title stringlengths 3 300 | subreddit stringclasses 1
value | post_id stringlengths 5 7 | score int64 0 47.9k | link_flair_text stringlengths 0 63 | is_self bool 1
class | over_18 bool 2
classes | upvote_ratio float64 0 1 | post_content stringlengths 0 29.7k | C1 dict | C2 dict | C3 dict | C4 dict | C5 dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
What is the advantage for companies to create their own proprietary ports instead of micro USB, etc? | explainlikeimfive | 1saj20 | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | For example: 3DS, PS Vita, iOS devices. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvpkpa",
"comment_text": [
"One reason is called \"vendor lock-in\":",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvlin2",
"comment_text": [
"2 reasons mostly:",
"It's easier to manage own protocol and extend it with features than make modifications to standards.",
"You must to buy accessories only from one vendor, it's called vendor lock-in."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvlr5t",
"comment_text": [
"Damn dog. Damn wife and kids! Damn life!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvkrkp",
"comment_text": [
"Apple's Lightning connector, like their previous 30-pin connector, has extra pins so that accessories can interact with an iOS device and do more than just output sound. And while it should go without saying, the ",
" end of Apple's Lightning cable has a sta... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvl2pd",
"comment_text": [
"Another reason is also to make money. Lets say that company A has a usb port different than the 'standard.' Well, now that your cable has been chewed through by the dog, you cannot go to Best Buy and buy a cheap cable, you have to buy their cable."
],
"score"... | |
ELI5: Why does oil fry food and make them crispy while water boils food and makes it soggy? | explainlikeimfive | 1sao5r | 15 | true | false | 0.76 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvn7i3",
"comment_text": [
"Actually you've kind of answered your question right there.",
"Oil fries food and makes it crispy.\nWater boils food and makes it soggy.",
"But oil that fries food does so at a ",
" higher temperature than 100",
" centigrade, the boiling point of ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvp5go",
"comment_text": [
"So if the appropriate elements were in factor, and you boiled water to higher degrees, you could water fry food?"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvperx",
"comment_text": [
"Huh? I don't know what \"So if the appropriate elements were in factor\" means at all.",
"And, how would I \"boil water to higher degrees?\" Do you mean, if I heated water to the ridiculously high temperature that the oil is at, would it \"fry\" the food?",... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvpg9n",
"comment_text": [
"I remember from high school sciense class that with high amounts of pressure i think, you can make water have a higher steaming point"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvqcn3",
"comment_text": [
"It wouldn't work. Since the water in the food would be under the same conditions, the water that is cooking the food wouldn't be able to boil off the water in the food being cooked. Thus, no crispy outside. It would still be soggy."
],
"score": 3
} | ||
ELI5: Why does dark matter have to exist? | explainlikeimfive | 1sasin | 1 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvnmv7",
"comment_text": [
"Dark matter refers to matter that we can't see that is inferred by the gravitational influence that we can see that can not be accounted for by the matter we can see.",
"Dark energy is used to explain why the expansion of the universe is speeding up. We can'... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvnx9x",
"comment_text": [
"Dark because we can't see what is doing it."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvnx9x",
"comment_text": [
"Dark because we can't see what is doing it."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvnkx1",
"comment_text": [
"It doesn't. The calculations could be wrong, or lots of other stuff. They could be right, we have no idea. \"Dark\" matter/energy, the dark in this context means unknown, as in we have no clue what it is, we think there is something there taking up matter and en... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw3zz7",
"comment_text": [
"\"Dark\" matter actually refers to the fact that whatever is causing the observed gravitational anomalies doesn't interact electromagnetically and is thus, quite literally, dark. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why is it socially acceptable to wear all forms of fashion in public now, as opposed to 100 years ago? | explainlikeimfive | 1sb6ly | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | Whenever I see footage of the 1890s -1920s, social sumptuary norms seem to be heavily enforced, i.e. men in hats, caps, full suits with vest, cravat, etc. Women in heavy, similar dresses. What has changed in the intervening years that we can now wear jeans, t-shirts, vests, suits, dresses... anything that strikes our f... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvrhgh",
"comment_text": [
"Fashion has changed.",
"What people wore then was fashionable at the time, but seems formal or old-fashioned now.",
"Equally, in the early 1900s, no one would have worn ",
"culottes",
" in public, because they would have seemed old-fashioned then.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvrkmc",
"comment_text": [
"I'm sure they thought they had wild and crazy style back then."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvt63h",
"comment_text": [
"Nice answer, but I'm not sure if that's the question the OP was asking. I don't think it was a simple ",
" question, but rather: ",
" ",
"Personally, I'm not sure if that premise is entirely true. ",
"In the present day, there is a lot more inte... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvu18z",
"comment_text": [
"Absolutely ",
"u/Iron-Patriot",
". It does feel like Victorian fashion, for example, was much more homogenous. Men had to wear suits, regardless of class. Perhaps what differentiated classes was the cut of suit, or perhaps wearing a peaked cap instead of ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvvcdy",
"comment_text": [
"Ahh, yes I did actually mean to explain my other theory as to why the past may ",
" to have been more homogenous. There is more variety because of increased cultural crossover, and greater general wealth nowadays and that will be a part of it. But I still be... | |
ELI5: Why does it feel colder in my house when it is 25deg outside than when it is 45deg outside. | explainlikeimfive | 1sarb3 | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvn5lu",
"comment_text": [
"What do you mean?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvn90m",
"comment_text": [
"I mean the temp inside my house is set at 70. When it is only 45 outside, that feels comfortable. \nWhen it is 25 outside, it feels cold inside my house.",
"It is 70 inside my house when it is 45 outside.\nIt is 70 inside my house when it is 25 outside.\nBut ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvnav5",
"comment_text": [
"If the heater is set to 70, that means that your heater is trying to keep your house at 70, not that your house is actually at 70. there will be changes in temp add the heaterturns on and off. And also throughout the house. If the outside is very cold these diffe... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvoypo",
"comment_text": [
"When you inside your house, your house is still outside. When it's colder outside, things like your house get colder.",
"The Thermostat, which you use to set your temperature, does not necessary measure the temperature of all parts of your house. When it's ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvr4kp",
"comment_text": [
"when it's 45 outside your heater runs less, when it is 25 outside your heater runs more, the extra heat dries out the moisture in your house, when I lived farther north than I do now, we use to combat this particular problem by sitting a coffee can full of water ... | ||
ELI5: When did African-Americans begin to use a slur, "nigger", as slang to refer to one another? | explainlikeimfive | 1sb4b5 | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvzrnc",
"comment_text": [
"It is a form of empowerment, taking back a word that was used to denigrate and using it in a semi-positive manner.",
"Gays call themselves queers and dykes. Women call themselves bitches. By taking over a word like this, it lessens it power when used agains... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvr9z6",
"comment_text": [
"Paul Mooney (friend of Pryor) was one of the first with \"Nigga please\" in popular culture, but it would have gone back to the slave days. Blacks were called the N word, and thus referred to each other by it. It grew to become a term of endearment and by the 19... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvri2q",
"comment_text": [
"NO...Nword and Nigga are NOT the same thing. Nigga DERIVED from Nword, but they are VERY clearly two totally different words with two totally different INTENTS and meanings.",
"Nigga is a universal word for friend \"What up my nigga!\"\nNword is a derogatory ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvrvxa",
"comment_text": [
"Why do you keep calling me white? And why do you use white male as an insult? You're either racist or self hating. Take your pick."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdwcpic",
"comment_text": [
"I'm not white. Your insistence on this point proves your aggressive ignorance much better than I ever could. I just love it when you morons dig your own graves."
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5:how can babies scream and shout so long without damaging their vocal chords etc.? | explainlikeimfive | 1sbda1 | 17 | true | false | 0.77 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvt203",
"comment_text": [
"Evolution.",
"The babies who didn't cry when they were hungry or cold or in pain, or were unable to cry long enough to get help died and their weak vocal chords died with them. It's also why a baby crying is one of the most annoying sounds imaginable - a bab... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvt2dx",
"comment_text": [
"Wow, that was fast. Thanks!"
],
"score": 9
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvuh5t",
"comment_text": [
"I just had a baby girl yesterday. I find the crying sound amazing...so far :) The nurse here at the hospital said that the crying help build the babys lungs. So crying is good."
],
"score": 9
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvviwi",
"comment_text": [
"It can. Emma Stone got her raspy voice from continuous crying as a baby. ",
"http://www.celebuzz.com/2011-08-04/emma-stone-explains-her-husky-voice-on-letterman-video/"
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvtoof",
"comment_text": [
"To expand on OP's question, is there anything about a baby's vocal chords that changes over time? I couldn't imagine myself screaming at the top of my lungs for any prolonged time (then again, I haven't tried lately)."
],
"score": 4
} | ||
ELI5: gross income | explainlikeimfive | 1sbcku | 6 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvsvu8",
"comment_text": [
"If you make $10 per hour and you work 40 hours per week, your gross income is $400 for that week. ",
"Net income would be what you actually take home from that paycheck."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvsxeb",
"comment_text": [
"Gross income is the earnings you make before federal, state, city taxes, insurance or any other deductions are taken out of your pay check.\nEx. You earn $10.00 per hour and you worked 40 hours. Your gross is $400.00 ( $10.00 x 40 ). Start deducting the above ite... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvswpt",
"comment_text": [
"Gross income is everything you make before you give any of it to anyone. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvsxp8",
"comment_text": [
"All of the money you earn before taxes and any other expenses. So if you earn $100 and taxes are 10 percent your gross income is $100 and your net income, what you get after taxes and other expenses, would be $90. The other expenses include things like social sec... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvvbwp",
"comment_text": [
"Not cool. Jokes are not allowed, and jokes that can mislead someone who doesn't know better are even worse."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5:Why does Wikipedia not host ads? | explainlikeimfive | 1sbvra | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | And by ads I mean non-intrusive, sidebar ads. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw14rf",
"comment_text": [
"not pester it's userbase with ads.",
"They seem ok with pestering its user base with fundraisers, I don't see how ads are much different."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw14rf",
"comment_text": [
"not pester it's userbase with ads.",
"They seem ok with pestering its user base with fundraisers, I don't see how ads are much different."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvygt9",
"comment_text": [
"The Wikimedia foundation does not want advertising on the site out of principal. They believe introducing advertisements would go against their core message of spreading free knowledge."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvyr1d",
"comment_text": [
"It would at least raise the potential perception, if not the actual case, that editorial policy could be swayed by the money that advertisers bring in. Can you really write an article which lays out bad things a company does, if that company can buy or withdraw a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw13r9",
"comment_text": [
"Let's say Apple paid Wikipedia millions of dollars for ads.",
"Then a story breaks about child labor abuses in Chinese iPad factories. Is Wikipedia going to be able to document that controversy impartially? Even if they do, are its readers going to believe ... | |
ELI5: What happens to all the single-use throwaway accounts on Reddit? | explainlikeimfive | 1sbvy2 | 10 | true | false | 0.86 | Do they ever get recycled? How many of the registered users of Reddit are throwaways? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw2crm",
"comment_text": [
"perhaps if you had a \"throwaway\" mode, where your posts could not be traced back to your account? Or a off-site account where you requested a throwaway and you were given a password that was changed after 5 minutes."
],
"score": 11
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw9mu8",
"comment_text": [
"If this was a feature of Reddit gold I would buy Reddit gold for myself almost every month. C'mon Reddit, TAKE MY MONEY!"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdwan33",
"comment_text": [
"That means one day there just won't be any decent names available. --- clownpenis.fart"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdwan33",
"comment_text": [
"That means one day there just won't be any decent names available. --- clownpenis.fart"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw1bsk",
"comment_text": [
"I wish there would be an official one, but losers would probably use it to spam :/"
],
"score": 2
} | |
As a naive, optimistic 25 year-old who's never gone through serious shit in live, how does "drowning your sorrows" with alcohol actually work? | explainlikeimfive | 1sc0bm | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvzriu",
"comment_text": [
"Cannot sleep sobor because your mind keeps running which keeps you awake. With a bottle of your favorite alcohol you can drink to the point that you pass out drunk and actually get some sort of sleep. Wake up and your sorrows are still there, but you at least dr... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw06ru",
"comment_text": [
"When you are under a lot of stress, anxiety builds until it is difficult to do anything but endlessly worry about your problems. Alcohol is an crude anti-anxiety drug that allows you to self medicate."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw0688",
"comment_text": [
"Well drinking alcohol let's you forget about all the soul crushing problems in your life that occupy your thoughts every waking moment. For just a few hours you forget about the crippling debt your in, the family problems, the no job, etc and get some sleep. "
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw04eq",
"comment_text": [
"I'm jealous as fuck, OP. ",
"EDIT: Oh, and ",
"/u/thanksforyourpost",
" nailed it. Sometimes life hurts so much that you cannot find peace. Not to think, not to breathe and not to sleep. Alcohol allows you to tap out for a short while. Gasp for a bit ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw14l4",
"comment_text": [
"It replaces feelings of pain with feelings of emptiness. Some people find emptiness to be preferable. "
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5- Why does it take substantially longer to climax when standing up versus when laying down. | explainlikeimfive | 1sc1m2 | 36 | true | false | 0.8 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw0c92",
"comment_text": [
"when youre standing, you are using a substantial amount of blood supply to hold your balance and your weight. when youre lying down, you have more blood (and oxygen) to focus on your boner and feeling the pleasure making it easier to climax."
],
"score": 24
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdwakgb",
"comment_text": [
"Gonna side with this guy. Ever stood up in the middle of a fap? All the blood rushes to your legs and your stiffy gets a little squishy"
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw6pri",
"comment_text": [
"It does?"
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw6q87",
"comment_text": [
"No, if this same question was posted there, it's a mere coincidence. "
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdwanwz",
"comment_text": [
"Good for edging. "
],
"score": 3
} | ||
ELI5: Why do flights between states in the US typically cost in the hundreds of dollars while you can get flights between countries in Europe for less that $100? | explainlikeimfive | 1sbm10 | 55 | true | false | 0.82 | I know the cheap flights in Europe are on crappier planes, I've flown EasyJet, but why is there no US equivalent? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvvptp",
"comment_text": [
"When you fly in the US, you have a choice of a few airlines. You can select the major ones (American, United, Delta, Continental, US Air), the mid-range specialized ones with limited destinations (Alaska Air, Hawaiian Airlines), or the budget ones (Southwest, Je... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvyf1u",
"comment_text": [
"I think it mainly comes down to two things:",
"a) They've got an excellent train system. We hardly have one at all. And every time we try to start building one, some people (like Republican governors) fight it so hard it barely gets anywhere.",
"b) Euro... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvwdw6",
"comment_text": [
"I would imagine it's much less about competition with other airlines than it is competition with the train system."
],
"score": 9
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvvmhm",
"comment_text": [
"I understand that, but when you compare flights between similar distances you're still paying much more in the US."
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdwaxc0",
"comment_text": [
"Uh...they do. So does Emirates.",
"So, you know, way to be both ignorant ",
" racist."
],
"score": 5
} | |
ELI5 Why we close our eyes when we experience pleasure? | explainlikeimfive | 1sc407 | 5 | true | false | 0.67 | E.g. really good food, sexual pleasure (sex, masturbating) | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw3puq",
"comment_text": [
"Why the hell is this eli5 downvoted?i sometimes really don't get it how it works on reddit. That s a fair question goddammit even if i don't know the exact answer"
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw0v3i",
"comment_text": [
"That, and isolating one sense heightens it. So by eliminating our sense of sight, our sense of taste or touch gets more in tune."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw6hee",
"comment_text": [
"This. No science. Just experience. ",
"Sauce: I've experienced pleasure."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw0rc5",
"comment_text": [
"lack of distraction."
],
"score": 0
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw8txi",
"comment_text": [
"I know this because of Ned's Declassified! There was episode where Ned was trying to sneak out of the room, so he stole the teacher's glasses, but the teacher heard him, because being blind for so long made him develop an amazing sense of hearing :D"
],
"scor... | |
ELI5: What makes some people homosexual ? | explainlikeimfive | 1sc50z | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | What is it that makes people gay ? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw15t6",
"comment_text": [
"We do not know. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw2e7o",
"comment_text": [
"It's true. We really don't know what causes it. The best we can tell is that it's a combination of genetic, prenatal and environmental factors."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw0w3i",
"comment_text": [
"The liking of the same gender."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw5o3r",
"comment_text": [
"What we do know is that even if it were a choice, it would still be wrong to discriminate against homosexuals, even (or particularly) religious discrimination."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw17pq",
"comment_text": [
":O"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do some counties actively participate in whaling? | explainlikeimfive | 1scenx | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | I was in Norway and whale meat was expensive and tasted horrible (in my opinion). Do they still do it for the oil? Is it just a cultural thing? A developed taste? I would understand if it was a mass food supply for the poor but it was the most expensive thing on the menu at the steak/seafood place i ate at and tasted... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw3rct",
"comment_text": [
"Some tribes participate in it as well. I would say it is a cultural thing. Though, they are limited to how many whales. The method is traditional as well, except they have to start catching it, once caught hurry up and shoot it, finish catching it. There is w... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw3wsy",
"comment_text": [
"Yea, the cultural aspect makes sense, not the commercial aspect though. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw4be7",
"comment_text": [
"Commercial whaling is insane."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdzxue2",
"comment_text": [
"Commercial whaling (which only happens in Norway and Iceland officially) is viable enough. They harvest a couple hundred whales a year, well within what the population can handle, and sell to those who wants it. I fail to see a problem."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw5qx9",
"comment_text": [
"Good answer none the less."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How the US education system works | explainlikeimfive | 1scgdz | 0 | true | false | 0.29 | Living in the UK, I'm constantly at a loss when it comes to understanding how the American Education system works, could you explain how it progresses from 'Kindergarten' to 'College/University' | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw4xpz",
"comment_text": [
"So your average American starts out in Pre-School. Usually a private on (mine was at a church) I don't think they are expensive and they are really just to socialize your kids with others. It's a good idea, is fun for them and gives the parents a bit of a break, ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw52ws",
"comment_text": [
"The Wikipedia page",
" for education in the US. ",
"The Wikipedia page for K-12",
".",
"Preschool",
" and ",
"Pre-K",
" are optional. ",
"Kindergarten",
" is mandatory in some places. 1st - 12th grade is mandatory. ",
"The... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw5z6f",
"comment_text": [
"Cheers mate!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw4qkt",
"comment_text": [
"Search before submitting with keywords from your topic. The search box is in the upper right corner of the subreddit."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdw5wz1",
"comment_text": [
"9th is freshman year of high school for the vast majority of the US. Only very oddly structured districts have 9th as a part of Jr High/Middle School. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
How to bring money from out of the US into the border without paying taxes? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7c6u | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | I have family out of the US. If they want to gift me large amounts of cash, what is/ if there is a way to bring large quantities of money into the US without paying taxes? What if it is an inheritance? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdupjob",
"comment_text": [
"A loophole, huh? Gifts up to $14,000 won't have any tax consequences. Have the money broken into units of $14,000.",
"Have the first $14,000 transferred to you before the end of 2013.",
"Have the second $14,000 transferred to you in 2014",
"This first... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdum6gj",
"comment_text": [
"What you are describing is called smuggling. It's a crime. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumqud",
"comment_text": [
"Well that's what I'm trying to ask. Thought maybe there's a way to electronically transfer money or some law or loop hole."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumpc2",
"comment_text": [
"It is 10k per person right? I need to find like 20 friends that want to go on a trip"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumrw4",
"comment_text": [
"As a broke university student, I want to be your friend. You could do that, but if you get audited at anytime or if you're planning on spending the money on something that is easily traceable (like a house) you will run into problems.",
"Edit: Not saying that... | |
ELI5: How can time travel be possible? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7cha | 1 | true | false | 0.54 | How, in theory, can time travel be possible? Wouldn't every moment from all time be happening at the same time in order for us to go backwards or forwards? My husband has tried explaining it to me but I still don't get it. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumiiu",
"comment_text": [
"Consider this: we are able to traverse in three dimensions (physical space) easily despite the fact that we are only able to occupy a single point in space at once. We simply reposition ourselves to a new location and we've moved our bodies through space. We do... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduna32",
"comment_text": [
"First of all, I barely comprehend what you are writing. But thank you for trying :). What I don't understand is this: ",
"Lets say I travel back in time to when I got married. I can see myself standing on the beach saying \"I do\" to my husband. If I can trav... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunjbw",
"comment_text": [
"Well, we really don't know. A great number of scientists think that time travel is impossible, and we can only guess.",
"Time travel in movies suggest that it would depend just how you travel through space-time and how quickly. ",
"If you think about yo... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunsrm",
"comment_text": [
"Why are space and time connected? "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunzdr",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine a single point that we extend out to form a line. If we travel just on this line, we are moving in one dimension (length of the lines).",
"Extend this line out and we form a plane - a flat surface with width and length. We can travel along the surfa... | |
Why would increasing the minimum wage "kill the economy" according to companies making record profits? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7dnb | 8 | true | false | 0.71 | I do unterstand (does not mean share!) the concerns, especially concerning small businesses, but why do companies that make record profits for everyone but their employees get away with essentially saying they would "go out of business"? Every 5 year old can see there has to be something wrong with that story... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumvaw",
"comment_text": [
"Most companies certainly wouldn't go out of business, though I don't know of any company that's claimed it would. But there's definitely an argument to be made that it would hurt the economy.",
"Firms would lay off workers and produce less, increasing unemplo... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunona",
"comment_text": [
"firms would lay off workers",
"I don't think they could. They're mostly operating at minimal staff to service their customers as is, aren't they? "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduo8i8",
"comment_text": [
"Depends on the business. Many businesses require quite large amounts of employees to keep up, so there is only so much you can cut before it starts to heavily damage your production abilities.",
"You need a certain level of workers to maintain efficiency, if... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduslq0",
"comment_text": [
"Companies having to deal with higher labors costs, are less likely to hire new entrants into the work force. Those new, usually young, people are missing work place opportunities useful for commanding higher pay in the future.",
"Food service is still one of... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduo919",
"comment_text": [
"In most cases, no. But let's say they are.",
"If they're running optimally (and big companies hire skilled staff to get their production and pricing as close to the optimum as possible), firms will try to make as much profit as possible given the current valu... | |
ELI5:How come when I'm inside a closed moving vehicle and I toss something up in the air or jump, it or I don't fly back? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7g2n | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunale",
"comment_text": [
"Because you're moving forwards already with the vehicle. If it accelerated while you were in the air you'd notice. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunbr4",
"comment_text": [
"The sir/ma'am is called the law of inertia. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. You're already moving and you have nothing to stop you from doing so."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunzx6",
"comment_text": [
"Ah, my knowledge in 7th grade science seems to have escaped me. That sounds like an explanation I remember. Thanks!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunm8r",
"comment_text": [
"The theory of relativity explains that everything is relative. There are no universally moving objects and no stationary objects. Only objects that appear that way to you. And all forces are equal whether you're moving or not. That way, if you shined a light whil... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdunpiv",
"comment_text": [
"No it wouldn't as due to length contraction if you were going the speed of light space would have no dimension in the direction of travel."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: The speed of light and relativity | explainlikeimfive | 1s7ipi | 5 | true | false | 1 | OK, this has been bugging me since high school physics and I didn't get a great answer when I went to university, either. So light can only go 300,000 kilometers per second (technically 299,792.458, in a pure vacuum). It was explained to me that the speed of light is relative, meaning that light cannot go faster than ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdupn0y",
"comment_text": [
"I think you are missing a key part of the theorem of relativity here. That is: ",
". So, no matter how fast you are moving the velocity of light is still ",
" (300,000 kps).",
"So lets consider your example:",
"if you had a flashlight and a rock, ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduoips",
"comment_text": [
"Let's simplify that to just two black holes, both standing still, but ejecting matter at 290k kps - in opposite directions. OK, first of all, we seem to have violated relativity - as I understand it - and are now facing separation speeds of 580,000 kilometers per... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdupx6c",
"comment_text": [
"anyone who measures the speed of light with their own instruments, will find it 300k/sec. From outside, it may look like they should measure a different value, because you expect them to measure the separation speed as seen from outside. answer to this is that th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdup3zn",
"comment_text": [
"No, you have this wrong. If there was a flashlight travelling at .3C (³/₁₀ the speed of light) towards the rock, The flashlight would see light travelling away from it and arriving at the rock at the speed of light relative to it, and the rock would see the light... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduvxje",
"comment_text": [
"Nope. The speed of light is not relative. Thats the whole point."
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: How does bowling scoring work? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7jhk | 3 | true | false | 0.8 | I've tried too long to figure out the arithmetic behind this, how do you add ? ? I figure strikes ultimately add up to 25/frame in a perfect game. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduol7g",
"comment_text": [
"Yep. And it's not related to how many beers you downed while you were waiting for your turn."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduogfg",
"comment_text": [
"open frame(no spares or strikes) are worth the amount of pins knocked down.",
"spares are worth 10+ whatever you get on your next roll.",
"so lets say, opening a game you roll ",
"9/ 90",
"you'd get 19 points in the first frame and a total score ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdupuiy",
"comment_text": [
"Candlepin bowling (popular in New England and the Canadian maritimes) has slightly different scoring. There you get three rolls per frame, but it only counts as a spare if you knock all ten pins in the first two rolls. If it takes you all three, the frame is simp... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv2gyq",
"comment_text": [
"10 frames. Each frame is worth 10 points be default. You get 2 throws to make the ten points.",
"If you make all 10 points in the first throw, it doubles the next two throws points (for a maximum of 30 points on that frame). If you make all 10 points, it d... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduoiy4",
"comment_text": [
"If you get fewer than 10 pins between your two throws, you just get 1 point for each pin.",
"If you take two throws to get all 10 pins (a spare), you get 10 points, plus your next throw counts double.",
"If you get all 10 pins on your first throw (a strik... | |
ELI5: Why is water perceived to taste like 'nothing'? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7rt0 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduqztp",
"comment_text": [
"Water does not stimulate any of our taste or scent detectors."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdur0jr",
"comment_text": [
"Yes, you basically just repeated my question. I'm asking why/how that is the way it is."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdur33e",
"comment_text": [
"I'm asking why/how that is the way it is.",
"How: Because water does not trigger any taste buds.",
"Why: Because our saliva is mostly water, so we'd quickly become desensitized to the taste, since we'd taste it 24/7. Thus we did not evolve an ability to... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdur41c",
"comment_text": [
"That's a good one. Thanks."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdur1mx",
"comment_text": [
"deleted ",
" ",
" "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: The importance of personal liberty | explainlikeimfive | 1s7sxb | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdurljh",
"comment_text": [
"Many people would reason that living as a slave with food at the table is less meaningful than living free and having to fight for your bread.",
"Not sure how else to answer this sorry."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdurer1",
"comment_text": [
"Could you expand on this question? Not sure what you are asking"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdurg8d",
"comment_text": [
"i guess what i mean is why is it valued so highly. it seems many people would prefer it to having food on the table."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdushh0",
"comment_text": [
"precisely."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdusnka",
"comment_text": [
"why do you not like jail?\nyou're fed, have access to showers, clean laundry, books, phones (for a price) and tv...",
"we are meant to be free"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
What would happen if the minimum wage was $22/hr and it HAD to increase at the same rate as inflation? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7sl6 | 2 | true | false | 0.63 | Basically, I'm asking about the economic consequences. Would it be an overall positive/negative thing to occur, or would it be somewhere in the middle? Would it help get rid of income inequality? Share your thoughts everyone. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdurmxj",
"comment_text": [
"It's nigh impossible to say what the long term net effect would be, because the economy has a LOT of moving parts. You can say what some of the effects would probably be, but if anyone tells you they KNOW what ALL of the effects would be, they either have a nobe... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdusm7z",
"comment_text": [
"Did you even read my comment? Care to point out the flaws or are you just really hot on raising the minimum wage? ",
"Australia is very well-known for having high priced luxury goods. ",
"Obesity is lower in the EU. ",
"Income inequality... is still n... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdurdkh",
"comment_text": [
"You are probably going to get quite a few different answers on this based on people's economic and political views. I'm still really early in to my economics schooling, but IIRC raising minimum wage will create a labor surplus aka higher unemployment. This is due... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdusuww",
"comment_text": [
"Workers in services will be replaced by machines at a faster rate, the more that big corporations need to pay them. This is a problem that becomes more relevant as technology gets more advanced. Today it's quite advanced compared to decades past, and it shows n... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdutk95",
"comment_text": [
"I have heard of Stiglitz, but I don't think Australia is a good counterexample to the US because their products cost quite a bit more.",
"Example:",
"Game in Australia",
" vs ",
"Game in United States"
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: How does cobalt-60 kill a person within a matter of a couple of days or hours (symptoms) and how does that person not contaminate other people, causing them to die as well? | explainlikeimfive | 1s7zs7 | 5 | true | false | 0.85 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduw9p7",
"comment_text": [
"Your last remark is correct, you didn't need to strike it out."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdutjil",
"comment_text": [
"Radiation basically messes with your DNA very badly. So badly that it can cause cells to either outright die, or screw things up DNA-wise so bad that they make crazy errors in cell division or just can't divide at all anymore. ",
"All this death accumulates i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduw87e",
"comment_text": [
"When things are 'contaminated with radiation' such as soil and fauna, what they mean is that the objects in question have absorbed or been coated with radioactive-emitting particulates. Much in the same way that people wuote bananas are radioactive, because of mi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduw87e",
"comment_text": [
"When things are 'contaminated with radiation' such as soil and fauna, what they mean is that the objects in question have absorbed or been coated with radioactive-emitting particulates. Much in the same way that people wuote bananas are radioactive, because of mi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvtjzx",
"comment_text": [
"At Fukushima radioactive particles were ejected into the air. ",
"In this case, there was solid cobalt in a container. To be contaminated they would need to cobalt to get onto or into their body. They likely have trace amounts of cobalt molecules on their han... | |
ELI5: Nelson Mandela | explainlikeimfive | 1s80z8 | 1 | true | false | 0.66 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduu4l0",
"comment_text": [
"Lincoln is a better comparison. ",
"Mandela didn't found south africa; he fought to end an unjust social system"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduu8m4",
"comment_text": [
"He may have been reformed, but he was a terrorist who with the ANC pretty much invented new ways of torturing people opposed to there cause (however righteous there cause was), such as \"necklacing\" which a tire would be put around a victim, filled with gas and ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduu9za",
"comment_text": [
"oh and.... Mandela was friendly with dictators",
"Despite being synonymous with freedom and democracy, Mandela was never afraid to glad hand the thugs and tyrants of the international arena.",
"General Sani Abacha seized power in Nigeria in a military cou... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfra0",
"comment_text": [
"So kidnapping opponents to the ANC and putting tires filled with gas around there body and igniting it was to inspire hope....gtfo....I guess Bin Laden was inspiring \"hope\" to fellow al qaeda in peshawar during his planned attacks, shit we should have just give... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfz57",
"comment_text": [
"Again, all of this happened when Mandela was on prison. Blaming him for any of those acts is like blaming Ivan Grozny for the gulag camps; sure, it's his organization (or country), but he had absolutely nothing to do with it, for the sole reason that he physical... | ||
ELI5:How/why can a man be several timed hit by thunder without dying? | explainlikeimfive | 1s8evq | 0 | true | false | 0.4 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduxvcw",
"comment_text": [
"Yay I get to be the first one to say it; Now now lil' Danbery - people get hit by lightning not thunder (sorry bro)."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduyert",
"comment_text": [
"Most people 'hit by lightning' actually received an electric shock from a lightning strike nearby. But people do get struck by lightning and survive - sometimes the charge flows over the outside of their wet skin and through their soaked clothing without seriousl... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduzfg4",
"comment_text": [
"Lightning is the result of a large difference in electric charge between the Earth and the clouds. It's the same effect as when you occasionally get a static shock after getting out of a car etc. The difference is the scale, lightning is a much larger current (th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduzhg4",
"comment_text": [
"I really like that answer"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduxwsj",
"comment_text": [
"Because thunder does nothing at all to your body in a fatal sense."
],
"score": 1
} | |
Newton's 3rd law. | explainlikeimfive | 1s8msa | 2 | true | false | 0.67 | Why am I able to push this table if the table is exerting a force of same magnitude against me? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0786",
"comment_text": [
"The ground is holding you up. You feel the pressure on the bottom of your feet, don't you?"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduzpjv",
"comment_text": [
"When you push on the table, it pushes back at you. However, your feet are on the ground, which is pushing you forward by friction. The table is also on the ground,but it's friction with the ground is lower, so the ground doesn't push on it as hard. therefore it s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv02u4",
"comment_text": [
"Force equals mass times acceleration, so mass does have something to do with it. It is possible for an object with a small mass to exert a large force if it's traveling fast enough, though. Like, getting hit with a baseball pitch would exert more force on you tha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduzt3u",
"comment_text": [
"So it doesn't have anything to do with mass? ",
"Does the same thing happen with a hammer hitting a nail into wood? ",
"What about gravity. If it's pulling us to the ground, what's pushing us up? "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0c6i",
"comment_text": [
"Okay so lets say I drop a ball from my hand. The only force acting on it is only gravity right? So the reaction force is the upward gravitational force exerted by the ball towards Earth. Can you explain about this reaction force? "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How come when you angle your rear view mirror at the ceiling of the car you still see out the back window | explainlikeimfive | 1s8qrd | 14 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0u8j",
"comment_text": [
"The mirror has a wedge-shaped glass front (instead of flat, like most mirrors). When you angle the mirror toward the ceiling, you're putting it at the perfect angle for the reflection to now reflect off the glass front, which gives a clear (yet dimmer) reflectio... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv87g8",
"comment_text": [
"Also, that's a feature!",
"\nYou are supposed to flip the mirror to reduce the glare of headlights of cars behind you. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv4jwf",
"comment_text": [
"I've never actually looked this up but growing up I was always told there was a second mirror behind the first one which is slightly transparent. You can switch to the second mirror with the tab at the bottom of the rear view. The idea is that when another car is... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0u71",
"comment_text": [
"Mirror-ception... ",
"http://www.howstuffworks.com/question20.htm",
"Edit: Straight from the link: ",
"The mirror is not ground flat -- the front glass surface is at an angle to the back (mirrored) surface. So if you looked at this mirror out of i... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv997a",
"comment_text": [
"yep, ",
"the little knob",
" under the mirror is to move it in a way that you have the same view"
],
"score": 2
} | ||
ELI5: Earlier today I heard someone say their air quality was "AQI-505", what does this mean? | explainlikeimfive | 1s8qtr | 4 | true | false | 0.62 | A brief explanation of the scale would nice too, thanks. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv15ix",
"comment_text": [
"Nope, he's just trolling. Your final question in your title was \"What does this mean?\", so he told you what \"this\" means."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv2z81",
"comment_text": [
"I heard the air quality on the moon is AQI-404..."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0smz",
"comment_text": [
"The scale depends on the location, as it appears not to be standardized. See ",
"the Wikipedia page",
" for a list of different scales by major country."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0vk7",
"comment_text": [
"/r/firstworldanarchists"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv140c",
"comment_text": [
"I think you may have the wrong thread, friend. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:Why do we feel sleepy after eating a meal | explainlikeimfive | 1s8q6q | 4 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0mcn",
"comment_text": [
"imagine your body is a city block, if joe in apartment 1A starts plugging in all his appliances and turning them on, your lights might flicker. A similar thing is happening in your body, suddenly your stomach has all this food processing work to do, and it needs ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv51z0",
"comment_text": [
"I was told its cause blood is diverted to your stomach to help with digestion. But it was my sister who told me that not a teacher/doctor/surgeon/anyone with more than two brain cells so that info could be wrong. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv9c15",
"comment_text": [
"Your body is diverting energy to the digestive system (specifically the stomach and small intestine) so the body can properly digest the food you just ate. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv0ktq",
"comment_text": [
"We are made to sleep throughout the day naturally"
],
"score": -1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv3dx1",
"comment_text": [
"Cuz when you put yummies in your tummy the good things inside the food have to go alllll around your body! Doing this makes you get sweepy!"
],
"score": -1
} | ||
ELI5: why should I care about Mandela? | explainlikeimfive | 1s8rq7 | 0 | true | false | 0.36 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv1489",
"comment_text": [
"being praised for the things any half-decent human would do",
"There aren't nearly as many of these as you think. Furthermore, its not as likely for a person to stand up and fight for the rights of their fellow man as you might think - for instance the ",
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv1l1z",
"comment_text": [
"Well, talking about things any hald-decent human would do I did not have in mind fight against apartheid or something like that. Simple things, really, like helping a friend in the prison when friend was sick.",
"I do get why what he did is huge for South Afr... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv1r5i",
"comment_text": [
"Maybe a practical example: ",
"His arrest and recognition of why he was arrested led to widespread protest in the US",
" that eventually led to congressional action, sanctions, and more.",
"Especially post civil-rights, his ability to go from a poor b... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv27bl",
"comment_text": [
"This very topic is currently being discussed in another post that is currently on the front page of ",
"/r/ELI5",
". For this reason, we have removed this post. Feel free to continue the discussion in the other thread!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv5ocf",
"comment_text": [
"Really? A discussion about ",
" does not warrant a question about Nelson Mandela?",
"Sorry you don't understand the rule."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why was this painting sold for more than 72mln dollars? | explainlikeimfive | 1s8vdi | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv2v6u",
"comment_text": [
"Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (the purchaser) is sitting on over $2.5 billion in assets. To protect that money, which can only be insured to a certain extent, folks like him just purchase items that hold value. \nWhen someone has that much money, they're not really ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv21pt",
"comment_text": [
"Because someone wanted it that badly."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv36hz",
"comment_text": [
"I'm not surprised to see people making snide remarks about Rothko's art, but quite frankly, Rothko is one of the most influential and well-known abstract artists in history. A thumbnail image isn't the way to take in his art (same with Pollock). Many people who h... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv2do7",
"comment_text": [
"To be fair, Mark Rothko is as famous as Jackson Pollock. It's not surprising his art sells high."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv30dp",
"comment_text": [
"There are two main reasons that modern art sells for high prices, and generally, they combine to create these high prices.",
"The first is that the piece \"took art forwards\". In other words, there is a thought, idea, or abstraction behind the art that is r... | ||
ELI5: Carbon dating | explainlikeimfive | 1s90tb | 1 | true | false | 0.66 | How do scientists go about determining when an object was formed by "reading" the carbon. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv4gin",
"comment_text": [
"There is an isotope of Carbon that has 2 extra neutrons, called Carbon-14. It is unstable, and decays at a very precise rate. Its half life is about 5730 years, which means that in that amount of time, half of it decays. In another 5730 years, half of what was... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv4r72",
"comment_text": [
"It starts with the 80% nitrogen in the atmosphere. When high speed particles from space, (cosmic rays), hit our atmosphere, they very often cause neutrons to bounce about or are neutrons themselves. When one of these neutrons hit a nitrogen atom, they knock a pro... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv5la9",
"comment_text": [
"Wow! That's really interesting, thanks for sharing. I figure it may be extremely complicated, but how exactly does one go about \"measuring\" the carbon in an object? "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv6kn2",
"comment_text": [
"They have whats called mass spectrometers. Basically they take a tiny bit of material, grind it up into a fine powder. They then heat this powder, this causes little bits of the material to fly off, (vaporizing).",
"Then they ionize the material so that an el... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv89jy",
"comment_text": [
"ELI5 - If Carbon-14 completely decays after 11,460 years, how can they tell something is 100,000 years old?"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:Why do fast food restaurants only bring back some of their best burgers for a 'limited time'? | explainlikeimfive | 1s8tzi | 2 | true | false | 1 | I read that McDonald's brings back the McRib when pork prices are their lowest but I don't want to count it as it's not really a good burger. More like Wendy's mushroom melt types. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv1o8m",
"comment_text": [
"Perceived scarcity causes people to pay a higher price. By implying that something is around for \"a limited time\", even if they can reasonably make it all the time, they can charge a higher price and people will still go buy it."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv26hm",
"comment_text": [
"This. Disney does the same thing when they periodically put movies in the \"Disney Vault\" and then re-release them. They make more money that way."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv2ck3",
"comment_text": [
"Eh, if they can't have you for that reason most of the year they don't worry about it.",
"The important thing is that they can reliably steal you from other companies with a pretty simple (from their perspective) change. I'm sure they calculate the number of... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvgyn9",
"comment_text": [
"On a related note, making an entirely new variation \"limited time only\" allows it to be withdrawn quietly if it doesn't sell. \nThat became standard practice throughout the processed-food industry in the '90s after the conspicuous failures of the New Coke, McD... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv29xh",
"comment_text": [
"Seems simple enough.",
"Must work $ wise or they wouldn't do it.",
"But let's say I don't care for anything at Wendy's but the mushroom melt. So I go a few times a year when they have it and they make an extra $1 off of me...but if I am a industry termed ... | |
what makes poop smell? | explainlikeimfive | 1s8zcm | 0 | true | false | 0.38 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv3o5w",
"comment_text": [
"Think of it this way: if we DIDN'T find the smell of poop unappealing, and instead it smelled GOOD, then we may start eating poop.",
"This is a very bad idea and can make us very sick (eating other people's poop).",
"I don't think there's anything inheren... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv3p63",
"comment_text": [
"ipod shuffle"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv3s25",
"comment_text": [
"I'm pretty sure poop smells bad all the time. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv40zj",
"comment_text": [
"Something smelling good or bad is an opinion. Hard to say it's an absolute when it's an opinion."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv7cct",
"comment_text": [
"If poop EVER smelled good, there would be poop-scented candles, poop-porri (see what I did there?), etc.",
"However, there is not.",
"Poop sometimes smells \"tolerable\" but you never smell poop and say \"I really want to eat that and/or rub it all over m... | |
ELI5: Why flights are generally much cheaper if you book far in advance | explainlikeimfive | 1s9ai0 | 5 | true | false | 0.77 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv70j8",
"comment_text": [
"The closer you get to the date, the fewer seats that are left - low supply, high demand, higher prices. ",
"The airline knows what the base cost of a seat needs to be in order for the flight to be profitable. They know how full those flights tend to be, and h... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv6x8l",
"comment_text": [
"people are willing to pay more if they are desperate."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv70q0",
"comment_text": [
"Fares are sold on a tiered basis.",
"Say there are 100 seats on an airplane. The airline could sell 40 seats at $200, 40 seats at $400, and 20 seats at $600. If you are one of the first 40 to book you get a much better price than if you wait until the last mi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvan35",
"comment_text": [
"The airline makes it's real money on business travelers (whom tend to book less than 2-4 weeks in advance). It's easy to charge them more because they can't negotiate dates and they don't care because the company pays for it.",
"It gives deals for tourists o... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdveb70",
"comment_text": [
"Also, the airline is rewarding you for paying early. It is better for them to get the money early as they can (It is worth more to them), and also to know they have bookings (so they can guarantee a route/add more planes or staff, etc...)"
],
"score": 1
} | |
Is there a way to prevent the next recession? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9jji | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | It seems like recessions happen every 8-10 years. Is there a way to prevent them from happening in the future? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv9s2o",
"comment_text": [
"Probably not, they are caused by people.",
"So... if we got rid of all the people.... hmmmm... "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvbqp0",
"comment_text": [
"The short answer is \"no\".",
"Banks and regulators are in a permanent state of dynamic tension. Regulators seek to make the market stable and predictable, by outlawing behaviours which threaten the market. Banks and other investing institutions seek to make ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvk2na",
"comment_text": [
"As you are familiar with them, yes.",
"Inappropriate credit creation distorts price signals in the market which results in wrongly allocated investment. Bad investment is eventually revealed to be bad investment when interest rates rise or credit flow slows.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv9w0b",
"comment_text": [
"Sure, get rid of the boom and bust that capitalism is, and replace it with an economy that does nothing but serve the needs of the people."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv9x8n",
"comment_text": [
"Hail Marx and Lenin?"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How come controllers, remotes etc need two batteries and can't work with just one? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9moy | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvawup",
"comment_text": [
"That's not how voltage works. If it was to make it last longer they'd be wired in parallel, not in series.",
"The ",
" reason is that the chips and transmitters need more than 1.5V to function."
],
"score": 7
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvbbz2",
"comment_text": [
"Also ..current........"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfbza",
"comment_text": [
"Look at the right hand side of the page, you'll find ",
"\"LI5 means ",
", simplified and layman-accessible explanations, not for responses aimed at literal five year olds (which can be patronizing)\"",
"Don't be a dick about this, if you don't want p... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfbza",
"comment_text": [
"Look at the right hand side of the page, you'll find ",
"\"LI5 means ",
", simplified and layman-accessible explanations, not for responses aimed at literal five year olds (which can be patronizing)\"",
"Don't be a dick about this, if you don't want p... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvd2zh",
"comment_text": [
"My remotes only take one."
],
"score": 0
} | |
ELI5: How are we running out of freshwater? Why don't we just take the salt out of the saltwater? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9qmc | 3 | true | false | 0.8 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvbxwc",
"comment_text": [
"That can be done. It's called desalinization - and it's very energy intensive."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvc4hg",
"comment_text": [
"Running out of freshwater means that naturally occurring sources of freshwater (lakes, glaciers/snowpacks, underground springs or reservoirs) are running out. It is different from \"running out of water\", which seems to be what you are asking about."
],
"sco... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvc74p",
"comment_text": [
"What will we do when the lakes, glaciers, snowpacks, underground springs and reservoirs run out?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvcd1s",
"comment_text": [
"We'll probably have to:\n-Heavily reuse our sewage water by cleaning it to a point when it is usable again. This will probably be for agriculture and farming uses.\n-Build large-scale desalination plants to get fresh water from salt water\n-Import fresh water fro... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvcnib",
"comment_text": [
"That sounds very expensive.. "
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why hasn't lava stopped being hot? How is it still doing its thing? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9pw3 | 14 | true | false | 0.72 | I don't really understand what the source of energy is that's making lava continue to burn up. Is the earth just acting like an insulation system? And if so, will all the lava someday be used up? Or is it constantly being made somehow? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvctj9",
"comment_text": [
"Also, OP, you're referring to 'magma', which is 'underground lava'. Once the magma breaks the surface, it is then 'lava'."
],
"score": 12
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvctj9",
"comment_text": [
"Also, OP, you're referring to 'magma', which is 'underground lava'. Once the magma breaks the surface, it is then 'lava'."
],
"score": 12
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdve8u5",
"comment_text": [
"1) Friction. Because the magma layer is liquid it experiences tidal forces which contribute to the heat.\n2) Radioactivity. Radioactive materials in the earth's mantle contribute to keeping the magma layer liquid.\n3) Insulation. The surface of the earth is so... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvjlgg",
"comment_text": [
"The earth wouldn't cool down immediately.",
"What would happen, however, is that the geomagnetic field would shut down, as it depends upon the convection of iron-rich magma.",
"Once this has happened, life would die out from increased cosmic radiation. Th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvgzoy",
"comment_text": [
"On a sidenote, what happens when the magma does freeze? Would the earth cool down drastically and become uninhabitable?"
],
"score": 2
} | |
ELI5: How are files locked, and why we can't un-lock them? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9xdf | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | Files are just 1s and 0s, so the unlocked file is in the locked file somewhere. I'm also guessing that there's some binary stating that the file is locked. Why can't we just make a program that reads the binary, skips the locked part, and outputs the file? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdve72a",
"comment_text": [
"Files can be made password-protected. I'm talking about password protected files, not files that can't be opened because they're already opened in another program.",
"Edit: Thanks for the responses. I hadn't thought of that."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvedo8",
"comment_text": [
"Some programs use encryption to lock files, these typically jumble up all of the content with a type of unique cipher. The password that is chosen to lock it will be the only key to un-jumble a properly protected file."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdveega",
"comment_text": [
"Oh, I see. Well, they are encrypted in such a way that the password is required to decrypt them.",
"Imagine I encrypt a text file by moving each character along by one letter, so a becomes b, b becomes c, c becomes d, etc.",
"Now imagine that, instead of ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvegtw",
"comment_text": [
"Depends.",
"A good password protected file will also be encrypted so you need the key to decrypt it.",
"Now, programs to bypass password protected files exists for file formats that are not encripted and can bypass the lock mark or use such a bad encrypti... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdve3vf",
"comment_text": [
"A locked file usually means that another program is in the process of changing it.",
"Let's imagine you're reading a file at the same time as I'm writing it. I write the first half of the file, but before I get around to writing the second half, you read the ... | |
Similar to "times table" why is there no other "math" table? Or is it there? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9wrc | 5 | true | false | 1 | As kids, we were asked to learn "times table", but we never learnt any other tables. Do you know of any other tables that could be useful? Why are there no other "tables"? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdve2dl",
"comment_text": [
"No, because addition and subtraction are basically counting, and if you know the multiplication table, then you also know how to divide those numbers."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvduou",
"comment_text": [
"http://www.math.com/tables/general/addtable.htm",
"http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets/mini_offices/math%20charts.pdf",
"http://www.eduplace.com/parents/resources/homework/pdf/div_table.pdf"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvdywh",
"comment_text": [
"But were you asked to learn anyother table other than multiplication?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvetbb",
"comment_text": [
"First of all, many elementary students do explicitly practice memorizing single-digit addition and subtraction facts with flash cards, although you are right that this generally isn't done as explicitly or as systematically as the multiplication table.",
"In ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdveuzc",
"comment_text": [
"There are other tables, like roots, sine and cosine tables. ",
"You don't learn those because you don't really use them often enough and they're too complicated to be practical to memorize them, so you just use written tables or a slide rule to get them (well... | |
ELI5: If I inhale a small insect, or swallow a drink the wrong way, and it goes in my lungs, does it stay there? | explainlikeimfive | 1s9y8e | 37 | true | false | 0.81 | I was recently jogging through a some woods and definitely inhaled a small flying insect. It never got coughed up. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvhi3u",
"comment_text": [
"There's a possibility that it didn't make it all the way into your lungs, or stay in your lungs, due to little hairs call cilia and the mucus they are coated in. It'll push the little guy out so you can either properly digest it, or cough it up. ",
"There ar... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvki80",
"comment_text": [
"I've had pneumonia 4 or 5 times, it feels like you're short of breath and then you start feeling like someone is stabbing you in the chest every time you try to take anything more than a shallow breath. This is when you go to the doctor/hospital. Otherwise you're... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvhi3k",
"comment_text": [
"I don't think it would be absorbed quite like if it was swallowed and went to the stomach (obviously getting digested).. I'd imagine it'd start to decompose and create all kinds of bacteria in your lungs."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvohoe",
"comment_text": [
"The inside of your trachea and bronchi (the airways) are extremely sensitive. However, your nostrils and your airways are also lined by ciliated cells (hair cells) that act as a physical mechanism to keep out foreign objects (ie dust, particles, and in your case,... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvh3tw",
"comment_text": [
"I feel like this is wrong even though I am not an expert myself. The fly should, if there is no bodily function to stop it or get rid of the fly in a different way, decay and be absorbed by the lungs."
],
"score": 3
} | |
ELI5: Who do most of our "traditional" Christmas songs, images and TV/movies come from the 1940s to the 1960s? | explainlikeimfive | 1sa25q | 26 | true | false | 0.79 | Think about it: Bing Crosby Nat King Cole Andy Williams Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (TV and song) Frosty the Snowman (TV and song) White Christmas (song and movie) Norman Rockwell All of these enduring images, songs and other forms of media seem to come from that time period. I dont see tons of enduring carols, etc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfmxa",
"comment_text": [
"Here's my opinion on this, I have no expertise in it though. By the way, this idea is directly plagiarized from ",
"xkcd",
".",
"Baby Boomers",
" grew up with those things and there are currently a lot of Baby Boomers. Also , if you look at the... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfod8",
"comment_text": [
"In the words of xkcd's Randall Munroe: ",
"Every year, American culture embarks on a massive project to recreate the Christmases of baby boomers' childhoods",
". This generation is uncommonly large and has for a long time been in a position to influence t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvj6b3",
"comment_text": [
"I'm not at all disagreeing that the Baby Boomers were and are one of the most influential generations when it comes to general culture. However, I remain unconvinced that it's that simple.",
"The 40s and 50s was pretty much when popular music started being r... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvoet6",
"comment_text": [
"Back then they made just as much shit music as they do now. We just don't remember anything other than the hits because they're not worth remembering."
],
"score": 10
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdvfu4v",
"comment_text": [
"At this time you see the rise of commercial advertising aiming to create an image of christmas that was easily sellable and marketable. This became more common as advertising and consumer culture boomed after WWII, and the images, songs, etc that were designed to... | |
ELI5: How did the USA and USSR go from being Allies in WWII, to being enemies in the Cold War? | explainlikeimfive | 1s4mah | 7 | true | false | 0.69 | I did history at GCSE and ALevel, but never covered these topics. It just seems like some big old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" until one enemy dies, and the enemy that gave you a helping hand is suddenly the only one standing against you, and world domination. [EDIT] Some Subquestions:
To what extent did McCart... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtutv3",
"comment_text": [
"In school you sit next to Tommy. You don't like Tommy. You hate Tommy. You and he don't agree on anything. You just try to avoid contact with Tommy. ",
"Suddenly, Billy busts into the classroom with a squirt gun full of his own pee and runs screaming th... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtunox",
"comment_text": [
"The USA and the USSR were never really \"friends\", even during the war. It was pretty much universally accepted that the USSR and the US/Western Europe were very much at odds with each other, before and even during the War. The political, economic and even cul... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtx7bh",
"comment_text": [
"Very solid example the only thing I can add is that ",
" you had an awesome new exploding toy that it threw at that backstabbing bastard ",
" Steve who allied with Billy ",
". After seeing the sweet new toy, ",
" Tommy wanted to have an exploding... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtuqzu",
"comment_text": [
"The US never really liked the communist russians, one of the factors behind nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki was to show off to Stalin and co that they had the bomb and were prepared to use it"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtv2ae",
"comment_text": [
"Two biggest kids on the playground. (explained as if you were five)"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why is it that certain toys are hard to find? Why don't they just make enough? | explainlikeimfive | 1s4viu | 3 | true | false | 1 | ELI5: Why is it that certain toys are hard to find? Why don't they just make enough? An example being: When Star Wars episode 1 came out, the Darth Maul figure was impossible to find. Or currently there are certain SkyLanders you can't find. Thanks! | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxoux",
"comment_text": [
"They don't always anticipate the demand and are afraid of making too many. Nobody wants to be stuck with merchandise they can't move. This is why they'd rather err on the side of caution and not make enough (you can always make more) than to make too many and los... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu0lu3",
"comment_text": [
"Also, they often make them by the boatload in China, then have to wait two or three months for the boat to make it across the ocean.",
"So even if they get on the phone to the factory on the same day that sales go crazy, it's going to be 2-3 months before the... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxmqq",
"comment_text": [
"Popularity, low number of the product shipped, limited edition,"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxnsj",
"comment_text": [
"Supply and demand. There has to be a \"demand\" for a product, otherwise the manufacturers wouldn't be able to set their prices where they want. The less toys made, the more someone might be willing to pay for it because it took them months to find one. Also it's... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu0l17",
"comment_text": [
"A manufacturer may underestimate demand and not build up enough supply. ",
"Or the lack of supply may be intentional by the manufacturer is an attempt to stir up demand. When consumers worry they may not be able to get something, they're more likely to buy it... | |
ELI5: Carbon Dating, and accuracy of it. | explainlikeimfive | 1s4v99 | 4 | true | false | 1 | I sort of understand Carbon Dating, but it'd be nice to have a good explanation from here. Also, are there any problems with it? Is it reliable? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdty7hl",
"comment_text": [
"Carbon-14 is an unstable isotope of carbon. Usually, a carbon atom is made up of 6 protons and 6 neutrons, making carbon-12. However, high in the atmosphere, nitrogen (7 protons, 7 neutrons) is constantly being bombarded with radiation from the sun, which means... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdud280",
"comment_text": [
"Carbon Dating isn't used to date the earth or super-old objects. It's used to date archaeological items such as cloth (which is typically made from plant or animal material), or bones that weren't fossilized. Carbon dating can't be used on true fossils since al... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxzsd",
"comment_text": [
"When an organism dies, it stops taking in Carbon. Specifically, Carbon-14, which is radioactive. So as the organism's remains lie there (the portions that don't decay, at least) the amount of Carbon-14 it started with decays radioactively. We know what proport... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdue3ko",
"comment_text": [
"Wow! Amazingly helpful reply! Thank you sir, you deserve gold. If only I could buy it for you :( "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduaw24",
"comment_text": [
"So that being said, how is it still used as a dating tool with such certainty? I hear all of the time how scientists are dating objects to be super old and sound so matter of a fact about it."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What does it mean for something to be self-aware? | explainlikeimfive | 1s4xnf | 2 | true | false | 1 | It comes up when talking about super computers and the difference between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. Thanks! | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzbnv",
"comment_text": [
"Perhaps eventually but who knows when or how. At this point nobody even knows what consciousness is. Ask two scientists or philosophers what a mind is and you'll get two completely different answers. How a piece of material (like us) can have weird immaterial pro... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzbnv",
"comment_text": [
"Perhaps eventually but who knows when or how. At this point nobody even knows what consciousness is. Ask two scientists or philosophers what a mind is and you'll get two completely different answers. How a piece of material (like us) can have weird immaterial pro... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxwwx",
"comment_text": [
"Knows that it is a separate entity from those around it. Able to put itself in the shoes of others. Can look in a mirror and realise that what is looking back is itself. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdty3rs",
"comment_text": [
"We humans have something called metacognition, which means we are aware of the fact that we are aware. This type of inner reflection is what separates humans from other animals (nobody knows for sure if some animals can do this) and, of course, computers which d... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtybqi",
"comment_text": [
"There's a test for this\nthey put a dot or a mark if some sort on the animals face place it in a mirror and if they notice it it proves they know what they see in the mirror is them \"self awareness\". Most adult great apes have some level of consciousness "
],... | |
ELI5:Why we do not have a world government and a world currency? | explainlikeimfive | 1s4ui4 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | I'm not talking about the UN I am talking more about like the EU but for the world type thing. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtx2me",
"comment_text": [
"Because nobody has managed to conquer the entire world yet, and people aren't going to team up willingly."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxd45",
"comment_text": [
"There is no world currency because of monetary and fiscal policy as the tool to help the economy recover from a recession"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxhc1",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah, I've often wondered this too considering how well everyone gets on with each other."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu1vsv",
"comment_text": [
"UN is more like NGO only, so nothing there.\nEU isn't really government- governance should have common constitution which I think it doesn't. It's more of regional co-operation like SAARC, BIMSTEC or any others.",
"World government is impossible, since there ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu26fk",
"comment_text": [
"Because no country would be willing to give up it's sovereignty to further the endeavors of another nation, or many nations."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What are bitcoins and how are people suddenly becoming millionaires because of them? | explainlikeimfive | 1s4uks | 5 | true | false | 0.77 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtx81b",
"comment_text": [
"If only anyone else knew how to spell daily."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtx64f",
"comment_text": [
"It's a virtual currency that is mined through \"mining\" mathematical equations created by someone at MIT.",
"The reason the people became millionaires is because when the price went up due to the increased demand relative to the supply, the price multiplied... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtx3t5",
"comment_text": [
"An Internet currency. People are getting so rich because they mined or invested in them when there value was much much much lower."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtxi02",
"comment_text": [
"This question concerns one of the most frequently asked topics on ELI5, so it has been removed. Try the searchbar!",
"It's okay to re-post questions, but please indicate that you did a search and that previous questions/answers didn't help you understand."
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtx54v",
"comment_text": [
"If only anyone else posted this dailey"
],
"score": -1
} | ||
ELI5: How dowsing (aka walking around with a stick straight out horizontally until it points down of its own accord) actually locates water under the ground | explainlikeimfive | 1s52x8 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | It seems like it should be old timey ritualistic nonsense, but my understanding is that this actually works! | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzhcc",
"comment_text": [
"It doesn't work. All cultures have superstitions (though some more than others). This is a superstition from your culture. "
],
"score": 14
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzest",
"comment_text": [
"By not working. Scientific studies have shown that it's no better than chance. People just remember the times it \"worked\". ",
"They walk around, dig somewhere and nothing, walk around, dig somewhere else and nothing, walk around and dig and water. OMG! ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzjz3",
"comment_text": [
"It works because in many places if you dig deep enough you have a good chance of hitting water.",
"It also just occurs to me that maybe some dowsers know about visible indications of underground water (like trees or foliage or something) assuming that there a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzrd2",
"comment_text": [
"You don't just have a good chance. Dig deep enough, you WILL find water. You just have to have faith, and keep digging, and understand that actually there is water everywhere underground."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtzxqy",
"comment_text": [
"It sounds a lot like psychics doing cold readings.",
": \"I'm sensing something about a Jeremy or Jane. Does that name mean anything to anyone?\"",
"\n<crickets chirping>",
"\n",
": \"How about John or Jim or Jack?\"",
"\n",
": \"I had an... | |
ELI5 How a limit in intelligence would work | explainlikeimfive | 1s5pda | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu5fzt",
"comment_text": [
"I think he makes a good point. For example monkeys don't understand that we have knowledge they do not possess. No monkey has ever asked any scientist or handler any question whatsoever. They just assume that they know the same thing as the monkeys. ",
"The ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu5lok",
"comment_text": [
"Has no primate ever asked a question? I didn't know that? I am really interested in a) the limit of intelligence that we can measure and understand, and what that means and b) our limits, and what that means.",
"I know that we cannot comprehend the looks or t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu76tt",
"comment_text": [
"I'm not sure about your other questions. But yeah I watched it on a youtube video. Monkeys basically do not comprehend that you have this wealth of knowledge. They basically think that you know exactly the same amount of \"knowledge\" as them. Therefore they neve... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu598s",
"comment_text": [
"Well I grasp the idea of the intelligence that other people have. I can understand the theory behind it on a very basic level and I can understand, perhaps, where the person is coming from... but I think what I am trying to ask about (and maybe not very clearly) ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu554b",
"comment_text": [
"I... have a real trouble understanding how I would react to/perceive an intelligence higher than one I am capable of grasping",
"Really?",
"I think I'm a pretty clever guy. I got good grades at school (mostly As with a couple of Bs), I have a good degree,... | |
ELI5: How much "space" is there in space? | explainlikeimfive | 1s5tbr | 0 | true | false | 0.44 | Yesterday, I read an interesting post about the heat death of the universe. The writer mentioned there being other universes somewhere outside of our own, ever expanding universe. I have to ask, if it's possible that there is something somewhere our own universe, is there some way to calculate how much space there is..... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu6ayi",
"comment_text": [
"It's all theoretical, as we will likely never know. Most say the universe is infinite, in both directions (small and large).",
"On another note, I think it's contradictive of the word UNIverse to say that there are multiple, because, by definition, the univer... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu7hkv",
"comment_text": [
"No, ",
"/u/rsmalley",
" is right - ",
"the evidence",
" ",
" points to the fact that the universe is infinite in size and - get this - always has been. In the past, however, it was merely much, much more dense. When we talk about the universe ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu7uio",
"comment_text": [
"Correct. Just more space and galaxies and stars and planets forever in every direction.",
"And no matter where you are in that infinite space, a 45-billion-light-year-radius observable sphere around you."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduqnr8",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine the biggest thing you can think of...Now times that by 1000. Then times that by 1000. Congrats, you've imagined 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu7j08",
"comment_text": [
"Again, you're thinking of the observable universe, which as you suggest is about 90 billion light years in diameter. The universe as a whole is much, much, ",
" bigger, however - and very likely infinite."
],
"score": 2
} | |
If amperage kills, why is electricity commonly referred to in volts? | explainlikeimfive | 1s5uc2 | 0 | true | false | 0.4 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu6odz",
"comment_text": [
"Electricity is used for many tasks other than killing people. For many of those tasks, the voltage is important. "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu6g35",
"comment_text": [
"Amps measure how many electrons are flowing. Voltage measure how much energy each electron has. Its the combination of volts and amps that determines the energy you get from being electrocuted and thus how dangerous it is."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu77rs",
"comment_text": [
"Drastically simplified, voltage basically tells you how badly the electricity wants to move through a circuit. Any given material has a resistance to electrical flow, and the higher that resistance, the higher the voltage needs to be to before the electricity wil... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu77rs",
"comment_text": [
"Drastically simplified, voltage basically tells you how badly the electricity wants to move through a circuit. Any given material has a resistance to electrical flow, and the higher that resistance, the higher the voltage needs to be to before the electricity wil... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu7egj",
"comment_text": [
"There's a ton of great basic electronics tutorials on-line. If you're interested in learning more, there's plenty of cool information out there."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:What exactly makes your handwriting look good ? | explainlikeimfive | 1s5x27 | 0 | true | false | 0.4 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu7vcm",
"comment_text": [
"Generally, for latin script languages nice handwriting is consistent, in angle, size (the size of the loops, height of the \"sticks\" and depth of the j, g, z, and other letters that go to below the line), and in spacing. Roundness of loops can be a factor, as w... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu991a",
"comment_text": [
"I'm more interested in what happens in your brain that makes your handwriting beautiful compared to mine. I cannot keep a constant writing for a lot of time (i have about 8 in total)."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9e7d",
"comment_text": [
"Generally handwriting is a motor control skill. It requires sensory information from multiple joints (from the shoulder/elbow to the finger tips) to feel the friction of the writing instrument on the writing surface. ",
"To improve, one usually needs to pra... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9gx9",
"comment_text": [
"Can't really agree with the last part, the more I write per day the uglier it looks "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9teo",
"comment_text": [
"I suspect the old chestnut, \"practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect\" applies. Don't write (you're relying on muscle memory that was learned years ago), slowly do penmanship exercises (like the ones you did in elementry school). "
],
... | ||
ELI5:What would happen if we divided the cost of things by 10? | explainlikeimfive | 1s602v | 0 | true | false | 0 | What I mean is, things getting more expensive as they are, what would happen if everyone just agreed to knock a 0 off the end of things. Pennies are pretty much pointless now anyway, so it would give them a purpose. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduadam",
"comment_text": [
"Probably not a whole lot. There might be some weirdness as the initial switch is happening but, eventually, people would get used to prices & wages being lower.",
"If you look at the other side of things, A dollar is worth about 60 Indian Rupees and 100 Japa... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9kg0",
"comment_text": [
"So, you're saying something would happen?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9kg0",
"comment_text": [
"So, you're saying something would happen?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9l8i",
"comment_text": [
"I'm actually just going to retract my post. I think this requires too much speculation on my part for me to post."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdueghk",
"comment_text": [
"i'm after speculation pal, shame i missed your comment"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: With just my eyes, why can I look totally left, right, cross-eyed but not apart (left with the left eye, right with the right)? | explainlikeimfive | 1s62ew | 26 | true | false | 0.74 | If they can make the movements of far right and far left together, why not separate actions, like a lizard? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu8mo8",
"comment_text": [
"Our eye's aren't wired that way.",
"We evolved our eyes to give us binocular vision which greatly improves depth perception and is almost always present in predators (of which humans are).",
"Being able to split focus like that isn't all that valuable bec... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduc4v0",
"comment_text": [
"To focus on something close to your nose, your eyes have to turn inwards to both be pointing at the object. In order to see something far away, the most your eyes will ever have to turn is straight forward. No reason to turn your eyes that way means your brain ha... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cducpyl",
"comment_text": [
"I can do it. Not as easily as going cross eyed, and it tends to give me a headache really quickly. So, thanks for that!"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdubj90",
"comment_text": [
"You can but you need to train the brain to work that way. Its not easy, takes time and when u start to get it figured out, for the first little while it can cause headaches. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu8pbo",
"comment_text": [
"The way the muscles that control the eyes are arranged is to blame, along with the way those muscles work. The can only pull in certain directions and there aren't muscle groups that are wired in a way to make the eyes move in a different direction. The way the b... | |
ELI5: Why do we have car models that are 2 years ahead of the current year? | explainlikeimfive | 1s63am | 1 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu8vog",
"comment_text": [
"Because somewhere along the line, car designers realized that they wanted to make more money.",
"But, they don't want to limit themselves to just 1 model per year. So they release 2014 models sometime in late 2013. Now we are seeing the next evolution of s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu8y1m",
"comment_text": [
"So it's purely just marketing and advertising then?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu90pr",
"comment_text": [
"Pretty much, plus they get to put a new model out more often. People are suckers for \"new and sexy\" models."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu99a4",
"comment_text": [
"Because your post isn't asking a simplified conceptual explanation, but rather for an answer, its been removed. ",
"You should try ",
"/r/answers",
", ",
"/r/askreddit",
" or even one of the more specialized answers subreddits like ",
"/... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9avk",
"comment_text": [
"Think about it this way: if you were to buy a new car right now, in December, and model years followed calendar years, you'd get a 2013 model. Then you would feel like you didn't have a \"new\" car next month because you'd have last year's model.",
"So they p... | ||
ELI5:Radiation Poisoning | explainlikeimfive | 1s67ml | 6 | true | false | 0.63 | How does it work?
What does it do to cause death? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdua5gx",
"comment_text": [
"You can think of radiation as bits and pieces of atoms that move at very high speeds. When the radiation hits your body, it can knock atoms in your cells out of alignment, causing damage. In normal circumstances, your body is very capable of repairing damage li... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdufaje",
"comment_text": [
"Note that sunburn is literally radiation burning"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdua94z",
"comment_text": [
"I asked this question because of the recent story in the news about the truckjackers in Mexico accidentally exposing themselves to high doses of radiation. The police said that they would probably die soon. ",
"Can one really die that quickly from a high dosa... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduae5b",
"comment_text": [
"Not really. Cancer is a longer term thing. When you receive a huge dose of radiation, it's more the immediate cell death that will kill you. Picture a bunch of people going into a house and demolishing it with sledgehammers. The cell is just physically destro... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduf92q",
"comment_text": [
"Lethal doses of radiation are when you start absorbing over 3 Grays of radiation which rapidly approaches 100% fatality within a couple days. If you survive you may get cancer but what kills you quickly is that almost every cell in your body becomes damaged. Like... | |
Why is Dennis Rodman interested in North Korea, and why can't anyone convince him that he's aiding a brutal dictatorship? | explainlikeimfive | 1s62ng | 7 | true | false | 0.64 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu8r60",
"comment_text": [
"Its a bid for relevancy. Tell me whens the last time Rodman was in the collective conscious since the 1990s? "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdubovq",
"comment_text": [
"Kim is a man who had his ex killed to suit his wife. There is no such thing as a normal friendship with a murderous dictator."
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdu9eua",
"comment_text": [
"Have you listened to him speak? His capacity for rational thought is gone."
],
"score": 5
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduc20h",
"comment_text": [
"Rodman is just a simple fuck (brain damaged) incapable of understanding ethics and morality. He functions at the level of 2 or 3 year old...me, me, me. Write him off folks. "
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdudamg",
"comment_text": [
"Hate to admit it, but as far as North Korea is concerned my entire perspective of that place has been shaped and molded by the media. Dennis Rodman on the other hand, has actually been there."
],
"score": 4
} | |
ELI5: Where does iTunes think all my stolen music comes from? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6den | 5 | true | false | 0.64 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduc5y8",
"comment_text": [
"iTunes doesn't \"think\" anything. "
],
"score": 15
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdud932",
"comment_text": [
"Regarding your edit, iTunes gathers information about what music you have, how often you listen, what your playlists are, etc for the purpose of providing music recommendations and better Genius results."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdud8u4",
"comment_text": [
"iTunes is checking your library for iTunes purchases that you are not entitled to (files purchased on someone else's iTunes account). If your mp3 is not listed as being someone else's iTunes purchase (torrented, ripped from CD, created on your own, etc), then it ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduhbci",
"comment_text": [
"It's not their job to care nor is in their interests to worry about it. As long as you keep buying iPods & iPhones and keep buying some shit from the iTunes store, Apple's making money."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduxobg",
"comment_text": [
"Relax, Skynet is not yet aware."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: If the government is low on money, why can't we print more? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6b30 | 0 | true | false | 0.29 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdubcnn",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine everyone has $100 a week to buy their groceries. Prices will reflect how much people can get. $2 for a loaf of bread, $5 for milk, $3 for a pound of Bacon, etc.",
"Now if everyone has $100,000? Well now it's $2,000 for a loaf of bred, $5,000 for a bag... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdub6og",
"comment_text": [
"We do, but we can't do too much or inflation will get out of control and prices will rise."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduc10g",
"comment_text": [
"It's not about money, it's about spending power. Money have value because it is scarce. If money were more readily available, the value of that money would decrease, so the $2.50 worth of money is not longer as valuable as a loaf of bread, so... prices increase. ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdub7lo",
"comment_text": [
"Ok, so would you please be able to explain what inflation is and how it affects prices?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduc2di",
"comment_text": [
"Oh, I see, so the more money people have, the higher the prices can be put up. Thanks for explaining that for me :)"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How did humans discover cooking in the first place? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6815 | 20 | true | false | 0.76 | have explained cooking food is good for you, but how was this discovery even made? Why would it occur to a caveman or cavewoman that the food will taste better/be more nutritious if it was heated over a flame? Did a cow just trip and fall in a fire, and a nearby neanderthal thought it smelled good? I realize this is ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdubekz",
"comment_text": [
"I saw a thing on a documentary once where the anthropologist was talking about how people ate their food before cooking. The type of things that early hominids used to eat included lots of tough roots and raw meats. (And fruits, nuts and bugs when you found them.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduc57n",
"comment_text": [
"I heard someplace else that humans have some sort of mutation in our jaws which weakens them with respect to other primates so the only option was to pound things with rocks.",
"Hominid jaws have become progressively small to accommodate larger brains."
],
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdufcxh",
"comment_text": [
"There is a bigger story to our jaws.",
"Humans were not the first to make fire or cook food. Our non-human ancestors started doing it, and we are the result of that progression.",
"Cooking food unlocks more of the chemical energy within the food, it lets ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdud906",
"comment_text": [
"Seriously? \"humans just get bored a lot\" I don't get how this becomes the top 'answer.' It is a total guess, and a wrong one at that, which I thought Mods asked posters not to do. Check the rules on the right if confused. ",
"Fire is not the only way to coo... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduetx4",
"comment_text": [
"Probably scavenging after a grass fire.\nAll those tasty slow critters lightly singed after the quick burn."
],
"score": 4
} | |
ELI5:Why does USPS take so long to process packages, shouldn't their goal be faster turnover to move more products and make more money? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6il8 | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdue8er",
"comment_text": [
"I'm currently waiting on a small(under 2lbs) package & I was wondering why it takes USPS so damn long to move items.",
"Because you didn't pay for their faster shipping methods. They could do what you describe for all of their services, but shipping a package... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdudt1t",
"comment_text": [
"Well, USPS has to deal with all that pesky MAIL. ",
"Their primary motivation is making sure that mail get delivered, since that this their raison d'être. That means having a system capable of sorting and delivering millions of letters, magazines, cards and t... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdul7l0",
"comment_text": [
"Considering that the USPS goes daily to almost every single address across the nation, they do a damn fine job time and cost-wise.",
"The other guys charge more and get things shipped faster, but then they only deal with customers with more money."
],
"sc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv2umt",
"comment_text": [
"Every address and every military base, forward operating station and every naval ship at sea. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduerkm",
"comment_text": [
"\"and long haul trucks.\"",
"You answered your own question! The cheaper forms of shipping are often placed on trucks and even ships for cross-ocean shipping. It is slower, but also significantly cheaper than putting everything on a plane. Trucks are cheap... | |
ELI5: Why do most American websites have .com suffixes while almost every other country uses a suffix that relates to that country? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6pzu | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | For example, New Zealand uses .nz, Norway uses .no, etc. Why doesn't the US use .us? And why do all those other countries use their own suffix? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduft09",
"comment_text": [
"Same reason the US telephone country code is 1. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdufxh4",
"comment_text": [
"We're number 1! we're number 1!",
"...no literally, we were the first to do it, we set the standard, everyone else followed. So other countries were like, 'You know we could always just do a website that ends in .<whatever> instead of .com - you know, so you ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdugb0f",
"comment_text": [
"The code system was developed by the US and .gov, .com, .org, .net existed first. National codes are fairly new and the US government already uses .gov. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdufyzh",
"comment_text": [
"USA! USA! USA!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduhh0y",
"comment_text": [
"though there is a .us as well just not widely used."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What are the reasons Obama being awarded Nobel Peace Prize? [serious] | explainlikeimfive | 1s7396 | 6 | true | false | 0.66 | Maybe it's an Internet projected image, but I see Obama as a warmonger and his administration having been unable to check the peaceful electoral list regarding abroad wars. Moreover, during Obama the military expenses kept on flourishing and the American involvement in local conflicts has been uninspired, to say the le... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdujtcv",
"comment_text": [
"Obama's peace prize, awarded shortly after he took office, seemed to me at least as being really a \"negative\" peace prize for George W. Bush. As in, if they'd replaced Bush as president with an inanimate object, the inanimate object would have won the prize.",... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduk719",
"comment_text": [
"I agree with this. And while I can sort of understand that feeling, it really put Obama in an awkward spot. He had just taken control of a country in the midst of two big wars, plus a nebulous side war against terrorism in general. Obviously a decent amount of ki... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdujwnt",
"comment_text": [
"The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U.S. President Barack Obama for his \"extraordinary efforts\" to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.[1] The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award on October 9, 2009, citing Obama's ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumteb",
"comment_text": [
"Have to agree... I think it was a stupid move on the part of the Nobel committee and I can only assume they were trying to make a point.",
"Unfortunately I think all they did was hurt their own reputation.",
"...and give Fox \"News\" yet another thing to ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdumn98",
"comment_text": [
"They gave it to him to try to influence his future actions. It's like giving your kid a cookie before a long car trip to \"reward him for how well he is going to behave\" on the trip. And I agree with euThohl3, it was also meant to be a slap in the face to Bush... | |
ELI5:ELI5:Why tossing a ball inside a car in motion goes directly up then down, but when tossing a ball upward while walking the ball will fall behind you? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6t8j | 1 | true | false | 0.66 | I have noticed while periodically lightly tossing small objects like a tennis ball around as a passenger in a car that is in motion, that the objects behave just as it would if say you were sitting on a couch tossing an identical object. However when walking, and tossing an object directly upward, and as walking contin... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduk2s9",
"comment_text": [
"The air in the car is moving the same speed as the car (forward) so it exerts no backwards drag on the ball. The air that surrounds you while walking in the park does not move forward with you, so it exerts drag (backward force) on the ball. You could demonstra... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdugsuu",
"comment_text": [
"Because you are not really \"moving\" in a car. You are seated in a single position with a constant (for the sake of example) velocity forward. The ball has the same velocity attached so throwing it up has no effect on this. Essentially, your velocity from the... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdujxq1",
"comment_text": [
"Sort of, I'm not doing a great job of explaining this.",
"Everything within the car is moving with the car. So in effect you are sitting still. If the car was to launch a ball from its hood, that ball will have left the car and not taken the forward velocity... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdugt60",
"comment_text": [
"When you're walking your forward motion is not constant. It swings and sways with your step.",
"Additionally, when you're in a car, the maximum time a ball can stay up is very short, given the low ceiling. When you're walking, this is not a problem. More hang... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdujs3e",
"comment_text": [
"now that I'm reading this, it makes a bit more sense.... so the case here is basically that sitting on a couch in a home tossing a ball upwards is quite simply the same thing as if you were performing the same action within a car?",
"is this because the car ... | |
ELI5: Why do people still use iPods/MP3 players when any mobile phone made in the last 5/6 years has a MP3 player in it? | explainlikeimfive | 1s6vvu | 0 | true | false | 0.33 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduhko4",
"comment_text": [
"They are cheaper and usually smaller. Perfect for working out or something."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduhllz",
"comment_text": [
"Because mp3 players have a cheaper memory to cost ratio? ",
"Because their phone is old, and doesn't play MP3s?",
"Because they don't want to drain phone battery by playing games/listening to music?"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdujrdd",
"comment_text": [
"I had an old RAZR phone a few years ago. I'd probably still be using it had I not dropped the stupid thing. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cduhr3i",
"comment_text": [
"I have an mp3 player to save space on my phone. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdujucs",
"comment_text": [
"Some people have an absolute truckload of music."
],
"score": 2
} | ||
ELI5: Why do I look good when looking at myself in a mirror, but look like shit in every picture I take? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1hxr | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdsz8ck",
"comment_text": [
"When you look in a mirror you see yourself in 3D. A picture only shows you in 2D. The flattening of your features is unfamiliar to you, thus you dislike it."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1ibg",
"comment_text": [
"when your eyes are closed",
"As soon as I read that, I thought of ",
"this guy."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdszei3",
"comment_text": [
"I have a cell phone somewhere with a 3D camera on it. I wonder If I took my picture with that, if I would see myself as I do in a mirror? "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0ca0",
"comment_text": [
"I don't know what you're referring to, but since you're going to view the image on a 2D screen, I'm going to say 'no'."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdszwh4",
"comment_text": [
"I think Micheal from the youtube channel Vsauce talked about this once. It's basically because we in our everyday life seldon see ourselves other than in mirrors where we are portraied laterally reversed. If you look at an image of someone you know and reverse th... | |
ELI5: Why aren't more scientists, engineers, economists, sociologists and the like governing our countries? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1ede | 18 | true | false | 0.82 | I read a lot about how these academics should be governing our countries, rather than the vast majority of politicians whose background stems from business or law. Why are many politicians not academics who arguably know what's best for a country's long term future? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt049e",
"comment_text": [
"Leadership, governance, motivation, and negotiation are all people skills. To govern a group you need people skills. Scientific, engineering, and technical skills don't go far in convincing people to let you lead their lives.",
"At best, elected politicians (... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdsyqtf",
"comment_text": [
"Politics is mostly about setting an agenda and persuading detractors, then appointing experts to actually execute on that agenda.",
"It's easy to say 'politicians are stupid' and the like, but the reality is it's a sales job (in a democracy, anyways) no matte... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdsya2b",
"comment_text": [
"They don't lie as well as lawyers who seem to make up a huge percentage of politicians. "
],
"score": 6
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdsyagw",
"comment_text": [
"It does happen from time in time in Italy. When things get to the point of being really messed up, they appoint what's called a \"technical government\" of people who actually know what they're doing.",
"They stay in power until the parliament votes them out.... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0iv3",
"comment_text": [
"I don't know how many of my people you've interacted with, but a lot aren't exactly what you would call 'people persons'. Quite often they are more concerned with their research than with events going on around them. Also, the threshold for bullshit can often be ... | |
Why is pi repeating and how or why does this happen? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1jc2 | 3 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdszolq",
"comment_text": [
"as far as we know pi doesn't repeat"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdszy85",
"comment_text": [
"Pi is the ratio a circle's circumference to its diameter. Think of it like this: A circle does not have any sides, so how do you find its area? You draw a square inside the circle. Now you can find the area of that square. But wait, then you have that extra cresc... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt37kw",
"comment_text": [
"A triangle is just half a square.",
"Or rectangle. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdszpn0",
"comment_text": [
"Meant to say why is it infinite."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0ksi",
"comment_text": [
"You can find the area of a triangle because it has definite sides. A triangle is just half a square. Anything with definite sides has a definite area."
],
"score": 1
} | ||
ELI5: Why is it always "HIV/AIDS and STDs"? Why isn't HIV/AIDS considered an STD? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1m0y | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | In textbooks, websites, etc, there's always a separate chapter or webpage for HIV/AIDS from the others, or at least it's titled HIV/AIDS and STDs instead of just STDs. What gives? What makes HIV/AIDS "special"? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0dze",
"comment_text": [
"HIV/AIDS ",
" an STD, but it's not transmitted only sexually. It's probably called out separately because it's traditionally been considered the \"scariest\" STD."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0mrq",
"comment_text": [
"STD (sexually transmitted disease), properly STI (sexually transmitted infection), does encompass HIV/AIDS. As everyone (should) know, you can in fact get HIV through sex. It might be separated due to the severity and the fact that it sticks out. Organizations wo... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0lv4",
"comment_text": [
"HIV/AIDS are separate because they are chronic diseases that are not necessarily transmitted sexually. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0t8j",
"comment_text": [
"There are many STIs that fall under this definition. Off the top of my head is the hepatitis family, mono and HPV. All are chronic and can be transmitted through various means (mucous membrane contact, saliva, blood)."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1146",
"comment_text": [
"Wait, what? Mono's considered to be an STD? I know that certain types of Hepatitis are considered to be STDs while others aren't at all."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5:What exactly is the internet? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1it7 | 2 | true | false | 0.67 | My daughter wanted to do this as a presentation in her class. I hardly understand what it is myself. What is the internet in layman's? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0ato",
"comment_text": [
"A global pornography network."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt53d2",
"comment_text": [
"The Internet is basically what you have at home. At home you (probably) have:",
"That is a network. The internet is a massive collection of networks hooked together.",
"You can visualize it like this. Say you and a physically close neighborhood friend nam... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0ki9",
"comment_text": [
"with a giant fiber optic cord crossing the Atlantic so the US can connect to Europe's servers.",
"There are a ",
"whole lot more",
" than one!"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt0wu2",
"comment_text": [
"you are correct, I just loosly made a comment from what I had limited knowledge on. should have cited a source like you. "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt14p4",
"comment_text": [
"No big deal, just figured you/others might find that interesting. It is a pretty neat map."
],
"score": 3
} | |
ELI5: How does the brain work when interpreting a gif? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1w0b | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | If you concentrate hard enough, you can reverse the flow of the hotdogs. I tried, and am able to see both flows. I feel like i'm forcing my brain to see it as flowing in one direction. Confirmed because if i close my eyes, decide on a direction, then open my eyes to the gif, it flows in that direction. edit: Hell, as I... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt3arz",
"comment_text": [
"The repeating pattern is ambiguous. If you split up the GIF (Google 'gif splitter') you'll see it's impossible to look from frame to frame and definitively see which way they're going.",
"Your brain wants to interpret animation as motion, so it picks a direct... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt3tgf",
"comment_text": [
"This makes a lot of sense as I understand that a gif is just a collection of farmes.. thanks"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt3dnh",
"comment_text": [
"Well our brain can't process both at the same time, it's either one or the other. A classic example is ",
"the young lady or old woman illusion",
". You see the young woman and you can see the old woman, but you can't see both at the same time. "
],
"... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt3qu4",
"comment_text": [
"for some reason I can see both at the same time, and I think it is because it is not a moving image. Not trying to counter you but just my observation."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt4yfr",
"comment_text": [
"also this ",
"Spinning Sihouette Optical Illusion"
],
"score": 1
} | |
Youtube Copyright Infringement | explainlikeimfive | 1s1pbj | 3 | true | false | 1 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1inn",
"comment_text": [
"You could always not upload copyright material. Or you could upload something but make it a review vid and then claim Fair use. You would actually have to review it though."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1u58",
"comment_text": [
"Might be one way. The problem is I don't know if having the whole thing play and then reviewing it will count as Fair Use or if you'd have to cut it to pieces, cut some out, etc. ",
"Remember too that if you dispute the copyright claim legal action can be b... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1bw5",
"comment_text": [
"Whose to say they didn't get flagged? They may not give a damn."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1g6f",
"comment_text": [
"I guess, but I'm locked out of my video until I admit that it's copyright.. ",
"OR, click \"dispute\" and ultimately lose that battle too. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt1u9m",
"comment_text": [
"Ya, copyrighted music is a tough gig.",
"You really have to put your own spin on it to get away with a cover. If you play an instrument try using that. Or find a version of the instrumental that isn't copyrighted. "
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why does the world turn a blind eye to the white genocide in South Africa? | explainlikeimfive | 1s22g0 | 1 | true | false | 1 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt5awp",
"comment_text": [
"Glad I'm not the only one that misses apartheid, Die ou gaat. ",
"Any afrikaans speakers know what this racist prick's username means? Google translates it as \"the former is\". "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt5cnp",
"comment_text": [
"White genocide?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt5hg2",
"comment_text": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW_ynjehcOU"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt572j",
"comment_text": [
"What white genocide? "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt598j",
"comment_text": [
"Exactly!?! the stats are clear as day but the international community is wilfully ignorant"
],
"score": 0
} | ||
ELI5: Why do we only have Black Friday sales once a year? Why can't we have the deals all year long? | explainlikeimfive | 1s2c0e | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | Just a quick thought I had :) | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt7u1i",
"comment_text": [
"Some stores tried this. They found that they sell more if they have higher prices then drop them shortly for a sale than if they keep the sale-low prices all year.",
"People just really like sales."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdngr",
"comment_text": [
"I'm sure you get equally outraged about every single one of the millions of death as the 1 a year that the media tells you to be outraged about at black friday.",
"The point isn't that the deaths don't matter, the point is that the deaths aren't a trend, it's... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdv8o39",
"comment_text": [
"Had an interesting experience with this at Penney's, as they try and backpedal. Asked the price of a comforter, not on sale. $299.00. A week later, they had a big bedding sale -- went in and asked the price on the now on sale comforter. Still $299. But now \"regu... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt8l6p",
"comment_text": [
"because Xmas is right around he corner so people will \"think\" they are getting the best deals for their gifting season."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtb1cg",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah, 6 people dieing in black friday incidents in the last 6 years in the US, the idea that it's a death trap is a massive overstatement for media hype."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do we feel "attracted" to certain people? | explainlikeimfive | 1s1qsc | 140 | true | false | 0.84 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt7f2e",
"comment_text": [
"To add to that are the basic traits that would mean that they're more fit to reproduce. Traits for girls like wide hips and large breasts mean that they're more fit to bear a child."
],
"score": 19
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt2raq",
"comment_text": [
"Sexually, or just drawn to them in certain situations? ",
"(I don't know the answer either way, but it can't hurt to clarify)"
],
"score": 15
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt7ir0",
"comment_text": [
"But why would some people be attracted to individuals that other people would either overlook or would think were completely unattractive?"
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt7ir0",
"comment_text": [
"But why would some people be attracted to individuals that other people would either overlook or would think were completely unattractive?"
],
"score": 13
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtb8he",
"comment_text": [
"Nope, because biologically, your body does want you to have children. Hence, your sex drive. You've made a conscious decision to override your biological drives, but they still exist. Your preference for small, perky breasts is in line with the desire for a youth... | |
Are governments truly enslaved by their federal banks or not? | explainlikeimfive | 1s2gc0 | 1 | true | false | 0.57 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt915z",
"comment_text": [
"Yeah absolutely :)",
"For examples, it is said to have been designed by the big bankers of American (JP Morgan and the likes) and the bill passed on a day where nobody could really do anything about it? First time I heard about this was in Zeitgeist... I know... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt9d29",
"comment_text": [
"I'm generally, and I think people should be, extremely skeptical of conspiracy theories. You can check out the ",
"Wikipedia article",
" of criticism of the movie. Conspiracy theories are really interesting and fun to watch/read but IMO that's about it.",... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdta3dr",
"comment_text": [
"Thank you VERY much. That's the sort of answer I was hoping for. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdt902j",
"comment_text": [
"The term is \"central bank\" or \"central banking system\". More precisely in the US it's the \"Fed\" or the \"Federal Reserve System\". And no.",
"For example, the Fed was created by Congress. Congress could abolish the Fed. Congress could change the way the... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdta34g",
"comment_text": [
"Checking on their shit has luckily made me a more investigative person. Debunking their stuff was easy enough but I had a hard time around the central banking stuff because it seemed so cunning and plausible. I feel for the historians though. No one ever listens ... | ||
ELI5: Martial Law | explainlikeimfive | 1s2o48 | 11 | true | false | 0.82 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtank5",
"comment_text": [
"Martial law is simply when the military takes control over the law. This means that the courts are (generally) shut down and military tribunals take over. This is followed by a suspension of things like some civil rights, *haebus corpus, and *due process. Usually... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtbfea",
"comment_text": [
"Martial Law is a bit like being occupied by your own military.",
"For the most part business and life will progress as usual, because it's hard to control a population that's too pissed off. However the military has the right and ability to control the lives ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdte7l7",
"comment_text": [
"God dammit bob. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtaeto",
"comment_text": [
"I believe it is when the military has control over the law, and can use any punishment they want to keep the public in order. It is assigned during desperate time. For example, after the nuclear explosion Bob was placed in jail for spilling milk."
],
"score":... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtagt7",
"comment_text": [
"bad example. Usually used to keep order by imposing curfews, so people who are outside during the designated times, usually night, gets imprisoned. this can help against looting."
],
"score": 0
} | ||
ELI5: On cooking competition shows like Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, etc., how do they keep the food hot/fresh when it must take a long time to film everyone's judging? | explainlikeimfive | 1s2ont | 8 | true | false | 0.91 | I've worked in film production before but I can't figure this one put. I know each judge's comments are a ton longer/done in multiple takes so it must take ages. How does, say, a cream sauce not coagulate in that time? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtb92l",
"comment_text": [
"You really think they'd do that? Call a show \"Reality TV\" and have it all staged?"
],
"score": 8
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtb92l",
"comment_text": [
"You really think they'd do that? Call a show \"Reality TV\" and have it all staged?"
],
"score": 8
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtgv43",
"comment_text": [
"Some people really need the /s disclaimer, don't they?"
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtbdwu",
"comment_text": [
"Some shows are better about this, but feature other tradeoffs. For instance, Iron Chef America does have a real judging portion... but not based on the food you see being made. The actual judged dishes are remade later, specifically because of this problem. (Also... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtc69j",
"comment_text": [
"Well, that would be no different from any other reality TV show ever broadcast."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: If the average temperature a human can comfortably stay in the water is 25-28C (77-82F), why do our showers are designed to provide too hot or too cold water? | explainlikeimfive | 1s2voq | 4 | true | false | 0.63 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtccdw",
"comment_text": [
"why do we need extremely cold/hot water running in our bathrooms? ",
"Because the way that indoor plumbing works is to mix very-cold and very-hot water together to be able to select a range of temperatures for different purposes. ",
"There's no good way ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtcquk",
"comment_text": [
"Because there are other reasons to use a faucet. (e.g. might want hot water to use in a pot you are going to bring to a boil). Faucets in the shower don't differentiate because they are simply hooked up to the same cold and hot water pipes. A device that would li... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdte6sd",
"comment_text": [
"There are 2 pipes: heated and cold/unheated. The manufacturer has no way of knowing how hot your water heater is or how much of each pipe is being used by other faucets at any given time. The pipe temperature can also change seasonally. The cold pipes in my house... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtfzq3",
"comment_text": [
"protip: dont use hot water to use in cooking. It comes out of your hot water tank which is typically not anywhere near as clean as your municipal water pipes. "
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtj5pm",
"comment_text": [
"Does this count for Combi boilers? (Boil the water in realtime)"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: How does water escape from a snow globe? | explainlikeimfive | 1s2wp4 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtd4oh",
"comment_text": [
"The globe is more like a fishbowl than a globe. The bottom, where the scenery is attached is actually glue in place after filling. Eventually, shocks from normal handling and age compromise the glue joint and the water escapes, mainly as vapor created by the pres... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdl9g",
"comment_text": [
"That totally makes sense. Thanks for answering!"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtchx6",
"comment_text": [
"Leaks out."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtd10t",
"comment_text": [
"It leaks out slowly and evaporates faster than more can leak out."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtcrb9",
"comment_text": [
"There's no water around the base, assuming it's not that much at a time?"
],
"score": 1
} | ||
Eli5: Why don't we have circular USB ports? | explainlikeimfive | 1s2zph | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdkqg",
"comment_text": [
"Inside the USB port are several electrical pins that need to line up between the plug and the socket. With a round port, there would be no good way to have more than a couple of electrical pins (as nested circles), which isn't enough to comply with the USB stand... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdsm0",
"comment_text": [
"Incidentally this is why the Apple lightning cable (which is reversible ) is expensive. To get around the problem they put a chip in the cable that detects the power pins then changes the data pins to match.",
"It isn't round but it is flat and identical on b... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtn4ja",
"comment_text": [
"Apple's solution only increases the complexity of the cable. The connector remains as small as possible and the connector in the device is smaller and more simple. Their goal is thinner devices, so pushing the problem to the cable isn't an issue."
],
"score":... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtg8ht",
"comment_text": [
"Would it not be easier to put 2 of every type of pin, and arrange them symmetrically?",
"e.g. ",
"? ",
"(I know these might not correspond to a real cable, it's just an example). If they're arranged this way, surely it wouldn't matter if the cable wer... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtiaud",
"comment_text": [
"Doubling the connections doubles the cost and size times the number of units produced."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why do ads use phrases like "one weird trick", "discovered by a mom", and "doctors hate her"? | explainlikeimfive | 1s322u | 3 | true | false | 0.67 | These seem like such huge red flags that the ad is total BS. Does it really get people to click? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdte6o7",
"comment_text": [
"because people don't trust big corporations and hope there is some kind of loophole in life,",
"basically what you do is imply this person (not corporation) found this loophole and is willing to share "
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtgv76",
"comment_text": [
"Lazy people will look at these ads like some quick-fix they've always been looking for. The ads are just BS and only .001% of the people who see them will respond to them, however that's still money in the pockets of the ad owner."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdte45i",
"comment_text": [
"Aparently, not all peaople are aware of this.",
"It sound pretty simple and people tend to accept simple explanations easier."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtimp0",
"comment_text": [
"Slate actually tackled this question earlier this year : ",
"Link Here",
"Basically, it's just what others have said-- there's a number of people out there that suspect \"the establishment\" is purposefully holding solutions or cures for everyday life. F... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtk0ug",
"comment_text": [
"Marketing analyst here. While I haven't personally worked on a campaign that used any of these phrases, I guarantee that whoever is running those ads tested many different ads, is probably continuing to try new ads, and that they are using the winners.",
"One... | |
ELI5:How can journalist determine there were "40.000 people at the protest" ? | explainlikeimfive | 1s324o | 2 | true | false | 0.67 | I wonder this every time some news reporter says something like "There continues to be 40.000 thousand people protesting agaisnt the government in russia today" | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtkn01",
"comment_text": [
"And all this time I've been counting fingers and toes before dividing by 20. That's much easier."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdte4rq",
"comment_text": [
"they ballpark it, or lie"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtencm",
"comment_text": [
"Sensationalism"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtpl1l",
"comment_text": [
"There are methods. The US National Park Service has a group which estimates the number of people who show up at various protests and other events on the National Mall. Because they are used to counting large numbers of people, they have gotten very good at making... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdte6qn",
"comment_text": [
"Simply count the number of feet and divide by two. ",
"They mostly estimate it from the density of the crowd multiplied by the area they cover."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: last night I tried smoking some weed, I've smoked about 7-10 times in my life but never once I've got a "high" from it, not even a little relaxation, nothing... Why is this? | explainlikeimfive | 1s30g5 | 1 | true | false | 0.67 | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdteami",
"comment_text": [
"Just one snort of coke might have only a somewhat subtle effect, depending upon its potency. I've personally done a bit of cocaine and felt nothing, other than some numbness in my nose. But when I did a large amount of more potent cocaine, I definitely felt the ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdthz0d",
"comment_text": [
"Ok I'll stick with pot, not legal but noone really cares where I live... thanks again for your time :)"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdofq",
"comment_text": [
"Oregano?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdozm",
"comment_text": [
"Please elaborate?"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtdp8n",
"comment_text": [
"I've never heard of a definitive reason for it. It isn't unusual for people to try marijuana a few times before feeling the psychoactive effects, and I have read of a few other people like yourself who try quite a few times. And it seems that once it \"kicks in\... | ||
If we can control our thoughts and daydreams, why can't we control our dreams? | explainlikeimfive | 1s33sn | 2 | true | false | 0.67 | Example: I can look at someone and imagine having sex with them but I fall asleep and can't control anything. Why is this? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtenxo",
"comment_text": [
"With practice, some people can. Google \"lucid dreaming\". "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtf58u",
"comment_text": [
"I have been lucid dreaming lately. Not often though and I'm not too good at it. I mainly just fly and stuff. "
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtewt7",
"comment_text": [
"As other posters have said, you ",
" control your dreams. You just need to get the skill.",
"As to why you normally can't, is because the rational part of your brain (and I think your memory) shut down while you're dreaming. That's why you can dream about... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtixyo",
"comment_text": [
"I'm sex god"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdteo20",
"comment_text": [
"You can control your dreams. It takes work but it can be done. I suggest checking out ",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/luciddreaming"
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: What does it mean when a company "writes something off"? Can I write something off? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3516 | 5 | true | false | 0.86 | A link for your amusement while you're answering my question... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdteybl",
"comment_text": [
"Yes. You can. Let's say you loan me $20. I promise to pay you back next week. ",
"A week passes. I promise it will be another week... Tops!",
"Two more weeks pass. I stop returning your emails. ",
"You basically say 'well, I don't think I am ever gett... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdteypa",
"comment_text": [
"It just means they count is as a loss, and stop keeping track of it.",
"An example is when a store has \"missing\" inventory. Eventually they stop tracking it as there and just count it as a loss (it was likely stolen), that's what \"writing it off\" general... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtf2bk",
"comment_text": [
"I thought \"writing it off\" had more to do with taxes at the end of the year? No?"
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtf80o",
"comment_text": [
"I am going to assume you're talking about writing off in an accounting sense. Accountants love matching things. If you write off something, you are going to have to take an opposite action somewhere else.",
"For example: Company Sell (S) sells toys to Company... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtf7mb",
"comment_text": [
"In a way it does, you end up paying less in taxes if you write off your losses. In general if you say you have lost $x, what you pay in taxes will be modified depending on the situation.",
"Another example is if you run a home business, people might \"write ... | |
ELI5: What are some infinites larger or smaller than other infinities? | explainlikeimfive | 1s37o9 | 0 | true | false | 0.5 | How many infinites are there and what is their order from smallest to largest? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtfxnm",
"comment_text": [
"For finite sets of numbers, we say that the cardinality of that set is equal to the number of members of that set. So if A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, then |A| = 4. ",
"When we get into infinite sets of numbers, it gets a little bit trickier. Let's start with the coun... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtfyjz",
"comment_text": [
"That's not really true. The idea of degrees of infinity is a real concept in mathematics."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtg28z",
"comment_text": [
"Not in mathematics. See Aleph number:",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_number",
"He might have not phrased it perfectly, but this is the concept that addresses his main point, and it's definitely possible to answer or explain, see ",
"/u/yakusok... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtfzwg",
"comment_text": [
"Actually, this isn't true. (I know, it's maddening). There are the same number of each. You can pair off 1 with 2, 2 with 4, 3 with 6, and so forth and include every single positive integer with every wingle even positive integer. They both have the same card... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtfzwg",
"comment_text": [
"Actually, this isn't true. (I know, it's maddening). There are the same number of each. You can pair off 1 with 2, 2 with 4, 3 with 6, and so forth and include every single positive integer with every wingle even positive integer. They both have the same card... | |
ELI5:How do we know the universe isn't actually small and we aren't microscopic beings in a relatively small container that just seems large and infinite because we are so tiny? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3904 | 0 | true | false | 0.43 | Ok so...you know how ants just live in the ground...well it probably seems really vast to them and if they had our intelligence (or maybe they do?) they may also come to the conclusion that their "universe" (the earth they live in) is also extremely vast and infinite. So, as humans, how do we know we aren't just teeny ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtg4fl",
"comment_text": [
"How do we know the universe isn't actually small",
"Small compared to what?",
"So, as humans, how do we know we aren't just teeny tiny little beings in a fairly small container \"the universe\" which is a container of a much larger container?",
"We do... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtggiw",
"comment_text": [
"Small compared to what?",
"He's probably envisioning that our universe is small compared to a bigger universe that exists outside of our universe, like ",
"THIS",
" or ",
"THIS",
"."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdth2in",
"comment_text": [
"We really don't. We can only observe a portion of the universe, and the farther something is from us, the older that information is( light has to travel for a long time to get to us from distant stars). We can, however, make some pretty smart estimates about the ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdth3jn",
"comment_text": [
"Bingo!"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtgd5g",
"comment_text": [
"Small compared to what's outside. Think of an ant asking that question."
],
"score": 1
} | |
Why in star wars does the light saber injure everyone, but made obi-won disappear? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3dvd | 4 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdthnle",
"comment_text": [
"It didn't make Obi-Wan disappear. Obi-Wan made himself vanish into the spiritual plane, using the force, before the lightsaber actually hit him."
],
"score": 8
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtkou9",
"comment_text": [
"The ghost forms of Jedi are their ideal forms - what they would like to be. The ghosts are wearing Jedi robes because that is how they want to appear. Obi-Wan and Yoda look the same in their ghost forms, because they were content with themselves when they died. A... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdti16q",
"comment_text": [
"Wait, does that mean Obi-Wan was naked when he got there? Where did he get the robes he's seen in in the later movies? Was there an awkward moment when he got there where someone's handing him clothes and he remarks on how he thought he'd be a little less naked?"... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtku4g",
"comment_text": [
"So why does Yoda disappear? He had no reason to vanish into the spiritual plane, he wasn't under physical threat. And since Anakin later appears as a ghost also Yoda didn't do it as the only way to go to that plane and return as a ghost."
],
"score": 2
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtrnjf",
"comment_text": [
"Obi-wan and Yoda both learned from the spirit of Qui-gon during the time between the trilogies how to become one with the Force and achieve immortality, a previously unknown Jedi practice. That's why Ben warns Vader, \"If you strike me down, I shall become more p... | |
ELI5: why does some poop float and others sink? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3gaf | 2 | true | false | 0.63 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtiaec",
"comment_text": [
"There are several reasons. Naturally, poop sinks. However, some foods - such as beans and corn - don't digest well, and can create air pockets. A healthy diet has an almost equal number of sinkers and floaters. In other words, your navy should have just as many s... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtjv92",
"comment_text": [
"Holy crap, what an analogy."
],
"score": 4
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdti7ml",
"comment_text": [
"i believe the sinkers are loaded with fatty food stuff"
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtk1g1",
"comment_text": [
"It depends on whether or not you are metabolizing all of the fats you ingest properly."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtkmfi",
"comment_text": [
"It was kinda shitty IMO."
],
"score": 0
} | |
ELI5: What is orbiting? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3hbi | 2 | true | false | 0.75 | What does it mean for something to orbit the earth? How is orbit a sustainable cycle? Why doesn't an orbiting object eventually crash into the earth or drift away into space? How does something start orbiting? | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtillu",
"comment_text": [
"Orbiting means it flies in an ellipse (circle or oval) around the earth.",
"You intuitively understand that something moving too fast around the earth would escape the earth's pull and fly off into space, right?",
"And, if something is moving too slowly a... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtj344",
"comment_text": [
"once it's moving in outer space then it will keep the same velocity forever (until something crashes into it)",
"Not entirely accurate. It won't be forever, all orbits decay. It's usually just too imperceptible to us for it to matter. For instance, the moon h... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtj4du",
"comment_text": [
"You are correct."
],
"score": 1
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtl6bv",
"comment_text": [
"Actually that's not entirely accurate either.",
"The moon's orbit is decaying because it's taking tidal energy from the Earth-moon system. If the Earth and the moon become tidally locked before the moon is \"flung off\", it will be in orbit forever.",
"R... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtj3dl",
"comment_text": [
"Go outside and throw a ball as hard as you can. It'll go for a while, then hit the ground. What happens if you throw it so hard that as it starts to fall, it just follows the curve of the earth all the way around? That's orbiting."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why is it that Hubble can resolve images of Galaxies billions of lightyears away, but not Planets tens of light years away? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3mcs | 5 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtk59a",
"comment_text": [
"First, galaxies are huge - maybe 10 trillion times bigger than a planet like Jupiter. Also, they are usually found near a star, and the glare from that star tends to obscure the planet (try looking at something small that is right next to a bright light)."
],
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtmlmv",
"comment_text": [
"The planet with the highest albedo (percentage of light reflected) in our solar system is Venus. You might be able to see Venus with the bare eye but that's because it's ",
" close. Planets are ",
" and they just reflect a percentage of the little bit of... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdto48u",
"comment_text": [
"the telescope camera has to have a longer exposure than just point and click in order to let enough light in to capture the images. Since planets are closer, their movement and rotation has more of an impact on the final picture (motion blur). compared to galaxie... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtpkar",
"comment_text": [
"The milky way is 100,000 light years across, give or take. That is 6 trillion times larger than Jupiter. So you are comparing something 100 million times further away with something 6 trillion times smaller. The planet as seen from Earth would be 60,000 times ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtk0e6",
"comment_text": [
"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with the fact that planets do not emit light, while galaxies, well the stars in those galaxies, do."
],
"score": 1
} | |
ELI5: Why was gold 'unanimously' chosen as currency and a representation of wealth? Why not something essential like food? | explainlikeimfive | 1s3saf | 6 | true | false | 0.67 | [deleted] | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtluxb",
"comment_text": [
"Because food is perishable and is easy to produce. Mining new gold (without expending more money than you'd earn) is pretty much out of the reach of most people."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtmka2",
"comment_text": [
"As I recall from Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the main character's wealth and social status was determined by his massive cache of yams."
],
"score": 3
} | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtm2k5",
"comment_text": [
"Some societies did use food as a currency. Most notably the Aztecs, who used cacao beans as money.",
"Gold, however, was used because it's shiny, inert, easily transported, and most importantly, really hard to get more of, making it a stable currency not eas... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtmv1e",
"comment_text": [
"Going outside of the monetary system, gold is in high demand vs low supply, wealth is surely measured not by what you have but what you have that you do not need, a good way to show that is something not easily obtainable, gold, its the same reason 'brands' work ... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtp1hp",
"comment_text": [
"Using food as money is more or less bartering. It's difficult to pay a butcher for meat with apples when he would prefer bread. Currencies were developed to facilitate this exchange, so you could sell your apples for coins, pay the butcher in coins and he could... | |
ELI5: How imaginary numbers are used logically | explainlikeimfive | 1s3yxu | 1 | true | false | 0.6 | I simply cannot wrap my head around how and why imaginary numbers like the square root of -1 or something can be divided by zero and be logically sound. | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdto84s",
"comment_text": [
"Division by zero is not defined for any number, even imaginary numbers. ",
"If you mean, \"Why can't we create another number, like i, that can be divided by zero?\", that's discussed nicely here:\n",
"http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/53872.html"
... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtori2",
"comment_text": [
"I think the easiest way to visualize a complex number (real + imaginary) is a grid. Horizontaly is real and imaginary is vertical, so you can identify points in a flat surface as opposed to a line. An imaginary number would be going only up (or down) without movi... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtp0z4",
"comment_text": [
"Imagine a number line, with the real numbers going left and right. Call this the x-axis. Now imagine that you want to be able to represent another dimension, so there's another axis going up and down. Call this the i-axis. ",
"Now, if you want to represent... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtp1lv",
"comment_text": [
"Imaginary numbers are just as logically sound as negative and rational numbers are. They are a natural extension of the real numbers.",
"How did we develop the concept of numbers? Numbers were basically used to count things. So when you count things you can e... | {
"comment_id": "t1_cdtr2wq",
"comment_text": [
"Other people have felt the same way as you...they are the ones who came up with the term \"imaginary\", to make fun of them.",
"Let's take another example, negative numbers. In a lot of situations, they don't make sense, either. If you have 2 cars in your g... |
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