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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Will someone ELI5 (completely without political bias) what affirmative action actually is? | explainlikeimfive | 1pq13t | 2 | true | false | 0.67 | I need it thorough and fairly simple. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4sr4j",
"comment_text": [
"\"Affirmative action\" refers to any program that takes... well, ",
" to deal with discrimination. That is, they say \"we've discriminated against black people, so we're gonna give them a leg up\" instead of just \"we've discriminated against black people, so... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4t3p2",
"comment_text": [
"imagine if irish people were not allowed to have a job because they were drunk all the time. so much so that irish was synonymous with drunk. you wouldn't want to hire an irishman because they are drunk all the time. nevermind that there are some irishmen that... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4xiqe",
"comment_text": [
"Pretty much.",
"The law doesn't say that you have to hire X number of minority members nor that you have to prefer them over more qualified candidates - but there ",
" of course anti-discrimination and anti-harassement laws.",
"So most private compani... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4sqqm",
"comment_text": [
"It gives minorities priority over whites for employment and any other areas it is used. ",
"An action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, esp. in relation to employment or education."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4t9gq",
"comment_text": [
"Affirmative Action refers to any hiring policy that favors candidates of historically disadvantaged groups (race, gender, whatever) in some way in order get underrepresented groups involved in business/education/politics.",
"Period. It's not a specific law, ... | |
Why does kitchen sink water taste better than bathroom water? | explainlikeimfive | 1pqczh | 3 | true | false | 0.8 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4whng",
"comment_text": [
"Bathroom water has always tasted like 'drain' in every house/apartment I've ever lived at-- it can't just be psychological, I can't be the only one!"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4whng",
"comment_text": [
"Bathroom water has always tasted like 'drain' in every house/apartment I've ever lived at-- it can't just be psychological, I can't be the only one!"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4wfw9",
"comment_text": [
"Unless you live in a place that uses a water softener, it doesnt. It tastes worse because you associate bathroom water as something to wash yourself with while kitchen water is the drinking water."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4x0mp",
"comment_text": [
"Well, how about you try a science experiment. Get ten drinking glasses. Use a dry-erase marker to number them 1 to 10. Have someone randomly fill half of them from the kitchen sink and fill the other half from the bathroom sink. They should write down a list of t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4wzh1",
"comment_text": [
"Probably has a newer fixture (the part where water comes out of), and less mineral build up."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5:If the movie Gravity happened in real life, how would that change the relations between Russia, the US, and the rest of the world? | explainlikeimfive | 1pqmvn | 2 | true | false | 1 | Just curious. I know it would probably never happen. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5kkyv",
"comment_text": [
"I think it's down to about 10cm. And the Big Sky belief is pretty much gone now because there's been a number of collisions. Plus volume might be massive but satellites are placed in certain orbits. Geosync is pretty much full. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd506qf",
"comment_text": [
"Well... I think it's safe to say we'd be seriously pissed off, but in the movie they stated it was an accident so what can you do?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd506sn",
"comment_text": [
"I don't know how it would effect international relations, but I do know that Russia would in theory be liable for damages.",
"It would be based on the 1972 ",
"Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects",
", which both Ru... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd50f6r",
"comment_text": [
"We might find out before too long. The space around the Earth is getting pretty crowded. Collisions between satellites do occur. Satellites have even been blown up by antisatellite missile tests and created clouds of debris that will remain in orbit for centuri... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5kc2j",
"comment_text": [
"The amount of volume up there is massive, and NASA tracks everything down to bolts no bigger than 1 cm."
],
"score": 1
} | |
Why don't some people react to pepper spray? | explainlikeimfive | 1pqwhq | 16 | true | false | 0.72 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd552d3",
"comment_text": [
"Look, look with your special eyes. "
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd55k53",
"comment_text": [
"MY BRAHN*"
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd557ig",
"comment_text": [
"I think you mean kindergarten, I said like I'm five motherfucker! "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd55gbu",
"comment_text": [
"There are people who are simply immune to it. I don't really want to find out if I'm one of them, although the idea does seem interesting."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd55b6w",
"comment_text": [
"Our instructors told us that there are people who are just immune to it for some reason. I saw a twenty year old girl take a half a can to the face and barely flinch. i have a pretty high pain tolerance but I was puking from that shit and my face burned for day... | |
Engineers! Answer this early Television Question! | explainlikeimfive | 1pr174 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd540xy",
"comment_text": [
"They made a \"camera\" of sorts that can translate what it's recording into the appropriate broadcast protocol, and would just film the original movie or whatever with it.",
"It's like converting a VHS to a digital file by filming your TV screen with a digita... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd542a7",
"comment_text": [
"What in God's name are you talking about son? Not only did you completely misunderstand the question, but your \"answer\" is complete horseshit. I really hope you're high, because that's the only way to explain your thought process in that post. "
],
"score":... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd541b1",
"comment_text": [
"TV was broadcasted over radio waves for a really long time. That's why old TV sets had antennae."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5mn3u",
"comment_text": [
"The machine is called a \" telecine\"."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53t3l",
"comment_text": [
"no no no, radio was never converted to television.",
"there were two types of IPs, disney and fox (those were the only channels you used to get) radio monopolists would lease rights from these two networks to produce their own in-universe adaptations and spin... | |
ELI5: When we hit ourselves on something why does rubbing it relieve the pain? | explainlikeimfive | 1pqwpx | 11 | true | false | 0.75 | When you bang your head you instinctively rub it and it relived the pain. What's the science behind it? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd592dq",
"comment_text": [
"Think of those hard massages: when you rub it, you systemically deprive blood from the area with pressure, and then it comes rushing back in when you release it and the sudden blood innervates the nerves in a soothing mechanism."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56xit",
"comment_text": [
"The title of this phenomenon is the gate theory of pain"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56tqz",
"comment_text": [
"IIRC strong stimulants that would cause pain are registered by nociceptors while normal touch and other stimulants are picked up by several other types of mechanoreceptors. The nociceptors and other receptors show some convergence onto the same neurons that would... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd579ex",
"comment_text": [
"Yes! Thank you I could not remember the name of it and it was really bothering me."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5cq2l",
"comment_text": [
"Sudden impact causes blood vessels to break, putting pressure on those vessels reduces the amount of blood escaping before the platelets can come in and stop the minor internal bleeding. Evolution made us receive endorphin rewards whenever we rub or apply pressur... | |
ELI5: Why is football called football in the US? | explainlikeimfive | 1pr1oh | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53oov",
"comment_text": [
"They are both called football because they are both derived from various sports codes each called football. Soccer is a shortened form of association football, while American football is called football in the US because it was and is the most prominent football ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53o5l",
"comment_text": [
"Original rules stated that: the ball could not be picked up or carried, but it could be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides.\nRules resembled a combination of rugby and soccer in its start.",
"Source: Wikipedia"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53qh1",
"comment_text": [
"wow didn't know that. How did it change so drastically to such a hand oriented sport?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53ttf",
"comment_text": [
"Short answer: it became too chaotic.",
"Early history\nAmerican football evolved from the sport of rugby football.[3] The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton. The game was played between two teams of 25 pl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53o55",
"comment_text": [
"Because when it first started it was played mostly by kicking the ball with the foot up and down the field. It wasn't until later did they start playing with running and passing. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5 why is it so hard to run trains dependently and reasonably priced? | explainlikeimfive | 1pqyow | 26 | true | false | 0.74 | With some local variation trains are pretty darn unreliable. There are always signal failured or maintenance work. They fail if its too hot or cold. How often do street lights have signal failures? Pretty much never. On top of this, it is expensive! If you are more than one person going, then driving is often cheaper. ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56n2i",
"comment_text": [
"Ha, I wrote a paper on this once. If I had to boil it down to one cause... I would say its the fact that in the US railroad infrastructure is (mostly) owned by private companies, which is fairly unique in the world. The US has the most sophisticated and impressiv... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53e6s",
"comment_text": [
"In Japan you can take a train across the country, and almost literally set your watch to it. And they're competitive for price. It's all about motivation and investment. "
],
"score": 16
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd55kvn",
"comment_text": [
"Been living here for 6 years, and for about 4 of those I took trains very regularly. Trains seem to be late for 2 reasons:\nBad weather (the rare snow or typhoons)\nSuicides",
"Other than that, they were almost always right on time.",
"And in response t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53r4q",
"comment_text": [
"\"Privatised and government run\"?? "
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd53r4q",
"comment_text": [
"\"Privatised and government run\"?? "
],
"score": 10
} | |
ELI5: If Reddit has billions of unique page-views per day, why do the largest default subreddits only have a few million subscribers? | explainlikeimfive | 1pravo | 1 | true | false | 0.56 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56w1c",
"comment_text": [
"A lot of people look at Reddit without using an account."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56e2l",
"comment_text": [
"I visit multiple times a day and only have like 5 subscriptions.",
"An answer to you question is many more like me."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56jru",
"comment_text": [
"not really related to the original question, but why do you only have like 5 subscriptions? reddit is so much more vast and richer than that."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56moy",
"comment_text": [
"I know. I have probably 10 subreddits that are on the top of my page, dashboard but some of those say subscribe. Is having them on the dashboard not a subscription to that subreddit?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56qeb",
"comment_text": [
"yes, think so. but you did not really answer my question. why only 10 subreddits? "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: What is the difference between a M.D and a D.O? | explainlikeimfive | 1prdbv | 6 | true | false | 0.75 | Basically what I discerned is that osteopathy has its beginnings in 'psueodscience' but later formed into a more respected field. Is it true that D.O programs do provide some teachings that are not based on scientific evidence? Why is it considered in the US as an equivalent to a Medical Doctor? What exactly do osteopa... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd57l1n",
"comment_text": [
"In the US, the reason they're considered equivalent is because the training program is virtually identical these days. Both disciplines have to undergo a residency, a four year medical program, various professional board certifications, etc. The American Medical ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd58z0j",
"comment_text": [
"This isn't true."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd59o4z",
"comment_text": [
"I'm a DO student that applied to both kinds of schools. The training is essentially the same, but DO student gets additional instruction in medical manipulation. Not all DOs go on to use manipulation in practice, but they all receive training in it and must sho... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5a3af",
"comment_text": [
"This is really ill-informed. It's true that many DO schools don't have the extremely stringent GPA and MCAT requirements that MD schools do, but that in no way makes the degree less valid. For my part, I did really well in undergrad and finished in the 97th per... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5a7dm",
"comment_text": [
"This is so wrong, there is the underlying principle that DO was founded on that but there's been so much evidence that it doesn't do much so they do virtually the exact same things as MD doctors. The only real difference is the education for first years where the... | |
ELI5: If Reddit only has user-driven content with highly upvoted posts receiving the most attention, why does it have mods removing posts and banned websites? | explainlikeimfive | 1prcd4 | 5 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd575q1",
"comment_text": [
"Reddit is not a democracy. Each subreddit is run by the mods according to their wishes. If a mod team thinks that links to certain sites are harming the discussion in their subreddit somehow (false information, biased source, etc.) then they ban it because they t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd56vfg",
"comment_text": [
"The most common reason for a site being banned from reddit is for the site to be engaging in practice that ether encourage their content to be upvoted or prevent their content from being downvoted. In effect prevent the system that was in place to control the con... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd574bx",
"comment_text": [
"To provide an example of this, the owner of quickmeme was causing all of its links to start with more karma. In order to prevent this problem, the site was banned."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd57dj5",
"comment_text": [
"I guess I was just under the assumption that Reddit was a democracy."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd576co",
"comment_text": [
"I totally understand that situation. But I can't imagine that something like The Huffington Post would do something like that. Yet it was still banned. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why do we spend billions and billions of dollars on cancer research, and still use Chemotherapy as the most widely used treatment. | explainlikeimfive | 1prea6 | 26 | true | false | 0.84 | After having people come to my door asking for support in Cancer Research, I asked them how much further we've come in the last ten years, and they couldn't tell me. And they said that Chemotherapy is still the most widely used treatment in America for Cancer. After having multiple family members who have died from C... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5bucm",
"comment_text": [
"Cancer is a broad spectrum of diseases that involve uncontrolled growth or production from your own cells. As broad a term as cancer is, chemo might be even broader. Chemo is medication that kills cells or targets them for killing, but does so preferentially to... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd57i8h",
"comment_text": [
"We are making ",
" of progress actually. A quick search on the internet will find you some scoops on some almost sure-ball alternatives for chemotherapy. It's just that these alternatives takes years and years of testing for side effects and safety. It's not ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd57jyj",
"comment_text": [
"What makes cancer so difficult is that the thing causing the disease is your own cells. With normal diseases its much simpler to find \"cures\" by finding a mechanism that is unique to the infectious agent and not your cells (reverse transcriptase for virus, cell... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5hqy8",
"comment_text": [
"Basically the word cancer is like the word virus. You can never cure \"virus\" because it refers to a lot of different things, all of which fall under the blanket adjective of virus. Cancer is the same way and cancer research goes towards finding ways to treat on... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5eon8",
"comment_text": [
"You use \"chemotherapy\" as if it is one single treatment, when it's not. There are lots of different chemo meds, and lots and lots of different regimens - combinations and schedules of chemo meds.",
"A massive amount of research is focused on getting the bes... | |
ELI5:is sushi completely raw unprepared fish? if so can i just buy a salmon steak and eat it raw? | explainlikeimfive | 1prnlv | 8 | true | false | 0.83 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5b2eu",
"comment_text": [
"There is no such thing as sushi/sashimi grade fish although the term is often used when referring to tuna I believe it's confusing the line between quality and safety. Any fish that you eat at a sushi restaurant in North America is first frozen for a period of ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5a4c8",
"comment_text": [
"Sushi actually means rice seasoned with vinegar. The fish isn't a requirement at all. Raw fish is called sashimi in Japan. Yes, you could eat raw salmon if you felt like it, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you know it has been handled properly with the expe... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5bwsg",
"comment_text": [
"You are absolutely correct. \"Sushi grade\" is nothing more than a marketing term with no official guidelines... in the US at least.",
"http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-sashimi-info/sushi-grade-fish/"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5b28d",
"comment_text": [
"A high percentage of fish that come out of the ocean are infected with parasites. The USDA requires fish to be frozen to I believe -30 degrees fahrenheit in order to kill the parasites and for it to be sushi grade. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5a759",
"comment_text": [
"so what exactly is the handling that needs to be properly in order to consider it ok to eat raw. i know that sushi really implies fish on rice, but i used it as a word of broad ignorance. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
Einstein's Theory of Relativity and it's effect on Newton's Law of Gravity | explainlikeimfive | 1prtqx | 1 | true | false | 1 | I came across a statement somewhere that claimed Einstein's Theory of Relativity changed our view of Newton's work from the 'Law' of Gravity to the 'Theory' of Gravity. Can someone please help me understand on a basic level what about the Theory of Relativity changed Newton's 'Law' back into a 'Theory'? Thank you! | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5c9qt",
"comment_text": [
"A scientific law and scientific theory are two completely different things. Laws don't become theories and vice versa.",
"A law is an observation about the universe. So, Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation is essentially that things with mass are attracted ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5dhdn",
"comment_text": [
"Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, you've helped quite a bit. I have a follow up question if you have time. ",
"Which 'theory' is being referred to in a statement such as : \"the theory of evolution is like the theory of gravity\"? "
],
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5dkpc",
"comment_text": [
"Um, I guess General Relativity. There's no such thing as \"the theory of gravity,\" really.",
"When someone says \"evolution is like gravity,\" they mean that it's been really well-verified and there's basically no scientific disagreement over whether it's tr... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5etm2",
"comment_text": [
"Newton never had a theory, though. He just said \"this is what happens\" without explaining why. He simply said \"things with mass attract each other.\" He himself admitted that he had no idea how to explain ",
" it happened other than \"because God.\"",
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5fidd",
"comment_text": [
"There's some wires getting crossed here.",
"What they're referring to as \"Newton's theory\" is not a theory of gravitation. They're referring to Newton explaining the orbits ",
", which would be a theory. So, it would be like...",
"Kepler's laws desc... | |
ELI5: When people request that alternate explanations to evolution be presented in schools, why is only the Christian story of creation presented? | explainlikeimfive | 1prwe5 | 3 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5clk5",
"comment_text": [
"Because they're Christians that just want their kids to hear the christian dogma. "
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5cw8g",
"comment_text": [
"This actually has been a heated debate, typically only in the south USA though. There have been a few isolated cases that have tried to go through and been reversed because of this. Since the U.S. is so Christian heavy that's why you mostly see this kind of thing... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5mprq",
"comment_text": [
"I think what is being confused is teaching one religious origin story vs all of them. It would be against the 1st Amendment to teach just Christian creationism and not the infinitely large pool of others because the government would be favoring one over the other... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5eqqu",
"comment_text": [
"Theoretically, shouldn't schools be required to give all religions equal opportunity?",
"In a religion class, sure, but not in a science class. But to answer your other question, most people pushing these laws/policies are Christian, so that's why you only he... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5fkp2",
"comment_text": [
"Because its not about teaching the right answer for those people. It's about using schools to spread their bullshit on impressionable children. ",
"Introducing other myths would be a persecution of Christians. ",
"Check out the Flying Spaghetti Monster, t... | |
ELI5: How does knocking one of the senses out (smell, vision, taste, touch, hearing) improve the other four? | explainlikeimfive | 1przjp | 13 | true | false | 0.82 | I've always heard that if you lose a sense (becoming blind or deaf for example) your other senses become drastically improved. Does this have something to do with the amount of power our brains allocate each sense? And if so how does our brain know when we have lost a sense and thus when to redirect power? Are these ch... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5f7e1",
"comment_text": [
"Per a quick search, the brain can rewire itself somewhat to compensate for the loss of a sense but it is mostly affective in those who were born without or who lost it at an early age. Basically, a young mind is more flexible than an old mind, and everyday you a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5ohms",
"comment_text": [
"That was two words!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5ohms",
"comment_text": [
"That was two words!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5fvsq",
"comment_text": [
"Short explanation: The brain will reuse the areas, that were meant for the missing sense, for the rest of the senses. ",
"Ill possibly edit with a more in-depth answer...later :P Maybe. Maybe someone else who knows more can do it. ",
"Edit: allthingsleadh... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd5kqra",
"comment_text": [
"A quick explanation but missing a lot of details - Think of your brain as a hard drive. It's filled up but once you lost a certain sense, you have more free space to store information related to the other senses."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What is the difference between debt and deficit? | explainlikeimfive | 1pnnvh | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd44awk",
"comment_text": [
"The debt is just what it sounds like: the total amount of money I owe. The deficit is the amount I had to borrow this year; the difference between how much I spent this year and how much I borrowed this year.",
"Let's do a hypothetical.",
"I borrow money ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd445rs",
"comment_text": [
"You have a deficit if you're spending more than you're taking in. You have a debt if you owe people money. So if you have a deficit, your debt will increase. Now the US deficit is reduced, so the debt is growing less quickly."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd448yb",
"comment_text": [
"Deficit is the difference between money spent and income. Make $1000, spend $1500 and you have a $500 deficit. You get a loan to spend this extra $500 that must eventually be paid back with interest.",
"Debt is the accumulation of the deficits that have not b... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd44mhj",
"comment_text": [
"The ",
" is the amount of money the Federal Government ",
", usually via US Treasury Bonds of variegated types. (T-Bonds, T-Bills, etc...) Who do we owe this money to? Mostly ourselves. About $5 trillion of the debt is held by Americans or American co... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd45x8h",
"comment_text": [
"Deficit is the different between how much you spend and how much you take in over a specific period of time, usually a year.",
"Debt is the total, amount of money you owe other people.",
"Have a deficit usually means your debt increases, but not always. ... | |
ELI5:How are approval ratings calculated? | explainlikeimfive | 1pnwj7 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | Particularly are they arbitrary or is there some sort of approval ratings standards board? Is there a group that just canvasses the country every time politicians do something at all newsworthy? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd46mo9",
"comment_text": [
"Some company does a survey with the question \"Do you approve of X?\" and then uses statistics to calculate the percentages."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd46v7t",
"comment_text": [
"That's what i imagined, do you think they poll nationwide, or just a local area and weight it? ",
"For example a company polls a selection about how people feel about the supreme court and gay marriage, the selection happens to be in a conservative southern a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd475gh",
"comment_text": [
"According to the statistics classes I took in college, they usually poll 1,000 people. For it to be statistically accurate, the sample has to be completely random. I have no idea how they ensure this and it is probably impossible to get a truly random sample.",... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd46r35",
"comment_text": [
"There's no \"official\" approval rating, although some are more valued than others. A bunch of different polling companies do roughly the same thing - they'll call up a random sample of Americans and (among many other questions) ask them \"do you approve of how _... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd46vvv",
"comment_text": [
"There are numerous companies that will conduct public polling on a number of different topics. Gallup is probably the most famous, and they have been around since 1935. They will poll around 1,000 people every couple of months with a number of different politic... | |
ELI5: Why did humans not evolve to have the ability to drink salt water given that there is so much more access to it? | explainlikeimfive | 1pnyr8 | 8 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd47iia",
"comment_text": [
"Salt water wasn't more accessible than fresh water to humans in our native habitat.",
"Also, filtering salt from water uses a lot more energy than not doing so. If we could get by without drinking salt water then we would have an advantage in survival. Our pr... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd47pwm",
"comment_text": [
"Evolution is still bound by the laws of chemistry. Electrolyte balance (which salt plays a large role in) is one of the most critical systems in the human body. Too little salt can lead to heart problems that will eventually kill you. Too much salt and you'll ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4c2jl",
"comment_text": [
"Did our ancestors ever have that ability?\nI know cats can drink sea water & be fine, but we arent exactly their descendents. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4caix",
"comment_text": [
"Ultimately we are descendants of sea creatures such as fish, so yes we did."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd49vhi",
"comment_text": [
"Cats can also survive on seawater, or even water from meat. The kidneys are incredibly efficient",
"Kidney failure is also a very common cause of death in domestic cats."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: What does the U.S. need to do to pay off it's debt? | explainlikeimfive | 1po3mb | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd48s6g",
"comment_text": [
"Nothing in particular. The longest-term US debt obligations last about thirty years; we've never had trouble paying them off, and there's no reason to believe we'd start to have trouble.",
"What I suspect you're really asking is how we're going to get the tot... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd49j7j",
"comment_text": [
"http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb100403.pdf",
"Has a fascinating chart on page 4/15 (aka page 280), which has the debt as a percentage of GDP for the UK since 1700.",
"Debt can and does drop like a rock occasionall... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd48wn3",
"comment_text": [
"We screwed ourselves over in more ways than one.",
"Plenty of economists would disagree that we're \"screwed\". They would argue the debt is not really that big of a problem."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4989i",
"comment_text": [
"Okay yeah I worded that a little harshly... lol my apologies. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd48zcm",
"comment_text": [
"LOL, no. ",
"http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/",
"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?_r=0"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Where does space come from? | explainlikeimfive | 1po9gr | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4b7ge",
"comment_text": [
"this is totally unsupportable guessing. there is no evidence for a void."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4obms",
"comment_text": [
"There is no evidence the universe has an edge. The leading theory is a flat universe infinite in extent.",
"Positing an island universe immersed in a void is not a sound candidate. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4aei0",
"comment_text": [
"I'd be curious just to know what field of science this question falls under."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4aftt",
"comment_text": [
"Cosmology, a field under physics."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4k9f4",
"comment_text": [
"So what, besides nothing, exists beyond the edge of the universe?"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do I get the uncontrollable urge to slap my knee or hit nearby object when I'm laughing really really hard? | explainlikeimfive | 1podck | 25 | true | false | 0.63 | It's only when I'm in a fit of stomach-hurting-nearly-pissing-myself-laughter. Why does it happen? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4bp9d",
"comment_text": [
"Probably because is a learned behavior you picked up on as a kid. You saw your parents or other adults doing it. And like most kids wanting to be like their parents, or someone they admire, you likely copied them. Over time, it became a part of who you are. ",
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4eqyg",
"comment_text": [
"It's turtles all the way down. "
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4gmwn",
"comment_text": [
"Here's my conjecture. It's well accepted that laughter is a social mechanism and helps us bond with others. I think the \"nearby object\" you're slapping is supposed to be a person, further enforcing the connection.",
"Source: I have a friend who gets very ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4ch2u",
"comment_text": [
"so where did my parents learn it",
"and their parents",
"and their parents",
"and their parents"
],
"score": 9
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4ccy0",
"comment_text": [
"Shitting and breathing aren't learned behaviours, for most of us anyway."
],
"score": 8
} | |
ELI5: How can diffrent size memory cards look the same, feel the same and weight the same but have so high price difference? | explainlikeimfive | 1pom9u | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4doth",
"comment_text": [
"The actual memory component isn't that big. A lot of it's size and weight is all the necessary electronics to handle the memory storage and communicate with a PC."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4dtl2",
"comment_text": [
"I.e: someone, somewhere, had to invest in new machinery in order to make 64GB cards in the same size as 32GB. This price is passed on to you."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4dtel",
"comment_text": [
"You are paying for the cost of more cutting edge manufacturing technology. As the bar is shifted, the price will change accordingly."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4gka6",
"comment_text": [
"The biggest differences between a SD card that holds 4GB vs one that holds 32GB are (a) the \"density\" of the memory chip(s) inside, and (b) how many memory chips there are. ",
"By memory \"density\", we mean how many bits per square mm of chip area. If yo... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4i1gk",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks!"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5:How is requiring someone to have an ID when voting racist? | explainlikeimfive | 1pp2ea | 2 | true | false | 0.63 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4iw3a",
"comment_text": [
"First of all, these are laws to solve problems that don't exist. Unicorns should not be allowed to vote either, but that doesn't mean we should set up DNA testing station's to verify that voters are not unicorns.",
"The level of voter fraud in the united stat... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4ifuw",
"comment_text": [
"In and of itself, it's not. However, there are contributing factors - minorities are a disproportionately high number of low-income families, and as things are currently, obtaining a photo ID can be difficult for some. They're expensive ($25 in Florida, which can... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4jo7h",
"comment_text": [
"In some cases they're not. In other cases, they're working under the table (a whole other can of worms in itself), they're working for a small business that hired them and didn't really bother with documentation, or were hired years ago before the ID requirements... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4ifwv",
"comment_text": [
"The concept of requiring an ID to vote isn't inherently racist. However, the fact is that in-person voter fraud is incredibly rare. And when I say rare, I mean that 1 or 2 confirmed occurrences in a state would be considered typical for an election. In other w... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4jcgm",
"comment_text": [
"In addition to what people here have been saying, it's important to keep in mind that Republicans have a long history of voter suppression when it comes to the minority vote. This clearly just seems like another of those tactics, as there is no precedent for this... | ||
ELI5: Why can cops shut down legal marijuana-places? | explainlikeimfive | 1pp19u | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | Okay, living in Sweden and lacking some knowledge about how things work in the states, I'm confused about this. I just finished watching the "Super High Me"-documentary on Netflix. How can the marijuana sold require a legal license yet the places be shut down? I'd love a ELI5-explanation of this. Thank you. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4i1v6",
"comment_text": [
"Federal agencies (such as the DEA) consider marijuana illegal no matter what (because it is illegal under Federal law). Individual states may decriminalize it, but that only means you won't be hassled by state police. If you draw the Fed's attention, you can stil... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4i498",
"comment_text": [
"It starts with some basic knowledge about United States law. \nWe have power confederated between states and national government. Most of the time they don't conflict and where the limits of laws set forth by the National government is where the state and local g... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4i9jq",
"comment_text": [
"And as a general explanation, in the US some powers are \"reserved powers\" which are given to each state individually or to the people directly. Then there's \"delegated powers\" where are given directly to the federal (national) government. (There's also \"co... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4xz7c",
"comment_text": [
"Thank you! This was the most thorough answer to me. ",
"Anyway, I think the thing that's still confusing me is how something can be illegal in a country, yet legalized in a part of the country. It sounds like a very inconvenient way to handle it, and almost a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd50g13",
"comment_text": [
"Well, back when the country was forming, there was a big issue with states' rights and federal rights. The delegated/reserved solution was the compromise. The federal law does technically override the state law, but the federal government stepping in if the sta... | |
ELI5: Why does historical context matter when concerning things that are not intrinsically racist? | explainlikeimfive | 1pph19 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4mysl",
"comment_text": [
"\"The past is never dead. It's not even past.\" ~William Faulkner",
"No, racism does not derive from the intention of the action, it derives from the action itself. ",
"Drunk drivers never intend to kill people when they get in their cars inebriated. B... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4n78a",
"comment_text": [
"Hm. I understand your answer. I guess I should have made it clear that what I meant by \"not intrinsically racist\"/wrong, was that when the action itself was not wrong; i.e. did not harm or affect anyone negatively. ",
"Drunk drivers that drive their cars i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4n1w9",
"comment_text": [
"Hm. I don't mind you removing it. But I'd just like to know what assumptions I made. ",
"To reply to your own comment. My original post does not talk about forgetting culture or history. ",
"It asks why we do not judge actions based on their merit, intent... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4n1w9",
"comment_text": [
"Hm. I don't mind you removing it. But I'd just like to know what assumptions I made. ",
"To reply to your own comment. My original post does not talk about forgetting culture or history. ",
"It asks why we do not judge actions based on their merit, intent... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4n94a",
"comment_text": [
"\"...the more mature option [is] to judge the action based on its intentions, rather than entrench it in its historical context and judge the person based on that\" is probably the biggest assumption you made.",
"It's also not clear whether or not something l... | ||
ELI5 What's the difference between stand-your-ground and self defense? | explainlikeimfive | 1ppiyc | 15 | true | false | 0.76 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4ndvm",
"comment_text": [
"Under traditional self-defense, you can use lethal force to defend youself from death or serious bodily harm ",
" you can't retreat from the situation. This is known as the \"duty to retreat.\"",
"There are some instances where there is no duty to retrea... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4nqk4",
"comment_text": [
"Great explanation - Vermont and New Mexico are the only states that lack formal laws regarding castle doctrine (D.C. also lacks them), although there may be case law. Stand your ground laws are less common, but still exist in about half of the states.",
"Also... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4pr6n",
"comment_text": [
"Also of note is that in many states, castle doctrine laws aren't limited to just inside the home - Pennsylvania, Ohio et al extend this to any area on your property (e.g. porch, garden) and to any vehicles you or a member of your immediate family owns.",
"Gre... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4rs4k",
"comment_text": [
"It should be noted that despite how \"stand your ground\" became synonymous with the case in Florida, in the end Zimmerman actually used traditional self defense (I was attacked and unable to retreat), as opposed to stand your ground (I could have retreated but d... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4q1tv",
"comment_text": [
"In ordered for lethal force to be considered legal self defense, you have to:",
"Stand your ground laws clarify the third point, by being more explicit about the circumstances where you have a duty to retreat and the circumstances (standing your ground) where... | |
ELI5: How did the Birthday Song's melody become the global birthday tune? Even in different languages, the melody is the same. | explainlikeimfive | 1ppl5d | 67 | true | false | 0.86 | I know it's the same for English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.. Even though the lyrics are very different. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4tmcv",
"comment_text": [
"Started in America, translated into 18 languages, catchy as heck and that's likely why it was accepted into several cultures' traditions.",
"warner owns the rights, public performance could be subject to royalties. mobile, sorry: ",
"http://en.m.wikipedia... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4uiuz",
"comment_text": [
"It's not.",
"Much like a lot of other areas in US culture, it's been adapted to a lot of palces, but it's far from ",
" global birthday song. Every culture I'm aware of still has a traditional birthday song of their own, they just also happen to know the ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4tp9u",
"comment_text": [
"For starters, the original lyrics were ",
" \"Happy Birthday to You...\" etc. The melody is ",
"from 1893",
". Unfortunately, the Wikipedia article is focused primarily on the copyright status, and the melody, being older, is clearly not copyrighted... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4ylqu",
"comment_text": [
"True. It's not universal...",
"Las mañanitas is a great example, but spanish has the \"ya queremos pastel\" and the portuguese has both \"a pique\" and \"parabens pra voce\".",
"It's still pretty wide spread, which is what sparked the question in the firs... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cd4z17x",
"comment_text": [
"I would imagine it's become popular globally for two reasons:",
"It's not musically complex. ",
"The lyrics have a sum total of five distinct words and a name in them. Not hard to translate into any language."
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: Why do I never roll off my bed onto the floor when I'm asleep? | explainlikeimfive | 1je0qh | 5 | true | false | 0.73 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdq5y7",
"comment_text": [
"We do fall off the bed fairly frequently as small children. Over time, you subconsciously know the boundaries of your bed, as well as learn the sensation of almost-following. Adults can still fall out of bed, but not often."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdqb9e",
"comment_text": [
"I believe there is a chemical that your body created that paralyzes you as you sleep. People who cannot make this chemical are people who sleepwalk and/or have night terrors."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdshko",
"comment_text": [
"You know when you are about to sleep and you suddenly feel like you're falling? That's your brain turning your muscles \"off\" a little too early"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdq3lx",
"comment_text": [
"When you go into REM sleep, your brain shuts down motor movement. This is so you dreaming you're doing something doesn't actually make you do it."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdsm2r",
"comment_text": [
"Exactly. Thanks for taking my explanation further."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: when you miss step in your sleep why do you kick your leg out in real life ? | explainlikeimfive | 1jehuu | 8 | true | false | 0.83 | it happens a lot to me and i just don't know why it happens, is it a chemical reaction in the body? or maybe a survival thing ? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdv3ws",
"comment_text": [
"Usually when we are asleep our brain paralyses us so that we ",
" act out our dreams. When this system is overactive, a person will have ",
"sleep paralysis",
" - when they wake up they can't move. When this system is underactive, a person will have "... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdy6el",
"comment_text": [
"Expanding on this:",
"To be aware that you kicked out your leg, means that for a brief moment you were in a state of 'sleep paralysis'. The dreaming continued, yet you were regaining conciousness. The slip started to happen, and adrenalin kicks in which has... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdyq14",
"comment_text": [
"I found that turning my head to the side (which takes A LOT of effort) breaks me out of sleep paralysis. Turns out a lot people just attempt to move an extremity like a toe or finger which apparently works just as well."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdyxbv",
"comment_text": [
"I've really tried. Tried everything. I need to either have an adrenalin surge or have a part of the brain say to me that it's physically impossible (Harder than it sounds). eg. Hearing the same window break 2 or 3 times will do it. But if I hear breaking gla... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdyygp",
"comment_text": [
"Try pretending you can smell something."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do some sites still use www? | explainlikeimfive | 1jec6e | 6 | true | false | 1 | I couldn't find a good answer elsewhere, so I'm hoping Reddit can help me answer this. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdtqdp",
"comment_text": [
"My question is: Why is that necessary? What purpose do those 4 characters serve?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdxub3",
"comment_text": [
"Tradition, mostly. A web address is made up of 4 main parts: the protocol (http://, ftp://), the sub-domain (www, or really anything you want), the domain (reddit, google, etc), and the top-level-domain (com, ca, co.uk, etc).",
"Sub domains allow you to direc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdui0y",
"comment_text": [
"There seems to be a bit of confusion here so I'll try to clear it up.",
"Every website on the World Wide Web has a unique name, called the ",
". This can be used by a special server, called a ",
"DNS",
" Server, to work out where your browser shou... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdtrwz",
"comment_text": [
"Sorry, I misunderstood. Now that's a good question. I'm interested in a response, as I have no idea either XD"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdtw4z",
"comment_text": [
"I host my own server. You have to explicitly set it up to send a subdomain (www) to the correct location on your server. ",
"Sometimes, the server will have other subdomains, so www is there to specify that this is the website people want to be directed to.... | |
ELI5: Why are the NBA and NFL played mostly by black people? | explainlikeimfive | 1jeiq3 | 0 | true | false | 0.38 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdva86",
"comment_text": [
"Because they are generally better in raw physique. Overall physical bulk fitness of black people has been refined by a long history of black slavery due to demands for strong laborers. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdvd8i",
"comment_text": [
"Their knee grows."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdvly4",
"comment_text": [
"lol Nothing racist about acknowledging other races attributes. Africans typically have fast twitch muscles which enables them to run faster jump higher. Europeans typically have slow twitch more suited for power and endurance. So although they do not have extra m... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdvpg0",
"comment_text": [
"\"Black people are black\"",
"WHAT? YOU RACIST!!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdvh04",
"comment_text": [
"you get drafted because of your ability, not your story."
],
"score": 2
} | ||
ELI5: Why does Batman let the Joker live? | explainlikeimfive | 1jem5d | 2 | true | false | 1 | In every Batman movie, the Joker seems to live at the end. Why? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdwa6i",
"comment_text": [
"Batman doesnt kill."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdz9mm",
"comment_text": [
"... a dark night.",
"a dark ",
"."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdz9mm",
"comment_text": [
"... a dark night.",
"a dark ",
"."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9an1",
"comment_text": [
"Because if Batman killed the villains, they would have to do more work to create new ones. Fans like to see bad guys they already know return."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbed5f2",
"comment_text": [
"Back in the Golden Age of comic books, they all followed a semi-voluntary moral code, that among other things, did not allow for the depiction of killing. And as a practical note, after you spend several issues building up a villain, it is kind of a waste to jus... | |
ELI5: how does smart pause work on the Samsung Galaxy S4 | explainlikeimfive | 1jejox | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | Smart pause is the feature where if u look away from your phone it will automatically pause your video. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdvj3z",
"comment_text": [
"I don't have the phone, but I'd imagine it uses eye sensory through the frontal camera. When it doesn't sense your eyes looking at the phone, it pauses. When it does, it doesn't."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdw5dj",
"comment_text": [
"So is your frontal camera on for the entire time that you are watching the video. Is your frontal camera always on?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdwc17",
"comment_text": [
"Actually, I've played around with it quite a lot and it senses your face looking at it, not your eyes. If you look away with only your eyes, it does not pause. But if it senses a light change that goes along with your face moving, it pauses.",
"To answer if i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe7hl5",
"comment_text": [
"So is it using a light sensor then or is it still detecting light through the front camera"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe7rsz",
"comment_text": [
"I think it may be a very low resolution camera because it only needs a rough picture to know what's going on. It probably looks more at the light than anything. I'm not entirely surem"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:How does cheese work? | explainlikeimfive | 1jep03 | 3 | true | false | 1 | I mean how can we eat moldy milk? And why does it mold so quickly after we buy it? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe6ewj",
"comment_text": [
"Cheese is milk that is curdled, using a cultured enzyme. Curdling separates some milk solids (curds) from the liquid (called whey). The Curds are processed into cheese, most often by pressing. ",
"Different varieties of cheese use different milk (usually bovi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdx87c",
"comment_text": [
"Cheese works by pretending to be all yummy and innocent while on my plate, but once it's in my body, it goes to work dismantling all the nice turds my colon has created, leaving behind a mess of pressurized fecal shrapnel that claws it's way through my bowels and... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdxcsk",
"comment_text": [
"Lactose intolerant? I am :/ "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdyfmh",
"comment_text": [
"worth it"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdy3ak",
"comment_text": [
"Some molds are toxic, but many are not. The molds used in cheeses are ones that are not toxic to us. They add flavor to the cheese, and outcompete other toxic molds, so they are encouraged.",
"Mold is a fungus that feeds on sugars and proteins. Cheese is a pe... | |
ELI5: Is Nuclear Power actually more benifiticial then people make it out to be? | explainlikeimfive | 1jem71 | 2 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdwd2v",
"comment_text": [
"I believe that it is. It's cheap, reliable base-load power with the safest track record in the entire industry. Many nuclear plants discharge absolutely nothing on a good day, and even in a severe casualty they don't kill people. Honestly, I have a hard time seei... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdwdan",
"comment_text": [
"Yes. A lot of people are rightly afraid of radiation. It has very dire consequences to those that are exposed to it. ",
"The one case where there was a full core meltdown was in Chernobyl. This was a case of poor management. Due to a test, the security tha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdwxdd",
"comment_text": [
"Wut?",
"Fukushima was the site of an incredibly huge natural disaster, which killed tens of thousands of people and wiped out basically all infrastructure, and yet ",
", not even the plant workers.",
"Most of what you said doesn't even make any sense ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdy17z",
"comment_text": [
"You realize that coal plants cause these kind of disasters all the time, right? Except worse, because the third worst coal disaster of all time actually killed people."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe4bt5",
"comment_text": [
"Some countries have fast-fission or \"breeder\" reactors which without going too far into specifics, can use the waste from a conventional plant to produce even more power, and knock down the radioactivity of the waste quite a bit in the process.",
"Here in t... | ||
ELI5:How does China get away with paying it's workers so poorly? | explainlikeimfive | 1jf353 | 7 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe0zwt",
"comment_text": [
"The problem isn't necessarily limited to China: There are more workers than there are jobs. ",
"You don't have a job, and having a shitty job is better than having no job at all, so you take whatever you can. This job you settled for pays you poorly, but you ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe4hyg",
"comment_text": [
"The simple explanation is this: What you think of as a terrible wage is, to a poor, rural Chinese family, a considerable improvement.",
"What you think of as a poor, meager existence is substantially better than the extreme poverty found in much of China. A... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe0nyz",
"comment_text": [
"The differences in wealth are big in China. Overall the \"buying power\" of the Chinese is lower, meaning things in their country are cheaper for us and things in the west are more expensive to them. Many people are poor in China, especially in the rural areas. T... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe1d10",
"comment_text": [
"Who's going to make them pay more? China's a sovereign nation. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe20ac",
"comment_text": [
"Note: For many Chinese - apartment, food, healthcare, education can all be ",
" by the government. So, they're spending money elsewhere. ",
"Also, their buying power is really low. A few dollars in the US might get you a drink at Starbucks. A few dollars ... | ||
ELI5: The reason for Supermarket membership card and Coupon | explainlikeimfive | 1jf6fp | 2 | true | false | 1 | Supermarket such as Pathmark, Albertson, Shoprite, etc, have membership cards that is free to get, unlike Costco, BJ, and Sam’s Club. With these membership cards, you can buy some of the products at a lower price, the sales are for members only. But if the membership card is free, everyone can get one at the cashier a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe1fxv",
"comment_text": [
"Loyalty. As in \"I have a card in this store, I might save some money, so lets go back there to get groceries\"",
"Purchase tracking. The store can tell exactly what you bought in the last 6 months. They can deduce marketing campaigns and product stocking str... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe1r33",
"comment_text": [
"Purchase tracking. The store can tell exactly what you bought in the last 6 months. They can deduce marketing campaigns and product stocking strategies depending on what sort of customers buy what at what time of the day etc.",
"To OP . when the cashier uses ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2cjb",
"comment_text": [
"Number 1 was more important when they first started. Now number 2 is primarily the reason. ",
"And #3 if a store got rid of their membership cards people would get upset thinking they'll now have to pay higher prices. So we're stuck with them."
],
"score"... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2fxk",
"comment_text": [
"The purpose of coupons is tiered pricing. Because coupons take work and planning not everyone uses them. This allows a store to charge two different prices for items.",
"If they lowered the price for everyone they would make less money. If they got rid of cou... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe1idc",
"comment_text": [
"I can see number 2 being relevent, but number 1... I mean, every mom-grade customer has membership card for every store. ",
"Thanks!"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why don't smartphones need to cool down with fans like laptops or desktops? | explainlikeimfive | 1jf5if | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | I mean, they're powerful computers in a small space. Why don't they overheat? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2b5l",
"comment_text": [
"Throughout the 90's and into the 2000's, the primary design goal of most chip makers was to get their processors running as fast as possible. Whoever could push the most Mhz (and eventually Ghz) had bragging rights. One of the side effects of this was that the in... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe17zh",
"comment_text": [
"The difference in chip architecture. ",
"Computers (Mac, windows, etc) use x86-64 chips designed for processor heavy tasks. Most Cell phone chips use a design called ARM, which is made to be very power efficient (as a performance loss). "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2jqx",
"comment_text": [
"They would not ",
" melt. Most of the plastic materials used don't melt until 150 degrees C or so, and the metals much higher temperatures. They will stop functioning before that. The solders have to get hotter than 200C to melt. The semiconductor chips th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2p0l",
"comment_text": [
"I don't know, man. I've seen some shit. Maybe it was just the thermal grease that I saw \"melting\"."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbf4ydn",
"comment_text": [
"In general, the chips in smart phones and tablets were specifically designed to create less heat."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why is it so hard to pee when someone is next to me? | explainlikeimfive | 1jf9y5 | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe7mnu",
"comment_text": [
"And of course you cant just walk away without peeing or the guy will notice you didn't pee and wonder."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2g2a",
"comment_text": [
"Just don't think about elephants."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2kgf",
"comment_text": [
"Stage fright. Try flushing the urinal before you start. Maybe the sound of flowing water will help."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe2odd",
"comment_text": [
"I tried that before, the success chance is too low :/",
"The more the delay, the more I think about it and less the chance I'll pee"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe7clm",
"comment_text": [
"Wikipedia has a page on ",
"Paruresis",
",although it doesn't delve too deeply into the causes."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What is the difference between a condo and an apartment? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfco5 | 5 | true | false | 0.77 | I know it has something to do with buying vs. renting, but I'm still clueless. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe37lh",
"comment_text": [
"With an apartment, one person (or business) owns the entire building and all of the units inside. You can only rent an apartment -- unless, of course, you want to buy the whole building. Typically an apartment building will have an onsite manager.",
"Condos a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe3rb0",
"comment_text": [
"There is a third option that people have not talked about. The co-op. This is super common in places like New York. In a co-op you do not own the actual unit that you live in, but rather own shares in the company that owns the building.",
"Rather than with... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe445a",
"comment_text": [
"You own your unit, vs rent, funamentally",
"When you rent, all the costs for outside of your unit are included in the rent. Sometimes that may include utilities and facilities access (parking, pool, maintenance, etc).",
"When you own a condo, you own just... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe83za",
"comment_text": [
"you can't buy an apartment. the owner of the building owns all the apartment units. apt building is real estate titled as a whole building. condo buildings are titled as units of an association"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe38z8",
"comment_text": [
"This is just what I needed. Thank you!"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:How does the Westboro Church seem to do protests with impunity? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfk0g | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | If another group (eg. KKK) does something at a colored event, there would be some major ramifications... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe5fwe",
"comment_text": [
"I assume they get the appropriate permits from the municipalities where they are going to protest and follow the rules and regulations that govern those permits. Oh yeah, the first amendment. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe5i1j",
"comment_text": [
"If another group (eg. KKK) does something at a colored event, there would be some major ramifications...",
"Like what? Violence? ",
"Fred Phelps (the leader) was a lawyer, and most (all?) of his children are trained as such too. You even touch one of t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe5iyv",
"comment_text": [
"The ",
"First Amendment",
" guarantees the Freedom of Assembly and the Freedom of Speech. ",
"That said, there are limits as to where that Assembly can take place (private property is still private, etc)"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbes0dz",
"comment_text": [
"If another group (eg. KKK) does something at a colored event, there would be some major ramifications...",
"The KKK holds rallies also, they too don't get arrested."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbes0pn",
"comment_text": [
"which would mean prosecution for any individual or non-religious group.",
"Tell that to the KKK, they can do (and have done) the same thing. It's not about religion, it's about free speech."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do Cell Phone Companies Limit Text Messages? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfo9l | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | Why do cell phone companies charge/limit text messages? Isn't data just data? Is sending texts somehow different from - say - sending an email or browsing the web from my phone? Why is there separate plans for texts? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe6oz1",
"comment_text": [
"I'm afraid you won't receive any reasonable answer other than they are cheap bastards. It costs them nothing to send 30 more texts a month. Just an easy way to milk money out of you."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe6rpi",
"comment_text": [
"In GSM spec, standard text messages or Short Messaging Service (SMS) are not treated as data. They are transmitted over a separate channel which introduces the 160 character limit.",
"That being said, there is no technical reason why companies should charge s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeonyg",
"comment_text": [
"Interestingly enough, SMS messages are transmitted during PING/PONG events and not sent immediately when you hit the send button. They are limited to 160 characters because that is roughly the amount of data they can store in the \"empty\" space in these events."... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe8r21",
"comment_text": [
"I'm thinking charging for and/or limiting text messages is mostly a relic from pre-smartphone days for the carriers. Sending and receiving text messages required different equipment at the cell tower than if the tower only handled voice calls. The cost for this... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe6wqf",
"comment_text": [
"Data is just data in principle but anything they can classify separately from call minutes they will so they can upcharge for it without increasing the advertised cost of a basic plan.",
"The telecommunications industry is also complicated and old in general ... | |
Why is it that I see all these AMAZING breakthroughs in /r/news and /r/science but none of them make mainstream news? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfpou | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | Like "Harvard creates brain-to-brain interface, allows humans to control other animals with thoughts alone" in . Yet, you never hear this in CNN and all that jazz. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe7cwn",
"comment_text": [
"The media only presents things they think their readers/viewers will be interested in. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't give a shit about science.",
"Also as Amarkov said, a lot of pop-sci articles are poorly-written by laymen, and tend to exaggerate what... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe735p",
"comment_text": [
"Because they're lying. The amazing breakthroughs usually never actually happened. For example, when you see \"NEW CURE FOR CANCER !!\" in those subreddits, it usually means \"some guy discovered chemical #101512 that kills cancer cells in a glass dish\".",
"i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeakuz",
"comment_text": [
"\"Scientists may soon be able to teleport a mouse halfway across the planet using a D battery and tin foil!!!!!!!!!!!!\"",
"That's true, and I may soon be able to shoot rainbows from my ass."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe8yxm",
"comment_text": [
"On the list of other things that kill cancer cells is a glass dish: ",
"Those also aren't cures for cancer :)"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9g22",
"comment_text": [
"Breakthroughs in science are few and far between. Also, some breakthroughs that get scientists all excited would mean little to a layman. What gets reported on is stuff that might appeal to the readership, same as in any other field/topic. And vice versa: what ge... | |
ELI5: How does the value of a dollar change? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfxda | 3 | true | false | 0.8 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbehplh",
"comment_text": [
"Even when it was based on a precious metal standard, the value of that precious metal was largely just made up. The metals themselves had some utility value, but not considerably more than any other metal. Mostly they only accrued value because they were relati... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefrvb",
"comment_text": [
"It's made up ever since they decided it was no longer based on gold.",
"It's rooted in the trust of the government, essentially."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9a0k",
"comment_text": [
"People raise or lower prices of things. So the value of what a dollar buys changes."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9gfg",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine if they made like infinte dollar bills when they needed money for something, and started paying with that. Then everyone would get way more dollars then they get today. If the prices then stayed the same, then anyone would be able to buy everything, and t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9xae",
"comment_text": [
"the ",
" of a dollar changes the same way the price of anything changes: supply and demand. If the supply of dollars increases, the price (i.e. exchange rate) drops. If the demand for dollars increases, the price rises. ",
"the ",
" of a dollar is har... | |
ELI5: how close does a movie have to be to the facts when claiming it is "based on real events" or "inspired by a true story"? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfz7r | 2 | true | false | 0.63 | I have always wondered. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeabnf",
"comment_text": [
"Fargo use \"Based on a true story.\" It was not. The Coen Brothers thought the audience would relate better to the story if they thought it was true."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9ulz",
"comment_text": [
"Not close at all. There's nothing legally binding the movie adaptation to the real life story in anyway except possibly public knowledge of facts (people don't like knowing they're being lied to)."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbebfhf",
"comment_text": [
"As long as it's not something like Star Wars, it's just a marketing gimmick. Who really checks for accuracy, anyways? And the word \"inspired\" just gives you more loopholes than 2000 acres of Velcro."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9zm3",
"comment_text": [
"About 0% of it has to be based on real events for them to claim it does."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbea0tc",
"comment_text": [
"I was home alone and I heard a door creak. I think it's a ghost.",
"Someone can write a ghost story based on that and it's still based on a true story."
],
"score": 1
} | |
If we can resurrect an extinct mammoth, why didn't we save the white rhino with this technology? | explainlikeimfive | 1jftbs | 2 | true | false | 0.57 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe869e",
"comment_text": [
"I wouldn't count on the resurrecting thing."
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe8teh",
"comment_text": [
"This article is accurate to a point but if you were able to find a suitable living relative, epigenetic factors wouldn't effect things that much (like when a lion and tiger mate to form a liger). You'd end up with hybrid animals though and would have to selective... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbec2b4",
"comment_text": [
"For Science!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbebwj8",
"comment_text": [
"there isn't too much incentive other than to prove that we can.",
"That's good enough for science, though. We do what we must because we can."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbela4i",
"comment_text": [
"what's the point of creating a single individual of a species that has gone extinct due to habitat destruction and poaching? "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why do poeple hate Drake? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfwaj | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbebki6",
"comment_text": [
"I don't know. The Drake Equation seems pretty reasonable to me. I say, until we can fill in all the variables, we shouldn't judge him. Who knows, he may be on to something."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbetzxz",
"comment_text": [
"although, obvious music is a matter of taste, Drake is a different issue because he's not just some rapper, he's somebody that makes rap seem \"weak\". Classically the whole point of rap is to brag and be arrogant about money bitches etc... Sometimes rappers incl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeamnk",
"comment_text": [
"Not everyone has the same taste in music"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbehm9b",
"comment_text": [
"Because he quit hanging out with Josh."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe94ut",
"comment_text": [
"I know why I hate him. He's a poser."
],
"score": -1
} | ||
ELI5: If "solid" objects are made up of atoms which have huge amounts of empty space in them, why can't they move through each other? | explainlikeimfive | 1jfzna | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | The ratio I was given was a dime was the nucleus and 100 meters away was the first electron. How can't solid objects move through each other if they are mostly empty space? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbea1ta",
"comment_text": [
"Because of the electromagnetic fields between the particles.",
"When you hit a cue ball with a stick, the reason the stick doesn't phase through the ball isn't because the ",
" collide with each other, but because the fields do.",
"You know that pushi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeaa6u",
"comment_text": [
"That's crazy to think about.",
"The morning after physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered that atoms were mostly empty space, he was afraid to get out of bed for fear he'd fall through the floor. "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbea0ce",
"comment_text": [
"Because the electromagnetic force pushes them away from each other. In the same way that you can't push to opposite ends of two magnets together."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeatzm",
"comment_text": [
"If that weirds you out just consider that the particles themselves are just made up of other particles which are in turn just perturbations of fields. \"Solid\" as opposed to field interactions is just a fictional concept, a model that is functional at our scale ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbea8g9",
"comment_text": [
"That's crazy to think about. Thanks for the answer."
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: Production scheduling | explainlikeimfive | 1jg57r | 2 | true | false | 1 | What is and how does production scheduling work in manufacturing? EDIT: trying to narrow it down: | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbebtxs",
"comment_text": [
"This is a pretty broad question, can you narrow it down a bit?",
"Are you talking about the systems, such as that most larger companies use a system called ",
"Lean Manufacturing",
" derived from Toyota's system. Or a variation called Lean Six Sigma."... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbecsn4",
"comment_text": [
"I tried to explain it a bit clearer. I'm looking for info what is done to make a schedule of the items to produce."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbed8ih",
"comment_text": [
"Do not ask yes-or-no questions or ask for a walkthrough/procedure-- try ",
"/r/answers",
" or ",
"/r/techsupport",
". This is for conceptual explanations",
"I don't think you're gonna get an answer here from ELI5 about \"how do I run a manufac... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbee8i3",
"comment_text": [
"For a simple system, it's not terribly complicated, just a lot of work. A lot of small companies that don't make a lot of different products manage it with a spreadsheet. But there are also software programs that will help with this job for when it gets to be to... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbevm4z",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks!"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why don't you feel a force against you when traveling inside a fast-moving vehicle like a bullet train or plane? | explainlikeimfive | 1jg93b | 3 | true | false | 0.8 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbecriq",
"comment_text": [
"You've actually kind of got the question backwards. If you and an object are moving at the same speed (such as you holding it while quickly moving), then it should always go up and down evenly when you toss it ",
" The reason it would fly backwards (again, ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbectdw",
"comment_text": [
"That's what g forces are. As it speeds up, it's faster than you but pushing you, and you feel it. However, you speed up as well, so eventually you and it equalize and you're both moving together at the same speed, so you feel no g forces."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbecuc8",
"comment_text": [
"Your body doesn't feel speed, it feels acceleration. The speed of a bullet train or a fast car is minuscule compared to the speed you naturally travel standing on the equator (1000mph) standing on the earth as it goes around the sun (67,000 mph) or being in the s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeda3f",
"comment_text": [
"Yup."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeda3f",
"comment_text": [
"Yup."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: how do reddit 'bots' work? | explainlikeimfive | 1jgan0 | 44 | true | false | 0.73 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbedmwo",
"comment_text": [
"A bot is basically a program designed to talk to something, in this case, reddit.",
"Reddit provides an ",
"API",
" (short for Application Program Interface) to programmers, who then use this API to write a program that interfaces with the reddit serv... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeijc3",
"comment_text": [
"There's already a repost alert bot, (as far as i'm aware) and on the same posts with that repost alert with karmadecay proof, redditors still bitch about reposts.",
"Typical reddit."
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbee2hq",
"comment_text": [
"As an example, here is ",
"a link to this page",
", but in a form that a computer program would find easier to read.",
"The old linkfixerbot, for example, would have probably looked at this page every few seconds;",
"http://www.reddit.com/comments... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefbn2",
"comment_text": [
"ahem...\n\"ELI5 is not for literal five-year-olds.\""
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefh2a",
"comment_text": [
"Do you think a 5 year old could read the sidebar?"
],
"score": 5
} | ||
ELI5: How do people find out they have cancer such as testicular or lung cancer which is hidden? | explainlikeimfive | 1jgg4u | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | I know you look for lumps in breasts and get the annual finger up the butt for prostate; but what about other cancers? Being a smoker if it is easier to focus on lung cancer that would be great. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbpy99h",
"comment_text": [
"You can get blood tests which will show the presence of tumour markers a lot of the time for cancer, but not all the time."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefa0s",
"comment_text": [
"General symptoms for cancers include: unintended weight loss, fatigue and fever.",
"\nMost cancers can also cause symptoms in relation to where it is located and what it is growing in.\nLung cancer would be recognized by coughing up blood, shortness of breath... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefc1z",
"comment_text": [
"Also, testicular cancer is one of the more visible cancers. Any unusual lumps or bumps on your testes should be investigated. The number of men who think \"It's nothing, it'll go away\" and only get checked when it's far too late is horrifying and it would be so ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefuer",
"comment_text": [
"DO! Regularly. It's easy and it really could save your life."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefd18",
"comment_text": [
"You start experiencing symptoms that lead to a diagnosis of cancer. Any organ palpable from the outside is easier to feel abnormalities. The real problem comes from organs on the inside, which is why cancers of the lung, esophagus, pancreas, and others are ofte... | |
The Difference Between Blackmail and Extortion. | explainlikeimfive | 1jbbzl | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | They seem to be pretty much the same thing. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcza47",
"comment_text": [
"Blackmail is extortion by threat of exposing something else that the target did/does. \"If you give me $100,000, I won't send these photos of you balls-deep in your mistress to your wife.\""
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbczhta",
"comment_text": [
"Yes, blackmail is a subset of extortion."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbczef6",
"comment_text": [
"So blackmail is a type of extortion?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcyqiw",
"comment_text": [
"Person 1: I was going to do this thing for you, but if you don't do this other thing, I wont do that thing for you. ",
"So this case would be extortion?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3oh3",
"comment_text": [
"No, unless not doing the thing is illegal."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: why do people sneeze when they look at the sun? | explainlikeimfive | 1jgic9 | 0 | true | false | 0.44 | When I'm itchin to sneeze ill always gaze up into the bright sun and there it comes. Sometimes even a bright light will suffice. Why is this the case? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeflyd",
"comment_text": [
"You are part of the ",
" 18-35% of human population suffering from something called ",
" (or ",
"), which leads to you sneezing in response to various stimuli, such as looking at bright lights, ",
" the sun."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbefunp",
"comment_text": [
"I always assumed that everyone else sneezed when looking toward the sun. But everytime I reference it, people act like I'm crazy"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeg5cd",
"comment_text": [
"Amazing its such a small percentage. I guess I just ignorantly assumed it was everyone because all of my siblings have the same reaction. Maybe it's genetic? Hope that's not silly to assume."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeg8et",
"comment_text": [
"Actually you are right, it indeed is genetics. That's why you may also call it ",
"."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeghkd",
"comment_text": [
"yes this.",
"something with how the rods/cones in our eyes react to the light change. ",
"I think this was covered a long time ago on TIL or ask reddit. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
How does traffic happen | explainlikeimfive | 1jbgrq | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | I understand how it happens with an accident or construction but sometimes it seems sometimes I am driving along and randomly there is traffic and then it breaks up randomly. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbczn1s",
"comment_text": [
"Vehicles moving on a public road is the very definition of \"traffic\".",
"What more do you need to have explained to you?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbczyms",
"comment_text": [
"Well, have you driven on the highway and noticed one side has little to no cars, while the other has traffic like no tomorrow? That's rush hour and probably what you're seeing. Everyone is using that highway to get to a particular city/destination at the same tim... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd0064",
"comment_text": [
"You're never stuck in traffic,",
"You ",
" traffic."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd10ou",
"comment_text": [
"The reason for slow traffic/traffic jams is simply that it takes cars a little while to get moving again after having been stopped or slowed.",
"Have you ever been five or ten cars back at a stoplight, watched the light turn green, and wondered why in the wor... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd2cnb",
"comment_text": [
"This video is awesome:",
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M",
"Basically all it takes is one person (the white car braking at :10) to set off a chain reaction."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How can I post pictures to subs like r/aww and r/pics without using imgur? | explainlikeimfive | 1jbogl | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd2f00",
"comment_text": [
"Why would you want to do that?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd2w5q",
"comment_text": [
"It takes me forever. I want to be able to just upload it to reddit directly. Ugh. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3cwe",
"comment_text": [
"Ah! Gotcha. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3cwe",
"comment_text": [
"Ah! Gotcha. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd4t96",
"comment_text": [
"takes you forever? it takes me like 3 seconds to upload something to imgur. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
Why are there not parachutes on commercial flights? | explainlikeimfive | 1jbswq | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3s5l",
"comment_text": [
"This has been answered fairly comprehensively before:",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hzymm/eli5_why_do_they_not_put_parachutes_in_commercial/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dhlyc/eli5_why_commercial_planes_a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3aac",
"comment_text": [
"Do you think the average aerial commuter is trained in, and comfortable with, skydiving from an out of control jetliner with no landing zone or proper jump altitude?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3dwx",
"comment_text": [
"The majority of the passengers would not be properly trained in skydiving. Parachutes are heavier than they look, and one for each passenger = alot of extra fuel. Also, opening the door would be dangerous because of the pressure at such a high altitude and gettin... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3jxz",
"comment_text": [
"Practically all accidents occur during take-off or landing."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd3ff6",
"comment_text": [
"alot"
],
"score": 0
} | |
ELI5: How do we have pictures of a wide view of the galaxy when we are somewhere inside of it? | explainlikeimfive | 1jbkoo | 55 | true | false | 0.84 | Seems impossible to me to take a picture of the box when we are inside the box. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd0w0h",
"comment_text": [
"We don't. Those are either the work of artists, or pictures of other similar galaxies. We've never sent any camera even remotely near another star yet, much less outside the Milky Way."
],
"score": 37
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd0z44",
"comment_text": [
"I feel like I have been lied to..."
],
"score": 21
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd10cn",
"comment_text": [
"No need. I will almost guarantee that any such picture you've seen either states that it's by such and such an artist or is of galaxy NGC [some catalogue number]"
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd46yz",
"comment_text": [
"Were you referring to pictures like ",
"this",
"? Which I'm pretty sure is legit, but just a small section of our galaxy?"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd47to",
"comment_text": [
"Then how do we know it looks like ",
"this",
"?",
"I'm so surprised I never knew this, I'll have to ask my Astronomy professor when I take that class this Fall."
],
"score": 4
} | |
ELI5: Why hasn't the female human body evolved to not require menstruation? | explainlikeimfive | 1jc58d | 0 | true | false | 0.44 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd7sqz",
"comment_text": [
"Because that's not how evolution works. ",
"First of all, women don't somehow evolve independently from men. It's just human, both sexes carry the same genes.",
"Secondly, evolution works by small, incremental changes. No backsies or design overhauls are ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd7z9h",
"comment_text": [
"Humans do already have a one-up on many other mammals, in that they are basically fertile the whole year round, instead of only certain months/weeks of the year.",
"This is not entirely accurate. Female humans are fertile in only certain days of month. "
],... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdbmzi",
"comment_text": [
"Yes, but every month. Dogs, at least, are in heat just twice a year. Cats a few more times maybe."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbde6lg",
"comment_text": [
"Cannot answer for God, but biologically (evolutionary) speaking:\nThe way humans procreate works. A random mutation that would cause a (group of) female(s) to still be fertile a good few days each month, yet somehow skip the part about blood and PMS and what have... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdboee",
"comment_text": [
"Doesn't matter. It just means that their menstrual cycles are longer..."
],
"score": -1
} | |
ELI5: What happens the moment before we fall asleep? | explainlikeimfive | 1jcafw | 46 | true | false | 0.81 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdf4bz",
"comment_text": [
"Usually (during normal healthy sleep) we fall asleep in stages or at least gradually. Your brain will paralyze your muscles and manage breathing, swallowing, digestion, heartbeat, etc by subconscious processes. Typically, it's assumed that people will experience ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdffvs",
"comment_text": [
"In concentrating on something you reduced the number of concurrent things you were thinking about. Don't concentrate on anything when you lay down. Force yourself to think about things that don't require thought to do. Taking a walk, eating, that kind of thing... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdevj2",
"comment_text": [
"Think of your brain like an amazing computer running multiple complex programs, but it has to rest. So before sleeps starts the brain checks how much power it has used and how much is left.",
"Then it follows a checklist of tings to do, release muscle relaxan... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdk3y0",
"comment_text": [
"give this man gold"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbddooa",
"comment_text": [
"Actually this has been a real fear for me as a kiddo lol. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why it's a waste of good quality steak to have it well done? | explainlikeimfive | 1jcalz | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd8dg2",
"comment_text": [
"Because if you overcook steak the flavor becomes generic. For the same reason you don't want to over-season the meat. The finest, most expensive cut won't taste any better, or have any softer texture than a cheap flat iron cut from the bargain bin at wal-mart. ",... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd8jdo",
"comment_text": [
"Searing actually doesn't seal in the juices. That's a myth. Source: I'm a cook. Also, Alton Brown. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd93e4",
"comment_text": [
"Different cuts of steak have different characteristics. Some cuts taste more beefy than others, others are more tender. Cooking something to well done homogenizes just about every cut you can imagine. You lose out on the unique characteristics of the cut of st... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd8irm",
"comment_text": [
"Searing actually doesn't seal in moisture. That's a myth. Source: Alton Brown... And I cook for a living. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbddokh",
"comment_text": [
"It's not. Well done steak is fantastically delicious."
],
"score": 0
} | ||
ELI5: If everyone went vegetarian, what would happen to all the cows, chickens, pigs, etc.? | explainlikeimfive | 1jcipm | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdaf2a",
"comment_text": [
"You both have points. If meat eating stopped abruptly then all the cows/pigs would really just be abandoned and probably eaten by wild animals. No one would pay to feed them since you can't get anything from them.",
"But they still have a point, if meat eat... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdal99",
"comment_text": [
"What I mean is if we still bred animals, just bred less, because people wanted less, then they wouldn't be \"wild\" they would just be in less demand.",
"As demand lowered, production would lower to match it. Look at rotary phones for an example, we don't ha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdal99",
"comment_text": [
"What I mean is if we still bred animals, just bred less, because people wanted less, then they wouldn't be \"wild\" they would just be in less demand.",
"As demand lowered, production would lower to match it. Look at rotary phones for an example, we don't ha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdacwg",
"comment_text": [
"I offer my body as tribute "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdak6d",
"comment_text": [
"There have always been and still are wild cows, chickens and pigs, or atleast very close relatives of those. And these will continue to live in the wild as long as their circumstances don't change too much.",
"The domesticated ones will have a hard time survi... | |
ELI5: Why does data in a harddrive degrade over time? | explainlikeimfive | 1jckql | 2 | true | false | 1 | I've heard figures anywhere from 5-35 years. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdbfl6",
"comment_text": [
"The data on an HDD is stored in very tiny magnetic \"domains\", which are regions where the molecules are aligned magnetically one direction or the other. There are a couple of factors that tend to make them slowly become misaligned. ",
"One is that they a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdbwvp",
"comment_text": [
"If I keep rewriting the data over and reformatting the drive, would that prolong the life of the HDD?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdc06e",
"comment_text": [
"Yes. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdclvt",
"comment_text": [
"It might prolong the life of your data, but continued heavy usage might shorten the life of the drive itself."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdaz88",
"comment_text": [
"Mechanical moving parts, high speed spinning disks. Eventually they will fail. How soon depends on design and how many manufacturing defects made it to the final product."
],
"score": 0
} | |
ELI5: What causes or spurs large growths in population? Why do India and China have so many people? | explainlikeimfive | 1jckac | 3 | true | false | 0.72 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdezlw",
"comment_text": [
"The only source of population growth is energy. The discovery of steam energy kick started a huge population explosion which increased with the discovery of fossil fuels.",
"As for why china and india has a large population. It's because they are large \"coun... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdyutq",
"comment_text": [
"I never even considered that. That actually makes a whole lot of sense. A lot of people left Europe to found new lands because Europe was becoming too crowded, and now America and Canada have about 400 million people combined."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe9shp",
"comment_text": [
"Forgot all of Latin America!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbeg1x3",
"comment_text": [
"I didn't forget them, I just chose not to include them since I am not sure of the population of the area, how much of it was natural (Mayan, Aztec, etc), how much was immigrant (from Europe)."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdaw01",
"comment_text": [
"200 years ago, you have seven kids and two or three of them die from disease/medical issues before becoming adults. For every two adults, you're getting two or three new adults to make new kids, etc. ",
"100 years ago, more medicine and such. You have seven k... | ||
ELI5:How do fiber optics work? | explainlikeimfive | 1jcn4y | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | I haven't seen anything on this and I am confused. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdbnfo",
"comment_text": [
"They're thin glass strands, and lasers are aimed at the end with an angle that causes them to continually reflect back and forth off the internal walls until they reach the other end."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdcerr",
"comment_text": [
"Think of a long tunnel that bends and turns. If you shine a flashlight into it, you couldn't see it on the other end. Cover the entire inside surface of the same tunnel with mirrors - problem solved. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdbsys",
"comment_text": [
"Right. And usually at one end is an LED (light-emitting diode) that is a light source, and at the other end is a phototransistor of some sort that conducts when it is hit by light."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdc678",
"comment_text": [
"EngineerGuy does a good job explaining it in this ",
"video."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdbx59",
"comment_text": [
"*Refraction to be more accurate. The fiber strands consist of two different types of media: typically a silica glass core and and a plastic cladding. The two materials have different indices of refraction that allow the \"light\" or wavelength to propagate down t... | |
Why do certain Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, maybe Khmer) use characters for a single word or phrase instead of letters? | explainlikeimfive | 1jd8kk | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdlj40",
"comment_text": [
"have you even seen arabic? ",
"it's not caveman language either. it's called culture and tradition. fucking simpleton.",
"japanese practice writing as a form of art."
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdlj40",
"comment_text": [
"have you even seen arabic? ",
"it's not caveman language either. it's called culture and tradition. fucking simpleton.",
"japanese practice writing as a form of art."
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdiwvy",
"comment_text": [
"In Japan, three writing systems are used.",
"Kana writing systems is used most often - Hiragana and Katakana. Here, each character represents about English 2 letters.",
"\nFor example, カ = ka.",
"\nバナナ is three kana characters, spells \"banana\". Ba-n... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdijyn",
"comment_text": [
"because these languaged evolved from older pictogram based languages. chinese writing can be traced back to about 1200 BC. ",
"the modern character 人 \"man\" is derived from the pictogram of a man, head, two legs. ",
"see ",
"http://www.omniglot.co... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdipib",
"comment_text": [
"Most languages began as pictographic systems. That means they use drawings of things to represent those things. So the \"word\" for man, was a drawing of a man. From there you often combine simple words to make more complex words, or ideas. So you put the sym... | |
ELI5: Why does the US fly its flag all over the place? | explainlikeimfive | 1jdazv | 1 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdiszz",
"comment_text": [
"This question is completely subjective, I would take it to ",
"r/askreddit",
"."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdiwtk",
"comment_text": [
"The first part of your question doesn't make sense to me, because I've seen just as many flags being flown in other counties. As for why Americans think their country is better, I think it's a combination of cultural prestige, economic and technological dominance... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdixnd",
"comment_text": [
"The flag flying thing actually started relatively recently",
"Massed flag production had been around since the revolutionary war, but the really commercialized version started in the late 1800s (like, 1890), with the goal to put them in all schools/ make mone... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdj5wq",
"comment_text": [
"Nationalism in Europe is viewed with careful awareness that stems from Nazi Germany and Soviet-Era Propaganda. Many Europeans would view such things as indoctrination - and is such a slippery slope.",
"The United States used nationalism as a tool to propel sc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdj6ty",
"comment_text": [
"This isn't really what ELi5 is for, it's more a complaint about americans and their practices then a conceptual question. I'd try ",
"/r/askreddit",
" instead. Removing."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: What is the difference between ELI5 and /r/nostupidquestions? | explainlikeimfive | 1jdeyx | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdna90",
"comment_text": [
"Few things get ignored here. Some get removed though if they aren't appropriate."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdk5to",
"comment_text": [
"Hmmmm I agree... I'll get on that."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdk5to",
"comment_text": [
"Hmmmm I agree... I'll get on that."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdljw8",
"comment_text": [
"thank you!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdljw8",
"comment_text": [
"thank you!"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: FISHING! | explainlikeimfive | 1jdh2t | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdkm3p",
"comment_text": [
"http://www.reddit.com/r/Fishing/search?q=fishing&sort=relevance&restrict_sr=on&t=all",
"There's a whole board for this."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdkoif",
"comment_text": [
"From the sidebar:",
"Do not ask yes-or-no questions ",
"-- try ",
"/r/answers",
" or ",
"/r/techsupport",
". This is for conceptual explanations."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdkpb2",
"comment_text": [
"First rule of fishing, fish where the fish are.\nDo you have any reason to believe there are big fish in the spots you're throwing lines? ",
"Second, think like a fish.\nFish don't bite bare hooks. So, you need to size your bait and hook to the size of the fi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdkmwm",
"comment_text": [
"I want it explain as if I was 5"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdkmxv",
"comment_text": [
"I can't explain it without going over the character limit, so I'll just link you to wikipedia:\n",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_techniques"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why is it that almost exclusively bands or musicians from native English speaking countries reach worldstardom? | explainlikeimfive | 1jdnbg | 5 | true | false | 0.86 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdo6e5",
"comment_text": [
"The same reason why, during the Renaissance, most artist were Italian (e.g. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and the other Ninja Turtles):",
"Money. [",
"http://youtu.be/Vufba_ZcoR0?t=3m22s",
"]",
"In order to make a living out of art, you need patronage. ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdsczy",
"comment_text": [
"I'd question your premise somewhat. When you say, \"Reach worldstardom\" do you mean acts you have heard of that have achieved worldwide fame? Because there may be plenty of acts that have achieved worldwide fame that you have not heard of. People like Nusrat Fat... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdmzmc",
"comment_text": [
"Because English is currently the most widely spoken language.",
"French currently is the second most widely spoken language, with fifty seven different states being included in La Francophonie. Acts such as Yelle, Daft Punk and Air are French groups who have ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbe3iin",
"comment_text": [
"There were other \"patrons\" in italy, other rich families and, of course, the catholic church that found most of these works of art :D"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdybhf",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks, that was a very well written answer!"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5:If ants have a larger combined biomass than humans, then is human overpopulation really a serious issue? | explainlikeimfive | 1jdnfc | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | This has stumped me for a few days now. The only thing i could think of is the pollution issues in major cities. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdn91s",
"comment_text": [
"It's not really an issue of biomass. The planet is not at risk of 'falling from orbit' because it's too heavy, or anything like that.",
"\"Overpopulation\" has dramatic flow-on effects for consumption of fossil fuels, urban density, food production and transp... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdnrkx",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah, I think that essentially sums it up.",
"We know that we could, for example, quite easily end world hunger if we all just lived more sustainably. But we don't want to give up the comforts of our first-world lifestyle, and so the problem persists. That's ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdnjf0",
"comment_text": [
"You are right about technology as a source of consumption. The more i think about it i feel like overpopulation is more an issue of needing to focus on proper stewardship of resources. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdmqzs",
"comment_text": [
"A 150 pound human likely uses vastly more resources than 150 pounds worth of ants. Ants pretty much just use food, water, and some space (usually underground). Humans use all of that, probably prefer to be significantly less crowded than ants deal with, and also ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdnkb0",
"comment_text": [
"Thats a good point. I wrote in the other post, that the more I think about it, the issue of overpopulation has more to do with stewardship of resources than anything else. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
Sex and gender difference | explainlikeimfive | 1jdpt1 | 2 | true | false | 1 | What really is the difference between the 2? What is gender assignment and why does it happen to some people? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdn8jj",
"comment_text": [
"Sex is usually described as what gender your sexual organs are supposed to match up with (penis for men, vagina for women). However, the concept of gender is a bit different. When someone identifies as transgendered, it's essentially saying their their body does ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdn8lo",
"comment_text": [
"Sex is the physical. This is just the chemicals and biological differences that distinguish between males and females. Males have penises and do not have ovaries; Females have vaginas and do not have testes, etc.",
"I might be biologically male or female. Tha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdniq8",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks. Makes sense. Does this in any way have an influence on sexual orientation? Would say, a gay man be a person with mismatched sex and gender? "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdps8m",
"comment_text": [
"If a man had a mismatched Sex and Gender he would probably identify as transgender (Transgender is when your gender identity doesn't match your biological sex). Your Sexual Orientation tends to be separate from your gender and sex. If you discovered, for example,... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbdsvqf",
"comment_text": [
"This is a pretty useful explanation of sex, sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression.",
"http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/03/the-genderbread-person-v2-0/"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What are the best explanations for the dramatic rise in autism rates in recent years? | explainlikeimfive | 1j8z9j | 0 | true | false | 0.44 | It doesn't seem to be vaccine related... But what? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcaqwt",
"comment_text": [
"Better detection.",
"Autism is a spectrum, so as we get better and better at finding it we get further and further into the 'normal' part of the spectrum. Which coincidently is where the most people are."
],
"score": 9
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbccdsj",
"comment_text": [
"To expand upon what ",
"/u/IMHERET0HELP",
" said, imagine that you're a caveman explorer 50,000 years ago. Where your tribe roams, there are lakes, rivers, and streams. One day, you discover the ocean. Now your caveman media starts reporting that there... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcgrv2",
"comment_text": [
"The label of autism is being applied to people much more commonly now then ever before. In the past we would call these people slow, dumb or stupid. Often in the more severe cases families would hide these individuals so as not to be embarrassed. ",
"We rec... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcappq",
"comment_text": [
"Fretful parents."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcke5a",
"comment_text": [
"First of all, autism is an umbrella diagnosis for a collection of neurological symptoms that come from many different genetic causes. ",
"This is why there is such a wide range of people all of whom have autism.",
"Whenever there is a problem during the d... | |
What makes something "designer"? | explainlikeimfive | 1j973w | 1 | true | false | 0.52 | Like designer jeans and purses | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcd04t",
"comment_text": [
"Marketing"
],
"score": 9
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcdwgv",
"comment_text": [
"Though this is a very layered question in my eyes, I'll try to.. be somewhat consistent. I know there's probably a lot negative stereotypes when it comes to what the general public deems a designer object.\nHowever, I prefer to think of those louis vuitton shoes,... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcda77",
"comment_text": [
"Don't forget stupidly priced."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcgbjm",
"comment_text": [
"However, I prefer to think of those louis vuitton shoes, marc jacobs sunglasses, michael kors bags as forms of cultural artifacts.",
"Damn, ive never looked as modern clothing as cultural artifacts. Thanks for enlightening me."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcd9zv",
"comment_text": [
"That's the thing...if I release an item of clothing and charge $500 for it is it designer? ",
"Not until it has been branded and everyone else who sees it knows it's worth $500. ",
"I feel like that's the crucial component... when anyone sees a Louis Vuit... | |
ELI5:How does the black market work? (And how would one even know how to find the item/supplier in the first place?) | explainlikeimfive | 1j91gg | 3 | true | false | 0.71 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcbdwz",
"comment_text": [
"Black Market isn't actually like a store or a market you go to. People obtain items that are illegal (to own, sell, use, not allowed, etc) and sell them to other people willing to buy these \"illegal\" items. For example, Burned DVDs are items on the black mark... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcbcz4",
"comment_text": [
"\"How do I buy something off of the black market\" be sincere. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcbe4x",
"comment_text": [
"The black market is just people selling things that aren't legal. If you're involved in criminal activity, you probably know other criminals. You ask around for what you want - people know other people and eventually somebody will match up a seller and a buyer.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcya7j",
"comment_text": [
"Another example could be cigarettes. If you live in a state with low taxes on them you could take them to another state with high taxes on them to make a profit on the difference(and go to jail if caught). You would be selling \"black market\" goods because it ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcbdni",
"comment_text": [
"Hahaha, what a way to put it"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: What makes American military expenditure different from having a big public sector? | explainlikeimfive | 1j9lag | 2 | true | false | 1 | As a foreigner, it is strange to me that the Americans that want a small and frugal government are mostly the same that want military expenditure to be as high as it is, and vice versa. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbch3ne",
"comment_text": [
"There are a couple explinations.\nThe first is that many conservatives have the view that the federal government's main role should be protecting the people, ie raising a military. Libertarians for example think this is pretty much federal governemnts only role a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbckd91",
"comment_text": [
"Many small-government advocates believe that some public services should be provided instead by the private sector. National defense, however, is nigh-universally acknowledged to be impractical to outsource.",
"On the other hand, most libertarians would prefe... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbch6ra",
"comment_text": [
"So is the expenditure mostly on business contracts, rather than the pay and perks of the military personnel?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbchaot",
"comment_text": [
"I don't know what the break down is honestly, but you can imagine that amount of just basic needs in food, uniforms, cleaning that an army base has. Along with that the ammo, the guns, and the vehicles. Also, private research and development funding."
],
"sco... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcjvzk",
"comment_text": [
"It's not that Republicans want small frugal government, they want big government that primarily helps them. Hence the popularity of huge socialist programs for the middle class like social security, medicare, and public education. Libertarians do want small gov... | |
ELI5:How does the Internet transport commands, and update web pages nearly instantaneously? | explainlikeimfive | 1j9kdv | 2 | true | false | 0.76 | Like how is it connected together (and with what) so that I could be chatting with someone on the other side of the world with only a couple seconds of delay? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbchdlo",
"comment_text": [
"That is in a vacuum. Within the optical fiber it moves slower, around 200,000 km/s."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbch2b2",
"comment_text": [
"By using light. Internet cables are basically tiny tubes through which light flashes are sent. These flashes have a meaning (a bit like morse code) depending on their timing. Computers know how to translate these flashes into text, images, music etc.",
"As th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbchet6",
"comment_text": [
"You're right, I stand corrected!"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbch8e7",
"comment_text": [
"Speed of light is actually closer to 300.000 km per second."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcijj4",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine a man with a flash-light blinking from one building to another. Every time he flashes his flash-light, the man on the opposite side writes down a \"yes\" or \"1\" for every second its bright, everytime the flash-light becomes dark, he writes down a \"No\... | |
ELI5: Buddhism | explainlikeimfive | 1ja9kh | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | I have very little knowledge of Buddhism and am very curious about it | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcnbq7",
"comment_text": [
"first of, can i knoow where u are from? cuz buddhism in different countries may differ"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcnev7",
"comment_text": [
"I'm from the US"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcngr9",
"comment_text": [
"ahh, well basically, what or which part do you want to know specifically?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcnm2j",
"comment_text": [
"Like what do Buddhists believe, the meditation aspect, just the religion in a nutshell really. ",
"My prior knowledge of Buddhism is so small that I really don't even know what to ask to know about"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcnyns",
"comment_text": [
"well, most buddhists believe in karma, as in what goes around comes around. do bad stuff, bad stuff happens to you as well and vice versa. i remember when i was younger, i ask why do some bad individuals have a good life, and it was explained to me that the deeds... | |
ELI5: Why do different countries still use different electrical sockets? Is any one of them "the best"? | explainlikeimfive | 1j9vwk | 26 | true | false | 0.76 | Bonus Question: Let's say I was building a secret underwater base in the middle of the.. erm some Ocean, and that I had equal access to each and every different socket type. Which would be the best choice considering I would have limited power generation capacities? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbck3rq",
"comment_text": [
"Well, there are several major categories of electrical sockets. It sounds like you're thinking of ordinary AC residential sockets, which range from about 100-240V. Higher voltages mean a higher risk of shorts (which can translate into more insulation required), b... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcpuwb",
"comment_text": [
"As to why this isn't all standardized across the world is the same reason why the US hasn't changed to the metric system (we tried in the 70s I believe). Simple... it would be chaos. ",
"These countries are all built upon these electric systems and completely... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcjzq6",
"comment_text": [
"this is correct. there are various considerations for the plugs themselves, such as expense to produce, ergonomics of inserting and removing, waterproofing, whether it locks in place, whether it's compatible with other plugs (don't want to accidentally plug somet... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcjnb4",
"comment_text": [
"The type of socket has very little to do with what power runs thru it. 220 50hz vs 240 50hz vs 110 60hz runs just as well thru american plugs and euro plugs"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbckox0",
"comment_text": [
"In phase 1, it should require the same power as a household of 5, who limits and watches their energy consumption, in addition there will be a greenhouse big enough to supply fresh produces for the same amount and a water desalinization unit. The sharkeels produc... | |
ELI5: If there are infinite combinations of decimals (1.10, 1.11, 1.12 etc), why is there only equal and finite space between two integers? | explainlikeimfive | 1jabmi | 11 | true | false | 0.79 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcnz6j",
"comment_text": [
"The question seems to come with the implicit assumption that the ability to define decimals makes them \"take up space\". That isn't correct."
],
"score": 17
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbco62s",
"comment_text": [
"A number existing between two numbers doesn't mean there is less space for other numbers to exist between two numbers."
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcnzy0",
"comment_text": [
"This is simply because the distance between two numbers is not equal to the number of numbers between them. If that were true, then every two (non-equal) numbers would have an infinite distance between them - in fact, in a very precise sense, there are exactly as... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcqh9t",
"comment_text": [
"The distance between 1 and 2 is 1.",
"The distance between 1 and 1.5 is 0.5. As you get into the smaller and smaller increments, the distance gets smaller and smaller. If you add up the infinitely small distance between the decimals an infinite number of ti... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcpnt3",
"comment_text": [
"I see your point, but he also asked about a finite space between two integers. I would say that there is a defined space(range) between two integers. However the space itself contains infinite permutations of decimal values, while still possessing a defined maxim... | |
ELI5: How do companies like iBUYPOWER sell gaming PCs for so cheap? | explainlikeimfive | 1jakzw | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | I saw them in a magazine in 2007 and I thought "Wow! This is amazing!". I decided to go to their website a few minutes ago and check out what they got. The cheapest they have right now is , which makes me wonder how they have them so cheap. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcqx0b",
"comment_text": [
"The problem is, that PC at that price is NOT a gaming PC. It has only integrated graphics for one. For 2 the second you upgrade the graphics you need a new powersupply and so on. That computer is basically the same as any $500 computer only it has a fancy case... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcsbdv",
"comment_text": [
"How cheap can I get for a gaming PC that can run F:NV on medium graphics?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcsbdv",
"comment_text": [
"How cheap can I get for a gaming PC that can run F:NV on medium graphics?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcsjgw",
"comment_text": [
"Cheap. Probably $200 with the right deals and shopping around, $300 if you didn't try too hard. That is without a monitor of course.",
"But I wouldn't bother at that price, you might as well get a decent system if you get one at all. Fallout: New Vegas at med... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcqrzi",
"comment_text": [
"They basically build a PC for you, which is fairly cheap. If you were to buy all of the components separately and do the same yourself it would be even cheaper. They likely don't have a large number of well highly paid employees like established companies (i.e. A... | |
ELI5:How do we know Carbon Dating is accurate for dates more than 1000yrs old? | explainlikeimfive | 1jakzq | 5 | true | false | 0.86 | I only know of carbon dating, but say whatever process we use to find the age of an object or person thousands of years old what is the proof that our dates are accurate? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcqmjh",
"comment_text": [
"We understand the mathematics of nuclear decay, so we know how much carbon 14 vs carbon 12 we ",
" see. Then, we combine it with geologic dating and written records. For instance, we may know from written records the exact date that a tomb was sealed. If w... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcrci0",
"comment_text": [
"There's a misconception in the question that annoys me and I always have to correct it: Carbon-14 dating ",
" accurate for dates more than around ",
" 50,000 years old, and we know it. The reason for this is because carbon-14 has a relatively short half-l... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcrny1",
"comment_text": [
"You are right about the order of magnitude here, but the number 10,000 is just false. With mass spectroscopy you can detect C-14 in veeery low concentrations. So this dating method is usable up to 50,000 years in the past. (thats roughly 10 halftimes of C-14)"
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcrpqq",
"comment_text": [
"Fair enough then, I was basing it on the number I heard back in middle school science."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbda32p",
"comment_text": [
"As pointed out by other answers, we know because we were able to check with other dating methods."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why your eyes have to be closed when you go to sleep even when your surroundings are just as dark | explainlikeimfive | 1jalb5 | 4 | true | false | 1 | I don't get it. When I'm in bed, it's just as pitch black regardless of whether or not my eyes are open. Why must my eyes be closed? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcseeb",
"comment_text": [
"You can fall asleep with your eyes open, but your body tends to get nervous about leaving such a delicate part of the body exposed. Closing your eyes is a prerequisite to relaxation for most people."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcrkbz",
"comment_text": [
"This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect this user's privacy. It was created to help protect users from doxing, stalking, harassment, and profiling for the purposes of censorship. ",
"If you would also like to protect yourself, a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcs87o",
"comment_text": [
"He's not asking \"what's the purpose\", he's asking \"what causes this to happen\"."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbctv2q",
"comment_text": [
"Muscles in your eyelids relax. If you keep your arms flexed or fists clenched, or any part of your body tensed up you'd probably have a hard time falling asleep too. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcqlqp",
"comment_text": [
"If you had your eyes open all night they would get really dry and it would be uncomfortable."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do people resign in protest? | explainlikeimfive | 1jao8o | 3 | true | false | 0.8 | Why would a politician or other member of a powerful organisation resign when the organisation does something they disapprove of? Wouldn't it be more effective to work to bring change from within? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcrvb8",
"comment_text": [
"Perhaps it would, but sometimes they feel that they are not going to be able to substantially change the situation, and feel morally that they don't want to continue to be part of an organization that behaves that way. Plus they may think that they can achieve mo... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcsx6x",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine your boss one day came in and asked you to go to the animal shelter and kill all of the puppies.",
"As someone who is rather fond of puppies, you really REALLY do not want to do this. So, you complain to his boss. During the complaining, you discover ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbctdcs",
"comment_text": [
"Quitting the job gives you an appearance of taking the moral high ground. ",
"Plus, would you really ",
" to work for someone who ran the place in a manner that is totally against your moral compass?",
"Really, it's like quitting because your boss suc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbct9jd",
"comment_text": [
"Couldn't you tell people ",
" quitting the job? The worst they can do is fire you, which makes them look even worse (unless your employer is a ruthless government. Then you might want to go and hide in a Russian airport or something)"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcrx96",
"comment_text": [
"Could you be more specific? I suspect there is a specific situation you're talking about. It would make more sense to answer if we knew what that situation was."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: if there have been over 2000 nuclear bombs detonated since 1945 (for testing purposes) why isn't "Nuclear Winter" already a reality? | explainlikeimfive | 1javlw | 16 | true | false | 0.91 | Link reference All during the cold war you heard about how only a few dozen nuclear attacks could send the entire world into a nuclear winter that could last generations. But basically we've been continuously detonating nukes for over half a century - more than TWO THOUSAND of them, when you account for all the global ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcukgs",
"comment_text": [
"First, only about 550 of those bombs were set off in the atmosphere, as opposed to underground. So the number that matters here is quite smaller than 2,000, and it was spread out over several decades.",
"Second, those explosions were not simultaneous. There i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbctxqf",
"comment_text": [
"Also, a lot of those bombs were detonated underground/underwater, which doesn't cause nearly as much particulate fallout as bombs detonated above ground."
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbctztm",
"comment_text": [
"To elaborate on this, nuclear test sites are usually located in remote (read: empty) locations or underground. Nuclear winter is caused by huge amounts of particles being sent into the atmosphere by the explosion and subsequent fires it would cause, especially in... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbctztm",
"comment_text": [
"To elaborate on this, nuclear test sites are usually located in remote (read: empty) locations or underground. Nuclear winter is caused by huge amounts of particles being sent into the atmosphere by the explosion and subsequent fires it would cause, especially in... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbctxun",
"comment_text": [
"For a nuclear winter to occur, many nuclear bombs have to go off in a short amount of time, as in within the same nuclear strike or very shortly thereafter -- like, the U.S. says \"death to Russia!\" with 1500 nuclear bombs and a few minutes later Russia says \"f... | |
ELI5:Why don't animals get sicknesses, similar to ours(common cold, etc.), or if they do, why don't they have similar symptoms? | explainlikeimfive | 1jb6bi | 3 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcwoq5",
"comment_text": [
"They do, and they do get symptoms, obviously without the ability to talk it often goes unnoticed by us.",
"Do you remember swine flu? Which affected pigs. And bird/avian flu? Which affected birds (even killing some).",
"The animals suffer from probably as... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcwrnv",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks. Another question I have is how do they live through most of the symptoms, while we humans have to treat ourselves with medication. Is it all because of the immune system?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcwu7m",
"comment_text": [
"Some animals do actually self medicate (",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoopharmacognosy",
") most famously parrots.",
"Animals can and do get very ill (:(). We do in deed have a very good immune system and of course doctors."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcwv4s",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcwyve",
"comment_text": [
"Humans get sick a lot more often than animals because we live in large close groups that travel a lot. Viruses and bodies are constantly at war with either bodies winning or dying. And even when the virus wins and the body dies the virus still loses because then ... | ||
ELI5: What actually IS dying of exhaustion? | explainlikeimfive | 1jb700 | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | Exhaustion sounds like a symptom and not a cause of death. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcxeol",
"comment_text": [
"Exhaustion isn't a clinical diagnosis. Medically speaking, you can't die of exhaustion. Depending on the circumstances, you're most likely dying from your heart stopping due to electrolyte imbalances.",
"Heat exhaustion, for example, kills you because you l... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbd0bog",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks, this cleared it up for me a bit. Im ",
" ",
" sometimes hearing of people who die of starvation. I guess this makes more sense than your heart being so tired that it just stops. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcx2jg",
"comment_text": [
"So... Then you died of starvation technically, yes?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcx2jg",
"comment_text": [
"So... Then you died of starvation technically, yes?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcx9uy",
"comment_text": [
"I don't believe this is correct. What you're describing is dying of starvation, not exhaustion. Your energy supply runs out when you have 0% body fat and muscle mass (as your body starts to break down your muscles to create energy), which means people who die of ... | |
ELI5: Why is it that more serious injuries sometimes hurt less? | explainlikeimfive | 1j6ywj | 1 | true | false | 1 | When I stub my toe it hurts like the dickens, but tonight when I stubbed my toe I could not figure out why it wasn't hurting. It really felt like it should have. A minute later I look down and realize my toe nail has come off and there is a pool of blood. Wouldn't feeling pain be more beneficial to me, evolutionarily? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbs1u7",
"comment_text": [
"From what has been explained to me, when an injury happens our body goes into a shock. It basically cuts off the nerves creaming pain at us and stops the brain from receiving those messages. As to why, my only guess who be so that we can continue functioning, as ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbpq7b",
"comment_text": [
"Feeling pain requires functioning nerves. If an injury is serious enough to destroy the mechanism to report it, it may be painless.",
"In this case it might just have been that the injury was in a part of the toe with poor sensation; the toenail itself has no... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbpwa9",
"comment_text": [
"The \"fight or flight\" reflex does tend to suppress pain, but that effect doesn't require that you actually be injured."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbsk9v",
"comment_text": [
"Thanks, that answer is satisfying."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbso7p",
"comment_text": [
"No problem."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How does one invent a new drug? | explainlikeimfive | 1j6zih | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | is it possible to invent a new drug like the one in Limitless? Is it hard to invent a new drug? I'm thinking of it as cooking food, there are a ton of recipes for cooking food and anyone can invent a new "recipe" so for drugs can anyone just invent a new molecule (recipe)? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbq3tb",
"comment_text": [
"Drug synthesis is cool!",
"\"Drugs\" are chemical cocktails that react with receptors in our brain or change the chemistry in a specific area of our body. All chemicals are made out the same elements found on the Periodic Table. The only difference between ea... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbqgol",
"comment_text": [
"That goes into the molecular level of how elements bind to each other. In theory, yes it's that simple to combine random stuff together like throwing eggs and ketchup and pickles into a bowl and calling it food. But in reality, the oil in the eggs will separate f... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbqp9i",
"comment_text": [
"LOL alright ty speaking of hells kitchen they should totally make a show of chemist making drugs and should put Ramsey has the host. This drug is RAWWW "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbqr8r",
"comment_text": [
"I'm really hoping a true molecular biologist jumps in to answer this, as I have limited knowledge into the details. But I can explain it in the most general way possible. ",
"Elements can be manipulated but they will always have a positive, neutral, or negati... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbqm52",
"comment_text": [
"there are several ways to create new drugs, the basic ones are:",
"*screening/optimization: this one is basically testing a lot of random molecules until you find one that has a biological function, the you can replace some parts of the molecule in order to i... | |
ELI5: Why is it so hard to find alcohol that doesn't taste...like alcohol? You'd think someone would make a killing off of 40% Koolaid-flavoured alcohol. | explainlikeimfive | 1j72c7 | 10 | true | false | 0.69 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbt35j",
"comment_text": [
"Haven't you ever heard of flavored vodka? Tastes like candy. Especially caramel vodka, thats some good stuff."
],
"score": 8
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbqqpn",
"comment_text": [
"You can add whatever flavorings you want, but it still has alcohol in it.",
"That being said, properly aged alcohols mellow out in flavor. Top shelf, 30-year-old whisky tastes nothing like a $20 bottle from Walmart. If you're really looking for something li... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbr7im",
"comment_text": [
"TIL there are walmarts that sell whisky."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbrggg",
"comment_text": [
"They do if your state allows it."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtuc4",
"comment_text": [
"WA"
],
"score": 3
} | ||
ELI5: Can you get fined or arrested for flipping off a cop? | explainlikeimfive | 1j77ko | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbs8q4",
"comment_text": [
"Technically no, but you are just asking for them to find some other excuse to do so."
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtadj",
"comment_text": [
"If you stick your hand out the window, you can technically be fined for making an improper hand gesture (because technically you can use your arm as a replacement in the event of a failure in your turn signals). "
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtmwo",
"comment_text": [
"I think no, but they will try to get you for something and you might have to go to court to prove you're innocent but seems like a headache. The cop will probably just yell at you if you must do it and say nothing after."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc0zep",
"comment_text": [
"They are actually trained to remain calm while you call them every name in the book; its your 1st ammndmnt right- although that broken tail light he was about to let you off with now becomes a search that necessitates a k-9 unit that will take an hour to get ther... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbv7r5",
"comment_text": [
"I was at a party right now, but it got raided so I came home early. And there was this guy screaming \"fuck the pigs\" and they like put his hands behind his getting ready to arrest to him, and they just keep asking him \"Do I look like a pig?\" I was like \"what... | |
ELI5:Kony 2012 | explainlikeimfive | 1j79qd | 0 | true | false | 0.42 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtpdw",
"comment_text": [
"KONY 2012 was a video made by Invisible Children Inc. The organization in the video wanted war criminal Joseph Kony arrested by the end of 2012. The video somehow spead across the internet, with over 100 million views by now I think. The video did have influence.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbthma",
"comment_text": [
"Basically theres a non for profit organisation called Invisible Children, They made a groundbreaking doccumeantary exposing a \"War-lord\" in africa called \"Kony\". Turns out Kony hasnt been active in the whole \"evil\" buisness for 6 years and none of the peopl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtv9r",
"comment_text": [
"Turns out Kony hasnt been active in the whole \"evil\" buisness for 6 years and none of the people living in Africa even care about him.",
"In 2009, there was a large massacre in ",
"DRC",
" by LRA forces. ",
"And",
" 90 per cent of people in ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtw67",
"comment_text": [
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?q=kony&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtkq7",
"comment_text": [
"I believe there are two sides, when you watch the video at first it seems like such a great idea and so helpful how can anything like this have another side. One year prior to the video being made over 1 Billion barrels of oil were discovered in Uganda.",
"Th... | |
ELI5: Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism, Capitalism. | explainlikeimfive | 1j7bmm | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtszj",
"comment_text": [
"Depends on the nation you're in. They can mean very different things for different nations."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc7ptm",
"comment_text": [
"Here- ",
"Capitalism and Socialism"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtta0",
"comment_text": [
"Take a look at ",
"this chart",
", which basically lays out the entire political spectrum for you. It breaks down the spectrum into liberal/conservative, then examines competing ideas of government, economics, citizenship, family life, etc."
],
"scor... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtv3h",
"comment_text": [
"Liberalism vs. conservatism is a completely different conversation than socialism vs. capitalism.",
"They've also all been done to death on this board, so use the search bar."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbty22",
"comment_text": [
"In classical terms, there are three groups: conservatives, liberals and progressives. Conservatives generally try to maintain the law as it stands and work with that; progressives continually revamp laws to fit the needs; liberals are ideally a balance of the two... | |
ELI5: why is our self image distorted in a mirror reflection? | explainlikeimfive | 1j7bxj | 28 | true | false | 0.79 | My self image is so fluid, I have absolutely no idea what I look like ... I suspect it's a commonality. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbvcrj",
"comment_text": [
"..You probably see yourself in the mirror at least once a day. If not that, then pretty often. It's somewhat of a psychological thing. So you've been staring at the reflection of yourself nearly every day for most of your life. You have warmed up to this reflecti... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbydg0",
"comment_text": [
"This answer is exactly what I was thinking. Also, you're a total cutie."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbufq4",
"comment_text": [
"It is like how our perception of our voice seems distorted on videos, etc. We perceive our appearance with little imperfection. We don't want to admit we have flaws, so our brain changes our perception of how we view ourselves. A photo shows how the rest of the w... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc1rmk",
"comment_text": [
"Nah, I think I look better in photos than I do in the mirror."
],
"score": 0
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbtumo",
"comment_text": [
"ask Id."
],
"score": -2
} | |
ELI5: Why mobile phone company never attempt to create a perfect mobile phone for everybody? | explainlikeimfive | 1j7ctn | 0 | true | false | 0.43 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbu114",
"comment_text": [
"There's no such thing as \"the perfect ",
" for everyone.\" People have different needs for their phones. Some people want a good texting keyboard. Others might never text, but want a good camera. Some might want a smartphone with apps. Some might just w... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbuhdy",
"comment_text": [
"Every feature that you add increases the cost. You want to be able to sell a stripped-down phone with just, say, talking and texting, with a minimal data plan, for people with less money to spend, and a tricked-out one, with every feature imaginable and the fast... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbuhdy",
"comment_text": [
"Every feature that you add increases the cost. You want to be able to sell a stripped-down phone with just, say, talking and texting, with a minimal data plan, for people with less money to spend, and a tricked-out one, with every feature imaginable and the fast... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbu199",
"comment_text": [
"Because you can't please all the people. Not even some of the time."
],
"score": 0
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbu1yx",
"comment_text": [
"The simple answer is that there is no perfect phone for everybody.",
"Some like large screens while others like something that fits in their hand",
"Some need something simple and intuitive, others like more options",
"you get the point. That being s... | |
ELI5: What exactly are smelling salts are, and how do they work? | explainlikeimfive | 1j7o88 | 4 | true | false | 1 | Smelling salts are horrible. But obviously they work. How? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbxf2c",
"comment_text": [
"Smelling salts release ammonia (NH3) gas, which irritates the mucous membranes of the nose and lungs, and thereby triggers an inhalation reflex. ",
"Sauce: ",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelling_salts"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbxybx",
"comment_text": [
"He's right. Besides it being just an irritant to stimulate the unconscious person, the ammonia gas produces a reflex in the body to increase blood flow to the brain and lungs, making it more likely for the person to reawaken. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc59gs",
"comment_text": [
"\"Bath salts\" are something completely different. That's just a name that stores were using to sell a new drug. \"This stuff is a bath salt, you're not supposed to put it in your body and get high, if you know what I mean\". It was just a flimsy way to get ar... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc5g37",
"comment_text": [
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_salts_(drug)",
"There's zero reason somebody would make a chemical like this for actually taking a bath. They also wouldn't sell it in shady bodegas & head shops."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbcaev5",
"comment_text": [
"Most of the \"herbal incense,\" \"bath salts,\" \"plant food,\" etc. drugs were labeled as such to avoid the FDA, which determines what you can and can't sell for human consumption. By labeling it as something that is implicitly not meant for humans to eat, you c... | |
ELI5: Trolling. Why would people do it? | explainlikeimfive | 1j7uub | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbz6kp",
"comment_text": [
"It's a human instinct to ruin everyone's life and eat all the steak."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbz8jt",
"comment_text": [
"Lack of tract and sensibility coupled with the fact that they can get away with it easily while they wouldn't IRL"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbznwf",
"comment_text": [
"Same reason children act out when they get a younger sibling. They seek attention, negative or positive, they don't care but obviously negative attention is the low hanging fruit. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbztl1",
"comment_text": [
"A combination of wanting attention, and being able to attain it with zero effort and (supposedly) zero consequences. Humans always want attention and love getting away with stuff, but teenagers and younger users are especially susceptible to this behavior so I've... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc4xou",
"comment_text": [
"Some men just want to watch the world burn."
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: How do the shields in Star Trek work? | explainlikeimfive | 1j7teb | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbyvgd",
"comment_text": [
"Try ",
"/r/asksciencefiction",
"."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc053p",
"comment_text": [
"Just when I was getting bored of Reddit..."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbbzpje",
"comment_text": [
"Think of the shields as a firewall for energy. When an energy blast from an enemy or other source is within a certain frequency, the shields are able to block the energy's \"signal\" from getting through. Sometimes, the energy is within a frequency out side the s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc02ye",
"comment_text": [
"It's all vague hand-waving, there's no actual specific way it works, but the general idea seems to be that the shields use their energy to block all or some of the energy of whatever's shot at them. If the shields aren't strong enough, some of it gets through, b... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc02yh",
"comment_text": [
"Like magic!"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why can't I use alcohol or petroleum based products around Oxygen tanks? | explainlikeimfive | 1j87tc | 1 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc38a9",
"comment_text": [
"Fire needs three ingredients to get to business: heat, fuel, and air. In this case, you have accelerants (alcohol or petroleum) which are basically super-fuel, and pure/concentrated oxygen, which is like super-air (in terms of fire; no one's getting super powers ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc3fzz",
"comment_text": [
"True, petroleum or alcohol mixed with oxygen aren't going to chemically react to spontaneously combust, but it is very easy to unintentionally ignite something, especially in a high oxygen environment with flammable vapors like the kind that gasoline or alcohol g... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc3fzz",
"comment_text": [
"True, petroleum or alcohol mixed with oxygen aren't going to chemically react to spontaneously combust, but it is very easy to unintentionally ignite something, especially in a high oxygen environment with flammable vapors like the kind that gasoline or alcohol g... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc3z6y",
"comment_text": [
"Chemically, no, nothing would happen. But it's ",
" more susceptible to something that otherwise would be a low risk. Different way to look at it: A candle isn't going to light up by rubbing some dryer sheets together, but don't expect the same failure around... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cbc4jow",
"comment_text": [
"More like ",
"/r/AskScience"
],
"score": 1
} |
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