Dose. My professor gave me a hard time when I joked about this one one day. Now look at it making a practical comeback. \n\nIf you consider that 1 BED is typically taken as 0.1 microsieverts, that means eating 10 bananas will get you to 1 microsievert. If the maximum allowed radiation exposure for astronauts over the course of their career is 1 sievert, then an astronaut would be grounded after eating 10 million bananas. Recall that semi-lethal/lethal radiation dose is considered to be absorbed all at once. I don't think even John Glenn could pull that one off.\n\nRadiation doses of anywhere from 1-6 Sieverts and beyond will cause acute radiation sickness and likely death, with certain death despite intervention at 8 Sv. For bananas, this would be 10-80million bananas, although I have a feeling you would die of an impacted bowel long before the rad sickness would ever set in!" ] }
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5rd8i0
how is youtube a sustainable business model? if view count remains constant but video storage costs continue to increase, wouldn't this lead to a permanent loss?
Let's assume that in 2020, YouTube maintains a daily view count of 500 million per day. However, they also keep old videos on the site that aren't generating views. Don't these "dead videos" eventually accumulate and overcome the profit margins with cost of storage?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5rd8i0/eli5_how_is_youtube_a_sustainable_business_model/
{ "a_id": [ "dd6cep0", "dd6d2sp", "dd6qugx" ], "score": [ 17, 6, 2 ], "text": [ "Storage costs are going down exponentially.\n\nEvery year the cost of storing 1 GB of data is half what it was the previous year.\n\nYouTube loses money every time someone uploads a long video that nobody watches, but it doesn't matter because they make insanely high profits off of the top 1% of the most popular videos.\n\nAs long as YouTube is a good place for popular videos, the business model is sustainable.\n\nIf it turned into an unpopular site where people just uploaded their personal videos but nothing popular or viral ever went there, it'd lose money.\n", "As of the last time Google released any financial info about YouTube (early 2015) was that it was not a profitable business unit to operate.\n\nHowever, since then, most analysts are thinking Youtube is now profitable due to them selling way, way more ads than in previous years. Google has really taken a strong effort to get advertisers on Youtube, and the latest analysis thinks they will likely be profitable during 2017.\n\nHowever, in completeness, even if it was a money loser, Google would continue to operate it, as it provides benefits to google's other services. They (like many businesses) are willing to take losses in their left pocket to reap bigger profits in their right pocket", "Eventually, maybe.\n\nThis can't be done eli5, can barely be done eliCollegeGraduate, but I'll try.\n\nThere are the fixed costs per video. Since Alphabet buys storage in such massive bulk they pay quite a bit less than you and I. They don't exactly like to tell people. So I'll use BackBlaze numbers and assume a reason profit margin to discount it. BackBlaze charges $0.005 per GB per month for storage, so I'll assume amortized over its lifetime we can assume for this Google is paying $0.003 per GB per month. Knowing their compression this is roughly an hour of stored video. \n\nImportantly the number is dropping. Costs per GB should roughly halve this year.\n\nYouTube of course has a lot of uploads, but YouTube is less than doubling each year. \n\nThe result is that in a year YouTube storage will actually cost less than today.\n\nThis is not permanently supportable, but should be sustained for 5+ years.\n\nComing soon we also have the shift in YouTube from VP9 to NetVC, this will reduce storage and bandwidth by as much as 25%. Making the storage cost even less. This will likely extend the storage cost reduction versus today to 8-9 years. After that they will probably have to purge some losing content, we probably won't even notice.\n\nThe bandwidth works much the same way. Alphabet buys so much bandwidth that they get it really cheap. They are paying less than $0.01 per GB streamed, I put their costs at roughly $0.003 per GB bandwidth.\n\nNow we have their costs what are their revenues? And how will they grow or shrink?\n\nToday YouTube ad rates come to $0.021 per viewed hour. 55% of this goes to content owners. This gives them $0.0095 per viewed hour to work with.\n\nYouTube stated they streamed 3250000000 hours per month in 2016, about $30 million a month after paying content owners.\n\nThe number of hours streamed likely won't increase by much, YouTube has reached saturation. However we can expect that ad pricing will keep up with inflation. At the same time we are seeing a rise in ad blockers with an expected growth of about 10% this year, but decreasing later. In 2019/2020 the growth of ad blockers will probably fall below inflation, meaning the revenue number will rise.\n\nSo what does this mean for YouTube revenue and YouTube profit?\n\n2016 YouTube probably turned a profit of roughly $130-150 million.\n\n2017 profits should be $120-130 million.\n\n2018 $110-120 million\n\n2019 $115-130 million\n\n2020 $120-150 million\n\nAt a certain point in the future if they do nothing it will flip upside down (2025ish) but minimal changes can keep it going to 2050 fairly easily.\n\nOf greater concern for me is the changes in pay to content owners. YouTube already pays among the lowest in the industry, and the next 2+ years will likely see the numbers drop even lower, after counting inflation it is possible that we will never see real pay per viewer hour rise on YouTube." ] }
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3yon7h
does *absolutely everyone* on the sidelines of an nfl game have a reason to be there?
I understand there's a lot of people for checking on penalties and camera and audio stuff, but it seems like too many for just those. Looks like a lot of guys just standing around.. ..
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yon7h/eli5_does_absolutely_everyone_on_the_sidelines_of/
{ "a_id": [ "cyf7z0m", "cyf8kw4", "cyf9dhs", "cyfcxey" ], "score": [ 2, 5, 3, 3 ], "text": [ "coaches (several), trainers, injured players in street cloths, water/towel boys, media (sound, cameras, on screen personality). police, cheer squad, security.\n \nIt seems the NFL does not have significantly more people than a popular H.S. game. \n\nSo I say essentially yes all the people have a reason.", "No. Some people including some family members and celebrities are occasionally allowed on the sidelines. Most of the people there are necessary though. ", "Most people serve a function, but teams can invite a few people to watch the game from the sidelines, it is considered a rare privilege.\n\n", "Absolutely not.\n\nFor instance, sometimes family members are allowed on the sideline that don't have a job (i.e. aren't a ball boy or waterboy). Sometimes the owner of the team is on the sidelines and once the game starts the owner serves absolutely no function (the owner manages all of the off the field stuff so it serves no function to have them on the sideline). Similarly, a general manager might work their way down onto the field and they serve no purpose once the game has started. Sometimes teams will invite military personnel to join the team on the sideline as a show of support for the armed forces (they obviously don't serve a function in terms of the game). \n\nThat's four types of people that don't really have a reason to be there and could be in the stands without it having any impact on the game. Without that said, 99% of the people do have a reason to be there and removing them would affect the team, game, or NFL itself but it's definitely not 100%" ] }
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69v43i
facebook scams. what do the accomplish by getting you to share a post?
ELI5: Caveat: I only started using Facebook on a regular basis about a year ago, and I use it primarily to steal memes. I've seen a few varieties of these posts: "comment where you're from so I can see how far this has made it." "Please rate 1-10." And the ubiquitous "like, share, comment 'amen.'" Is it just a vanity thing seeing notifications, or is there something more nefarious going on?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69v43i/eli5_facebook_scams_what_do_the_accomplish_by/
{ "a_id": [ "dh9lmeh" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "They are often designed to build up likes and followers then the owners of the page (usually located in a developing country not always though) will sell the page to scammers who can reach a giant audience (iPhone giveaways porn spam snake-oil weight loss solutions etc)" ] }
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opcav
how do web browsers work?
.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/opcav/eli5_how_do_web_browsers_work/
{ "a_id": [ "c3j0660" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "When you request _URL_0_, the server sends back a bunch of textual data. Plain text is boring to look at, so a simple markup language was created named html. The browsers job is to parse through the html and display it nicely. Some browsers display things differently than others (that's why many people hate internet explorer).\n\nRequesting for a page can be very resource intensive on the browser (intensive in a very relative term). Most sites share similar layouts, so each request may be 95% of the same data (things like the header, footer). It doesn't make sense to request almost the same thing, so caching was invented. A browser stores commonly requested things locally on your computer. Caching improves the time for pages to load, since most of it is stored locally.\n\nOffline browsing uses the cache to save complete pages. If all the content is saved onto your computer, then you don't need a connection to view it. Thus, offline viewing. Offline viewing is only practical for pages which have content that never changes. If the page depends on any user submission, then obviously it won't work.\n\nA session is an exchange of information between the browser and the web application. They use 'cookies' to keep this information sorted. Cookies are nothing more than simple text files that your browser manages. Sessions and cookies are used alot in the internet, but for the average five year old, they keep you logged in for a specific time on a site. Cookies are the reason why you stay logged into Facebook on your computer. The cookie is stored only on your computer. \n\nAs for security, browsers don't do much. They can recognise certificates a site must have in order to be 'secure' (Called an SSL certificate). They can also recognize an invalid one too. They aren't smart enough to do much else though, that is left up to the user.\n\nI hope this helps!" ] }
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3rs1vu
When the United States annexed the former territory of Mexico (California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas), why were the Spanish names of cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco retained?
I have always wondered what the reason was that the United States retained the Spanish names of the former Mexican territory of the Southwest. Could they have kept the names for the "romance" of living in a city or town with a Spanish name? Or could the names have been kept since there was a significant population of people with Spanish descent living in the southwest.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3rs1vu/when_the_united_states_annexed_the_former/
{ "a_id": [ "cwr1ind" ], "score": [ 36 ], "text": [ "generally speaking, pre-existing towns or settlements weren't renamed, and san francisco is the exception. [according to the 1847 ordinance changing the name of the town,](_URL_0_) \"yerba buena\" was renamed \"san francisco\" to prevent confusion. [look, for instance, at this 1839 American map of the US and Mexico-- the settlement of yerba buena is mislabeled as \"st. francisco,\"](_URL_4_) but the other dots on the map of california generally correlate with their modern names. [see also this 1846 map,](_URL_1_) where most settlements (except for modern sacramento) have recognizable names-- and the settlement on san francisco bay is called \"san francisco\" by the cartographers rather than its proper name of \"yerba buena.\"\n\nthere was no wholesale renaming. don't forget that a sizeable number of mexicans living in california flipped over to the american government during the mexican war. i'll turn it over to a previous post i made, detailing the chaotic conditions in mexico that led to californios going over to the american side:\n\n[Copy-pasted from a previous reply](_URL_2_):\n > [in addition to the internal warfare over control over the government, major portions of the country tried to secede.](_URL_3_) while the republic of the rio grande and the republic of yucatan never really got off the ground, texas managed to successfully beat back the mexican army and gained its independence in 1836.\n\n > california was not excluded from this political turmoil, and several mexican governors ended up getting being violently removed-- california governors micheltorena, gutierrez and victoria were all deposed by violent revolt. mexico was doing so badly at the time that multiple former mexican governors of california actually were in favor of being annexed by foreign powers. the relative stability brought by the americans was welcomed by a significant portion of californio society, including mariano vallejo, the richest man in california. many of the rest, like former mexican governors andres pico and pio pico, ended up staying on after the switch to american control and remaining prominent citizens. (andres pico, for instance, was elected to the california legislature and served in the state militia after the americans took over.) \n\ngiven this chaos, and the defection of large numbers of the californio elite, it's not surprising that the names stayed in place. i have a handy table of the spanish, english, and modern names of the places marked, too, from north to south.\n\nSpanish name | English name (1846 map) | Modern city\n---|---|----\nNueva Helvetia | New Helvetia | Overtaken by the adjacent City of Sacramento in the 1800s\nYerba Buena | San Francisco | San Francisco\nMisión Santa Clara de Asís | Santa Clara | Santa Clara\nPueblo San José de Guadalupe | San Jose | San Jose\nMonterey | Monterey | Monterey\nMisión San Miguel Arcángel | San Miguel | San Miguel\nMisión San Luis Obispo de Tolosa | San Luis Obispo | San Luis Obispo\nMisión La Purísima Concepción | La Purissima | Lompoc (named after the local ranch rather than the mission)\nMisión Santa Bárbara | Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara\nMisión San Buenaventura | San Buenaventura | Ventura (but the official name is still San Buenaventura)\nMisión San Fernando Rey de España | San Fernando | Mission Hills (neighborhood of Los Angeles); the City of San Fernando is less than a mile away\nPueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula | Pueblo de los Angelos | Los Angeles\nMisión San Juan Capistrano | San Juan | San Juan Capistrano\nMisión San Luis Rey de Francia | San Luis | Oceanside (mission seized by the U.S. Army until 1865 and fell into disuse)\nMisión San Diego de Alcalá | San Diego | San Diego" ] }
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[ [ "http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist/name.html", "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/1846_Mitchell's_Map_of_Texas_Oregon_and_California_-_Geographicus_-_TXORCA-mitchell-1846.jpg", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2xtspe/after_the_us_won_the_mexicanamerican_war_was/cp3ihiq", "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Mexico_states_evolution.gif", "http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/us_texas-1839-atlas-mitchell-school-04.jpg" ] ]
51b93m
Books on U.S.-Native American wars
I'm looking for books about U.S.-Native American wars. The subject was glossed over or never mentioned in the history classes I have taken in the past. I'm interested whether they cover only one war or battle or are comprehensive.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/51b93m/books_on_usnative_american_wars/
{ "a_id": [ "d7amsp3" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "I quite enjoyed: Jill Lepore, The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity (New York: Vintage Books, 1999).\n\nIt covers one of the earlier conflicts to take place and explores some of the different perspectives and sources on the conflict." ] }
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cbml3f
municipal fiber internet. is it funded by the government or is funded by taxes? or do you just pay for it like you would for any other service (i.e. comcast, xfinity, etc...)? how does a town go about getting it (that is if they are in a state that doesn't ban it)?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbml3f/eli5_municipal_fiber_internet_is_it_funded_by_the/
{ "a_id": [ "etgmo2d" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "As the name suggests Municipal Fiber Internet is provided by the municipality (local government). The organization and funding of this is up to the municipality as is the same for any municipal utility like water, sewage and roads. It is not uncommon for the local taxes to pay for some of it however most strive for the utility to become fully self funded. Quite often the municipality only offers financial security to the endevour which is enough to get loans that will be paid back by the subscribers over the lifetime of the infrastructure." ] }
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1s4hw5
why do salt water and fresh water bodies stay seperate
Also what is it called
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s4hw5/eli5_why_do_salt_water_and_fresh_water_bodies/
{ "a_id": [ "cdttn5t", "cdttnye" ], "score": [ 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Land for the most part. Lakes are fed by rainfall, and they occur most often in mountain valleys. Rain falls down the mountainsides making creeks and rivers that feed into the lake, and the water has no where else to go. When rivers feed into the ocean the fresh water mixes and eventually becomes salt water. This influx of fresh water is offset by evaporation, which becomes clouds, which rains to create the fresh water in the first place.", "They *do* mix, just *slowly* due to density. Think of it as a crowded mall with people in red and blue shirts. Blue is water, red is salt. If the red and blue shirts are all mingled and walk in random directions but tend to stay clustered and a wave of blue shirted people walk into them there's a very thin slow level at which the red shirted people mingle with the new blue shirted people. Likewise it'll take a while for the red shirted people deep in the back of original blue shirted people to exit the mingled state to evenly disburse across all blue shirted people. \n\nYou might ask then, why is all fresh water not salt water? We then have to add motion to this case. Fresh water, in most instances where it meets salt is in a state of motion. Back to the original analogy, lets say at the mall we have a constant stream of blue shirted people pushing into the pack of red and blue shirted people. The rest a unlikely to penetrate deeply into the oncoming blue shirted people as new blue shirted people will always push them back into the pack." ] }
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74c6hv
Im interested in theory of pre-historic advanced civilizations is there any reading material that you could recommend?
I know its not a commonly accepted theory im just asking to satisfy my curiosity. If this is not an acceptable post I understand if it is removed. Thanks in advance
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/74c6hv/im_interested_in_theory_of_prehistoric_advanced/
{ "a_id": [ "dnxjcpr" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Hey there!\n\nYou're right that it's not a commonly accepted theory, and for good reason. There's no evidence. Most arguments for it are based on \"We don't know anything about this era.. So it could be?\" This mentality hardly lends itself to any kind of scholarly research, which is based on making conclusions from observations. While I can recommend some good books in why the \"lost ancient super-civ\" trope is so prevalent in the West, or on what excavations reveal about the earth during the era of these hypothetical civs, if you would like, but I have never seen a book with anything resembling a scientific approach that takes ancient advanced civs seriously." ] }
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6fqv6a
how powerful does a nuclear warhead have to be to destroy our planet?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6fqv6a/eli5_how_powerful_does_a_nuclear_warhead_have_to/
{ "a_id": [ "dikai7w", "dikan9o", "dikd7x9", "dikdnyt" ], "score": [ 4, 2, 5, 6 ], "text": [ "What do you mean by destroy the planet. If you mean death star type explosion with no planet left you would need a bomb around 100 Zettatons of tnt which is around a quadrillion times as big as the most powerful bomb ever made.", "You have to be more specific. It takes a lot more to disintegrate the planet into little chunks than to kill all humans within 100 years.", "[This](_URL_1_) and [this](_URL_0_) give me a ballpark figure of:\n\n50 & #8239;000 & #8239;000 & #8239;000 & #8239;000 & #8239;000 & #8239;Mt\n\nCompare this to the biggest bomb yet detonated by man at:\n\n57 & #8239;Mt\n\nNote how one of these numbers is substantially larger than the other.", "Planets are pretty big thing and pretty hard to destroy.\n\nEven if you somehow managed to shatter a planet to pieces the pieces would just be drawn back to each other to reform a planet unless you pushed the pieces very, very hard away from each other.\n\nThere is a theory that Earth was impacted by a very large and fast object very early in its development and that the impact was energetic enough to push out a massive amount of molten rock and debris that eventually formed our moon.\n\nThat was literally an earth shattering kaboom and the planet still was only changed but not destroyed in the process.\n\nWikipedia says that the largest nuclear explosion ever was when the Russian tested their Tsar bomb. It was theoretical a 100 megaton bomb but they tested it at 50 mt which works out to be about 2.1×10^17 J.\n\nWikipedia also gives the energy released by the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs (except birds) as 5×10^23 J. This means that impact was about 2 million times stronger than the strongest atomic bomb and while it certainly ruined the day for everyone a round at the time it didn't destroy the earth or kill all our ancestors (little furry things that they were).\n\nWikipedia also gives a value for the gravitational binding energy of Earth (which I assume would be needed to overcome to blast the planet apart) as 2×10^32 J. This would be 10^15 (a quadrillion) times higher than the largest nuclear explosion ever.\n\nYou can't really imagine a quadrillion times of anything with a human brain, but it is a lot. We can't scale up nuclear bombs that big.\n\nSo the Earth is safe from being blown apart by man made nuclear explosion.\n\nThat is good.\n\nAs the above value for the dinosaur killing impact shows we are probably also safe from completely destroying our own ecosphere on top of the planet. It is much more fragile than the planet itself, but it has survived explosions a million times bigger than anything we ever made and came out fine eventually.\n\nSo we won't kill the planet or life on earth.\n\nHumanity is even more fragile than life on earth. The giant impact above killed of all land species bigger than a medium sized dog. That sort of thing would have a good chance of killing of humanity.\n\nEven more fragile is human civilization. You don't need to kill of all humans with the explosion just make it big enough that the survivors will be bombed back into a stone age. That would be still too much for s ingle full yield tsar bomb, but the nuclear powers of the world have enough bombs to be able to confidently cause a collapse of human civilization, with a small but non-zero chance of total human extinction.\n\nThe earth will be fine. We won't." ] }
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[ [], [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TNT_equivalent", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_binding_energy" ], [] ]
3ue2lq
In the Americas, why are Spanish-speaking countries so small and numerous, but there are two enormous English-speaking countries?
[deleted]
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3ue2lq/in_the_americas_why_are_spanishspeaking_countries/
{ "a_id": [ "cxelbw0" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "After Simon Bolivar drove out the Spanish in South America, he was briefly president of much of Spanish-speaking South America. His vision was for it to be a united country. Other political factions felt differently.\n\nFurther north, Mexico and Central America were briefly united after independence -- they were all administered as part of New Spain by the Spanish. Then, modern-day Central America was united as one country for a bit before breaking up into different countries like it is today.\n\nThe reasons were different from place to place, but generally speaking, despite having the same language and some cultural similarities, there were too many different political factions, different local leaders who wanted power and not enough of a sense of national unity for these big federations to be workable in the long run." ] }
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bzict9
why are eggs almost universally sold in packs of 12? what made farmers agree to sell this way?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bzict9/eli5_why_are_eggs_almost_universally_sold_in/
{ "a_id": [ "eqsmh0e", "eqsnom6", "eqsoq19" ], "score": [ 11, 10, 4 ], "text": [ "TLDR; Convenience, 1 shilling = 12 pennies, 1 egg = 1 penny. No need to make change.\n\nUnder a system that came to be known as English units, which was a combination of old Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of measurement, eggs were sold by the dozen. It made sense to sell them that way because one egg could be sold for a penny or 12 for a shilling, which was equal to 12 pennies. That system held sway in the American colonies and persisted after the revolution, becoming part of the system known as U.S. customary units. Such units are used for consumer products and in industrial manufacturing.\n\nThe British have moved on, adopting a wholly new system of weights and measurements in 1824. But they still mostly sell eggs by the dozen.\n\nThus, in the United States, a vast majority of eggs are sold by the dozen, half-dozen and other multiples of 12. But in India and parts of Africa, it isn’t unusual to buy eggs by the piece, and in some countries they may be sold by 10s or 8s. ", "12 is a really convenient quantity to sell items in, especially when you'll likely be dividing that 12 into smaller numbers (e.g. a 3-egg omelet.) This is because 12 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and itself, which is unique for how small of a number it is.\n\nIn fact, there are even people who think we should transition to a base-12 numbering system for this reason.", "What else would they do with that extra space in the cardboard egg containers?" ] }
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28wxyj
What's the advantage of having a long lifespan?
Creatures with short life spans such as bacteria or fruit flies can adapt to their environment faster, due to more generations in a given time period. So why have creatures (like humans and whales) evolved to have relatively long lifespans? Seeing as it takes much longer to be able to adapt to environmental changes.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/28wxyj/whats_the_advantage_of_having_a_long_lifespan/
{ "a_id": [ "cifbr24" ], "score": [ 8 ], "text": [ "Human bodies, especially our brains, take a very long time to develop. We \"traded off\" our speed of evolution in order to get a more complex body/mind.\n\nPart of the reason that huge plants/animals have the longest life spans is so that they don't need as fast of a metabolism to grow to full size. A 1000-kg animal with a 1-year life cycle would have to eat several tons of food in a few months to become an adult. However, a 1000-kg animal with a 50-year life cycle only needs to eat enough food to maintain its current weight, plus a little bit extra for growth." ] }
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musm3
Are animals aware of their own shadows and the shadows of other animals and objects?
Title says it all pretty much, how much awareness do animals show to shadows and have there been any tests on the subject. Thank you!
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/musm3/are_animals_aware_of_their_own_shadows_and_the/
{ "a_id": [ "c3404v4", "c340b94", "c3404v4", "c340b94" ], "score": [ 5, 2, 5, 2 ], "text": [ "I think the best comparison would be to a mirror. It answers the same basic question but is more explicit. Most animals cannot recognize themselves in a mirror although there are a few exceptions, mostly birds and primates.\n\nAbout half of all magpies, for example, are able to recognize themselves in the mirror. Interestingly enough, they also seem to know what they should look like and when something is different such as a yellow sticker placed on their feathers.\n", "There is a heron that uses its own shadow to hunt fish. They hold their wings in a circle around their head and fish are attracted to the dark shelter. Then they nail them with their beaks. It looks like [this](_URL_0_).", "I think the best comparison would be to a mirror. It answers the same basic question but is more explicit. Most animals cannot recognize themselves in a mirror although there are a few exceptions, mostly birds and primates.\n\nAbout half of all magpies, for example, are able to recognize themselves in the mirror. Interestingly enough, they also seem to know what they should look like and when something is different such as a yellow sticker placed on their feathers.\n", "There is a heron that uses its own shadow to hunt fish. They hold their wings in a circle around their head and fish are attracted to the dark shelter. Then they nail them with their beaks. It looks like [this](_URL_0_)." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.pbase.com/ttorbert/image/83706931" ], [], [ "http://www.pbase.com/ttorbert/image/83706931" ] ]
rk1f3
Other than living in a simulation, what other possible implications does this have?
This is an edited audio clip between Neil Degrasse Tyson and Professor Gates. (Couldn't find another source for the audio.) Gates speaks about nascent research regarding the discovery of "computer codes" hidden within superstring equations. [**Youtube Link**](_URL_1_) Can someone explain to me what this actually means? I can parrot the words and draw layman conclusions, i.e. we're in the matrix, but believe I may be missing something. Here is the link to the paper. [**Paper**](_URL_0_) Thoughts?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/rk1f3/other_than_living_in_a_simulation_what_other/
{ "a_id": [ "c46g085", "c46n8pr", "c46psbw", "c46th0x" ], "score": [ 3, 3, 5, 5 ], "text": [ "It sounds like nonsense (edit: opinion revised below, the way the video presents things seems overexaggerated in its implications, but the mathematical similarity seems legitimate), though it's impossible to know what the actual facts are from a short question and answer session, especially given the extremely complicated physical nature of the subject.\n\nThe best I can get from it is that this guy has interpreted things in nature as binary strings and that either:\n\n* He's found that they exactly match some specific computer code, which is probably just coincidence driven by the way there's a *lot* of compute code out there and a *lot* of physics to make random interpretations of until it matches.\n\n* He's found that they look in general like computer code, which doesn't really mean anything.", "Commenting to watch video later after work. I have heard physicists say that creating a universe in a lab would be plausible and that there are people researching this. What would it look like if you were inside the universe created in a lab? What signs would you look for to distinguish synthetic universes vs natural ones? Is there such a thing? This topic is fascinating.", "He published an article about this in *Physics World*, 2010:\n\n[Symbols of Power: Adinkras and the Nature of Reality](_URL_0_)", "This is the source: [2011 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: The Theory of Everything ](_URL_9_)\n\nI have to some degree studied the virtual reality model, and written on the subject in a school setting, so I am very familiar with the whole field. The field of digital physics (few know it even exists) is slowly gaining traction, it seems that scientists from all fields are approaching the same conclusion without actually realizing the broader implications. \n\nDid any of you know that a model based on a reality being a computer simulation and a virtual reality, actual explains more anomalies than the current 'physical' paradigm? It is simply a better model for reality. \n\nThe following material delves into this:\n\nThe basics:\n[Digital physics](_URL_3_) ,\n[Digital philosophy](_URL_10_) ,\n[Simulated reality](_URL_8_)\n\nNon-basic:\n\nBy [Brian Whitworth](_URL_4_):\n[Exploring the virtual reality conjecture](_URL_0_), which is an essay.\n[The emergence of the physical world from information processing](_URL_5_), which is his first paper in a series.. a very good read.\n\n[Nick Bostrom](_URL_6_) presents [\"The Simlation Argument\"](_URL_1_), which show that by logic and probability, it is very likely we live in a computer simulation.\n\nAnd finally, the one who ties everything together in a logical and coherent theory and model, is [Thomas Campbell](_URL_2_), a physicist. He makes an overarching Theory of Everything in his [\"My Big TOE\"](_URL_7_) trilogy. It explains and unifies physics, metaphysics and philosophy. I recommend watching one of his presentations on Youtube. It's based on science, and it's very inspiring. His theory and model is potentially the next paradigm in science, so I advice good open-minded scepticism. \n\nI hope will be useful for some curious minds!" ] }
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[ "http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.0051", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=q1LCVknKUJ4#t=39s" ]
[ [], [], [ "http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/codes-for-reality/gates-symbolsofpower.shtml" ], [ "http://www.fqxi.org/data/essay-contest-files/Whitworth_FQXiWhitworthEssa_1.pdf", "http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html", "http://www.youtube.com/user/twcjr44", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics", "http://brianwhitworth.com/", "http://www.quantumbiosystems.org/admin/files/QBS2%281%29%20221-249.pdf", "http://www.simulation-argument.com/", "http://www.books.google.com/books?id=6To0902iZeYC", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lYeN66CSQhg#t=3623s", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_philosophy" ] ]
20ydad
What role did Persia and Persians play in Greek mythology?
I assume the arch-nemesis of the Greeks are addressed in some way in Greek mythology. Any Greek myths that relate to Persia or Persians directly? To be clear, I'm curious about Persia's/Persians place in Greek mythology rather than just "through Zeus' help the brave Greeks crushed their enemies the Persians" mentions in myths.
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/20ydad/what_role_did_persia_and_persians_play_in_greek/
{ "a_id": [ "cg7w0gu", "cg81mlp", "cg85axa", "cg8iel7" ], "score": [ 3, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "There are no Greek Myths relating to the Persians or Persia directly. ", "I'm not aware of any specific myths involving the Persians but there are several involving the near east: Medea was an easterner, Troy was in modern turkey & hercules' travels took him through the middle east and India. \n\nAlso Herodotus' attempt to explain the origin of the Persian wars by drawing it back to the trojan wars. He was trying to show that the east v West conflict had ancient somewhat mythical origin.", "I'm not sure your characterisation of the Persians as 'arch-nemesis of the Greeks' is accurate.", "The replies so far are inaccurate. In fact, Herodotus (VII. 61) gives an etymology for the name of the Persians:\n\n > When Perseus son of Danae and Zeus had come to Cepheus son of Belus and married his daughter Andromeda, a son was born to him whom he called Perses, and he left him there; for Cepheus had no male offspring; it was from this Perses that the Persians took their name.\n\nPerseus is, of course, the hero of Greek mythology who famously killed the gorgon, Medusa, among many other things. Nothing else, however, is known about Perses. Later in Herodotus' narrative (VII. 150), the Persian king Xerxes I sent a herald to the Greek *polis* of Argos, the mythological birthplace of Perseus. The herald said: \n\n > Men of Argos, this is the message to you from King Xerxes. Perses our forefather had, as we believe, Perseus son of Danae for his father, and Andromeda daughter of Cepheus for his mother; if that is so, then we are descended from your nation. In all right and reason we should therefore neither march against the land of our forefathers, nor should you become our enemies by aiding others or do anything but abide by yourselves in peace. If all goes as I desire, I will hold none in higher esteem than you.\n\nSo, according to Herodotus, the Persians are descended from Perseus, and the Persian king himself used this myth in an attempt to win over a Greek city during the Persian Wars.\n\nNow, Herodotus is not a mythographer, and his *Histories* do not contain every Greek myth that existed. But these instances do show at least one myth that circulated in 5th century Greece concerning the Persians. Moreover, the philosopher Plato backs up Herodotus' statements. In *Alcibiades* I. 120e, Socrates says to Alcibiades:\n\n > Then let us consider, by comparing our lot with theirs, whether the Spartan and Persian kings appear to be of inferior birth. Do we not know that the former are descendants of Hercules and the latter of Achaemenes, and that the line of Hercules and the line of Achaemenes go back to Perseus, son of Zeus?\n\nScholars have presumed that Achaemenes and Perses were likely equated in Plato's mind, since the Persians called themselves the Achaemenid Dynasty, while the Greeks called them the Persians. Hence the two etymologies were conflated. Nonetheless, Perseus, and thus his father, Zeus, were the ancestors of the Persians according to Greek myths.\n\nSomewhat related is the tragedy *The Persians* by Aeschylus. It is not mythological in its content like the majority of Greek tragedy, but it does add an extra layer to the reception of the Persians in Greek storytelling. It recounts the situation of the Persian court in the capital receiving the news of their defeat at the hands of the Greeks. It is undoubtedly a very enlightening piece of Greco-Persian interactions." ] }
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181wjl
Could someone explain the differences between and advantages/disadvantages of the different antiseptics? iodine vs alcohol vs peroxide, vs etc?
Like what is the advantage of iodine over alcohol? Alcohol dries stuff out, but iodine tincture has alcohol in it, so it doesn't have that as an advantage over it. Why not use iodine tincture for everything? are there ever advantages to using other antiseptics, like hydrogen peroxide, or any others?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/181wjl/could_someone_explain_the_differences_between_and/
{ "a_id": [ "c8ayciq" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "[Here](_URL_0_) is a well-cited review of several antiseptics, including the ones you mentioned :)" ] }
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[ [ "http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/456300" ] ]
3engh7
how does "lottery wheeling" work?
I've read that it's a strategy used by lottery players to increase their odds of winning, but the Wikipedia article is confusingly saturated with information and I would love to have an ELI5 explanation that summarizes it well. Thank you in advance.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3engh7/eli5_how_does_lottery_wheeling_work/
{ "a_id": [ "ctglro7" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "The only part of the Wikipedia article you need to pay attention to says that wheeling does not change the expectation value of the ticket. That means that the probability of paying more for the ticket than you win is still nearly 100% and the more you play, the more you are expected to lose." ] }
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ptde8
How can I have 80 billion direct ancestors going back to just the 13th Century?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ptde8/how_can_i_have_80_billion_direct_ancestors_going/
{ "a_id": [ "c3s2rs7", "c3s2svf" ], "score": [ 2, 2 ], "text": [ "You were made by 2 people, who were made by 4 people, who were made by 8 people... etc. Not including siblings. ", "xZOMBEHZx has the right idea. For each generation you go up from you, you add more and more people. But obviously there weren't that many people alive on the planet during the 13th Century. So what gives? Relatives procreating with relatives. If you look back far enough in your family tree, you'll find it." ] }
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5xq3yp
the difference between public and private sector labor unions
[deleted]
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xq3yp/eli5_the_difference_between_public_and_private/
{ "a_id": [ "dejzn4r" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "A public sector labor union is a union comprised of government workers. A private sector labor union is a union comprised of private employees.\n\nThe biggest difference is that public sector labor unions largely negotiate with other government employees or politicians for their contracts. Private sector employees negotiate with the company's counsel.\n\nPrivate sector unions negotiate for a larger share of the profits they help create. Public sector unions negotiate for more tax funds. It is for this reason that even FDR (extremely liberal president) was highly against the idea of public sector unions." ] }
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6mbv6o
given how hard it is to start and run a successful small business nowadays, how were so many immigrants able to come here with nothing, and and still start up businesses in the cities where they settled?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mbv6o/eli5_given_how_hard_it_is_to_start_and_run_a/
{ "a_id": [ "dk0ffus", "dk0fiiw", "dk0flb9", "dk0gjfk", "dk0hzcc", "dk0i5fg" ], "score": [ 5, 2, 4, 2, 2, 3 ], "text": [ "In the old days there were extremely few regulations, and they were not well enforced. If you wanted (for example) to buy some stuff and sell it retail from a wagon on the street, you could just start doing that.", "Clarification: I refer to immigrants of the WW1-WW2 era, give or take, maybe a skosh earlier.", "There wasn't as much competition like there is today. Also take an Italian immigrant for example. They create an Italian restaurant therefore other Italian immigrants in the area would dine there. Back then ethnicities were a lot more segregated, and so that would help the business. \n\nI also feel as though back then there was more of a sense of community and everyone shopped and ate locally. Now everything is a chain. ", "Competition and market saturation. \n\nNow everyone has to compete with mega stores, chains, and established stores in every town and the internet.", "1 in 10 businesses succeed which isn't terrible - I'm guessing the odds are a lot better on your second try as well.\n\nRemember those immigrants had a lot of determination as they often couldn't find good employment. Not to mention they had cheap labour from their family. \n\nThe result was that immigrant businesses could run just barely making enough money to feed the family and push through to a more profitable state.", "70% lack of competition, 20% lack of regulation, 10% racism.\n\nI'm not sure if you are aware but anything legal or illegal you want is a phone call, text, email, or web page away. Hot mexican food. Hot mexican music. Hot mexican drugs. Hot mexican women. Or asian or canadian or italin or whatever flavor of food or entertainment or sin you want.\n\nIt's *HARD* to compete with a multi-national organization dedicated to delivering the most pleasurable product at the lowest cost, be that Taco-Bell or a drug cartel. They can get their product so much cheaper than you can and they can pay their employees starvation wages and just hire a new guy when the current guy wears out. You can't do that so why would they buy from you?\n\nRegulations are a lot stricter these days. You need liscences and training and if you have a criminal conviction or no money it means you don't get to sell food out of a food truck. In previous eras you just put up a wooden stall on a street corner and started selling food and no one bothered you, even if some of your customers got sick.\n\nRacism. Or, to put it more politely, races 'stuck together'. It was considered normal to only patronize restaurants run by your race. So an asian with a lot of money could open up an italin restaurant, but the italiens wouldn't' come and eat there because what's this slanty-eyes doing in little italy? You came to America and you moved to little italy and you got a loan or a job and that's what you did. You still see this to some degree in the Mafia, Hollywood with jews." ] }
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5iwdjt
How long did it take to create marble sculptures? Weeks, months, or years?
Specifically, I refer to the sculptures created in the Renaissance and afterwards (but before industrialization).
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5iwdjt/how_long_did_it_take_to_create_marble_sculptures/
{ "a_id": [ "dbbn5h3" ], "score": [ 16 ], "text": [ "\"Months to years, it depends\". Many of the famous Renaissance sculptures took between one and three years. Almost three years for Michelangelo's David (september 13th 1501-early spring 1504), about two for Moses, and almost two for the Pietá (1498). Donatello spent more than two years on each of Zuccone, Saint George and Saint Mark, working with several assistants.\n\nSources: _URL_0_\n\"Donatello: Sculptor\" by John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy" ] }
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[ [ "http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/vasari/vasari26.htm" ] ]
2p5k2q
why do doctors flick syringes before injecting someone? is this just a thing they do in tv shows?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p5k2q/eli5_why_do_doctors_flick_syringes_before/
{ "a_id": [ "cmtk8tz", "cmtkcda", "cmtkcxk" ], "score": [ 11, 4, 7 ], "text": [ "They are checking for air bubbles. Injecting a air bubble into a blood vessel can easily kill a person.", "Its to remove any possible air bubbles. They don't just flick it, they take a little extra solution and shoot that out.\nAir bubbles can cause an embolism", "They flick the syringe while holding it inverted to agitate any air bubbles then they depress the plunger to evacuate those air bubbles" ] }
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93qco5
the difference between single phase and three phase power
I hear these terms thrown around a lot and just not sure what the difference is.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/93qco5/eli5_the_difference_between_single_phase_and/
{ "a_id": [ "e3f4d9p", "e3f53re", "e3f77bu", "e3fjybj", "e3foecj" ], "score": [ 84, 15, 3, 16, 67 ], "text": [ "Both are forms of alternating current (AC)\n\nAlternating current cycles from +120V to -120V, 60 times per second (assuming you live somewhere that uses 120V 60 Hz for mains power)\n\nSingle phase power means that all of the power in the wire alternates from +120V to -120V. \n\nThree phase power has three wires, all alternating from +120 to -120, all at the same frequency, but they are offset from each other. Basically, when Phase 1 is at its peak, Phase 2 is in the middle, and Phase 3 is at the bottom. So in 3 phase, there's virtually always a wire at 120V or very close to it. It delivers a steady stream of power, and that makes it much more useful for higher electrical loads.", "Imagine you are holding a pole, and someone else has the other end. The other guy pushes you with the pole, then pulls, then pushes, then pulls, etc. etc. Really fast. You never go anywhere, but you get pushed back and forth. That's single phase power. \n \nNow imagine that there are 3 poles, attached to your belt at 120 degree spacing. Pole A pushes you, and then when they are pulling on you Pole B pushes you, and when Pole B is pulling on you Pole C pushes you. All of them push and pull you constantly, but out of synch. You never go anywhere, but you get pushed/pulled a lot. This is 3 phase power. ", "It is basically 3 lines of same voltage that are 1/3 out of phase with each other. AC is push/pull on the electrons created by (in traditional rotary style generators) magnets moving past a coil. The + side of magnets pulls the electrons, then the - side comes in a pushes the electrons, and this goes back and forth creating an alternating current in the form of sin wave. Now, within this generator the coils/magnets are arranged in such a way that as one coil's electrons are pushed another's is pulled and yet another is right in the middle, each of which is it's own phase. These 3 lines leave the powerhouse at super high voltages, 500KV+ and are distributed to the \"grid\". They run to sub stations that take in these high voltages and convert them down to say 10KV. These mid level lines are then distributed to points of use where there is another transformer that converts it down to 110V. Now, most homes and small businesses only need 1 phase, so the transformer for that location only pulls off of 1 of the 3 lines. Converts it to 110V and sends it into the building. However, big industry that uses big electrical motors and such will actually have all 3 phases come in and those 3 phases are fed to the motor. A 3 phase motor is much more efficient, creates less heat and can generate more power. ", "From someone who has worked 30 plus years in industrial environments. Surprised that everyone in this thread is stating 120 volt 3 phase as if that's even a thing. Most 3 phase power in the U.S. is 480 VAC 3 phase. That's what most industry uses for powering moterized equipment. 240 volt 3 phase is also used but less common. I have never heard of 120 volt 3 phase.", "If you are really 5 years old: \n\n* Imagine three people on a row boat. \n* Single-phase power: One guy is rowing, and each stroke takes three seconds. Stroke - 2 - 3. Stroke - 2 - 3. It's enough to move the boat. It's enough to power virtually any modern equipment -- whose power supply takes those strokes and converts it into useful energy.\n* Three-phase power: All three guys are rowing. Each person's stroke takes three seconds. But they each stroke exactly 1/3 after the last dude goes. So essentially, you are never more than a third of a stroke off the some guy's strongest.\n\nThis explanation is not a literally 100% precise analogy, but it's reasonably good enough. One complication is that:\n\n(a) in the United States, where 3-phase power is commonly \"line-to-line\", the power of a 3-phase system (at a certain amperage) is not literally 3x the power of a single-phase system (at the same amperage). For reasons beyond the understanding of a 5-year-old, it is 1.732 times greater.\n\n(b) in Europe, where 3-phase power is commonly \"line-to-neutral\", it's a better analogy.\n\nBut whatever, you are five." ] }
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6ihtn3
can smelling something be unhealthy? like if there's a very bad smell, is there anything dangerous about the act of smelling it?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ihtn3/eli5_can_smelling_something_be_unhealthy_like_if/
{ "a_id": [ "dj6chtg", "dj6ci84" ], "score": [ 2, 9 ], "text": [ "Unless the fumes contain chemicals that in their vapor form can damage breathing or affect the brain, no. Bad smells are not inherently more unhealthy than good smells. But if you're sniffing gasoline, which has a dangerous vapor form, then yeah, you'll get sick. ", "Yes. Stuff like paint- and glue fumes can be highly toxic.\n\nI don't think that \"regular\" bad smells like rotting fish or excrement are dangerous even in large quantities, but both foster a myriad of harmful microbes so the smell is evolution telling you to stay away." ] }
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5uz4su
My great uncle enrolled in the Charlemagne Waffen SS Division, is there online ressources I could check to find out what happened to him ?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5uz4su/my_great_uncle_enrolled_in_the_charlemagne_waffen/
{ "a_id": [ "ddxz7l5" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Hi, hopefully someone can drop by to help with something more specific, but you might find these resources helpful : the sub has a wiki for finding military records [here](_URL_0_). You might also try x-posting to /r/genealogy for more tips. " ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/militaryrecords#wiki_germany" ] ]
37epxy
I kept hearing about significant infantry combat doctrine changes during the first world war. What were the main changes among western military from 1914 to 1918?
I'm hoping this could stay for the discussion on infantry combat doctrine only. Specifically, what were the main organization changes? And why were they changed and what was the reason? Did any of the changes led to new infantry weapon design requirements, or even personal equipment. (How much ammo carried, grenade carried, or other tools) Most importantly, how fast did each country adopted those changes? And were they effective?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/37epxy/i_kept_hearing_about_significant_infantry_combat/
{ "a_id": [ "crm3z5r" ], "score": [ 13 ], "text": [ "There's a lot of talk on this and there's an idea here that many seem to struggle with greatly as it directly challenges this idea of \"trench warfare\" as a \"thing\". For each army it is different certainly so we'll speak for now only on the British and German side of things w.r.t. the Western Front. The French case is just a giant basket case of confusion but if you want to read on them in particular Robert Doughty's work *Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War* is **the** work on said matter. For the purposes of this post though I'll mainly be working off of Richard Holmes' *Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front*, Martin Middlebrook's *The Kaisers Battle*, and *Through German Eyes: The British & The Somme 1916* by Christopher Duffy. Holger Herwig's *The Marne: The Opening of World War I* is also a wonderful source on this matter.\n\nSo let's run over this. The war can be broken, roughly, into four phases:\n\n* **Summer 1914 - Winter 1914: The War of Movement**\n\nThe battles of this period would look distinctly Franco-Prussian War-esque in nature. In 1916 a Division General would have at his disposal 204 machine guns but in 1914 that number was 24 for 10,000 rifles. They were, in other words, very short on ordinance for the regular infantry and the doctrine reflected that of late 19th century warfare because of such. This would be dominated by what are so cleverly called skirmishing lines. Men would spread out with something of 3 meters on either side about 70 men long with the next row about 25 meters back. Further back, about 200-500 meters, the rest of the battalion would remain in column formation and send up \"waves\" to reinforce the skirmish line. \n\nThe combat of this period would not heavily rely on grenades nor mortars or light machine guns; notably because both sides had a distinct lack of such. Fire and maneuver and general suppression based warfare were the name of the game. A very fluid form of fighting to say the least. \n\n* **Spring 1915 - Fall 1916: Stagnation**\n\nA big issue with a lot of amateur WWI historiography is that people try to find all these tactical level reasons for why trench warfare developed. As if both sides just happened upon machine guns and blundered into it. We must remember, first and foremost, that trench warfare was an operational and strategic *decision* by the upper commands of *both* sides; almost a mutual agreement of sorts as a pause in the fighting benefited both tremendously. They soon found, however, that that pause became increasingly more difficult to break. The Germans had the benefit of choosing the most defensible positions in France/Belgium and thus were very, very, very well defended and the longer things went the more fortified their positions got. Same for the Allies.\n\nThis is where we go to infantry tactics. This is also when Kitcheners New Army and basically the B Team's of all armies started to swarm in; not the main force by any regards. These were, by and large, thoroughly untrained troops and non-battle hardened. Thus the skirmishing lines were tightened. It was perceived, and we can't divorce the infantry from the artillery here unfortunately, that the *artillery* did the fighting and the infantry *occupied already conquered land.* \n\nBy and large though there was no general doctrine for the British in particular; the first Tactical Manual appeared in March 1917 which we will talk about later. By and large it was up to Divisional commanders or even Battalion commanders to decide, on their own whim, how to conduct battle. For instance at the Somme General Rawlinson highly recommended/commanded that the soldiers do not advance behind the artillery barrage and only go over after the barrage has ceased to occupy the trenches (he did not want friendly fire); most of those who fought in the battle disregarded this and did very 1917/1918 looking tactics. They would travel shortly behind the barrage and strike the enemy trenches right as the barrage passed over to shock the enemy. \n\nThroughout 1916 we see an absolutely enormous increase of reliance on the bomb, or the grenade in other words. How a general trench assault would look like would be men advancing on a position while rifleman suppress the enemy. The Lewis Gun, which would now accompany at least every Platoon, would also contribute to this but in a lesser relied upon degree. The barbed wire would be cut while bombadiers laid to waste the enemy trenches. Grenades were how battles were fought by the infantry first and foremost above all else. Flamethrowers would be used in large mass as well as trench clearers; basically once things got into the trench it became a shitshow of brass knuckles, knives, clubs, flamethrowers, pistols, so forth. But leading up to that point? Grenades. Lots and lots and lots of grenades. \n\n* **Spring 1917 - Spring 1918: Defense in Depth**\n\nThroughout 1916 both sides would begin experimenting with a more fluid style of fighting; for the Germans this would culminate in creating specific divisions for specifically highly trained, highly experienced soldiers to perform deep infiltration missions; Stormtrooper tactics. For the British this meant evenly applying it across the *entire* army as a doctrinal overhaul. Far less sexy but, in the long run, far more effective. As more Lewis Guns got into circulation the reliance upon them would increase significantly; eventually every Section (15 men) of every Platoon (60 men) of every Company (240 men) of every Battalion and every Division and so on would have a Lewis Gunner while every man was trained to use it. \n\nThis document, which overhauled British doctrine and was their first tactical manual of the war, is called \"The Normal Formation for the Attack\" issued to the British General of Staff, February 1917. Some relevant bits:\n\n > *\" . . .the frontage of an Infantry Battalion in the trench-to-trench attack may range from 200 yards against a highly organized position, to 600 yards or more against one less highly consolidated.\"*\n\n. . .\n\n > *\". . .the rifle and bayonet and bomb [grenade], being the most effective offensive weapons, should be placed as far forward as possible, closely supported by the [rifle grenade](_URL_0_), which may be regarded as the \"howitzer\" of the platoon, and the Lewis Gun [portable machine gun], which is the weapon of opportunity.*\n\n > *Each platoon will, therefore, normally be disposed in two lines, bombers and riflemen in the front line, rifle grenadiers, and the Lewis Gun in the second line. These two lines will constitute one Wave . .\"*\n\n. . .\n\n > *\". . .[firstly] in the assault every man is a bayonet man, exceptiong No. 1 of the Lewis Gun, secondly, that every man in a bomber; and thirdly, that every man in rifle sections [14 privates + 1 lance-corporal] is also trained to be either a Lewis Gunner or a Rifler Grenadier, with a view to replacing casualties in men armed with those weapons.\"*\n\n. . .\n\n > *\". . .extensions between men . . .should usually be from 4 to 5 yards. . .The distance between lines should be from 15 to 25 yards . . . between waves from 50 to 100 yards.\"*\n\n. . .\n\n > *\"The assault may be carried out either by:*\n\n > *(i.) The leading wave going straight to the furthest objective, rear waves following it to the nearer objectives.*\n\n > *(ii.) The leading wave being directed to a near objective, rear waves passing through it to those further away, i.e. 'leap frog'.\"*\n\nIn other words? Sounds *a lot* like 1914 styled warfare but with a lot more nice toys. Thin skirmishing lines spread out; machine gunners would support the advance while rifle greandiers and bombadiers suppressed the enemy. \n\nSo how did the Germans respond? Well after the defeats at both the Somme and Verdun not only did they have significantly less manpower they also had a lot less leeway to risk on the front. In 1917 they would abandon what is called static defense for what is called defense in depth; in other words they would abandon the notion of not losing an inch of ground to purposefully allowing land to be taken for the purpose of launching local counterattacks. The front would not be so hotly contested. Rather than thick mazes of trenches they would be replaced by pillboxes and foxholes/crater holes (functionally the same) littering the battlefield. Sporadic machine gun nests and a highly functioning logistical component allowed 'outposts' to signal enemy advance, 'advanced lines' to hold off the enemy long enough for local reserves to run up to the 'main line of defense', a static defense, and the 'advanced lines' to resist the enemy. Let them take the land, barrage the land behind them to restrict reinforcement and/or retreat, counterattack locally. \n\n* **1918: Last Resort**\n\nThe only real major doctrinal change that we would see in 1918, though it bears mentioning, is the German application of Stormtrooper tactics in the West. Basically it's the principal that if the weak positions are all taken by infiltrated, highly specialized forces then the strong positions are not so strong any longer but are isolated and weak. However the very strategic position Germany was in (and we can't divorce the tactical from the strategic here) did not allow them to advance as entire front as was preferred and what the British style of war was designed for. They were on their last leg; they had to penetrate *deep* and encircle the British and seize Paris. On top of all of that though they had no real support as they were deep infiltration units; so more often than not they were fighting without artillery support. On top of this all due to the rapid nature of their mission they *never actually hit those strong positions*; all they did was seize a bunch of strategically unimportant land." ] }
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[ [ "http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerdog/generalstorage/piclinks/Holding_It.jpg" ] ]
ck0p3v
Feyman diagrams and gauge bosons?
Beta- Decay _URL_0_ Hey, so I just have a couple of "little" questions which have been bugging me while "learning" this stuff for fun. One of the questions I have is about the diagrams used for these quantum interactions, is the axis on the left there for time? And if so, why does the electron travel back in time (along with the boson seemingly) when it is actually being emitted. The other question I have (and I'm totally prepared to get no answer or a completely incomprehensible one for) is about gauge bosons, a quick search tells you that it is with these bosons that forces can have particles interact, but to my knowledge photons are not the particles with which electromagnetic fields act upon things (if that makes any sense? Like gluons allow the strong force to colour change particles, but photons don't really do anything?). So are gluons the only way forces can act is what I'm trying to ask. Thank you very much to anyone willing to read through this and answer any of the questions :) Sorry for any formatting or spelling errors as I am on mobile and am also new to this subreddit tl;dr: am very confused
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ck0p3v/feyman_diagrams_and_gauge_bosons/
{ "a_id": [ "evhxatc", "evi5pf7", "eviym58", "evq8eah" ], "score": [ 13, 10, 7, 2 ], "text": [ "Yes, the axis represents time. Feynman diagrams are not a literal depiction of what’s happening, so the fact that the positron arrow looks like it’s pointing backward in time doesn’t mean that any particle is literally moving backward in time.\n\nThe gluons are the gauge bosons of the strong force, and the photon is the gauge boson of the EM force. Beta decay is a weak process, so the virtual particle here is one of the weak bosons (W^(+/-) and Z).", "1) In Feynman diagrams, an arrow pointing backwards in time means antimatter \n\n2) A photon is how the electric force travels. Photons interact with electrically charged particles, even though they are not electrically charged themselves", "Feynman diagrams don't need time axes. There's a symmetry in \"rotating legs\" ( so an incoming particle becomes and outgoing antiparticle) and just flipping the diagram entirely. It will still evaluate to the same amplitude.\n\nAlso the arrows are indicators of \"fermion current\", not momentum/direction.", "Yes the axis is time, particles oriented \"backwards in time\" are anti-matter. It is important to note that orienting the diagram differently while retaining the time axis will not falsify it, but it will change the meaning. Putting an arrow with a boson is counter productive instead use a negative to display the charge. Im not an expert by any means so take it with some salt." ] }
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[ "https://imgur.com/gallery/MHJJ57N" ]
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tlna9
Why is it that high current is dangerous but high voltage (to a certain limit) is not as dangerous?
Basically, why are we killed by like 0.01 amp, while we are able to tolerate voltage more easily? EDIT: It's 0.01 amps, not 1 amp, thanks for the clarification.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/tlna9/why_is_it_that_high_current_is_dangerous_but_high/
{ "a_id": [ "c4no4ok" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "We can be killed by 0.01A across the heart. An amp is quite a lot really. When you are electrocuted, what kills you is amperage across the heart. Enough amperage and it interferes with the heart's natural electrical signals, stopping it.\n \nVoltage and amperage are two different aspects of the same thing. Think of it in terms of water flow, where voltage is water pressure, and amperage is the actual amount of flowing water. A squirt gun may squirt water faster than a river can flow, but a river obviously has a lot more water overall. \n\nVoltage and Amperage have a linear relationship with Resistance. You feed something a certain number of amps, and the resistance will determine the voltage that makes it through. Feed it a certain number of volts and the resistance will determine the amount of amps that make it through. Resistance, in our water analogy is like the nozzle to a hose, where you can have a wide nozzle that gives out a lot of water slowly (low resistance = low voltage high amperage), or you can have a small nozzle that shoots a small amount of water out really quickly (high resistance = high voltage, low amperage)\n\nSo anyway, if a shock travels through your heart, and the voltage is high enough to overcome the resistance, and the amperage across the heart is over 10mA, it can interrupt your heart's electrical signals, causing cardiac arrest.\n\nSorry if I explained this like an ELI5, but if you want further reading try [here](_URL_0_) and [here](_URL_1_)." ] }
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[ [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Shock" ] ]
djcbzb
Why do we not perceive the expansion of the universe?
If the expansion is essentially "all points in the universe moving away from each other", why do we not notice ourselves and all other objects "growing" larger? Also, if the distances between all points are increasing, how do objects stay together? It would seem that the atoms in a stone would be moving away from each other constantly, which would cause the stone to expand until its atoms tore apart from each other. If the physical area of space is growing, why is this only observed at the galaxy-sized-object level? Thanks for the learning! :D
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/djcbzb/why_do_we_not_perceive_the_expansion_of_the/
{ "a_id": [ "f447265", "f44jqoi", "f455g5n", "f45pvbo" ], "score": [ 31, 6, 10, 2 ], "text": [ "We're not growing larger. Space inside our bodies is expanding, yes, but our cells aren't \"anchored\" to this space. They're anchored to each other. If you spread your arms wide, your fingertips are continuously moving towards each other at the same rate that new space is appearing within you. \n\nImagine this: Take two lego bricks, put them together and lay them on a rubber surface. Then stretch the surface. The lego bricks don't separate, because they're joined together tightly and the rubber surface isn't pulling on them enough to separate them. \n\nThat is why you're not getting bigger, your journey to work isn't getting longer, and you don't have more stairs to climb every day: all those things are bound together like your lego bricks. But when you consider two galaxies that are far apart and not really bound together in any way, that is like two separate lego bricks on your rubber mat. The distance between these grows larger as you stretch the mat.", "I think of the expansion as a force. This force *tends* to force everyday objects apart. But at the same time, these objects are held together by electromagnetic (EM) forces attractions, or by gravity. You, me, your car, those types of things are help together by EM forces. Earth as a whole, the solar system, galaxies ... these are held together by gravity. The universal expansion force has *already* stretched these things apart. It's not going to stretch them further. At least, not until the force gets stronger, and that's many billions of years from now. \n\nEven inside galactic superclusters, gravity is stronger. It's only *between* the superclusters that the universe is expanding. But that space is 99.99%+ of the volume of the universe.", " > If the expansion is essentially \"all points in the universe moving away from each other\"\n\nThat is only an approximation that is good on very large scales. It doesn't work within galaxies or other gravitationally bound structures which do not expand.", "Quite un-intuitively, the universe doesn't expand very much per cubic meter of space. The reason that we observe the expansion on an intergalactic scale is because there are tens of millions of light-years between different super clusters, ans so even though the expansion of each unit is relatively small compared to that unit, the overall impact is obvious when you look at how galaxies move relative to each-other. In a very real way, it's only due to the fact that the universe is so big that we noticed it was expanding at all." ] }
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8fpzn3
does a house ever finish settling?
Sometimes a building will just creak and it's always been explained that the house is just settling. I take it to mean that the house is just slightly moving. Is this repositioning ever complete?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8fpzn3/eli5_does_a_house_ever_finish_settling/
{ "a_id": [ "dy5ka2g" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Short answer: no\n\nLong answer: I believe it is never settled because it's the materials of the house expanding due to the heat of the day and then contracting when it's cooling down at night" ] }
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c3qsil
Did the Spartans suffer from demographic decline because their women were less willing to have children?
What is the veracity of this reddit comment _URL_0_
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/c3qsil/did_the_spartans_suffer_from_demographic_decline/
{ "a_id": [ "ervjm9y" ], "score": [ 36 ], "text": [ "The answer to your question is no, and the best way to describe the linked comment is \"horribly wrong\". Horrible because it blames Spartan women for a development that was wholly the result of laws and customs drawn up, enacted, and enforced by Spartan men. Women's subjection to these laws and customs meant that they were routinely made to suffer countless horrors and indignities, including the complete loss of their reproductive autonomy. Most of the TIL thread consists of poorly understood anecdotes and rampant nonsense, but this comment is particularly awful, so I'm glad you asked about it here.\n\nIt is true that Classical Sparta went through a spectacular decline in citizen numbers. They started the period with about 8,000 adult male Spartiates and ended it with fewer than 1,000. But no scholar would blame this on the behaviour of women. They point to several other reasons, starting with the catastrophic earthquake of 465 BC which almost completely levelled the city. Success in war mostly kept combat losses low throughout the 5th century BC, but in the next century these really started stacking up, with hundreds of Spartiates lost in battles like Lechaion an Leuktra. But by far the most important reason was the property threshold for Spartan citizenship. In order to be a Spartiate, you had to pay your contribution to the common mess - a donation of wine and meat to share with your *syssitia* (tent group). If you could not afford to make this regular donation, you were stripped of your citizen rights. There is no evidence that it was possible to regain them once lost. In other words, the Spartan citizen body wasn't shrinking because Spartans were dying; it was shrinking because people were constantly being kicked out.\n\nThere were many reasons why most Spartiates were getting poorer and falling below the property threshold while a small cadre started to hold all the land and wealth. The earthquake and subsequent helot revolt, the uneven distribution of spoils of war, and the extreme favouritism inherent in the Spartan social system all played their part. But the main factor seems to have been the Spartan practice of partible inheritance. Unlike other Greek states, the Spartans divided their inheritance equally among all children - including women, whose inheritance usually took the form of a large dowry in her own name. The result was that estates were constantly splintering, and many sons found themselves unable to afford the social status that their fathers had held. \n\nMeanwhile, since women were under no similar obligation to pay mess dues, their status was more secure. Moreover, unlike elsewhere in the Greek world, they were allowed to own land. The result was that the richest men, but also the richest women, were able to gobble up the patchwork remains of many fragmented estates as the majority of the citizen population fell into poverty. Aristotle gleefully blames the decline of Spartan power on women owning property, but this is just an outsider's misogynist prejudice; the situation was not in any way their fault. The fact that by the 330s BC about 40% of Spartan land was held by women is a *symptom* of the problem, not the problem itself.\n\nThe Spartans, however, didn't respond to the situation by reforming their inheritance system or changing their property requirements, but by encouraging Spartiates to have more children. At some point in the 4th century BC, it became punishable for a man to be unmarried; there were sanctions against childless marriages; having children was framed as a moral obligation to the state. It became permissible (or even mandatory; our sources don't agree) for old men married to young wives to select a favourite from among the younger Spartiates to father children on their behalf. It also became permissible (or mandatory) for men who didn't get along with their wives to ask other Spartiates if they could impregnate *their* wives instead.\n\nThis is where we see why the linked post is so profoundly wrong. A Spartan woman may have had a relative degree of autonomy in matters of property ownership and management, but she lived in an extremely patriarchal society, and men wrote the laws that shaped her life. In her late teens, she was made to marry a suitable Spartiate, who would be at least a decade older than her (and possibly much more). If her husband was too old or too disinterested in getting her pregnant, she was at the mercy of his choice of who might do so for him. If her husband was happy for an interested third party to try to get her pregnant, she had no choice but to accept it. Indeed, if her husband decided that *he* had provided the state with enough children already, he could decide to lease her remaining fertility to another Spartiate, and there was nothing she could do to protest it.\n\nIn other words, it's not just that Spartan women didn't have the freedom to decide whether or not to bear children; it's that the laws introduced in response to shrinking citizen numbers *deliberately took away what little reproductive autonomy they had* in order to fix the problem. The Spartan marriage ritual itself was focused entirely on producing children, and took a form that can only be described as traumatic: the bride was made to lay down in the dark, head shaved, alone, waiting for the groom to appear at a time of his choosing to tear off her clothes and drag her to bed. This would continue nightly until the bride was pregnant. The girl herself - aged perhaps 18 or 20 - was expected to play along with enthusiasm.\n\nThe final outrage of the linked post is the suggestion that wives would be rewarded if they gave birth to 3 sons. What Aristotle actually says is that when this happened, *the husband* would be rewarded with exemption from military service. If he produced a fourth son, he would be exempted from taxes as well. His wife never got anything. Indeed, as I've just described, she might be introduced to some stranger favoured by her husband who might want to get 3 sons of his own out of her womb.\n\nIn other words, women were not the cause of Sparta's declining number of citizens, but they were very explicitly the victim of Spartan measures to turn the tide. Blaming the demographic decline on the women reinforces a particularly heinous strand of socio-political thought, started by Aristotle, which suggests that giving women any rights or freedoms at all will lead to the inevitable collapse of society. It suggests that the way to \"fix\" the Spartan situation would have been to take away the limited, precious rights that women had in that society, as if they weren't already subject to the horrific exploitation of their bodies and lives for the purpose of birthing more Spartiates. A Spartan woman's only hope to gain control of her own reproductive system was for her husband to die, so she could live as a widow on her own estate. Until that happened, she was at the mercy of her husband and the cruel laws of Spartan society, which treated citizen women as little more than incubators for the children of citizen men.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nFor a quick overview of the relevant evidence, I used A.G. Scott, 'Plural marriage and the Spartan state', *Historia* 60.4 (2011), 413-424, and M.G.L Cooley's sourcebook *Sparta* (2017)." ] }
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[ "https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/c3ppfq/til_that_in_the_late_classical_era_of_greece/ersiu5x/" ]
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8bybpq
in the shell sort algorithm, why are the numbers 1,4,10,23,57,132,301,701,1750 used? they seem to be ambiguous and are really confusing me...
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8bybpq/eli5_in_the_shell_sort_algorithm_why_are_the/
{ "a_id": [ "dxakv3w" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Shell sort partitions the data. The exact partition is not that important, but the properties of the partition (i.e. \"gap sequence\") do affect the runtime.\n\n\"Gonnet and Baeza-Yates observed that Shellsort makes the fewest comparisons on average when the ratios of successive gaps are roughly equal to 2.2.\"\n\nYou need to have some numbers to do the partition, so those numbers are one set that is known to work well, but you can change them and it will still work.\n\n_URL_0_" ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellsort" ] ]
1rps17
Why are British colonies in the Caribbean so homophobic?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1rps17/why_are_british_colonies_in_the_caribbean_so/
{ "a_id": [ "cdpqf41", "cdpt9ga" ], "score": [ 21, 4 ], "text": [ "I feel this is a loaded question as Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands all consider homosexual activity perfectly legal. So perhaps the question should more focus on why Jamaica itself is so homophobic as being a British Colony past or present seems to not be a variable in the conversation. From what I can briefly turn up, it seems the compounded problem of poverty, lack of education, disease (HIV) and masculinity issues all tied in with religion. ", "I deleted this question because it deals with current events ('why *are*...) and not the past. You are asking why people are homophobic, and suggesting this is because they were former British colonies; the only possible historical answer would be to 'connect the dots' between those datapoints that you established, but these may not be the actual reasons why people in those specific countries are homophobic. This need to constrain a possible answer to a historic cause makes a question about the current state of the world (like yours) very unsuitable for our subreddit." ] }
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119wo0
Why is angular momentum one-sided even if a spinning object is symmetrical?
In other words, why is the right-hand rule that and not the left-hand rule? It seems very arbitrary and I'm having trouble grasping it.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/119wo0/why_is_angular_momentum_onesided_even_if_a/
{ "a_id": [ "c6klfnc" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "It is convention only, to allow scientists to talk to each other without having to describe which coordinate system they are using every time. Let me explain. \n\nThe direction of the angular momentum of an object doesn't mean anything by itself. What matters is that when object A with angular momentum interacts with object B with angular momentum, that the angular momentum is conserved. Then, you can know how the objects will be acting afterwards. The reason we use these conventions, is that you don't always want to start back at the very beginning. Say you know how a certain experiment will end up, and then you want to move on. You can start with \"this experiment will lead to an angular momentum in the +z direction\" and move on, without having to describe what that means.\n \nIf instead we used a left hand rule, but used it consistently throughout all calculations, everything would work out just the same. " ] }
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1uaew2
How formative was Tolkien to the genre of high fantasy?
There is some debate on the subject, but for my purposes I'm using high fantasy to mean fantasy set, mostly or entirely, in another world. Under this definition Harry Potter counts because it mostly deals with a sphere outside of normal earthly existence, but few of E. Nesbit's books would. What are some of the things he originated in the genre? Where are the roots of his works? Is there an originator of high fantasy as a genre?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1uaew2/how_formative_was_tolkien_to_the_genre_of_high/
{ "a_id": [ "ceg63yb", "ceg82sj", "cegiw1x", "cehk2rg" ], "score": [ 71, 985, 9, 4 ], "text": [ "Tolkien was in many ways the father of modern fantasy as we know it. He is responsible for many of the aspects of fantasy that are see as commonplace or cliche today namley, orcs, Tolkien style elves and dwarves, dark lords (Melkor/Sauron) and many more. \n\nBeyond that however he popularized the concept of world building. Before him almost all fantasy (there are some exceptions) was very much set in our primary world. King Arthur's legend for example is mythical and full of fantasy yet set in ostensibly the real British Isles. What Tolkien did was create a secondary world (Arda) which was almost totally divorced from our primary world. He set out to create a world for his constructed languages (another thing he popularized in fantasy to some extent) and stories which was something rather unique. Nowadays worldbuilding is a key part of many fantasy authors process. Authors from George Martin to Gene Wolfe create their own secondary worlds to house their stories and I would argue it was Tolkien, as the most successful world builder of his time, that largely is responsible for this.\n\nIn additon the genre of Mythopoeia which concerns itself with the creation of artificial mythology (named for a poem by Tolkien written to C.S. Lewis about the importance of myth) was popularized by him and the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings remain probably the most famous works in the genre. \n\nOn his influences you can see many things from Germanic myth such as names like Gandalf or the use of goblins and trolls and of course worms (dragons). You can see the influence of the old elegiac tradition in the longing for a the golden age of the world now long past and the progressive decline in magic and the strength and feats of men/elves through the ages of the world. The Rohirrim from Lord of the Rings are heavily based on Anglo-Saxon culture in their language, poems and naming. His Christian influences are also apparent and the concept of sub-creation stems from his religious beliefs. I suppose one could say he was influenced too by Greek myth. The story of the Fall of Numenor recalls that of Atlantis. The Valar too recall the Greek Olympian gods as much as the gods of Asgard from Germanic myth. \n\nI would say that without Tolkien the modern fantasy genre would look completely different. There have been so many imitators and those that seek to subvert the tropes that he established that I think it fair to call him at least one of the fathers of modern fantasy. ", "Tolkien is unquestionably the most influential figure in high fantasy, and I think it is not unreasonable to say that he and C.S. Lewis were the originators of the subgenre. The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings were both published during the mid-1950s. Earlier in their respective literary careers, Hobbit was published in 1937 and Perelandra in 1938, the former was not yet the fully-developed high fantasy of Lord of the Rings and the latter would be better described as science fiction. Tolkien and Lewis were good friends, of course, and often discussed their writings with each other.\n\nThe roots of Tolkien's works lie primarily in medieval writings, especially Anglo-Saxon poetry and Norse epics like Beowulf and the [Volsung Saga](_URL_5_). Influences from farther afield, including the Finnish national epic the [*Kalevala*](_URL_9_), show up from time to time in his writings as well. Tolkien was, of course, a professor of Anglo-Saxon (and later of English language & literature) at Oxford, and was interested in poetry and languages since at least his late teenage years. In addition to being one of the all-time best selling authors in human history, he was an accomplished linguist, literary critic, and translator. The Book of Jonah in the Jerusalem Bible was translated by Tolkien, he made a complete translation of Beowulf as well as a highly influential lecture on it entitled [*Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics*](_URL_0_), he did etymologies of Germanic W words for the Oxford English Dictionary, he wrote a vocabulary of Middle English, and he published translations of three Middle English poems: [*Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*](_URL_6_), [*Pearl*](_URL_11_), and [*Sir Orfeo*](_URL_1_). One particularly interesting aspect of Tolkien's writings, from a meta-literary perspective is that they are framed as a collection of writings which he discovered and translated from Elvish (Silmarillion and related works) and the Common Tongue of Middle Earth (the Red Book of Westmarch, written by Bilbo and Frodo-- the former of whom translated some Elvish source material for use in the book). Truly an irrepressible enthusiasm for philology. Also, if you read Lord of the Rings out loud to yourself, you will find many examples where Tolkien wrote sentences that pretty much could have been lines of [alliterative verse](_URL_2_), the style of Old and Middle English that many poems were written in, including Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo.\n\nTolkien believed the world suffered from disenchantment: that along with the modernization of the Industrial and Victorian eras had come a reduced sense of wonder at the world, and a diminished willingness to believe in the fantastic and the terrible. In his essay, [*On Fairy-Stories*](_URL_3_) (seriously, read it, it's great), he explained his views on faery-stories and the importance of fantasy and mythology. He felt that they had been tamed, that the connotation of \"fairy\" (he often used the spelling \"Faery\" or \"Faerie\"--the spelling was important to him, as a discriminating philologist) had become domesticated and defanged, something you would meet in your garden rather than a dark forest, something adorable rather than something which should make you tremble. He felt that such stories described the world on a spiritual plane in a way that mundane stories about the real world could not.\n\nWhile at secondary school in the early 1910s, Tolkien and his three closest friends (Rob Gilson, G.B. Smith, and Christopher Wiseman) formed a private club they called the Tea Club and Barrovian Society, or TCBS for short. They talked about many things, including philology and poetry, which they also wrote and read for each other. After graduating from the boarding school, they remained in contact and visited each other. All of them considered the TCBS to be the center of their intellectual lives. It was during this period and his subsequent university education at Oxford that the seeds of his world began to grow. In 1914, he wrote a poem called *The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star* (published in the Book of Lost Tales 2), which later evolved into the culminating episode of the *Quenta Silmarillion*. It was based on a line of Anglo-Saxon poetry by [Cynewulf](_URL_7_). Tolkien later wrote that the name Earendil struck him as one that he could write stories about.\n\nHis influence on fantasy is profound-- anything which has Orcs in it owes him for that invention, and anything with Elves or Dwarves (although both spellings exist prior to Tolkien, he is largely responsible for the thorough dominance of Dwarves and Dwarven rather than dwarfs and dwarfish) very probably owes him as well, since neither of those mythical beings had yet taken the well-defined shape that is present in Tolkien. Elves and Dwarves were ideas present in Norse/Germanic mythology, but their physical descriptions were generally quite vague or indeterminate, and \"elfs\" in particular could denote a wide variety of concepts of mythological beings, from frolicsome gnomes (which one can see in The Hobbit as well as some of Tolkien's earlier writing) to wicked spirits which are responsible for causing illnesses (a view represented in late medieval Britain). To [Snorri Sturluson](_URL_10_), the medieval Icelandic writer, dwarfs were dark-elves and light elves were what we might think of. In many cases both dwarfs and elves were thought of as simply beings which populated the unknown world on the periphery of human realms, hiding in mountain caves or deep forests, sometimes practically as animistic spirits, and rarely as the magnificent, ancient civilizations that Tolkien envisioned. Any time you see a representation of invariably bearded dwarves (which, let's be honest, is any time you see dwarves), you're seeing Tolkien's influence. Elves being the noble, cultured, ancient elder race is also attributable to Tolkien-- even in situations like the game Dragon Age, which another poster mentioned, where elves are a marginalized, formerly enslaved people, they were once much more powerful than humans. That game tries to buck a lot of standard high fantasy tropes (drawing on G.R.R. Martin's work in part), but the key point is that it still existed within a context where it doesn't even make sense to the player to use the word \"elves\" if they're not going to be a noble ancient race. Authors like Rothfuss and Martin have specifically said that they're trying to write something in high fantasy that *isn't* a rehash of Tolkien. I'm deeply sorry for the 20-year-rule violations, but the magnitude of Tolkien's influence is shown by the fact that until the last 20 years or so there were not many fantasy authors making a serious effort to do something wholly apart from Tolkien. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series had the first installment published in 1990 and was still clearly laden with Tolkien.\n\nAfter graduating from Oxford in 1915, Tolkien proposed to Edith Mary Bratt, married her in early 1916, and in the summer of 1916 shipped off to serve as a signals officer in the Great War that was then raging on the mainland-- a parting which caused both of them great distress, but it was just not very socially acceptable for a young, able-bodied man to refuse to serve in the war. He wrote the poem *Kortirion Among the Trees* while in a training camp in Britain in 1915-- Kortirion would later become the Elvish city on the isle of Tirion lying off the coast of Valinor. Besides disease and hostile shells, one of the chief dangers of the trenches was boredom. Tolkien's imagination had all the time it desired, and though it was nearly impossible to do any serious writing in the trenches, Tolkien nonetheless jotted down many an idea, which he would often expand upon during his time back from the trenches. \"You might scribble something on the back of an envelope and shove it in your back pocket, but that's all. You couldn't write.. you'd be crouching down among flies and filth.\" It was during this period that he first began to dream up the two languages that would become the Elvish languages [Quenya](_URL_4_) (which he worked on first) and [Sindarin](_URL_8_) (which came later, in 1917, as a derivative of Quenya). Earlier in his life he had played with inventing languages, but never so thoroughly (nor with such a grasp of linguistic change) as during the period immediately after WWI. His history of Arda (the world which includes Middle-Earth) began in part as an explanation of the historical migrations of the Elves that led to the linguistic relationship between Quenya and Sindarin. The other three members of the TCBS were aleady serving in WWI by the time Tolkien joined, and they stayed in correspondence with each other regularly, writing poetry to fill their time. Rob Gilson died in the first days of the Somme offensive, which weighed heavily on the surviving three. Also at the Somme, Tolkien witnessed the advent of the tank, which made a great impression upon him, serving as inspiration for the description of Balrogs and dragons overrunning the walls of the Elvish city of Gondolin. He began writing *The Fall of Gondolin*, the first prose story about Middle-Earth in 1917 on the back of some military sheet music. The poems he had written prior to that point tended to become incorporated into the legendarium later on, but did not begin as poems about this other world.\n\n(continued in next comment)", "I am deleting all comments in this thread that are not about Tolkien's influence on fantasy literature. Please don't post any more discussions of Balrogs, I can hardly keep up.", "I'm curious, now that I think about this - does *The Wizard of Oz* count as \"high fantasy\" by your definition? \n\nBaum's Oz books are definitely set mostly or entirely in another world. \n\nThey're also hugely influential in ways that aren't always obvious - I don't think Isaac Asimov could have written his laws of robotics without Tik-Tok, Nick Chopper and Jack Pumpkinhead providing examples. \n\nBaum was more prolific than Tolkien. He authored 14 Oz books and several plays/musicals - that's beyond the \"authorized\" sequels, which may have constituted the first \"canon\" of fantasy literature, in the way that some Star Wars material is canon and some isn't. \n\nTolkien drew on Northern European history and mythology to make up magic that feels real and authentic; Baum was a [member of the Theosophical Society](_URL_1_), and encoded a lot of real magic (or, at least, Western occultism) [in his books](_URL_7_).\n\n If you look at a map of Oz, it makes a mandala. In the first book (altered unfortunately for the movie) there's some heavy elemental symbolism around all four of the main characters - Dorothy (who arrives by air, uses water to defeat the witch), the Scarecrow (who grows in the fields and is terrified of fire), the Tin Woodman (who yearns for a heart, but can't stand water), and the Cowardly Lion (who defines himself by fear, but is always plunging into chasms or dark spaces). \n\nThe subsequent books go even deeper in some unexpected esoteric directions and philosophical puzzles. Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, is a ship of Theseus - all of his parts have been replaced, until there's no original part left. In one sequel, he even meets his old head and converses with it. Which one is the real Nick, the disembodied head or the perfect replacement?\n\nIn a few of the later books, the main villain is [the Nome King](_URL_3_), a greedy, bearded fellow who lives in an underground kingdom with immense mineral wealth and a few magical items. (Which might put the hoard under Erebor into an interesting perspective.)\n\nSo there are some depths there that are a little unexpected in books for children. At least one of the sequels, *Rinkitink in Oz*, reads more like a Grimm's Fairy Tale than Dorothy and Toto not being in Kansas any more. (The main character is a prince who has to free his parents from enslavement and restore his kingdom. There are wars and underground traps with secret doors and other familiar things.)\n\nSo those were all published about 20 years before Tolkien wrote *The Hobbit* - the Judy Garland musical came out two years after *The Hobbit*, but that was actually the third *Wizard of Oz* film. The first [came out in 1910](_URL_4_) and the [second in 1925](_URL_5_). I don't think any direct links can be demonstrated between Oz and Middle Earth (despite the [best efforts](_URL_6_) of some [dedicated fans](_URL_2_)), but it'd be highly peculiar if Tolkien hadn't heard of Baum's books and perhaps read them to his own children. \n\n(Both Baum and Tolkien also [wrote stories about Santa Claus for their kids](_URL_8_), but that's pretty predictable, really.)\n\nI'm not sure if the Oz books are high fantasy - lots of sorcery, not so much swords - but I think they have to be an important ancestor.\n\nIf you're curious about Baum's vast web of influences, the best source is Michael Patrick Hearn's [*The Annotated Wizard of Oz*](_URL_0_). \n\n\n" ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.english.uga.edu/~jdmevans/Personal/JRRT1936.pdf", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Orfeo", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterative_verse", "http://public.callutheran.edu/~brint/Arts/Tolkien.pdf", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenya", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lsunga_saga", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynewulf", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindarin", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_(poem\\)" ], [], [ "http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-Wizard-Centennial-Edition/dp/0393049922", "http://www.teosofiskakompaniet.net/LFrankBaumTheosophist.htm", "http://archives.weirdload.com/oz-arda.html", "http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Nome_King", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWQ5-UBU22M", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX5g0AOy53U", "http://www.theonering.com/reading-room/critical-viewpoints/are-hobbits-munchkins-similarities-between-baum-apos-s-oz-tale-and-the-hobbit", "http://www.academia.edu/2511173/Oz_L._Frank_Baums_Theosophical_Utopia", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Father_Christmas_Letters" ] ]
3418ss
why does scanning take so long if photocopying or taking a photo of something is so quick?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3418ss/eli5_why_does_scanning_take_so_long_if/
{ "a_id": [ "cqq9l2z", "cqqevuv", "cqqfjom", "cqqiwwe" ], "score": [ 17, 4, 15, 3 ], "text": [ "Because you have a cheap scanner. Cheap scanners are slow. Expensive high end scanners are very fast.\n", "Most photocopiers are optimized to scan very quickly, and do so at a very low resolution. 100x200dpi is not an uncommon setting. If you're scanning a photograph, the 300x300 setting is much more common, with 1200x1200 requiring a bathroom break. Most wall powered scanners (i.e. not getting their power directly off a USB port) can approach the scan speeds of a copier if they're set to a very low, black-and-white resolution. Also, many USB-only scanners have weak servo motors that control the scanning lamp due to the limited amount of power available through the cable. Scanners that plug into an electrical outlet have more power available to them and can put more torque on the lamp.", "When you take a picture of a page, the light from various parts of the page enters at different angles. Ultimately the causes some lens distortion. The photo of the page isn't a perfect rectangle; the page bows out on the sides.\n\nA scanner takes a different approach. It has a photoreceptor that isn't concentrated in one spot, but is distributed across a bar. This whole ensemble is moved across the page. So there is no lens distortion: the page is scanned \"orthogonally\" (at a perfect right angle at every point), so there is no issue with perspective. This gives you a perfect rectangular image, as you expect.\n\nNow, it's possible to correct lens distortion and take an instant snapshot of a page with a camera, winding up with a rectangular image. But this requires precise positioning of the camera, which makes the whole ensemble larger than a scanner. Most people don't want a big bulky scanner, so waiting a few more seconds is a good tradeoff. Some places, like libraries, may indeed have \"photo\" style scanners which are bulky but faster.\n\nAside from avoiding the lens distortion, scanners also apply light evenly to the image. Again, possible with a camera, but requires a precisely tuned (and large) ensemble.\n\nScanners use a slow, but cheap, compact, and reliable method to get a great, high-resolution scanned image. You can make tradeoffs for speed, but generally scanners are the best approach for casual users.\n\nEdit: I didn't address photocopiers. Obviously, these are also larger than scanners. But the main issue is they tend to have lower resolution and worse contrast due to the methods they use for lighting the image. They are designed for final-step reproduction that's \"good enough\" in most cases. You might want the better results from a scanner for archiving documents, plus scanners are smaller and cheaper. Essentially they're better in every way but speed, which is fine for people who occasionally scan documents.", "Compare a pro-level photocopier with a pro-level scanner. The Canon DR-7580 scans 75pages per minute -- *both sides at once*. Your $50 HP from OfficeMax is a poor comparison." ] }
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89ect0
why do heroin users have to switch veins? what does the heroin do to “kill” the vein?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/89ect0/eli5_why_do_heroin_users_have_to_switch_veins/
{ "a_id": [ "dwqd4wk", "dwqdarq" ], "score": [ 27, 5 ], "text": [ "It's not the heroin. It's poking the same spot with a needle over and over again without giving it enough time to heal. It can get more complicated where if you *do* give it time to heal after you've abused it too much it will develop scar tissue which makes it harder to inject there. ", "I suspect it's less about the heroin and more about the needle but I don't know for certain.\n\nFirst of all, needles are meant to be single use, but they can be hard to get so addicts often reuse and share needles (which is also why they have a very high HIV and other blood borne pathogen risk). The needle is bent, cracked, and blunted with each use, making it more destructive to the vein, both physically by making a more ragged hole, and by introducing pathogens and causing infection.\n\nEven if they did use a fresh needle every time though, every stick is at least a little traumatic to the vein wall. Chemo patients, patients on dialysis, and other chronically ill patients that require frequent venipuncture often have scarring on their veins as well (it feels like sticking rice crispies) and that's if the vein doesn't collapse altogether. Also if they're sticking themselves one handed it will be a less accurate shot, since using your other hand to stabilize the vein makes for a much smoother stick.\n\nThese are my thoughts as a former phlebotomist, not knowing much about heroin, but knowing a lot about venipuncture." ] }
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98x0om
how are things n% water?
How is the human body like 70%/80% IIRC water? How is a cucumber like 95% water? I can understand with liquids or wet things but how is the water content of a banana or piece of muscle or bone calculated? How do water molecules just seem to be incorporated into everything? Why water? What purpose does it serve?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/98x0om/eli5_how_are_things_n_water/
{ "a_id": [ "e4jc1vf" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "Heat it until the water evaporates, check its mass before and after and calculate the percentage" ] }
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3pisc4
Why do shadows "kiss"?
When you move a shadow close to another there is a certain point at which another shadow forms between them. Why does this happen?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3pisc4/why_do_shadows_kiss/
{ "a_id": [ "cw7sbrj" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "This is because the sun is an \"extended\" light source, as opposed to a point light source. Because of this, there is an area called the [penumbra](_URL_1_), where the shadowing object creates a partial shadow. When two penumbras meet, it makes the \"kissing\" darker shadow.\n\nSee also [Shadow Blister Effect](_URL_0_)" ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_blister_effect", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbra,_penumbra_and_antumbra#Penumbra" ] ]
bx3tsu
how usa is one of top polluters in most sources but is consistently ranked relatively favorably (in the middle) for how polluted it is?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bx3tsu/eli5_how_usa_is_one_of_top_polluters_in_most/
{ "a_id": [ "eq330a8", "eq33ho1", "eq33zno", "eq3kz0m", "eq3w3da" ], "score": [ 8, 4, 8, 4, 4 ], "text": [ "A lot of it is just how big the US is and how much the population and industrial centers are spread out.\n\nIf I have a country that is 100 square miles and pollutes x amount, and a country that is 1000 square miles and pollutes 5x amount, the second country pollutes 5 times as much as the first country but said pollution is spread out over 10 times the area, so would likely be only half as polluted.\n\nOversimplified but still pretty accurate. The USA is the third largest country by area behind Russia and Canada and ahead of china.", "Because there are lots of efforts to keep our land clean. We also have a first class trash disposal service, cities that pay a lot to stay clean, laws regarding waste disposal, ect. National pride helps, motivated people to preserve our natural beauty. Some big cities are very polluted but are making efforts to clean up. \n\nThe United States is massive and full of green forests and clean water. The forests help keep our air clean. It's also full of national parks, nature reserves, and federal land that is not allowed to be developed and kept in a clean natural state. A huge portion is of my state is government land that is not allowed to be developed. They wont even allow cell towers to be built. Being huge and so spread out helps. Also having the Pacific Ocean to shield us from Chinas pollution helps.\n\nI grew up in a very clean midwestern farming state. Amazing crisp clean air and clean water. Can literally drink right out of the lakes. Had no idea what pollution really looked like until I lived in Korea for a year. \n\nMuch of US pollution is air pollution from industry and high ownership of person vehicles. But since the 70s most other forms of pollution have been attacked and limited. So less industrial waste in rivers and trash on the ground than other nations. I think the US is also blamed a lot for the trash that ends up in the sea but I could be mistaken. The US makes incredible efforts to preserve our natural beauty.", "Because the US isn't \"polluted,\" even though it emits a rather large amount of pollution.\n\nOutside of a few individual cities (particularly LA), smog, particulates, NOx, and SOx emissions are relatively low. The US really just produces two emissions; carbon dioxide, and methane. One is only harmful at concentrations above 1000 PPM for sustained periods (which we're not really close to in the ambient), and the other is completely odorless, colorless, and benign to living tissue.\n\nThe other important aspect is that the areas where pollution density is highest (our cities) are still significantly less polluted than our peers overseas, entirely because our cities are so much less dense. Emissions follow consumption on a per-capita basis, and so when you have a lot of people crammed together, you're going to have a lot of emission production crammed together as well. The US really only has three cities that have population densities approaching our peers in Europe and Asia; two of them (NYC and Boston) are kept relatively clean via city regulation, and the third (Washington DC) is kept clean by virtue of the US government bending over backwards to keep the Capital looking spotless (helped in major part by the fact that the National Mall is National Park space).", "The reason the USA is one of the top polluters is because there is a lot of American compare to other country and it's an industrialised country. But at the same time the US is a big country with population spread over large area. In 2017 here is CO2 emissions stats for the US and their ranking.\n\n10,877.218 metric tonnes of CO2/year. The US is ranked as the second biggest emitter.\n\n519 metric tonnes of CO2/km²/year. The US is ranked 66th.\n\n15.7 metric tonnes of CO2/capita/year. The US is ranked 16th.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nIn addition, now all pollution are the same. If you are talking about air pollution, CO2 have little effect on that, it's air particle that will make the quality of the air drop. It's also a very regional problem, and vary a lot over time. If you look at the Air Quality Index map here: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) \n\n & #x200B;\n\nYou can see that the problem is the worst in India and China where the regulation are more limited and that even over the US it can range from unhealthy to good on the same country. Geography is another huge factor. City that are in open plains will have cleaner air even if they pollute a lot, but a mountain chain near a city can stop the air over it from spreading the pollution.", "It depends on what you mean by \"pollution\". The US is one of the leading emitters of carbon dioxide, which causes global warming and climate change. However, thanks to fairly good regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, the US is pretty good in terms of sooty particles, acid rain, ground-level ozone, photochemical smog, and chlorofluorocarbons -- and it's *much* better than it was a few decades ago. Water and soil pollution are also fairly well controlled compared to other countries, and compared to our past.\n\nEnvironmental regulation works, but when we call it all \"pollution\" we hide the fact that some things aren't regulated." ] }
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[ [], [], [], [ "https://aqicn.org/map/world/" ], [] ]
7st35i
the waco siege.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7st35i/eli5_the_waco_siege/
{ "a_id": [ "dt7avf3", "dt7bf0h", "dt7e96a", "dt7fcuh" ], "score": [ 12, 7, 5, 2 ], "text": [ "a ups driver was delivering packages to the compound and one broke open showing weapons, inert grenades and black powder. UPS reported this to the sheriff who contacted the ATF. This info along with reports of automatic fire from the compound led to sucspision that the Brach Davidians were illegally modifying weapons to be fully automatic. The ATF got a search warrant and prepared a raid. The Davidians knew the raid was coming. During the raid shots were fired but it is still debated who shot first. During the ensuing firefight, 4 ATF agents were killed 16 wounded and 5 Davidians killed, but the compound was not successfully breached which led to the siege and the FBI taking over. Eventually the FBI tried to gas them out using tear gas, during this fire broke out in the compound which spread rapidly. 76 Davidians were killed in the fire and 9 escaped ", "The ATF suspected the Davidians of hoarding illegal weapons and moved to seize them. After a gunfight that left 4 agents and 6 cult members dead, the ATF and FBI began a siege of the compound that lasted 51 days. After that, the FBI raided the compound again, which led to the infamous fire that killed 60-70 people.\n\nThe FBI wanted the final raid essentially because they wanted the entire thing to be over, but also didn't want to back down which they feared would embolden other far-right groups (remember that the Waco Siege occurred right after the Ruby Ridge episode, where the government utilized controversial and severe rules of engagement). Instead, they got a massive controversy that scared a lot of people, and which was later used as a justification for the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building.\n\nThat being said, the Waco Siege also became a favorite topic of conspiracy buffs who want the government to be the root of all evil in these kinds of situations, and who also tend to gloss over the fact that the Davidians likely started the fire themselves.", "\nThe Branch Davidians were a reclusive religious cult and had all the signs typically of being dangerous and abusive. This was only about 15 years after Jim Jones and the Guyana mass poisoning, so dangerous brainwashing cults were still kind of fresh in the public consciousness. Charismatic leader, little or no contact with family members, people weren't free to leave, sexual abuse, etc. Due to a damaged package, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) believed they were illegally making automatic weapons, and had enough evidence to convince a judge to issue a search warrant. \n\nFearing an armed response, they showed up in force prepared for a raid. While the ATF is a full-fledged law enforcement agency with gun carrying officers, their mission is more regulatory in nature. Instead of asking a more enforcement-oriented agency like the FBI for assistance, they decided to handle it themselves and many feel their inexperience contributed to the disaster. In particular, the Davidians were tipped off that the ATF was coming and were prepared, and a show of force may have escalated the situation. \n\nThe Davidians refused to comply with the warrant. Their compound was fortified, heavily armed and had members patrolling the walls, leading to a tense armed standoff. A firefight erupted (it is still not clear who shot first) and a handful of people on each side were killed, but the Davidians still held their compound and a siege ensued.\n\nAfter couple months, the FBI had taken over, and tried to drive the cultist out with tear gas. A fire erupted and dozens died, including many children. The survivors claimed the fire was started by the FBI, either deliberately, or accidentally with tear gas canisters or by knocking over lanterns (their electricity had been shut off). However, a panel of arson investigators found that the fire had been started at three separate locations at the same time, making an accident very unlikely.\n\nFar-right groups were very critical of the operation claiming it was government overreach to suppress gun rights. It occurred just a few months after the Ruby Ridge siege, where the FBI wound up shooting and killing an infant in a standoff with a white supremacist militia leader, making it appear as part of a pattern of government abuse. Also, it was in the first few months of the Clinton administration. Janet Reno, the unphotogenic first female Attorney General was ultimately in charge, and many people questioned her competence, and whether Clinton appointed her for diversity rather than ability. The issue dogged them both throughout the administration, and various conspiracy theories about the FBI firebombing the compound and using cyanide gas emerged.", "Check out the doc The Rules Of Engagement for a different, but sobering take on how bumbling our govt can be.\n\nWondering if they'll ever do a docudrama on the Ruby Ridge incident and how badly the govt f-ed that up that they ended up paying out on a 3.1 mil lawsuit " ] }
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2ge2hd
Napoleonic Era and Uniforms (Nit-Picky Questions)
So I'm a fan of the Napoleonic Era, and I would say I know just enough about it but not the detailed specifics. So I have some few nitpicky questions I was hopijg you guys could help answer. Austria and Napoleon: From what I know, Napoleon had a large amount of hate for Austrians saying that there empire should be broken or destroyed. He even created songs or his men sang songs, singing about how Austrians were cowards. What grudge does Napoleon bear against Austria? The only major connections I made are Marie Antoinette and the idea that Austria was mobilizing against the revolution, when the revolution started. French Uniforms- Yes this is a nitpicky one, but it's been bugging me for awhile. Early and towards the middle years of the Napoleonic wars, French Line Infantry would wear white vests with blue jackets and often times brown trousers. Then the war progresses, after retreating from Russia and to Waterloo, French Infantry are depicted always wearing trenchcoats and even his Imperial Guard Regiments. So why was there a transition to handsome uniforms parading through streets to bland trenchcoats in the summer? What was the actual goal of Napoleon? In American history I hear talk of how Napoleon was a crazed dictator with a lust for power driving him to go on a rampage through Europe. However people from France have told me Napoleon's goal was to spread ideas of the French Revolution. Now Napoleon being a power hungry dictator would explain why he went fighting against everyone in Europe but it seems to vague, or like propaganda. On the other hand if Napoleon wanted to spread ideas of the French Revolution there could've been alternative ways and he had no SOLID reason to declare war. What was Napoleon's agenda? Egypt- What exactly happened in Egpyt? I know that Napoleon was doing very well in the beginning but then he was forced to retreat from Egypt and leave his men behind. I don't understand how he remained popular from this action. I received this info from my American textbook and some of my info from it, rest is internet searches. Why did Swiss, Polish, Bavarian, Dutch, (Danish?) and "Italians" fight for Napoleon? What reason did any of them have. The only one I know is that the Swiss have always had close ties with France, but what other relations did the other nationalities have?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2ge2hd/napoleonic_era_and_uniforms_nitpicky_questions/
{ "a_id": [ "cki86tb" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "So, there's a million questions. It would be beneficial if you reworded your question for a single question and ask a few over a few days." ] }
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3mhzyy
what is the evolutionary benefit to a species, such as the praying mantis, to have the female kill the male after copulation?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mhzyy/eli5_what_is_the_evolutionary_benefit_to_a/
{ "a_id": [ "cvf2xag", "cvf4jgq", "cvf6v90", "cvfd14r" ], "score": [ 30, 12, 9, 19 ], "text": [ "By eating the male, the female gains a lot of nutrients, which will enable her to have healthier and stronger offspring. In this way, there is a higher chance that the genes of both the male and the female are carried on.", "To top off what palcatraz has mentioned, evolution isn't about what is best for the individual (the male mantis) or species, but for the reproduction and propagation of genes. By sacrificing their \"container\", the body, the genes of the male mantis increases its chance of being successfully propagated, so such sacrificial/cannibalistic behaviour becomes a favoured strategy.", "To piggy back off of this, does the male know that he is going to get eaten or not?", "Eating the male is not required for mantises to reproduce. Only about a quarter of mantis relationships end in cannibalism. The female mantis will eat the male if she is hungry. It is easier to just eat the male than it is to go find prey to eat.\n\nCannibalism is common in insects. Many insects kill and eat other insects, often in their own species. Cannibalism is not a problem for insects because there are so many insects. When an single female insect lays eggs, she can lay hundreds, of eggs. Because of the numbers of insects that exist, if a few insects get cannibalized it makes a small impact on the population as a whole.\n\nInteresting side note about Mantises and cannibalism. When a mantis lays eggs, they lay them in an egg mass called an ootheca. Sometimes the mantises that hatch early will stay around the ootheca and eat their newly hatched siblings, literally spawn-camping their family members. \n\nSource: I took an entomology class this on time.\n" ] }
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417fmz
if someone is on death row and has a medical issue causing them the die sooner than their execution date, why would they be given medical help?
Morally I kind of understand, but financially and logically it does not make sense to me.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/417fmz/eli5_if_someone_is_on_death_row_and_has_a_medical/
{ "a_id": [ "cz07r4f", "cz07ro2", "cz07rxf", "cz07vss", "cz0abg9" ], "score": [ 33, 11, 6, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Up until the moment the executioner turns the key, the state must provide care for their convicted felons. The logic behind this is that up until that last moment, the execution is not 100% certain. There are years of appeals, and the governor might still pardon the convicted at the last moment. Also, allowing someone to die from a disease without treatment can be considered as cruel and unusual punishment.", "* there is always the possibility the execution will be postponed, for any number of reasons\n* executions are supposed to be humane, dying of a treatable medical ailment may not be\n* it could create a perverse incentive for the state to withhold or botch medical treatment\n* they were sentenced to death by execution, that's not something you want to play \"close enough\" with\n\n\n\n", "Because we're not animals who think it's okay to let someone suffer no matter what it is they've done. Sure they may have \"deserved\" the suffering, but it just isn't the right thing to do. He/she was the criminal, not us.", "People who are in need of medical assistance are required to be helped unless they have a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). Just because someone is set to be executed on a certain day doesn't mean they can just be left to die before the date. That would mean the person in question was lied to about when they're being put to death since, legally speaking, refusal to help someone you're capable of helping is participating in their death.", "The short short version is that the government can legally mandate an execution and when that execution occurs, no individual is at fault for killing a person. \n\nIf someone like a prison guard or a doctor chose to withhold care and let the person die, that is effectively vigilante justice, which is illegal. " ] }
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3ueemv
it's common knowledge that exercising regularly and pushing yourself is good for your health and heart, but how does that logic work that the harder you work your heart, the healthier it becomes, instead of wearing it out?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ueemv/eli5_its_common_knowledge_that_exercising/
{ "a_id": [ "cxe5bg7" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "The human body is a fascinating thing. It has been developed to be able to adapt to different lifestyles. When working out, you are essentially telling your body that for your lifestyle, you require stronger muscles. The body has learned to oblige to this, thus makes muscles stronger by adding more protein to the muscle cells (contrary to popular belief, the muscles do not gain more cells, the cells get more muscle protein, and become bigger in the process).\n\nIf strong muscles are no longer needed for your lifestyle, the body will adapt to that as well, making you lose muscle." ] }
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r6pdy
How much variety is there between single celled organisms? Would two of my red blood cells be completely identical down to the smallest measure?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/r6pdy/how_much_variety_is_there_between_single_celled/
{ "a_id": [ "c43bvbm" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Two different questions really. Red blood cells aren't organisms. 1) Vast. 2) Potentially, but unlikely" ] }
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51n32s
Sickle Cell Anemia and UVR / Melanin Evolution Correlation?
I'm currently in a discussion with my family regarding the fact that darker skin tones developed due to UVR exposure and equator distance. However, a question has been posed: those with darker skin tones are susceptible to the disease SCA (Sickle Cell Anemia). I'm curious as to whether or not there is a link between the disease and Melanin Evolution. Does anyone have any information? Also, I apologise if I am misinformed anywhere in the above. Feel free to correct me.
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/51n32s/sickle_cell_anemia_and_uvr_melanin_evolution/
{ "a_id": [ "d7els6b" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "It is because the sickle cell hemoglobin gene when it is heterozygous (meaning only one copy of one of your chromosomes and the other chromosome has a normal hemoglobin) protects against malaria. Since malaria is much more prevalent in tropical locations and so is darker skin, the sickle cell trait is selected for by evolution. In colder climates, where the population tends to have lighter skin and malaria is absent or very rare, there is no selective pressure to have the sickle cell trait and hence the disease is very uncommon." ] }
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2r7e95
why is it that when my battery dies on my iphone it takes 10 minutes to turn back on while connected to a charger?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r7e95/eli5why_is_it_that_when_my_battery_dies_on_my/
{ "a_id": [ "cnd4k2j" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "Apple makes sure that the phone is charged to a minimum % (3%-5%?) before it turns on, to make sure it doesn't die again when you unplug it." ] }
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1z7ra7
What is happening during the onset, peak and duration of a local anesthetic?
Does the location of application negate the effects?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1z7ra7/what_is_happening_during_the_onset_peak_and/
{ "a_id": [ "cfrvg12" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Local anesthetics, like lidocaine, work by stabilizing the membrane of cells. What this means is that they reversibly decrease the rate of depolarization and repolarization of excitable membranes. One such type of membrane is the cell membrane of pain-sensing neurons. By blocking the ability of the nerve membrane to depolarize, the local anesthetic blocks the ability of the nerve to send a signal to the brain, thereby eliminating the sensation of pain while the anesthetic effects are active. They do this mainly by inhibiting sodium influx into the cells by blocking sodium-specific voltage-gated channels. \n\nTo really understand this, you'll have to review how nerves actually transmit signals. Then you'll be able to see how blocking a part of that cascade we can stop the signal transmission.\n\nHope this helps, feel free to message me if you have further questions." ] }
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6g4uhs
why does ukip have so many meps as opposed to other government positions?
They have 20 MEPs but only 3 members of the House of Lords or House of Commons. How does that happen?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6g4uhs/eli5_why_does_ukip_have_so_many_meps_as_opposed/
{ "a_id": [ "dinhreq", "diniic2" ], "score": [ 4, 2 ], "text": [ "UKIP supporters really, really, *really* hate the EU.\n\nMost everyone else just doesn't care about MEPs.\n\nSo UKIP voters are more energized in European elections than the general public.", "The First Past The Post system also does them no favours in the House of Commons. In 2015 they got plenty of votes, but you don't get anything for coming second in a constituency. Under a proportional system, they'd have had 80 or so MPs.\n\nHaving said that, they still got a significantly larger share of the vote in the 2014 European election than in the 2015 national election." ] }
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92yvvv
- why is, what seems like rape so prevalent in the animal kingdom?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/92yvvv/eli5_why_is_what_seems_like_rape_so_prevalent_in/
{ "a_id": [ "e39ev3z", "e39fsji", "e39hqpv", "e39k07d" ], "score": [ 9, 5, 2, 3 ], "text": [ "Because most animals don't have morals. Humanity has gotten to a point of intelligence and society that we don't need to allow ourselves to just procreate willy-nilly. \n\nCats, dogs, and other animals rape as part of procreation because they don't have the morals, the intelligence, the sense of caring for others, that says \"maybe they don't want sex\".", "Why not? If you're a male animal, and your primary goal is to increase the chances of your genes passing down as much as possible, you'd have sex with anything you can unless there's something preventing you.\n\nThere's no police in the wild, the only thing to really stop you is social factors, if you live in a complex enough social structure for that to matter. ", "Animals don't 'rape' each other they don't have the capacity to even process that type of instinct for the most part", "The most important thing to note here is that animals are amoral. There is no such thing as murder between animals; simply killing and being killed. Likewise, there is no concept of \"consent\". In most species, sex is not for pleasure but purely for reproduction. \n\nThe reason it is so common to see male animals \"forcing\" themselves on females to mate is because females are the choosy sex. Eggs are far more biologically expensive to produce than sperm, and therefore in higher demand. Much of sexual selection is female choice. Any male that manages to successfully reproduce and pass on its genes is \"fit\" (as in survival of the fittest), and often this involves being physically strong enough to overpower a reluctant female. Other times, it involves enticing a female. There is such a huge range of mating behaviors and systems that it is difficult to generalize, but that's about the gist of it. \n\nOne more factor here is that as far as we know there is no emotional component to most animal reproduction. It's just, \"will you make babies that will live? Alright, let's mate.\" It is purely an instinctive and physical process. Calling it rape implies that the female is traumatized and that the male has committed a wrong when this is simply not true.\n\nEdit: One more thing. In many cases sex is painful for the female, which we tend to anthropomorphize as rape. However, painful intercourse incentives the female to be selective in her mates. Evolution is basically just a competition to see who can reproduce the most successfully. Reproductive success is generally interpreted as the relative number of offspring that also reproduce. If the males adapt to their role of either enticing or subduing a female, and the females to theirs of selecting the most fit mates, things seem to work out.\n\nSource: senior bio undergrad focusing on zoology. I know way too much about animal sex.\n\n" ] }
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3rd7sv
why don't vending machines keep their change topped up from the money people put in?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rd7sv/eli5_why_dont_vending_machines_keep_their_change/
{ "a_id": [ "cwmz9qh", "cwmzav4", "cwmzd6o", "cwn1032", "cwn286a", "cwn8jy7", "cwn9rg5" ], "score": [ 113, 13, 2, 3, 2, 4, 6 ], "text": [ "Filtering a coin box and setting it up so that it can provide change is possible, but requires a more expensive model of vending machine. Most vendors are willing to pay for a cheaper model because guess what, people are still going to use it.", "That would be a convenience for you. But to the vendor it would be an extra cost. They vendor also has to make trips to stock the machine. Their preference is to also stock the change mechanism the way it is now and to not bother with refilling it with coins supplied by customers.", "Your machine is broken.\n\n[This Coinco machine](_URL_0_ ) is the standard in the US, and it sorts input coins for future change and only dumps them in the bucket if it's full. You can still see the \"correct change only\" light when there is less than a dollar in the acceptor or only quarters if the price requires dimes and nickels to make change from a dollar.", "They totally do, but a lot more people put in bills than coins. The total inflow of coins is rarely enough to fulfill the need for change. \n\nSource: I worked as a vending machine serviceman for 4 years. ", "In a lot of vending machines what handles change is a device called a coin mechanism. This device auto fills when change is added but requires a certain threshold to be passed before it will allow for bills to be used. So if you see somebody put in 2 dimes 2 nickels and 2 quarters it isn't to a point with which it can realistically afford to stop taking exact change. Also the coin mechanisms go bad semi frequently and will stop accepting new change because they are broken. As a vendor this is preferred to the counter point of the coin mech jackpotting which means instead of giving you back 10 cents worth of change it will discharge the entire contents of the coin mech (~$20 if full).", "Our workplace just put in a new type of vending machines. Doesn't make change, has to be exact change, but you can use your debit card if you want. Turns out that if you use your debit though, you're gonna get hit with some fees. Adds up to be about half-again what the product was.\n\nAnd they wonder why no one is buying anymore....", "Probably because the designers believed that by the time the change ran out, the machine would have to be refilled again anyway.\n\nReally it wouldn't be an issue if the change holder were big enough for that to be true." ] }
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[ [], [], [ "http://www.coinco.com/index.php/products/coinchangers/coinpro3" ], [], [], [], [] ]
2u25b2
What did ancient teenagers do for fun?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2u25b2/what_did_ancient_teenagers_do_for_fun/
{ "a_id": [ "co4hrt8" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "You mean a 'really' ancient civilisation such as the Greeks or the Egyptians, or will a more recent example do?\n\nRoman teenagers from the 17th/18th/early-19th centuries grew up in the street and the society they lived in was rife with violence. Every *rione* (ward) of the city usually had a long-standing rivalry with another, and these neighbourhoods' identities were very strong; for example, the people from Trastevere despised Monti, the *monticiani* hated Trastevere with a passion, everbody hated the Ghetto and so on. \n\nThus many teenagers and their friends often formed what we'd call neighbourhood gangs, but - and this is an important point - there was no extorsion or racketeering going on: these hot-headed youths spent their days fighting the other youngsters from different neighbourhoods. These 'battles' often took place in the Roman Forum and were known as *battaglie a rocci* - stone fights, whose ammuniton was provided by the nearby ruins. Knife, sword (more precisely the *saracca*, a type of sabre) and even slingshot duels were also extremely common among young people, to the point that hospitals regularly received people with related wounds... especially during or after the Carnevale, as recalled by father Bresciani in his *Edmondo, o dei costumi del popolo romano*; an astounding number of youngsters died because of such forms of 'entertainment'. \n\nHostarias, or pubs, were the quintessential meeting place for your average Roman and were also the kind of place in which brawls were much too common; these youngsters, but also their older counterparts, lived a honour-based lifestyle in which even the minor offences had to be 'settled' - you're looking at someone the wrong way? Snickering at that guy a table over? Then you're looking for *rogna*, or trouble. As mentioned earlier, Jews were also made the object of such 'innocuous' pastimes... when outside the Ghetto, they had to wear a yellow ribbon on their hats and were easily recognisable: many a youngster took one of them during the Carnevale and [made him/her roll down the Capitoline Hill inside a barrel](_URL_0_). Other forms of 'entertainment' during such a festivity was the *corsa dei barberi*, during which wild horses were made to run through the via del Corso and contestants had to stop them with their bare hands. Perhaps unsurprisignly, too many young people died this way.\n\nCard and dice games were *extremely* popular, and more often than not source of disputes... many of which ended up badly for the losing party. Favourite games were the *morra*, *faraone*, and the like but itinerant puppet theatres, the most famous of which belonged to the vitriolic Ghetanaccio, were popular as well; these often narrated the histories of fol poems such as the Meo Patacca. Finally, attending public execution (which were particulary cruel back then) was a popular pastime for both young and old people; *mazzolature* - during which the prisoner's head was smashed on a stone pedestal with the help of a hammer - quarterings and decapitations were also an occasion for social gathering exactly the same way a market or the hostaria were.\n\n\n\n " ] }
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[ [ "https://zanzathedog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/giudeo-nella-botte.jpg?w=320" ] ]
9cje19
why do egg-whites foam when we whisk them and do not when there is just a very tiny amount of egg yolk in it?
Why do egg-whites foam when we whisk them? I notice when there is just a drop of egg-yolk in the egg-white bowl then no matter how long or how hard we whisk the egg-white will never foam. What does the egg-yolk do?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9cje19/eli5_why_do_eggwhites_foam_when_we_whisk_them_and/
{ "a_id": [ "e5b5bi5", "e5bao7f", "e5bea2r", "e5beshv", "e5bhlsp", "e5bt2iu" ], "score": [ 1389, 27, 8, 3, 83, 2 ], "text": [ "The foam form the whites is formed by proteins from the protein-rich egg-white. The yolk contains fats that destroy the protein foam (also called an emulsion). You can try this by mixing in a tiny amount of cooking oil into the egg-whites: it will have the same lack-of-foam effect as a tiny amount of yolk.", "Whipping egg whites is kinda like building a sand castle. In this case your \"sand\" is little air bubbles and the \"water\" you need to make it stand up is the egg whites. A little bit of oil in your \"cement\" makes it not so sticky and the whole structure falls over.", "Actually eggs will foam when whipped with yolk present, they just take longer to foam and the foam is not quite the same texture, little less stable. My favourite chocolate cake requires 4 whole eggs beaten till peaks form. ", "Related question - why does using a copper bowl or whisk ake such a difference?", "To compound what was already said by others, you actually can foam egg yolks. It's more difficult than with the whites, because yolks contain far more fats and far less water than the whites but it is still doable in the right conditions: the italian *zabaglione* cream is exactly that. The trick there is to mix yolks, sugar and a liqueur like *marsala* or *vin santo*, then gently heat the mix while vigorously stirring... the heat will make the ethanol inside the mix boil, forming steam bubbles that will make the foam grow (air is insufficient) and more importantly it will make the proteins in the yolk coagulate, stabilizing the foam. It is difficult to make the right way because you need to heat the mix slowly and exactly at 83°C and keep it at that temperature for a short time, long enough to make the right % of proteins coagulate but not for too long (or the cream will become too firm and unpleasant). Some chefs quickly cool the cream with ice after it reaches the desired firmness to stop the reaction exactly at the right point. Others will serve it still warm.", "BTW if you heat your whites a bit it is easier to make an emulsion and it's more uh... solid" ] }
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3vk6hr
how do we not run out of telephone numbers?
I understand that they recycle telephone numbers from previously subscribed customers, but a standard 10 digit number could only have 3,628,800 combinations right? How have we not reached the quota?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vk6hr/eli5_how_do_we_not_run_out_of_telephone_numbers/
{ "a_id": [ "cxo71iw", "cxo723l", "cxo73q8", "cxo74cr" ], "score": [ 2, 4, 4, 2 ], "text": [ "10 000 000 000! There are ten billion possible numbers you can create with 10 digits plus all the recycled ones and youre done. Its true however that we are soon to be running out of them and companies are already looking for a solution.", "How did you get that figure? Did you do 10 factorial or something? Isn't it as simple as 10^10?\n\nEdit: you did do 10!, that's for a combination of things that exclude what's already been used and can't be used again. So a line of x amount of people has x! Combinations, you can use it that way because there can't be 2 tims, but phone numbers can have 2 7s", "10 digits is 9,999,999,999 combinations. Sure there are rules, unused area codes, the 555 exchange number, but it's still more than the number you suggest. Under the [North American Dialing Plan (the rules)](_URL_0_ ): Each three-digit area code may contain up to 7,919,900 unique phone numbers: NXX may begin only with the digits [2–9], providing a base of 8 million numbers: ( 8 x 100 x 10000 ) . However, the last two digits of NXX cannot both be 1, to avoid confusion with the N11 codes.", "You are using the wrong formula. I believe you are doing 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1. This formula implies that once you use a digit in a phone number, that it cannot be used again. So 403-555-6812 would be invalid in your formula because 5 is a repeated digit. \n\nInstead you want 10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10. Because every number has 10 digits AND each digit can be used multiple times in the same number. " ] }
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[ [], [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan" ], [] ]
14gmpx
What memorials/monuments, if any, has the USA donated to other countries that is not about the US in anyway.
This question occured to me from the Russian 9/11 memorial post ([Thread in question here](_URL_0_)). The US has recieved several monuments from other countries that had nothing to do with the donating country (like that Russian 9/11 monument, or the Statue of Liberty). But I can't find any evidense that we (the US) has ever done something similar.
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/14gmpx/what_memorialsmonuments_if_any_has_the_usa/
{ "a_id": [ "c7cvz95", "c7cxf97", "c7cxnny", "c7cxnvg", "c7cyex4", "c7cz0dk", "c7czqws", "c7d08yb", "c7d1i7l", "c7d2f7d" ], "score": [ 7, 3, 44, 12, 2, 41, 4, 6, 6, 2 ], "text": [ "[Does this count?](_URL_0_)\n\n > Studentendorf Schlachtensee (Schlachtensee Student Village) is a student accommodation complex located in south-west Berlin, in the Schlachtensee area of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough of the city. It was constructed between 1959 and 1964 to provide accommodation to students of the new Free University of Berlin, and was opened in 1959 by Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin. The project was financed through a gift from the United States government. It is now recognised by the German government as a National Cultural Monument.\n", "Not exactly the U.S., but the American Colony in Peru donated [this](_URL_0_) bronze fountain in 1924. Between 1921 and 1924, foreign citizens living in Peru commissioned several monuments as gifts for the country's independence's centennial celebration. ", "I think that the Marshall Plan was a pretty swell thing for the U.S. to do. It's not a commemorative statue, but you could probably find a list of many public projects that were completed as a result of the money. Almost all of the money was given in the form of grants and European countries, to my knowledge, were only asked to pay for the administrative costs of the program. We spent $13 billion on Europe, which was about 5 percent of our 1948 GDP. That's a *lot* of money in grants. \n\nEdit: Just for further comparison, in 2012, the equivalent project would cost around $754 billion, as a percent of GDP. ", "[This statue in Iceland](_URL_0_). I'm sure they're others. Try searching for \"A gift from the people of the United States\".\n\n[Searching around a bit more I also found that the US gave and endowed the construction of a wing of a museum in Sydney.](_URL_2_)\n\n[The US also maintains memorials around the world, generally to memorialize American war dead. These are not gifts.](_URL_1_)", "The Holocaust Memorial is the closest one that I can think of, but it wasn't to any state in particular but to a people and I gather that American Jews had a lot to do in that process...not that there's anything wrong with that at all. ", "Interesting question. Not something I've specifically studied, but from a historical perspective, it might be useful to consider the issue from America's somewhat unusual attitude to public versus private giving and why that distinction matters. While USAID has a lot of money to disburse in an average year, [the majority of American philanthropy has always been done privately.](_URL_3_) Why? It's a question better suited to a sociologist than an historian, but the reason I bring it up is because your question reminded me of something. In all of the Bodleian library's staircases, there are little plaques honoring the people who made donations and enabled the library to cover its astronomical maintenance and operating costs, and a *lot* of these plaques thank Americans. These acknowledgements are by no means unusual in European libraries and museums, and I remember asking one of the Bodleian librarians about it once. He said that Americans gave a lot of money during the 20th century to help rebuild and repair these institutions all across the continent, and not just after the wars.\n\nLike I said, this really isn't something I can reasonably claim to have studied, but I do know of one very good example: **[Charles Dent](_URL_0_)**. He was a retired airline pilot and hobbyist sculptor who read a 1977 *National Geographic* article about the destruction of [Leonardo da Vinci's planned Il Cavallo](_URL_1_). In short, the Duke of Milan commissioned da Vinci to create a massive bronze sculpture of a horse, and da Vinci spent more than a decade sketching horses and sculpting a model in clay, wanting the finished piece to be a masterpiece of equine sculpture. However, during [Louis XII's invasion of Italy](_URL_5_) at the turn of the 15th century, French troops used da Vinci's sculpture for target practice, and the Milanese defenders took the bronze that he'd wanted for the casting and melted it to make cannons. So all of da Vinci's work was for nothing.\n\nDent thought that was very sad and started working to replace the sculpture. He worked on it for the rest of his life and died in 1994, but not before endowing a foundation meant to carry on the work. Long story short, after a lot of work, fundraising, and assistance from Pennsylvanian foundries and artists, a massive bronze sculpture of da Vinci's horse was completed in 1999 and given to Milan as a gift from the American people. [This](_URL_2_) is what the finished Il Cavallo looks like, although [this](_URL_4_) might give a better sense of the horse's sheer size.\n\nThe U.S. government really wasn't involved in this at all, just as it hasn't been involved with most of America's donations to foreign monuments, memorials, or causes. Your question makes me wonder about the effect of public versus private giving.\n\nEDIT: Fixed formatting.\n", "I'm not a historian but I know that in my city, Buenos Aires, there is an statue of George Washington ([which Wikipedia says was made by Charles Keck](_URL_0_)) that was gifted by the United States to Argentina commemorating the nation's independency centenary.", "On the island of Ocracoke, North Carolina, they issued a perpetual lease on a plot of land to the British Government for use as a [British cemetery](_URL_0_).The bodies are of British sailors who drowned after their ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat in World War II.", "Would you count the US naming one of its warships during WW2 to USS Canberra in honour of HMAS Canberra (Australian Heavy Cruiser named after Australia's Capital) which was sunk during (well, technically scuttled after) the Battle of Savo Island, even though it was also a US battle? It's not like HMAS Canberra was in anyway American. \n\nHowever, there are claims that it was the US which accidentally hit Canberra during the battle. ", "I don't know if this counts but I like the peace Arch _URL_0_" ] }
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86vtql
What exactly was the Battle of Actium?
Why was Marc Antony and Ptolemaic Egypt warring against Octavian? What was the motivation? What was the Outcome?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/86vtql/what_exactly_was_the_battle_of_actium/
{ "a_id": [ "dwy68qq" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Not to discourage any further answers but while you wait you'll probably enjoy these older posts:\n\n[What was Mark Antony's intention when he gave Rome's lands to Egypt in 34BC? And why did it take Rome two years to start a war against him?](_URL_6_)\n\n[What were some of the rumors about Cleopatra during the civil war between Octavian and Mark Anthony?](_URL_3_)\n\n[What positive things did Cleopatra do in her reign?](_URL_4_)\n\n[Did Augustus order the death of Caesarion or wanted to bring him first to the triumph like he pretended with Cleopatra, Caesarion's mother?](_URL_2_)\n\n[What happened to the Ptolemaic Egyptian bureaucracy after the Romans took over?](_URL_1_)\n\n[Were the trappings of the office of pharoah maintained in any way in Roman Egypt?](_URL_5_)\n\n[What was the religion of Egypt like after Cleopatra and before Christianity?](_URL_0_)\n\nBy /u/cleopatra_philopater" ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6iem2e/what_was_the_religion_of_egypt_like_after/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5w8lrw/what_happened_to_the_ptolemaic_egyptian/?st=izwoo53i&sh=eff23e7d", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7ot9xi/did_augustus_order_the_death_of_caesarion_or/?st=jc7ymsrw&sh=49ea8bf5", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6bn729/what_were_some_of_the_rumors_about_cleopatra/dhqa1cx/?st=j2v4syov&sh=42a48ec3", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5o19ls/what_positive_things_did_cleopatra_do_in_her_reign/?st=j2cndrrq&sh=94790d2f", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/684omb/were_the_trappings_of_the_office_of_pharoah/?st=j22lnaq8&sh=10b526d8", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7kkenx/what_was_mark_antonys_intention_when_he_gave/drfh9ue/" ] ]
4l5sjd
seeing as video/picture quality is constantly increasing (1080p, 4k etc..), is there a limit to the quality that the human eye can notice a difference?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4l5sjd/eli5_seeing_as_videopicture_quality_is_constantly/
{ "a_id": [ "d3kijax", "d3kiyps" ], "score": [ 11, 2 ], "text": [ "Theres alot of conversation about this actually...\n\nYou really need to focus on DPI, since 1080p is very different on a 20\" tv vs an 80\".\n\nBut then it matters how far away it is, and how good your vision is...\n\nSome would say we already eclipsed that limit with 1080p tvs at normal viewing distances. Yet... its trivial for a person to identify a 4k vs 1080p tv. Could they be seeing other advantages? better color? better source content? or is it something more than just how many rods and cones we have in our eyeball?", "It's a very interesting question. [Here is a 3000+ vote explanation you could find with search](_URL_0_ ). " ] }
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[ [], [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2u3oum/does_the_human_eye_have_a_quantifiable_image/?ref=search_posts" ] ]
2yktlq
how do studios get to film in places as dense as new york without interrupting business and traffic, while also not being interrupted during filming?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yktlq/eli5_how_do_studios_get_to_film_in_places_as/
{ "a_id": [ "cpag3v2", "cpag4jo", "cpaglhu", "cpajapb", "cpam8g2", "cpaqm22", "cpaqo0u", "cpay5uj", "cpb0z0t", "cpba9xq" ], "score": [ 9, 278, 7, 10, 5, 5, 7, 2, 29, 2 ], "text": [ "The majority of the time, it's just green screen. [Here's the VFX video for the Time Square scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.](_URL_0_)", "I've got 10+ years working in the industry, my father was a camera operator and my grandfather was a Director/Producer of stage, TV and Film.\n\nThe studio, via the production coordinator/manager, makes an agreement with the city, and they provide Police assistance to close down the area the crew wants to film in. Sometimes they simply use squad cars to block off the area, other times they use small, lightweight barriers, it depends a bit on how large and busy an area they need to close off. The city gets a huge fee to cover their costs (and a little extra) and businesses in the closed area are given a compensation for lost income.\n\nThe city usually has stipulations on timing, and they generally try to avoid letting crews use any tremendously busy areas during normal business hours, especially in places like Times Square and the corner of Hollywood and Highland, which are huge thoroughfares for traffic and also cater to huge numbers of tourists who will be blocked from spending their money while filming is ongoing. However, this isn't a non-negotiable policy, if there's enough money on the table and the blockage will only be for a few hours, it can happen. Because of the cost and logistics, they usually try to expedite the process and be in and out as quickly as possible.\n\nIt's also worth noting that soundstages and backlots around the world have a nice collection of extremely convincing recreations of certain areas, so there are many cases where they simply use a 2nd unit crew to get exterior footage of the actual area, and then film the rest of the scene on a lot or in a stage. Also, green screens - see the Times Square footage in the 2nd Spiderman, per another user's response.", "I lived in NYC in the early 2000s. I worked in a restaurant right in the heart of the business district. 51st n Lexington if I remember correctly. On Saturdays the area is almost a ghost town. One Saturday i go in and they have a good portion of Lexington blocked off. There was fake snow and a couple different yellow cabs with cameras all over them driving around. It was pretty neat", "Wall Street during the weekend is a desert. Many movies use that area due to that fact. They still have police assistance and all, but it helps.\n\nFor other areas, a lot of logistics and closing down stores happen.", "And sometimes it isn't even New York, in Captain America The First Avenger [it was Manchester UK](_URL_0_) that stood in for the Big Apple.", "In addition, Toronto Ontario is often used as a stand-in for New York city.", "I lived in LA and have had to deal with movie's and TV film crews. Long story short. They do get in the way and mess up traffic. The reason they don't get interrupted is because they pay the city and any business's or residents around to close off the area they are using. It costs a lot of money and the cities love when then go over their time and have to buy another permit. In terminator 2 when the terminator rides his motor cycle off the bridge and into the aquaduct to stop the T1000 chasing john in the semi, was finished filming 5 minutes before their permit was up. There were cops there reminding them and telling them they would be shut down.", "I had the same question - specifically about Ken Block's 2012 closure of most of San Francisco; I know he's sponsored by DC Shoes, but I've always wondered how many millions of dollars that 10 minute film must have cost; you can see at some of the places, there are multiple tracks there when he arrives, indicating that he's taken a few runs through previously. They must have shut down those parts of the city for a couple of hours, at least. ([link](_URL_0_) for reference)", "I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet...PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS. I am a production assistant and my job is essentially to make sure that pedestrians don't walk into the shot and that they (as well as the crew) are quiet. Yes, cops help sometimes when there is a street scene (cars, walking in the road, etc.) but 90% of the time the PAs are the ones who make the permitted areas able to be filmed in.\n", "They also often film off location in quieter areas that are/are mocked up to look similar. For example World War Z; a chunk of the movie was film in Glasgow, Scotland because it looked a bit like Philadelphia and is a lot quieter and cheaper to use. " ] }
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cintr9
why do large amounts of flammable material in a small space explode (ex: gasoline can) when ignited instead of just lighting on fire and burning like wood
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cintr9/eli5_why_do_large_amounts_of_flammable_material/
{ "a_id": [ "ev7yk0a", "ev82r7s", "ev89jv6" ], "score": [ 11, 7, 2 ], "text": [ "Burning causes things to expand, heat up and release gases. if its in an enclosed space such as a pipe, grenade casing, gas can, etc... then the pressure from these reactions builds up causing the big bada boom.", "Whether a mixture of air and gas is combustible depends on the air-to-fuel ratio. For each fuel, ignition occurs only within the explosive range (i.e., the lower and upper explosive limits). For example, for methane and gasoline vapor, the explosive range is 5-15% and 1.4-7.6% gas to air, respectively.\n\nSo a sealed or partially sealed can of liquid gasoline wouldn’t actually explode. The top layer would burn and consume oxygen, but it can’t burn faster than it consumes oxygen. However, a can of gas vapor at the appropriate concentration would explode.\n\nSame goes for wood. A block of wood will burn steadily, because the exposed surface area is limited. However, if sawdust is thrown into the air it can combust rapidly because the individual grains of sawdust have more exposed surface area and more available oxygen. This is why sawmills and grain silos blow up every now and then.", "chemical reactions often create gases. gases want to expand. If they are confined into a casing they instead build up pressure. Usually the pressure rises till the casing breaks under the pressure, and the high pressure is released very fast. that is an explosion. If your casing is stronger, you get a bigger explosion.\n\nOpen flames also create gases, but they don't build up pressure, as the gas can easily expand into the open air. The only way to get an explosion with an open flame, when the flame spreads faster than the pressure can relax into the air (which happens at the speed of sound)." ] }
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