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57fqm0 | how does a green / blue screen work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57fqm0/eli5how_does_a_green_blue_screen_work/ | {
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"\nSo green/blue screens work using a technique called \"Chroma key compositing\". \nThat's a big fancy name for basically saying that all colour hues matching a certain colour (the colour of the background \"screen\") are removed from the picture/video and replaced by a different scene. \n\nGreen/blue are the colours used for this most commonly because they have some of the highest contrast with skin tones, so people tend to stand out pretty well and don't have, say, part of their face replaced by whatever is supposed to be in the background.\n"
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5ihzrj | how were old-school (nes and such) graphics created? | This question really has two parts:
- First, what sort of programs did they use to create the graphics and then put them onto the disc?
- Second, I doubt that they could render PNGs on an NES, so what sort of file format were the graphics stored in? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ihzrj/eli5_how_were_oldschool_nes_and_such_graphics/ | {
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"It's been a while since I've done any game development for the NES, so some of this may be incorrect.\n\nCartridge games are different than games on a disc in that they can contain different bits of hardware. As time progressed, carts started having things like memory to save data too, more room to store the actual game, and special chips to play more channels of music.\n\nSo in order to explain how graphics are stored on an NES cartridge, I'll just talk about something like Super Mario Bros. That cartridge is pretty basic and doesn't include complex hardware to understand. I'll make a bunch of generalizations that may not apply to more complex cartridges.\n\nSo a basic NES cartridge has a chip called PRG rom, and another chip called CHR rom. The PRG rom contains all the instructions which are sent to the CPU. This is basically the games 'code'. The CHR rom contains all the graphics, which are sent to a special chip in the NES called the Picture Processing Unit (PPU).\n\nThe CHR rom contains 2 tables of 256 8x8 pixel tiles. Usually one of those tables is used to display sprites, and the other table is used to draw the background. Sprites are images that can be placed at any position on the screen. There is a limit of 64 at a time, and if more than 8 are drawn in a horizontal row, the extra sprites are not drawn. The background tiles are fixed on an 8x8 grid and can not move unless the CPU instructs the whole screen to scroll. Each section of 8x8 pixels in memory looks like this:\n\n00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 \n\n01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01\n\n00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 \n\n11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11\n\n00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 \n\n10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10\n\n00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 \n\n11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11\n\nIf drawn on the NES as a sprite, it would look like 4 horizontal lines in 3 different colors.\n\nSo as you can see, each pixel can contain one of four values: 00, 01, 10, and 11. Which colors are those values? For sprites, 00 means transparent. For any other value, the instructions run by the CPU tell the PPU the colors that each of the four values map to in advanced. Sprites and backgrounds use different color palettes. There are 4 color palettes for sprites and 4 for the background. The total number of colors available is quite limited on the NES. If you want to display a character with more than 3 colors, you have to draw two sprites with different palettes right on top of each other. The titular character from Megaman is drawn this way. Since each sprite is only 8x8 pixels, you can run out of sprites real quick.\n\nWhen the CPU wants to draw a sprite on the screen, it needs to write in a certain memory address which the PPU can access the following things:\n\n1) The X and Y position of the sprite on the screen.\n\n2) A number which indicates which tile on the CHR rom to display.\n\n3) Whether the sprite should appear behind or in front of the background.\n\n4) And which pallet to use for drawing the sprite.\n\nIn the old days, artists and programmers would design the sprite on grid paper, and then type it into a computer much like I did above with all the 1s and 0s. Later they used specialized software which was a bit more friendly to artists.\n\nOn a side note, while each sprite has their own pallete, every 2x2 group of background tiles has to share the same palette. It is for this reason, as well as how the NES handles screen scrolling, that on Super Mario 3, the background on the leftmost and rightmost sides of the screen sometimes is drawn with the wrong palette, which is especially noticeable on emulators because there is no overscan."
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l3r3v | conflict theory, functionalism, and social interactionism in sociology? | I have an essay due where I have to analyze the 3 theories within one news article. I would just like to understand the theories better before I do it because I don't really understand them.
Thanks in advance!! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l3r3v/eli5_conflict_theory_functionalism_and_social/ | {
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"1. Conflict theory is simple - change occurs through a dialectic (di meaning two). Thesis + antithesis = synthesis. For example Marx thought a revolution would occur when the Bourgeoisie (rich people) would come into a conflict (this is where the theory gets into its name) with the proletariat (poor, exploited workers) and the resulting synthesis would be communism. So an example would be the conflict between the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government created a different political structure for Egypt. This is perhaps what the people of occupy wall street want. \n\n2. Functionalism is also simple. All facets of society have functional properties. The biggest cited example by Durkheim (the father of the theory) is crime. Crime is bad, but serves a function to strengthen social solidarity. Think of the Lynch mob in the Simpsons. Bart cutting the head off of Jedediah Springfield brought the entire town together and strengthened the togetherness of the community in uniting against Bart. \n\n3. Symbolic Interactionism (if this is what you meant by social interactionism) is George Herbert Mead's (I think?) theory. Social identity is not a set thing that is created by the person. As you exhibit an identity people treat you like that, you respond to the way people treat you by acting the way you are treated. For an example if you hang out with someone who breaks into cars, but do not break into cars yourself, people will treat you like a criminal too. If you are treated like a criminal eventually you will start acting like one and identifying yourself as a criminal. This theory explains how children become bad eggs in school; they act out once and then get labeled as a bad student, then get treated as such, the more they are treated as a trouble child the more they act like it.",
"1. Conflict theory is simple - change occurs through a dialectic (di meaning two). Thesis + antithesis = synthesis. For example Marx thought a revolution would occur when the Bourgeoisie (rich people) would come into a conflict (this is where the theory gets into its name) with the proletariat (poor, exploited workers) and the resulting synthesis would be communism. So an example would be the conflict between the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government created a different political structure for Egypt. This is perhaps what the people of occupy wall street want. \n\n2. Functionalism is also simple. All facets of society have functional properties. The biggest cited example by Durkheim (the father of the theory) is crime. Crime is bad, but serves a function to strengthen social solidarity. Think of the Lynch mob in the Simpsons. Bart cutting the head off of Jedediah Springfield brought the entire town together and strengthened the togetherness of the community in uniting against Bart. \n\n3. Symbolic Interactionism (if this is what you meant by social interactionism) is George Herbert Mead's (I think?) theory. Social identity is not a set thing that is created by the person. As you exhibit an identity people treat you like that, you respond to the way people treat you by acting the way you are treated. For an example if you hang out with someone who breaks into cars, but do not break into cars yourself, people will treat you like a criminal too. If you are treated like a criminal eventually you will start acting like one and identifying yourself as a criminal. This theory explains how children become bad eggs in school; they act out once and then get labeled as a bad student, then get treated as such, the more they are treated as a trouble child the more they act like it."
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6sdne6 | why is the first row of corn always shorter? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6sdne6/eli5_why_is_the_first_row_of_corn_always_shorter/ | {
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"It gets less water, fertilizer due to the way that equipment for that work. Also, because the ground surrounding it gets more sun more water may evaporate before being absorbed by the plant."
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bn52zh | double clutching | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bn52zh/eli5_double_clutching/ | {
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"Disclaimer:I do have a class A CDL but by no means a professional driver.\n\nAfter you are about to up shift say around 2000 rpms, you'll clutch to go to neutral, let your rpms drop to about 1500 then clutch again to kick it to the next gear. \n\nThis all happens in less than 2 seconds.",
"Here is a diagram of a very simple transmission: _URL_0_ Not shown is the clutch which should be where the green gear is.\n\nWhen you are in gear and driving along everything is connected and spinning at the correct speed. Now you need to shift, so you step on the clutch and take it out of 1st gear. \n\nNow the layshaft isn't connected to anything. Because of the clutch it's not connected to engine, because of neutral it's not connected to wheels. If you were at 4000 rpm before going into neutral, the layshaft is still spinning at 4000 rpm. (Or slightly less, but it's on bearings so it'll take a long time to slow down).\n\nNow you want to put it into 2nd gear, which needs the layshaft to be spinning at 2000 rpm, or else the gears will grind. You release gas pedal, slow egine to rpm to 2000. Release the clutch which connects engine to layshaft again, and shows the layshaft to same speed as engine.\n\nNow you press clutch again because you didn't get the speeds exactly right, just close enough. You put it into 2nd gear, which works because all shafts are spinning correct speeds. Release the clutch and now you're in second gear.\n\nYou don't need to do this in most cars, since they have synchronizers on the collar which helps spin the gears up to speed as you are putting it into gear. Some big trucks and race cars don't have synchronizers so you need to double clutch."
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71usxj | can hardware itself be compromised the way software can? | A while ago I heard a claim that Intel was going to somehow alter their CPUs so that they could backdoor users and spy on them. This place was... conspiratorial. Like maybe 10% the standard set by 911 truthers. But I have no idea if this is actually possible or how it would be done. Could other hardware like motherboards or GPUs be compromised in a similar fashion? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71usxj/eli5can_hardware_itself_be_compromised_the_way/ | {
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"Firmware means the distinction you're trying to draw is not terribly relevant.\n\nAs for what you're alluding to:\n\nIntel created a product, AMT, that lets you manage computers without them needing an operating system installed and working. You plug the computer in and send it a message to turn on, another to install a specific operating system over the network, and so forth. You could use this for remote desktop and much more.\n\nThis is obviously quite useful if you're running a datacenter. You order, build, and plug in a bunch of computers, and that already took hours for multiple human technicians. But out in the wild, it's not the best.\n\nThere's some security about it, but Intel flubbed things, so unauthorized people could gain full access you a computer using AMT (unless they were also using a fully locked down bootloader and BIOS and so on, at least).\n\nFortunately, you need special hardware to get AMT, and unless you have really weird hobbies, it's not on your personal computer. So instead of \"everyone's computer is irrevocably owned\", it's \"large organizations need to schedule a firmware update\".\n\nGenerally, ensuring that something is secure requires examining it in detail. This is pretty much impossible with your computer's hardware because it's all proprietary. If Intel released full details on its processors, Imagination might incorporate its best features into the next round of MIPS CPUs. ...well, patent laws make that less true, but Imagination could probably start incorporating those advances into its products in fifteen years. Which would let them, in a few short years, produce something with some of the awesome new features of a Pentium 4."
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4zmq96 | why do alot of singers close their eyes when they sing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zmq96/eli5why_do_alot_of_singers_close_their_eyes_when/ | {
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"I'm a singer and to be completely honest, I don't even know why I do it. If I had to say, it would be to get into the right mood of the song and even to help hit the right notes. Hope this helped."
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2ryodf | how people get attached to fictional characters? | The beginning of Up, many of the "post adventure days" Calvin and Hobbes stuff, etc. I find myself teary at much of this material and know others have reflected very similar feelings. How is this possible if they don't exist? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ryodf/eli5_how_people_get_attached_to_fictional/ | {
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"Catharsis. It's the emotional connection people make with art. Our minds make the connection between the symbol and the actual feelings. ",
"One aspect of that is the fact that you identify with these characters. Wether they're fictional or not is almost totally unimportant. When you speak to someone and/or discovery their life story, you will oftentimes be more interested in the aspects of the person's life that are similar to your own. If you meet a stranger, you'll be more likely to make a friend of him/her if you discover your share the same passion for a certain hobby for example. \n\nThe more you find something in common with a character, the more you identify to it and attachment logically follows. \n\nMany children have imaginary friends. To them, the imaginary world is at least as important and real as 'physical reality' (which is often considered by adults as being the only reality worth paying attention to). \n\nHowever, when we watch/read a 'fictional' story, our child-like imagination comes in play and we truly give life to a story that is rationality would characterize as 'not true'. We learn about a person's life and identify to the aspects of his personality that match ours. We get attached. We cry like babies. But it's okay, it means that we're human and we're alive, that we have empathy and that we care about each other. "
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5ephiv | who in the uk needs to be worried about the new snooping law? what data is stored/viewed by the government? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ephiv/eli5_who_in_the_uk_needs_to_be_worried_about_the/ | {
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"First things first, you need to understand that the internet is a just a collection of computers, all connected together, generally through wires, that all agree on the rules of their connection, collectively known as Internet Protocol.\n\nSecondly, when you are connecting to other places on the internet, you are generally just shouting your message across the internet in hopes that you get a reply from the computer you are shouting to.\n\nAnyone (note that goverments often can listen) who can hear the shout can listen and generally understand this message, generally no one gives a fuck beside the person you are shouting at. That being said, this is obviously insecure, what if it were your bank data or something, you don't want people to find that out.\n\nThat is where encryption comes into play. Encryption essentially makes it so that anyone listening who does not know the encryption key is just listening to gibberish, mostly. At best, they can find out who you are shouting at, how much data you are shouting, and sometimes the purpose of the shouting (like, they can find out if you are looking at a web page, or torrenting something, but they cannot find out necessarily what web page you are looking at or what you are torrenting).\n\nBut it should be noted, that not all traffic is encrypted. For most people, the biggest unencrypted traffic is web pages. Depends on the web page though. The simplest way to find out is to look at the web browser's url. It will generally say either http or https. HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, this is just a fancy way to state the purpose of the data being transferred and the rules under which to use it, which in this case is to display a web page. Anyways, http is unencrypted traffic, they can tell everything that is being sent back and forth to you and to the website you are accessing. HTTPS is encrypted traffic, for example, Reddit's traffic is always encrypted, it always has that little https up there, it will literally forbid you to access it through http. So, if anyone is listening, they know that you accessed some web page on Reddit (they don't know which) and the time that you did so. Most other traffic, is also encrypted these days, torrents are always (note however, that peers to your torrent can tell that you are downloading said torrent), downloads depend on if the website is http or https, ect. \n\nIf this still worries you, and you do not want the government to know that you were accessing Reddit, then you can use a little something called a VPN. Essentially what a VPN does is it forwards all your data to some other computer, before sending it off to say Reddit, and all VPN traffic is encrypted So anyone snooping only knows that you are sending all your data through a VPN, they know which VPN, but that data is useless. After the data reaches a VPN and is forwarded elsewhere, the encryption as it leaves the VPN to go to the website servers depends on the protocol, once again, if it is https, then it is encrypted, if http, then no. However, even if it is http, it is still mostly useless, VPN servers often have hundreds of connections to them through a VPN, and anyone snooping doesn't know from which of those hundreds of connections the data came from. Assuming they can snoop.\n\n"
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35a7yv | how much do boxing gloves cushion the blow of a punch? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35a7yv/eli5_how_much_do_boxing_gloves_cushion_the_blow/ | {
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"I've heard they introduced boxing gloves as a way to get more knock-outs in a fight as opposed to bare knuckle fighting",
"The only purpose/function for padded gloves in any fight sport is to protect your hands from breaking.",
"I've been punched many times with gloves (and quite a few times without).\n\nGloves do nothing to dampen the *force* of the blow. You take the full impact. You get pushed just as hard, your head will snap just as hard if they catch you, but they're actually capable of swinging even harder because the glove protects their hand from breaking. \n\nYou don't get the \"bone on bone\" crunch of a bare hit, so you are far less likely to have skin split open and the \"crack\" of a hit is gone, but the \"thud\" is there and stronger than ever, and that's what knocks you out.\n\nIf you ask me, it's a wash. Any lost impact from padding is made up by the ability to put extra force into the punch without the risk of breaking your hands. It's really there to protect hands, not faces.",
"They don't. They actually add weight to the blow and help to prevent the puncher from breaking their hand.\n\nThey *can* prevent abrasions, cuts, etc. resulting from getting hit with bare knuckles, but ultimately the full force of the punch is still going into your head.\n\nBare-knuckle boxing is actually safer for the athletes than modern boxing, because the fighters can't punch as hard without damaging their hands."
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65q73k | why is reddit's search feature so bad? most of the time it says "search failed" and it's always slow. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65q73k/eli5_why_is_reddits_search_feature_so_bad_most_of/ | {
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"Reddit is not built or managed by particularly smart people. They do not invest many resources in search because it isn't much of a benefit to them. Making Reddit popular and finding a way to make it profitable is far more important.",
"Because they know we just use Google, and their profit margins are so narrow they're probably strangling on them. ",
"It's easier to add reddit to a Google search for something you want from this site. Their search has always been garbage and the only changes they make to it always seem for the worse.",
"Right. And then I get down-voted when I post something in askreddit that had been previously posted but is not searchable. I got blocked from askscience for not being able to find previous questions.",
"I don't work for reddit so I don't know how they have written their algorithm, but maybe I can explain a little about search algorithms in general. (CompSci bachelors here).\n\nThere are three major comoponents that go into how a search algorithm runs: how the algorithm is written, what systems the algorithm has to chug through, and how many resources are available for the algorithm to run.\n\nAbout how algorithms are written. There are many different ways to write a search algorithm. If I put in \"water\" as a search term for example, I could match in many ways.\n\n1. Match on terms that begin with \"water\" (\"water is great\" would match. \"I hate water\" would not.)\n2. Match on terms that end with \"water\". (the opposite result of number 1.)\n3. Match on terms that have \"water\" in them. (\"I love water sometimes\" would match, and so would the two examples in 1.)\n\nAs you can see, the first two methods of matching would run more quickly because terms can be eliminated much faster. But obviously it is much less accurate. The problem with the last method of searching is that the algorithm must go through almost every piece of data to find matches. \n\nAbout the systems used in an algorithm. I have no idea what reddit uses specifically, but I will give an example of how something could be built. There are many layers to a website: front end, back end, and the database. The front end is things like javascript amd html, which format the page the user sees, and the results of a search must be loaded into. The back end is where the server doing computations lives, and this is where the server takes the user's search query and decides what to do with it. Usually, the backend will translate a simple search like \"water\" into something that the database can understand, and then asks the database for the info. Then the database receives the request for data, chugs along the query and looks for the results. Then the database sends the results back up the chain, eventually getting to the user. As you can see, even something as easy as \"water\" goes through multiple layers. The problem here is not necessarily how many components there are to the system, but rather the time it takes for one layer to talk to the next. The system usually has a built in timeout if a query takes too long, because nobody wants their server held up on a query for ages. It is possible reddit's timeout is 30 seconds for example, when the query actually needs 1 minute to run to completion.\n\nFinally, the resources available for a query. This is not so much about the server's resources, but the database's. If the database does not have a lot of processing power, it will take a little longer to run, especially if the database has A LOT of data to go through. Some database systems are better designed for big data than others. It is possible reddit has chosen one type of database system that isn't suited for querying large amounts of data in a reasonable amount of time. But now they are \"stuck\" with the system because trying to move mountains of data to a new system would be tons of effort.\n\nSorry this was so long! Hope it helps.",
"Doesn't answer your question but if I'm on mobile then I'll Google my Reddit search and typically find what I'm looking for. The same key words on Reddit bring up zero results. ",
" > Why is reddit's search feature so bad? \n\nPoor/rudimentary search algorithm. I'm not sure if it's open source, but you can tell that it tends to look for literal matches. It gets easily confused by partial terms. Search engines like google are high optimized to use things far beyond the literal words to rate how likely something is close enough to what you wanted\n\n > Most of the time it says \"search failed\" and it's always slow.\n\nThis is a resource thing. They intentionally put the search on low priority. Reddit seems to run pretty close to the line on server power/capacity, and search is the first thing to die when things get busy. \n\nIt makes sense, from a limited resource perspective- you want the main site to work well, search is \"less important\" most of the time.\n\n\nSpeed is a mix of both of those things- lack of resources to crank through stuff, and inefficient algorithms to sort through junk. ",
"All these explanations are focusing on the technical aspects which is great, but the truth is Reddit's search is terrible because:\n\nThere is no monetary incentive for Reddit to provide a better search.\n\nIf there was an incentive to provide better search, Reddit would hire the people to make it happen (implementing a semi-decent search is not outrageously difficult today as it was 20 years ago).",
"It's funny, this was an issue years ago. I remember everyone complained about search on Reddit (the website). They ended up using a different company to integrate their search results and it worked really well for a while. Not sure what happened because now it's terrible again, at least on mobile. ",
"So, everybody seems to be ignoring the search failed part. That part is a bit more recent than search being generally useless. The constant \"searched failed\" is a [known issue](_URL_0_). We don't really know what's causing it, though. ",
"I find a song on Spotify on my discover weekly playlist that was good so I looked at the artist page and noticed the song was at < 1000 plays so I pulled up /r/listentothis and searched just the artist name it said no results.\n\nSo I posted it and got redirected to the existing post that was still on the front page of the sub",
"A lot of people here are talking about algorithms and resources and code, but that's not the real underlying cause for Reddit's search sucking. I'm a web developer, the fact is, site search is a solved problem. There are countless search libraries and services they could use, and they have all the talented engineering resources they could ever need to do it. There's no technical excuse for it being so bad.\n\nThe legit reason is because Reddit management has decide poor search is a feature and not a bug. They've decided that bad search functions indirectly spur new site activity. People post new things rather than simply digging up old threads. There are even full communities dedicated to fulfilling a search like function. In addition to this, there's no reason to believe that better site search will yield increased traffic, so it's probably difficult to justify expending resources on it anyway. Trust me, engineering issues are not causing a site of this scale to have bad search."
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zfayj | what exactly is taoism, and what are their beliefs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zfayj/eli5_what_exactly_is_taoism_and_what_are_their/ | {
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"Religious Taoism is a blend of thousands of years of eastern traditions being blended together. Namely Buddhism Hinduism and Confucianism. Taoism honors Lao Tzu who wrote the Tao Te Ching. They may have \"odd\" beliefs like fortune telling and/or Confucian ideals that don't translate well in the west.\n\nPhilosophical taoism is just using the knowledge of the world around you as your guide. The Tao Te Ching is kind of like a finger that points you in the right direction. The thing is, if you figure it out, there is no way to explain it to others! It's the best though, seriously. ",
"Impossible to define for a few different reasons. One being that everyone's Way is different. That's why it says the way that can be named is not the real one. \n\nOne of the best definitions of the Tao I've read is that \"it is a drug that is released into the body\". This drug is created by internal practices, meditation, chi kung, diet and some other stuff. That description isn't 100% accurate either but it's the one that I like. There's also a more religious type of Toaism but I don't know much about it. \n\nWhen I was in my teens and twenties I studied tai chi, chi kung and some acupressure from a master that had more energy than me well into his eighties. ",
"The best introduction, I think, is Benjamin Hoff's *The Tao of Pooh.* Stephen Mitchell's version of the *Tao te Ching* is also the most accessible and poetic to Western readers. When I read the *Tao of Pooh,* I didn't become a Taoist... I realised that I already was one. A fun introduction to Taoism (though I'd recommend knowing at least a little bit about it first) is Raymond Smullyan's *The Tao is Silent!.*\n\nLike others have said, everyone's personal version of the Tao is different. A few good pointers to experiencing it are the ideas of balance, of positive and negative existing together. A basic idea is that a jug cannot hold water without a hole; a wagon wheel can't turn without one, either. All things exist and are natural, or were made by other natural processes. Things are as they are. A Taoist tries to put himself in alignment with the way things are, not the way things ought to be, or the way things could be if people didn't suck, or the way things used to be.\n\nAlso, all the things I've said are not answers, but pointers, street signs. Or as a Zen Koan has it (Zen is roughly a mix of Taoism and Buddhism), \"If you point out Enlightenment to a dog, he will look at your finger.\" Even the Tao itself is not an answer, but it may point you to it. "
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4rpkvf | why isn't there at least one candidate from each political party in the presidential debates? what is the reasoning for keeping it to two or three candidates? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4rpkvf/eli5_why_isnt_there_at_least_one_candidate_from/ | {
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"Because you'd basically have to let in dozens, if not hundreds, of candidates, as there is no objective way to define what a \"real\" political party is.\n\nCurrently, debates are limited to parties that can pull 15% polling support. Granted, we should probably lower that to 10-12%, but it's still better to have a limit than risk letting everyone in."
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1it24v | confused about iteration vs recursion? | Hi, could someone please explain the difference between the recursion vs iteration? It seem both are synonymous or at least similar words. I did a Google and all I get is math examples, which I would find helpful if I wasn't too stupid in math.
All I know there is a relationship of repeating or iterating pattern which is also are recurring pattern.
Thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1it24v/eli5_confused_about_iteration_vs_recursion/ | {
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"Iteration is to go one by one over a set of things and act on each of them.\n\nSo for example if you have a list of numbers and you want to add them up you would **iterate** over them, and for each of them you'd add them to the total.\n\nRecursion is to call ones self. In computer programming it's used when a piece of code actually calls itself. The classic example is doing the math operator factorial. Factorial is done like this:\n\n5! = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1.\n\nIn a computer you'd write code that returned a number multiplied by the factorial of the number minus 1. So when a factorial is described by factorial that's referred to as **recursion**\n\nMy recursion example isn't all that clear, so let me know if you have questions.\n",
"Iteration: Define a process and do it over and over again.\n\nRecursion: define a process that performs a function by calling itself.\n"
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3zcgz7 | why are nfl head coaches fired so often? it seems like even if they have an off year, the longer they're with the organization, the better it will be. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zcgz7/eli5_why_are_nfl_head_coaches_fired_so_often_it/ | {
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"Because every player on those teams is an extremely talented athlete. \n\nAt their level the only thing that matters is motivating them to play as a team. The coach is the cheapest piece of that puzzle, but often can be the most valuable. \n\nTake Bill Belichik for example. Bill Parcels never won a super bowl without Bill as his defensive coordinator. Bill has a system that is so good and bought into by the players even people like Matt Cassel have become multi millionaires as a result of playing in that system. "
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23fmkp | how they manage to provide reliable high speed wifi to 80k people at the ethiad stadium (home of man city)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23fmkp/eli5_how_they_manage_to_provide_reliable_high/ | {
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"A very large number of access points with narrow beamwidths (each access point covers only a small slice of the total area) with careful ordering of the available wifi frequencies to limit interference.\n\nThink of it like waitresses - each is assigned a small part of the restaurant so you can just hire more waitresses as needed instead of having just one waitress for everyone.",
"Capacity is nearer 47,000\n\n_URL_0_"
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2a5lmg | does a pacemaker keep working after death? | Does it force the heart to keep beating minutes or hours later? If someone is buried with a pacemaker do they continue receiving electrical shocks (without a heart beat) for several years later? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2a5lmg/eli5_does_a_pacemaker_keep_working_after_death/ | {
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"The pacemaker's only job is to regulate the timing of your beat. Death from heart problems is still common in people with pm's, once your heart tires and can no longer contract, it stops responding to the pacemaker but the pacemaker is still emitting electrical impulses. Basically, no amount of external electricity is going to make your heart contract once you're dead because your heart is mechanically dormant. So turning off a pacemaker when you die is useless. It continues until the battery is dead. There is one exception- if you are to be cremated, it MUST be removed (by law). The pacemaker explodes in high heat."
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fgwpqv | why are we able to see the individual rbg color pixels on a monitor when there is a bit of liquid on the display? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fgwpqv/eli5_why_are_we_able_to_see_the_individual_rbg/ | {
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"The droplets act as magnifying lenses, so the small pixels get magnified and they look large enough to be seen",
"The properties of a [lens](_URL_0_) are largely determined by the SHAPE of the material, and also by the optical properties of the material (transparency, etc.). But, basically, glass and water are very similar in optical properties, and water droplets on a surface have a naturally curved shape that forms a magnifying lens.",
"The light that is emitted by the pixels gets redirected by the droplet. This is the same principle that is used by a magnifying glass. The glass of your screen is like a Window, flat, where all the pixels look small. But the water droplet has a curve so light gets redirected when travelling through the border of the water and the air. This is also why you can't see clearly through moving water in a swimming pool. All the curves on the surface redirect the light in a different direction. When the swimming pool is completely still, All the light gets redirected evenly.\n\nThe magnifying effect is because of the shape of the droplet. The light from the center of the droplet gets redirected so that it does not spread evenly in all directions, but it gets focused in the direction of your eye.\n\nEdit: Fixed poorly written sentence.",
"You know how in Pixar's A Bug's Life they use a drop of water like a telescope? You're seeing farther into the screen.",
"Probably the same reason why we see rainbow after rainfall. light passing through the water droplet gets refracted since light travel at a different speed in different mediums, in this case air and water.\n\nSince light is a mixture of colors and different colored light travels at different speeds in water, different colored lights get refracted to a different degree as they pass through water, splitting them into a spectrum that can then be observed by your eyes as distinct colors."
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3zq4hk | why do applications have bugs on some devices but not others? if a code is written for an application which works perfectly in practice, what introduces problems in the future? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zq4hk/eli5_why_do_applications_have_bugs_on_some/ | {
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"Different devices behave differently. Some might be faster, some might have more memory, some might provide services that behave differently. A program can (inadvertently) depends on a behaviour of a specific device, so it might fails on another.\n\nHere's a (real life) example: Turbo Pascal, a very old software development system, had a feature that measured CPU speed, so that you can calibrate delays accordingly. It would work by running a fixed loop, measuring the time difference between when the loop started and finished, and then divided the number of iterations by the result. The problem was that when faster CPUs starter coming out, the loop ended too quickly - the time difference was 0, and the result was a \"division by zero\" error. As you can see, the same program had a bug on faster devices, but not on slower ones.",
"It is really hard to say. There are a lot of things that can lead to bugs appearing, even on the same type of device.\n\nFor example, say we have two Iphones, same specs and everything, one has the bug and the other one does not. It could be that the person with the bug has additional programs installed that are interfering somehow and leading to the bug (maybe another program doesn't properly clear itself from the memory, leading to the program with the bug to run into trouble when it tries to access that memory). It could be the bug is only present when certain settings are used (maybe the mail program has a bug but only if auto-refresh is turned on, there are more than five mail accounts added, and one of those is a yahoo account). It could be the bug is only present if old data from previous OS versions was not properly overwritten (meaning that someone who did a fresh install of the software doesn't have the problem, whereas someone who did an upgrade can be at risk). Even two 'the same' devices can still have lots of differences. I mean, if we look at two Iphone 5s, for example, we would say 'these are two the same devices' but they can still have very different settings, installed programs, files in its memory etc. "
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2btkv0 | will someone explain what it means when we talk about the act of observation affecting anything we want to measure? | I understand that the act of observing something collapses it's wave of probability, but could someone put that in words that would be easier to understand? What is it exactly that is coming from the observer to change the observed? I also asked r/askscience. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2btkv0/eli5_will_someone_explain_what_it_means_when_we/ | {
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"I was about to say that this would fit better in ask science, but since we're here…\n\nOne of the early experiments in what is now called quantum physics involved emitting a beam of electrons through a pair of narrow slits and then measuring the wave interference pattern on the other side. They discovered that if you slow down the flow of particles so that they are emerging one-by-one from the emitter, you still get an interference pattern. This is really really weird; it's what led to the hypothesis of a probability wave that propagates with the particle and determines its fate in some way.\n\nThe part that gets at your question is this: if you put a detector next to one of the slits that measures if the particle passed through that slit or not, the interference pattern disappears. Just by observing whether the thing was there or not, we have drastically altered its behavior.\n\nThat's about the edge of what I can talk about comfortably, I think from there we go into entanglement to explain why, but that goes past what I know.",
"Aside from the quantum mechanics answer, to observe something you must e.g. hit it with light. If something is small, light could disrupt the thing's trajectory for example.",
"To simplify this, Think what has to happen in order for you to observe something. Some data is needed to be transmitted from that object into your measuring device. You can measure the location of an atom by using photons and analyzing the absorption pattern. But by doings so the photons that hit the atom unavoidably change its velocity and alter the data. In a same fashion you can measure the trajectory of an atom, but not its current location at that given time. "
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epdb2a | why are they called podcasts? and where did they come from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/epdb2a/eli5_why_are_they_called_podcasts_and_where_did/ | {
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"It's from combining the word iPod with broadcast. Where did they come from? I suppose it was just an idea that some people had to start putting short radio shows on to the internet digitally."
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6bbj6a | why do so many concert venues charge an extra couple of dollars for people who are under 21? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bbj6a/eli5_why_do_so_many_concert_venues_charge_an/ | {
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"Because they can't make any money at all selling beer to those people, and that's a huge source of revenue. To recoup those losses, they charge more.",
"Because a lot of their profit is made by selling alcohol. Under 21 means you can't buy booze, so they up the price. You either pay the extra, or they get to sell the ticket to someone who will be buying cocktails. ",
"I wasn't aware they did this, but the most obvious answer would be as a way to offset the beer money they won't be making off of you during your visit to their establishment.",
"Alcohol sales count for a huge amount of the expected revenue for shows, young kids are sometimes taxed more for not being able to contribute to the bottom line. \n\nIf they had sold that ticket to someone of age, it's a safer bet they will be spending more money at the venue than someone under 21. ",
"Making up for the loss in potential alcohol money makes a lot of sense, but it feels like they're almost punishing the younger audience for not being able to buy beer.\n\n\"Hey you're super young and probably can barely afford to go to this concert as it is, but we're gonna charge you more for something totally out of your control.\"",
"Mate, mostly because the under-21's are a pain in the ass and just don't spend the money.\n\nConcert venues aren't operating to be fair or to ensure that every deserving music act gets some exposure. They're operating to turn a profit.\n\nAs others have point out, an adult may buy 2-3 beers at a concert. Not many 19 year-old's are buying 3 sodas/waters at the show. And if I'm charging $7 a beer and $4 a soda, the simple economics are that I want the guy who's going to buy the beer.\n\nNow let's tackle the other half of the issue: I have ~250 tickets to sell. Ticket revenue is the most heavily divided cut from the concert since the band, the promoter, the venue and sometimes the label all get a cut of the price. So of those 250 tickets, I'm only getting 25% of the cut. That's not enough for me to keep operating. But on the concessions/alcohol, I get a wayyyy better percentage. So I want to sell as much through my vendors/stands as I possibly can. Here we go back to the older crowd who is going to buy alcohol and (generally speaking) has more expendable money than the under-21's.\n\nWhen I open the venue to under-21, now I have to worry about carding at the bars, having security watching who's drinking, possible stings from the local law enforcement and so on.\n\nSource: Worked at a venue for 6 years.",
"Because you live in America, and everything has a price tag. I've never heard of this practice before.",
"How do you prevent underaged drinking?\n\nStrategy #1: Bar anyone underaged from entering the venue. Allow anyone in the venue to drink.\n\nStrategy #2: Allow anyone to enter, but require anyone who can drink to have some indelible marking - bracelet, stamp, etc.. Allow only those with the special mark to drink.\n\nStrategy #1 is a lot less expensive, and also a lot less risky for the venue. So there is no additional cost to participants.\n\nStrategy #2 requires more manpower and infrastructure, and opens the venue to legal action if one of the underaged participants manages to get alcohol - perhaps from one of the older participants. Increased risk + increased cost = increased charge for participants.\n\nIt might seem like it's punishing people who are underaged, but it's because the legal system is punishing the venues for allowing the underaged to participate, and the venue is just passing that cost on."
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5saodd | why is self checkout technology so terrible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5saodd/eli5_why_is_self_checkout_technology_so_terrible/ | {
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"all of your issues hinge on the fact that they weigh the output. but that is the only way for them to track that its been scanned.\n\nOf course you could leave items in the cart and never scan or bag it, but thats far more easy to identify to loss prevention than to mimic the motion of scanning and drop it into a bag.",
"The creator is still frustrated. Planet money made a podcast about it was informative and relatively funny.\n\nHere's a link out of pocket cast to the episode if you wanna check it out.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nYou can also go to the npr podcast website for planet money and look for the episode called self checkout",
"Place the item in the bagging area.\n\nUnexpected item in bagging area.\n\nAn attendant has been notified to assist you. \n\nPlace the item in the bagging area.\n\nUnexpected item in bagging area.",
"Ha I was just thinking this. The wife and I went grocery shopping yesterday and the lines were long so we went to self checkout with our full cart. It wasn't too bad until I started scanning our 20 or so bottled of flavored Seltzer water. The lady had to come correct the machine at least 5 times. We decided to not ever use the self checkout there again",
"Checkout machines don't have 'POS' as their acronym for nothing.\n\nI wish corporate would pay attention to what its actually like to work with them. :(\n\nSource: I work in a pharmacy. Lol"
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7yx2f4 | we grow from microscopic to full grown human, but we can't even heal some scars completely. why? | It eludes me how can we grow from a microscopic being into 60, 80, 100+ kg of meat, bone and skin pretty much creating all that weight ourselves, the bones grow, everything grows to a point (why we even stop would be a whole new ELI5), but how come we can't do it again even in small cases like a slightly deeper cut can remain on us as a scar for the rest of our life. I understand why burning can't heal, but what about "normal" wounds, and skin?
While we are at it, a reptile can grow back it's tail, why the rest of us (mammals, birds, fish) can't heal back if you cut out a bit from your finger (with a saw or something) ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7yx2f4/eli5_we_grow_from_microscopic_to_full_grown_human/ | {
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"As an embryo, the body has a type of cell that provides to be a sort of scaffolding that the body uses to grow the body. As we grow older, however, the body restricts these cells so we don't grow random body parts(which would be a hassle). As such, the body, once damaged to the point of scarring, the body doesn't have the \"blueprints\" necessary to heal up to be the same. The scars are, to my knowledge, just the body's method of fixing the body. ",
"Nature doesn't care about our sense of aesthetics. That scar is from your body healing.\n\nWhy don't we regenerate most body parts? We can regenerate some, like the liver. It's a trade-off to reduce cancer potential.",
"Why we stop growing:\n\nBeing bigger means you have to carry more mass around, which means you need more muscle and bigger bones and thicker tendons, which all way more. So the requirements for being bigger grows exponentially, and are much worse for bipeds than for quadrapeds because bipeds cant spread weight as easily.\n\nIt also increases your risk of cancer (you have a tiny chance of cancer every time a cell divides, bigger=more cells)\n\nYou also need more energy to keep all the muscle mass alive, and move all the extra mass around.\n\nAnd for all that effort you gain... not much. It let T-rex attack larger things, it let giraffes reach more food. It let Triceratops not get eaten by T-rex, but we don't gain much from being larger, so we didn't get larger (or larger humans didn't have an evolutionary advantage). And being larger would actually harm a lot of small animals, especially scavengers, since it's easier for large animals to hunt you (as an example, dogs don't bother chasing mice, but they will happily catch a rabbit, however the rabbit's size makes it hard for housecat sized hunters to eat them, so rabbits grew large to avoid cats and weasels and they were just replaced by dogs.)"
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210et1 | how does code choose/make something random? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/210et1/eli5_how_does_code_choosemake_something_random/ | {
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"Code is deterministic, that is, with the same input, you will get the same output. Random numbers from code are thus \"pseudo\" random, using complex algorithms to create random-looking output. \n\nThese algorithms have to be \"seeded\" with a number. That means you pass it a number, and from that number it generates it's pseudo-random output. If you make that number something that constantly changes (like the milliseconds on your system clock), you will consistently produce seemingly random numbers.\n\nSome people who need things to really be random will seed with a value produced by (non-deterministic) hardware that approaches true randomness (you could seed by multiple factors including the temperature outside, background radiation, stock prices, or a box that shakes a 6 sided dice and scans the output).",
"They use a random number generator, which is a mathematical function that generates a series of numbers based off a \"seed,\" or a starting value. The interesting thing is that the numbers aren't really random: if you know what the function is doing, you can predict the numbers it will generate by calculating them yourself. However, for all practical purposes, they look random to mere mortals. The fact that they aren't random is actually really important for programming purposes: you can test what the program is doing and check that is being consistent when you know what values it is working from. If you want numbers that can't be predicted, you can change the seed value every time the function is called; the easiest way to do that is to have the seed calculated from the system clock, usually using values like seconds or milliseconds. That way, even though the numbers generated won't really be random, they also can't be predicted. For most applications, that's good enough.",
"Code is never completely random. If you want your code to choose a random option you base the decision on a value that changes all the time for example if you pc time is a even or odd number.\nbased on this decision you can let your code make different things (but nothing completely random you have to program all the options).\nThe more options you program the more random a program appears to be. \nThe algorithms to do this are rather complicated and if you manage to make it perfect you'll probably become a rich man.\n"
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7fs8rk | if identical twins were to be given a paternity test (if one were suspected of being a child’s father), given they have identical dna, is there a medical test that could determine which twin is the father? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7fs8rk/eli5_if_identical_twins_were_to_be_given_a/ | {
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"Good question.\n\nThe reality that we've discovered in the past couple decades is that identical twins *won't* have identical DNA as they age. To clarify, the order of their DNA will be the same, but they'll have unique \"markings\" on their DNA that differ. Imagine if you gave the same news article to two people and asked them to highlight the important parts. This phenomenon is what we call \"epigenetics.\"\n\nThese markings are actually small additions to the structure of our DNA that control how active and inactive certain sections/genes are. What we've discovered is that these extra markers are acquired during life, and in certain cases can be passed down to our offspring. Some are added and removed constantly based on environmental factors, ensuring that identical twins will never really be identical. Others are more \"permanent\" and offer an avenue for distinction.\n\nIn one of the first studies on this, we essentially starved parent mice (but not to death), and then looked at both their DNA and that off their offspring. The parents adapted to low food environments by adding these on/off markers to certain metabolism genes, and that was passed to the offspring. The offspring survived on low food availability without the adjustment period of their parents.\n\nI'm sure a forensics expert can tell you precisely what's tested, but this is where we're at right now in the field of genetics. \n\n**Edit: My apologies that most of my follow-up answers to questions below this have been \"we really don't know,\" but honestly we really don't know a whole lot about epigenetics yet.**",
"There are, it's a pretty recent development.\n\nTwins don't have completely identical DNA, there are subtle differences that can accrue during life and be passed on to children.\n\n",
"From what I remember, back from the day I was a college student, we all accumulate mutations differently. Twins may have same DNA but they will have different mutation patterns. \n\nTheoretically, lab can look for specific mutation patterns and determine who the father is. It will be very time consuming. ",
"I have ID twins and I’ve asked doctors questions like this before, especially my genetic specialist. ID twins have enough difference in their DNA for experts to tell them apart, even when they’re born. Just like they don’t have identical fingerprints, their DNA differs. However most paternity tests aren’t 100% conclusive either — they usually give a 97% probability outcome at best. Even between regular siblings, paternity tests aren’t always conclusive. So the short answer is yes, but it would be expensive to drill down to get your answer. ",
"These documentaries are really useful tools in understanding epigenetics, and the first one might be one of the most interesting documentaries I've ever seen, the second one is very technical but explained to laymen, so therefore invaluable as an intro to what can be seen as a very complicated field:\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"Due to epigenetics, the twins would have slightly different histone packing and modifications to the DNA. But I don't feel this would result in a usable system for paternity testing. Whilst in labs the methylation of DNA can have readouts, but even with the inheritance of methylation patterns these can change, and in addition, anything more 'permanent' would have likely also been inherited from the twins parents, therefore they would share similar unlikely to change patterns. I don't feel that with our with current technology of investigating epigenetics, it could offer a viable option for paternity testing. \nAlternatively, I propose that DNA sequencing would be far more viable - traditionally, paternity tests look at the length of specific genes to give a readout. However, in our case, we would need to look at the actual genes coding regions (A,C,G,T). The DNA repair and copying machinery are not infallible, and often makes small mistakes when you consider the size of the genome and the number of cells we have. These are called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (switching a C to a T for example). You would need to look at a longer strand of DNA, and then read what the code is AAGGCATACTGA etc and possibly multiple genes but then any errors generated in one of the twins during conception will likely also have been inherited by the child. I feel this is a method that would offer answers with our current technology, and it would not be prohibitively expensive. Basically, you're comparing errors within the genome, because identical twins will still have errors between them, however rare they may be.\n\n**edit** I want to point out, I am not referring to NEW accumulative errors within somatics (adult) cells, these would not be inherited unless these are found in the sperm and meiotic progenitor cells (although still an option!) - I an proposing screening for mutations that were generated during the period when the father was an embryo which will have manifested throughout his system and gametes, these would still be evident when the father was any age and then inherited within the child.",
"So other answers have explained that there are technically tests available that might be able to tell identical twins' DNA apart, but whether or not the resources are always there to do so in practice are a different matter. [Here](_URL_0_) are [two](_URL_1_) cases from Britain and France respectively where an identical twin committed rape but the police DNA testing couldn't tell which of the twins it had been. Both cases ended up having to be resolved by other evidence to determine which one it was.",
"Follow-up question: if identical twin brothers married, and had children with, identical twin sisters, would the children be genetically siblings instead of cousins?",
"Can confirm as an identical twin whose father got a DNA test (to dodge child support). My brother and I were around 9-years old at the time. When we got the results the SRT analysis didn't say \"100%\" match for both of us, it was severely high though ~98%. I do remember my brother had more of a match than I did; I sleep well at night knowing my brother is biologically more prone to be a piece of shit than I am.",
"As a man with a twin brother, the comments in this thread are horrifying. Amongst knock off versions of me working in Chineses factories, being harvested for organs, unethical human experimentation and starving mice, I am so glad my bro and I are gay."
]
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[],
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0n8ym2KXRM",
"http://ihavenotv.com/the-ghost-in-your-genes"
],
[],
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"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2398668/Identical-twin-brothers-told-apart-DNA-court-accused-rape.html",
"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3225467/My... | ||
41zn87 | why do organized crime groups(especially well-known ones, such as mafias etc.) still exist and thrive? why are they not being taken down? | Any additional links and explanations would be welcome. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41zn87/eli5_why_do_organized_crime_groupsespecially/ | {
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"IMHO they still exist because loyalty is the highest value in these kind of organization. Also, they bribe about anyone who may come in their way. If you don't accept the money, they'll threaten you and your family. ",
"They are being taken down, these groups are far less prevalent and forward than they used to be.\n\nThat being said, in order to take one down law enforcement has to nab the leadership and charge them with a crime that will stick them behind bars for years--decades ideally. That is very hard since the brains of the operation generally do not participate in the crime directly, nor do they stand on the street corner talking about it. This sort of thing usually requires getting someone in the group to talk to law enforcement, wear a wire, steal and turn over any paper records, etc. It can take years sometimes.\n\nA lot of the low-level 'enforcer' positions and sometimes even middle-management roles ARE caught frequently, but those positions are just \"rehired/promoted\" in any sufficiently large organization and the 'work' continues until the leadership is all taken apart. Often the guys who *do* get taken in are turned as part of a plea deal to help take down the top end. many do remain loyal, but when a deal is struck that is often the crack law enforcement needs to start building a strategy.\n\nEdit: a really well established and run operation may continue to operate even if leadership is behind bars, the boss(es) may issue orders from behind bars, or may leave instructions or a contingency plan that will continue to be followed by the remaining group. It is really hard to *completely* dismantle some of the stronger, well-run groups.",
"1. Organized crime is compartmentalized. think along the lines of the manhatton project. your smuggler doesn't have to know your muscle doesn't have to know your manufacturer doesn't have know your corner boy doesn't have to know your leader. every one has their own job and that's all they worry about. theoretically you can only shut down one section of operations with an arrest and it protects anyone high up on the chain from people being arrested and \"flipped\".\n\n2. in a case like \"el chapo\", he may very well not have been doing ANYTHING for the Sinaloa cartel for the last 15 years. sure he started it, but why not let the officials chase around what is only an image of a figurehead while someone else runs operations in the shadows\n\n3. there is always a contingency. much like the English patriarchy there is a line of succession set up that could involve 10 or more people for all we plebs know. but there is always someone to take the leaders place in a well organized group.\n\n4. there is always money to be made in crime.",
"Organized crime grew because they thrive on the black market. Al Capone and the Chicago Outfit made a ton of money off prohibition, the Narco cartels are making a killing off prohibition. When you push a market underground, you're just reducing supply while demand is not affected. Since no legal entity can bring these illegal goods to market, organized crime acts as producer and distributor of illegal goods. Prohibition actually creates more crime because buyers and sellers in the black market don't have legal dispute resolution methods available. They don't have access to police, or the court system to resolve 'contracts' or other issues so they resort to violence and property crime.\n\nProhibition isn't the source of all crime but how many people knew of Al Capone before Prohibition, or Pablo Escobar before the War on Drugs. Yes, organized crimes have other revenue streams, but none quite like the black market. They NEED the organization similar to a corporation with division of labor to bring goods to market. And because there is still demand for their product, they will continue to exist, or some other organization will take their place, legal or not.",
"Its also because the niche they filled still exists. They provide a sense of safety and security to people who lack faith in the system.",
"They are taken down (or parts of them are taken down). It's just hard to get them all.\n\nThe main tool law enforcement uses is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The main deal with RICO is that it allows the leaders of a group to be tried for crimes which they did not themselves commit, but ordered others to do. This closed a previous loophole in which a leader of a group could only be tried for a lesser crime (or not at all).\n\nRICO has a list of about 30 crimes, such as bribery, gambling, murder, extortion, counterfeiting, money laundering, etc. If a person has committed at least 2 of those crimes within 10 years, and if those crimes were related to a federally-defined \"enterprise,\" they can be charged with racketeering. They face stiff fines and up 20 years of jail time *per racketeering count.* Since you already have at least 2 crimes to be charged, you're looking at up to 40 years in prison when you're charged, plus however much they will fine you. Further, if the U.S. attorney is indicting somebody, the assets of that individual are seized; that keeps them from being transferred to other people or other entities. Because they then have no money to hire a defense attorney, they're often willing to plead guilty in return for a lesser sentence and reveal other parts of the enterprise for investigators to target.\n\nRICO was designed in the 1970s, and it was made with the mafia in mind. It was quite successful throughout the 80s and 90s, and the top bosses of the famous \"Five Families\" received huge sentences. However, it was also used to take down the [police department in Key West, Florida](_URL_3_) after it was found to be little more than a protection racket for the town that answered to smugglers. A few years ago, a [Pennsylvanian judge was indicted under RICO](_URL_2_) for taking kickbacks from a privately-owned juvenile detention center in return for sending kids there for petty crimes. It's has also targeted [at least one public official](_URL_1_) for using his office to bully industries under his purview for financial gain (his sentence was eventually commuted by Reagan), and even [anti-abortion clinic protestors] (_URL_0_) who routinely break the law on behalf of the Pro-Life Action Network (this works because an \"enterprise\" need not be a financially motivated entity).\n\nSo, with the power of RICO, why does they still exist?\n\nPart of it is that RICO can be a bit hard to prove because there are so many pieces. You need to prove that 2 separate crimes are tied to a single enterprise. But to do that, you have to prove that the criminal enterprise even exists in the first place. For example, one of the earliest RICO cases was brought against the Oakland charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club on charges related to trafficking drugs and guns, but the defendants were all acquitted because the federal prosecutors couldn't prove that the *enterprise*, as a whole, was involved in crimes relating to the *individual* members. The tie is easy to see when looked at casually, but if you want to prove that it's a real thing, it isn't a slam dunk.\n\nSecondly, there's a huge profit motive. Crime can pay. It can pay very well, and sometimes, the risk looks worth taking. You just have to take steps to avoid being caught, and some crime bosses manage to pull it off.\n\nFinally, even though there's a \"final boss\" in the organization, that doesn't mean that there isn't somebody willing and able to take his place. They just know that they need to change their tactics a little.",
"In Italy, it depends on politics. Well funded organizations are able to infiltrate the politic environment at various levels, by electing or corruping politicians.\n\nIn return the organization give money to the electors before and after the election. \n\nUsually when a group is taken down, it's because it has lost the favor of the politician in command.\n\nVarious organizations tend to form \"cartels\" in order to improve their business avoiding direct competition. \n\nFeel free to get more informations about our organized crime on wikipedia.\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"I spent several years as a prosecutor taking down Mafia types, getting them out of stuff they'd corrupted, and putting in protections to prevent future corruption. Law enforcement's been doing that for a long time, and they'll continue to do it for a long time to come. But organized crime hasn't gone away. There's just too big a demand for the \"services\" they provide, and people are willing to pay for them. And there's always the threat of violence in the background to make sure people *do* pay, and don't complain.\n\nOne of the (many) reasons is because our laws and regulations are set up in such a way as to *encourage* organized crime. \n\nFor example, tons of people want to gamble, laws make it incredibly difficult to gamble. There's no lawful way for supply to meet the demand, so it must be done illegally. Ditto drugs and prostitution -- the \"vice\" stuff. \n\nRules and regulations make it impossible for some people to get loans, but loan sharks will happily fill that need -- at exorbitant cost, of course, but who else can you turn to? \n\nConstruction wants to get done quickly, efficiently, and without unnecessary costs. Laws require the use of unions, with rules imposing inefficiency, lesser performance, and extra costs. A corrupted union will let you pay cash for them to look the other way, to let you get contracts, to not break your legs if you refuse. \n\nLaws prevent you from spending your ill-gotten gains? We've got money laundering. \n\nAlmost all of that is a market response to inefficiencies imposed by law, required by rules, or created by bureaucracy and Byzantine government compartmentalization. There's more to it than that, of course, but this is a huge part of it. (I often found it weird to be enforcing the laws that forbid criminal behavior, while at the same time enforcing the laws that created the demand for it.)\n\nEDIT: And why \"organized\" crime? Sure, individuals can do a lot of this stuff freelance. And they do. But as with any business endeavor, there's a lot to be gained from cooperating with others in a group. An organization that provides guidance and direction, that gets efficiencies of scale and \"bargaining power,\" that can enforce its rules and protect its ventures? That's going to be able to accomplish a lot more.",
"It's fictional, but watch The Wire and you can get a pretty good idea of how long and hard it is to get evidence to convict a well-run organization."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organization_for_Women_v._Scheidler",
"http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/707/862/230224/",
"http://articles.philly.com/2011-02-19/news/28611757_1_worst-judicial-scandals-juvenile-law-center-ciavarella",
"ht... | |
5szvfg | why does modern electronics and appliances have a rounded/curved shape while older electronics and appliances have a squarish/block like shape ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5szvfg/eli5_why_does_modern_electronics_and_appliances/ | {
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"I'm not sure if the engineering or technology flair is appropriate here ",
"If I remember correctly, I believe older electronics required more space and had mostly rectangular parts such as tube televisions and Macintosh computers. It's for roughly the same reason most tower PCs are rectangles and not, say, a pyramid. Things like phones and laptops no longer need as much room and can fit a more ergonomic and, frankly, sleek design.",
"Ergonomics partly.\n\nThe other part will be influenced by advancement of technology.\n\nParts get smaller and more compact (and cheaper!), and that means people started housing things in whatever shapes they could produce, whether for comfortability, aesthetics, safety or otherwise - **in a competitive technological market, why wouldn't you want to produce the sleekest looking device that's also safe and comfortable to use?**\n\nThe machines that produce these parts and the housing, now including consumerised 3D printers, along with the software that goes with it, also got much better and more efficient.\n\nDifferent materials with various properties become more readily available, whether it's your aluminium cased, glass backed phone or your brushed steel toaster with thermoplastic dials.\n\n- - -\n\nIn summary, technology got better, smaller, cheaper and more readily available. Customers have more choice and so designs will tailor to their customer base as trends change."
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71fopk | how can game developers make better games on the same hardware? i.e. mario 1 vs mario 3 on the nes | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71fopk/eli5_how_can_game_developers_make_better_games_on/ | {
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"Over time people learn how get the best out the coding for a machine. There are tricks that help, and also advances in software technology that can mean that something not possible in the early stages of a console is easily done by the end of its life.",
"The first and primary reason is that the programmers become more familiar with the hardware and development tools and become better at putting their vision into action. \n\nIn the case of early versus late NES games, more manpower and money was dedicated to developing games made later in the console's life this trend continued as the industry grew.\n\nAlso, in the case of cart games found on systems like the NES, SNES, and Genesis, later versions of the cartridges were available to developers that featured additional processors which would allow the console to perform more complex calculations or access more memory or improve sound quality. In your example, SMB3 featured the MMC3 chip. The most famous was probably the SuperFX chip found in some SNES games which gave it enough horsepower to display rudimentary, flat shaded polygons."
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b1weqk | how accurate are older temperature recordings(i.e. ice cores, older measurements, other temp proxies)? | It's oft cited that worldwide temperatures have been rising but how well can we rely on data collected with less accurate tools or with proxies?
PS: I'm not a climate denier just trying to explain to my denier friend and learn a little while Im at it | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b1weqk/eli5_how_accurate_are_older_temperature/ | {
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"We've had accurate instruments for only a couple of hundred years. But we have estate accounts and diaries going back many hundreds of years. These are not as accurate, but since they overlap the period of modern instruments we can compare the two and have a very good approximation of the weather that far back. \nTo go back further we can look at accounts of harvests and records of the Nile floods which go back thousands of years. While the harvest depends on rain as well as temperature, we can see which years had a good harvest, and of which crop. This gives an indication of the climate. \nTo turn to proxy measurements, such as ice cores, tree ring data and sea bed cores. Ice cores tell us the amount of CO2 or SO2 in the air. Since these are the two most influential gases on temperature, they enable us to make a good approximation. Tree ring data tells us if it was a good or bad year for trees to grow. On their own they don't tell us the temperature because both temperature and rainfall affect their growth. But again like crop harvests they show when conditions were favourable to growth. \nSea core data is a good indicator of temperature. Many diatoms are very sensitive to temperature. The abundance of one species over another gives the temperature to within a degree or two. \nNo good scientist is going to rely on just one proxy. But since all the proxies agree, it's fair to say we have an accurate picture of the climate going back millions of years.\nWe can go back further by looking at fossils. It's not as accurate, but the shape of plant leaves can give an indication of rainfall and temperature. "
]
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47zn0s | why is cloud mining a scam? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47zn0s/eli5_why_is_cloud_mining_a_scam/ | {
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"If you had a printing press why would you rent it out for people to use? They paid for the hardware, they are paying for the electricity so what reason do they have to rent it out when all the work had been done and paid for. There isn't a single thing about cloud mining that makes even the slightest bit of sense"
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2s9cyq | why don't the tea drinkers include the tea leaves in their boiling process? | Christopher Hitchens expressed what seems to be the accepted manner of brewing tea, which primarily involves bringing the tea right off the boil to the leaves and preheating the cup.
_URL_0_
This makes sense to a coffee drinker like me, but why don't they go a step further and just boil the tea into the water in the proper proportions? Tradition, or an actual reason? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2s9cyq/eli5_why_dont_the_tea_drinkers_include_the_tea/ | {
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"Some stoves/kettles boil much faster than others. If you leave the tea in the water while you're boiling it, you have no control over how long the leave & water are in contact. \n\nIf you take boiling water off the heat & then add it to the leaves, the results will be the same every time.",
"It depends entirely on the type of tea you are brewing. Some teas such as white or green tea, or tisanes; are better brewed at 80 degrees or less, otherwise you run the risk of scalding the tea and releasing some awful bitter flavours.\n\n Black tea on the other hand generally requires much hotter water to release the full compliment it has to offer."
]
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"http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2011/01/how_to_make_a_decent_cup_of_tea.html"
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[],
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1ove6g | how do pipes stay clean from wherever the water comes from to my faucet? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ove6g/eli5_how_do_pipes_stay_clean_from_wherever_the/ | {
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"text": [
"they don't. they become corroded and nasty from deposits over time. "
]
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7dmnn6 | why do regular cameras have to be focused when zooming in on something while a gun scope does not have to? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7dmnn6/eli5_why_do_regular_cameras_have_to_be_focused/ | {
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"Rifle scopes like telescopes are [afocal](_URL_2_). \n\nCamera lenses are [converging](_URL_0_). They have a focal length or range of lengths in a zoom lens. This means that for light that isn't coming from infinite distance from the lens, the convergence point will be closer than the focal length. \n\nA focal systems use two (or more) lenses to create an optical device that no longer has a focal length (it's effectively infinite the light leaving it will never converge to a focus point). A simple way to think about it is one lens bends light to converge, but the other lens bends it back to stop converging (the optics are a bit more complex). \n\nBy positioning the two lenses in just the right spots, you get a magnified image. \n\nTechnically you still need to focus a rifle scope, but because the useful range of a rifle is a pretty consistent set of distances, the need for adjustment is fairly rare. \n\nAs to why they don't need adjustment to focus when zooming, the rifle scope is likely built to be [parfocal](_URL_1_), which can also be done with camera lenses, but requires more lens elements and is more expensive. Better camera zoom lenses are often parfocal (all movie lenses are parfocal to allow [zoom shots to remain in focus](_URL_3_)). "
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_\\(optics\\)#/media/File:Lens_and_wavefronts.gif",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parfocal_lens",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afocal_system",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r159V4Wmls"
]
] | ||
a146k2 | how do slow motion cameras at high fps counts work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a146k2/eli5_how_do_slow_motion_cameras_at_high_fps/ | {
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"A frame is a picture, the higher the Frames Per Second the more pictures there are per second, allowing more movement per second to be captured.",
"A traditional camera may record at 60 frames per second. Which means you have 60 images in one second of record time. Each image is taken at 1/60th of a second intervals. For a cameras with higher frame rates, more images are taken in a second at much smaller time intervals. \n\nAlot of times more light is needed when recording at higher frame rates due to the very small exposure time. This is why you usually see high speed set ups with lots of bright lights. "
]
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8j85p4 | are proteins only found in membranes? | So I'm a first year Medical Technologist student, and this question is probably dumb as fuck but, I can't find anything anywhere on this. They taught me about membrane proteins at Uni but nothing about Non-membrane proteins. Do they exist? I mean probably but what are they/what do they do/where are they.
I'm sorry again for the probably ignorant question. And for the terrible English. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8j85p4/eli5_are_proteins_only_found_in_membranes/ | {
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"Enzymes can be non-membrane proteins. Yes some are membrane bound, but there are just as many that float in the intracellular space as they do their work. ",
"DNA has the instructions for making proteins. Everything in the cell is either:\n\n1. Protein\n2. Made by a protein\n3. \"eaten\" by the cell",
"Remember, a cell is not just a gelatinous glob. It has architecture that give it shape \\(Tubulin in [microtubules](_URL_0_)\\). Tubulins are proteins. There are also many other proteins within the cell that help transport things inside the cell \\(kinesins and dyneins\\). The only method of intracellular transport is through the use of proteins, things do not simply float among the cytoplasm, instead, they must be carried from one area to the next by proteins. Also, as someone said, intracellular proteins exist as enzymes that help catalyze reactions for cellular metabolism. And just like the outer\\-membrane of cells have proteins, structures within the cell that also have membranes \\(nucleus, endoplasmic retic, golgi, mitochondria\\) will also have proteins embedded in them as well. Basically they are everywhere."
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"https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.magnet.fsu.edu%2Fcells%2Fmicrotubules%2Fimages%2Fmicrotubulesfigure2.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.magnet.fsu.edu%2Fcells%2Fmicrotubules%2Fmicrotubules.html&docid=S2ZhfB6s7CXZkM&tbnid=1x_oGAS75eTfWM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwi88f_A... | |
u07q2 | how the 'bending a spoon with your intention' trick works | My dad likes to do this trick at parties: He takes a spoon, holds it in his hand and focuses his 'intention' on it while rubbing a finger on the neck of the spoon. After about a minute, he not only bends the spoon with a flourish but also wraps the handle around again and again. I tried looking it up on youtube but couldn't find an explanation that wasn't hippie mumbo-jumbo.
Is he just heating the neck up that much, really, by rubbing it? (that's my guess) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/u07q2/eli5_how_the_bending_a_spoon_with_your_intention/ | {
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"He does heat up the neck by rubbing it, and it does help with bending, but the real \"trick\" behind it is that bending a spoon just isn't as hard as you think it is. If you're decently strong and use leverage to your advantage, I'm sure you could do it too.",
"[Could be a trick spoon](_URL_0_):\n\n\"Some novelty or magic shops sell self-bending spoons (utilizing the physical properties of a nickel titanium alloy) which can be used by amateur and stage magicians to demonstrate \"psychic\" powers or as a practical joke. Such \"self-bending\" spoons will bend themselves when used to stir tea, coffee, or any other warm liquid, or even when warmed by body heat.\""
]
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[],
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_bending#Stage_magic"
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kkg27 | i want to know everything about american football. | My favorite season is almost here. Pumpkin everything, falling leaves, and FOOTBALL! I really love "watching the game" with friends...but I have no clue what's going on. Who matters? What are the rules? Simply...Thanks Reddit! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kkg27/i_want_to_know_everything_about_american_football/ | {
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"The object of the game is to get the ball into the end zone (touchdown). If you do then that is 6 points and the scoring team has a chance to get one more point by kicking a short field goal (point after TD)for a total of 7.\n\nAdditionally a team with possession of ball can kick a field goal at any time for 3 points.\n\nWhen a team has possession of the ball that is called offense. They get four tries (downs) to either score or advance ten yards. If they make the ten yards it resets the downs back to one and they get four more downs to either score or get 10 yards. If they do not make ten yards they have to surrender possession to the opposing team. The opposing side (defense) will of course do everything they can to prevent his.\n\nIf the offense knows there is little chance of getting the ten yards they will usually either punt the ball on the fourth down or attempt to kick a 3 point field goal. This depends on their field position. A 3 point field goal attempt usually will only be successful within 40 yards of the goal line. A punt means the team kicks the ball as far away as they can so that when they surrender the ball it will be deeper into the opposing teams side and then the opposing team has farther to go to make a touchdown. Opposing teams will always try to block a punt or field goal attempt.\n\nOffensive teams pass (throw) the ball to a man down field or hand the ball off to a runner, who tries to advance down the field. A play is over when the person holding the ball is stopped by the opposing team, if the receiver misses the catch, if the quarterback is tackled before he gets the ball to a receiver/runner, if a penalty is called or the player with the ball runs out of bounds.\n\nThere are penalties for various infractions. Penalties cost the team that incurred them either yards, down or both. for example the official may penalize a team 10 yards for a foul. He would move the ball 10 yards in the opposite direction form the one the team wants to go.\n\nThere are two timed halves. The clock is stopped during play when penalties are called, when players run out of bounds, when an attempted pass is not completed, during injuries, time-out or during the pint after TD attempt.\n",
"The Dallas Cowboys are called \"America's Team.\" Realistically though, nobody outside of Texas likes them and they actually suck.\n\nMost of the rules seem to be covered here :)",
"There is a team known as the Buffalo Bills. Do NOT make them your favorite team.",
"The most important thing to note is that the game does not flow like a soccer (herafter called \"futbol\") match or even as much as a rugby match - it starts up very intensely and then seconds later comes to a full stop, frequently. Each full stop is called a \"play\" or a \"down.\" \n\nAmerican football players specialize in explosive strength, size and quickness, because the plays are so short. They don't need to specialize as much in endurance, because they get frequent rests (If they didn't, the game would wreck their bodies; and it does anyway. American football is very brutal on human bodies over time). The positions are very specialized, so different players can train in very different ways - although this is common across team sports.\n\nAnyway, the teams are very large - there are lots of people not playing at any given time on the bench - and between each \"play\" or \"down\" each team can, if they want, swap out their entire team and put in players who are highly specialized at doing the exact thing they want to do in the next play.\n\nPlays are planned in a very detailed manner, with players memorizing hundreds of them in very complex schemes that dictate where everybody runs and blocks and throws and whatnot. The defense tries to guess what play the offense is trying to do and run its own play pre-designed to counter it. The plays are chosen by the coaches on the sidelines, and sometimes by the quarterback, who is the guy on the field who starts every play with the ball and whose most notable athletic skill is throwing it with great speed and accuracy.\n\nWhen the quarterback is yelling BLUE! HUT HUT! and all that nonsense, it usually has to do with signalling to everybody what play they are doing, whether there are any last-minute changes, and when exactly everything is going to start - things are planned down to the half-second - where each player will run to and what to do. Players have a very limited amount of freedom on every play - they usually have only a few key decisions to make, but they need to make them extremely quickly and take action on them almost instantly.\n\nThe same players do not play offense and defense. You have your specialized role, and that's what you do - you are the guy who throws the ball, or you are the guy who tries to tackle the quarterback, or you are the guy who runs to catch the ball in a specific part of the field, or you are a guy who runs with the ball in specific sorts of situations. Football positions are generally very restricting. You do your specific thing for 3-15 second increments as fast and as hard as you can.\n\nThese plays or downs end when somebody with the ball is tackled, when somebody drops a ball that is thrown to them, when somebody with the ball steps out of bounds, when there are certain kinds of penalties, when somebody scores, stuff like that. There are systems for counting the \"downs\" that dictate who gets the ball for how many tries. \n\nThe next \"play\" starts from the spot where a person was tackled or stepped out of bounds - or, if the ball was thrown and dropped, from the same spot as the last one - or, if there was a penalty, from where the ref puts the ball after the penalty.\n\nSo, the ball may only advance a few yards every play, even with 11 people trying their hardest on each side and running all over the place. You can have somebody sprint 40 yards, have the quarterback throw the ball far, far through the air, and then the guy drops it and you start the next play over from the same spot as the last. When you get the ball, you get four chances to advance it 10 yards. If you succeed, you get 4 more chances to move it another 10 yards. If you fail, the other team gets the ball.\n\nBecause it is so hard to advance the ball, if you aren't very far down the field, you usually give up after 3 tries and kick the ball away so the other team has to start from farther back - rather than try to make the 10 yards. This is called a \"punt.\" \n\nFootball is \"a game of inches\" - rather than the sweeping moves of rugby or the back and forth clearing of futbol, advancing the ball in American football is a real grind, you do all you can to stop the other team from moving it forward at all - and it is a safe assumption that they will not always succeed getting their 10 yards, unless they are much much better than you are.\n\nIf you're close to the goal, and you don't succeed after your third try, you can use your fourth try to try to kick the ball through the goalposts, which is a \"field goal\" worth three points (you can actually try to kick a field goal whenever you want, but barring running out of time in the game, you generally want to try for a touchdown when you have the chance).\n\nOtherwise, you try to get somebody with the ball into the end zone, which is a \"touchdown,\" worth 6 points, plus a possible 1- or 2-point bonus from a follow-up immediately after the touchdown (You start close to the goal line in the follow-up, and get 1 point if you kick it through the goalposts, and 2 if you get a guy into the end zone in the follow-up as well).\n\nSo, yeah, posession of the ball is a very formal thing, and you have specific players do it at specific times, and there are numbers tracking how many downs or plays you have before the other team gets the ball (unless you just drop it and them pick it up or throw it to them, in which case they get it immediately). \n\nAmerican Football is intricately planned around these \"series,\" when you draw up your strategies and try to force that ball down the field to get \"first downs\" (what the fresh four tries after a 10-yard advance is called) and ultimately, \"touchdowns.\"\n\nThere is a clock that runs both while the players are actually playing and while they are planning between downs. It stops sometimes (like if somebody drops a thrown ball and the ref has to go and get it), but managing the clock and timing when you do your plays is a key part of strategy - it usually takes a lot of plays and a long time to score, so you want to make it hard for your opponent to score by giving them the ball far from your end zone without much time on the clock, if you can.",
"American Football is a human chess game in which the pieces smash the shit out of each other.",
"Expanding on some of the OP's questions, I was curious if someone could go into further detail on certain things I've always wondered (never been much of the sports type).\n\n* differences between college and professional\n* the BCS- how it works and why people believe its such bullshit\n* how scheduling and drafting works\n* how/when do you know when to use timeouts and why?\n* explanation of onside kicks\n\n\nthanks so much!",
"The object of the game is to get the ball into the end zone (touchdown). If you do then that is 6 points and the scoring team has a chance to get one more point by kicking a short field goal (point after TD)for a total of 7.\n\nAdditionally a team with possession of ball can kick a field goal at any time for 3 points.\n\nWhen a team has possession of the ball that is called offense. They get four tries (downs) to either score or advance ten yards. If they make the ten yards it resets the downs back to one and they get four more downs to either score or get 10 yards. If they do not make ten yards they have to surrender possession to the opposing team. The opposing side (defense) will of course do everything they can to prevent his.\n\nIf the offense knows there is little chance of getting the ten yards they will usually either punt the ball on the fourth down or attempt to kick a 3 point field goal. This depends on their field position. A 3 point field goal attempt usually will only be successful within 40 yards of the goal line. A punt means the team kicks the ball as far away as they can so that when they surrender the ball it will be deeper into the opposing teams side and then the opposing team has farther to go to make a touchdown. Opposing teams will always try to block a punt or field goal attempt.\n\nOffensive teams pass (throw) the ball to a man down field or hand the ball off to a runner, who tries to advance down the field. A play is over when the person holding the ball is stopped by the opposing team, if the receiver misses the catch, if the quarterback is tackled before he gets the ball to a receiver/runner, if a penalty is called or the player with the ball runs out of bounds.\n\nThere are penalties for various infractions. Penalties cost the team that incurred them either yards, down or both. for example the official may penalize a team 10 yards for a foul. He would move the ball 10 yards in the opposite direction form the one the team wants to go.\n\nThere are two timed halves. The clock is stopped during play when penalties are called, when players run out of bounds, when an attempted pass is not completed, during injuries, time-out or during the pint after TD attempt.\n",
"The Dallas Cowboys are called \"America's Team.\" Realistically though, nobody outside of Texas likes them and they actually suck.\n\nMost of the rules seem to be covered here :)",
"There is a team known as the Buffalo Bills. Do NOT make them your favorite team.",
"The most important thing to note is that the game does not flow like a soccer (herafter called \"futbol\") match or even as much as a rugby match - it starts up very intensely and then seconds later comes to a full stop, frequently. Each full stop is called a \"play\" or a \"down.\" \n\nAmerican football players specialize in explosive strength, size and quickness, because the plays are so short. They don't need to specialize as much in endurance, because they get frequent rests (If they didn't, the game would wreck their bodies; and it does anyway. American football is very brutal on human bodies over time). The positions are very specialized, so different players can train in very different ways - although this is common across team sports.\n\nAnyway, the teams are very large - there are lots of people not playing at any given time on the bench - and between each \"play\" or \"down\" each team can, if they want, swap out their entire team and put in players who are highly specialized at doing the exact thing they want to do in the next play.\n\nPlays are planned in a very detailed manner, with players memorizing hundreds of them in very complex schemes that dictate where everybody runs and blocks and throws and whatnot. The defense tries to guess what play the offense is trying to do and run its own play pre-designed to counter it. The plays are chosen by the coaches on the sidelines, and sometimes by the quarterback, who is the guy on the field who starts every play with the ball and whose most notable athletic skill is throwing it with great speed and accuracy.\n\nWhen the quarterback is yelling BLUE! HUT HUT! and all that nonsense, it usually has to do with signalling to everybody what play they are doing, whether there are any last-minute changes, and when exactly everything is going to start - things are planned down to the half-second - where each player will run to and what to do. Players have a very limited amount of freedom on every play - they usually have only a few key decisions to make, but they need to make them extremely quickly and take action on them almost instantly.\n\nThe same players do not play offense and defense. You have your specialized role, and that's what you do - you are the guy who throws the ball, or you are the guy who tries to tackle the quarterback, or you are the guy who runs to catch the ball in a specific part of the field, or you are a guy who runs with the ball in specific sorts of situations. Football positions are generally very restricting. You do your specific thing for 3-15 second increments as fast and as hard as you can.\n\nThese plays or downs end when somebody with the ball is tackled, when somebody drops a ball that is thrown to them, when somebody with the ball steps out of bounds, when there are certain kinds of penalties, when somebody scores, stuff like that. There are systems for counting the \"downs\" that dictate who gets the ball for how many tries. \n\nThe next \"play\" starts from the spot where a person was tackled or stepped out of bounds - or, if the ball was thrown and dropped, from the same spot as the last one - or, if there was a penalty, from where the ref puts the ball after the penalty.\n\nSo, the ball may only advance a few yards every play, even with 11 people trying their hardest on each side and running all over the place. You can have somebody sprint 40 yards, have the quarterback throw the ball far, far through the air, and then the guy drops it and you start the next play over from the same spot as the last. When you get the ball, you get four chances to advance it 10 yards. If you succeed, you get 4 more chances to move it another 10 yards. If you fail, the other team gets the ball.\n\nBecause it is so hard to advance the ball, if you aren't very far down the field, you usually give up after 3 tries and kick the ball away so the other team has to start from farther back - rather than try to make the 10 yards. This is called a \"punt.\" \n\nFootball is \"a game of inches\" - rather than the sweeping moves of rugby or the back and forth clearing of futbol, advancing the ball in American football is a real grind, you do all you can to stop the other team from moving it forward at all - and it is a safe assumption that they will not always succeed getting their 10 yards, unless they are much much better than you are.\n\nIf you're close to the goal, and you don't succeed after your third try, you can use your fourth try to try to kick the ball through the goalposts, which is a \"field goal\" worth three points (you can actually try to kick a field goal whenever you want, but barring running out of time in the game, you generally want to try for a touchdown when you have the chance).\n\nOtherwise, you try to get somebody with the ball into the end zone, which is a \"touchdown,\" worth 6 points, plus a possible 1- or 2-point bonus from a follow-up immediately after the touchdown (You start close to the goal line in the follow-up, and get 1 point if you kick it through the goalposts, and 2 if you get a guy into the end zone in the follow-up as well).\n\nSo, yeah, posession of the ball is a very formal thing, and you have specific players do it at specific times, and there are numbers tracking how many downs or plays you have before the other team gets the ball (unless you just drop it and them pick it up or throw it to them, in which case they get it immediately). \n\nAmerican Football is intricately planned around these \"series,\" when you draw up your strategies and try to force that ball down the field to get \"first downs\" (what the fresh four tries after a 10-yard advance is called) and ultimately, \"touchdowns.\"\n\nThere is a clock that runs both while the players are actually playing and while they are planning between downs. It stops sometimes (like if somebody drops a thrown ball and the ref has to go and get it), but managing the clock and timing when you do your plays is a key part of strategy - it usually takes a lot of plays and a long time to score, so you want to make it hard for your opponent to score by giving them the ball far from your end zone without much time on the clock, if you can.",
"American Football is a human chess game in which the pieces smash the shit out of each other.",
"Expanding on some of the OP's questions, I was curious if someone could go into further detail on certain things I've always wondered (never been much of the sports type).\n\n* differences between college and professional\n* the BCS- how it works and why people believe its such bullshit\n* how scheduling and drafting works\n* how/when do you know when to use timeouts and why?\n* explanation of onside kicks\n\n\nthanks so much!"
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2gqg2c | endocannabinoid system | No clue here. So our brain already has receptors for cannabis, but when does our body naturally produce cannabinoids? Is it ever produced in high concentrations in the body for similar effects as getting high?
Namely, effects like: a general change in consciousness, mild euphoria, feelings of general well-being, relaxation or stress reduction, enhanced recollection of episodic memory, increased sensuality, increased awareness of sensation, creative or philosophical thinking, disruption of linear memory, paranoia, agitation, and anxiety, potentiation of other psychedelics, and increased awareness of patterns and color. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gqg2c/eli5_endocannabinoid_system/ | {
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"That's a damn good question. I'd be interested to know myself. ",
"The endogenous cannabinoid system, named after the plant that led to its discovery, is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. In each tissue, the cannabinoid system performs different tasks, but the goal is always the same: homeostasis, the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment."
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9zf3kk | what causes the economy to go into a depression? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zf3kk/eli5_what_causes_the_economy_to_go_into_a/ | {
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"This happens when money has been incorrectly allocated to non-productive investments for a long time, and finally the consequences become apparent, and huge amounts of economic activity halt at the same time. In other words, it's the pendulum swinging the other way from an irrational economic boom.\n\nIn theory it can also happen in response to huge mistakes by governments that make it impossible for people to conduct business productively. And if the two problems happen at the same time, even worse.",
"Sorry if my english is bad.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nEconomy is basically a game of supply and demand. The more products are demanded, the more people you need to produce them.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor example you live in a small town and have a bookstore with 3 employees. You pay these 3 employees their wage. With the wage they go to the shop next door to buy groceries. The employees of this store go to the bakery and buy bread and cake and the baker comes to you and buys books.\n\nOver the years you established a balance between shops and employees.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nNext is a shock, something radically changing to distrub your balance. For example Amazon. The baker and the grocery shop employees don't come to your book store anymore, because they buy their books online.\n\n(The shock is a sudden drop of demand for any reason, i just choose the Amazon example to illustrate. During the housing crises a decade ago it was a combination of multiple factors, but this would be a too compley topic to fit it in this reply.)\n\nThey don't need consultation or going out anymore. So there isn't a need for 3 employees at the book store anymore. So you fire 2 of them, since you don't earn the money to pay them their wages (less need for consultation, less supply of empoyees needed).\n\nSo now the grocery shop has two customers less, that would buy groceries, so one of them got fired too, because with two customers less, you need one person less in the grocery store.\n\nSo now the bakery got less money, because they lost 3 customers. So they go less to the book store. The employees of the grocery stores, that still got their jobs now think it is a good idea to prepare if they got fired and safe their money, they would spend on books and keep it to have a little saving if times get rought.\n\nWhich means, you have to also fire the last employee and do all the work by yourself.\n\nIf that happens on a bigger scale, like a whole country, you see the downwards spiral this is leading to.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThis is a very basic idea of what is happening."
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61871j | why does a cut sting when you first go into water (shower/bath) but then almost immediately stop hurting? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61871j/eli5why_does_a_cut_sting_when_you_first_go_into/ | {
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"This is called anagesia (absence of pain) and is likely due to the top-down (from the brain to your spinal cord) inihibition of second order neurons by serotonin and norepinephrine.\n\nIt could also be because of what is called \"The Gate Theory\". It basically states that the sensation of touch inhibits the sensation of pain (which is why you often rub your stubbed toe). Maybe the sensation of water inhibits the pain.",
"I think what you're describing is the descending control of pain. Essentially when you get an injury, the nociceptors (pain receptors) detect tissue damage and send that information up to the cortex. Nociceptors experience a weird phenomenon called sensitization, which is a decrease in the threshold for activation (how much stimulation is needed to cause a response). This creates allodynia, where normally non-painful stimuli (i.e. Water) is now painful, and hyperalgesia, where painful stimuli cause an exaggerated response (which is why burning an area thats already burned hurts way more than just burning yourself).\nSo when you initially hit the area with water, you are activating these nociceptors and you feel pain. But if you stimulate the cutaneous receptors* (by rubbing the cut or hitting it with water for a while) then that stimulation can 'mask' the pain transmission. This is called afferent inhibition, and it's the basis for pain treatments like TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) \n\nSource: Neuroscience Major, about to graduate. \n\n*ie the receptors that let you know when something is on your skin\n\nedit: included some definitions for better understanding"
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16hjeo | how come countries in the northern hemisphere seem much colder than countries in the southern hemisphere at roughly the same distance from the equator? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16hjeo/how_come_countries_in_the_northern_hemisphere/ | {
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"Can you provide an example of this? ",
"Because your sense of the equator's location is off. Excluding Antarctica, there is almost no land as far south as, say, England is north.",
"Often this is because of land masses. The southern hemisphere has much smaller land masses by chance, which result in larger perimeter-to-area ratios than larger masses. This perimeter is bordered by the ocean, where there is also a higher amount of gaseous water evaporating from oceans. Water tends to hold heat very well, so when it is warm, the water holds the heat and keeps the air cooler. When it is cold, the heat absorbed in the water is released. This regulates temperatures in a way, and keeps things nice.\n\nA second reason is due to ocean currents. Many will carry warm water from the equator, and have the effect that I described with gaseous water above. There is a small degree of transport across continents such as the S. America land mass due to winds, but the effect is lessened in larger land masses.\n\nSiberia is a perfect example of what happens when there is a large land mass without large amounts water to lessen the effects of temperatures. This intercontinental mass shows extreme freezing in winter, and absurdly high temperatures in the summer. As a side note, interestingly enough, for supercontinents such as Pangea in the Triassic Period, this effect was very large and showed very interesting effects on climate in certain areas. These included both extreme cold and hot variations despite the period being known for it's warmth.\n\nOne last thing is arctic winds and the polar front zone. These are areas where wind circulates around the north and south due to things like the Coriolis effect (which is cool but I won't get into it). It is here that cold arctic winds meet the warm air moving from the equator. In the southern hemisphere, oceans circulate all the way around the earth, creating a nice little barrier, but there are land and ice masses in the north that can mess with this a little. Global warming is changing that ice part up a little. This causes the polar front zone to extend down a little more than the southern one will extend up. Whenever your weatherman mentions cold fronts, oftentimes they'll be talking about things like this. I should mention that this occurs in both hemispheres, but the southern is again buffered a little better and has less landmass to affect.\n\nSo basically even though the upper hemisphere has cooler winters, it also has hotter summers (in general). This variation is largest in the largest land masses closest to the equator, which just happen to be located in the northern hemisphere. \n\n\ntl;dr\n\nWater is great at holding heat compared to air. Continents are much smaller in the southern hemisphere than the northern one, and so have more contact with the oceans around them. The water evaporates and when it is warm, takes in heat, and lets it out when it gets cold. This keeps temperatures much more constant. Because of the smaller size of continents in the southern hemisphere, these get regulated better than the larger continents in the northern hemisphere, which don't have the same amount of ocean around them. This allows temperatures to vary more, meaning they will usually be both hotter in summer, and colder in winter.",
"I don't know, Antarctica is pretty cold...",
"1. There just isn't much land past about 40^o to make a comparison to.\n2. Most of the land is near enough to water to have a moderating effect on temperature.\n3. Most of the land, especially near population centers, is at low elevation.",
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't summer also longer in the Southern Hemisphere?"
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2qm4xf | how and why did rule34 start? | See title. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qm4xf/eli5how_and_why_did_rule34_start/ | {
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"About\nRule 34 is an Internet adage in the “Rules of the Internet” list of protocols and conventions which asserts that if something exists, there is porn of it. The humorous concept is commonly illustrated through fanart and fanfictions in which fictional TV and cartoon characters engage in sexual behavior, in similar vein to the Ruined Childhood meme.\nOrigin\nAccording to the Lurkmore Wiki[3], Rule 34 originated from a comic posted on the website Zoom-Out[4], which was cached by Google as early as October 5th, 2004. In May of 2009, Something Awful[5] user Electric Eggs posted a thread titled “Ask me about inventing Rule 34”, in which he claimed to have created the comic with his sister after learning the adage in an IRC chatroom.\n\n\n[Source](_URL_0_)"
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fdmslx | what does it mean for a problem to be np hard or np complete? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fdmslx/eli5_what_does_it_mean_for_a_problem_to_be_np/ | {
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"First a quick eli5 style definition of \"NP\": a class of problems which are very difficult to solve, but easy to verify a solution if offered, when simplified down to a Yes/No answer. The most well known example is the travelling salesman problem: given a list of cities and a complete cost table (eg: cost of a bus ride to/from every possible pair of cities), visit each city exactly once in sequence and come back to where you started for as little money as possible. Your job is to choose your visiting order. To make it a Yes/No problem, you are given a budget and asked if it's even possible to accomplish within the budget. It's actually really hard to verify for sure whether the answer is Yes or No, but if someone showed you a route, it would be really easy to verify that it is within the budget and that the answer is Yes.\n\nSo with that out of the way...\n\nNP Hard problems are problems that, if for even 1 of them we could come up with a radical strategy that brings the difficulty down from \"oh god it's a nightmare\" to \"child's play\" (from the point of view of a computer), then ANY NP class problem could be brought down to \"child's play\" difficulty. And to be clear, ALL NP class problems are currently nightmare difficulty.\n\nAn \"NP Complete\" problem means it is NP hard, but also in the NP category itself. There are categories more difficult than NP, and an NP-hard problem is allowed to be in these higher difficulty categories and still meet the above definition. An NP-Complete problem is also in the basic NP category. So that's why they're interesting.",
"All the known algorithms for solving NP Complete problems require exponential time to solve. Choosing the well-known travelling salesman problem, if there are *n* cities for the salesman to visit then the time taken to find the shortest trip will be, at best, proportional to *x^(n)*, where *x* > 1. People have found ways of reducing *x* to very close to 1 but solving really large problems is not practical.\n\nOne of the biggest problems in computer science is to prove (or disprove) that NP Complete problems require exponential time.",
"Other comments go into detail with great explanations. For a quick introduction, here is the high-level, super ELI5, analogy:\n\n**P** problems are those that are \"easy\" to solve: As an example, imagine the decision of liking a piece of music. Just by hearing it once, you can decide if you like it or not (Let's not go into the complexities of taste ;) ). \n\n**NP** problems are those that are \"hard to solve\" but easy to verify: As an example, imagine composing a sonata you like. Most people can't write the music they like; however, as stated above, if you were to compose one, it would be easy to verify if you like it or not. \n \n\n**NP-hard** problems are \"harder\" than any other NP problem. As an example, imagine you \ndiscover a mathematical formula for composing music and you can compose beautiful music by solving some equations; then solving those equations would be \"harder\" than composing music. But you would have to show that solving those equations is enough to solve ANY NP problem! In my opinion, this is a very strong requirement and it is very surprising that NP-hard problems even exist! \n\n\n**NP-complete** problems are those that are NP-hard and also NP-complete. So, if your equations are hard to solve but easy to verify, and you show all NP problems can be solved with those equations, then you have an NP-complete problem. \n\n\nNow go read all the other detailed comments, because this subject gets more interesting from this point!",
"Computer scientists measure the complexity of a task by related the number of steps it takes to complete it with the number of items it is dealing with. Counting n items takes n steps, sorting them might take n^(2) steps, so sorting has a higher complexity.\n\nA problem is considered \"easy\" if it can be solved in a polynomial number of steps. Even if it takes n^(100) steps, it is still \"easy\". Easy problems belong in a group called P. Everything not in P is considered \"difficult\" and are often the sort of problems a computer might take centuries to solve.\n\nA problem is considered to be in a group called NP (it stands for nondeterministic polynomial, but don't worry about that) if a solution can be verified in polynomial time. A route to the bank with less than five stoplights might be hard to find, but if I give you that route, it is pretty trivial whether it meets that criteria. Problems in P are also in NP.\n\nSometimes one problem can be used to solve another problem. Sorting a list and finding the largest value in a list are different problems, but if you know how to sort, you can solve both. Similarly, if you can find the largest item, you can just do that over and over again and get a sorted list. A problem is X-Hard if it can be used to solve every problem in group X, even if it is not in that group itself. A problem is X-Complete if it is X-Hard and also in X. If group X were sorting and finding the largest item, both problems would be X-Complete.\n\nPutting it all together, an NP-Hard problem is one that can solve any problem that can be verified in polynomial time. An NP-Complete problem is an NP-Hard problem in NP.\n\nSo now that we have the terminology down, what does it all mean?\n\nOne of the great unanswered questions in computer science is whether P and NP are actually the same group. There is a group of NP problems that have no known solution in P, but even after several decades of effort, no one can prove no solution exists. These problems are \"difficult\" to solve, but \"easy\" to verify once a solution is given. Most people believe no \"easy\" solution exists, but without proof, there is the tantalizing possibility there is an \"easy\" solution out there that will suddenly make all those \"difficult\" problems \"easy\". \n\nFurthermore, it turns out that every known problem of this type is NP-Complete. That is, if you figured out an \"easy\" solution for one of them, you'd have an \"easy\" solution for all of them. NP-Complete is often used to describe problems in NP that have no known solution in P, because in a roundabout way, they are the same thing."
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43iydt | in april,the uk minimum wage for over 25 is rising to living wage. how will this affect cost of living? | Surely if more people are earning more money, cost of living rises as well. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43iydt/eli5_in_aprilthe_uk_minimum_wage_for_over_25_is/ | {
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"The cost of living goes up but not at the same rate as the increase in wages. I do not know the numbers for the UK but in the US when minimum wage is raised the cost of goods goes up at most $0.10 for every $1.00 the minimum wage went up. Services like water, electricity, cable, and things like rent should see no increase at all. So in the abstract if you minimum wage is $8.00 and it costs $8.00 to buy your lunch you have to work for 1 hour to earn enough to buy said lunch. After the increase your new wage is $9.00 but your lunch now costs $8.10. So now when you work that hour you have $0.90 change to put toward buy something else. \n\nSo over all there is a significant increase in the purchasing power of the poor, and since they tend to spend rather than save it is a benefit to the economy and business make more money. "
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672rb2 | how are we able to consciously read while zoning out at the same time? | You could be reading a book but then your mind starts to wander off about something completely different as you are reading each word and come to find that at the end of the page, you didn't take in anything you read. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/672rb2/eli5_how_are_we_able_to_consciously_read_while/ | {
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"Every action you can do is done with the coordination of multiple parts of your brain. Your eyes, in particular, connect to many different parts themselves. \n\nTo read, you must track the text, interpret the symbols, interpret the words and grammar, consolidate that into meaning, and store that meaning. The part that tracks the text and controls your eye movements involves your muscles in a way that takes very little conscious effort. If you get distracted and that part of your brain doesn't get the order to stop reading, it will just keep going even if the other parts of your brain get interrupted. \n\nEvery part of your brain can only do one task at a time. Each part can do a different task, but they have to work together for complex tasks. ",
"This works with counting too. I worked at a warehouse and frequently had to grab 10, 12, 46, 207 or whatever annoying number the customer ordered of small lug nuts. I was up to 8 out of 30 and I zoned out and started thinking about random things, mind wandering. When I came back to Earth I found myself on number 22 and counting. I was kind of in disbelief so I recounted and it was actually correct!",
"So, I don't know for sure so don't quote me. But it could be tied to visual word form area. It's a part of the brain that develops as a direct result of learning to read. It has direct connections (via white matter tracts) to our auditory centers, motor planning, occipital, semantic hub, etc. So, when you see a word, you instantly know the word because of this region. Usually, the incoming visual stimulus has to go through the different areas of the occipital lobe that processes specific qualities about what you're seeing (retinotopy) but the VWFA just makes that whole process automatic (more or less) for text.\n\nI honestly don't remember what part(s) of the brain are active for sustained attention, maybe the parietal? Either way, if you're not paying attention you're not committing the incoming information to long-term memory. ",
"And how do you make it so that this distraction doesn't happen? ELI5",
"You're not doing it at the same time. Your attention is going back and forth between activities. As you said, you don't remember anything you read after you realized your day dreaming.",
"Happens when driving too. Don't remember small portions of the trip as you've been thinking about other things along the way.",
"This is the exact reason why I failed multiple classes in middle and high school. I can't pay attention when I read and I still can't to this day. ",
"So my PhD was kind of around this area. Can't give a clean answer, but can talk a bit about what might be happening in the brain. \n\nFirst thing to know - this is largely based on experiments using a method for looking at what's going on in the brain called fMRI. Exactly what it does is beyond an ELI5 explanation (might be able to write one if anyone is interested), but you can use it to crudely figure out how hard areas of the brain are working at different points in time. Let's say that we have recorded this data for when someone is relaxing vs when they are reading a book. \n\nThere's a set of brain regions referred to as the \"Default Network\". They seem to be doing more work specifically during awake relaxation than during reading, or any other mental task.\n\nFolks have suggested that this might mean the default network is responsible for what's referred to as ‘undirected thought’ - in this example, let's call it ‘mind wandering’. Mind wandering tends to be thinking about yourself, recent memories, future plans etc. \n\nThis isn't the only explanation of what the default network does. It could also, for example, be making sure you're aware of what's going on around you - important for survival in a world that can be dangerous - but there are reasons to believe it is related to mind wandering based on evidence that I'd have to dig out my thesis to remember (being a bad scientist here, but I'm super lazy). \n\nThere's another set of brain regions that seem to be working harder during reading, or performing any other mental task, than during relaxation - let's call it the task network (it doesn't have a sexy name as far as I know). \n\nThe interesting thing about these networks is that they seem to exist in balance - if one is doing more work, the other is doing less. When you start doing something - reading, mental arithmetic etc - the task network starts working harder, and the default network chills out a bit. Vice versa when you finish what you're doing. \n\nThere's evidence that the point where you lose focus coincides with a shift in the balance between the networks, and the default network becomes dominant. \n\nThe interesting question then becomes why these changes in the balance happen, and this is not settled to my knowledge. All of this evidence doesn't tell us the why, but it does give us a potential starting point for some interesting research. \n\nI realise that this doesn't explain why the task of reading continues despite the mind having wandered. I was all about the brain data, need an attention specialist to address that. \n\nCaveat for the above - definitely a controversial area, so none of the above is intended to be presented as fact. \n\nAll of this is based on the research that was available up to a few years back, as I'm not in brain research any more this might be horribly dated now (anyone with more up to date knowledge feel free to call me out, appreciate references though). \n\nFurther reading: not aware of any really good non-technical summaries of this stuff, but I think Raichle who published the original work and named the Default Network wrote a good review article around 2011 if you're feeling brave. \n\n(wrote this after coming back from the pub, may clean up tomorrow if the urge takes me, but see above re: lazy)",
"Forget about that post about not being able to give a clean answer, then following with paragraphs and paragraphs....\n\nThe answer is, you came across a word that you couldn't translate into a meaning, and then couldn't visualize it. Either didn't know the meaning, or thought the meaning was something different than what the author meant. So, it threw you on a tangent and your 'wonderment' at what was actually meant made you lose your connection to the rest of what you were reading. It's really that simple. Go back and re-read what you were reading just before it happened and figure out what didn't make sense, and then look up definitions and you'll figure it out and believe me, you'll feel good about it!",
"I am having this problem right now. I try to study but I start day dreaming or thinking about random stuff. Any tips on how to clear your mind?",
"If your mind tends to wander when you read something it could be for various reasons. If you dont read regularly on a daily basis then your mind will wander because it's used to other patterns. In most peoples daily life we only read for short periods of time, maybe a paragraph or two... road signs, McDonald's menu, etc.. So your mind parsing large amount of text at a time, will not be used to processing this message much text at a time. Also while you are reading part of your bra UK n goes into \"sleep mode\" so your sub conscious takes over... \n\nAlso, if you have a bunch of other things to do, or some other daily routine, your brain tells you to f off it wants to wander to what it usually does (due to your conscious thought out of your control in some kinda asleep mode (I think my brain has like 37 different sleep modes)..\n\nAnyways, your mind will also wander if your brain flags some interesting text as it is reading so u will start daydreaming about that subject instead of perhaps the scope of the text u are reading.. that is due to a.d.d type factors ",
"Because your brain is actually two brains and they can work independently from eachother! \n\nEnjoy [this](_URL_0_) video about it!",
"Muscle memory, your eyes are moving, but your not reading\n\nI'm not a rocket scientist or some shit, nor can I give you a detailed essay analysis, I but that what I think it is",
"I realize this is offtopic, but I just wanted to say that I got diagnosed with ADHD at age 30 in part because of this (along with several other things). Rather, this wasn't a large part of the diagnosis but part of what led to me going and getting diagnosed.\n\nIf you do this a lot, it might be worth reading *Driven to Distraction* - when I read that book, it blew my mind - these were things I had experienced all my life. \n\nEveryone does things that are symptoms of ADHD; it's the *degree* to which it affects your life that's the problem. And don't think or say you have something until you get a diagnosis - never ever self-diagnose.",
"Is there a reason I only do this and end up just giving up on books because I can't focus on the words that I'm reading. ",
"Happens to me when i'm driving. Will zone out for a bit and think about random stuff then snap back to reality and i wonder how i've negotiated the last few km's of bends and turns etc. Scary stuff and certainly don't do it on purpose"
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1gvtr5 | what is going on at r/___/ ? | Can anyone explain this subreddit to me?
_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gvtr5/what_is_going_on_at_r/ | {
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"No clue, but they managed to troll me.",
"Where the fuck did you just send me...\n\nedit: I tried submitting something and it made it to the front page",
"Oh god...\n\n\nSOMEBODY ANSWER THIS QUESTION NOW.",
"That's some dark shit.\n\nEdit: you broke a rule in the sub reddit though. No spreading of the subreddit.",
"No one sane knows. They say it's reddit satanic club",
"\"No browsing while drunk\" I'm already breaking a rule!",
"Anyone else notice that subreddit has the \"new message\" icon as the \"no new message\" icon?",
"After spending some time looking at recent posts, it seems like it's a massive circlejerk about the rules. It may have been something better in the past, but don't count on understanding anything about it.",
"I guess I'll have to add that one, along with [this](_URL_1_) one and [this](_URL_0_) one into to my list of truly wtf subreddits.",
"It trolls you with an orange envelope too.",
"This along with others are \"in character\" subreddits. These include the world problems subreddits, which are based off of /r/firstworldproblems. It isn't real, like how /r/firstworldproblems are people who act in character. This can range from the normal to the strange. /r/___/ is another one of these, but instead on something else.\n\nThe long list of strange, joke, or gimmick subreddits include:\n\n/r/fifthworldproblems \n\n/r/sixthworldproblems \n\n/r/seventhworldproblems \n\n/r/45thworldproblems \n\n/r/54thworldproblems \n\n/r/ggggg \n\n/r/Watch_me_ban_you\n\n/r/FearMe \n\n/r/HotelCalifornia\n\n/r/whyareyourunning\n\n/r/whyarentyourunning\n\n/r/1000thworldproblems \n\n/r/infiniteworldproblems \n\n/r/nequamsonitus\n\n/r/DeadFriends\n\n/r/A858DE45F56D9BC9\n\nand more.\n\nThe full list of world problem subreddits can be found at /r/worldproblems.\n\nAlso, /r/RBCI is a subreddit dedicated to these sort of subreddits."
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1rding | what is the difference between marxism and socialsim? | Is Marxism the ideological premise for it? Then socialism is the actual economic structure? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rding/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_marxism_and/ | {
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"I think the Marxism ideology is like socialism only that it involves using force to achieve those goals (say, taking property from the rich by force and handing it out evenly). Though this is probably inaccurate. ",
"Marxism is the theory of transition from capitalism into socialism.",
"Marxism is a sociological principle created by Karl Marx. Basically, it's the idea that there are two classes, the proletariats and the bourgeois. In his theories, it is the bourgeois, who own the means of production, who actively exploit workers and reduce their standard of living. Marx thought that when the proletariats, who greatly outnumber the bourgeois, would awaken a class consciousness and rebel, collectively seizing the means of production and establishing a completely egalitarian society. Meanwhile, socialism is an economic and political system in which the public owns a great deal of property, especially the means of production, and the government has an active role in the economy. Modern European democracies like Denmark are good examples of socialist nations."
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2vfrcd | what is the difference between the credit card choices (mastercard, visa, american express?) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vfrcd/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_the_credit/ | {
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"American express usually has higher rewards points or cash back than the other two. But it charges more per transaction (to the merchant), so fewer merchant may accept AMEX. MasterCard and Visa are much more direct competitors and are accepted by a lot more places around the world. ",
"If you're traveling, acceptance is a big thing. Try using your Amex to pay in Europe and you won't be happy.",
"Each of these companies is really a payment processing system. So when you swipe a MasterCard the merchant's terminal dials up MasterCard, which then checks with the card issuer to see if you've got enough credit or funds and then sends the money to the merchant, debiting the issuing bank (which then charges you). Visa and MasterCard both make money by taking a cut of the transaction (usually around 2-3%).\n\nVisa and MasterCard don't actually issue cards themselves. Banks issue the cards (each with its own features and fee structure) and sign an agreement with either of the two to process the actual payments between the merchants and the bank. The bank makes money by its fee structure (annual fees, etc.) and interest rates it charges for those carrying a balance on the card.\n\nAmerican Express is a little different in that they also issue the cards. They're an integrated payment processing/issuing bank system. So American Express determines whether or not to issue the card and what benefits/fees the card has and also handles the payment processing. There are a few oddball exceptions where a 3rd party issues an American Express card but not many. American Express payment network is smaller than that of Visa/Mastercard because American Express charges slightly higher processing fees (so merchants will sometimes not opt to allow the cards). In return, American Express cards generally come with a better suite of benefits.\n\nDiscover works similarly to American Express although it is a much smaller payment processing network.\n",
"One difference is: \nVisa starts with 4xxx \nMasterCard with 5xxx \nand Amex with 3xxx, usually 37xx",
"Visa and Mastercard aren't really credit card \"choices\" in that you're not typically choosing a card based on whether it's Visa or Mastercard. You apply for a card through a credit card issuer (Capital One, Citi, Chase, etc), and that card is going to also be branded with either Visa or Mastercard. For example, if you get the Citi DoubleCash card, it's always going to be a Mastercard. Which one it is is incidental to the consumer, since you don't really see what's going on behind the scenes. What you're going to care about on your credit card is stuff like rewards, APR, credit line, annual fee, etc, which is all driven by your issuing bank (Capital One, Citi, Chase, etc)\n\nSo what do Visa and Mastercard do, then? Well, they are what we call \"payment networks.\" Basically, when you swipe your credit card, there are four entities in play. First, there is you, the cardholder. Second is the place where you are buying from, the merchant. Third, there is the issuing bank, who is the bank that issued your credit card. Forth, there is the acquiring bank, who is a financial institution that is agreement with the merchant for processing payments over the payment network. When you make a purchase on your credit card, you get your good without actually giving the merchant money. The merchant is reimbursed by the acquiring bank, and then the issuing bank reimburses the acquiring bank. The payment network, Visa/Mastercard, exists to make sure that the issuing and acquiring banks are connected.\n\nNow, a few points to bring up. First, AmEx and Discover aren't the same as Visa and Mastercard because while they both exist as payment networks, they also are issuing banks. So while your Capital One, Chase, Citi, Bank of America Card, etc, can be either Visa or Mastercard (depending on the product), AmEx and Discover cards take care of their payment network issues in-house.\n\nNow, why do they do this? Remember that moment where you bought your good from the merchant with your credit card, and then the merchant got reimbursed for that item? Well, the merchant didn't actually get reimbursed the full value of the good, but somewhere between 97-99% of the value of the good. The extra money not going to the merchant is then split between the acquiring bank, the issuing bank, and the payment network in a complicated set of backend agreements called \"interchange,\" and it's a major part of how credit card companies make money. So AmEx and Discover maintain their own payment networks to capture more of the interchange money. It's also why stores will sometimes not accept credit cards, or will have a minimum amount for credit card purchases (since interchange is usually a base amount plus a percent).\n\nSo tl;dr: there isn't a difference between Visa and Mastercard - they are competitors that do the same thing. They partner with banks in issuing credit cards and exist to make sure that money moves around correctly on the backend. AmEx and Discover do what Visa/Mastercard do, but they also act as issuing banks.",
"Can someone discuss Discover in this too? Where do they fall. No Futurama jokes please.",
"Another difference that hasn't been mentioned, probably because the distinction isn't nearly as big as it used to be.\n\nVisa and MasterCard are \"credit cards.\" Meaning that you are actually buying things on credit. If you don't pay your entire bill every month, they will let you (up to your pre-set credit limit), but they will charge you interest.\n\nAmerican Express was a \"charge card.\" Meaning that you had no credit limit--you can charge whatever you want (within reason). But your entire bill was due every month. So if you charged $5000, you could do so, but you had to pay the entire $5000 back before the due date. (As I said, it's within reason. If you regularly charge $1000 a month, they won't blink if you try to charge $2000. But they won't let you charge $10,000.)\n\nNowadays, the distinction isn't nearly as big, because American Express now allows you to buy things on credit. They still don't give you a pre-set limit (unless you abuse the system), but you can pay just $1000 of the $5000 you charged (if you're pre-approved to have credit).",
" > Edit: Forgot Discover.\n\n[No one wants to hear about your fly-by-night credit card.](_URL_0_)"
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az0l85 | how can we reconstruct how a long dead person might’ve looked like from just their skull, and is it accurate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/az0l85/eli5_how_can_we_reconstruct_how_a_long_dead/ | {
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"I believe that it's a question of studying lots of different peoples' faces, skulls, etc and understanding how everything it set up, how thick stuff is, and where it all sits. If you get a skull and you know how tissues and muscles should look for most people, you can take a really good guess at what the person used to look like and reconstruct it.",
"Will it be exact? Probably not. But muscles and other tissues are connected to the bones in specific spots. Like the jaw muscles connect to the skull and jaw bone. They can reconstruct that. Maybe a injury that deformed a bone will change how the muscles lay.\n\nBut there are a lot of unknowns, was the person a little plump or slim? ",
"They can be *fairly* accurate. The people that make reconstructions have a deep knowledge of the muscles that make up the face and what effect those muscles have on how a face looks. They also know that different sized muscles will affect the shape of the bone they are attached to. For example, there's a massive prominence on the outside of your upper thigh bone (opposite the hip socket) called the greater trochanter. Because this part of the bone is always under lots of strain from the massive thigh and gluteal muscles that attach to it your body has reinforced it by adding lots of extra bone. Reconstruction works from this principle, if a skull or jaw prominence is especially large it's likely the muscle attached to it was larger in proportions.\n\nSo from all that a reconstruction can be pretty good at getting the base right. What they might have trouble with is the parts that are more fleshy or without bone. So lips, the tip of the nose and ears don't really leave a huge amount of clues about what they looked like. They can tell some about the nose from where the cartilage attaches, same thing with the first, cup-shaped part of the ear. But it's less certain what the tip of the nose or nostrils looked like or the earlobes and outer cartilage of the ear. The lips have some attachment to bone, but they also have a lot of interaction with cheek muscles. Also they can't do hair so beard/mustache and eyebrows and eyelashes are complete guesswork.",
"Back in the mid-80's,I used to work night shift at a rural small town ER. One of our docs began learning how to do facial reconstructions. So he obtained, from the local coroner, a skull that had been found in a local ditch many years prior & had been identified but nobody ever claimed it. So doc would bring it to work to practice on it in spare time (nights were usually not busy like they can be in the city). He hadn't seen a pic of the person (he knew it was male before he started) it belonged to but would get it whenever he was done to see how close he had come. On the skull were all these little \"pegs\" which were different lengths (by millimeters) depending on how thick most people's tissue is at various points. Then doc would apply sculpture clay to those different depths. Of course, to do this he had to have good artistic skills as this sort of thing was a combo of science & art. He added acrylic eyes & hair eventually & after several months of just doing it in spare time, he was ready to see the pic of the real person which was a mugshot from his \"career\" as a criminal. He brought the completed head & the pic in for us to see. Aside from the obvious fact the hair was not as it had been in life & different color eyes, it was IDENTICAL to the pic-eerily so. It looked as tho it could just start speaking at any time. Creepy.\nThat's how reconstruction on skulls used to be done for decades upon decades. It was as accurate as was possible doing it that way. Of course, accuracy also depended on the skill of the person doing it. Another drawback was the time it took to do it, even when someone worked on it full-time.\nI suppose now its all completely done with computers but I'm not sure how. I would definitely like to see a documentary or something on how its done now.\nI hope this answers some of ur questions, even a little bit. Sorry I couldn't tell u more. Bcuz of computers, doing most things have changed so vastly so very quickly, as u are aware. I had to \"retire\" from nursing about 20 yrs ago when I broke my back in 4 places. Now, I'm like a wooly mammoth compared to the modern elephant when it comes to the medical field & nursing. It really sucks."
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20wyrc | why is the amount of people with adhd 10 times bigger then 10 years ago? | Explain why there is such big increase in the amount of people with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?(ADHD) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20wyrc/eli5_why_is_the_amount_of_people_with_adhd_10/ | {
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"Combination of higher awareness (leading to higher rates of diagnostics), and over-prescription (now every kid whose got too much energy has ADHD).\n\nBasically, we know more today than we did 10 years ago about ADHD, its symptoms, its causes, etc, and this leads to a higher number of kids today that are *diagnosed* with it. 10 years ago, its possible a child we would consider to have ADHD today would have been given a pass.\n\nThere might also be an issue of doctors/parents leaping to ADHD too quickly, when there might be other issues that are at the root of the problem. Or maybe doctors/parents are stupid in some cases and think a hyper energetic child is a bad thing.",
"Medicalization has a lot to do with it. More and more doctors are classifying people as having ADHD, and as people are seeing the scholastic effects of amphetamines they are either faking disorder or recognizing that they are sufferers ",
"That's how drug companies recoup their research and development costs."
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5kqxvl | china's real estate and housing bubbles | What is a 'bubble' exactly? How did these bubbles start and keep on growing? What will happen when these bubbles burst? And finally: can we avoid these bubbles from bursting? If so, what actions must the Chinese government undertake? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kqxvl/eli5chinas_real_estate_and_housing_bubbles/ | {
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" > What will happen when these bubbles burst? And finally: can we avoid these bubbles from bursting?\n\nA bubble is an artificial increase in price that irrationally increases to extreme highs and then precipitously falls. Many bubbles are caused by increases in demand. \n\nThink of it this way. Let's say your country was just introduced to the [tulip](_URL_0_). You've never seen these beautiful flowers before, and you want them. Not only that, but **everyone** wants them. \n\nYou notice that every time someone buys them, they keep paying higher and higher prices. This gets you thinking: \"Hey, what if I could buy some of those tulips! I could sell them and make tons of money!\"\n\n(Notice: you're not buying them cause you need them, or even want them. You're buying them because you want to *sell* them). \n\nSo, you buy a tulip bulb for $50. Two days later, you sell it for $150. AWESOME! I made 300% profit! A LOT of other people are also saying the same thing.\n\nYou say to yourself \"hey, I want to keep making more cash, but right now I can only afford to buy and sell one tulip at a time... I know! I'll *take out a loan to buy more tulips!*\"\n\nYou head to the bank, and you ask for a loan. The bank considers it, and says \"well hey, these tulip prices DO keep going up! Sure, here's all the money you need!\" \n\n*The bank says this not only to you, but to everyone else who asks for a loan to buy tulips.*\n\nSo you take out $10,000 in loans, and buy a ton of tulips. \n\nThen one day, people stop buying tulips. Maybe everyone who actually wanted them were done buying them. Maybe people just can't afford the crazy prices anymore. But long story short, one day, *only people trying to SELL tulips shows up.*\n\nAnd this means demand is very, very low, and supply very high. And this causes a price crash.\n\nAnd when debt gets involved, it makes YOUR losses and the COUNTRY'S losses very severe. You still owe the bank $10,000 REGARDLESS of the fact that tulips are now almost worthless. And the bank is now in *big* trouble too, cause now they've lost a lot of money in loans that'll never pay back. Now banks can't afford to give out more loans to **real, productive** things, which makes the economy slow and stop growing.\n\nWhen the economy takes a hit, everyone feels it. Prices for everything else try to compensate for the fact that in the future, the going will be tougher. Inflation spikes. People can't afford things, businesses can't afford equipment, growth, and **salaries** for people. Layoffs happen.\n\nIn short, it's a big mess caused by irrationality and debt.\n\nUnfortunately, it is almost *impossible* to avoid a bubble bursting, and equally hard to avoid getting into bubbles. A lot of psychology is involved, along with economics. \n\n > If so, what actions must the Chinese government undertake?\n\nWell, there needs to be a means to slow down demand, but that's VERY hard to do. Ultimately, it may even just be out of the government's hands. There can be measures to help soften the blow (think about the bailouts), but ultimately one can really only react. ",
"I can't speak to China, but I'll try to explain housing bubbles. Discliaimer: I'm REALLY broad stroking it here, and glossing over many US domestic specifics. \n\nDuring the Clinton Presidency, his administration wanted everyone* to own their own home. To help with this, they made it very easy for folks to get low-interest mortgages. Previously, you used to have near-perfect credit and a significant down payment to even be considered for a home loan. \n\nLocal Lenders that cut loans to individuals were writing so many mortgages that they would run out of capital! So, they'd package up a bunch of their loans and sell the debt to a bigger bank for a smaller take of the interest. For example, if you took out a $100k loan that would ultimately net the bank $200k over 30 years, they'd sell your loan to a bigger bank after a year or so for ~$120k, take the $20k profit, and let the bigger bank make $80k profit over time. That enabled them to lend out another $120k of loans today instead of in 15 years or so. \n\nFast forward a decade or so, and lenders are cutting checks to anyone that can make the first loan payment. As soon as they've got a proven loan, they can package that same loan up and sell it to a bigger bank for $105k. Sure they're not making as much per loan, but they're writing loans every day and there's seemingly no limit. \n\nNow it's a buyer's market. If you've got an extra $300/month you can buy home with a loan. Nobody's really asking how you got that $300, or if you can get $300 next month too, because as soon as you make that first payment the guy that wrote the loan has made all the money they're going to make off of you. \n\nSince demand has is way up (everyone can buy houses) and supply is limited (houses take real square footage to build), prices of homes go up. No big deal, bankers can cut loans for $200k just as easily as they can $100k. \n\nHowever, evenentually it all catches up. The bigger banks that are buying these loans from local lenders are starting to notice that folks are having problems making their loan payments. Now they're forced to start foreclosing and enacting all the \"bad stuff\" in the mortgage agreement due to lack of payment. They're finding out that the debt that they bought for $105k, and were expecting $95k profit from is only worth at most $50k. \n\nAt first they mark it up as a \"cost of doing business\". Fact is, shit happens and 1% of folks are going to default on their loan. They can account for this and build it into the business model. But when that number is 5-10%, now they're talking about MAJOR losses. Suddenly they can't buy loans from local lenders anymore. Local lenders start starving because they can't offload these crap loans, and were giving rates that they never intended to deal with over more than a couple of months. \n\nNow buyers can't find loans for houses, or aren't willing to pay 5% on a loan that was 3% last month. That means demand slumps. That $100k house that was worth $200k at purchase (top of the bubble) when there were tons of buyers competing is now back to a more reasonable $100k, but the homeowner is still making payments on a $200k loan. \n\nBig banks cut big loans to businesses too. However, when a big part of the mortgage business is suddenly stuck with a TON of worthless loans, they can't give as much on the business side. The cash simply isn't there. That means businesses have to reign in their spending, and start making cuts. That comes back on the homeowner who WAS making their payments on that $200k loan, they lose their job, can't sell the house for more than $100k and are forced to file bankruptcy, adding to the pile of defaults at the big bank. \n\nThat's what a housing bubble looks like. That's how 2009 happens, and will happen again but worse with student loans. \n\nIf a government wants to prevent this, they need to make sure business bankers stay separate from mortgage bankers, so one isn't affected by the slump of another. Government can also regulate lending practices by requiring particular credit and income levels. This will make it harder to buy homes and secure loans, which generally slows the economy. However, while the regulated economy will grow slower, it will also crash slower, giving the public time to make adjustments and mitigate damage. ",
"There is not a fine line between when some asset class is \"in a bubble\" and \"overvalued\". There is no \"correct\" valuation of an asset because the future is uncertain and unknown. A young technology company trading at 10,000x price/sales may not be in a bubble - investors are simply rationally underwriting its huge future growth potential. In the case of some ex-unicorns (Apple, Microsoft, etc.) one could plausibly argue that at some point in their history, they would have been significantly undervalued at 10,000x price/sales. So, bubbles are best defined not by rich valuations of any asset, but rather by behaviors surround the asset. \n\nTypical hallmarks of bubbles include:\n\n1) speculative buying, especially by unfamiliar and unexperienced participants. Example: You have never purchased a stock in your life. You don't even know how to read a financial statement. You just heard of this hot new stock that is going to change the world. Your neighbor bought some last week and it's already doubled for him! You empty your bank account and buy as much as you can. \n\n2) increases in fraud to support trading in the asset. Example: during the peak of the US housing recession it was *extremely* widespread for mortgage brokers to assist applicants in lying on regulatory forms so they could be approved for loans they would otherwise not qualify for. Have you heard the term \"NINJA\" loan? It stands for \"no income, no job, no assets\". It became an inside joke in the industry that someone with NINJA status could nonetheless easily be approved for a large mortgage. \n\n3) quasi-religious belief in price increases. Example: \"housing is the safest investment you can make, it always goes up!\"\n\n4) increases in leverage. Example: historically, in the United States, the minimum equity contribution to a house purchase was 20% (with the remaining 80% funded by a govt. backed mortgage). During the bubble, the equity contribution steadily shrank. During the peak years of the boom (2005 - early 2007) many mortgages were given at 100+% of the asset value. That is 100% of the purchase was debt funded, and an additional 3% (for example) was lent to cover the transaction costs. Leverage is probably the most essential and least understood aspects of financial bubbles, because it is the transmission mechanism by which problems in one sector of the economy are translated into a general recession through the financial sector. If you want to deeply understand the role leverage plays in financial crises, I recommend you read Martin Wolf's book \"the shifts and the shocks\". \n\n5. silencing of critics & skeptics. Example: watch the \"Big Short\" for a particularly theatric example of this. Characters who call into question the sustainability of many of the behaviours surrounded with the US housing crisis are first laughed at and then later systematically undermined by their opponents (who of course participate in and benefit from the speculative behavior). \n"
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1rhzq1 | why do braces have to be made of sharp metal? why can't they be smooth so they don't cut up the inside of a patient's mouth? | On behalf of my poor sweet daughter who got her braces recently and the only pain is that of her mouth being cut up. Why is this necessary? You would think we would have come up with a better material by now.
EDIT: I appreciate all the input and helpful tips to ease the irritation so far, but really I'm wondering why we even make them out of something irritating in the first place. It just seems to me they could be made of a smoother material, but just as strong. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rhzq1/eli5_why_do_braces_have_to_be_made_of_sharp_metal/ | {
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"ELI5 I agree with you, Rosomo. I have worn them for 5 years and I wondered why the ends of the wires at the back molars can't either be turned in or down or, better, cut off. Some mornings I wake up with blood in my mouth because the wire cut into my cheek. I now ask the orthodontist for something called block-out resin. It looks like plastic when it comes off. A dentist had told the orthodontist about using it on sharp areas in the brace work. Ever since, I have found relief from much of the sharpness of the ends of the wires. Hope this helps!",
"As a former braces wearer, I can say that while mine were metal, there wasn't anything sharp in there. It might feel that way in the beginning, but she'll get used to the irritation. Your orthodontist can adjust some things or recommend products like was if there is a problem. ",
"you could look into the invisalign 3d printed plastic braces, they work well for certain kinds of corrections (not all of them though, your dentist would know best)..._URL_0_",
"Not sure if they make them from something else, but that metal is strong so it can take the tension required to pull the teeth to a new position. It is also able to withstand the wet and acidic environment of the mouth.",
"That pain will go away within a week; the cheeks and the inside of the lip with toughen ever so slightly (she's not going to get callouses in there) and this pain will be completely forgotten. She should use dental wax to moderate this rubbing in the meantime, and keep it around in case she gets a wire break (rare) or poking out the end of her braces. Her orthodontist has little containers of wax which he/she buys by the ton-- use it by day, take it out at night.\n\nThe real pain of braces is far less acute, and far more annoying-- when they replace the wire with something really stiff, she's going to get that awful ache as the new wire starts to bully her teeth in the right direction. It's not pain, just eternal uncomfortable pressure on your teeth. (Actually, it lasts a few days after each wire-change.)\n\nGood luck. And tell her it's worth it. And when it's over, tell her to wear her damn retainer! Teeth move of their own accord if you let them-- that's how they got this way in the first place. I know it's annoying, but having nice teeth go crooked is far more annoying.",
"Speaking from past experience, braces which are not removable do not really seem to have sharp points on the individual brackets (the metal pieces glued to the teeth), except for on those brackets where elastic bands could be required (in my case it was the third tooth from the middle on both sides, on both the top and bottom of the mouth).\n\nThe wire, however, which is attached to / threaded through these brackets, is made of some sort of memory alloy which (when bent away from its \"set\" position) will try to bend back to what it was \"set\" to (the 'correct' shape of the mouth / layout of the teeth).\n\nSometimes the wire is not cut enough towards the back of the mouth where it pokes out at the end of the brackets, and is (usually) able to cut the inside of the mouth. If the gum scrapes along it (while chewing or speaking, for example), it is likely to damage the inner lining of the cheek. \n\nAlternatively, as the teeth move into position, the wire may end moving around in the braces (as it is not fixed into position, from what I can tell, but instead is kept close to the brackets by being enclosed). This could cause it to be fine when the orthodontist first puts the wire in, but then get worse as you go along (until the next time the braces are 'tightened' / rewired).\n\nOh, and as /u/Sunfried has mentioned - there are two main types of pain with braces, in my experience. A sort of ache which is usually worse just after them being rewired (and for a day or two afterwards), and the cutting pain which the ends of the wire cause. Just after I had my braces put on, however, the ache lasted for approximately a week, but was not as bad afterwards.\n\nWax can be used on the edge of the wire, and on the ends of the 'hooks' (used for elastic bands) on the brackets, if it hurts too much.",
"Working for a small company which sells brace material for orthodontists. The materials of Brackets I know are Stainless Steel, Composite and Ceramic. For Patients who have pain caused by the braces we usually sell products like those:\n_URL_1_\n\nor those\n_URL_0_\n\nI would recommend something like the latter. They can be remolded anytime in hot water. Maybe ask your doc if they got some similar product available.",
"You got sold the cheap ones. :(",
"If there's a wire or a particular bracket that's poking her, you can buy dental wax. It's just what it sounds like, the wax comes in little strips in a packet, and you should be able to get it pretty cheap at a pharmacy. You just pick off a bit of the wax and mold it on the sharp point, and you can keep it on while eating. You just change it out when you brush your teeth, and that's about it. \n\nNow, if your daughter is experiencing more of a general pain, sometimes it just takes a while for the insides of your mouth to toughen up enough to not be irritated by the brackets. I know that doesn't really help much, but know it won't last for long. \n",
"could be excess wire coming out of the backs of it. if the assistants dont trim it right it really cuts your mouth up. god i hated braces, so worth it though cuz my teeth are baller now",
"When I had braces they gave me a little wax ball that I would take bits off of and mold around the joint connectors. Those worked pretty well. I'm sure you could get wax just about anywhere (just make sure it's certified for use in food and not candle wax or something)."
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bdlw0c | what's the difference between a loan and a bond? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bdlw0c/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_a_loan_and_a/ | {
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"The main difference in practical terms is a loan is from one entity, one creditor, e.g. a loan from a bank, a loan from your uncle, but bonds are created and sold entitling the owner to receive the prescribed interest payments and redemption value. If a government entity or a corporation sells bonds worth $10 million there may be hundreds of \"creditors\" who are owed money."
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d5loc4 | is losing weight more about dieting correctly or getting enough exercise? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d5loc4/eli5_is_losing_weight_more_about_dieting/ | {
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"Dieting correctly is more effective but exercising is still important. A fit body burns more calories dormant than not. Exercising for a hour straight can burn 500 to 1000 calories. You can waste all that exercise with one meal choice.",
"Bottom line: calorie deficit. Intake < calories Burned = weight loss over time. There are other factors such as quality of calorie intake, type of build you currently are. Ultimately dieting combined with exercise will provide best results in terms of weight loss.",
"As a former personal trainer, we used to encourage \"lifestyle change\" and not \"dieting\". Long term sustainable changes to your food intake (type and quantity) that encourage weight loss and then management. Exercise is important but think about it, most people exercise 3-5 times a week but eat 21-35 times a week.",
"Dieting is overall the \"easier\" way of doing it. By that I mean, it's mentally and physically easier to reduce your calories by a certain amount each day than it is to exercise for the same amount of loss. The greatest benefit to exercise -- particularly something that is muscle-building in nature -- is that it helps the body retain muscle mass during a calorie-restrictive diet. Also, as someone else in this thread mentioned, it can increase metabolism for a short time throughout the day. That said, it will also likely increase your overall hunger level.\n\nIt's also important to note that with food you can help reduce the cravings of those calories lost by adding more foods that do a better job of filling you up. Typically, that includes high-fiber or high-water content foods. The one caveat I would add to that is that if you don't like what you're eating, then it simply being more filling won't help very much. Most of why diets fail is because people either don't like what they're eating, or they intended from the start to eventually \"end\" the diet by going back to the foods that previously helped make them overweight.",
"Both, kind of. In short, weight loss is about calories in vs calories out.\n\nHow do we control calories in? By changing our diet. Consuming fewer calories means the body has less \"stuff\" to metabolize.\n\nHow do we control calories out? By a few things. The first is also by changing our diet. Consuming 100 calories of chocolate, vs 100 calories of celery, for example, will greatly change how many calories we burn. Celery takes a lot more energy internally to metabolize and thus we'd actually burn calories to break it down. \n\nBut not just changing WHAT we eat, but HOW and WHEN its eaten will alter calories out. A lot of research suggests that eating the same amount of food, but spacing it out over 6 meals once every 3 hours means we keep our metabolism burning and burn off more of those calories that would otherwise just be stored as fat. \n\nOf course exercise is another way to regulate calories out. As it would seem obvious, the more we move the more energy we burn, so the same exact diet would result in weight loss if we exercise enough to burn it all off.\n\nAt the end of the day, if you're trying to lose weight, you want to simply make sure that your \"calories out\" exceeds your \"calories in\" on a daily basis. Do that regularly, for a period of time, and you can't HELP but lose weight as a result. Extend the caloric defecit, and the weight loss rate will increase. That means, eating a 1000 calorie a day diet, but exercising enough such that you're burning 2500 calories a day, is going to lose a lot more weight than eating 2000 calories and exercising to burn 2100 a day. Both will lose weight, but the first scenario will lose more faster. (Careful, there IS such a thing as TOO much weight loss, and it's not healthy). A good rule of thumb is whatever plan gets you to burn 1-1.5 lbs per week. That's a healthy rate of weight loss that you can maintain without feeling like you're being starved by some drastic \"lemon and air\" fad diet.",
"\"Your feet can't outrun your mouth.\"\n\nExercise is not nearly as effective as diet change for the purpose of losing weight.\n\nTo lose weight: adjust your diet as many have described here. Exercise is fine too, but not essential to lose weight.\n\nTo get fit: Exercise.\n\nMost important thing to remember: WHATEVER you do in order to lose weight, you will HAVE to continue to do that once the weight is lost, in order to keep it off. So whatever methods you use, make sure you're willing to keep doing that for the long run.",
"The amount of food consumed has a greater effect on body weight than the amount of exercise taken, however as others have said it is more about a total lifestyle change than diet or exercise.",
"Weight is calories in vs calories out. \nExercise is health. \n\nThat being said, it's easier to avoid eating 250 calories per day than it is to consistently exercise away the same amount. \n\nBut if you can do both - eat slightly less than you're used to & move more - you will get better results and get them faster. \n\nPlus, as others have already said, muscle burns more calories at rest than fat. *(And of course it burns lots more in motion.)* So do weightlifting to at least preserve the muscle you already have."
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7rb2je | how can netflix get away with making one season of a show that already has multiple seasons, before signing with netflix, and still call it a “netflix original”? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7rb2je/eli5_how_can_netflix_get_away_with_making_one/ | {
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"By literally doing exactly that. It's now a Netflix show, because they now have the rights to it, and are making episodes.",
"\"Netflix Original\" is a term Netflix made up.\n\nThere's no law preventing it, so there's nothing to \"get away\" with.",
"They own the rights to it, they are making new original episodes. There is original Netflix content in the show, so they can get away with the label. ",
"\"Netflix Original\" means they are paying directly for the production of the show. It does not matter if the show had previous seasons, it is owned and made by Netflix. \n\nThe term is what Netflix invented and registered for the shows that they produce. HBO does similar things. ",
"Netflix made the season. Not sure how that doesn't qualify as original to Netflix. \n\nThey also purchase exclusive US licenses to shows that already existed and slap Netflix Original on that. \n\n",
"When you own the rights to something you can call it whatever the fuck you want, I suppose. "
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akoi5l | what does it mean to dissociate? (psychology/psychiatry) | How does it actually *feel*, what goes through one's mind etc, and how can one be aware that they are doing it? Are there "everyday"/ordinary dissociations as opposed to pathological dissociations? How might it affect the lives of dissociaters? How does it differ from similar concepts like depersonalisation?
Explanations from professionals and first-hand accounts are equally welcome.
Edit: Thanks for posting your stories. Seems like it can be quite pervasive in everyday life. I am asking because I sometimes have little episodes that sound a bit like what you all have described, although only very briefly. So either it's not really dissociation (I'm just "zoning out"), or it's only little flashes. But something really shitty happened on Sunday and the way I reacted to that kind of threw me off. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/akoi5l/eli5_what_does_it_mean_to_dissociate/ | {
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"Hi I suffer from a type of disassociation. I’m very aware of it and it is extremely uncomfortable. The best way I can explain it is this:\nImagine you’re sitting in a lecture hall listening to a lecture hall and you just kind of “tune out” and stop listening. That’s how it feels to me except I can’t turn it off and start paying attention again. \n\nThe disassociation I experience is more of an ongoing feeling instead of being episodic. It does affect my daily life but I’m still a functioning, productive member of society. You learn to cope and keep moving.\n\nDiscerning depersonalization from disassociation is difficult for those who suffer from it and also those who treat it. The way I’ve heard it described is that one means you feel the world isn’t real and the other means you fell that you aren’t real - if that makes sense.",
"Disclaimer: I am not a professional nor have I been professionally diagnosed.\n\nI do however suffer from (self diagnosed) disassociation. There are three main types of dissociation I personally experience.\n\n1. Zoning out: Everyone zones out from time to time (especially when bored). We all daydream and get lost in our own heads pretty often. But when dissociating, you realize you are zoned out but you can't actually zone back in. It's almost as if you are looking through a frosted window- you can still see and hear what's going on but it's all a bit muffled. Everything is slowed way down and it can feel as though every thought and sound has to fight through a river of molasses to make it to your brain. You end up kind of stuck in an empty space with no real thoughts (at least that you remember having) and very little sensory processing. To get out of this basically you just have to wait for it to pass. It is possible to manually stop dissociating but it takes an incredible amount of brainpower and leaves you exhausted. \n2. Reality check: Have you ever read a really good book and you feel as though you *are* the main character? Like if you are reading in the middle of summer and you get so drawn into the book, which is set in a snowstorm, that for a split second when you look up from your book you are surprised there isn't snow falling in the window? Well sometimes I get that split second feeling of \"wait where am I again? what reality am I living in?\" in my normal day to day life. It is alarming and honestly pretty scary sometimes because it feels like in that second I have forgotten who and what and where I am. Again, to fix this I basically just wait a few minutes and the feeling passes and I can move on.\n3. Time Travel: This might not be actual dissociation but a symptom of some other issues I might have. But sometimes I am doing something, like surfing reddit, and suddenly hours will have passed with no recollection. For example, this morning I woke up around 8am, walked up to a window to see how much snow had fallen overnight, walked to the kitchen to make breakfast, and now it is 11am and I am on my couch on reddit with no breakfast. I honestly don't know what happened between kitchen and couch and where those 3 hours went. \n\nBasically my experience with dissociation involves a ton of feeling lost in my own mind and my own reality. It is scary and exhausting and just generally not very much fun. I am working on building better coping methods than just \"wait it out until it gets better\" and am slowly trying to figure out ways to prevent the dissociation from happening in the first place but obviously it hasn't worked yet.",
"I was raped at 15 and dissociated the first time. \n\nI honestly felt nothing. Like I was there, it was happening to me, but I was like a zombie, just completely blank minded. I was like \"huh. Ok, so this is happening.\" No pain, no emotions. Just blankness. \n\nIt sucks because I guilt myself for not speaking up, or fighting back. I just laid there. I just checked out of myself",
"Took ambien for 8 years and would experience this on occasion. What it felt like to me was as if my body and my mind were two separate entities. My body could be doing or saying something that my mind had no emotional connection to. I was in full control of my actions, however I didn’t care about what I was doing or saying. Got myself into awkward positions from time to time via text messaging people. I knew what I was about to say was foolish, but didn’t care because I technically didn’t have to deal with it until the morning when my head cleared up. I’d say the experience was euphoric at the time, but hated dealing with the aftermath the following morning. I’ve had some interesting experiences with it, but would recommend anyone stay away from that drug entirely.",
"A lot of the time i feel like I'm in a movie or like I'm dreaming. Everything feels odd but i can't quite put my finger on what's odd about it other than it doesn't feel like reality. Like have you ever gone home and it feels like home? And then you go to a friends house for the first time and it feels new and strange? I get that new and strange feeling in my home and its really unsettling. I hate feeling like i don't belong, like I'm not in my own home. That's just the smaller version of my disassociation that happens on a regular basis. If my ptsd gets really bad i can't move and the feelings of not being in reality get way worse. Its hard to move or talk. I just stare at something and wait for it to pass. The worst that's ever happened was i started experiencing pseudoseizures. All of the symptoms mentioned previously but my muscles would tense up and my eyes would roll back into my head. Once i learned the seizures weren't real they stopped.",
"I was raped frequently by my older brother when I was a child. For me, the part of me that was ‘me’ checked out. The experience was detached and almost clinical. Things were happening to my body but I was gone. No where else instead, just gone. \n\nWhen I remember what happened I tend to dissociate at the present time. I have worked in therapy with discussing and remembering without checking out. ",
"For me it feels like there’s a thick piece of glass in front of me and there’s a haze in my perception. It’s kind of like being on autopilot. \nI went to therapy while dissociating once. I couldn’t think very clearly and answering questions was difficult. Everything that’s not a mindless task you’ve done a million times is difficult and takes way more time. ",
"I find it actually pleasurable and relieving. I guess what is triggering it is just the opposite. I would say in therapy I wish I could live dissociated for the rest of my life. I am by nature a kind caring trusting person this is probably what allowed me to end up being abused and bullied people who know me will say that my dissociated persona is like a machine. I have no feelings and become aggressive only thinking of me. When you’re sensitive and male the world can be a tough place to manage. I’ve since kind of blended the two personas so the world is easier to navigate. Instead of dissociating now I can separate and setup healthy boundaries while still maintaining my more empathetic side. The machine allowed me to be very successful in business I’ve been retired since I was 49 so it’s probably why I liked being dissociated. The problem is it’s not conducive to healthy relationships and even though I’m introverted I still needed human contact. It caused my divorce but getting healthier allowed me to have a successful marriage to my second wife and I have good relationships with our four daughters I also have friends I hope this answers or gives some insight ",
"I have PTSD and when I dissociate, I basically switch into what feels like ‘observation mode’. I see what I usually see but I feel like I’m a foot behind myself, just observing. I stop feeling most emotions and go basically numb. It usually happens in response to something really upsetting so it almost feels like a relief at times. My brain goes “nope!” and stops processing feelings. \n\nI keep doing whatever I’m doing automatically and without thought. If someone talks to me it feels like they’re far away and they typically don’t get more than “mmhmm” as an answer. "
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2jy620 | why is there a provision against "unusual" punishment ("no cruel and unusual punishment")? doesn't "cruel" pretty much cover all the bases? | If someone wanted to punish a prisoner with something unusual but not cruel, it doesn't seem to me like that would be unethical. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jy620/eli5_why_is_there_a_provision_against_unusual/ | {
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"There are two senses in which you can mean 'unusual'. You could mean unusual as in different and creative, or unusual as in arbitrary and not regular.\n\nOn the first of these definitions, the problem with 'unusual punishment' is in it's depravity. A punishment that was in a way unusual without being cruel would imply that it was either deliberately costly or inefficient, or in some way sadistic. Punishment should be a sombre activity, not a humiliating one.\n\nOn the second definition, the problem is more obvious: a punishment that *isn't usual* is arbitrary, and arbitrarily choosing punishments is far from just"
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8om31a | what is liquidity? | I’ve recently gotten into investing and can’t seem to understand *exactly* what this concept is, or why it is important. Can someone help with this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8om31a/eli5_what_is_liquidity/ | {
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"Liquid assets are ones that can be quickly exchanged for others.\n\nCash is the most liquid because you just spend it directly. Stocks are slightly less liquid since they need to be sold first but that's generally easy unless you've got ridiculously large holdings.\n\nAt the other end of the scale, you have things like skyscrapers and million-dollar paintings. These take work to find a buyer that will pay what they're actually worth.",
"\"liquidity\" refers to how easily an asset can be traded or exchanged.\n\nCash is the ultimate in liquidity. You can trade it instantly.\n\nStocks need to settle for three business days before you can move that money around, so they're less \"liquid\".\n\nLonger term bonds and CDs even less so.\n\nReal estate and other hard assets are tough to move and may require prolonged sale attempts or auctions, and have very low liquidity.\n\nIt's important because saying someone is a millionaire doesn't imply they have a million dollars. Their net worth is a million dollars, but much of it isn't readily accessible - it's tied up in low liquidity assets that can't just be exchanged for cash tomorrow.\n\n",
"An asset is \"liquid\" if it is able to be quickly traded, bought, or sold without too much difficulty, or without losing value. So cash is the most liquid asset, because you can essentially trade it for another asset any time. Stuff like stocks or mutual funds are still considered \"liquid\" because it's fairly quick and easy to convert them into cash at market value. Basically, if you need money *right now,* liquid assets are the things you'd be able to sell to pay off that urgent debt.\n\nSomething like real estate is \"illiquid.\" If I own a house worth $600,000, it'll probably take me months to finalize a sale at that $600,000 point, so it can't easily be converted into cash. The only way to sell it quickly would be to offer it for a lesser price, which means that it's losing value. So it's a very illiquid asset. Same with a valuable painting, or a rare collection of antiques. These things all are valuable and count as my valued assets, but since they couldn't be used to quickly pay some debt, they aren't liquid.",
"How easy can it be made into cash.\n\nHigher liquidity = it's my money and I need it now\n\nLower liquidity = fuck you, you wait.\n\nWith cash being straight up liquid."
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4z52fj | how exactly does overdosing on anything kill you? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4z52fj/eli5_how_exactly_does_overdosing_on_anything_kill/ | {
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"The body is a complex chemical machine. Too much or too little of something can throw off the works. Your body needs to stay within certain tolerances in order to function properly. For example: you need water to live, too little and you'll get dehydrated, too much can cause an electrolyte imbalance.",
"Well anything is quite broad so let's take an example that seems quite harmless like water. The human body has evolved to maintain an impressive homeostasis of the body (our pH levels, internal temperature, metabolic rates, ect) and when that homeostasis is thrown so off balance the body can't reel it back in then there is a big problem. You can overdose on water and people have done it before. You can flood your circulatory system putting an immense strain on your kidneys while also diluting your blood to the point where your organs aren't receiving an adequate amount of oxygen/nutrients even with compensation since your kidneys can't flush the excess water out of your system in time. This can lead to multiple system organ fallure and death in extreme cases. An overdose of anything to an extreme can hinder the body's ability maintain homeostasis and without that ability we can die quite easily. So if we can overdose on water then you can see how certain drugs at seemingly low doses can be fatal if they disrupt normal body function and our body can't deal with the effects in a given time frame."
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cx6pgq | why do the batteries of (old) phones expand so crazy and destroy the phone? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cx6pgq/eli5_why_do_the_batteries_of_old_phones_expand_so/ | {
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"It's designed to do that. Over time, the chemicals inside the battery will degrade which creates a buildup of gas, expanding the battery. The phone splits apart to allow room for this expansion or else the battery would just explode.\n\nIf you replace the battery with a fresh one and snap the phone back together, it'll be good as new."
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2iz7iq | slot machine payout percentages | When I lived in Nevada, I had a friend who claimed that he always won the jackpot at slot machines by just having enough patience to play until the payout percentage worked in his favor. In his understanding of payout percentages, if you sat at a machine that advertised a $1,000 jackpot with an 87% payout percentage, all you had to do was sit at that machine and keep putting in money, and at some point between $1 and $870, the thing was going to eventually pay out the full jackpot. He maintained that this always worked for him, unless the casino was cheating the system and programming the machines against the legal payouts.
Now, I'm smart in many ways but pretty dumb when it comes to mathematics. In my heart I know that slot machines can't be that simple to beat, but his logic was so simple that it actually sounded true. Most people in casinos simply don't have the balls, patience or the bankroll to sit at a machine and drop more than a few hundred dollars in the hopes of getting a few hundred in profit on the back end.
So someone clear this up for me once and for all. If you sit at a machine long enough, will it pay out before you spend the same amount of the jackpot? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2iz7iq/eli5_slot_machine_payout_percentages/ | {
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"No it doesn't work like that. A machine with 87%pay out rate gives around $870 for $1000 put inside the machine. Not $1000 for every $870. That wouldn't make any sense.\n\n~~How~~ ~~you~~ ~~can beat~~ ~~slots is so that you observe~~ ~~someone lose lots inside the machine~~ ~~(usually all their cash) and collect~~ ~~their payout.~~",
"If a slot machine has an 87% payout percentage, for every $100 it takes in, it will pay out $87"
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2ktj92 | the psychology behind tyrants | Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses!
But really, how can a single person rule through fear?
Is it not easy enough to eliminate said person? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ktj92/eli5_the_psychology_behind_tyrants/ | {
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"You know what a tyrant does? He makes sure life isn't fair. And one of the perks of making sure that life isn't fair is that you don't just beat people down, you can also reward people. You can reward bullies and other nasty, powerful people and make sure they *want* to keep you in power.\n\nMost people don't want trouble. They want to keep their head down and live their life. For these people, assassinating a tyrant makes no sense because you'd probably end up in a bad place yourself. So what would you really gain by trying? Do it for the people? They are the people, they're not going to get themselves killed trying to secure a better ruler for their neighbors.\n\nEven so, most successful tyrants make sure to surround themselves with cronies as a way of protecting themselves."
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2jqrve | how can mall cops legally detain you on private property against your will? | If you're on private property (a mall), and you do something against mall policy and a mall cop arrests and detains you, then wouldn't that be kidnapping? Shouldn't they have to let you go onto public property if you don't want to stay on mall property?
Edit: Thanks to all who replied, I got an answer! No need to upvote! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jqrve/eli5_how_can_mall_cops_legally_detain_you_on/ | {
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"It's considered a citizen's arrest. In certain cases, if a person sees you committing a crime, they are allowed to detain you until the police get there. However, laws vary from state to state, and it can open you up to a ton of liability.",
"Nope, licensed and employed security companies have the right to detain you until law enforcement arrives if you broke a law.\n\nTechnically anyone can do it, it's known as a \"citizen's arrest\", where a private citizen can detain someone with reasonable force until police arrive to take care of the situation.\n\nKidnapping is different. Kidnapping is the taking away or transportation (or facilitation of such actions), or to confine or imprison someone (or facilitate such actions) without legal authority against a person's will.\n\nMall security has legal authority as they are licensed security hired to maintain law and keep everything moving in an orderly fashion in the place where they are employed to protect. The same is if a security guard finds a trespasser on a construction site, or you are found inside a gated community by the security without proof that you should be there.",
"In Ontario, mall cops are technically agents of the property and can enforce the Trespass To Property Act. This gives the owner of the property and his or her agents (professional security guards) the power to detain people committing an indictable offence on their property (theft under/over for shoplifting). They can even handcuff you.",
"Since you've stated you got an answer, I'll mark this answered."
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3q4dt5 | i've been taught that wikipedia is not a reliable source of info, but why does it seem most, if not all, reddit til is sourced from wikipedia? | What if it was false information? Just wondering if I'm missing, or what I've been taught is wrong. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q4dt5/eli5_ive_been_taught_that_wikipedia_is_not_a/ | {
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"It's not a *scholarly* source. Wikipedia is by and large a reliable source of information (and even better, it's very accessible) but since its information isn't peer-reviewed by academic professionals, it's not credible enough to use in academic papers.\n\nIt's about the same level of credibility as a newspaper. Good, but not guaranteed.",
"Much of Wikipedia is accurate and well curated but that effort is crowdsourced and not held to a professional standard. Some editors may be professionals in the field related to the article. Many are simply enthusiasts.\n\nYou can click \"View History\" to see the changes that have occurred to any article. There are tools in place for editors to review and challenge each others changes. There can be healthy debate over perceived inaccuracies. There is some level of peer-review but as others noted it is not up to a scholastic standard.\n\nIt largely depends on how many people have taken interest in reviewing any particular article. The more attention it has been given the more accurate it is likely to be."
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1lohe2 | why is uncomfortable clothing (e.g., a suit and tie) used as a sign of respect? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lohe2/eli5_why_is_uncomfortable_clothing_eg_a_suit_and/ | {
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"I know what you are saying, about the clothing being uncomfortable. However, after whoring it every day for work (going on 2 years) I no longer am uncomfortably in it. Sure, I prefer Jeans and a T shirt. But formal clothing just moves differently and once I got accustomed to it I no longer even feel it. \n\nWhat clothing shows respect and what clothing does not is entirely cultural. There is no rule that this is respectful because X. In this case, a more traditional outfit is considered to be respectful, and the traditional outfit for men who were not doing manual labor is the suit. ",
"(Disclaimer: I'm a dude, and I'm not very familiar with women's dress code. So I'll be talking about men's dress code.)\n\nFirst, we must dispel with the notion that suits are all uncomfortable and annoying to wear. A well made suit that has been tailored to the wearer out of fabric appropriate for the weather can be extremely comfortable. The problem is that those suits are prohibitively expensive for most people ($1,500-$10,000), so us pleblians are stuck with 300 dollar suits from Macy's, which are mass-produced from sub par fabric (usually) and aren't built for your particular body shape - meaning they usually don't fit very well, even with tailoring. So suits aren't inherently uncomfortable, you just have to pay a lot to get that comfort.\n\nAs for why we wear certain clothing for certain events (work/weddings/etc.) I'm not quite qualified to give an accurate answer. I have guesses, but mainly I commented to defend suits' comfortablity. "
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1qpq5t | ...what is my dog looking for when going to the bathroom? | This is only half serious I guess, because I know he's a dog and they don't think like we do. I wonder sometimes though, what criteria are they looking for? Sometimes my dog will walk around our backyard for 10-15 minutes before taking a dump.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qpq5t/eli5what_is_my_dog_looking_for_when_going_to_the/ | {
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"They are checking to see who else peed on their turf and which is the most necessary to cover up. Squirrel vs. other dog, other dogs pee needs eradicated. ",
"When you go to a public restroom, you tend to search for the cleanest stall, correct?\n\n\nYour dog does it too."
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22qh8s | why are negative feelings and hate so easy, but love and acceptance comes so hard? | I easily find flaws in almost everything, I can complain about anything, but even when I know I'm wrong it's hard to admit it or attribute anything positive to what I previously disliked. Why does the negative weigh more heavily on the brain and the positive so difficult to focus on? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22qh8s/eli5why_are_negative_feelings_and_hate_so_easy/ | {
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"Practice and environment, it's all it is."
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21enk1 | what is our estimation of when antibiotics will become ineffective and what are some alternatives for them? are infections likely to become a more common cause of death again? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21enk1/eli5_what_is_our_estimation_of_when_antibiotics/ | {
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"i'm not sure about when or if antibiotics will become useless at all, but bacteriophages, viruses that only affect bacteries, seem to be a promising alternative.\n_URL_0_",
"Antibiotics will probably never become completely ineffective, but the usefulness of the ones we use now is decreasing every day. There is [a long list of harmful bacteria that have already developed some resistance to certain antibiotic drugs](_URL_2_), which means that we need to resort to different drugs to fight them. Those drugs are generally the ones that are more expensive and/or have more side effects.\n\nThings wouldn't be so bad if new antibiotics were being introduced to the market at the rate they used to be. However, [most drug companies have completely stopped research into antibiotics](_URL_4_) due to the problem of antibiotic resistance. Unlike other types of drugs, a brand new antibiotic would only be effective for a relatively short period of time before resistance spreads. Also, to be approved (at least in the US) a new drug has to be shown to be significantly more effective than a placebo. Unfortunately, the [placebo effect is stronger today than it has ever been](_URL_1_). So drug companies who used to be very active in researching antibiotics are diverting their funds to researching other types of drugs. There are recent government efforts to fill this gap in developing new antibiotics, but those programs probably won't show substantial results for at least a decade or two. \n\nThere are [various alternatives to antibiotics](_URL_3_), but the main focus right now is slowing the spread of resistance to the antibiotics we have now. [Doctors have been strongly encouraged to reduce the number of antibiotic prescriptions](_URL_0_), particularly for situations where they are not useful (most viral infections, for example). It's also important for patients to always take the full prescription for the entire length of time indicated, because stopping your antibiotics early allows weakened bacteria with mild resistance to bounce back and thrive. There are also debates going on about widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture and how that affects the spread of antibiotic resistance overall. \n\nBy addressing these issues, we should be able to make better use of the drugs we already have. But the situation is pretty grim for the next few decades while new alternatives are developed and tested. We are likely to be in for a sort of bottleneck period where some harmful bacteria are very difficult to treat for a while, and a small number of them may end being *impossible* to treat. Infectious diseases and infections will probably become more dangerous in the short term. This includes everything that can cause any sort of bacterial infection,including surgery and everyday injuries. Some specific operations, like organ transplants, may become so much more dangerous that doctors will be more hesitant to do them at all.\n\n**TL;DR: We're already resorting to harsher, more expensive drugs. Not many new drugs are expected in the near future, so the focus right now is on using the ones we have in a smarter way. It's most likely going to get worse before it gets better.** ",
"One alternative: Bacteriophage.\n\nBasically a virus that only* infects bacteria. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nNot used in the USA right now much but there are some other places (Mexico) I think where certain treatments are pretty common."
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An... | ||
8a8ra2 | how can turtles eat food underwater without swallowing too much water? | I was thinking how if I tried to eat something underwater, I would have a real difficult time. I would probably have Water end up in my lungs. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8a8ra2/eli5_how_can_turtles_eat_food_underwater_without/ | {
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"text": [
"Humans could actually eat underwater just fine. We just don't normally do it because we are not aquatic animals and that is not our thing.\n\nWhen an animal closes its mouth underwater, it can push out the excess water simply by pressing its mouth together tighter and letting it rush out through the cracks. That said, swallowing water along with your food is not really that bad a thing.",
"Sea turtles (and maybe other turtles; not a turtle expert) expel water through their nostrils when they eat.",
"Same reason you can eat stew? You just push the liquid out if there's too much. ",
"The same way we humans eat food on land without swallowing too much air.\n\nIt can be pushed out of the mouth, nostrils and if it still manages to get swallowed, burped out of the stomach.",
"Aquatic turtles DO swallow water when they eat, and actually can't swallow *without* water as they do not produce saliva. But they have a specially evolved esophagus that acts as a sort of pre-stomach. They fill the esophagus with food and water, and then constrict it to expel all the water while keeping the food inside. The food and a small amount of water then enter the stomach.\n\nEdit: Three years on reddit and I finally got gilded while I was asleep, and for something turtle related :D. Obligatory \"Thank you kind stranger\", and \"this blew up\". Seriously though, thank you. Volunteer to be the one who protec.",
"Also, (I could be wrong about this, but I don't think I am too far off), sea turtles' livers are able to process salt water far better than ours. So, if your question was also about excessive salt intake, that's a potential answer.",
"Well duh, how do you think they wash their food down?",
"I am imagining similar to me bobbing for say, grapes? and then furiously expelling the water through my teeth.",
"How can we eat without swallowing too much air?",
"I know from a visit to the turtle hospital in the Florida Keys that turtles have a mechanism that squirts water out of their nose when they take a bite of food.\n\nTurtles don't have lips, so they can't seal their mouths when they chew.\n\nSo, the nose squirting is probably how they control the water.\n\n",
"I don't know about turtles, but other animals (like whales) can do this because they have separate passages for their nose and throats.\n\nA blue whale can't get water up its nose when it opens its mouth to eat krill - there's no connection between the two. It also can't breathe through its mouth.\n\nHumans have a special muscles to block off passages to your nose and lungs when you swallow.",
"I cant say for all of them but i know the lether back turtle has a load of spiky things in its mouth that point inwards \n\nThis lets it spit the water out but hold on to its food",
"How can you eat something under air without swallowing too much air? It's the exact same mechanism. When you close your mouth you squeeze out the air while holding the food in with your teeth, tongue and lips."
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bwfxbv | why does mac-n-cheese not taste cheesy after you reheat it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bwfxbv/eli5_why_does_macncheese_not_taste_cheesy_after/ | {
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"Thats entirely based on how you made the mac n cheese and what cheese was used. If you are using the powdered kind, grate some real cheese into the bowl becore reheating.",
"So macaroni and cheese changes when it gets cold in a few different ways. The oils in the cheese sauce get cold and harden up and separate, while the macaroni continue to absorb more water. Some water is also lost if it isnt in an air tight container. This turns what is left into a starchy and oily mess. You can reheat it better by adding in a bit of milk, this replaces the water that was lost and helps the oil get mixed back in better! But it still loses a bit of flavor, that I don't know exactly why. I just add a bit more cheese and some salt! Almost good as fresh."
]
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[],
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29u92y | how is a movie filmed? | And I mean the actual filming of the movie. So for example when there is a scene that have different angles and different characters in scene. Whenever there is a change in angle is it filmed separately. Or is it one continuous shot with a bunch of different cameras filming at the same time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29u92y/eli5_how_is_a_movie_filmed/ | {
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"That's a big question, but your elaboration makes it a little more specific. It's something I wondered for a long time as well. \n\nIn general, scenes in a movie are filmed several times. Each time they film the scene it's called a \"take\" - that's where that guy with the slate comes in and says \"Scene 1 Apple Take 1\" etc. (this guy is the assistant camera, or AC). So they'll often film a few takes of one angle until they get the right one; they want to capture different nuances of the performance so there's options in post, they might need to fix the lighting, etc. \n\nLet's look at a quick example. [Here's the bar scene from *Inglourious Basterds*](_URL_0_). \n\nAfter the opening two-shot of the blonde woman and Michael Fassbender, we cut to a wide three-shot of the three people sitting at the table. This would be one take, and they likely would have filmed the *entire scene* from this angle, multiple times. \n\nThen we cut to an \"OTS\" (over-the-shoulder) shot of the Gestapo Major, who says \"I am just joking.\" This would be another shot. They likely would have filmed the whole scene from this angle as well. \n\nSame for the close-up on Michael Fassbender, etc. \n\nThey do this for all of the main angles of a scene - any close-ups on actors' faces, any two-shots, wide shots of the scene, over-the-shoulder shots, etc. \n\nIn post, they will cut the best of all of these takes together to create a scene as we see it. \n\nAs for \"cut-away\" shots, like the shot at 2:34 of the gun under the table, these will likely be shot in one quick take after the main scene's shots are done. These aren't as *vital* as the main scene takes, and so are usually done quickly toward the end of the scene's filming. \n\nI hope that helped and let me know if you have any more questions, or if I didn't explain something adequately. ",
"It varies, but usually they refilm the scene when they change angles. The multiple-camera technique is often used for sitcoms, though. "
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6g6cda | why are octopus considered shellfish? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6g6cda/eli5_why_are_octopus_considered_shellfish/ | {
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"Shellfish covers two groups, crustacean like lobsters and scrimp. And molluscs like oysters, clams, and octopus and squid. Think of an octopus as the inside of an oyster",
"there are some cephalopods, like the cuttlefish that have evolved internal shells, while others like nautilus that still have external ones. you might have seen cuttlefish shells in a pet store, they are used as a cheap sorce of calcium for birds and other pets, and are appropriately named cuttlebones. octopi have just lost their shells entirely. "
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89suhc | what is the difference between an ethernet and a serial connection? | I want to know what the main differences are between an Ethernet and a serial connection in regards to flow computers.
I'm a woman working in oil and gas, and learning SCADA. Being that it's a male-dominated field, and that I'm new in this position, I feel that I need to educate myself in my own time, to keep up with everyone else. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I did google search and read a lot, but I need a true ELI5 explanation. The articles online expect the readers to have a deeper understanding of this technology than I do. A lot of this is new to me, and I need more basic terminology, please.
(I searched this sub and found that this question was asked once 4 years ago, but there was no answer.)
Edit: Thank you all for your responses. Even though some of it is still over my head, I do have a slightly better understanding, and at least now I can do a search on more specific terms or concepts. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/89suhc/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_an_ethernet/ | {
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"They are different cables (duh) and thus have different characteristics.\n\nFor example a serial cable is 9 or 25 wires used for signalling, including an \"I'm here!\", \"You can send\" and a \"here comes the data\". An Ethernet cable has four wires, used for data only.\n\nA serial cable works with -12 and 12 volt values, an ethernet cable with steps between -2 and 2 volts.\n\nWhen connected, the serial cable can immediately send signals to the other side by the application, while the ethernet protocol needs some kind of handshake to determine the speed and duplex settings and then an IP layer and a TCP layer and then finally the application.\n\nAn serial cable can be up to 15 meters, while an Ethernet cable can be up to 100 meters.\n\nSo, when to use what? It depends :-)\n\nA serial connection is very simple to implement, most bootloaders on devices have it so you can see what is happening during the start of it. You can get a kind of CLI to configure things, often basic console stuff without a fancy web-frontend but it does do the job. Once that is finished, you can switch to your Ethernet connection and do the nice clickety-click mouse stuff in your browser to configure the rest.\n",
"Computer engineer here,\n\nEthernet is a family of related networking technologies defined by the IEEE as a group of standard known as IEEE 802.3\n\nYou may recall that IEEE also defines a set of wireless (WiFi) technologies as IEEE 802.11\n\nEthernet is primarily concerned with physical standards and data transmission standards. There are Ethernet standards for transmission over coaxial cable, fibre optic cable, and twisted pairs of cable.\n\nRegardless of the physical medium used, the [nearly] universal use for Ethernet is to establish wired networks that communicate using the Internet Protocol with a transmission protocol on top of that.\n\nA serial connection on the other hand doesn't mean much on its own. All that it means is that the underlying data link protocol transmits only a single bit of data at a time, just very quickly. It describes nothing about the form of the physical transceiver; RS-232, RS-485, USB, Serial ATA, PCI Express, SAS, I2C, SPI, etc... are all mutually incompatible standards that employ serial data transmission in various configurations.\n\nSome serial connections are directly between a host and a device (such as RS-232) while others are multi-drop networked (such as USB), yet others require a ring configuration (such as SPI). Each one has its place.\n\nDespite the above, in contemporary usage the term \"serial\" most commonly refers to the use of UART transmission over RS-232. However, that's far from universally true. If I were to ask someone what interface something used and they told me \"serial\" I'd just ask them to send me the manual instead."
]
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dlr8l3 | where did 'cop speak' come from, and why is it so distinctive? | I'm curious about how the jargon and rhythm of 'cop speak' came to be? It's a very recognizable way of speaking, but it has some odd qualities.
for instance - flat, multisyllabic, often archaic or wordy explanations for simple concepts ('able to ascertain the whereabouts ' vs 'found them'), or heavy use of passive voice ('it was determined' vs 'I/We concluded'). In particular, there are a lot of words common to this manner of speech that are neither legally more precise, nor especially useful compared to a more common or simple version.
Is this just a byproduct of the need for frequent legal testimony? Is it a linguistic marker for membership that they unintentionally adopt? How did this specific dialect solidify with so many
antiquated terms? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dlr8l3/eli5_where_did_cop_speak_come_from_and_why_is_it/ | {
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"Great question! As no one is answering I will offer my opinion.\n\nI think the origin for this characterization is the detective novel.Going back to Sherlock Holmes at least, the policeman was portrayed as an uneducated plodder, even to the point of being nicknamed 'plod' in the UK.\n\nThe detective is always smart, and to evidence this, the police are made to appear slow. The contrast is enhanced when the police talk and write reports in the cumbersome idiom you describe, projecting their ignorance while believing they are being formal and forensic.\n\nSo in short I think the language you describe is a fictional artifact rather than actual fact."
]
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2c3hi2 | why don't planes put passengers on the bottom half of the plane? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c3hi2/eli5_why_dont_planes_put_passengers_on_the_bottom/ | {
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"text": [
"Isn't it also a safety issue too? In the event of an emergency landing the bottom of the aircraft would cushion an impact a little more and improve surviability. "
]
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47o0fo | why have weed prices dropped so significantly (deflation!) over the past 20 years? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47o0fo/eli5_why_have_weed_prices_dropped_so/ | {
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"How cheap is your weed?!",
"Weed uses to be ridiculously cheaper....\n\nMy dad was getting ounces of BC nugs for 100 bucks. I pay twice that if I'm buying small quanity\n\nAlso.. Location and connections are what truly detsenine prices",
"That's an odd claim to make. \n\nAre you basing the question on this [chart showing an anomalous spike](/_URL_1_) in the early 90s? Because... that looks cheap to me, and it's from DEA data. Prices now can't be cheaper than that.\n\n[Here's a chart](/_URL_0_) showing that it has grown far more potent, though."
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"https://www.ncjrs.gov/ondcppubs/publications/policy/ndcs01/images/average_price.gif"
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57m7iu | does time dilation affect people living at high altitudes vs those who are not? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57m7iu/eli5_does_time_dilation_affect_people_living_at/ | {
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"text": [
"There would, but the difference would be almost impossible to detect. I'm not sure it'd be possible to even create a device that could measure the difference."
]
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3xn4sn | how is it that binoculars magnify things only when viewed from one direction, but both sides of a magnifying glass are magnifying? | Optics confuse me. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xn4sn/eli5_how_is_it_that_binoculars_magnify_things/ | {
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"text": [
"Binoculars line up two lenses (one pair for each eye), plus might have some mirrors in them to adjust light path length. One of those lenses on either side is large to gather lots of light, the other is small to focus it for your eye. So it's not symmetric, meaning you can't flip it around and the light will work the same way.\n\nA magnifying glass is only one lens, and it IS symmetric. So you see the same image from either side if you flip it.",
"Unlike a simple magnifying glass binoculars have multiple lenses, and depending on design perhaps some mirrors.\n\nLook at this [cutway](_URL_0_) There's some optical physics that I don't really understand my self, but the reason for the multiple lenses is so that the entire field of view is in focus. Camera lenses operate under the same principle. Think about a magnifying glass, only a small portion is in focus, but since it's symmetrical you can simply flip it upside down for the same effect. With multiple lenses and mirrors/prisms you lose that symmetry."
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4t7aw1 | what's the problem with thawing meat by running it under a running stream of water? | My grandmother always told me not to do that, and I've been sneakily doing it anyway for almost 15 years, it's a lot faster than thawing things overnight and I still don't have a microwave. But today I looked on a package of frozen chicken and it, too, said to either thaw it overnight or defrost it in the microwave (which is also slow in comparison) so what's the deal? Or am I in the running for a Nobel prize? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4t7aw1/eli5_whats_the_problem_with_thawing_meat_by/ | {
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"text": [
"You want to keep the food at a safe temp (32-43F) running it under water isn't going to guarantee that temp across the food stays within limits, anything above 43 will result in massive bacterial growth resulting in food borne illness, best bet to thaw quick enough is a small bowl of water (cold) and set the frozen food in there, the food will act like an ice cube and keep the water cool enough to promote food safety (and to stop you from potentially getting sick)all while thawing out said food (albeit slower than running water)",
"There is no problem putting meat in a bowl and running water over it.\n\nSource: _URL_0_\n\nI'm just saying isn't it how most people unthaw stuff? Plus it abides by food safety standards, but of course that's for the US.",
"If it's above 40F and under 165F (poultry) for more than two hours then bacteria and microbes can thrive in that environment ",
"Thawing in the fridge overnight is the best way, but there is nothing wrong with doing it over running water. You only need a trickle. Also make sure to use cold water, and to cook the meat immediately once thawed. \n\nNever use a microwave to defrost meat *shudder"
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"http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/the-big-thaw-safe-defrosting-methods-for-consumers/CT_Index"
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2tb446 | why do we still have sd tv channels when hd looks like sd on an old tv? | Couldn't we just have the HD version of the channels & delete the SD ones? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2tb446/eli5_why_do_we_still_have_sd_tv_channels_when_hd/ | {
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"FCC mandated digital broadcasts, they didnt mandate high definition",
"HD doesn't look like anything at all on an SD TV. An old SD television can't even process the HD signal.\n\nWe still have SD channels because there are still SD televisions out there.",
"There are a few reasons why SD channels still exist:\n\n1) SD channels typically consume much less bandwidth than HD channels, so it is possible to carry many more SD channels than HD channels over the same coaxial cable or wireless spectrum (for antenna broadcasts). This point does not apply when a television service provider carries both HD and SD versions of the same channel though.\n\n2) Broadcasts formatted for HDTVs (in 16x9 aspect ratio) will typically have important details/information cut-off if displayed on an older 4:3 television screens. The SD-specific channels are often formatted especially for older 4:3 screens so that important graphics/information/details etc. don't get cut-off.\n\n3) Not all TVs/tuners are capable of receiving HD broadcasts even though they may be capable of receiving digital SD broadcasts.\n\n4) With respect to cable TV, some cable companies still carry analog SD channels which can be received by older television sets without the need of a digital-to-analog adapter. If everything was switched to digital/HD, older televisions would need to be outfitted with a special adapter in order to receive service (which is already the case in some areas).\n\n5) A few televisions stations (typically local / low-budget stations) are still using old cameras, video processing and transmission equipment from the 90s or early 2000s and haven't yet invested in upgrading their equipment to support HD broadcasts.\n\n",
"The way it works is that old TV stations got a certain amount of bandwidth to replace their old analog TV stations. \n\nHowever, HD takes up more bandwidth then SD - so the stations can choose between 2 or 3 HD stations, or like 7 or 8 SD stations (or a mix of both) \n\nThey can do a bunch of SD stations and make more money in advertizing by running 7 or 8 different reruns of old SD TV shows at a time\n\nIn fact, those stations often got permanent rights to show an unlimited number of reruns of old syndicated shows in perpetuity. That means they don't even have to pay anyone to air old eppisodes of _Star Trek_ or _Alf_ \n\nSo basically it's free money for them, based on being around for a long, long time and having their old rights get upgraded as new technology comes out. "
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bpnqhr | why are we on the brink of war with iran? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bpnqhr/eli5_why_are_we_on_the_brink_of_war_with_iran/ | {
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"There's some serious \"wag the dog\" going on here. Trumpy is on the ropes with Mueller, Congress, and the IRS so what does any self-respecting President do when cornered by Justice? They start a war.",
"A Saudi oil tanker was attacked. There isn't much evidence that it was an attack by Iran. But that is the reason the carrier group was moved into the area.",
"John Bolton is still involved in our government. So long as he is there will be some war being pushed. That's a good start."
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oztsn | why do pc manufacturers bog down a potentially great machine with a ludicrous amount of worthless, hard to delete software, effectively lowering the perceived quality of the machine? (looking at you, hp) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/oztsn/eli5_why_do_pc_manufacturers_bog_down_a/ | {
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"The spamware companies pay them to subsidize the cost of the machine, and the only people that will perceive the lack of quality, to any of the companies involved anyway, are nerds, who they aren't even considering marketing to.\n\nNormal folk don't even know what half that garbage is anyway (and might even be drawn in by some of it [free virus protection weeeee!]), but a significantly lower price will get a buy from them.",
"There are suckers born every minute...",
"They get paid by software companies to do it and pass the savings onto you! Stickers are also subsidized too. These both contribute to why Macs are more expensive. "
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1lwlpb | why don't americans vote when their government decides to go to war? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lwlpb/eli5why_dont_americans_vote_when_their_government/ | {
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"America is a Representative Democracy not a true democracy. What that means is the people elect officials that the people believe to be the best representative for themselves. After elected, the officials job isn't to vote the way his voters tell him to, but rather vote in the way it would best help his people. The thought process behind this is you have millions of people who may never see or care about the true issue but have an uninformed opinion nonetheless. So, you have one elected official whos job it is to be informed about the topic/issue at hand and voting in the way it best helps his people. If something like war ever got put to an actual vote for the people it would be a horrible misrepresentation of the people. Not to mention all the people who would turn out to vote for one side or the other simply from past experiences: war vets, families destroyed by war, warmongers, etc. ",
"The point of voting is to *choose* people that can make these decisions on your behalf.\n\nThis idea is steeped in history, going back to times when it was far too difficult to get citizens together every time a decision had to be made.\n\nPerhaps this notion will change in future, but not for the time being.",
"Because asking people to vote on a matter they only actually know anything about the situation based on the medias perspective and \"reporting\" is a bad idea.",
"Assuming we are discussing changing this one element of Rep. Dem (and not scrapping the entire system), the practical reasons are the main obstacles.\n\nConsider other situations where deliberation and posturing for weeks (as with Syria) don't apply. Pearl Harbor, 9/11, assassination of the archduke, Cuban Missile Crisis, KJU's missile tests, Oklahoma City bombing, Benghazi....\n\nComplex situations. Who proposes a vote? A congressman, a Senator, the President? Do we always keep the logistics for an election at the ready? Are there policy options for the voter, or simply yea/nay to war? How would hardball diplomacy work when the final approval has to be run by 100 million voters? How do we budget for an at the ready military or have cohesive policy when the electorate fluctuates in opinion, or is apathetic, or is under-informed?\n\nAnd probably the most compelling reason (and why Rep. Dem. is in place): Should 49.9% of the electorate be negated on such a weighty issue simply because a handful more people want war? Tyranny of the majority is more frightening than any of the shenanigans and rights violations US citizens currently face from the governmental machine.",
"Because most people are too fricken stupid to make an educated vote on a war or not",
"USA is a Representative Democracy not a Direct Democracy. It would take months to arrange a vote. Who would get to decide which issues are \"worthy\" of a direct vote ? Direct democracy also (supposedly) is more susceptible to emotion and stampedes; representatives are supposed to be more deliberative. And representatives are supposed to be better informed than the general voter, partly because they have access to classified info or special briefings.",
"They proposed such a law - see this reddit link! _URL_0_"
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3tx4ar | how does diets and eating healthy help you lose weight even if you don't exercise? | I've been told that in order to lose weight you need to have a calorie deficity. so Calorie out > Calorie in.
How are some people able to lose so much weight without doing cardio or any other stuff? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3tx4ar/eli5_how_does_diets_and_eating_healthy_help_you/ | {
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"You burn plenty of calories even without exercise. The single thing which burns the most calories in a person who doesn't exercise much is actually the brain - but all your other muscles and organs need energy too.\n\nHowever, although you'll lose weight like this, recent research shows that regular exercise may be even more important than being a healthy weight in terms of overall health benefits."
]
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3aef28 | why would an app developer choose to put their app on just one os( ios or android)? wouldn't they make more money having it on both types of devices? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3aef28/eli5_why_would_an_app_developer_choose_to_put/ | {
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"It takes a lot of effort to port the same app to multiple platforms because they don't use the same underlying interfaces.\n\nIt's like asking why my Canadian tax software doesn't also just magically handle Australian code.",
"Android and iOS are entirely different platforms. They use different programming languages (Objective-C for iOS, Java for Android) and different development environments. It takes time and money to develop to both platforms.\n\nWhile there are frameworks that help develop cross platform apps, they are not as good as developing native apps. ",
"The benefit of being exclusive to Apple is the relativity small number of iPhone models available at any one time, laying to simpler development, streamlined requirements... Android is more fractured; multiple versions of the OS, different hardware configurations, and brands of devices. This requires more coding, testing and general elbow grease to get it running for the maximum number of Android devices. ",
"A few small reasons: \n\n* They use completely different languages (Swift or Objective-C vs Java),\n* They use completely different development tools (XCode vs Eclipse/Android Studio), and\n* They use different design languages (Human Interface vs Material Design).\n\nThere are ways around these limitations, hence why they are small reasons.\n\nThe big reason is this: When you create an app for iOS, you only need to worry about six devices tops (iPhone 6/5/4, iPad, iPad Mini and Apple Watch), most of whom are using a version of iOS that's at worst two major versions behind. (Apple's update system is really good.) This is very easy to test and very easy to support once your app gets out to users. \n\nWhen you create an app for Android, you need to worry about HUNDREDS of devices running SEVERAL different versions of Android since the onus of keeping devices up-to-date is left up to manufacturers, not Google. There are still many people with devices running versions of Android that are five years old! This is much more difficult to effectively test and support, thereby making it more expensive in the long run. ",
"Completely different languages. Even with some frameworks you still need some native code, and there are not as many Objective C developers for OSX as there are Java developers. Maybe when C# and the .NET Framework by Microsoft is released on Apple devices it'll be easier, but still a pain.",
"If you imagine that building an app is like building a house, then the OS represents the city government, utilities, and landscape.\n\nSure, you can build basically the same house in two different cities. But maybe one city has a high water table, and you need to redesign the leakproofing in the basement. Maybe the other city has energy conservation regulations that require you to go through a lengthy inspection and review process. The point is, the devil is in the details, and those details cost a lot of time and money.\n\nNow imagine you need to start paying off the loans you took out to start your company, and you don't think you can afford to build both houses at the same time. At this point, you probably decide that you should start with one house, and then build the other house later if possible.\n\nLet's take a look at our choice of cities. One city, iOS, is full of rich and trendy people who have a history of buying new houses. The other city, Android, is larger; however, the housing market is slow. Which city do you build the house in?\n\nLastly, once you've built and sold your house, do you bother learning the building codes for the other city? Or do you move on and design a new house in the environment you're already familiar with?",
"1. There is development cost involved in developing for each platform. \niOS uses objective-c and their own APIs, Android uses \"Java\" and its own set of APIs. Not that big of an issue if you are using platforms that are designed to be cross-platform (e.g. Unity3d).\nMoreover, each platform has their own quirks, and also requires testing on a variety of devices which may not necessarily be available to the developer (e.g. if you are developing on Android you should test on multiple devices - it is possible for your app to work correct on most devices but perform strangely in other devices).\n\n2. There is administrative costs involved. Android and Windows store has a one-time fee ($25 for Android, $19 for individual or $99 for enterprise on Windows). iOS store requires a subscription (US$99 per annum for individuals/organizations or US$299 for enterprise). Each platform have varied lag time as to how long you have to wait (days to months) before your app becomes available to the general public.\n\n3. There is no guarantee that you would actually make more money by targetting multiple platforms, and in fact there could be a possibility of a net loss.\n\n4. The app might not be compatible with the platform store terms. E.g. Why there's no Firefox for iOS.",
"1. iDevice hardware isn't nearly as varied as Android is, and the OS is tightly controlled by Apple, resulting in fewer compatibility issues.\n\n2. Programmers usually use only a few languages. On an iDevice, you have to use Objective-C. On Android, you can use Java, C/C++, and others (although those are mostly wrappers around Java and C/C++)\n\n3. Not everyone wants to spend $1500 or more for a Mac to develop an app if it flops (since it's not possible to use Xcode on Windows, and Hackintoshes can be shaky).\n\n4. Developers might want to avoid fragmentation, since while Google places little control on the Play Store, every app update in the Apple App Store has to be approved.\n\n5. A good number of app makers are usually just one or two person teams, and feel they don't have the time to dedicate to supporting apps on multiple platforms, especially if they have multiple different apps\n\n6. Some people just have personal convictions against Google (evil information hogging overlords) and Apple (overpriced hipster toys) and will refuse to make something that in the end would support said company, even just a little. ",
"I have three apps published till now. I'll take a stab at this. My first two apps I put them on both Android and iOS. The third was iOS only.\n\nWhy?\n\nBecause for every $360 I make on iOS, I make $1 on Android.\n\nAnd Android takes way more effort because there are thousands of devices running Android so I need to test the apps on at least 20-30 of the most popular devices to ensure that most people who download it on Android will be able to use it, compared to having to test in on just 4s, 5s, 6 and 6s on iOS. \n\nSo developing for Android:\n\n1. Costs me more\n1. Takes more effort\n1. Brings me 1/360th of the money as iOS\n\nNow all my apps are paid apps (as in you buy them), so based on my experience I wont be putting paid apps on Android any time in the future.\n\nOtoh my next app is an ad. supported free app, which means I need as much of an audience for it as possible and so will be putting it on both Android and iOS.\n\nSo basically, depends on the app, situation and monetization."
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2aj1ri | why do we get bumps on ourselves when we are cold? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2aj1ri/eli5_why_do_we_get_bumps_on_ourselves_when_we_are/ | {
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"Goosebumps raise the little hairs on your body. This creates a barrier against breeze which admittedly is not very effective if you don't have a lot of hair, but we used to have a lot more hair than we do now, so I'm sure it's some kind of evolutionary holdover. It does however help to create a pocket of insulating air between you and your clothing, so it's still effective.\n\n",
"It's your skin trying to make your body hair fluff up to improve your insulation and keep you warmer. Your skin hasn't cottoned on yet that you no longer have a significant amount of body hair.",
"More specifically, goose bumps are caused by the contraction of miniature muscles called arrector pili muscles in the skin that stand hair up. For animals, this is a \"fight or flight\" response - either the hair is being raised to make the animal look bigger (think of an angry cat) or to provide insulation in the cold. These are both \"vestigial\" traits in humans, or traits that in the past (evolutionarily speaking) could have been important but are no longer relevant - because we aren't covered in hair. \n\nInterestingly enough, because of this goosebumps are an evidence of evolution! Why would we have them if we didn't evolve from something that did need them?!"
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2xy0xd | why do contactless cards exist if pin numbers were suppose to reduce fraud? | Contactless payment cards , even though limited to £30 surely if a card is stolen, surely they can just use it (until it is blocked?). Were PIN numbers not suppose to guard against that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xy0xd/eli5_why_do_contactless_cards_exist_if_pin/ | {
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"Bear in mind that the primary reason a thief steals a card is not to buy things that he needs, but usually to buy things that he can then quickly sell for cash. Ideally a thief would want to buy things like mobile phones and laptop computers which could be quickly and easily sold \"no questions asked\" at way below market price to some dodgy bloke in a pub.\n\nSo with that being the case, there's a limit to how valuable a contactless card would be to a thief. He's not going to be able to buy much that anyone's going to want to buy off him -- perhaps a few packets of cigarettes or a couple of bottles of whisky.\n\nBanks also have automated monitoring of customers' purchasing patterns and if they detect the sort of behaviour that indicates likely fraudulent use (someone suddenly buying £30-worth of cigs or whisky, for example) they might well put an automatic stop on the card until the owner phones them up to authorise the transaction.",
"It's a balance of security vs convenience. By making payment with credit card easier, more people will use their cards and thus credit card companies gain more revenue (they take a cut of each transaction). \n\nWith more transactions going through credit cards, they can also learn much more about your spending habits and the demography as a whole via data mining. Marketing love this type of data and is willing to pay for it. "
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5lquhx | how did crocodiles survive the extinction of dinosaurs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lquhx/eli5_how_did_crocodiles_survive_the_extinction_of/ | {
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"First off, let me clearly state that there is no \"definitive answer\", there are several theories out there but none has been proven so far.\n\nHowever [this website lists several theories](_URL_0_) which are quite interesting.\n\nAmong others it also lists the water claim but explains why crocodiles were less affected than aquatic dinosaurs.\n\nSimply put, crocodiles are amphibious creatures who live near land and in fresh water areas (swamps, rivers, lakes, etc.) but not in oceans/salt waters. The KT extinction event might have simply been more devastating to those biotopes than those of crocs.\n\nIt's easy to imagine environmental factors to influence fish but not frogs, crocs, turtles, etc. The same distinction goes for mosasaurus and a crocodile.\n\nThe one theory I find most interesting is that dinosaurs, even though they are reptilian in nature, were actually warm-blooded which would explain the devastating effect of climate change on them opposed to the cold-blooded crocodiles.\n\nLastly, maybe crocodiles are not the only species to survive and some crustacean beasts roam the seas looking for about three-fiddy.",
"They did not really survive as a whole. Only a really small part of the crocodile family survived till today. There were a lot oif crocodile relatives in dinosaurs' time, but the vast majority of them went extinct. \n \nIt's also false that they didn't evolve, they just are a lot more similar to what they where then that a lot of other species. \nSource (in Spanish) : _URL_0_ \n \nEdit: cocodrile, crocodile",
"You have to keep in mind that while some 'crocodiles' survived many others did not.\n\n\nBasically all land dwelling animals larger than a certain size became extinct and lots of small animals too.\n\nOf the dinosaurs only some birds survived and most other groups related to dinosaurs like the flying reptiles etc died out. The ancestors of our modern crocodiles are one of the exceptions, they were part of a larger group of crocodile like species and most of those died out too. Of the crocodile like species all the larger species and all the species living in the ocean became extinct and only som small freshwater species survived.\n\nIt is wrong to think that crocodiles survived while dinosaurs didn't. Both groups suffered huge losses and only had some small species survive. The dinos that survived were small birds, the crocs that survived were small freshwater crocs. The crocodilians just evolved into the different large species we have today that look a lot like their ancestors while modern birds large don't resemble their ancestors too much.",
"I would like to add that crocodiles are not that closely related to dinosaurs. Birds are however. So the real question should be why did non-avian dinosaurs die out while avian dinosaurs, i.e. birds, survived the extinction event.",
"Crocodilians have a few advantages over a lot of other animals, even though some of these advantages are possessed by other animals as well.\n\nLook at the way Alligators in North America hibernate, and you'll see how the prehistoric crocodiles survived.\n\n\nTheir lungs are a fibrous network in their upper torso that can expand to 2/3 of their torso length, enabling them to hold a larger amount of air than creatures with encapsulated lungs, like people.\n\nThey can slow their blood flow and metabolism down when times are hard, putting themselves into a semi-hibernative state, torpor. This enables the increased oxygen supply to last longer, as their body requires less resources.\n\nUnless they're in a growth period, as a cold blooded creature, they don't need a lot of food for maintenance, and slowing their metabolic state reduces this need further. A big meal can mean that a crocodile doesn't need to eat for days.\n\n\nAn 8 foot alligator needs less than 400 calories a day for maintenance, and can sink for nearly a day with a good breath.\n\nSo something like Saurosuchus Imperator, at 40 feet long, may have been able to get a stomach full of dinosaur, take a good deep breath, and sink for a longer period of time. Occasionally coming up for a breath, or grabbing more food.\n\n\nSource: worked with various crocodilians for 30 years, and on various projects with Paul Sereno, paleontologist."
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3wqdng | why wikipedia isn't a good enough citation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wqdng/eli5_why_wikipedia_isnt_a_good_enough_citation/ | {
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"Encyclopedias are tertiary sources; they're too far removed from the source information to be reliably sourced. Wikipedia is no exception. Wikipedia (and wikis in general) also has user-changeable information, and while it's not easy to get incorrect information to stay for long, it's trivial to get information on there and cite a source that says *nothing* about the statement/summary on Wikipedia.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nUse Wikipedia or other encyclopedias to get a general understanding of the material, then go to the primary/secondary sources to get proper sources."
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ura5y | why does it hurt to chew tin foil? | This has been biting me since I first was a stupid child who decided it was a good idea to bite down on a big ball a tin foil only to have what felt like Zeus' thunder and wrath run through my enamel. I assume it has something to do with the aluminum oxide coating. Why does it react to your teeth when chewed? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ura5y/eli5_why_does_it_hurt_to_chew_tin_foil/ | {
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"I've never experienced this, but I have a follow-up question. In his novel The Stand, Stephen King has one character describe another saying \"It's like God left out a part when he was making you. There's something in you that's like biting on tin foil.\"\n\nI have never understood what that analogy is intended to convey. Could anyone clue me in? It seems like it's supposed to be very evocative of something, I just for the life of me cannot figure out what.",
"When you have fillings, the saliva connects the two dissimilar metals, creating a minute current, that hurts so badly because it touches those sensitive nerves.\n\nSimilar to the 9-volt to your tongue thing.",
"Just tried it, doesn't hurt.\n\nNot tasty, but no pain.",
"ELI5: Why does glass taste like blood?",
"ELI5: Why do people chew tin foil?",
"I don't have trouble chewing tin foil. I actually enjoy it. :)",
"ELI5: Why do people chew tin foil?",
"Because the government wants people to become distrusting of tinfoil, so that when they turn on the mind-control towers no-one will want to wear a tin-foil hat to shield themselves.\n\nIt's all a conspiracy, man.",
"It hurts me just reading about chewing tin foil. ",
"this entire thread has left me in perpetual cringes",
"Holy shit that hurt just reading the title.\n\nEdit: Reading the replies apparently it doesn't hurt but imagining it sounds painful to me.",
"oh man i just checked out a video of two drunk guys eating it. cringed.\n\nIn other news, the youtube comments in the vid are not very youtubey...\n\n_URL_0_"
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2hngk7 | why it's easier to read text in reverse than say the alphabet in reverse? | Why is it easier to read this:
_URL_0_
Than say my ABC's backwards?
Obviously I know my ABC's without needing to read them, but if my brain is capable of rapidly processing letters to form full words so easily, why can't I use the same brain processing power behind that to say my ABC's in reverse?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hngk7/eli5_why_its_easier_to_read_text_in_reverse_than/ | {
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"Because they're single letters. Think of the ABC's like a long word. Ey, Bee, See. Then it's gonna be hard to say that backwords, and that's how you've learned it, as a long word. Just rapidly saying it as a whole. *\"abcdefgh...\"*\n\nIt's the same problem that many dyslectics have, a dyslectic probably wouldn't be able to read that picture as easily as, maybe, you and I, because they see every letter individually in a word whereas you see the whole word.\n\nThis is the reverse, you see the whole word and can't recall that word individually backwards."
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29cw89 | trading cards on steam | What is their purpose? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29cw89/eli5_trading_cards_on_steam/ | {
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"You know how some people like heroin, or slot machines, or collecting porcelain figurines of cats playing with clowns? Some people leak money for cards. I'm not exactly sure why.",
"Pretty much the same as the purpose of karma on reddit - meaningless internet points.\n\nThough at the moment you can turn the whole set into a badge and get Steam rewards like profile backgrounds, emoticons, ingame items for TF2 and DotA2, etc. ",
"The trading cards are a collectible. They are used primarily as a secondary economy (limited), and for \"Look What I Have!\" value.\n\nHowever, they serve minor purposes. If you collect a whole set (you have to do that by trading, buying, or hoping you get lucky with booster drops), you can craft a \"Badge\". These badges can be featured on your profile, and they unlock goodies related to the event or game the card set is for. Say for \"Team Fortress 2\" a set might get me a profile background, some Steam Chat stickers/emoticons, an in-game drop (like a hat, taunt or something), and often a coupon for some random game. You also get \"XP\" which is counted on your profile to level it up.\n\nWhat does levelling up your profile provide? It is mostly just for ePeen imaginary internet points. However, it does provide some tangible benefits. It allows you more customization of your profile in the first few levels. After that, every few levels you unlock an extra 5 slots for your friend list (yes, they implemented a friend list limitation, and extend it by getting levels). So if you have tons of clan buddies or trading partners, or a giant school-wide steam group that you constant banter with, you may want to level up. Most people get around this by being part of Steam Community Groups, which have their own chat rooms, forums, and announcements. \n\nSo overall the benefit other than fancy doodads, hats, wallpapers, and internet points is low, but there is a benefit. Further, somebody with a higher level will be less likely to be immediately dismissed as a nobody basement dweller. They might think you are actually a basement-dweller who might know their shit.",
"You collect a set and then you can craft a badge which gets you some goodies like wallpapers for your profile page or emoticons for steam chat. Craft abadge multiple times and it lvls up. It's basically inline with things like achievements. It's purpose is ultimately for fun and a sense of achievement / completion. They are better than achievements though because they carry an actual monetary value not much but still. So you can trade and sell them to complete your collections or just to make money if you happen to come across some rare stuff you can actually make some decent change."
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2yv4lc | why does drinking water stay tasteless before it comes out of the taps, but a day or so after it's come out of the tap it tastes weird? even after being in a bottle. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yv4lc/eli5_why_does_drinking_water_stay_tasteless/ | {
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"The water coming out of taps are full of dissolved oxygen. Aerated water (water with high levels of oxygen dissolved) tastes fresh and not funky. However, when it is left standing for a long time even inside the bottle, its temperature rises, oxygen begins to gas out from it and the water feels off."
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5pgcwt | what is the difference between a realist and pragmatist? | I've tried to understand the difference between these two, and all I can determine is that they definitely are not the same but I'm not understanding why. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pgcwt/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_a_realist_and/ | {
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"Realist: \"Whatever IS, is. Whether that be good or bad, we accept it.\"\n\nPragmatist: \"Whatever works is good. Focus on what gives a good, reasonable and realistic outcome and ignore the rest.\""
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as8u5k | why are big lumps of coal left as memorials to mining not a fire risk? | I live in an ex-mining area and have seen a lot of memorials that are large lumps of coal. Not far from here is a place where a lot of coal slag was dumped - and yet even when there was a big wildfire last summer, they didn't seem to be a major problem.
Does the coal slag heap contain little ignitable material? Is it hard to burn a very large lump of coal? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/as8u5k/eli5_why_are_big_lumps_of_coal_left_as_memorials/ | {
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"To answer your questions at the end Yes and Yes. There is very little coal in a slag heap and a lump of coal is difficult to ignite, but once it is burning it will burn very hot and for quite a long time.",
"Coal doesn't burn well in normal conditions.\n\nIt's very energy dense, but not very flammable.\n\nSo once you get it hot enough, it'll burn hot for a long time (Which is why it's so useful). But it won't ignite easily like wood or paper.\n\nCharcoal (The partially burned remains of wood) is similar; you'll find glowing charcoal after a fire smoulders away quite warmly for hours after the fire has gone out, but if you put a match next to a block of charcoal nothing would happen."
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5m7qwe | the basic knowledge of guns | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5m7qwe/eli5_the_basic_knowledge_of_guns/ | {
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"Never point a gun at anyone unless you intend to shoot them, loaded or unloaded.\n\nKeep it pointed at the ground or up in the air.\n\nTreat every gun as if it were loaded, even when you know it's not. \n\nKeep your finger off the trigger unless you intend to shoot it.\n\nDo everything right and a gun will never be a threat to anyone unless you want it to be."
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3kitz3 | why amazon doesn't care about people sending junk in return of an item? | My asshole roommate ordered a $100 gaming headset from Amazon. He then emailed amazon that he didn't liked the quality of headphone and asked to refund it. They sent their guy to accept return. My friend put his old cheap ass junk headphone in new box and returned it. Amazon refund, too.
Why they don't care about this scam ?? Don't they lose money ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kitz3/eli5_why_amazon_doesnt_care_about_people_sending/ | {
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"Amazon isn't the only one that has these lax return policies. For a lot of high volume retailers that rely on easy customer service as part of their brand it's much cheaper for them to just take your return no questions asked than both spend the man hours to actually go through and confirm your return is legit, and alienate customers who feel as though they are being treated unfairly when their legit return is a difficult process.\n\nBut don't feel too bad for Amazon. They don't really just entirely eat the cost of losses. They know it happens and build into their prices that a certain amount of product will be just lost to such scams. So really your asshole roommate isn't just an asshole cause he has no moral shame and is okay with stealing from Amazon. He's an asshole because he has personally fucked us all over by contributing to slightly higher prices for the rest of honest customers. \n\nGive that asshole a piss in the ol' coffee cup or a Hitler while he's asleep from me. Fucking asshole.",
"Most people aren't thieves, so it's cheaper for Amazon to just shrug about the few dorks that pull this scam than to pay to lock it down. But if it proliferates enough that it becomes a real problem, then they will take steps to prevent it -- for instance, for most businesses the real losses come from employee theft, and this summer there was a lot of discussion of Amazon's draconian policies to prevent that. If something is costing them a lot of money, they will do anything they can to stop it. If something isn't costing that much, it's cheaper to let it continue. "
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2wsw64 | why are panda bears becoming extinct? | Just having a conversation with my flatmate. We don't think it's laziness not breeding otherwise surely they'd have become extinct long ago. Is it purely environmental? Change in diet? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wsw64/eli5_why_are_panda_bears_becoming_extinct/ | {
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"A combination of their habitat being destroyed by humans and that they are not breeding. We do not know why they are having problems with breeding. ",
"Unfortunately pandas have very long reproductive cycles (the female may only be 'interested' once or twice a year in some cases). This means that their populations are particularly sensitive to disruptions, such as deforestation for palm oil plantations.\n\nTo give you an idea; the few western zoos lucky enough to have pandas have been trying to breed them in captivity for years with little success - they can be very 'picky'."
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2exax8 | how do we measure the intelligence of dog breeds? | How do we measure how intelligent certain breeds are? I often hear from people that their dogs particular breed is very smart or "almost as smart as a border collie" but what is this founded on? In these cases, probably just anecdotal evidence, but how are dogs measured for intelligence? What are some of the 'dumb' dog breeds? We never hear about those. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2exax8/eli5_how_do_we_measure_the_intelligence_of_dog/ | {
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"Well its variable. You have dogs that are considered smart because they're super trainable. A border collie can be trained to do a lot of tasks, as can most herding dogs. Also think about all the training that service animals go through to help the blind. And we've had better/worse luck with different breeds so certain ones become prominent.\n\nthat said, its going to vary by temperament and intelligence of individual dogs, and i don't think there's a definitive ranking of the breeds.",
"generally, it's based on their ability to learn complex tasks. herding dogs, like collies, can't just memorize specific actions to perform their job. it's important to note here that train-ability and intelligence are quite different. some of the most intelligent breeds are incredibly hard to train because they are smart enough to be willful.\n\n > What are some of the 'dumb' dog breeds?\n\ngenerally anything bred to be exceptionally large or small. getting dogs to the size of a toy poodle took a certain level of irresponsibility in breeding selection and it's caused all sorts of problems.\n\nguard dogs tend to not be the most clever. mastiffs are the classic example. "
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