title stringlengths 3 300 | subreddit stringclasses 1
value | post_id stringlengths 5 7 | score int64 0 47.9k | link_flair_text stringlengths 0 63 | is_self bool 1
class | over_18 bool 2
classes | upvote_ratio float64 0 1 | post_content stringlengths 0 29.7k | C1 dict | C2 dict | C3 dict | C4 dict | C5 dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ELI5:Why don't cell phones need fans like normal computers? | explainlikeimfive | 1qjcbh | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | A lot of responses have said that cell phones have less power than traditional computers, but what about tablets? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddcwel",
"comment_text": [
"ARM CPU. Lower power, lower heat, works different than a PC CPU."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddd39v",
"comment_text": [
"Like everyone has said, they use less energy and release less heat.",
"Also, they are smaller and so they have a higher surface area to volume ratio, meaning they can cool faster."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdddoj3",
"comment_text": [
"The different flavor of CPU (ARM) that most phones uses lower power and generates less heat than a typical desktop or laptop CPU. They still generate heat, but all processors come equipped with a heat sink or a piece of hardware that's used to dissipate heat away... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddht3k",
"comment_text": [
"Quite simply because they were designed to not need a fan.",
"Computers are big enough to fit a fan in, and are powered from mains power or a large battery, so you don't have to use parts (CPU, graphics card, etc.) that consume less power and generate less he... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddcbaq",
"comment_text": [
"They use more expensive hardware made to need less power and therefore generates less heat. Also it's arranged more carefully to passively dissipate heat."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: If the US is technically on the Metric system, why are we not teaching it exclusively in schools? | explainlikeimfive | 1qjcej | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddch7k",
"comment_text": [
"Because a lot of things in the US are based on the Imperial system and won't be changing anytime soon. Being familiar with the Imperial system is a necessary skill in a lot of blue collar, manufacturing/industrial jobs where the expensive heavy machinery was desi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddcjjv",
"comment_text": [
"Schools exist to prepare you to be a productive member of the society and culture you live in. While officially the US is on the Metric system, there are still many places where the system is not yet in full use. Failing to teach the Imperial system would mean ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddcolr",
"comment_text": [
"Education is a power reserved for the states not the federal government. Personally I feel it should change for a better education system. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddcmj8",
"comment_text": [
"I actually work in construction and I see both almost on a daily basis... I have two socket wrench sets, one standard, one metric. Just seems a universal system would make more sense."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddcfeq",
"comment_text": [
"Every class I took in high school only used SI (International system of units) which is basically metric. It has been a very long time since I was in grade school but I do recall some use of imperial measurements, but that is out of necessity since they will be ... | ||
ELI5:What is the difference between C, C+, C++ and C#? | explainlikeimfive | 1qjbpk | 3 | true | false | 0.72 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddc4rr",
"comment_text": [
"C was written in the 70's for OS development and became very popular, and still is. C+ doesn't exist. C++ is a play on the ++ operator that exists in C, and is meant to provide additional, higher level features to the C language. (It's floated a bit from this; it... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddc88k",
"comment_text": [
"C+ isn't a programming language.",
"C came first, then C++. These two languages have built an enormous portion of modern software and they've been around for a while. Programmers using them have an enormous amount of control over the computer. Though as th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddek8c",
"comment_text": [
"Like your answer, just adding a few things:",
"C# is pretty much the same as Java. They're both garbage collected language that rely on virtual machine. Both have massive, useful, standard libraries (eg - you can do GUI and network stuff, rather than just g... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddf1lw",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah it's very similar to java, but as both languages have changed since C# was introduced they've came up with some meaningful differences."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddc53k",
"comment_text": [
"I was trying to think of how to phrase my answer, when I realized I could just steal one. Plus this guy puts it much better than I would have. Here it is, source at the bottom.",
"C - an older programming language that is described as Hands-on. As the progr... | ||
ELI5: What does "HTTP 2.0 to be HTTPS only" mean and what are the implications of this? | explainlikeimfive | 1qjogk | 2 | true | false | 0.76 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddfwhu",
"comment_text": [
"HTTPS means that the web page and the requests for the web page are encrypted in transit, meaning that people listening in on your computer (or the remote servers) traffic can't analyze them and steal personal information.",
"Standard traffic is done over HTT... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddg1ki",
"comment_text": [
"I'm unsure of the exact reasoning behind it, but I can say is that it's a VERY good idea, it removes a lot of the dangers of using the internet in one fell swoop.",
"It's worth keeping in mind however that despite the traffic being encrypted, a virus on your ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddg1ki",
"comment_text": [
"I'm unsure of the exact reasoning behind it, but I can say is that it's a VERY good idea, it removes a lot of the dangers of using the internet in one fell swoop.",
"It's worth keeping in mind however that despite the traffic being encrypted, a virus on your ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddfzk2",
"comment_text": [
"HTTPS = HTTP (normal web traffic), but using SSL (Secure Socket Layer), which is a form of encryption.",
"Which means that HTTP2.0 by default will use SSL, meaning that ideally all HTTP2.0 web traffic will be encrypted from endpoint to endpoint. This is a rea... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddn5b9",
"comment_text": [
"A lot is in response to the NSA, but there are other reasons too. The need to have a signed certificate makes it much harder for websites to be spoofed by DNS hijacking attacks, for example. (The certificate on a fake site won't match the one your browser has sto... | ||
ELI5: Why is pee warm? | explainlikeimfive | 1qjni0 | 0 | true | false | 0.38 | For example, how come of you take a piss outside, the pee is so hot that it gives off steam? What is the benefit of this? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddflx4",
"comment_text": [
"Its warm because it came from inside your body, 98+ degrees."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddfn00",
"comment_text": [
"The pee comes out of your bladder, which is ",
". Your body temperature is around 37 degrees Celsius. So your body keeps the pee warm."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddfm46",
"comment_text": [
"pee comes from your kidneys",
"Your kidneys are inside your body",
"your body is warm, therefore your kidneys are warm, therefore your pee is warm",
"This is also why sometimes after peeing you shiver - loss of warmth causes body to react to drop in t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddggf4",
"comment_text": [
"This isn't necessarily true. The shiver is called post-micturition convulsion syndrome, and not a whole lot is known about it. Oddly enough, there used to be a wikipedia page for it that is has since been deleted. The most plausible theory that I've heard is that... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddg9zk",
"comment_text": [
"Oh right. That a as dumb of me. I forgot about my body :)"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why were the immigrants that arrived at Ellis Island better than the ones arriving in the US now? | explainlikeimfive | 1qjvue | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddia2j",
"comment_text": [
"They weren't. This is a dumb question. You should probably delete it. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddilj5",
"comment_text": [
"feel free to hit report next time so we get it sooner."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddimby",
"comment_text": [
"This is a loaded and a subjective question, so it's been removed. Try ",
"/r/askreddit",
" instead."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddiu57",
"comment_text": [
"I'm also an immigrant, and I always come across this kind of affirmation coming from different places. And I just wanted to understand where this comes from. \nAnd this would be a question from a 5 YO who stays for 3 minutes in front of the wrong TV channel.\nSor... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddkf6c",
"comment_text": [
"Sorry Mason11987, but this feels like censorship.",
"I imagine if you posted asking questions about chicago in ",
"/r/toronto",
" and it was removed you'd be saying it's censorship as well? Same thing here, not every post belongs in every subreddit. ... | ||
ELI5: Nuclear Energy | explainlikeimfive | 1qk12m | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddkhor",
"comment_text": [
"teslamagic",
"Just a shame we don't have the wireless electricity that Tesla was supposedly able to create."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddk3lm",
"comment_text": [
"Well, really its the same as any other electrical power source. Take coal, for example. You burn coal, heat water, use steam to drive a turbine, turbine spins magnets around a wire, teslamagic. With nuclear power, you are simply doing a controlled burn of nucle... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddkszf",
"comment_text": [
"Just a shame we don't have the wireless electricity that Tesla was supposedly able to create.",
"We do have it. It's just that Tesla's wireless electricity is not what everyone on the Internet seems to think it was. It was short-distance and lossy, which is... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddl3ve",
"comment_text": [
"Ah, interesting! Maybe I'm thinking of the other story about the electricity that's supposedly able to be powered from the air, unless we have that too and it's not in any way useful either."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddl363",
"comment_text": [
"Use neutrons to split unstable atoms. Get more neutrons out to keep the reaction going. When atoms split, they release heat which boils water into steam. Steam turns a generator to make electricity. The split atoms are radioactive and need to be contained. "
],... | ||
ELI5: WHY IS PRINTER INK SO F***ING EXPENSIVE!? | explainlikeimfive | 1qk6qe | 4 | true | false | 0.61 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddls38",
"comment_text": [
"Because you're actually paying for the printer when you buy ink."
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddls7y",
"comment_text": [
"There's something called the ",
"razor and blades business model",
". Printers are sold at a loss (you're paying less for the printer than it costs to manufacture it), and they make up the difference by selling expensive ink."
],
"score": 11
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddlshn",
"comment_text": [
"It's the razor blade model. Cheap device, expensive cartridges.",
"If you get a laser printer the ink is unbelievably cheap in comparison, and the printers last far longer too.",
"Only problem is that laser printers are either black and white (still) OR ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddqh22",
"comment_text": [
"People would just buy a new printer when the ink ran out, because it came with an initial cartridge.",
"And the manufactures have combated this by providing a cartridge that are only around 1/4 full of ink. (different manufactures fill up slightly more / less... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddmlaa",
"comment_text": [
"Color laser printers have come wayyy down in price in the last few years. I've seen them range from $200 - 600. I do a lot of color printing at work and 5 years ago, a semi-decent color laser was over $1000. Now, it's hard to find small business models that are $... | |
Why is Arachnophobia so much more common than other phobias | explainlikeimfive | 1qkcb9 | 5 | true | false | 0.78 | I feel like many other things should be more scary to us than spiders. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddnnqd",
"comment_text": [
"A lot of spiders have venomous bites. Having a natural fear against spiders is a evolutionary advantage. ",
"Source"
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddncto",
"comment_text": [
"Spiders are everywhere, everywhere I tell you"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddnw6q",
"comment_text": [
"There are a lot of other animals that can kill you much easier than most spiders, but we don't have a common phobia for them."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddob7g",
"comment_text": [
"I would argue that spiders are the venomous critter the average person is most likely to run across. Plus the extra legs and body form are very different from that of mammals, which builds in some discomfort. ",
"Sure snakes are venomous, but they don't reall... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddqgi0",
"comment_text": [
"Five, or Fifty Five - Everyones gunna run..."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why does splitting a tiny atom result in such a huge explosion/release of energy? | explainlikeimfive | 1qk7cu | 5 | true | false | 0.86 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddm6la",
"comment_text": [
"Splitting a single atom results in a very ",
" release of energy. The trick to nuclear explosions is that you're splitting ",
" of atoms.",
"So atoms have something called \"nuclear binding energy\". The \"energy\" in there is kind of misleading, be... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddnoly",
"comment_text": [
"BOOM, you've got a nuclear explosion on your hands (er, well, as far away from your hands as possible, hopefully).",
"I like this response"
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddp3mr",
"comment_text": [
"i read this whole thing in Doc Brown's voice"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddm2ja",
"comment_text": [
"Well a proper nuclear weapon splits a decent sized mass because it uses U-238 or something else that can, once set off to being with, set the rest of itself off. ",
"But the answer you're looking for is because the mass lost when fissioning an atom (Assuming ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdds7ps",
"comment_text": [
"You just made me retroactively read that in his voice. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Do animals have a sense of time? | explainlikeimfive | 1qkd8q | 6 | true | false | 0.69 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddpmeo",
"comment_text": [
"Someone did a study of goldfish, which are popularly supposed to have only ten seconds of memory, and found that if you feed them at the same time every day, their behaviour shows they expect to be fed at that time. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddp9hs",
"comment_text": [
"Think about large-scale animal migration patterns that happen at very precise, regular intervals (yearly, or whatever). I guess it could be instinctive based on environmental changes instead of according to the amount of time that has passed, but then there are C... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddppso",
"comment_text": [
"I'd like to start out by saying that time is, indeed, a real sense. Scientists give it the fancy name ",
" Sometimes they call it time perception. It happens in your brain and controls things like your ",
" That makes you wake up at the right time!",
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddrabx",
"comment_text": [
"It's mostly genetic, but it changes. Does it ever feel like time is going slower or faster? That's when your hertz change. I'm not sure how you're gonna train yourself to have a higher CFF, though."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddrabx",
"comment_text": [
"It's mostly genetic, but it changes. Does it ever feel like time is going slower or faster? That's when your hertz change. I'm not sure how you're gonna train yourself to have a higher CFF, though."
],
"score": 2
} | ||
How come we don't explore Venus or send probes there? | explainlikeimfive | 1qkiib | 2 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddp3nm",
"comment_text": [
"Well about that",
"Specifically we aren't looking for life there because it's a burning hell hole that, so far as we know, can't support life. Mars? A lot more potential there based on what we know about life at least as it exists on Earth or could have exist... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddpbxh",
"comment_text": [
"That, and because that shit's expensive to send to Venus. We really can't keep an operational probe on the surface for very long before it craps out due to the clouds of sulfuric acid, the insane temps (800+ degrees F, 400+ degrees C), and a lot of other things.\... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddpkyn",
"comment_text": [
"Also, the surface pressure is so high that it crushed a couple of the Russian probes they sent back in the '60s. Even the probes that worked were only able to operate for a couple of hours, max. Considering the amount of money it costs just to put something int... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddpdnz",
"comment_text": [
"We have but the atmospheric pressure and the planet's intense acid rain make it hard. However, the Soviet Union had sent a probes and in 1970 landed one on the surface and transmitted data for 23 minutes before being destroyed."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddpkq1",
"comment_text": [
"Venus has incredibly high air pressure, extremely high temperature, and is covered in sulfuric acid. We don't have the technology to make a rover that can survive on the surface.",
"Magellan orbited for 5 years and mapped 98% of the surface. And Venus Express... | ||
ELI5:Why do humans have such great height/weight disparities compared to other animals? | explainlikeimfive | 1qklyb | 3 | true | false | 0.67 | Just curious why you see such a difference in height and weight in humans and not really any differences in animals. Any explanation for this? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddrdbb",
"comment_text": [
"Weight disparities have everything to do with diet. You can see such weight disparities in loads of species when changing their diet. So because weight differences are primarily due to diet in humans, let's focus on height. Height disparity has a ton to do with m... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddqdrc",
"comment_text": [
"The Cheetah goes to the savannah for it's food.",
"I go to Trader Joes - AS MUCH AS I FUCKING WANT!!!! YEEHAW! eat to your hearts content, piggy..."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddqfcc",
"comment_text": [
"Most animals have evolved their body to do a specific thing. A cheetah needs a body that can run really fast, and so does all the other cheetahs - therefore they have the same body type.",
"Humans are different. Every humans plays different parts in society, ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddseov",
"comment_text": [
"Because we can afford to deviate from the most practical fitness level (that would be lean, not much muscle neither fat).",
"But since we don't hunt to survive anymore, we can have fat people and wel as bodybuilders, since they can support those diets easily.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddxf1q",
"comment_text": [
"Consider a wild animal. ",
"If it is too small, it can't defend itself as well.",
"If it is too big, it requires more food, and can starve more easily.",
"In most cases, an animal of the \"wrong\" size is less likely to survive and pass on itself gen... | |
ELI5: Why do we (the US) keep talking about reforming the medical insurance sector instead of the for profit medical system that is known for gouging the customer? | explainlikeimfive | 1qkkrs | 4 | true | false | 0.66 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddwdxb",
"comment_text": [
"I'm a 26 male, former college athlete and eat fairly healthy. Now, WHY IN THE FUCK DID I GET CHARGED $450 FOR A 20 MINUTE PHYSICAL?",
"I've been asking the question you posted for awhile now. I just don't understand. Why can't there be some sort of regulation... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdeqn8l",
"comment_text": [
"Lets be clear on something. If you are a cash customer, you are paying MUCH more than insurance pays for the same procedure. Insurance pays about HALF of what a cash customer pays for an MRI for example. Insurance usually pays much less than that for most things.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdeqn8l",
"comment_text": [
"Lets be clear on something. If you are a cash customer, you are paying MUCH more than insurance pays for the same procedure. Insurance pays about HALF of what a cash customer pays for an MRI for example. Insurance usually pays much less than that for most things.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdf2m0m",
"comment_text": [
"I accept and relent my previous statements."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdfn52q",
"comment_text": [
"It is well known that hospital pass on overhead costs attributable to the uninsured and unable to pay to insured people. This is a big up-charge to insured and our of pocket payors."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: If there are reports of concentration/death camps in North Korea, why doesn't anybody do anything about them? | explainlikeimfive | 1qf8wl | 13 | true | false | 0.89 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc7u3k",
"comment_text": [
"Everyone mentioning China is mistaken, China doesn't really consider itself an ally of NK in the same way that we traditionally think of allies. China often criticizes the actions of North Korea, it just sort of supports NK geopolitically as a buffer from Korea."... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc89nf",
"comment_text": [
"Anybody who invades is now responsible for dealing with the aftermath. You have to rebuild an entire countries buildings and infrastructure from the ground up, deal with a huge humanitarian crises, rebuild the economy, and at some point deal with hotly contested ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcdcgw",
"comment_text": [
"because Seoul is a city... and cities don't move like that"
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcdcgw",
"comment_text": [
"because Seoul is a city... and cities don't move like that"
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcdeez",
"comment_text": [
"Patrick Star would disagree. "
],
"score": 4
} | ||
ELI5: Six Sigma | explainlikeimfive | 1qf9gu | 2 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc7nq5",
"comment_text": [
"Yes. There is/was a Japanese school of thought that professed that the correct amount of defects in manufacturing was basically, zero. ",
"Let's think of the classic bell curve in grading papers. The average score is the mean. And the bell curve is described ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc83in",
"comment_text": [
"Does it work? ",
"People still think Japanese cars are the best quality. ",
"And the government has a whole set of standards around iso9000."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc83in",
"comment_text": [
"Does it work? ",
"People still think Japanese cars are the best quality. ",
"And the government has a whole set of standards around iso9000."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc8a56",
"comment_text": [
"I think it is mainstream. I would say most companies use some form of it for quality control. The line workers might not be on top of it, but he supervisors and managers likely have."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdd0b0d",
"comment_text": [
"in a very simple way, manufacturing companies use six sigma, lean manufacturing or continuous improvement techniques to ensure they have almost 0% of failure in whatever they produce. \nthey are principles and activities they do to make sure the quality is improv... | |
ELI5:ELI5:For years it seems I've read about breakthroughs that are going to change everything yet everyday life is still pretty much the same. What force is so strong that it is impeding society's advancement so efficiently? | explainlikeimfive | 1qfkah | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcavsx",
"comment_text": [
"Money. It cost SO MUCH MONEY to get a \"cure\" to the market. Like, millions and millions and millions of dollars. And it takes a long time too. This is because to get a drug to market, they have to first develop it in a lab (research is very expensive), then the... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcb11u",
"comment_text": [
"You should be more specific. But because of the fact that we aren't exposed to these changes and people don't readily point them out we don't see the advances we've made.",
"For example I recently started working at Best Buy and the computers I sell amaze me ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcb4m8",
"comment_text": [
"I've read about breakthroughs that are going to change everything yet everyday life is still pretty much the same.",
"It's not at all the same. I'm guessing that you're either young enough not to have anything to compare it to, or the changes were so slow th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcc59p",
"comment_text": [
"I think you have a warped perception of time.",
"10 years ago I didn't have a cell phone, and would have been nervous at the thought of taking lasers to my eyes to correct vision. ",
"Look at 5-10 year intervals, not daily or weekly."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdccgp2",
"comment_text": [
"plus, you know, having a forum where you can ask 80 million people a question and actually get reasonable answers in a short period of time. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why is there all this focus on advanced encryption/decryption technology but we still can't decypher some older things like the zodiac cypher? | explainlikeimfive | 1qfmsa | 3 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcckmn",
"comment_text": [
"It's possible that the zodiac cipher is some form of one-time pad cipher, which is mathematically unbreakable. It's a cipher that has its uses, but is usually less practical than modern asymmetrical key ciphers that are still insanely difficult to break but easie... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcbpex",
"comment_text": [
"It is possible that it can't be deciphered and is his way of mocking police"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcehc7",
"comment_text": [
"Also, if it is not one time pad, breaking such things often become easier with the amount of text you have. Those texts contain, what, a 1kb of data? On the internet we communicate several gb of data. If we had that much text, we probably would have broken the s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdce5h2",
"comment_text": [
"Just what is the zodiac cipher? Can I use it to encrypt my message? No, because no one knows how it is encrypted. As far as we know, it could be just random marks on a piece of paper.",
"Another reason that it is hard to break is that there isn't much of it.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcjslo",
"comment_text": [
"Sometimes things are impossible to decipher because you have no basis against what to decipher against, like a pattern.\nIf I just made up something like \"AY2M8\" and told you it meant something, how would you even find out? There's no context. You don't have an... | |
ELI5: What is autism? | explainlikeimfive | 1qfubr | 0 | true | false | 0.43 | I understand that it is a spectrum. What are the symptoms? How is one diagnosed? What are the degrees of severity? And what are the ramifications of Asperger's? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdce4ws",
"comment_text": [
"Because it's not being awkward, like being shy or introverted. It's lacking the ability to judge why and what others are doing. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcecco",
"comment_text": [
"Basic: problems interacting with others in a \"normal\" way and preference for routines and repetitions. There are often also issues with perception of the world, and certain senses may seem to be heightened/dulled. ",
"There are a lot of tests to diagnose de... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcefwt",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks for your thoughtful reply."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcejqp",
"comment_text": [
"Allow me to underline something of the other explainations: autism is not a binary disease. You can't simply have it or not have it, there is not a black or white, it is mostly grey. For example, I am a very shy guy. I have no mental problems at all. However, bac... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcfvs8",
"comment_text": [
"This sheds a lot of light. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: if our genes determine eye colour, why do some people (and some animals) have two different colour eyes? | explainlikeimfive | 1qfue7 | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcf1uu",
"comment_text": [
"No, what he said is incorrect. What you're referring to is known as Heterochromia. Eye color is determined by the presence of melanin, and is determined by at least 2 different genes. Heterochromia can inherited, or can be a form of chimerism usually meaning that... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcft42",
"comment_text": [
"Eye colour is determined by the amount of melanin produced in the iris tissue. People with blue eyes have very little melanin, and people with brown eyes have a lot of melanin, and between those extremes are the greens and hazel tones.",
"In most cases of het... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcepto",
"comment_text": [
"So there is a left eye gene and a right eye gene? I wasn't aware of that."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcf9n8",
"comment_text": [
"That makes more sense, but here's a question: if there was a fusing of zygotes you would expect other genes, not just the eye colour genes, to also be affected, right? But most of the people and animals with different coloured eyes I have read about are perfectl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcfe0a",
"comment_text": [
"Sure you can have an organ, say your spleen, from one Germline. Then a different organ, like the kidneys from a different Germline. The only time you can tell is when you have readily observable differences like pigmentation or hermaphrodites, or if you are speci... | ||
Why do cats like fish so much more than other meats? | explainlikeimfive | 1qfxta | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcew42",
"comment_text": [
"Probably because tuna is a lot more pungent than processed lunchmeats.",
"Also, if you feed them canned food, it could very well be a reaction to you opening a can of something delicious (but I'd guess it's just because tuna has a very strong smell to it)"
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcer7d",
"comment_text": [
"This question is based upon unfounded assumptions."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdceua3",
"comment_text": [
"yes.",
"what makes you think kitty cats go for fish above various kinds of red meats?"
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdceuyt",
"comment_text": [
"I have had and been around several cats. They all seems to go a little more crazy when they smell tuna compared to opening a package of lunch meat."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcfe8c",
"comment_text": [
"Thank you for disliking all of my responses... I will in turn reply by liking all of yours ;) I feel like the can opener sound is a giveaway for tuna... that is why they are so excited. Thank you for the input. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: That aristocrat joke | explainlikeimfive | 1qg1y1 | 5 | true | false | 0.73 | I read that it is an ironic juxtaposition. Someone break that down for me please. Really appreciate the effort. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcg4ys",
"comment_text": [
"You're thinking of an aristocat."
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcfuqv",
"comment_text": [
"There is nothing funny in the joke itself, it evolved as a way for comedians to test thier skill, delivery and push thier boundaries - and was typically only told in the company of other comedians."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcjidc",
"comment_text": [
"An ironic juxtaposition is when you have two things together that contradict each other fundamentally. For example, a Buddhist serial killer. He's all about peace, but he's killing people. It doesn't go together. ",
"In the case of the joke, you have this fam... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcghh3",
"comment_text": [
"If you truly are interested in this there is a documentary that is about this joke specifically. ",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aristocrats_(film)",
"It was actually a very good documentary that can explain why the joke is considered such an import... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcj12i",
"comment_text": [
"I sincerely hope this wasn't a serious statement"
],
"score": 3
} | |
ELI5: Why did I pass out after giving blood, and what would prevent this from happening next time? | explainlikeimfive | 1qga81 | 6 | true | false | 0.69 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdchrx3",
"comment_text": [
"You need to rest for about 10-20 minutes after giving blood, and eat some snack and/or drink some juice to get your blood sugar level back up. Don't do anything that would normally put strain on your body, such as heavy lifting or alcohol drinking."
],
"score... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdci84a",
"comment_text": [
"Are you really light? Build-wise? That just seems unusual. Maybe you stood up too fast?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdci84a",
"comment_text": [
"Are you really light? Build-wise? That just seems unusual. Maybe you stood up too fast?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdckx6b",
"comment_text": [
"Is this the same for the amount of blood given when having blood tests? They only fill a small vial but I go cold and pale and pass out with these even though I'm not squeamish or bothered by needles. I've regularly watched myself lose lots of blood and watched d... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdckx6b",
"comment_text": [
"Is this the same for the amount of blood given when having blood tests? They only fill a small vial but I go cold and pale and pass out with these even though I'm not squeamish or bothered by needles. I've regularly watched myself lose lots of blood and watched d... | |
ELI5: Why does the temperature often fall outside a given day's high/low forecasts? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgete | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | For example, my weather app today is giving me a high of 30°F, low of 23°F. Current temperature: 18°F. Doesn't that make it for a low of 18°F? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdciyqv",
"comment_text": [
"The forecast is just a prediction based on past data. It's not guaranteed to be accurate."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcjipj",
"comment_text": [
"I'm using an app, not an actual thermometer.",
"So the question becomes: Where is the app getting its data, and is that data accurate?",
"Perhaps the forecast you're seeing is right most of the time, and the ",
" is wrong."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcj9wr",
"comment_text": [
"The high is what the temperature will peak at around the hottest time of the day. The low is where it will fall to after that. It doesn't take into account the temperature going into the day."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcjb1g",
"comment_text": [
"but... don't they update the forecast daily? How can it be ",
" far off ",
"?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcjduz",
"comment_text": [
"It could just be that they're basing their forecasts on a different part of town, and local geography makes the area you're in slightly colder. For instance, they could be taking measurements from an airport that is close to a body of water, and water tends to r... | |
panic/anxiety attacks. what are they? how severe are they/ and what do they feel like? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgjyg | 3 | true | false | 0.81 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdckgr7",
"comment_text": [
"Yes, they are real. A person can feel like that cannot breath, and something is severely wrong. Be sensitive to someone having them, it is very real to them. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdckhgr",
"comment_text": [
"Well they're what they sound like really, and as severe too. It's just being worried about something or many things, or in some cases nothing at all that you can point to, and being worried to such a degree you can't really do anything but have your freak out. ",... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdclaup",
"comment_text": [
"Panic attacks can be set on by literally anything. Many times mine come out of no where. Panic attacks are different for every person and can range from small ones to very intense attacks. I've had ones where it's simply like I can't breathe or my heart beats irr... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcm0dh",
"comment_text": [
"Dizzy, trouble breathing, heart pounding. When I get them it's pretty much every symptom of a heart attack except for the arm=pain. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcvctd",
"comment_text": [
"The best way to describe it is a \"sense of impending doom.\" Listing the clinical symptoms doesn't really do it justice."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5 How are there more dimensions than 3? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgk06 | 3 | true | false | 0.72 | We've been talking about dimensions briefly in calculus and I've just been going along with it up to this point but I can't rap my head around any dimension higher than 3. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcklh2",
"comment_text": [
"What you have to do is completely disavow yourself of the idea that dimensionality implies space.",
"Done? Okay, good.",
"A dimension is, very roughly, a quality that allows us to distinguish between things. If I have two objects that are ",
", but th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcmy04",
"comment_text": [
"This is that \"Imagining the 10th Dimension\" book/video, isn't it? That's not based in any sort of current scientific thought, it's a new age philosophy thing. ",
"The author says",
":",
"Again, if someone is confused about whether I'm pretending to ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcmy04",
"comment_text": [
"This is that \"Imagining the 10th Dimension\" book/video, isn't it? That's not based in any sort of current scientific thought, it's a new age philosophy thing. ",
"The author says",
":",
"Again, if someone is confused about whether I'm pretending to ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdckdij",
"comment_text": [
"What is a 2d plane? It's just a series of 1d planes put side by side; there's an infinite set of parallel but distinct lines in a 2d plane, each one being an instance of a 1d plane. ",
"What is a 3d plane? A 3d plane, similarly, is just an infinite set of 2d ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdckdh3",
"comment_text": [
"The fourth dimension is time. So length, width and height describe where, and the fourth describes when.",
"Watch ",
"this",
" video, which explains 10 dimensions. There are many theories about how many and what higher dimensions are, but I don't thin... | |
ELI5: The internet. How is it built up? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgok6 | 2 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdclig4",
"comment_text": [
"The Internet is a large group of computers that are connected to each other. The Internet is used to send information quickly between computers around the world. It has millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks and websites, which ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdclkut",
"comment_text": [
"Wow, I sure feel stupid. Thanks man."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcll5s",
"comment_text": [
"The internet is lots of networks connected together.",
"A network is just a group of computers that can talk to each other. In an office, they might all be connected by cables. Your ISP is a network, you connect to that network over your phone lines (probably... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcll8d",
"comment_text": [
"OK, lets analogize here:",
"Are you familiar with tin-can phones? I assume so. With a tin can phone, one person has one can, another person has another can, and there's a string that goes in between.",
"You talk into one can, the sound goes through the st... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdclrao",
"comment_text": [
"I figured I'd offer what I could, someone smarter would offer something better later, and upvote/downvote magic would get the best answer to the top. :D"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: If someone hires an assassin to kill someone, and the murder is solved completely, who gets the punishment or sentence? The assassin, or their employer? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgtdb | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcmsqn",
"comment_text": [
"The assassin and the employer will get equal sentence, murder and conspiracy to commit murder.",
"The actual terms will depend on how much evidence is gave though."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcoka2",
"comment_text": [
"Both. However a much more normal circumstance is that the authorities catch up to one or the other first, then offer a lighter sentence for them to roll on the other person."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcu0np",
"comment_text": [
"In the American court system, if someone is killed during a felony offense, everyone involved is equally guilty. If you and your buddy decide to go rob the liquor store down the street and your buddy shoots and kills the clerk, you would be tried for murder the s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcmuto",
"comment_text": [
"Ideally both."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcn5lg",
"comment_text": [
"There's no way to answer this without specifying a legal system. In general, they'd both be guilty of criminal offences. The specifics will vary significantly from place to place. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How can a sail boat go back and forth? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgtt8 | 0 | true | false | 0.25 | I understand that the boat uses wind to power it, so how could you go one way with the wind, and turn around 180 degrees and go back? Do you have to zig zag your way? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcmzng",
"comment_text": [
"Do you have to zig zag your way?",
"Bingo! Sailboats use a method called ",
"beating",
" to move against the wind."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcnu3z",
"comment_text": [
"Tacking is the act to turning the bow through the wind, so that you can switch the side that the wind is coming from. It's the opposite of jibing, which is turning the stern through the wind.",
"Beating is repeatedly tacking so as to enable the boat to trave... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcnr3l",
"comment_text": [
"I thought it was called \"tacking\"... Or is that something else?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcolia",
"comment_text": [
"Tagged as 'this guy knows his boats'"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcopqd",
"comment_text": [
"Tagged as 'this guy knows his boats'",
"Honestly, you should probably tag me as \"This guy knows how to Google\", because I seriously know ",
" about boats."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: why does heat distort things behind it? | explainlikeimfive | 1qgvat | 12 | true | false | 0.72 | Like behind fire places, and from exhausts from cars? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcnldw",
"comment_text": [
"Hot air is less dense than cold air, and the contrast causes light to refract when traversing from one medium to the other. It's similar to looking through choppy water."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcr04l",
"comment_text": [
"the heat (from fire or a hot engine) affects the air in between you and the thing you're observing (the object being distorted). The heat-source will heat up the air in front of you and as a result change the density of the air gas in between you (the observer) a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdczzfh",
"comment_text": [
"Because hotter air moves faster, the light bounces around more when it hits those molecules, and your eyes detect it as wavy distortion.\nI thought this was ELI5?\nJust because you use less words, doesn't mean you're more easily comprehended."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdd1ohb",
"comment_text": [
"Even though I'm not 5... Your response actually allowed me to understand without saying 'whaat?' Thanks man! Have an upvote."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcohvj",
"comment_text": [
"To add to this, since the hot air is less dense, that causes movement within the air, as the hot air rises, pushing the colder air out of the way. This is what causes the shimmering and wavyness."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why does FAFSA have to have people post their parent's tax info even if the student is over the age of 21? | explainlikeimfive | 1qh5jt | 2 | true | false | 0.63 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcq9wu",
"comment_text": [
"Most parents pay for their child's education, so by having their income it helps prevent rich kids from gaming the system."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcqjre",
"comment_text": [
"What about parents who refuse to do taxes and get a postponed tax, so the student ends up being screwed out of college and tuition?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcqnyb",
"comment_text": [
"Then their parents fucked them over. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcqq7x",
"comment_text": [
"Yep. Any ideas how to bypass the parental tax in \"special situations?\""
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcqxl4",
"comment_text": [
"Those people are completely fucked. People in this situation ",
" be able to get a federal loan that doesn't need FASFA but its not going to be very much. Until they can file on their own or can afford to pay tuition they can not continue their education. "
... | ||
ELI5: Why do we have different holes for urine and feces. Why not just one? | explainlikeimfive | 1qh7et | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcrddw",
"comment_text": [
"I don't have a concrete answer, but my guess:",
"Your urine and feces are outputs from two different systems in your body. Your urine is the waste from your kidneys. Blood flows into your kidneys, your kidneys do their magic to remove the waste/water, and tha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcqym6",
"comment_text": [
"I suppose the real question is, what are the benefits. If one were going to design a biological system, what issues would arise if we just had both liquid and solid waste exit from the same orifice? "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcuzvk",
"comment_text": [
"And therein lies the problem. Humans came about from evolution, not a design. ",
"A lot of lower species do use a single exit for waste. In fact, some use a single exit both for intake and waste! We evolved separate holes because it provided an advantage.",
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcqwx3",
"comment_text": [
"yeah, that doesn't really explain it. why not just have urine come out of your ass, where there's less risk of infection? "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcrnyf",
"comment_text": [
"why not just have urine come out of your ass, where there's less risk of infection? ",
"Because there would be a ",
" risk of infection, since your intestines are ",
" of bacteria."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: How are milks that don't come from animal made? (Soy milk, almond milk, etc) | explainlikeimfive | 1qhaqr | 16 | true | false | 0.72 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcs01e",
"comment_text": [
"Very generally speaking it's made by grinding the almonds or beans, mixing with water, letting it soak and then straining it to remove the solids."
],
"score": 19
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcwr0r",
"comment_text": [
"2 words. Almond nipples."
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcxblx",
"comment_text": [
"Same for rice milk and coconut milk. Coconut interiors have a few different phases during their lifespan, but coconut milk is made from the fatty and sweet pulp, the same sort of stuff you'd find shaved onto a cake. ",
"Milk is a colloid, which is one subst... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdd3j79",
"comment_text": [
"If I remember right, a fun fact is that the solids strained out from soy milk is then processed a bit more and becomes tofu!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdd3ny9",
"comment_text": [
"That sounds correct; I don't know what induces soy milk to curdle, but if you did it with how's milk, you'd get cottage cheese, and then a basic cheese as you remove the liquid and compress the solids. So tofu is analogous to cheese."
],
"score": 2
} | ||
ELI5: Given a string of digits extracted from within pi, is it possible to find a pattern? In other words; without looking at Pi as a whole, can we find patterns in its pieces? Are there any interesting examples? | explainlikeimfive | 1qha2q | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | Edit: Since the first part of my question has been answered, "yes it is possible", I want to clarify; I'm not searching for "meaningful" patterns. I am interested in any patterns that have been found that are complex or super-interesting, but mean nothing to Pi as an infinite sequence. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcronf",
"comment_text": [
"\"a pattern\" can be found in anything.",
"I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to find the digits 0123456789 in a sequence in pi, that's a pattern. (01234567 is found 112099767 digits in, so it'd take a while)",
"Same with 01248163264, another pattern. (0... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcrpvk",
"comment_text": [
"Sure, you could find some patterns, but since they are finite in the area they appear, they mean absolutely nothing. The sequence 12345678 appears in the first 200 million digits, but it means nothing for the number as a whole."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcrvfq",
"comment_text": [
"Since pi is infinite and non-repeating, you can find EVERY pattern you can possibly think of. You can find an ASCII translation of the works of Shakespeare."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcsi7x",
"comment_text": [
"I'm not searching for meaning in regard to Pi as a whole. I am simply looking for patterns within pi, within any given string of numbers that might be ",
" interesting. ",
"For example... ",
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vED6ANx5lqA",
". This vi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcsnqk",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks, this is the kind of example I'm looking for. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why are so many NFL players supporting Richie Incognito? | explainlikeimfive | 1qheid | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | I understand why a certain macho/hazing culture might have led other players to engage in the same kind of behavior—to be complicit in Incognito's actions. But now that everything has become public, I would expect more players to distance themselves from him. As far as I've seen, there's no evidence that he's anything ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcv8au",
"comment_text": [
"People aren't defending Incognito's actions. They are denouncing Martin's. As far as Incognito and the other Dolphins knew, everything was playful and inline and without talking to them about it, Martin went public and defamed the entire organization."
],
"... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcw625",
"comment_text": [
"As far as Incognito and the other Dolphins knew, everything was playful and inline",
"Well, I think everybody would be understanding if we were just talking about hazing-style pranks where several senior players were involved: sticking him with the dinner tab... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcwqf7",
"comment_text": [
"Many players are defending the status quo / culture of the NFL more than they are defending Incognito. I think most people find his actions reprehensible, but don't think it's a microcosm of what happens everywhere. ",
"Think of it like a college kid joining ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdd3r1p",
"comment_text": [
"It's a bit of a player's code thing. These types of matters are supposed to be handled in house. Also, Martin should have been \"tougher\" or \"more of a man\" in the players' eyes. Really, though, it's just messed up thinking. Think about it, in the NFL, you can... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdctuhf",
"comment_text": [
"It is part of the cycle of abuse.",
"When those players joined the league they probably got bullied and called names and had to buy things for the veterans and now it is time for this new guy to do the same thing. It is a very \"This is how it is - don't try... | |
ELI5: Is it possible to purchase your own debt on the secondary debt market? | explainlikeimfive | 1qhmuz | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcvx2y",
"comment_text": [
"Who says your bank is going to want to sell you your own debt? If you have enough bad debt that the bank is willing to write it off or sell it, then you're probably in no position to buy it. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcwrh4",
"comment_text": [
"Very common subject today after the recent front page, hence I'm removing this post. ",
"Please see ",
"this thread",
" for explanations and discussion. ",
"Thanks"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcxiz8",
"comment_text": [
"Awesome. Thanks"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcwwdr",
"comment_text": [
"From my credit risk experience, here's what that might look like:"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcxk2z",
"comment_text": [
"(or getting a friend to do it)"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
Since space is a vaccuum, if an astronaut took off his or her helmet the air would be sucked out of their lungs. Where does it go? | explainlikeimfive | 1qhgr8 | 1 | true | false | 0.66 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdctq3y",
"comment_text": [
"Not to be pedantic or anything but space is a near vacuum. Anything pushed out of one's body or suit would simply diffuse into space."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcu17c",
"comment_text": [
"Where does it go?",
"It dissipates into space, forever dropping in density.",
"To give you an idea, interstellar space is not a ",
" vacuum. Densities range from 10",
" molecules per cm",
", down to 10",
" molecules per cm",
"."
],
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdctsbq",
"comment_text": [
"Which is the same thing"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcto22",
"comment_text": [
"Into the vacuum of space."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdctp58",
"comment_text": [
"The air isn't being sucked out, it's expanding. Eventually there will be no more pressure, but the air will continue to expand with momentum until something stops it, like gravity for example.",
"What volume the air would need to reach before having approxima... | |
Why does the world need interest? | explainlikeimfive | 1qcgiz | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | How did it start and why do we still need it? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbf1hm",
"comment_text": [
"Because I'm hardly going to lend you money and not make something for myself in return. What would be the incentive to lend money without interest?"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbg8cr",
"comment_text": [
"Realistically, no. For one, banks are businesses, and they are out to make a profit. Second, there is enough demand for loans that people are willing to pay interest. No interest would be great, but even my student loans from the US government, which is supposed ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbfgq9",
"comment_text": [
"True, but couldn't you have a system were as at the end of the lending period the client pays say 10% of what he borrowed.\nMost mortgages have the client paying up to twice or more of what they have borrowed over the lending period.",
"Surely there must be o... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbfou1",
"comment_text": [
"What you just described is still interest. ",
"The reason you end up paying so much interest on a mortgage is because they take decades to pay back. The bank wants to not go broke. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbfuur",
"comment_text": [
"I see. Are there not any other mechanisms though which could be used?"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What does "patent pending" mean, practically? If the patent has still not gone through couldn't someone still copy the invention? | explainlikeimfive | 1qcpl1 | 25 | true | false | 0.78 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbi1ac",
"comment_text": [
"I believe that patents can provide legal protection from the date they were ",
", meaning any infringement could be sued retroactively. It's like saying, \"We can't sue you now, but will be able to in the near future.\""
],
"score": 26
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbumot",
"comment_text": [
"This is actually a good thing. It prevents shitty bureaucracy from messing up the fact that they totally called dibs first."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbj2ef",
"comment_text": [
"It means the patent has been submitted to the applicable office for the invention, but not yet reviewed and/or awarded. In circumstances and depending on country it can be enforced from the date of application - the length of time from submission to patents bein... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbmkrf",
"comment_text": [
"Your almost right, except for the 18 months. The 18 months are the period which it can take for the application being published (and accepted). The acceptation of an application doesn't mean that it will be granted - It just says that the patent is in the right l... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbi04c",
"comment_text": [
"Well yes, they very can \"steal\" the idea, but even if they do manage to steal the idea, what happens if the patent on the original product goes through and gets granted? Then the person who stole the idea before would be under infringement issues. So even thoug... | ||
ELI5: Put options in stock trading? | explainlikeimfive | 1qcrid | 3 | true | false | 1 | I was watching Casino Royale, and I am very confused about the whole "Betting against the market" senario that one of the characters was attempting. He was buying, Put options, if I remember correctly. And I just don't understand how someone can bet against the stock market. Highly confused, I've done research and all ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbiqbr",
"comment_text": [
"I'll do my best to explain what LeChiffre was doing.",
"So this company is making this new plane. Its going to be super awesome and everyone is really excited. When the prototype is unveiled it is expected that the market is going to react positively and th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbj52f",
"comment_text": [
"One change here -- he doesn't commit to selling the stock, he purchases ",
". If the stock goes up to $100 he loses the cost of the contract, but doesn't have to actually sell the stock."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbisa1",
"comment_text": [
"Put options are an agreement to exchange an asset at some time in the future at a specified price. This aids in planning, as the purchaser doesn't need to worry about the price changing in the future. If the price goes up the seller loses money, but if the price ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbj9ob",
"comment_text": [
"Thank's for the correction. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbjhyc",
"comment_text": [
"Just to continue with it though.....the reason why options are so crazy --",
"Imagine you have $1000 to invest. You could buy 10 shares of a $100 stock, or you could buy 1000 $1 options contracts on the same stock. The value of the options contract will mov... | |
ELI5:Why should I be excited that they'll be making curved smartphone screens? | explainlikeimfive | 1qcv33 | 1 | true | false | 0.54 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbjqdd",
"comment_text": [
"Well they already have made them, some are just getting more dramatically curved.",
"Honestly you don't need to get all that excited. It let's you fit more screen space in lest width - at the cost of more depth obviously - and it's also nice that a curved scr... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbkphp",
"comment_text": [
"It really has very little practical purpose for consumers - it will appeal mainly to those who like the hottest, newest thing. But it's a step forward in display technology, and with continued improvements, we'll see flexible screens. I'm not excited, exactly, an... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbjvdy",
"comment_text": [
"Im pretty sure its just so it can fit more comfertably when you have it in your pocket"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbl5a2",
"comment_text": [
"It's not the current curvature of the phone that's worthy of excitement. It's the future implications of the technology. Right now, they are just slightly curved. After a while to improve upon the tech, they have the potential to be completely flexible, cover ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbrwco",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah, I can already imagine the uses of curve-able touchscreen technology. This could be used to cover entire complex, curved surfaces and make touchable objects or cover walls and curved surfaces with large touchscreens. The potential is amazing."
],
"score"... | ||
ELI5: Why do many people in Japan wear face masks? | explainlikeimfive | 1qcxj2 | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | In pictures I've seen of Tokyo and such, I see a lot of people wearing face masks. Why is that? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbkeup",
"comment_text": [
"To stop themselves spreading diseases to other people?"
],
"score": 8
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdblbb2",
"comment_text": [
"Gosh, my mistake. You've totally proved me wrong. Your eloquence and debating skills vastly exceed my own, and now I see the error of my statement. "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbkhp0",
"comment_text": [
"Correct. People often assume it's to prevent them catching a cold or something but it's the opposite."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbkici",
"comment_text": [
"This is correct, and it makes a ton of sense as well."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbl6bb",
"comment_text": [
"There are many reasons that people wear those masks. There isn't any one correct answer. "
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: Why do babies cry all the time? | explainlikeimfive | 1qd6nr | 3 | true | false | 0.63 | Even when they are just born, they still cry. Why? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbq0i2",
"comment_text": [
"Luckily, the Doctor taught me how to speak baby.",
"\"THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT I'M VERY UNCOMFORTABLE AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO MENTALLY COPE WITH ANYTHING BECAUSE MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE HAS BEEN A BLISSFULLY WARM ENVIRONMENT IN WH... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbn4i5",
"comment_text": [
"Babies have no other way of expressing negative emotions and get attention from others, so crying is basically just an instinctual response to fear, anger or pain. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbncaf",
"comment_text": [
"It's there only way to communicate Hungry, Lonely, In pain, dirty diaper. And since one of those conditions is often true they cry a lot."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc41d6",
"comment_text": [
"Recent parent?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc5fe5",
"comment_text": [
"9, 5, and 1 year olds."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why can't I pay extra to get my package delivered in the evening when I'm actually home? | explainlikeimfive | 1qdkf1 | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbqt4k",
"comment_text": [
"UPS has something like this already",
" although I haven't tried it."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbr768",
"comment_text": [
"You can, so... yeah. You can also have them deliver it to a neighbor or friend or something and pick it up from them.",
"Removing because the premise is incorrect"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbrj1b",
"comment_text": [
"Premise not entirely incorrect. I don't ever see a box to check when ordering online that says something like \"evening delivery only (add $5)\", and sometimes you don't know or trust your neighbors. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbrlx0",
"comment_text": [
"You know how when you order something, FedEx or UPS or whoever sends you an email with the tracking information and stuff? You can set it up from there if you go to their website. I'm not sure if USPS does evening delivery (I doubt they do), but you can have them... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbroln",
"comment_text": [
"Well that's a nice answer. Maybe you could have left the post up and I could have given you the checkbox, but nooooooooo"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
Why does it take such a long time for warm water to come out of the tap? | explainlikeimfive | 1qdlnx | 10 | true | false | 0.6 | Every moring it takes 90 to 120 seconds for any warm water to come out of the tap, even though the warm water heater is like 15 feet away from my shower | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbqlsy",
"comment_text": [
"There is standing water in your pipes. When the hot water has not been run for a while, the water in the pipes cools to room temperature. Therefore, you have to flush the room temperature water through the pipes until the hot water makes it from the hot water hea... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbr6gt",
"comment_text": [
"This is absolutely correct. The time it takes for the water to warm up depends on the length of pipe between your water heater and the faucet you are using. Typically, if the water heater is at one end of the house, the furthest fixture away will take the longest... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsymt",
"comment_text": [
"Exterior?",
"Maybe in the south. The rest of us have this thing called ",
". We don't even run pipes inside exterior walls."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbr0v4",
"comment_text": [
"This, but in addition, the pipes themselves are also cold, so they cool the hot water until they heat up. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdburz9",
"comment_text": [
"I didn't think it was a stupid question at all. It's a perfectly reasonable question for someone who doesn't know anything about plumbing."
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: Why wouldn't life on another habitable planet look similar to Earth's? | explainlikeimfive | 1qdjpv | 43 | true | false | 0.76 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbq3pu",
"comment_text": [
"There probably would be similarities. Things that were swimmers would probably be sleek, for instance, due to natural selection. It's just that there would have been an entirely different evolutionary history and so different things may/would have been tried th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbw6tk",
"comment_text": [
"Additionally, life could depend on fundamentally different chemistry. Life on our planet is basically determined by a few types of molecules (DNA, proteins, water, etc.), but that could be different on another world. It's fairly hard for us to imagine how life co... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbqkub",
"comment_text": [
"I like the thoughts, just wanted to elaborate a little more.",
"Some of the other influences that impact natural selection include the chemicals in the environment. On Earth, we have air that is 78% Nitrogen and 21% oxygen, and less than 1% Carbon Dioxide and... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbq4n9",
"comment_text": [
"Life evolves through random mutations. This image demonstrates how you could take one of two paths, and keep doing this over and over until your destination is incredibly distant. ",
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/An_example_of_infinite_... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbxt7z",
"comment_text": [
"Even physics could play a huge role. The possible structures of land animals is severely limited by Earth's gravity. Animals that are very long either have to be built to rest their weight on the ground (crocs, snakes), be very thick, (elephants, rhinos), or swim... | ||
ELI5:Why do Americans celebrate remembrance day? | explainlikeimfive | 1qds7m | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | After doing a little research I found that it was started by King George V and was started at the end of WW1, a war which the US was not so heavily involved in comparison to the major European powers at the time, so why do they use this date as opposed to something different? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsghw",
"comment_text": [
"Because on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month people stopped shooting at each other in 1918, which allowed the diplomats to work on a peace treaty ending the great war. The US suffered 323,018 casualties in the war. That's an appallingl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsq4a",
"comment_text": [
"To put that number in perspective, 1917-1918 was the only year in the entire century where the population of the US ",
".",
"edit: and while spanish flu didn't help, a lot of the dead were soldiers."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsnzc",
"comment_text": [
"Keep in mind also that WWI used to be known as \"The Great War\", making the idea that larger conflicts were inconcievable at the time. \nCelebrating its end would make sense for all countries involved. Additionally, since the U.S. was an isolationist country at ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbslrv",
"comment_text": [
"In the U.S. it's Veteran's Day, a day to remember and honor all American veterans. There is also Memorial Day, another federal holiday that honors all servicemen and women who died in wars. ",
"Also, plenty of American soldiers died in WWI. "
],
"score... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbywz1",
"comment_text": [
"Not nearly as high especially when you count it as % of population. Canada lost almost 1% of population to the war, the US lost .1% Britain lost more than 2% and Germany almost 4%. The war and the aftermath was truly devastating. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why don't devices natively support MKV video files? | explainlikeimfive | 1qdpre | 1 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbrnt0",
"comment_text": [
"The average user who knows nothing about video codecs is not likely to stumble upon an MKV file unless they are looking for it.",
"Most if not all video files can be found in .avi or similar wide-support format. In order for MKV to be supported on more device... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbs6ss",
"comment_text": [
"I just bought a new TV that natively supports MKVs. ",
"It takes time to update firmware, operating systems etc and its not worth doing until a format proves popular"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbue07",
"comment_text": [
"It's simply not popular enough.",
"Which is a shame really, it's the best format out there..."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbrpr2",
"comment_text": [
"MKV files are only used by specific subsets of a community - specifically those who are looking for Anime or HD Quality TV shows."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbrw83",
"comment_text": [
"MKVs will be just as small as an AVI or MP4 if the same encoding algorithm is being used, so that's not really a reason."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
Why is it considered embarrassing to get an erection in public? | explainlikeimfive | 1qdr24 | 3 | true | false | 0.56 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsjzo",
"comment_text": [
"Forget inappropriate messages, a dude popping a boner in public is practically tantamount to carrying a sign around that says 'I'm a pervert! Look at me! I'm a pervert! Hide your kids!'",
"There is (imho) a significant amount of pressure on men to not show an... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsjzo",
"comment_text": [
"Forget inappropriate messages, a dude popping a boner in public is practically tantamount to carrying a sign around that says 'I'm a pervert! Look at me! I'm a pervert! Hide your kids!'",
"There is (imho) a significant amount of pressure on men to not show an... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbs86i",
"comment_text": [
"The same reason it would be embarrassing if you sneezed and got snot all over yourself, if you had sudden diarrhea, or vomited. These are all normal bodily functions but are perceived as embarrassing by our culture. Also, anything related to sexuality is inherent... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsw0l",
"comment_text": [
"It isn't; tell the world you're a boner owner."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbsmpc",
"comment_text": [
"Because if you have a boner and nobody else does, you must be getting aroused by something that no one else is. ",
"The easiest explanation for everyone else is that you're thinking about some sexual fantasy, and you're thinking about it now because you have ... | ||
ELI5: What is the idea of solipsism? | explainlikeimfive | 1qe24a | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | I've looked up the concept before but the idea still confuses me and I'd much appreciate a simple(ish) answer | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbv7t2",
"comment_text": [
"Solipsism is the idea that you can deny almost any fact you want, EXCEPT the fact that your mind exists. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbvnqt",
"comment_text": [
"But at the price of everyone denying the one fact to which you cling."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbvkx6",
"comment_text": [
"It's the idea that you can't be sure that anything exists except your own mind. You know your mind exists because it's the thing that's pondering the question of whether anything really exists. However, everything else ",
" a dream, or an illusion, or the ma... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbvyg6",
"comment_text": [
"rumdogg, I'm no expert but I'll give it a try explaining it to my understanding (which may very well be incorrect).",
"Solipsism in most basic terms is the idea that you are real and everything else is not real in the way you are real. Have you ever toyed wit... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbwrp0",
"comment_text": [
"It is less of an idea and more of a criticism.",
"Let's say a lawyer is trying to discredit a witness. They might start asking how good the light was, how far away they were, if the had a reason to lie.",
"Failing at that, they might move on to, how do y... | |
What causes a midlife crisis? | explainlikeimfive | 1qeksp | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc0w99",
"comment_text": [
"The person realizing that their youth is over and they are stuck in their current unsatisfying lifestyle."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1vhc",
"comment_text": [
"I think it's hitting a certain age, and realizing; ''Oh shit, I haven't done (Insert life goal here) yet!'' "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc60ml",
"comment_text": [
"That's empty nest syndrome, which is different from a midlife crisis."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc4pld",
"comment_text": [
"Throughout life you're always told to work harder so you can be in better classes at school, go to a good university in order to get a good job, then you work up to a high position in that job. Then what? What was the work for, all through life you've been workin... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc0spy",
"comment_text": [
"Marital problems caused by the kids moving out of the house are a major factor. Many married people forget what it is like to be alone in a house together. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: What makes someone faster than another? | explainlikeimfive | 1qekwu | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc0wb5",
"comment_text": [
"I assume you are talking about running?",
"Basically when it comes to running people have analyzed this and most people actually move their legs at roughly the same speed. So Usain Bolt does not actually move his legs faster than you or I.",
"What speed a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc15qq",
"comment_text": [
"People are different. They might be in different physical shape. They might have longer or shorter legs. They might have better muscle fibers. They might just have better training & be willing to push themselves faster."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1s3j",
"comment_text": [
"PBS just ran the show, \"NOVA: Making Stuff Faster\" and they said (just as EstoAM) that it comes from pushing down on the ground. Check out this vid clip.",
"http://video.pbs.org/video/2365100733/"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1s3j",
"comment_text": [
"PBS just ran the show, \"NOVA: Making Stuff Faster\" and they said (just as EstoAM) that it comes from pushing down on the ground. Check out this vid clip.",
"http://video.pbs.org/video/2365100733/"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc17uz",
"comment_text": [
"ethnicity?"
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: If identical twins are genetically identical, why are their often various physical differences? | explainlikeimfive | 1qelnu | 5 | true | false | 0.78 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc0yqk",
"comment_text": [
"Appearance is based on both genetic and environmental factors. Fingerprints are a perfect example. The exact configuration of fingerprints is based on specific placements of the fingertips and toes as the skin on them develops; they are essentially 'wrinkles' tha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc0yv1",
"comment_text": [
"Because there's more to a person's development than just their DNA. Nutrition, physical activity, etc. play a major role in development."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc0x74",
"comment_text": [
"Hank Green has the answer"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1ymp",
"comment_text": [
"Nature(Genetics) vs Nurture(Environment)"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcao9r",
"comment_text": [
"Your hair cells and your teeth cells have the same genetic code as well, but you don't grow teeth out of the top of your head, and you don't chew food with your hair either. Even though they have the same genetic code, some portions are turned off and other porti... | ||
ELI5: Why is there constant inflation of currency? | explainlikeimfive | 1qemc1 | 2 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1h0j",
"comment_text": [
"There are a few different factors at play when you're talking about inflation.",
"Increase in the price of goods/services",
"Increase in the circulating currency",
"Breaking down it down to a simple explanation would be akin to:",
"Meaning that if... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc141f",
"comment_text": [
"Because a small amount of inflation is good. It stimulates the economy and prompts people to invest.",
"The real danger lies with ",
"flation, which can cause an entire economy to collapse (see: ",
"deflationary spiral",
")."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1c1l",
"comment_text": [
"In what way does it stimulate the economy to have your dollar/yen/peso/whatever worth less?",
"If your currency is worth less over time, then the only way to make your liquid cash earn money is to invest it. Loan it out to someone and collect interest. Put ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1pdd",
"comment_text": [
"because the economy is worth X this year, and after next year will be worth X+Y... so we need to create Y amount of currency to match or you get the deflationary spiral that ",
"u/antechronos",
" mentioned."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc16f3",
"comment_text": [
"In what way does it stimulate the economy to have your dollar/yen/peso/whatever worth less? How is this metered and was this a feature of older economies?"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why can't we stop North Korea | explainlikeimfive | 1qep0x | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1yp6",
"comment_text": [
"A) That would be kind of a dick move.",
"B) China would protect their ally, starting a much larger war.",
"C) South Korea would be caught in the crossfire.",
"D) Killing American soldiers because North Korea \"isn't helping anybody\" and says some ann... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc2qp0",
"comment_text": [
"that has been essentially brainwashed into believing that the US is evil.",
"And with a US invasion leading to the deaths of almost certainly millions of North Koreans, I doubt that attitude would change."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc2591",
"comment_text": [
"North Korea has the largest military in the world. ",
"Here is a visualization of just how big their military is (warning large image)",
".",
"They have an insane amount of artillery aimed at South Korea. If a war were to kick off they would be abl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc28mm",
"comment_text": [
"Going into North Korea would be very, very, bad politics. First off, China and North Korea are allies, so we would probably end up bringing China into a war against us, which would in turn cause other countries to get involved, which would more than likely lead t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc2qzy",
"comment_text": [
"Please read the sidebar and ",
"the rules",
" before participating in ",
"/r/explainlikeimfive",
".",
"9. ",
" All posts on ELI5 are archived, so you should search before making a submission. Remember to search using ",
" don't just pa... | ||
ELI5: The difference between hard water and soft water. | explainlikeimfive | 1qewg8 | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc41oe",
"comment_text": [
"Specifically calcium and magnesium ions."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc42os",
"comment_text": [
"Yes, and it's mainly the calcium content that decides the hardness of the water. But naturally with calcium comes other minerals. But when you get mineral buildup in the coffee maker, it's 99% (or more) calcium. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc40ve",
"comment_text": [
"Hard water has more minerals disolved in it. These minerals can cause buildup. They also make it so that soap doesn't foam as well."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdclwta",
"comment_text": [
"Yes Swedishboat and mastersson have it correct. To add. hard water usually comes from wells and not surface water. A water softener exchanges the calcium ions for sodium ions"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcltqm",
"comment_text": [
"This is wrong. Iron does not cause hard water, sediment does not cause hard water. Boiling the water usually makes it even harder. Source: Im a licensed water operator"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: In words, why do the permutations 7P7 and 7P6 equal the same amount? (specific problem included) | explainlikeimfive | 1qeuih | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | I'm assuming I'm phrasing this right: in permutations, formulated { nPr }, n=number of things to choose from, and r=number of items you choose. The specific problem in dealing with involves ordering the letters in the word 'VERMONT' in as many different combinations as possible: THUS, order matters, and since we assum... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3n4h",
"comment_text": [
"This is true for any number of n: nPn will always equal nP(n-1).",
"Let's look at a smaller set, and you'll see why. Let's show you that 3P3 = 3P2.",
"Imagine a set of 3 letters, a, b, and c.",
"Imagine we pick all 3 letters, and want to find how many... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3x96",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks for explaining. It just seemed logical that, since an extra letter would be left off in every 6-letter set, I should be able to create more unique letter combinations than in cases where all the letters were used...but this actually helps me quite a lot."... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3qs7",
"comment_text": [
"Let's carry out a thought experiment. List all the permutations you can using 6 of the 7 letters (this is 7P6). (note: don't actually list them all--just imagine a list of all 6 letter permutations). ",
"Now, for each of these 6 letter permutations you have... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc41o6",
"comment_text": [
"Hey, words that induce understanding of a mathematical subject! Brilliant; thank you! I guess I was trying to tack on the remain of letters from previous spellings to subsequent organisations of tiles...somehow thinking that if I saved a letter in one six-lette... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc7mdn",
"comment_text": [
"If you've got 7 chairs and 7 people, suppose the first 6 people (in alphabetical order) take seats. That doesn't leave much option for the 7th person.",
"So every possible seating of the first 6 people corresponds to a possible seating of all 7 people and v... | |
ELI5: Why don't animals have belly buttons? | explainlikeimfive | 1qeve9 | 3 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3l15",
"comment_text": [
"All mammals have a navel but you can't see it in most non-human species because it's covered up by fur. Reptiles and birds don't have navels because they hatched from eggs, and thus did not have an umbilical cord (your bellybutton is the \"scar\" left from where... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3ror",
"comment_text": [
"Yes, but my dog doesn't have fur on his belly. I don't see a belly button.."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3umr",
"comment_text": [
"Apparently they shrink a good bit on dogs and cats as they age. You can supposedly find it by feel though (I don't have a dog and I'm not brave enough to try it on my cat :-)."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc3wjr",
"comment_text": [
"Oh, I see. Thanks!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc427f",
"comment_text": [
"My dog has one. It looks more like you'd expect a scar to look on a human -- it's pretty much flat. Maybe a better question is why humans have non-flat belly buttons, be them innies or outies."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why does Coca-Cola make a big-budget Christmas advert every year, despite not being what I'd consider a Christmas beverage? | explainlikeimfive | 1qey9b | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc4grr",
"comment_text": [
"Because the Coke brand, by repeatedly doing these ads, is now very much one of the first things that many people think of when they think of Christmas. Coke is traditionally something you would drink in the summer, but by being so closely tied to Christmas due to... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc5bbp",
"comment_text": [
"Coke's Christmas campaign began in the 1920s. You may be right about sales always being steady seasonally, but I'd be hesitant to say that the data for that is really accurate, given that it's almost 100 years old. ",
"-",
"http://www.executional.co.uk/co... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc5zk0",
"comment_text": [
"You may be right. For some reason I remember hearing in a Marketing course that Coke was actually towards the top in things people think of when they hear \"Christmas\", but I'm having trouble finding any evidence to back up that claim."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc5xvh",
"comment_text": [
"i stand corrected. I thought the Christmas campaign started in the late 70's-early 80's. That's what I get for not doing my research :). I still hold that if you take a survey, most people will NOT list Coke in their top 5 things they think of when you mention Ch... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc5ec2",
"comment_text": [
"Coke created the modern day Santa Claus"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How has the US, which has been much more conservative towards pot than Canada, been able to make all these strides towards legalizing it? | explainlikeimfive | 1qex8b | 5 | true | false | 0.79 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc4wgw",
"comment_text": [
"It's a bit if a tricky situation in the US, too. Under federal law, pot is illegal, and whenever there are conflicting laws on the federal and state levels, the federal law always supersedes state law. This has created a problem in the \"legal\" jurisdictions bec... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc42eh",
"comment_text": [
"The individual states control their own criminal law. Here in Canada, criminal law is a federal matter. You can't have some province just decide to amend the criminal code. "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc44wj",
"comment_text": [
"So the states can legalize it state by state as they go along but we'd have to legalize it Canada wide?"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc8ara",
"comment_text": [
"It still does something important: it shifts the policing burden on to the federal government to support the prohibition rather than on local police."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc46cg",
"comment_text": [
"Yup. We would have to get parliament to repeal bits of several acts. The provinces couldn't really do much. "
],
"score": 3
} | ||
How can frozen dinners (like Banquet brand) cost as low as 89¢ per box? Is it even food? | explainlikeimfive | 1qezji | 4 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc5o7y",
"comment_text": [
"I never heard of this brand, so I Googled it. The cheapest I was able to find was $1.65. Either way, it's cheap because it's small amounts of low-cost food -- corn, potatoes and low-quality meat. ",
"Rounding: The whole thing weighs 9 ounces, so let's say eac... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc6exe",
"comment_text": [
"I'm curious as to where you buy ground beef that it's that expensive. My store had it on sale last week for $1.99/lb.",
"But, also factor in that the meal is frozen. That reduces a lot of the overhead from rush shipping and money lost to spoilage, so that mak... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc6taf",
"comment_text": [
"I'm curious as to where you buy ground beef that it's that expensive. My store had it on sale last week for $1.99/lb.",
"I never buy ground beef, so I looked it up on Fresh Direct. I'm in New York, so it's not surprising everything is more expensive. I just c... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc8taj",
"comment_text": [
"From Ottawa here, where do you live? Around $2.99 a lb here from metro and such."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdceh70",
"comment_text": [
"Wow, how's living in Iqaluit working out for you?"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why can most teens stay up incredibly late without feeling much of anything? | explainlikeimfive | 1qa3k7 | 0 | true | false | 0.4 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb5b3f",
"comment_text": [
"Long story short, they can't. They're just worse than adults at judging when they're impaired by fatigue."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdcw389",
"comment_text": [
"So it's like accidentally burning yourself with hot water when your hands are too cold to feel it?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqc2z",
"comment_text": [
"That would include succinct, eloquent, and to-the-point replies as well, then?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqmj4",
"comment_text": [
"If you happen to see one, let me know and we'll discuss it then. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdapy52",
"comment_text": [
"No low effort explanations, single sentence replies, or jokes in top-level comments."
],
"score": -1
} | |
ELI5: Where did the stereotype that nurses are female come from? | explainlikeimfive | 1qa7g2 | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqzq4",
"comment_text": [
"The first modern nurse was Florence Nightingale. Women weren't allowed to attend university in those days, and what she did was fairly revolutionary. She led an interesting life, and started nightly rounds, leading to her being called \"The lady with the lamp.\""... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdarelm",
"comment_text": [
"Because historically, women were nurses."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaslns",
"comment_text": [
"I believe it comes from the fact that traditionally only men fought wars (bigger, faster, more agressive, etc) so it would be wasting male soldiers by having them as nurses.",
"But, since armies still need medical attention, they used women to assist male doc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdatcfj",
"comment_text": [
"Not nearly in the same capacity as women were. It's not even comparable."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdarqkm",
"comment_text": [
"In my own opinion, I think it could have been because women weren't looked as anything more than just a helping hand. Maybe like a \"sidekick\". Not to do the full on job but just a bit of it. I think it also just goes down to how women were belittled and weren't... | |
ELI5: Why don't we roll logs over minefields to just detonate all of the mines? | explainlikeimfive | 1qa95f | 2 | true | false | 0.76 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdardq3",
"comment_text": [
"Ground is bumpy and logs are straight, it is too easy for a mine to be missed in a hollow. Instead we whip the ground with ",
"chains."
],
"score": 14
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaruoz",
"comment_text": [
"Or a couple hundred pounds of C4 strapped to some rope and a rocket."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdatn5q",
"comment_text": [
"Here it is in action."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb1zqi",
"comment_text": [
"Adding to the other answers, even if it did roll straight and hit all the mines, after just a few the log would probably be destroyed."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdary4n",
"comment_text": [
"no one mapped minefilds. some of them are hundreds of square miles"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5:What determines your individual hair strand growth? And why are some of your hairs curly? What makes them curly? | explainlikeimfive | 1qazt3 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdazchq",
"comment_text": [
"Hair strands grow straight if the hair shaft is round in cross section, and curl if they are squarish or rectangular."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb04ig",
"comment_text": [
"Hair and nail growth are linked to metabolism. They are naturally produced as the cell that grow hair/nails obtain nutrients. That's why, when you're sick and your body is hot, your nails and hair grow faster. Your body has turned up its metabolism to heat itself... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb9h5b",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks! ",
"Don't understand the down votes though? Thought the question was pretty legitimate. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb9ij7",
"comment_text": [
"I think the downvotes are because your question is a pretty easy google. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdba2y4",
"comment_text": [
"Guess so. Didn't have much luck. Need to sharpen my google skills I suppose. Thanks again"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: What is the correct way to perform CPR? | explainlikeimfive | 1qawb5 | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaygze",
"comment_text": [
"A lot places around the world are now advocating Hands Only CPR in which you don't give rescue breaths. There's an entire other post with over 100 responses from today talking about CPR and included in that are links to the AHA, etc which discuss this. "
],
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaygc6",
"comment_text": [
"EMS Dispatcher here. Any particular situation you were looking for? We are trained to give the exact verbal instructions."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdayibi",
"comment_text": [
"First aid trianing is the best place to learn this kind of stuff but remember Dr's ABCD:",
"\nD - Danger to yourself or others",
"\nR - Response from the victim",
"\nS - Send for help",
"\nA - Airway (make sure its clear, remove any debris)",
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdayxme",
"comment_text": [
"I have pics of our dispatch instruction cards that are verbatim what any 911 dispatcher is going to instruct you to do if anyone is interested."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdayu6d",
"comment_text": [
"For adults: ",
"Someone has to take control, may as well be you. But if you're not trained and somebody claims they are, follow their instructions",
"Check for danger to yourself and the victim.",
"Check for a response. call something in both ears 'he... | ||
ELI5: Why did no one get mad at Kanye for making a song called "Black Skinhead?" [Serious comments only] | explainlikeimfive | 1qb2e2 | 2 | true | false | 0.63 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb0enq",
"comment_text": [
"I don't think that song has racist lyrics, not explicitly anyway. And \"Black Skinhead\" is just the title - you're assuming he's referring to himself, but he might not be. Honestly, I don't think he put much thought into it. I think he just found two words th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb0lt7",
"comment_text": [
"If you're going to say words are inherently bad, I don't see how that changes depending on who's saying it..."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb0lt7",
"comment_text": [
"If you're going to say words are inherently bad, I don't see how that changes depending on who's saying it..."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb0lt7",
"comment_text": [
"If you're going to say words are inherently bad, I don't see how that changes depending on who's saying it..."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb0lyk",
"comment_text": [
"Dude, it's two words. No one is going to start a lynch mob over them, and GTA has a better chance of turning kids into mass murderers than a song title has of turning people into racists. You'd be doing yourself a favor if you just forgot about it."
],
"sco... | ||
ELI5: If the power grid can't store power and the amount of energy produced doesn't change, why do they ask us to limit our use? | explainlikeimfive | 1qbagx | 28 | true | false | 0.72 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb2dzs",
"comment_text": [
"The amount of energy produced DOES change, a lot. Late at night, production can drop to half the level of the mid-afternoon peak (when people run the lights and AC both at work and at home).",
"The grid can only handle so much power -- usually there's somewha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb2mlx",
"comment_text": [
"Yes the amount produced definitely does change. I was watching a program on tv where they were showing how the grid works in the UK. There were guys sitting at a console, waiting to fire up extra capacity when tea time happened lol. I guess so many electric kettl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb2tjg",
"comment_text": [
"This. And to add on, the distribution of energy between residential and commercial consumers are diametrically opposite. Residential use peaks in the evening and weekends, whereas commercial use peaks mid-day weekdays.",
"Energy production is efficient, but s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb69sa",
"comment_text": [
"It seems like ELI5 and askscience are full of questions that take this form:",
"If ",
", then why ",
"?"
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb5p02",
"comment_text": [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup"
],
"score": 2
} | ||
Why is that whenever I stand up too fast my vision gets blurry and I feel blind but then I snap back to reality in a few seconds? | explainlikeimfive | 1qbedq | 6 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb3f3c",
"comment_text": [
"Orthostatic hypotension",
" maybe. Get it checked out. A doc will take your bp, then have you stand and immediately take it again."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb43po",
"comment_text": [
"I had this, it turned out to be caused by low blood pressure, changing positions rapidly causes a drop in blood pressures that causes a brief, for want of a better word, high."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb5qyj",
"comment_text": [
"The bad things that can occur only need to happen once to injure or kill you. Heck, heart attacks are intermittent."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb3kis",
"comment_text": [
"Make sure you are drinking enough water. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb3kw1",
"comment_text": [
"I mean it doesn't happen all the time, so it doesn't sound like a serious medical problem tho"
],
"score": 2
} | ||
ELI5: On those Youtube car crash compilations how come most of them are from Russia and how come Russians have Dashcams? | explainlikeimfive | 1qbgvk | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb4od4",
"comment_text": [
"Because even their cows don't give a shit."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb46qb",
"comment_text": [
"They are required if you want insurance there."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb4lmb",
"comment_text": [
"Russians have a bad habit of running into cars so they can file the insurance claim. Most insurance companies require the cams and most people use the cams on their own so they can't be sued. Apologies if I sound a bit racist by that first statement."
],
"sco... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb4a2g",
"comment_text": [
"You answered your own question I believe."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb4bl2",
"comment_text": [
"ELI5: How I just answered my own question?"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: How does a computer fully work from power on to the pixels on screen? | explainlikeimfive | 1qbw5r | 2 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb8xz1",
"comment_text": [
"This is kinda a broad question and probably beyond the scope of a eli5 question, perhaps break down the question a bit more?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb9u5n",
"comment_text": [
"I'll give it a crack seeing as how you're not even sure what you're asking.",
"In a computer you have lots of thing that are basically electronic versions of mechanical switches. Turn all the lightswitches on in your house, then have the power cut by the pow... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb96qq",
"comment_text": [
"For real. he's kinda asking to go from the basics of what is electrical engineering, through bootstrapping, firmware, and operating systems and applications. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb99ar",
"comment_text": [
"What I'm asking is how does a computer process (Kind of vague I know) information starting with power on."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdb9azx",
"comment_text": [
"This is much too broad a subject, so I've deleted it.",
"There have been many previous posts, some asking for a brief overview of how the various parts of a computer come together, and others asking in more detail about specific parts of computers. Please sea... | ||
ELI5: As an irish occasional NFL viewer.. What is the structure of the NFL? | explainlikeimfive | 1qc4f4 | 1 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbbkkf",
"comment_text": [
"The NFC and AFC are just two different conferences that are in the NFL. In order for your team to make it to the Super Bowl you need to win your conference in the playoffs. In order to make it to the playoffs you to win your division in order to secure a spot or ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbc7ez",
"comment_text": [
"You've got it right. Each team plays the other teams in their division twice each year. They won't play teams that aren't in their division more than once, and won't play teams that are in their division more or less than twice. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbc7ez",
"comment_text": [
"You've got it right. Each team plays the other teams in their division twice each year. They won't play teams that aren't in their division more than once, and won't play teams that are in their division more or less than twice. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbccpf",
"comment_text": [
"Not quite.",
"Basically, to qualify for the playoffs, you have to have the best record in your division. In addition, of the remaining teams, two \"wild card\" teams that have the best record regardless of division make the playoffs as well. This is per confe... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbc0mr",
"comment_text": [
"NFC and AFC are conferences, each of which have four divisions of four teams each. (The NFC and AFC used to be the NFL and AFL, and were actually separate leagues, but they've merged into being two conferences in the same league.)",
"Every team plays the othe... | |
Why is it that you pay tens of thousands of dollars at a 4-year, public university and have huge class sizes when you can pay one hundred dollars at community college where the class sizes are significantly smaller? | explainlikeimfive | 1qc15w | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbaidz",
"comment_text": [
"Access to better facilities, quality of educators, alumni networks, etc. Community Colleges also only offer AA degrees which are completed after 2 years. A traditional 4 year college offers BA degrees which is what most employers want when they say \"a degree\". ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbamf3",
"comment_text": [
"Indeed, though you have to be VERY careful with this. ",
"First, the community college will tell you that \"most classes will transfer\", but in reality they have almost no idea or control over this. Every 4-year college has different standards and accepts di... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbahw0",
"comment_text": [
"I was educated in the uk but im guessing that the quality of teaching at universities is a lot higher than community college. Also the reputation of a university counts for a lot. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbapxs",
"comment_text": [
"Universities typically provide a larger swath of degree paths and more services to students. Each college inside of the University system then has to support various services and niche degree paths in order to earn accreditation. They also tend to hire/hold on to... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbawq3",
"comment_text": [
"Good point though keep in mind that major universities often have graduate students teach a large number of courses (sometimes over 50% of them!)",
"Now, adjuncts can be good and grad students can be good. But, if an adjunct is terrible they might not be hire... | ||
ELI5: why don't EMTs need a bachelors degree? | explainlikeimfive | 1q7rcf | 0 | true | false | 0.38 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda1sh7",
"comment_text": [
"Because their work doesn't require a bachelor's worth of schooling."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda21ty",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks! Didn't think about it in that way"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda2luz",
"comment_text": [
"Usually not directly or physically under a physician, but under specific medical protocols written by physicians and the capability to consult with physicians for complicated or unusual situations"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda2j7s",
"comment_text": [
"I would have to disagree there. EMTs do need to make split second decisions...probably more than doctors. It is the depth of knowledge that is required that is the difference. Doctors make diagnoses,,,EMTs do not. Doctors must have a detailed and complete knowled... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda2j7s",
"comment_text": [
"I would have to disagree there. EMTs do need to make split second decisions...probably more than doctors. It is the depth of knowledge that is required that is the difference. Doctors make diagnoses,,,EMTs do not. Doctors must have a detailed and complete knowled... | ||
ELI5: Why is it that when you're near sighted you will see things blurry, but if you hold a camera phone infront of you, you can see the object clear at the same distance? | explainlikeimfive | 1q7wpd | 0 | true | false | 0.44 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda38vp",
"comment_text": [
"Because you're focusing on the (near) screen."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda3c6x",
"comment_text": [
"And the screen is showing a flat image that is pre-focused for you."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda3dg4",
"comment_text": [
"Think it through, buddy.. You can do it.."
],
"score": 0
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda4qmv",
"comment_text": [
"I'm wondering what is going on in your eyes not something simple like focusing.",
"It ",
" something simple like focusing. A nearsighted person can have clear vision within a short distance. The distant view is passed through the camera's lens and picked ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda3cir",
"comment_text": [
"I feel like a five year old would be able to understand this."
],
"score": -1
} | |
ELI5: Why do websites in the US end with .com, but other countries end with different domains (the United Kingdom is .uk) | explainlikeimfive | 1qc6gg | 7 | true | false | 0.74 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbdsii",
"comment_text": [
"Do you have any idea why it's .co.uk and not .com.uk?"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbdge8",
"comment_text": [
"The UK's country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is .uk but for some reason Nominet UK, who manage the domain's registrations since 96, have decided that .uk registrations are prohibited and as such all domains have to make do with second-level domains such as .co.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbccr5",
"comment_text": [
"Uh, .com is \"commercial\" since it way originally intended for all commercial websites such as Amazon.com, the same way .org was originally intended for non-profit organisations and .xxx for porn. ",
"It's just that .com has seen such a wide use in the count... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbcn4v",
"comment_text": [
"Yep, you're right. Sorry about that"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbcmzv",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah you're right, sorry"
],
"score": 3
} | |
ELI5: How do X-rays work? | explainlikeimfive | 1q7q9l | 2 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda1fk1",
"comment_text": [
"X-rays are basically the same thing as visible light rays. Both are wavelike forms of electromagnetic energy carried by particles called photons (see How Light Works for details). The difference between X-rays and visible light rays is the energy level of the ind... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda43g2",
"comment_text": [
"This is ELI5, not Ask Science."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdabeh2",
"comment_text": [
"TL;DR X-rays send out beams or \"rays\" that pass through our bodies and \"absorb\" the bone.",
"And if you could read the rules, it says",
"No low effort explanations or single sentence replies."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda1gp6",
"comment_text": [
"The area that's getting x rayed is exposed to small amount of radiation. Hard things, like bones, absorb the radiation, but it passes through soft flesh. There's a sheet of film behind it, so a negative of all the bones remains on the film, and it's developed lik... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda1het",
"comment_text": [
"With Vavs"
],
"score": 0
} | |
ELI5: Why do some guy's voices break during puberty while others don't? | explainlikeimfive | 1q8ea9 | 2 | true | false | 0.67 | It just occurred to me that my voice never "broke"... While many of my friends had an immediate change in their voice, almost overnight. Why is this? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda8irc",
"comment_text": [
"Different people have different bodies. ",
"Everyone is different, it's completely natural."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda8pq0",
"comment_text": [
"While I know that's true, I was looking for a more scientific and comprehensive response. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaa89z",
"comment_text": [
"Perhaps I'm wrong, but everyone's voice breaks. Some to a higher degree than others, and some happen over a longer period of time. So in comparison to some of your friends, you may not see so much of a difference. This would probably be true for most kids who ha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaab3f",
"comment_text": [
"That is not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that some people have an immediate effect in which their voice one day seems several tones lower than the previous. My voice for example gradually changed, and I could not hear an apparent deviation in from one day... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaasum",
"comment_text": [
"My apologies. Fired straight in without reading what was under the tile. I'm now asking myself the same question as you, and I don't have a clue. Sorry for wasting your time with nonsense! haha"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:Why are human males more desiring of sex when women have more nerve ending in their genitals? NSFW | explainlikeimfive | 1q8f5b | 1 | true | true | 0.53 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda8saz",
"comment_text": [
"who said males are more desiring of sex?"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaavn7",
"comment_text": [
"Well... not all societies.",
"But either way, popular belief and actual facts are not necessarily the same thing.",
"To address the second part of your question. Societal pressures play a large part in how people express their sexuality. ",
"The ad... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaavn7",
"comment_text": [
"Well... not all societies.",
"But either way, popular belief and actual facts are not necessarily the same thing.",
"To address the second part of your question. Societal pressures play a large part in how people express their sexuality. ",
"The ad... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda8n6l",
"comment_text": [
"I have a way higher sex drive than most men I know, and I'm a female.",
"In fact, back in the day it was believed that women had higher sex drives than men. Is it a fact that men are hornier than women? "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaayun",
"comment_text": [
"I think you're making a false correlation between pleasure potential and desire for multiple sex partners. ",
"Masturbation is zero risk outlet for genital release. ",
"One which, given the prevalence of dildos throughout history and popularity of female... | |
ELI5:how do thermal cameras work? | explainlikeimfive | 1q8nhc | 12 | true | false | 0.8 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaarvs",
"comment_text": [
"Their sensors detect light in the infrared portion of the spectrum, rather than (or as well as) light in the visible portion.",
"This works because all objects emit electromagnetic radiation at a frequency related to their temperature (this is a fundamental p... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaary8",
"comment_text": [
"The camera \"sees\" radiation from your body and/or heat source in a similar way that a radio \"sees\" radio signals. It just converts to visual as opposed to audio. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdach4b",
"comment_text": [
"My time to partially shine!",
"The company I work for has a division that does arc-flash studies and one of the things we do in the process is take infrared pics to include in the report.",
"Our cameras are made by FLIR and use an uncooled detector. The d... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaaslx",
"comment_text": [
"Everything gives off radiation - the type of radiation depends on its temperature.",
"Most things give off radiation that is in the infra-red spectrum, which we can't see. As objects get hotter, the frequency of the light gets higher, and when things get real... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaatye",
"comment_text": [
"They work by detecting infrared light. Infrared light is not visible with the naked eye. ",
"Everything that is living, emits infrared light due to temperature. For example, when you heat up metal, it glows red (emits light). The amount and colour of light ra... | ||
ELI5: How does India justify its recent Space launch whilst there is still significant poverty in the country? | explainlikeimfive | 1q8ms0 | 0 | true | false | 0.44 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaal03",
"comment_text": [
"How does America? How does China? What about Russia?",
"Human suffering isn't actually much of a priority for most countries. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaanam",
"comment_text": [
"China dropped unreal amounts of money going so far as to shoot missiles at the sky for the Chinese olympics. Countries don't have a to-do list and go down one by one. They have a list and money trickles to each depending on how they feel about it at the moment."
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaap7a",
"comment_text": [
"It is somesort of advertising.\nThey hope that they get more space industrie and of course industrie working for the space industrie, so the overall get more jobs und so the poor is helped. Jobs -> money -> luxury.",
"Lets hope it works out fine."
],
"sco... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaasbg",
"comment_text": [
"I could rant off a lot on this question but i will attempt to give a civilized answer. Any country ,developing or developed has to invest some capital into development of science and technology,into R&D research, within the country. The benefits and returns to su... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdabpyw",
"comment_text": [
"This is the best explanation",
" by ",
"/r/0w0",
"Edit: fixed link to ",
"r/0w0"
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: Why does it need to take a while for humans to reach climax? | explainlikeimfive | 1q8wmm | 4 | true | false | 0.6 | It seems like a lot of animals can have sex, climax and be gone in a very short period of time ( sometimes a few seconds ). Why is it that it takes much longer for humans then? Isnt it an evolutionary advantage to be in a compromising position for a shorter period of time? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdadxys",
"comment_text": [
"Well actually, we aren't the only ones that have relatively long sex. And long sex is kind of individually variable. The 30 min-1hr porn videos out there include multiple takes and the men are better able to regulate themselves. Sex in humans can range from jus... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdau4r8",
"comment_text": [
"There are different mechanisms that help with fertility rates.",
"In Camelids, it the female is induced to ovulate from copulation, but it takes a minimum of 5 minutes. \nFemale cats are also induced ovulators, but I don't remember the average time needed to ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdadx22",
"comment_text": [
"Well, I know it wouldn't take me very long if I wasn't actively trying my best not to have one. I don't think the longer times for humans is based on anything evolutionary, I would guess it's for two reasons.",
"We know we like it and have the intelligence e... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaewmc",
"comment_text": [
"True. And I have a feeling - perhaps someone else can confirm - that animals that tend to last for a long time a) have few, if any predators, and b) are more social animals. We certainly fit into both categories."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdanpjb",
"comment_text": [
"I think your answer makes the most sense to me. The specific example i had in mind was small monkeys that can copulate in a few seconds. That to me sounds like a smart survival skill. You don't leave yourself exposed and vulnerable for very long. ",
"but i gu... | |
How do Patents work? | explainlikeimfive | 1q948x | 3 | true | false | 0.64 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdafl9k",
"comment_text": [
"You invent something new -- a useful thing, way of making something, or of using something. This invention has to be non-obvious -- not just to the general public, but to the field in which the invention is applicable.",
"Then you apply to the government for ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdag9ml",
"comment_text": [
"A \"patent\" is a government-issued right to exclude other people from \"making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States\" for a period of 20 years from the patent's filing ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdahzi5",
"comment_text": [
"That's a good question. The Patent Act states that patent applications will be published 18 months after the filing date (unless you swear that you will not file a foreign patent application, in which case the application remains secret until the patent issues)."... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdagnei",
"comment_text": [
"If I were to be rejected for a patent, do others have the ability to see what i submitted and use it for their own means?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdai5yu",
"comment_text": [
"thank you for answering my questions."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
EILI5 : why does my butt hole feel like it's itchy sometimes? | explainlikeimfive | 1q99t4 | 4 | true | false | 0.7 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdagrrq",
"comment_text": [
"Maybe this is only me ......"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdagx6c",
"comment_text": [
"A little poo leftover causing irritation and itching? "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdagzmj",
"comment_text": [
"It's hemorrhoids."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdagtlu",
"comment_text": [
"Oftentimes it comes out of nowhere"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdagw85",
"comment_text": [
"Use wet wipes when you poo... "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why does fracking cause earthquakes? | explainlikeimfive | 1q9d8w | 4 | true | false | 0.83 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdasdzr",
"comment_text": [
"Stresses are built up in the earths crust by plate tectonics but everything is held together by large masses of rock that make up most of the crust. Earthquakes occur when the stress gets high enough that the rock fractures and the fault moves. ",
"Hydraulic ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cguvlfn",
"comment_text": [
"Post-fracking, the waste disposal of the heavily chemicalized fracking fluids can be a problem. The liquids cannot be treated at municipal treatment facilities, and it is too expensive for natural gas companies to develop their own treatment facilities. While som... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdailki",
"comment_text": [
"I know causality hasn't been totally established",
"Then what sort of answer were you expecting, wild speculation?"
],
"score": -1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaj6fc",
"comment_text": [
"You just said that you know that it hasn't been established that fracking actually increases the frequency of earthquakes, but then ask to have it explained ",
" fracking does that. Surely you can draw the connection yourself; we can't tell you how it does it... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaj6fc",
"comment_text": [
"You just said that you know that it hasn't been established that fracking actually increases the frequency of earthquakes, but then ask to have it explained ",
" fracking does that. Surely you can draw the connection yourself; we can't tell you how it does it... | ||
ELI5: Why don't companies buy back their stock from investors once they become self sufficient? | explainlikeimfive | 1q9q9c | 5 | true | false | 0.86 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqg2x",
"comment_text": [
"You seem like a smart person but that last part doesn't make any sense. Correct me if i am wrong but the company in this scenario is only the guy with the majority of shares ? Buying back public stock doesn't increase the value of the remaining stock (well thats ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdan7r0",
"comment_text": [
"Why would you want the whole company back if having the majority lets you make all the decisions?.",
"If you want more money, just ask for a raise and pass it through the board that, since you own the majority, you can pass it."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqslk",
"comment_text": [
"Your last point is wrong. When the company buys shares back they become \"treasury shares\" and don't cease to exist. ",
"It is completely possible to buy all your shares back. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdalj3c",
"comment_text": [
"They do, sometimes:",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_repurchase",
"However, it's impossible for a company to buy back ",
" its stock, since the last shareholder would own the entire company, and thus would already own everything the company could... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdar8hd",
"comment_text": [
"It is completely possible to buy all your shares back.",
"Then who owns the company?"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Where does the money/items go when law enforcement seizes them? | explainlikeimfive | 1q9ukc | 1 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdan2mu",
"comment_text": [
"it depends on who seizes it, if its federal it has to go into a dedicated fund. At state levels they get to keep that money and or items to fund their police stations. As a matter of fact some police departments that are not very well funded heavily rely on this ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdan581",
"comment_text": [
"They go into secure storage until the case is settled. After that items are sold at auction (often called \"police auctions\") and money is dispersed to various organizations involved in the case such as police, FBI, the govt's legal team office, etc. The cash ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdan87p",
"comment_text": [
"Drugs are generally destroyed or used in police operations, such as sting and undercover ops."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdan701",
"comment_text": [
"What about things like illicit drugs? I assume they can't sell those in a police auction."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaoviv",
"comment_text": [
"Asset forfeiture. I.e., they keep it.",
"I am not sure the specifics, like how do they prevent fraud. But I know that it's a big deal.",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5 Why Wes Anderson's movies look and feel so unique. | explainlikeimfive | 1q9w45 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdap0kx",
"comment_text": [
"There are probably lots of technical reasons to do with cinematography etc. but in terms of themes, I've noticed he keeps returning to themes about adulthood vs childhood. You often see children who behave more like adults and adults who behave more like children... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdapjlf",
"comment_text": [
"He uses a lot of the same filmmaking techniques in each of his movies, a lot of which are visual. Whip camera pans, symmetric shots, overhead shots, and very detailed action-based backgrounds are all very common. The title fonts are chosen very specifically. He e... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdapf5g",
"comment_text": [
"It's not rocket science"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqnkr",
"comment_text": [
"I like how the characters interact with each other. Their conversations are kind of quite and to the point. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaspdc",
"comment_text": [
"Oh Wes, this was a nice marketing scheme, but I've seen right through your clever ruse."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5:Why would the ocean levels rise if the ice caps melted, seeing as ice is less dense than water? | explainlikeimfive | 1q53bm | 1 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd993ts",
"comment_text": [
"Because the the major ice sheets rests on land and should they melt the water flows into the sea.",
"From ",
"National Ice & Snow Data Center",
":",
"Together, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd997ym",
"comment_text": [
"Greenland isn't a giant iceberg. Neither is Baffin island. That right there is the majority of the ice accounted for."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd99owb",
"comment_text": [
"A decent amount, but also remember that floating ice melting doesn't raise or lower the water level, so as long as any ice is on land you're looking at a rise in levels if it all melts. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9953t",
"comment_text": [
"Actually ice is more dense compared to water",
"That is completely false. Water is actually unique in the fact that its solid phase is less dense than its liquid phase. You can easily confirm this just by the fact that ice floats. If ice were more dense th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9953t",
"comment_text": [
"Actually ice is more dense compared to water",
"That is completely false. Water is actually unique in the fact that its solid phase is less dense than its liquid phase. You can easily confirm this just by the fact that ice floats. If ice were more dense th... | |
ELI5: How can I remember every single word from a song I listened to for about 10 minutes when I was 7 but can't remember anything now? | explainlikeimfive | 1q5jmi | 7 | true | false | 1 | When I say I can't remember anything I mean it's very difficult. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9evw3",
"comment_text": [
"What would make you think I smoke pot? "
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9g31d",
"comment_text": [
"It's a lot easier to memorize things to a rhythm. In fact, a lot of knowledge throughout history was passed down via chanting because it's a form of rhythmic speaking. This is also why we learn alphabets to the tune of a song, and why \"School House Rock\" was ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9ipsh",
"comment_text": [
"I think the things that are deemed relevant to a 7 year old are often considered useless to an adult.\nThe mind filters what is and isn't important and indexes these memories as such. I believe this is something that happens in our sleep."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9t4c6",
"comment_text": [
"At a young age the brain is an information sponge and will remember anything that you have an interest in. It's the same reason why many people remember the cheat code to Contra off by heart (or Doom's clipping cheat, idspispopd) even though they haven't even tho... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9edyp",
"comment_text": [
"Marijuana has a side effect that damages your memory."
],
"score": -2
} | |
ELI5: I see this all the time in movies but never see what happens after - in the USA when your car is commandeered, how do you get your vehicle back? | explainlikeimfive | 1q9uiy | 4 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdao4l4",
"comment_text": [
"That's mostly movie magic. In the US it's next to impossible to commander a vehicle for emergency use. A suspect fleeing is not important enough to justify that. ",
"To answer your question they likely would just check the registration or proof of insurance a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaow5i",
"comment_text": [
"http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2247/can-cops-really-commandeer-cars",
"Short answer:\n1) \"The bad guy's getting away, follow that car!\" Scenarios do happen occasionally in real life, but not nearly as often as the movies. It's such a trope (usuall... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdamqrb",
"comment_text": [
"I could be wrong, but I don't think that really happens. I'm pretty sure there are laws against it."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdasi2q",
"comment_text": [
"Presumably if the cop wants your car to chase a suspect you could offer to drive rather than turning over the car keys.",
"That can't possibly be safe, a random civilian doesn't have the training an officer (supposedly) has for car chases."
],
"score": 1
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaosdn",
"comment_text": [
"Ideally you would get the name of the person who commandeered it, and contact their agency.",
"However, this almost never happens, and is mostly a plot device so the hero can drive a fancy or unusual vehicle. It is so rare there is no set procedure for deali... | ||
ELI5: Why can't people in MMA, Boxing Matches, Hockey, Rugby or any other physical sport press assault charges? | explainlikeimfive | 1q9v6f | 0 | true | false | 0.25 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdamyyd",
"comment_text": [
"They can, and have, though its rare. If something is grossly against the rules, there have been assault charges brought against people for actions during a sports event ",
"Here's and example of an assault charge against a hockey player",
"http://sportsi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdamxug",
"comment_text": [
"Yup. Not only that, these people are trained, tested, and part of licensed organizations with rules that governs how the fights may happen. It's very regulated."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaxqai",
"comment_text": [
"Marty Mcsorley was the goon of goons. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqqr9",
"comment_text": [
"(Speaking very broadly) for battery you must have 4 elements:",
"If any element is not met then the claim for battery is not met.",
"So, yeah. It's the reason you can't be running towards the endzone and say \"don't touch me or I'll sue! I don't consent t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdaqqr9",
"comment_text": [
"(Speaking very broadly) for battery you must have 4 elements:",
"If any element is not met then the claim for battery is not met.",
"So, yeah. It's the reason you can't be running towards the endzone and say \"don't touch me or I'll sue! I don't consent t... | ||
ELI5: Why does a 3-hour movie require a year or more of production time, while 20-plus episodes of an hour-long TV series only require several months? | explainlikeimfive | 1q5nd3 | 7 | true | false | 0.78 | I understand that movies are generally more complex and need more post-production but it still seems like a huge difference. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9gu3p",
"comment_text": [
"A 20 episode TV series generally has much of the action taking place in one location, one set. All those scenes would be shot in about one very exhausting week. A movie would have many more scenes, requiring setup in multiple places.",
"In addition, the quali... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9h11x",
"comment_text": [
"Yet there are many TV series nowadays that have movie-quality visuals and acting (Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, etc...) Generally the production times on these shows are longer, but I can't imagine that they take as long on them as a feature fi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9igrd",
"comment_text": [
"Speaking specifically about game of thrones here... There is a full year in between seasons, and each season is only 10 episodes. They don't exactly pump out episodes"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9i2xw",
"comment_text": [
"The thing that has changed with them is the dropping cost off movie quality post production and CGI."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9ft1u",
"comment_text": [
"The production times are probably comparable -- most TV shows are shot to completion up to a year in advance. There are numerous reasons why TV shows can normally shoot faster than a movie as well: frequently, TV shows reuse their locations, allowing multiple sce... | |
ELI5: When & why did monogamy become the norm even though we see in history that having multiple wives and concubines were acceptable? | explainlikeimfive | 1q5vlq | 5 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9q1pt",
"comment_text": [
"An overview of ",
"sexual selection",
" will help your understanding of this topic. We can place species on a continuum where are one end we have strict polygamy and at the other strict monogamy. There are several variations of each and most animals lie s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdakkdj",
"comment_text": [
"I can't tell if this is meant be a positive reflection on the time and effort I put into my answer, or a jab at my education. Besides how do you know I haven taught the class? Plus it's really a combination of anthropology, human evolution and sexual selection th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9i68z",
"comment_text": [
"Although acceptable, for most of human history having multiple wives and concubines were relatively rare, and reserved for the wealthy and the noble. Additional spouses were (are) expensive. The average subsistence farmer or worker probably couldn't support more ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9pzwv",
"comment_text": [
"Sorry, but this is slightly incorrect. As an anthropologist your assumption that monogamy has been the \"norm\" for our history is incorrect. Our biology points to our ancestors being polygamous, since we are a sexually dimorphic species. You are also making some... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cddgda0",
"comment_text": [
"Thank you for such a detailed answer! I have always been curious on why religion (for example in the US) would have an effect on people wanting to be monogamous when there are plenty of stories of polygamy in the bible. thoughts?"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: the concept, in quantum mechanics, of matter existing in multiple/all possible states until observed | explainlikeimfive | 1q5z37 | 3 | true | false | 0.71 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda684d",
"comment_text": [
"That is exactly the case, actually. Quantum mechanics is the branch of physics that emerged only recently simply because we jumped into this world of subatomic particles. And classical mechanics wasn't working, at all. So the scientific method happened and theori... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9lm4q",
"comment_text": [
"This is called quantum superposition. Basically, any dynamic system with an explicit set of possible states (that do not contradict each other) must be in one of them, and since they are all states of the same system, it can be said that they are at least partial... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cda501r",
"comment_text": [
"Can I just ask you a questions about qm, not necessarily related, but I didn't want to post it. Is it possible that qm only works on a small scale? And when things get big enough something changes? This might be the stupidest question ever, but I am very new to t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdbunpx",
"comment_text": [
"So what changes from the micro to the macro? I don't know if I asked that right, but something must change. There are theories that we really are in different places, that nothing is still until we look for it, etc. but that just doesn't seem to be the case for l... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdc1w7j",
"comment_text": [
"Well basically everything changes. In classical physics, gravity is by far the dominant force governing motion. The electromagnetic force is still there of course, but unless you're dealing with magnets (or the distances are tiny, as I mentioned about electron re... | |
What exactly is 'depleted uranium' and why do certain military applications benefit from it? | explainlikeimfive | 1q63uu | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | I've previously heard of depleted uranium rounds and if I remember correctly the M1A1 Abrams has depleted uranium armor, but why? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kfn4",
"comment_text": [
"Some Abrams use depleted uranium in their armour. Most don't. ",
"Depleted uranium is uranium that has less U-235 in it than natural uranium. U-235 is the isotope that is fissionable. Because of this it's less radioactive than normal uranium and normal ur... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kfs6",
"comment_text": [
"It's about 70% denser than lead. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kg8u",
"comment_text": [
"So it's almost like a chemical weapon when used as ammunition?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kgoa",
"comment_text": [
"All ammunition does the same. Passing through armour at high speeds creates a lot of friction. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kc74",
"comment_text": [
"Depleted uranium is extremely dense. this makes it really well for stopping stuff through sheer force. the same reason is also why is is used for ammunition."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What's the difference between 'white rap' and 'black rap' | explainlikeimfive | 1q665n | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kyfj",
"comment_text": [
"White rap is when a white guy sings rap and black rap is when a black guy sings rap",
"Source: I just know this shit"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kzzp",
"comment_text": [
"This is essentially answering the question.",
"There is nothing more that can be said as the only differences bewtween the \"raps\" is that one is white and one is black."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9x6yf",
"comment_text": [
"There really isn't much of a difference, besides one word, and you know the word, which people get offended when a particular race uses it in any context. ",
"Nah, not really, if you're a competent white rap artist you can use it. You just can't use it like a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9l0n2",
"comment_text": [
"exactly"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9l1ck",
"comment_text": [
"But then you get rappers like Tyler the Creator and Childish Gambino who make \"white rap\""
],
"score": -1
} | ||
ELI5:If the speed of light is a universal constant (~300,000 kms/s) then how did the universe expand so quickly after the big bang?" Does this imply that "out there" there is "something" faster than the speed of light? | explainlikeimfive | 1q63zb | 11 | true | false | 0.77 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9kmol",
"comment_text": [
"No, the speed of light is a maximum speed for any propagation of information, be it a wave, particle, energy distribution, gravity. However space, or the fabric of space can expand and contract, stretch or thin at any rate as this does not transmit information. I... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9km9y",
"comment_text": [
"Matter can't move faster than or even equal to the speed of light ",
" the expansion can be ",
" faster than c (vacuum lightspeed). ",
"If you're driving on a street with a 50km/h limit and pass a car going the opposite direction at the same speed you... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9l93f",
"comment_text": [
"Just for clarity, the Big Bang is not a literal explosion. Hoyle, who supported a steady state theory, named it as such to make fun of the science behind it. The same way republicans call some democrats \"libtards\".",
"The Big Bang is an expansion of space-t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9rzjk",
"comment_text": [
"It doesn't quite work that way.",
"If there's a train going at 60% of the speed of light to the east and another train going at 60% of the speed of light to the west, the people on the train won't measure their relative velocity as 120% of the speed of like."... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9lblt",
"comment_text": [
"Mircowave background radiation"
],
"score": 4
} | |
ELI5: Why do some TV shows take random month/two week long breaks right in the middle of a season? | explainlikeimfive | 1q681w | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9lndu",
"comment_text": [
"Honestly, tv shows used to only take a break during the major holidays as people would likely be traveling and spending time with family rather than watch tv. Season would last almost 25 episodes but not as much now. ",
"Recently there has been a trend of onl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9mihj",
"comment_text": [
"Mostly so that a 24 week long season occupies more than half of a 52 week year."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9t997",
"comment_text": [
"TV scheduling is like a card game the networks are playing against each other. If CBS is playing a good card in the 8pm slot next Thrusday, does ABC want to play a good card and try to win, or let CBS win and play their good card some other time. What's worse, ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9m3wr",
"comment_text": [
"Going from not visible to delivered in 2-4 weeks?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9sed6",
"comment_text": [
"They do that so they can spread the up to 26 week (typical US TV season) over nearly 52 weeks (full year), without having to buy another show for that time slot."
],
"score": 1
} | |
Why is it that every time I get undressed to take a shower, I immediately have to pee? | explainlikeimfive | 1q66z1 | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9l414",
"comment_text": [
"Potty training.",
"We've conditioned our brain to not need to urinate while we are clothed, unless our bladder is full. When you get undressed in the bathroom, you brain figures now is a good time to make a quick stop, despite not being full."
],
"score":... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9lmuq",
"comment_text": [
"\"Honey, I'm putting the computer in the bathroom!\""
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9le4k",
"comment_text": [
"For those of us that aren't potty trained it's just pure luck. Most of the time."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9lu53",
"comment_text": [
"I associate getting undressed and having to pee with the sudden body temperature shift from warm to cold. That's what it always feels like is happening."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd9lxhp",
"comment_text": [
"That's possible, but does that mean going outside in winter makes you want to pee too?"
],
"score": 1
} |
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