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dnimol | since men don’t have a womb/uterus does that mean there’s more space in their abdominal cavity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dnimol/eli5_since_men_dont_have_a_wombuterus_does_that/ | {
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"(For the rest of their organs)",
"The uterus when it is not holding a child is fairly small and sits atop the bladder like a empty bag. During pregnancy, the amount of tissue and muscle it can grow in a short amount of time probably makes bodybuilders jealous\n\nSo normally it doesnt take up THAT much extra room. When there is a baby, a lot of other organs are pushed aside to make room.",
"A non-gravid uterus is about the size of a pear. Some men can have prostates that big. \n\nWomen have larger pelves, men’s pelves are narrower."
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2my4iq | how will obama's immigration executive order change immigration policy. | I know there was a similar ELI5 on this asking about the pros and cons of Obama's plans but I am just looking for a basic explanation of the executive order itself? What will it mean practically for immigration enforcement policy and how does it affect undocumented people in the U.S. with U.S. citizen children?
Please no punditry. I'm hoping just to get a clear understanding of what will change in policy and practice as a result of this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2my4iq/eli5how_will_obamas_immigration_executive_order/ | {
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"I wont really change much. All it means is that those people wont get deported. It doesn't make them a citizen, they don't government benefits. ",
"Executive order: The president makes a decree that the rest of the executive branch is required to follow. Most government officials and agencies are part of the executive branch, so this can be powerful.\n\nThe practical change might be that undocumented immigrants are, at least for a while, actively ignored by the federal government. This protection could apply to parents of \"dreamers\", those with families, or perhaps all undocumented immigrants. In any case, the protection would be temporary (lasting only as long as the president is in office)\n"
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bw5sgg | why do wine “spoil” so quickly after being opened as opposed to hard liquor? | You can put the cork back in and put it in the fridge, but the flavor is never the same, and sometimes it spoils and tastes unpleasant overnight.
So what makes hard liquor so resilient to time and exposure compared to wine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bw5sgg/eli5_why_do_wine_spoil_so_quickly_after_being/ | {
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"Wine contains a lot of sugars, and a fairly low alcohol content, which makes it susceptible to bacteria getting in and doing their thing. It also contains a lot of compounds from the grapes that may react poorly with oxygen, or absorb contaminants from the air and produce off flavors.\n\nDistilled spirits generally have a low (or no) sugar content and relatively high alcohol content. This makes them a very hostile environment for microbes. They also tend to not have nearly as many compounds remaining from the original ingredients, as almost everything heavier than water has been stripped by the distilling process.",
"As soon as the wine is opened, it begins to oxidize. A small amount of oxidation is good for a wine's flavor, as it is produced in an anaerobic environment as possible to allow the consumer to oxidate it, and small amounts of oxygen will actually act on the same compounds that spoil it to soften the wine's feel. However, as soon as oxygen enters a bottle, it begins to break down many compounds within the wine. basically, oxygen reacts with them to remove the flavor of the wine and turn it a brownish color.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nLiquor doesn't have these compounds within it, as it is made by a different process of distillation.",
"The organisms that produce alcohol are called yeasts. When yeasts are allowed to consume sugars in an environment that does not contain oxygen, they produce alcohol, and they will do so until they have produced enough alcohol that it kills them. Some yeasts remain though, which is why when beer is bottled, the few remaining yeasts continue to produce gas which causes the beer to be fizzy. Wine is treated before bottling so this does not happen.\n\nHard liquor is distilled, which means it has been converted to steam and then condensed into liquid again. The concentration of alcohol in liquor is far too high to allow yeast to survive, and most/all are removed during distillation.\n\nWhen yeasts are allowed to consume sugars in the presence of oxygen, they produce acetic acid instead of alcohol. Acetic acid is what vinegar is made from. Since yeasts can't survive in concentrated alcohol, they aren't able to change the alcohol in liquor into acetic acid, but they CAN in wine and beer after it has been opened and oxygen is put in contact with the yeasts.",
"Others pointed out the wine oxidizes, but they missed the main thing: \n\nThere are air-breathing bacteria that can survive a moderate alcohol content, turning the stuff into acetic acid (aka vinegar). The way they used to make vinegar was to just take wine, cider, beer or any other alcoholic beverage, and let it sit in an open vessel, so that bacteria from the environment would infect it and turn acohol into acid. \n\nSo when you open a bottle of wine, the exact same thing is going to happen. Oxygen and bacteria get into the bottle, and start producing acetic acid. \n\nHard liquor doesn't do that because it has a too high alcohol content for bacteria to live in, although some can survive in a dormant form - alcohol for disinfection has a much higher alcohol content than the usual 40%."
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158fkn | the logistics of the gun control debate in the us and the different facets of current & proposed legislation. | Examples of things I'm looking for: The different kinds of guns currently legal in America, what exactly an "assault weapon" is and how much amunition can currently be purchased / carried by citizens? I feel like this debate is being discussed everywhere but there is never any detail. What, specifically, would we be banning if we banned assault weapons? How do current guns owned by Americans compared to military issued guns? Are there any really unnecessarily powerful guns currently legal? What kinds of guns would you really use to hunt vs. guns that are just sold now because they're cool?
I want to be able to have educated discussions on this issue and I know so little about guns right now that I really can't!
And seriously, please explain this shit like I'm a child because I don't know the first thing about guns. I have never used one and have only been around people using them (just shooting targets) maybe twice ever. I just know that guns are a thing and there are many different sizes and kinds..
Edit: I'm marking this as answered because, between all of the comments so far, I feel like I get the general idea of what I was looking for. Thanks everyone! Feel free to keep commenting if anyone has additional things to say, I'd like to know whatever you think is relevant and will probably ask some follow ups to the people who already commented later (won't be available tonight) but yeah, pretty much this question has been answered already! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/158fkn/eli5_the_logistics_of_the_gun_control_debate_in/ | {
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"I'm not very knowledgeable about the subject so someone else is welcome to correct me, but I'll answer the best I can with what I do know. I also cannot easily provide sources since I'm on my phone, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. \n\nFirst, the laws of what kind of weapon you can carry and where vary from state to state, so there is not one clear answer. \n\nMany states have something called concealed carry, meaning if you get a license (requiring a one day course and background check), you can carry a weapon on you outside of your home as long as it is concealed. Establishments (restaurants, churches, stores, etc) can deny your ability to do this by placing a government compliant sign on the entrance. There are also laws (that vary from state to state) about carrying certain places like school and college campuses that are more restrictive. \n\nSome states have an open carry policy, meaning you can carry a licensed and legal weapon on you as long as it is visible. This is where you get the videos of people carrying around rifles on their back and recording themselves when police confront them, basically trying to get the cops to do something that would violate their right to do so. Police are allowed to confront then to confirm that they are complying with the open carry laws, such as having a legal and licensed weapon or having them unloaded. \n\nAssault weapons are usually defined as weapons whose primary purpose is to kill, or that can kill many people very quickly. Weapons like a soldier or police SWAT team would use. They can have a lot of ammunition, pack a lot of firepower, and can be far more accurate than a pistol. Of course, most people that have them are just for sport or hobby. But their accessibility means they can be used in criminal acts to cause a lot of damage and casualties, such as the shootings in Connecticut or Aurora. \n\nAssault rifles are different from hunting rifles in that hunting rifles usually carry fewer rounds and are semi-automatic. Which brings me to another key issue, semi-automatic vs automatic weapons. Semi-automatic weapons fire once each time the trigger is pulled, automatic weapons fire continually until the trigger is released. This means automatic weapons can fire much faster, and therefore have the ability to cause more casualties and damage. As far as I know, automatic weapons are illegal or heavily restricted in most of the US. Semi-automatic weapons can be modified to be automatic, which is usually illegal. \n\nMany military-grade rifles are available to the public (with a license), but modified so they are not capable of automatic fire. \n\nLet me know if I need to clear anything up :). \n\nEDIT: Forgot to mention, I believe anyone in the US over 18, except felons, is allowed to have a licensed and legal weapon in their house and car without getting a license to do so. ",
"\"Assault weapon\" is a political term used to deliberately confuse people with its similarity to the well-defined term \"assault rifle\". An \"assault weapon\" is whatever the law or person in question happens to think it is, although it usually involves defining by the number of rounds in the magazine and being semi-automatic (1 trigger pull = 1 shot). An \"assault rifle\" is a rifle that is smaller than a \"battle rifle\" and is able to shoot multiple times each time the trigger is pulled (aka \"machine gun\"). There are civilian versions of assault rifles that are not machine guns, they are semi-automatic, and that is what is legal in the US (with the exception of full auto rifles grandfathered from 1986 and before).",
"As a gun owner, I'd be happy to see try and answer some of these questions as best I can, even though this question has already answered. Its really good that your asking questions about this, because getting answers helps people make better opinions. Its true even if you aren't really five years old. \n\nSo, without any further ado, I present to you, the wall of text:\n\nThe first question you asked what what are the different types of gun legal in america. The answer is, quite a lot! You can buy shotguns, rifles, carbines, revolvers, pistols, and every combination imaginable (some companies even make shotgun-revolvers). Different guns have different purposes. A shotgun could be used for skeet shooting or bird hunting. A rifle could be used for range competition or deer hunting. A handgun could also be used for competition, hunting, or even self-defense. \n\nAssault Rifles are kind of hard to categorize, because many people can't really agree on what and assault rifle is. Our former president Bill Clinton defined Assault Rifles has rifles that had special features, and if it had enough of those features then they would be considered assault rifles. This means that two very different guns could both be considered assault rifles, but most people imagine the modern AR-15 as being the archetype for this class of gun. \n\nThere is no current practical limit on what types or how much ammo a person can buy. This is because ammo without a gun to put it in, ammo is useless. Also, certain criminals \"supposedly\" can't buy guns, so ammo is \"supposedly\" a moot point. Another reason that there aren't any limits of what you can buy is because different guns require different ammo, and different ammo is good for different things. \n\nBuckshot is good for hunting, skeet-shot is good for skeet. Full-Metal-Jacket (commonly called FMJ) is good for precision shooting, and hollow points are good for self-defense. Some ammo also costs more or less than others, and that also adds to the variety. \n\nIf we were to pass another assault rifle ban, it probably wouldn't out-law many weapons. The last Assualt-Weapon ban only out-lawed the sale and trade of banned guns, not the existing ownership. Many states already have laws that attempt to ban assault rifles (Mitt Romney signed an Assault-Rifle ban when the the Governor of Massachusetts. So much for republicans caring about the 2nd amendment, right?). Finally, most manufactures can simply delete or modify features to make guns compliant with an Assault Rifle ban. In fact, Bushmaster actually replaced their flash-supprsor with kick-suppressors, making the gun even better as weapons than when the first ban was passed. \n\nComparing guns owned by civilians to guns owned by the military is hard to do. The military has machine guns, grenade launchers, and all sorts of nasty weapons. Civilians have shotguns, handguns, rifles, and carbines. Some of these guns are very much like what the military for various reasons. A light-weight, accurate gun is good for a soldier to carry, and its also good for competition because of those same traits. \n\nIn general the military is much better armed, with much more deadly weapons, than what civilians have. Almost every gun that the military has can fire at least a burst of bullets, a trait very hard for a civilian to acquire. Civilian weapons also have a greater variety of roles to play. The military in general doesn't care about skeet-shooting or concealed carry. \n\nIn my opinion there aren't any guns sold today that are unnecessarily powerful, at least regarding firepower. The .50 Desert Eagle may be a bit excessive when shooting paper, but its actually meant for hunting, where the power is very appropriate. A .50BMG rifle, like the Barret is also good for long distance shooting. For self defense, you want as much power as you can get. A .357 Magnum makes sense when you consider that police officers used to carry them. \n\nI don't hunt, but a few buddies of mine do. I missed their last trip because of work. One of them brought a AR-type weapon, but it was built to use a larger bullet than normal, and it had a large scope installed into it. Another of by buddies used a Remington 700, a common hunting rifle, and sometimes police sniper rifle. \n\nTalking about gun that are bought because they are cool is a bit subjective. I shoot because I like the hobby, and I like having the skill. So technically I shoot because I think its cool. Also, self defense and 2nd amendment, because I can afford to.\n\nOther people shoot because they value being able to use a weapon, they want a hobby with friends, or for any number of reasons. In a way every gun is bought because its kind of cool. Some guns are even laced with decorations because why not? I've seen cowboy style guns, because cowboys are cool, and I've seen ARs with custom skins and graphics on them. I once saw an AR-15 with green skulls and zombies painted onto it. \n\n\n\n\nFor the current debate, theres a lot being discussed, ranging from mental heath care to assault rifle bans. The NRA also suggested today that schools should have police officers at them. Needles to say, a lot is on the table, so to speak. \n\nI don't think an assault rifle ban would do any good because, at the end of the day, a gun is a gun. Also, companies can cheat their way around these bans, and there is a thing called the 2nd amendment. In fact, I think that the 1st Assault Rifle can is what cost Al Gore his race against George Bush; all it really did was piss off gun owners. \n\nIf we were to talk about adding regulations, I think hand guns would be a better starting point. When people rob grocery stores, murder their spouses, or cause mayhem, they tend to use hand guns, if any type of gun. Trayvon Martin was shot with a handgun, as are countless murder victims every year. \n\nI also think that Mental Healthcare if a great talking point in the current debate. Most of the spree killers are mentally ill, and our broken system failed them in the worst way imaginable. Gun reforms only affect legal gun owners. Mental Healthcare reforms would help everyone. Personally, I'm big on helping people. \n\nI do think some gun-control ideas are actually pretty good. I think that three-day-waiting periods are a good idea for the first gun. After that, then you already have a gun, so its a moot point. If you can't wait more than three days to have gun, then you don't need a gun, you need to call the police and get somewhere safe. I could have waited three days for my first 4 guns that I all bought at the same time. \n\nI also think that every gun should come with a lock. Rope Locks keep kids out, and they also confirm that the gun is unloaded. A rope lock could add to the cost of a gun, but if you can't afford to spend an extra $15 on a gun, then you shouldn't have the gun. Who knows how many shootings could have been stopped if the guns had just been well locked?\n\nEducation about best practices and liability are also good considerations. I bought my guns, and shot them, and was never taught about how to handle them safely. I learned about locking my guns in a safe, rope locking them, and putting my ammo in a different container all from youtube. Why isn't there any mandatory education about this all? I know other people are more ignorant, and more lazy than me, and that does kinda scare me sometimes. \n\nSo, to conclude my wall of text, I feel like there are some good idea out there, but our debate isn't covering very many of them, at least not yet. Republicans have traditionally made fools out of themselves by being totalitarian gun nuts, and Democrats have traditionally focused their efforts of vapid displays of rabble rousing. My .223 AR at home is nowhere near as lethal as the .22LR Beretta Bobcat thats in my pocket right now. \n\nMaybe good change will come from this debate. Maybe the change will be bad. We'll just have to give our best efforts, insights, and wishes about this. I also recommend sharing our thoughts and researches with out legislators to let them know that we really do care about this, and they'd better get it right. \n\nEDIT: GRAMMAR. Probably still needs editing. "
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2cb08y | why do roller coaster rides always seem to break down? | Some do more than others, but why can't they make them so they don't have to be repaired constantly? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cb08y/eli5_why_do_roller_coaster_rides_always_seem_to/ | {
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"High speeds, high stress, uncountable moving parts, constant operation.",
"They dont \"break down\" often -- they have insanely stringent safety standards. If a mosquito farts that may trip a sensor, and theyll shut the ride down and testit just in case. They almost never need actual repairs.\n\nTldr better safe than sorry."
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3biwy8 | on restricted wifi networks, how am i able to receive data on certain apps without signing in to the wifi network? | When connecting to some WiFi networks which require you to sign in, my phone, naturally, cannot access the internet except for the sign in page. However, sometimes (like on a plane, where you have to pay for WiFi), I am able to use Snapchat to send and receive snaps, without having paid for internet use. However, if I try to go on Google chrome, it doesn't work. How is it that I can partially access the internet on restricted networks? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3biwy8/eli5_on_restricted_wifi_networks_how_am_i_able_to/ | {
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"You're logging into two different things here.\n\nWhen you log into a WiFi network, your phone is just sending a password to the WiFi router. There's no log in page because to even see one you would already need to be connected. This is how sign into you and your friend's WiFi network at home. You never see a sign-in web page, you're just entering the username and password into your device's WiFi login prompt.\n\nHowever, some companies want a bit more flexibility. They want to show you the EULA, a place to put in your credit card details, or at least a welcoming page. The standard WiFi sign-in doesn't allow for that.\n\nSo what they do is they *remove* the password requirement for WiFi. Now anyone can sign in without a password. Then they lock down the network at the firewall so that no one can see anything except that log in page. \n\nWhen you're using a public WiFi that has a login page, you're connecting to the WiFi without a password, but you still need to sign into the firewall that will open up the internet. The firewall shows you the log in screen with the EULA, or whatever else they would like to show you. Once you click 'accept', or put in your CC details, or whatever else they ask for, it'll open up the firewall to your device so you can access the rest of the Internet.\n\nIn the case of the plane, everyone can sign into WiFi without a password and then they open up snap-chat on the firewall to everyone. Then they restrict the rest of the internet through the firewall unless you pay. "
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836jty | why are male infants more likely to die under the age of 1 than females? | Statistically males are more likely do die in infancy than females. Is there a biological reason for this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/836jty/eli5_why_are_male_infants_more_likely_to_die/ | {
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"Males generally have higher birthweight than females, increasing the liklehood of complications during labor. ",
"They don't really know. \n\n > both preconception environment and child biology increase the mortality of male infants, but the effect of biology is substantially smaller than the literature suggests. I also estimate the interacting effects of biology with some intrauterine and external environmental factors, including birth order within a twin pair, social status, and climate. \n\n_URL_2_\n\n > Our analysis of 15 developed countries shows that, as infant mortality declined over two centuries, the excess male mortality increased from 10% in 1751 to > 30% by approximately 1970. Remarkably, since 1970, the male disadvantage in most countries fell back to lower levels. The worsening male disadvantage from 1751 until 1970 may be due to differential changes in cause-specific infant mortality by sex. Declines in infant mortality from infections and the shift of deaths to perinatal conditions favored females. The reduction in male excess infant mortality after 1970 can be attributed to improved obstetric practices and neonatal care. The additional male infants who survived because of better conditions were more likely to be premature or have low birth weight, which could have implications for their health in later life.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n > Newborn girls have a biological advantage in survival over newborn boys. They have lesser vulnerability to perinatal conditions (including birth trauma, intrauterine hypoxia and birth asphyxia, prematurity, respiratory distress syndrome and neonatal tetanus), congenital anomalies, and such infectious diseases as intestinal infections and lower respiratory infections.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n"
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"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23151996"
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49g0yd | during a jury trial, why aren't jurors placed behind a two way mirror and blocked from view? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/49g0yd/eli5_during_a_jury_trial_why_arent_jurors_placed/ | {
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"Because it would be expensive, it would inconvenience the judge when addressing the jury, and it wouldn't accomplish anything to make it worth the trouble.",
"What benefit do you think that the two way mirror would offer the justice system? \n\nThe defendant's fate is placed entirely in the hands of these 12 strangers. The defendant has the right to face them, look them in the eye, and make their case. \n\nTo institute this mirror would remove a great deal of the humanity from the process, and would definitely be counter-intuitive to how America's justice system is supposed to run. \n\nIt's also worth mentioning that we didn't have 2 way mirrors when the country was founded, and precedent is a major factor in how the justice system is ran. ",
"A barrier like that could lessen the accountability a juror may feel towards the defendant and in reaching a fair verdict on presumed innocence beyond reasonable doubt. Easier to see someone as less human or to feel emotionally removed when you can't look them in the eye. To me the sense of accountability to both the defendant and plaintiff is so important and being in the room and visible to each other is essential for that.",
"There's also the issue of trust. All involved should be able to see that the jury is listening and is alert. If we can't see them, how do we know that they aren't playing Candy Crush or simply is sleeping?",
"Regardless of the reasonable explanations above I think this is an interesting idea. Bill James wrote a book called Popular Crime and throughout it he gives some interesting ideas on how to improve the justice system - including a system for scoring/quantifying the weight of evidence. So while I think a jury behind a two way mirror would be more likely to convict a defendant who'll never see them, maybe we should help them deal with the pressure and responsibility by modifying the rules of evidentiary procedure. "
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9hutmu | how could price dumping be reglemented by the law? | I see price dumping as a hole in the whole free economy theory beauty. I don't understand how it can be proven, meaning that it was intentional and not a normal consequence given by a free economy market.
The premise is that you can't regulate by the law something that you can't prove. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9hutmu/eli5_how_could_price_dumping_be_reglemented_by/ | {
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"I think you mean *regulated.*\n\nPrice dumping can be established by showing the cost of producing an item, and showing that it's being sold in quantity for less than that cost.",
"I would suggest that you read [the Wikipedia article on Predatory Pricing](_URL_1_), and specifically the section regarding ideas on how to control it.\n\nAs you state, it's a difficult thing to prove and there are several competing ideas about how to detect this strategy. Ideas range from very hands off (\"the free market itself will naturally defeat this strategy\") to more involved (\"sale at unreasonably low prices to drive competitors out is illegal and will be prevented\"). In the latter case, the government will typically establish some sort of regulations or guidelines about what pricing strategies are considered reasonable.\n\nEdit: For example, [Canada's Competition Act guidelines](_URL_0_) examine various market conditions (such as geography, market share, or the reasons for price changes) to determine whether an abuse of pricing strategy has occurred. There's about 20 pages of regulations dedicated entirely to this determination."
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing#Theories_for_controlling_predatory_pricing"
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5k3spy | can someone please explain the tier 1,2,3 insurance designation for hospitals? | Did this come from a law? How can a hospital move from a lower tier to a better one? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5k3spy/eli5_can_someone_please_explain_the_tier_123/ | {
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"Are you talking about insurance coverage (paying medical bills) or ranking in care?\n\nThe eli5 of insurance tiers is based on employment groups and the health plan's network. Basically you get a lower out of pocket cost going to a tier 1 because that is whom your employer has negotiated a reduction in price through a Third Party Administrator/ASO. Tier 3 is going \"out of network\" and falls under the responsibility of the health plan to pay at their negotiated rate- yet it is technically \"in network\". \n\nThen there are true out of network hospitals/providers who have no negotiated rate with the health plan. \n\nSource: medical insurance biller 10 years\n\n"
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389qj2 | how do military war games and drills work? | Just to emphasize my ignorance, do they actually have a system where they know if you've been shot? Do they use paintball guns? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/389qj2/eli5_how_do_military_war_games_and_drills_work/ | {
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"There are two ways, one is a paintgun system and the other is a laser system.\n\nThe paintgun system uses the same lower receiver of the M4 but a different upper. The paintballs are actually a paint bullet with a shell and powder. You wear a mask so not to get shot in the eye.\n\nThe laser system is a device that attaches to the end of the rifle and it will register a shot and shoot a laser. Blanks are used to simulate the shot and to activate the device. The person being shot wears gear that sets off a loud deafening tone that can only be turned off by a key. Range masters hold the key. ",
"Like jediforhire said, paint rounds, or more accurately, chalk. As you might imagine, being hit with one is very uncomfortable. \n \nAlso worth mentioning that not all drills involve fighting, sometimes it's just to practice maneuvering or to familiarize oneself with the equipment and environment. ",
"War games and drills are two different animals\n\nWar games (that are actually called combat training, MOUT training, ARTEP, etc) can use MILES (Laser based) or chalk/paintball based systems to score hits. MILES is generally used in large scale simulations as it can be mounted on, and used safely from, anything from side arms to attack aircraft. The paitball type stuff is normally used for close in combat training (MOUT, door to door searhces, etc), for obvious reasons.\n\nDrills are generally basic soldier training. I.E, marching. Drill and ceremony. Maybe basic combat drills (low crawl, high crawl, drop and cover, etc) and in real units (from my experience anyway) just used to kill time..."
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2kghqc | describe hinduism and its principles to me. | I don't understand it well, but would like to understand the basis of it a little more comprehensively. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kghqc/eli5_describe_hinduism_and_its_principles_to_me/ | {
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"This is a large subject to which I cannot entirely do justice, but I will mention some of the more distinguishing features of Hinduism. Hinduism is a very ancient, polytheistic religion having a large number of deities. There are 3 particularly important dieties, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. All other deities are aspects of those 3. One curious aspect of Hinduism is that not only do human beings live many life times, dying and then being reincarnated, but so do the gods; new incarnations of deities are known as avatars. A central concept of Hinduism is that people accrue a spiritual characteristic known as karma, by virtue of the good or bad things that they do. People with good karma will consequently be reincarnated in a more favorable circumstance (such as, in a wealthier family) than in their present life, while people with bad karma will be punished by being reincarnated in worse circumstance, which can go to the extreme of being reincarnated as an animal rather than as a person. This concept is also the basis of the caste system. High caste people are thought to deserve their special privileges because it is their good karma which caused them to be born into a high caste family, while people of low caste deserve their less privileged existence because that is their karma. It is a very clever justification for a very abusive social practice, and it can be compared to the argument made by European monarchs, that they rule by divine right. Obvious, if God did not want them to be monarchs, they wouldn't be, so therefore they must be entitled to their lives of absolute power and privilege."
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a6ny3k | what makes two human voices talking at the same pitch and loudness unique? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a6ny3k/eli5_what_makes_two_human_voices_talking_at_the/ | {
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"Our vocal equipment is not identical between each person. We have different sizes, densities, and formats for vocal cords, trachea, mouth, lungs, flesh/muscles/fat, etc.\n\nTry making the same sound while facing up then facing down with your chin touching your chest. It'll sound different, because you changed the shape of your \"instrument\".\n\nSimilarly, different musical instruments have different sounds, even if they're of the same kind, or the same instrument. You can use different type of strings on the same guitar, or thicker/thinner reeds on a saxophone and get slightly different sounds.\n\nNatural sounds (as opposed of a pure sinusoidal wave) have very complex waveforms, and even with the same pitch (fundamental frequency) and loudness (amplitude), there are infinite possible ways they can look (and sound) like."
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d65vx1 | why can't we synthesise petrol in a lab instead of mining it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d65vx1/eli5_why_cant_we_synthesise_petrol_in_a_lab/ | {
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"We can synthesis petrol in a lab. It's more expensive to produce it in a lab.\n\nYou need all the ingredients for it and mass producing it isn't easy. It's already all there when you mine it.",
"Hydrocarbons can absolutely be made in a lab, but it's way cheaper to mine or drill for it than to make it.\n\nGasoline and oil are actually very, very cheap compared to many other things. An entire gallon is only $3. Go out and buy a gallon of any other non-water liquid at the store and chances are it's more expensive.",
"Chemistry, and thermodynamics, dictate that we would need to put in at *least* as much energy in the process of making synthetic petrol as we would get out when we burn it. Realistically, we’d need to put in more energy than we get out of the finished product— no real-world process is perfect. \n\nRather than putting a bunch of electricity towards this goal it would be better to use that electricity to run an electric car— if you want efficiency. And if you want cheapness, it’s better to dig it out of the ground.",
"Think of petroleum as lots of tightly wound springs that have been buried underground. We dig up the springs, put them in our wind-up cars, and that makes them go until the spring unwinds. \n\nWe **could** wind up these springs ourselves, but that would take energy and the whole reason we started using these springs in the first place was to reap the benefits of all the work nature did by winding up all those springs."
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9a8ia9 | why would a company owner/ ceo want to have a board of directors? | like say i started a company with my bare hands. that company got big enough to warrant having a board of directors. why would i want that? i made the company. why would i want to have people that have the power to fire me? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9a8ia9/eli5_why_would_a_company_owner_ceo_want_to_have_a/ | {
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"Generally you didn't just start a company with your own bare hands. You got other people's money to help you build it. Those people have a say in how the company gets run.\n\nIf you can self fund the company and have no outside investor such that you can retain complete ownership then you won't have a board of directors that is capable of firing you. You will likely be small, but you will be in control.\n\nThe board is generally full of experienced business leaders who can help guide the company and the CEO along the path to success. If your board wants to fire you, its because you suck for the company.",
"In some cases, you may be required to have a board of directors by law because you incorporated. Some jurisdictions require every corporation to have a board with a minimum number of members (generally 3), though that can be avoided by not incorporating or incorporating in another jurisdiction.\n\nHowever, most often companies need a board of directors because they're *not* owned by only one person. The companies you're probably thinking of with famous founder-CEOs, like Facebook or Amazon, are mostly not owned by the founder, and the board of directors work for and represent the shareholders. It's very hard to grow a company to be very large without selling a significant stake in it, which means you need someone to represent those people that now own it.",
"If you found and fully bootstrap your company, you don’t need to have one. But if you have investors, they want some say/oversight in return for lending you money. When you go public, it’s also a requirement to have a board of directors to help run a company. ",
"This is the corporate hierarchy: shareholders > board > CEO\n\nAt the end of the day, the shareholders run everything. They can replace the board and CEO if needed. The shareholders don't want to interact with the CEO constantly (and sometimes it is too difficult since there are tons of shareholders) so there is a board of directors to interface between the shareholders and CEO. "
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1z8pow | how would a war work with russia? | So let's say worst comes to worst and somehow we end up in a war with Russia.
My friend says that it would definitely end in nukes because:
1. In war, one side will eventually win
2. As a side is losing, it will inevitably resort to nukes to keep from being defeated.
So if we actually went to war, how would that work?
I'm not debating whether it will happen, just pretend it did, how would it work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z8pow/eli5_how_would_a_war_work_with_russia/ | {
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"Your friend is wrong. Wars are rarely about the total conquest of the other nation. There are war goals. If they're reached, and the other country agrees that they've had enough, then there can be peace. Or both sides can decide that they can't get what they want and ask for peace. Not every war is WW2. Look at the Gulf War (1991). The Coalition kicked Iraq out of Kuwait, smacked them a bit across the Iraqi border, achieved their war goals and the war ended. ",
"The reason it was \"cold\" is because of MAD and the proliferation of subterfuge.\n\nReally we should be focused on improving quality of life and ensuring everyone's prosperity (laterally and vertically)... best way to not have to worry about war.\n\nTrouble is that involves a 20-year timeline horizon, whereas sabre rattling, poisoning people, etc. makes you feel potentiated *right now.* And we humans get a case of keepin' up with the Joneses real easy."
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2z1jgm | how can i eat peanuts and be fine, but the moment i touch another nut such as hazelnuts or cashews, i have a major allerglic reaction. | I happily eat peanut butter and I have nothing occur to me but I'm extremely allergic to cashew nuts and other type of nuts. So what's the difference which causes me to have such a difference reaction when eating them. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2z1jgm/eli5how_can_i_eat_peanuts_and_be_fine_but_the/ | {
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"Peanuts aren't nuts. They belong to the legume family.",
"As is often said in \"facts annoying people say\" peanuts are neither peas nor nuts. They are legumes. If you are allergic to nuts then a thing like a peanut wouldn't effect you, even if it physically seems similar to a nut enough we all just treat it like it is one. "
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a90h6s | why is heroin the "usual" opioid of the streets? | Whenever you hear on the news about street drugs heroin is bound to be in there, maybe besides fentanyl thanks to the new epidemic. Why is it that heroin more than any other opioid is used (or at least presented) in the streets? Is it the easiest to manufacture? Most euphoric, or maybe easiest to transport? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a90h6s/eli5_why_is_heroin_the_usual_opioid_of_the_streets/ | {
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"It's incredibly cheap. Most people that I know personally who've been addicted to or used heroin started out with prescription pain pills. Once that habit becomes too expensive they start stealing and cheating. After they've exhausted those options they often start using heroin because of how insanely cheap it is compared to the pills.",
"Its incredibly cheap to make and buy, so pretty much anyone who gets hooked on opioids will inevitably start running out of money and looking for cheaper and cheaper options until the arrive at heroin. Most people that do opioids actually start on prescription painkillers like oxycodone, but that stuff gets pretty expensive. ",
"Heroin is definitely the easiest to manufacture.\n\nPrescription painkillers and things like fentanyl are made in industrial laboratories. They're mostly not available to the criminals who manufacture heroin. Painkillers and fentanyl do get traded on the black market, but they get there by being diverted from people who had a legal right to possess them. They're not *manufactured* illegally by criminals.\n\nPartially related to this, heroin is just cheaper. Most people who get addicted to opioids started with prescription painkillers, but as they need more and more to satisfy their addiction, they shift to heroin which can be as much as ten times cheaper than pills like Oxycodone. "
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3juhgd | india's 'caste system', is it a factor in modern india? and indians overseas? | A friend told me an Indian store clerk treats him badly because he's dark-skinned. I saw the clerk try to avoid touching my friends hand when he paid (which the clerk didn't do with other customers).
This reminded me of hearing about the 'Dalit' or 'untouchable' caste. I asked an Indian girl about 'caste' once; she said it doesn't exist- but it seemed like a touchy subject.
I get the bare bones of the 'caste system', but does it still have impact today? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3juhgd/eli5_indias_caste_system_is_it_a_factor_in_modern/ | {
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"In Urban India, people from all castes rub shoulders and work together on a daily basis, so the feeling of casteism persists on a subliminal level. Scratch the surface and you'll see that inter caste marriages are still looked upon with disapproval, and during the promotion cycle, people point to a person's caste as the sole reason for someone's success or failure.\n\nSince the majority of indians are \"lower caste\" by denomination, they wield (and rightly flex) a tremendous influence as a vote bank. \n\nIn rural india, despite the law expressly forbidding discrimination, the system of \"untouchability\" still exists as the so called upper castes are generally landlords and wealthy, and the administration requires their financial support and influence to keep their wheels turning. And the upper castes are loathe to share or give up their power.\n\nAnother contributor to accentuate caste identity is ironically india's affirmative action equivalent of \"reservation\" in public sector jobs, educational institutions, which was made with the right intentions, but unfortunately makes the caste divisions more rigid.\n\nNow, most upper caste indian parents despair that the reservation system makes it impossible for their children to get admissions to the best colleges as there are very few seats available in the open category. (For e.g. in my course in college, there were 60 seats out of which only 15 fell under the \"open\" category, while the rest were reserved for the other castes. So an upper caste student scoring 90% would not get a seat while a lower caste student scoring 60% would get one.)\n\nSo, they send their children to developed countries (the US being a particular favorite) with the hope that they'll eventually become citizens in a country which allows their children to have an equal opportunity.\n\nOutside of India, these kids either choose to ignore the caste divisions and embrace equality, or embrace their caste identity zealously, and don't have to pretend to be \"tolerant\" anymore. ",
"A couple of examples of how the caste system has affected me: A friend of mine was blocked from getting into professional cricket because the company that funds it in my state favors brahmins. \nI've also known someone whose relationship with his family was soured due to his partner's caste.\n\nThe system isn't commonly spoken of and I grew up with no knowledge of it until my teen years. It is definitely there, though. It affects job offers, promotions, school/college admissions, politics, etc.\n\nEdit: For background, I don't know my caste and I've never had it affect me that I know of. I am a middle-class Indian living in a city. Rural India or even semi-urban places have it far worse. There's always at least a couple of articles in the daily news about someone being murdered after eloping with another caste-member, or getting beaten up or misfigured.\n\n",
"I know a couple of friends white, black and asian who've had to split with their Indian SO because the family doesn't approve. I think the caste system is still prevalent overseas and has now been extended to apply to different races too.",
"1st generation Australian Indian here. Largely no it doesn't impact us daily or within our interactions with each other within the community. \n\nIt does come up sometimes as a matter of pride you know like which clan you're from. I've never heard of people being beaten up or discriminated within groups of people because of their caste.\n\n\nHowever it can come along within the dating scene, for instance I know a Sikh girl from the Jatt caste and her parents wouldn't be happy her if she married outside that caste let alone the religion. \n\nIn the dating scene, most Indian parents would prefer their own caste but they're usually not to picky, as long as the person is Indian. \n\nYour ethnic/religious background from India probably causes more tension than caste to be honest. \n\nIn the Australian Indian community caste isn't a major factor it can come up as pros and cons if you want to introduce your so to your parents. But it's not a huge factor to impact the relationship like religion or if he is Tamil and your Punjabi.\n",
"This is a news report from last month. Apparently it is an issue for some.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Considering the recent protests are entirely about the caste system, yes, it is obviously still a thing.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"You'll hear different things from different people. \n\nIf I were to ask you: are racism, violence against black people, police brutality or rape huge issues in the United States? You might not necessarily say yes, but you'd be just as conflicted to say no.\n\nAt the same time you wouldn't define a modern American based on these struggles of inequality, bias, and strangeness.\n\nSame shit in India. Yeah, it's a problem. But is it a rampant issue everywhere? No. Does it show up in certain areas more than others? Yes. In modern India, if you have money, you can do pretty much anything regardless of what caste you are. Some of the richest folks I know are \"low caste.\" And some of the poorest people I know are of \"high caste.\" If anyone tells you otherwise, it's simply not true. The whole issue is dynamic and complicated just like any other human problem or struggle. \n\nAffirmative action is an issue in the U.S., but you cannot with full faith say that's the reason why someone is not successful. Talent and hard work will almost definitely get you to places. I've worked with ridiculously brilliant people who are white, black, Hispanic, or Asian. And all of them struggled to get to where they are. At the same time, I've also met people of different races who got to the top because they were 'handed' a path to success on a silver platter. \n\nSo is caste system as much as issue as reddit makes it? Probably not as much as you'd think. But can we say it's not an issue? Definitely no. Ppl everywhere need to grow up. ",
"Even though the caste system is illegal, the government still uses it for affirmative action. A student from upper caste set himself on fire as protest because he couldn't get a job since the seats were reserved for lower castes. \n\nI grew up in India until I was ten and my parents are considered upper caste. My friends and I never talked about caste or religion. I mainly had Christian friends because I'm from Kerala and we have a lot of Christians there. Some Christian denominations are considered upper class and some are not. Most parents want their children to marry within their caste. However, if You marry a Christian, they prefer that you marry an upper class Christian than a lower class Hindu. I don't think my parents really care, but they care about what other people think. \n",
"How do you tell what caste someone is? Is it a skin-color thing? A family name? I'm confused.",
"Can't people of lower castes change their last names to those of the higher castes? What's stopping them? ",
"It can have cultural misunderstandings with relations to host countries as well. Some tradesmen report trouble in dealing with some Indian customers as they treat manual workers like plumbers as lower people. Most tradies charge accordingly to troublesome customers who dont change their actions when it is brought to their attention.",
"I grew up in and still live in a town that is 60% \"Asian.\" It's a big suburban middle/upper middle class suburb mostly that's been cited many times as the #1 place for Indians to live outside of India. There's a great op ed that captures what it's like from the white kid's perspective _URL_0_\nAnyway, I'm not sure we get the lowest castes here in America as emigrating takes considerable resources and family support. We seem to get 2 categories of Indian immigrants: extremely well educated doctors and engineers etc, and their merchant class cousins who are closer to the 711 Indian stereotype. (711 Indian's children will grow up to be extremely well educated doctors/engineers tho...)\nI've never heard of the caste system issues popping up in a way non-Indians would notice. Nothing about doctors refusing to treat untouchables or anything. But, like I said, we get the middle and upper classes. ",
"Seen it with my own eyes a couple of times and on each occasion, it was sad to witness. The outright rejection of another human being just because of skin tone, lineage or birthplace simply disgusts me. At least take the time to get to know a person first, understand what he/she is really like ... before deciding if they are to be despised!",
"I am no expert on this, but last year I had a roommate from India. His father intentionally changed their family name in order to not show their caste to other people. I asked him if the caste system still plays a roll, and he said that there is no blatant discrimination, at least outside of India. However, when other Indians notice last names, thus recognizing the caste, the tone of the conversation will change. I thought it was a smart idea for his father to change the family name altogether to avoid this kind of situation. Just want to share my experience on this.",
"If there was no political support for the caste system, it will not continue flourish. It was and still is the perfect way to divide the society.",
"**TLDR: Yes it is still as thing but people want to have you believe it's not..**\n\nI was born in rural India and since 2009, reside in Australia. I have seen caste system in action as a child and will try an explain in as best as possible.\n\nThe caste system was first started way back. Basically, the idea was to distinguish people based on the work they did. If you were educated and could read and write, you were considered a \"high\" caste person. If you were a butcher (killing was considered a sin and hence, lowly work to do) or shoemaker (touching people's feet to make), you were regarded as a \"low\" caste.\n\nWhen British came to India, the system kinda got lost as English people used last names to recognize people and a baby was considered to be the same caste as his/her parents, regardless of work he/she ends up doing when he/she grows up.\n\nI was born in a farmer's family, in Sikh religion (which is considered a high caste, however, I hate to think that way). And we hired people to work for us on our farm (mostly from \"low\" caste group).\n\nThe discrimination between caste mostly happens when high caste people don't allow low caste people to have same rights as them. High caste people are usually rich as they inherit some wealth from family, so they are better off.\n\nThe impact of caste-ism, as its called, is pretty significant in mostly rural India. Inter-caste marriage is frowned upon. If a boy and girl get married against their parents' will, the parents' usually kill the boy and girl before killing themselves. Its so common that its got a name of its own [\"Honor killing\".](_URL_0_) (The link is for Pakistani story but it holds true for India as well.)\n\nWhen the constitution of India was implemented, in 1950, people thought it would be good to provide some help to low caste people in order to start their development, like a head-start. They were reserved a certain percentage of public office seats, administrative positions and such.\n\nThis system is still continued, which makes people of higher caste even more frustrated with lower caste people.\n\nThe topic is touchy because Indian people don't want their dirty laundry aired in front of foreigners. Mostly, Indians tend to believe in \"Ignorance is bliss\" formula a lot.\n\nHope this cleared some doubts. Questions welcome.\n\nEDIT: Color mostly has nothing to do with caste, BTW. As I explained, caste is based on the family you are born in.",
"I'm a white girl in America, but I work with a number of first and second generation immigrant Indian men and women, some by way of other countries (pharmacists are often Indian, in my area at least). None of them mention caste, but those with lighter skin tend to berate and bully those with darker skin, regardless of job performance, while ignoring the shortcomings of those with lighter skin. I have also had one older woman (not a pharmacist) full stop point blank refuse to use or clean the bathrooms, which she should have had to in her position, because she thought coming into contact with the waste of others would cause something bad to happen to her. I was never quite sure what the bad thing was....hell?",
"I come from an \"upper class\", well educated and intellectual family in Delhi. I'm not saying that the following is true for all of India, or all of Delhi, its just what I've seen growing up in this environment. \n\nIn our circle, caste has no impact on our interactions. I don't even know who belongs to which. However, classism is definitely a major issue. Economic standing is considered very important, and if you have money you're expected to show it (by buying, and often wrecking, fancy cars/jewellery/clothes/holidays). There is a very clearly defined social hierarchy, and everyone functions within that. \n\nFor example, many people in my circle will make fun of/ignore someone who speaks in broken english or has a strong accent. Or they'll refuse to eat incredible street food because its \"for those people\". Like I have friends who've never been to Old Delhi, one of the most incredible parts of this city, because its \"too dirty and noisy, lets just go to the mall\". \n\nBut it goes both ways. One time we were on a road trip, and stopped for lunch at a hotel/resort type thing on the highway. I invited our driver inside to eat with us, since we'd been making wonderful conversation throughout the drive and nobody would have minded. \"No no, I don't go into such fancy places.\", even though nobody (us/hotel staff) would have had a problem with it. \n\nThere are defined \"places\" for everyone, just like the caste system, except these places are now defined by economic standing/education rather than the five caste's. And of course whites are at the top of this hierarchy, with blacks at the bottom. ",
"I'm black and I'm in a serious relationship with a Gujarati Indian girl in a caste somewhere in the middle.\n\nShe was born in America but her parents are hardcore traditional Indians, and Gujaratis tend to be more conservative.\n\nIt only really comes up when someone is deciding who they want to marry, or 'dating' per se. In more traditional families, you aren't really supposed to date anyone...you just sort of mutually select a partner, have a few meetings with family and a few meetings alone, and if you don't absolutely hate each other, you're pretty much supposed to go get married.\n\nIn my situation, it's a HUGE deal that I'm black. It's a 10x+ bigger deal than any type of caste situation, and it's honestly more than annoying. \n\nThere are parents within her family that will say no if the partner isn't in the right caste, but it's not the end of the world. The FUCKED UP thing is that a lot of Indians still marry their cousins, like 1st cousins sometimes, because that is the only way to find the proper partner in you little network.\n\nAnd the ones that even care about the caste at this point are a dying breed in any type of urban environment.\n\nIn rural environments, shit is backwards. Think rednecks that would still happily lynch black people in America. In India, there are people that will use rape as a punishment for adultery, shit like that. It's fucked up.\n\nWe've been together more than 3 years and we are going to be engaged soon, and I have yet to meet the parents. They know I exist, but I haven't met them.\n\nA lot of this has to do with other life things we wanted to get out of the way before we talked to them seriously, but that talking is just now coming up. \n\nNo, she's not stalling. If we didn't have this culturally traditional barrier then we would have been married over a year ago by now.\n\nTL;DR: Race/religion matters more than caste, but it is a consideration.",
"There's a really good documentary made about this question. It's called \"India Untouched.\" Though the caste system is illegal, it still pervades Indian culture, both rural and urban, Hindu or not. I think it was made in 2007, so unless things have drastically changed in the last 8 years, I'd say it's a good resource.\n\n[Part One Here](_URL_0_)",
"It's still at play in the U.S. trust me. I know of a couple 1st gen young Indians. The woman, early 20s, is higher caste and the man lower. The girls family found out she was with him and threatened her, forbid the relationship and once they go engaged all hell broke lose. It's certainly alive and kicking still ",
"1.5th gen british panjabi here. It still exists with respect to inter caste marriages being frowned upon and many panjabi songs celebrating and glorifying the top caste (jatt). Most 2nd and 3rd gen kids dont care about it, and will merely use caste as a method of banter between friends",
"The idea of the caste system comes straight from Hinduism. It is the way of life for Indian for several thousand years, pretty much since the stone age. Just read through this thread and other threads like this, you get some perspectives from many Indian from \"high caste\", apologetic universalist kind, but remember these are reddit-English-Speaking Indians, they're like us now, completely different from a regular Indian. Discriminations, and ill treatments does not affect these high and middle caste Indians. Now go to India and find all these low castes people and ask them what they think, Perhaps, reach out to one of this untouchable and ask them for a reddit ama, their response will trouble you for life. It taken for granted that this is their fate for this life, and they should just accept it, and hope to be reborn again in the next life in a high caste. Their past karma wasn't good enough so they was born to suffer, just hope for a better reborn next time, this is the ultimate belief behind the caste system of Hinduism. ",
"AFAIK, is caste system a factor in modern India? - maybe... not so much with the younger generation but it could be a factor with the older, more conventional generations. \n\nIndians overseas - definitely not a factor! ",
"Nope, practically unheard of in Singapore. Indians make up about 9% of the population here ",
"I'll give you people the highlights, \nFirst off, it plays a role in the flipping vote bank politics that still plays out. \nSecond off, some a-holes have introduced reservations for various castes and the general public gets the tough competition, just Google about IITs and the dismal marks with which reserved seats are filled out and the general public gets shit. ",
"I am a Hindu Brahmin from Southern India (currently in London). Brahmin are considered one of the 'highest' castes.\n\nBefore I begin explaining: it is indeed a difficult subject to talk about (though I have not lived in India since the age of around 5). \n\nAs part of an 'international' Brahmin family (i.e. most of my generation of the family - nearly 20 cousins - have all been raised outside India), we have largely been taught not to act on on any 'superiority' that the caste system affords us: my father in particular, although a practising Brahmin, doesn't fully endorse the current caste system. The original caste system, based on ancient vedic texts - if I am not mistaken - only mention the first ~~three~~ four castes in this pyramid:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIn effect, there was no such thing as ~~Shudras or~~ untouchables as a concept within the ancient texts (which I'll be honest, just seems like good PR, but I trust my father's interpretation now). Once the British arrived and wanted to start developing the census in India, they found that there were just far too many groups, races, tribal sects and other variables to fully categorise Indians. They therefore relied on the more educated groups to assist in developing the Census. A group of northern brahmins then, if I recall correctly, started to condense the categories (of the various variables of Indians) into the 'modern' caste system (isn't that an oxy-moron?) that we see today - with the full 5 steps on the pyramid.\n\nSo your question is: is it still a problem in India? The short answer, yes. \n\nThe long answer: it is illegal to discriminate on caste: _URL_1_. But like many laws that actually are relatively progressive (for India) or actually protective of people, it is nigh on impossible to enforce/police it on such a vast nation. Herein lies the second issue: discrimination, in all its forms, is a societal problem that roots itself to poor exposure to the world and lack of full education (in the civic and academic sense). So it's a matter of time, investment in education, less corruption, shutting up religious nuts propogating a broken system, any many more issues. Can India do it? I hope so, I sincerely do. \n\nTo put it bluntly, discrimination based on caste will usually not occur within an educated and well travelled group of Indians - similar to many Hindu families who have left India or have held jobs with international businesses, like in my family. \n\n**Sidebar on my family (skippable section)** I did this section to short of attempt to explain how complex and specific the situation can get.\n\nHowever, atleast from the perspective of others, my family bucks the trend on issues of marriage. i.e. even my family succumbs to caste based marriage. But let me explain that: a Brahmin marrying outside their caste will be frowned upon, even in my family, but not because of the issue of caste. I can assure you that is not the case in my family. The frowning happens due to a set of rules based on \"Gotra\": _URL_2_. i.e. we believe that people born of a single Gotra cannot marry within it, as that would be marrying within your family. Since Brahmins tend to STRICTLY monitor/follow this, there is a higher prevelance of knowledge of people's Gotra's. Outside the Grahmin caste, people are less likely to know - and may not even check - therefore breaking a this rule. This is one of the few areas where even my family is, unfortunately, very backward. \n\nUnfortunately, in a huge nation with swathes of people who are poorly educated (both academically and civilly), discrimination based on caste exists. Because of the historic manipulation of the census by Brahmins, we now have an 'affirmative action' type situation where most university seats/job posts have a quota system that is weighed in favour of the 'lower castes' (I hate using that term). This is one of the many reasons why my parents left India and wanted me to get educated abroad - not just because they could or believed that quality is low (on the contrary, our best IT and engineering schools are near world class), but because there was no way I would be able to enter any university (owing to the immense competition) or, if I did successfully join a place, I would feel very lonely. This loneliness is not because I don't like to mix with people, it is genuinely on the contrary, but it's because it would be difficult.\n\nI don't know how to explain this without sounding discriminatory myself, but here goes: if I did join a university in India, then I would likely be amongst those of a 'lower caste' and they'd likely know. In situations like that, presumptions and prejudice will exist, unfortunately. It would a type of reverse/inverse discrimination owing to the VAST numbers of 'lower caste' to brahmins. My father went through that pain and hated it: the lower castes have this view that brahmins are the rich and happy people who got all the opportunities. Unfortunately, this was the case in the brief period of time during mid-late British Rule, where Brahmins were the first to most of the best jobs, positions, wealth etc. Since then, the dominance partly continues due to the rampant nepotism in India and the genuine lack of education quality. They are trying to solve that with affirmative action now... so time will tell.\n\n**Back to my answer**\n\nIt is genuinely a difficult and complex situation. If I really want to boil it down:\n\n1. Lower castes (untouchables) didn't religiously exist (not in the vedic texts as far as I know). The religious system was broadly a separation of jobs (or roles in society) and the inherent rules people who had those jobs had to follow. For example, brahmins were priests who only prayed and maintained the temples. This was considered inherently low maintenance and therefore our diets were restricted to vegetarianism - we didn't need to resort to eating animals. However, the 'lower castes' performed more difficult and arduous tasks, therefore were allowed to break the vegetarian system.\n2. Lower castes were introduced by Brahmins and British trying to create a more manageable census.\n3. A huge set of complex events in 19th-20th century India resulted in lower castes being oppressed, mainly, and repressed, in some very specific situations. \n4. Resulting caste system is a horrific mix of administrative convenience and religious misunderstanding. Leading to insane prejudices that exist to the day. \n5. Caste discrimination is very rare in highly educated or mobile circles of India. \n6. Positive discrimination now leads to a more unique problem where 'higher caste' Hindus are finding it difficult to remain in India - hence leave to the US, UK and Australia. \n\nI may have rambled a bit, but happy to explain further/make corrections.\n\nEDIT: There are, certainly, some very horrible brahmins who propogate the caste system i.e. the administrative system rather than the religious one. I loathe them.\n\nEDIT 2: Some parts of my answer may be a revisionist view of Hinduism. I am only profusing what I have been taught by my father, it is entirely possible that brahmins were deliberately trying to oppress non-Hindus who don't fall within the religious heirarchy. I would not know about that, I'm afraid. \n\nEDIT 3: As it has been pointed out. There are two systems: the caste system and the religious varna system. The modern caste system is based on the varna system (i.e. post British rule) and effectively created a discriminatory separation of people. That is not to say that the Varna system was divine and pure and amazing for all. Like the modern caste system where some people discriminate based on it, the varna system most likely had its discriminatory groups. I cannot provide any information as my family absolutely doesn't do it, and since I don't have any family members who pre-date the modern caste system's introduction, I don't think I can provide verifiable and evidenced information that the varna system was used to discriminate. It is most likely that it was. However, my reading of the vedic texts do not sanction or condone any form of discrimination based on varna.",
"There are three kinds of people who go abroad (in this case the US) from India. \n1. Diplomats \n2. Cash rich peckers, like the aforementioned clerk. [These guys carry the caste shit everywhere]\n3. Graduates seeking a degree (includes the above also) and in turn avoid bringing & bearing the stupid that goes on here. ",
"[Here](_URL_0_) is a great discussion on the prevalence of caste-ism in Desi Diasporas, specifically focusing on the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora. ",
"Tl;dr yes it's still present in Indians overseas because they all have connections 'back home'. even in western counties, they will be obliged to follow the cast system of their parents. ",
"It's everywhere unfortunately. Some places it's open and other places it's just below the surface but it's there. \nCaste runs pretty much every aspect of Indian lives. Govt, education, jobs, weddings, housing, community, movies, you name it. They all have strings attached to caste. \n\nCaste system is the ugliest face of India and not many discuss it openly like racism in America. We so need that open debate. ",
"OP Caste (Jati) is not the same as Class (Varna). Please keep that in mind. In the Vedic scriptures we have the Varna system which is class system -Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vyshyas (traders), Shudras (laborers, service providers). Nowhere in the vedas do the authors describe Jati (Caste) & the practice of untouchability. Jati (caste) & untouchability came about later & nobody knows when exactly this happened. And the reasons are political & economic & less to do with religion itself.\n\nAnd Jati (Caste) or Varna (class) has absolutely nothing to do with the skin color of an individual. There are upper class (brahmins/kshtriyas/vyshyas) who come in all hues.",
"Interesting back history to the Indian caste system:\n\nIt's thought that it dates back to the early bronze age, when the Indo-Europeans (\"Aryans\") invaded the Indus Valley, aided by their development of equestrianism. The aboriginal inhabitants of the Indus Valley were the dark complected Dravidians, who had a religion and society based on a matriarchal, vegetative paradigm. The Aryans followed a patriarchal, heroic paradigm that has cognates in the Bronze Age Greek, Celtic and Germanic pantheons that developed elsewhere owing to other groups of Indo-Europeans who expanded west into Europe rather than south and east into India.\n\nThis historical fact has a few interesting consequents: first, the sudden interaction between differing populations led to a period of microbial exchange that negatively impacted the invaders more than the invaded. The Indus Valley had been more densely populated than the Eurasian steppes, so the Dravidians had developed resistance to diseases dependent on population density, such as those transmitted via water contamination. For this reason the darker complected Dravidian stock were often carriers of water-borne illness but were more often unaffected themselves. The lowest caste (the darker, predominantly Dravidian stock) were then barred from accessing water supplies, which lessened transmission. Lacking germ theory this phenomenon was given a theological explanation.\n\nThere are other religious and cultural consequents to speak of, as well as parallels in unrelated religions. I won't bore you with details unless you ask, but I've always found this stuff fascinating.",
"As an American employer in a high-tech industry, nothing makes my blood boil then seeing that caste shit brought to this country. \n\n\nI have seen it in meetings. Some dude who is from some bullshit family in India talking to my people like they are dog shit. Calling them stupid and berating them in person and over the phone. Watching people who have worked for me for years and done great work, cower in the corner in fear of someone insulting them in the office.\n\n\nBut nothing gives me more satisfaction then being able to pull those guys aside and saying \"we don't do that shit here. You're going to apologize, and if you ever do that again, you're fired.\"\n\n",
"Your friend should cough into his hand and very strongly pat the guy on the shoulder in apology.",
"I have a friend who's opting for an arranged marriage (she's in med school in America) and caste is a HUGE deal for her family and the families of the guys who are \"courting\" her. She and I don't discuss our castes with each other (I'm also Indian), but it's clear it's a deal for her when choosing a mate. ",
"Most people nowadays don't give two shits about the caste system. But, some douchebags still believe in that, and think of people from \"lower\" castes to be inferior. In some villages, there are separate wells for the so called low castes. The \"low\" caste people aren't allowed to visit some temples too. This all is quite diminished now, but it was almost everywhere a few decades back.",
"I don't know, but I assume the remnants of it affected Indians the way the remnants of slavery affects Americans today, ie certain people are more likely to come from a disadvantaged background.",
"I'm from Sri Lanka (little island under India) and we have almost the same caste system as India. I can tell you that when it comes to marriage, most people will look at what caste the SO is from, no matter where on the earth they're living. I've experienced first-gen immigrants in Canada change their attitudes based on who they're talking to. Once they realize the person is from a lower caste, their tone and interest level changes dramatically. My generation (the kids) usually have no fucking clue who belongs to what caste and to be honest, could care less. ",
"I'll offer a good example from very modern India.\n\nEarlier this year, I was traveling in a very tourist-trap area, at a very foreigner-targeting shop in a market - virtually 100% European/other tourist customers, the customer before us was a white American girl. The shop-keep had a young boy assisting her.\n\nShe gave us a sales pitch, then sent the boy to get tea. He was listening to music on her iPhone.\n\nShe said, \"put down my phone, go get the tea!\" (not exactly, but in a local dialect) and said this in a very sibling-ish way, with totally sibling-ish body language.\n\nMy partner asked her, \"is he your brother?\" or \"how are you related?\"\n\nShe didn't understand the question, and asked to repeat, so my partner repeated the question.\n\nThen, she took great offense, and said, aghast, \"nooo! he is not related! just a local boy hired to help in the shop\". Now everyone felt very uncomfortable. We had offended her and made her feel very uncomfortable, but the only reason she was offended/uncomfortable was caste-ism. If this story had happened in a Western country, a shopkeep would probably laugh off our question and say, \"hahaha no, what made you think that?\" and we'd answer, \"omg, the way you told him to get off your phone we thought you were sibs!\"",
"The entire education system and job opportunities in the government sector are divided up by the caste system as well.\nAn example - If I'm from a caste categorised under \"general merit\", and a person from a caste categorised under literally any other category, compete in an entrance exam such as JEE, that person doesn't have to score as much (55/360) as I do (115/360), in order to qualify.\n\nSource - Experience.",
"My neighbour's an immigrant from India, real dark-skinned guy. I don't know what caste he was, or why he moved over here. \n\nAll I know is that when he came over and said hello, I shook his hand. There was a split second there when my hand was extended and he hadn't put his hand out yet. I saw it in his eyes. \"Wait... he's just going to *shake my hand*? He doesn't *care*? Maybe *nobody* here cares. \n\n\"I'm... home.\" ",
"A topic about the caste system is always a touchy subject here in India. My family and I have had a few personal experiences with caste as a factor. My family is from what is called the \"second lowest caste\" in the country but we are often told we aren't \"dark skinned enough to be in the caste\" because we have a fair complexion. People often mistake us for a different caste and speak normally to us. \n\nAs a kid, I didn't have a clue on what the caste system is or didn't understand its implications at all. I was taught in my history classes that the caste system had been abolished and it was not in use at all. This was utter Bullshit. One of my classmates parents actually asked me my caste when I was in my sixth grade and when I told them, she immediately changed her tone and looked down upon me like I just turned into some lower form of life. I understood what had happened only after my mum explained what I had done. After small incidents like that, I generally let people assume what caste they think I'm in and talk to them. Even if they do ask, I change topic or tell a wrong caste because they don't suspect a thing because of my skin tone. \n\nMy grandparents, my mum and her siblings were born in rural South India and boy did they go through hell sometimes. They weren't allowed to use the same water fountain as the other \"higher caste\" kids at school. They weren't allowed to pray in the same Temple as the higher caste people. If they did, they were usually hit with stones and carted away. It was bad in the 1960s and it is still prevalent now but not to such a high degree. Political parties down south always capitalize on the caste politics and bring more hatred in an already volatile caste environment. \n\nIt is kind of sad that even now people are being discriminated based on caste in urban metropolises. And when you bring the numerous political vultures who use every opportunity to bring the caste card in their campaigns, the situation just stays bad or gets even more muddled.\n\n\nEdit : the caste system is also subdivided into further sub castes or communities. The lowest castes have even lower communities who are looked down upon by the other lower caste members. It's like a complex twisted version of a honeycomb hierarchy ",
"Conflicts over caste are very much around in India, but I doubt the store clerk's behavior has anything directly to do with caste. It may be related to color prejudice, which is also linked to caste.\n\nWe Indians in general are very color sensitive -- even among ourselves. Fair complexion is considered a desirable trait (considered a marker of material prosperity or higher caste), and darker complexions are undesirable (probably correlated with poverty, low caste and an indicator of manual labor under a hot sun).\n\nThe clerk's reaction may well be a manifestation of these color prejudices.\n\nAs an example, when I was a grad student in the US, my adviser was African American. He was one of the most brilliant Profs in the University, but most of my Indian classmates took the fact that I had an African American adviser as an indication of my own personal inadequacy :-).",
"It is possible that back home in India has evolved more as people modernize due to education and blur the lines of the caste. However, the store clerk may have immigrated a long time ago and in a sense is stuck in time. ",
"It's a HUGE ugly factor. My parents still give me the stink eye because my SO is from another caste. ",
"I'll add that a fascinating digression on this topic would be Sikhism's founding and attempts to abolish the caste system. \n\nSikh history is very very interesting. One minor stitch on the entire fabric of Sikhism would be the decision to make every male's surname Singh ('lion'), and every female's surname Kaur ('princess') in attempts to abolish the caste system. \n\nTo quickly mention a few more things:\n\n- they were the first to speak out against widow pyre burnings (women being forced to be burnt alive after their husbands died)\n\n- Were the first to rise up against the Mogul empire. You know the movie '300'? Well, just like that. Except the Sikhs fair a lot better than the persians, and they were a militia -- not a military (as of yet).\n\n- Punjab, home of the Sikhs, was the last state to give in to British rule and the first state to fight back. \n\n- The youngest martyrs in history were the sons of the leader of the Sikhs, the 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. They were 6 and 8 (I think) years old. The Mogul king offered them a choice after he kidnapped them: join his sides, enjoy spoils and riches and convert to Islam. Otherwise, be walled (literally be covered by a brick wall). They chose the latter. \n\n- You won't **EVER** find a Sikh begging on the streets in India. ",
"I worked in an office with two Indians. While not overtly offensive to each other, there was half-joking (but also half-serious) sniping concerning their respective castes. I recall one said that the other's higher caste is \"wasted\" because she isn't as observant a Hindu as he is. Very little laughter after that one.",
"Well this is a really contentious topic the caste system is really complex but I can try and explain it. [disclaimer: I'm a brahmin and nobody really follows the rules anymore] \n\nLong long ago people formed societies. But soon they realized that some people were better at other things than other people. The huge powerful men were the martial guys. The Warriors etc. They were the only class that were permitted to be king. They were called kshatriyas. Modern day rajputs and Sikhs are descendents of the ancient kshatriya clans. \n\nThe intellectually inclined, the often villified brahmins, became doctors priests engineers and scientists. And of course teachers. They were banned from partaking in business or war. Over time you also had to give up land and wealth and live only on what others give you in your quest for enlightenment or moksha\n\nThose with a head for business became the vaishyas. They were the economic backbone of the ancient kingdoms. \n\nFinally the shudras were the rank and file blue collared workers, artisans, painters, farmers, builders, forages. \n\nFor many thousands of years everyone was happy. But over time strife reared it's ugly head. The brahmins became contemptuous and believed themselves to be superior. The kshatriyas fought among themselves and their wars coat the nation dearly. The ugly practice of untouchability, where high ranking brahmins and kshatriyas, could punish a shudra for coming in contact with them (even by accident) became prevalent. There are accounts of horrible punishments being metted out to shudras. \n\nIf you were born in a caste you and all your descendents were doomed to be in it forever. \n\nHowever we all got torn a new asshole when we got conquered time and again first by minor tribes from central Asia, then by the mughals (they don't sound similar to mongol by coincidence babur the first mughals king was very distantly related to the mongol king). Finally by the British. \n\nUnder British rule, the brahmins with their natural affinity for learning quickly grasped English and secured positions in government positions much to the disdain of the other castes. They accused the brahmins of selling out the country. (I won't delve into this so as to not stoke. communal tensions). The British used this to keep us divided and fighting each other. \n\nFast forward to the current day. The defendants of the shudras believe they have been wronged for eons by the brahmins and others and consequently have reservation when it comes to seats in government colleges and jobs. Many political parties especially in the south are founded on the premise that brahmin s are evil. In the early fifties and sixties this manifested in anti brahmin riots where brahmins were attacked and our sacred threads cut. The sacred thread is of great significance to a brahmin. To have it severed is to lose your connection with gayathri mother who is the mother of all creation. \n\nCalling someone out by his caste can have deadly consequences in India. Each caste has many thousand sub castes. Many a time one caste blames it's problems on another caste. \n\nThe caste system was a well intentioned system for a simpler time. The only way forward is for us to abolish it. ",
"What's interesting to me is that the caste system is a formalized system of racism/classism - but it also embodies some forms of discrimination that exist in most cultures. Most poorer families would have no problem with their son or daughter \"marrying up\", but many wealthy families would be concerned about a son or daughter \"marrying down\". Further, I know plenty of people who would never marry someone who doesn't have a college degree. Both of these things are frowned upon as negatives within the Indian caste system, yet they are common cultural affectations in the western world.",
"Ouch. I wonder who that cashier was and what world he lives in. \n\nI'm a very dark skinned Indian woman who lives in Bangalore and I truly can say that I've never been touched by the caste system issue in my personal and daily life. \n\nI was raised Catholic and am an agnostic now but I lived my whole life with Hindu friends and classmates and my dad and his side of the family are all Hindus. \n\nI've never actually seen anyone get discriminated based on their caste, also could be because we've always been self employed and work with corporates and schools that are very modern. \n\nI know that my Hindu friends' families prefer that they marry someone from the same caste and this often happens. \n\nI have seen parents disown their children because they married a person of the same religion/cast but from another part of the country. I was fifteen when this was the case. But now this community pretty much marries whoever they want and no one gives a shit.\n\nI know that people experience discrimination with relation to caste. I've just never seen it or experienced it and hope I never do. Unless you count strictly sticking to marrying someone of your own caste as discrimination. AMA.",
"Caste-Based Reservations play a huge factor Everyday.I'm going to explain my experience with the caste system in India.\n\nIt's pretty much non-existent in my day to day life,I have never discussed caste with my friends in a normal conversation and I have lived in 3 different regions(Gujrat,Andhra Pradesh and Delhi) for at least 5 years or more.\nBut It sneaks up on you like a snake in the form of caste reservations,every government college(they are usually the best in the country) has caste based reservation.\n\nEg: Want to get into a good Engineering college?There is a exam held every year called JEE(joint entrance exam),every engineering aspirant in the country has to right this exam.There is a cut-off for qualifying the exam.The cut off this year was\nUnreserved or General Category: 124 marks\n\nOBC-NCL (Other Backward Classes): 112 marks\n\nSC (Scheduled Caste): 62 marks\n\nST (Scheduled Tribe):62 marks\n\nOPEN-PwD (Non reserved Physically Disabled): 62 marks\n\nOBC-NCL-PwD(Other Backward Class Physically Disabled): 62 marks\n\nSC-PwD :62 marks\n\nST-PwD :62 marks\n\nAs you can see a guy having an SC reservation will have to score HALF of the marks as opposed to the poor fucker born in the general category and this happens in every field(Medical,Chartered accountant,Civil cervices etc etc).This was introduced in the 50s-60s with the intention of removing it in 20 years so to empower backward classes but it still continues as no govt wants to lose votes in the next elections if they happen to remove reservations.\n\nWhy it sneaks up on you? because your friends whom you didn't ask about their caste turned out to be from SC category while you are in general,they score less than half of the marks you score and still get into a great govt college whereas you have no choice but to go to a Private college.But still I we have no hard feelings against any of my reserved friends,we still don't talk about it,it's something we have accepted as a part of life",
" > I asked an Indian girl about 'caste' once; she said it doesn't exist- but it seemed like a touchy subject.\n\nShe's lying, of course.\n",
"I am an Indian city-bred who has been in the US for the last 11 years\n\nAfter breaking down to its basics, the closest analogy I see in the western world to casteism in India is anti-semitism or racism. My reasons:\n0) Stems from the actions of people in yesteryears\n1) It is not pervasive in urban areas; you do see it sometimes though...and its disconcerting sometimes to see how many educated urban folks entertain the notion - every once in a while you will see professors talking in favour of casteism.\n2) It is more pervasive in rural areas - prima facie there seems to be a link between education level and an aversion toward heterogeneity - anecdotal evidence is that most educated people in rural areas are against casteism/racism.\n3) More prevalent amongst the previous generation (I personally can relate to the 'racist granny' stories. It is slowly but surely disappearing\n4) There are quite a few people in India who dislike people of 'lower' caste (cannot emphasise the quotes enough!) due to the Indian government's affirmative actions - the 'lost opportunity because someone else was of the right caste and I was not' argument.\n\nWill let the community add, refute, and/or judge the post.",
"I live in Canada. There are still many families that will try not to allow their children to marry lower castes. It is ridiculous and I have seen many families break due to this. It's mostly upper class Indian or old Indian household. \n\nThe new generations don't even care about ethnicity let alone castes. Many people are marrying who ever makes them happy. \n\nI had a friend who stopped being my friend because his ancestors from hundred years ago were Jatts (farmers) and my ancestors were (Jalaha) tailors. He also only married a Jatt who is a complete bitch, but he did so because his family didn't approve of a non Jatt girl who was so nice. Funny because I married one too, and caste had never come up once. We are both living happy successful lives :)",
"It still exists in our office. About half of our workers refuse to work with the other half. Also, the shouting and anger is very distracting. Very distracting.",
"Outside of Indian here, I give zero shits about the caste system here and I'm pretty sure most Indians I've met in the US (first or 2nd generation) have no idea what caste their family is. ",
"NRI here, been in the U.S. since I was 5 months old. \n\nI'm a Brahmin from way up in north India (Kashmir), so I guess I am at the top of the \"caste system\" so to speak. When I tell other Indian people from what part of India my family comes from, they're all very much in awe. My parents are fairly religious and we do all the customs still. Gone through the religious education, and had my yagnopavit (think of it like an austere bar mitzvah) where a boy is officially initiated as a Brahmin. I'm not religious in the slightest but I still observe some of the cultural aspects of it because I've done it for so long and for me, some of them hold greater significance. \n\nGrowing up, I had a lot of other Indian friends but few of them were from the same sorta \"caste\" I was. My mother was always telling me not to eat at their homes, but namely because they were not \"pure\" like we were. But this is kind of hard because if you ever visit an Indian person's house, you're going to be offered food and after politely declining 2x and when they ask again, you eventually say \"sure why not\".\n\nSome people's houses, my parents were cool with. Others, a bit less. I found it weird growing up. My parents had family friends, but some they were less eager to mingle with because they weren't \"like us\" and it struck me as odd. \n\nOver time, I think my parents have softened their views. Not entirely but there's progress. I definitely ignored that shit by the time I was in third grade or so. So some Indians ate beef, big whoop. I didn't really give a shit. Most of my friends from a similar \"caste\" don't give a shit either. Some of my best friends who are also Indian are from what one would call the \"lower castes\" but never has that come up in our relationships. \n\nI know that eventually, my parents want me to marry a girl from a similar \"caste\" as me for cultural values and because it's my duty from birth and all. But they also know that I'm pretty serious with my Vietnamese girlfriend so we'll see how that goes when the time comes. At least 5 years down the line when I'm a resident after med school. \n\nThe reason many of us have immigrated to wherever we have in the world has been to leave some of the regressive views that are commonplace in India. India has changed dramatically over the years in that someone from a \"low caste\" can have access to the same opportunities as someone from a \"higher caste.\" Sure there's still problems in India and being from a \"higher caste\" and as an NRI, I'll never truly know them. But if a Dalit like Mayavati can become the Chief Minister of one of the most populous states (Uttar Pradesh) in India, and a \"chai-wala\" (as some people say) like Narendra Modi can become Prime Minister of India, then I say things are definitely looking up. \n\nIn India there's a culture of \"study hard, do well in school, and land a job in a secure field\". This has only been aided by the influx of MNCs and huge tech companies that have opened offices in India, so I would say that has helped upward mobility for people of all \"castes\", lower or higher. Because international companies (American and other countries) don't care about your birth background or caste so long as you can demonstrate talent, diligence, and skill, it's definitely been instrumental in making opportunities available for all. You could be from a well to do WASP family or grow up dirt poor in the boonies and still end up working in a coveted field for a big name organization. \n\nJust my 2 cents. ",
"India is a big place. Caste is a big topic. The effects of caste on Indian society varies from place to place, family to family, and person to person and cannot be defined so easily. The following is just what I've recognized.\n\nIn India, however, it is a different manner. Community ties and political affiliations are often deeply engrained in caste, even if they try hard not to seem that way. I haven't seen overt untouchability as a problem(though my 22 year old teacher once said that a Sanskrit teacher made only her, as the only nonBrahmin child, sit on the floor in her house during group classes). \n\nIn India, the background against which a lot of the discussion on caste takes place is 'reservations'.\nIt is an extremely touchy topic. A set number of \"reservations\" for spots in government education and public sector jobs is retained for those that are of a particular class of caste. The measures were adopted under the assumption that they would encourage growth in backward(economically, socially, educationally) communities. These reservations, perhaps, don't adequately serve their original purpose anymore, as they no longer fully represent the socioeconomic background of the applicant. This argument is especially thrust forward by \"Forward Caste\"(Being Brahmin or Christian is likely to increase your risk of being in this group) communities, who are often impaired by the restrictions. It doesn't look to be changing any time soon.\n\nIn the field of marriage and relationship, caste seems to still play a fair part. There's often that intolerant grandparent, aunt or uncle who insists that a match with boy from the wrong caste will prove ruinous. They can be blatantly offensive. However, the emphasis that modern/urban casteism places is often not on spiritual pollution, but on cultural/behavioral/moral incompatibility.\n\nCultural distinctions still exist(albeit in minor ways) between different castes and communities in the manner in which they do things. For example, people eat cook different and have accented dialects. Assuming you're American, this is in a similar vein to suggesting that black people eat more fried chicken, or that rednecks always speak with a drawl. Not true or politically correct, but maybe has its basis somewhere. The implications are also not always so innocuous. This creates a feeling of otherness that is danced around in a manner that feels similar to racism in the US(at least to me). \n\nA lot of the terminology used in racism can be used in casteism - systemic, latent, undertone. It may also be more upfront in some parts of the country. I just haven't been there.\n\nEdit: Rearranged for clarity\n",
"When i lived in NYC not too long ago, I worked in corp America, where I got a chance to date Indian women. Yes the caste system exists. I dated upper and mid tier Indian caste women, they could date with their parents knowledge, date Indian men in the upper caste or white men in the U.S. Don't hate it's true. The upper caste girls had like no choices in terms of men because they couldn't date below their caste. It was in their caste, or white American men. Indian men could only date their caste or below, so they had more choices, but unless they were super hot they couldn't go too far down. Though they could date white women. Yes classism and racism is well and alive in Indian culture.",
"Indian living abroad at the moment. Brahmin here (but I don't really give a shit). PS: that's the highest caste in the system.\n\nDoes the caste system exist at this point? \nYES. It exists and thrives in certain situations.\n\nMarriages is no.1. Marrying outside your caste? Prepare for the gossipy aunts giving you rude stares and your parents pleading you to change your decision.\n\n My parents do indulge in this. I was given the freedom to marry any girl I wanted to marry, but I was asked to ensure that she was from a 'good' household (this means no poor people and no lower caste people in Momspeak). I was also asked not to marry Muslims because 'their customs are barbaric' and they will not budge for you (for example Id and the rituals involved).\n\n\nSo its basically **'any girl\\*'**\n^^^^\\*conditions ^^^^apply\n\n\nMy parents are well educated - both of them are graduates. They still have such archaic beliefs. Of course, I don't buy any of that nonsense. A lot of the urban youth have stopped caring about it altogether, but it still persists among people who are 40+ years old. It's even more rampant in rural India where people are killed over caste quarrels.\n\n\n",
"Sure this will be downvoted to oblivion. A dalit here and I can see most of the comments from fellow NRI upper castes coming up with an excuse or something to support a regressive system that considers around 200 million people as less than humans. Atleast some of the westernized countries regret slavery, genocide of red-Indians, aboriginals etc but these so-called upper caste people will almost never show remorse or regret what happened and what is happening till today. They just hide behind the reservation system designed to deliver justice to victims of this inhuman system. They forget that their holy land had a reservation system for more than a thousand years favouring the privileged over and over but a reverse reservation to rectify the inequality irks them. End the caste system then we won't need any of this reservations and just to note reservations have helped (Tamil Nadu). I know redditors love meta-physical trite but sorry to disappoint you guys. This caste system is despicable and can't blame you westerners since you keep hearing it from the very proponents of it. It's not black and white as racism. It's operates on a different level altogether worse than apartheid or slavery.\n\nFor ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of the human personality. - Ambedkar\n",
"First gen american of gujurati parents here. Ive never once heard any indian person talk about caste - neither positively or negatively. My parents know about the caste system of course, but it never has had any relevance (not even during any of our visits to india).\n\nThe one thing I have heard about personally is \"gham\" (village). You have to know your ancestral village and you cannot marry anyone from that village. Even that only has relevance for old people these days. There are stereotypes about the various villages (some are apparently worse/more backward than others), but thats all Ive seen.\n\nIm a member of the farmer varna and a good friend of mine is a \"brahmin\". His parents treat me like a son (honestly even better than my own parents). I think its hard to make a generalization about a nation of more than one billion people, though Im sure that casteism exists in india and is quite horrible.",
"I am Indian and yes it's still very big. The younger generation is starting to figure shit out but their parents are deep into it and they try to pass down the caste bullshit to their kids. My parents never really told me what my caste was or even brought it up around us because they didn't want to affect our relationships with our friends. However when I told them about my girlfriend and they found out she was from a different caste my parents definitely made a face and to this day 3.5 years later try to fix my marriage to someone within our caste. My cousin's girlfriends family found about him and first thing they asked was what's his caste and she told them it was different caste and then her mom threatened to kill herself if she was caught with my cousin again. All because of a stupid system they can't get over. So much shit happens because of caste bullshit. People get killed over it. It's a stupid system that needs to be abolished once and for all. People say it's getting better but how much better is it really? When a family says that they want a good family for their daughter (in Indian culture daughters get married off and stay with their in laws) they really mean they want to know what caste that family is from. ",
"Castes in India are a socio-economic segregation. This is important, since it's rather starkly different from a purely social method of segregation.\n\nFrom here on out, any absolute statements I make (everyone, anyone, all the time, everywhere) are to be assumed to mean 'an overwhelmingly large amount, tending to absolute'.\n\n1. Inter-caste marriages are still looked down upon, but more commonly, are simply a topic of conversation. This has religious connotations too, since Indians have this system of 'worshipping a god for the benefit of someone', and one of the factors used in specifying a person is the person's 'clan', which is essentially a way of depicting caste. So, even if the marriage isn't opposed, there will be muffled coffee table conversations about it, and the older members of society may outrightly denounce such a thing. Orthodoxy levels are strongly correlated with age.\n\n2. Parents will often jokingly (and if the situation arises, seriously) tell their children not to marry a person with a certain surname. Since the surname is a signature of caste. Your surname tells others what caste you are. In my peer group (22+-2), this doesn't matter. Go to 35+, and it tends to. At 50+, it becomes a hardcore thing.\n\n3. In certain cultures (India has Bengalis, Kalwars, Marathis, Gujrathis, the list goes on), people are indeed often promoted based purely on their caste. This is usually covered with vague 'legit' reasons like 'exceptional performance' or 'exceeded targets'. Although I haven't personally seen this happening anywhere, I have heard from numerous people (who have no benefit in giving me wrong information) that this does happen.\n\n4. Certain families, usually in the middle class, still refer to other families by their castes. 'Oh look Ghosh. They're businesspeople' or 'Oh look Das, ew, they're servants', and a whole load of other shit that does not go well at all with the younger generation ( < 25).\n\n5. In rural India, the caste system is MUCH stronger. Untouchability still exists, and as far as I can see (which isn't much, take this with a grain of salt), is thriving. People are expected to behave 'as their caste demands'. No ambitions if you're from a lower caste. No education if you're from a lower caste. No talking to lower castes if you're a higher caste. These things do exist, and they are often encouraged by the government because, as stated before, the government needs rich people's funds.\n\nIn conclusion, the existence of the caste system manifests itself in different ways in different places:\n\nIn urban areas, usually bitchy conversations about other casts, or eyebrows being raised, or mild 'persuasion' to not marry other castes, along with coffee table conversations about castes and riches.\n\nIn rural areas, that shit is hardcore. You marry in your caste. You do not look at those above you. You don't talk (unless required by profession) to those below you. Again, there are a significant number of exceptions, but this is (what I assume, given my current amount of information), the majority paradigm.",
"I got to know about caste system when I was in 10th standard. I thought of having healthy competition and challenged my friend that I will get better marks in exam. ( I was always first and he was always in top 10 ). He laughed and said, \"You don't need to challenge me. My 60% is more than your 85%\" . I was totally confused and asked what are you talking about then he told me he is OBC, and he can get better job because of reservation. \n\nHis performance degraded over the year. But he was right, after graduation he got nice paying govt. job. And I was struggling at that time. I went for my Masters eventually. \n\nAlso, I was/am not poor but he was way more rich than my family. His father was at some good position in MTNL. His elder brother also got reservation and got nice govt. job. \n\nMay be in rural India, there is caste system but for Urban area it is only reservation which tells you who is OBC/SC/ST and who is not. \n\n",
"Dude..it even happens in canada. .not an sla swer cause i dont understand hate based on colour, I'm a dark one, my sister light....holy carp is there a huge difference. Apparently I'm ugly and not worth water or love and am just good for labour...unless I \"get a good white one\" so my kids don't have to \"suffer\" like I do. I'm Canadian, in Canada. Sure my dad treats me bad, he tries to hide it now, but I remember being little and hated for my darkness always hearing \"too bad about that one\" from Indian strangers. It's weird having your skin comoditized, but in the long run, yeah it still hurts. It sucks. But eh. I love my dark skin, but is makes me sad when new immigration ts from India treat me like im a crack head because of my skin colour...I'm all like: this is Canada be good r get help. No racism allow. It's just one of those things I hope we grow out of...but honestly it was mentioned at a family wedding....as if it made my cousin worthy because she wasnot dark. I liked it though when they realized they pissed off the smartest person in the room. Our skin is different colours but our brains are all grey on the outside. Side note: anyone know a good hind response to being called a coconut? Love em, but I'm a human not a nut...well you know what I mean. \nEdit to say sorry for not editing the hard read.....also to say star trek helped me through....I was the same colour as war and he fn rocked. ",
"Here in Canada, my good friends were together since the eighth grade all the way into their 20s. She was Indian Brahman (spelling?), he was Greek.\n\nApparently the fact that he's a \"foreigner\" was a problem for her extended family and they had been making a ton of noise about it for several years.\n\nBeing \"foreign\" was worse than being the untouchable class because us non-Indians aren't even Indian enough to have a class...\n\nThe pair eventually broke up and them getting married being a problem for her family was a significant factor.\n\nGod damn it why do people come here for the famed Canadian tolerance and acceptance but then themselves act like intolerant dicks?\n\nIf you move to a mixed country, your kids are going to mix with all sorts of other kids, your grandkids might be mixed. It's a package deal. Be accepted and accept others.\n\n/rant",
"I might be late in posting this.. India's caste system is relevant in modern india for 99 % of the population. 33 years of my life and I have not come across any Indian who treats all Indians equally. The recent Prime Minister however quoted India is a country united by diversity. Back to the question... \n\nThe caste system is also relevant with Indian's overseas, but to an extent that it remains within closed doors and is not practiced in the society. \n\n",
"It is most definitely an issue (in southern India at-least). I stayed in India last summer with several Dalits (\"untouchables,\" those who tend to have darker skin, more indigenous), who discussed how they are regularly met with discrimination by the government. I heard many tragic stories from parents whose children could not afford schooling because of their status in lower castes, and met several Dalit children who were abandoned as children because they were seen as not worth saving, and were seen as \"cursed.\" Thankfully they were taken in by a local orphanage started by other Dalit people, but many are not provided for and sold into sex trafficking.. \n\nIt's real.",
"The REAL question is, when will shit like this end? Do all the fucking old people promoting it need to die? Will their kids continue to do so? \n\nI believe technology plays a huge role in the extinction of retarded shit like racism.",
"Even though I hate it I can tell you for sure that this exists in India, didn't know it was also going on in the US.",
"Working in the hospitality industry in New Zealand there is very much the remnants of caste discrimination between Indians along with discrimination by those with light skin - light skinned Indians feeling superior to darker coloured Indians believing that being both the customer and light coloured meaning they can be an asshole to the person behind the counter (replace a dark coloured Indian as the order taker with say a dark coloured Filipino and you'll see the same behaviour by the light coloured Indian). For many they ride on the backs of their family name - that some how their great, great, great granddad being the chief ball fondler for the Sultan of Lucknow some how puts them on a higher perch than someone whose family were farmers. The concept of 'each individual is responsible for what they do as individuals\" seem to go amiss when it comes to the idea that they cannot milk their family history as some sort of justification of why they should get something free now. That being said, I've never had any problems with Sikh or Muslim Indians - it always seems to be the Hindu Indians who get a bee up their ass about something.",
"can you lie about your caste? why can't you say you're from the brahmis caste? btw, you guys should be called \"brahs\". sup brah",
"I'm Indian girl overseas in the UK. Over here my parents with marriage will still care about the caste system and I would not be allowed to marry a black or Muslim person. They seem to be fine with white people but would prefer me to marry a Brahman Punjabi Hindu but Sikh guys would also be okay. \n\nHowever being friends with anyone is fine but it's just seems to be relationships to be honest. My grandma still had issues with me having black friends though. ",
"My very first internet friend was from India. He told me about it. He was a cook, and apparently a very good one. He had some unusual and highly popular dishes at a restaurant (something with cottage cheese and rose hips. Sounded gross to be but well, I wasn't raised with it). He loved the girl next door, but a cook wasn't good enough for her family, so he went into training to get into tech support. I was flabbergasted. I lost touch with him, but I think of him from time to time. He didn't end up with the girl, but I hope he is well and happy.",
"I didn't notice anyone comment on Sikhism and the caste system. My father's side of the family is Sikh ( I comment from a U.K perspective) and in Sikhism which originates from the north west region of India known as the Punjab the caste system was abolished and all were to be equal, on paper and In theory this is true. If you were to ask any Sikh they would tell you they don't use the caste system. \n\nNow the majority of original converts to Sikhism came from a Hindu way of life which the caste system stems from. So some of them found it a little difficult to let go. \n\nI have 3 female Sikh cousins 2 married white men their father wasn't happy but allowed it. The younger one however wanted to marry a nice Sikh boy but he was considered to be a Jatt one of the higher classes of the caste system and a higher class than their family would be considered to be, her family saw it as unacceptable to marry higher for various reasons even though as Sikhs that should not count, this caused a lot of strife within the family. She eventually married the boy and have been happily married for 3 years now. \n\nSome Sikhs I know who are well off will flaunt them selves as being of the Jatt caste, face book pages, private number plates etc. The main point I'm trying to make is that even thousands of miles away and 2 or 3 generations on the caste system still affects the way some Indians treat each other. I just wanted to put out there that a cultural difference exists between Sikhs and Hindus in that Sikhs should not use the caste system or acknowledge others any less equal than them selves. ",
"I was once in a meeting with several graduate students from India. After one girl finished speaking on a technical subject, a male student explained why he disagreed with her. Her response: \"In our country, you wouldn't even dare to speak when I was in the room.\"",
"My parents were middle class workers and was friends with and worked with all kinds of people - regardless of the caste. However, it was communicated to me, that I am only to marry one of their caste. My mother forbade me from dating her best friends son because they are of a lower caste, and I owe it to future generations for me to marry into the same caste.\n\nIt's a birthright according to the surname and where your ancestors were born. Some surnames used to have extra names that determine their social level, and it also depends on the spelling. The same name ending with i is a good caste, ending with y is not. (At least some BS like that)\n \n\nThey will never outwardly show that they are Caste-ist/Racist Aholes, but I know they judge people on this. ",
"Indian here, doing research work on the same subject feel free to hit me up with questions also I'm someone from the lower caste",
"Hello there.. A little bit about me. There are grades to the upper class. Let's say I am born in to the second grade of upper class, into a family that has shunned casteism for at least 2 generations. None of us or our family members are married within the caste and now our family spreads thin across the vastness of the Indian caste system and I have no delusions about the scene here.. \n\nIn the southern most part of India, it is not okay to have a surname that gives away one's caste. 'Iyer' - is an upper caste name that belongs to brahmins. The sect that has always been considered the upper class. Now most of the other people from all the grades in all the classes have given up using such surnames but you could see a lot of \"xxxx Iyer\" around. Some people practice it in such a way that even if their legal name doesn't have an 'iyer' to it, their Facebook name will. Cos they still think it has to do something like a mating call I don't give a shit. Education, even a foreign degree doesn't change this. In fact, they have already applied the caste system here in US for you American Nationals.\n\nTrust me. A black man - no matter what his pedigree is - is a lower caste man to these assholes. And obviously, you can see them cozing up super nice with white people. They love to associate themselves with the whites you know.. I will get shot down here but trust me. This is the case. If you go over to twitter or quora, you can see all these brahmins circlejerking each other. \n\nSo just imagine. If you Americans (sorry rest of the world. But most brahmins don't give no fuck about rest of the world) are classified by their caste system, just imagine how bad it is. \n\nThe violence the caste system inspires on the middle to lower end of caste spectrum will boil any human's blood. \n\nAlso, there are people, in all the walks of life of course, that respects people for people and I am aware that some of them are brahmins too.. \n\np.s: Most of the brahmins honestly believe in eugenics. Eugenics in the sense that it is their whole caste that is genetically superior. They believe a brahmin baby is more capable of kickin ass.. Intellectually of course. \n\nAnd scene!",
"This is long, it continues in the reply and sources are at the bottom.\n\nCaste is far more complicated than just who’s a Brahmin and who is an untouchable. The origins of caste can be found as far back as 1200-800B.C.E but the system as we know today wasn’t codified until the mid 19th century with the arrival of the British. Understanding, as much as anyone born outside of it can, the caste system is crucial to understanding Indian society. Its is a structure on which many other social institutions such as marriage and politics hang, and for this reason this ancient way of reckoning society remains vital and alive today.\n\tThe structure of the caste system can be understood to comprise of several components. The super structure is that of the varnas, four hierarchy arranged classes whose names often get mistaken for castes. Associated with each varna are many jatis, jatis are how caste functions of the street level. Jatis are birth groups associated with a name and a traditional occupation. Jatis differ by region although jatis from different areas may belong to the same varna . Although they are both indicators of caste, a jati is more specific to a region, a family and an individual, and their role in society may not be understood in other areas of the country. In contrast the varnas are an India wide system of classification .\n\tThe first mention we see of varnas is the Rig Veda, written between the years 1200-800B.C.E. In a story of creation it is explained that the first man is divided up into the peoples of the varnas. Each part of him transforms, with the feet becoming the Sudras the thighs becoming the Vaisyas the arms becoming the Ksatriya and the head becoming the Brahmans . The Vedas set out an idealized way that each of these groups should act; explain the “nature” of these groups. It is also made clear that the Brahmans are at the top, in charge as they were, of the rites and rituals that make up early Vedic religious traditions.\n\tLater we see varnas and their societal role become more clearly defined in the Laws of Manu. \n“ To Bahmins, he assigned reciting and teaching the Veda, officiating at sacrifices, and receiving and giving gifts. To the Ksatriya, he allotted protecting the subjects, giving gifts, offering sacrifices, reciting the Veda, and avoiding attachment to sensory objects; and to the Vaisya, looking after animals, giving gifts, offering sacrifices, reciting the Veda, trade, money lending, and agriculture. A single activity did the Lord allot to the Sudra, however; the ungrudging service of those very social classes .”\nHere we encounter the concept of the twice born, a status reserved for the three highest varnas. The Laws of Manu instruct the twice born in the proper way to live life effectively in the world, while still seeking spiritual liberation outside of it. In the Laws Manu describes the debts that are owed by the twice born, and how he must pay them. However the Laws of Manu describe much more than how to live in the world but not to be a part of it. They also proscribe detailed instructions on very worldly things. Most importantly to the position of caste in the modern era, Manu describes who and how one should marry, setting out rules of endogamy and exogamy , “ the twice born should marry a wife belonging to the same class... A girl who belongs to an ancestry different from his mother’s and to a lineage different from his father’s and is unrelated to him by marriage .” Fashioning through his advice the values and ideals of wedded life in the culture. \n",
"Overseas nobody really cares. Atleast in the US, for the most part. The people that do care- my parents don't associate with them for the most part. \n\nPersonally, the one time this was brought up recently was when my friend asked me if my parents had any restrictions on me dating anyone, and I told her they had zero restrictions. She was amazed. Context: her parents are super strict and want to arrange a marriage for her in the same upper-level caste (her dad is a rich businessman in India). I feel bad for her. ",
"In a Sociology class we had a guest speaker visit with the intention to introduce us to and so better tolerate different cultures.....\n\nWoah! The guy was a brahmin and unknowingly a full-on asshole! The entire class of young people were horrified at his comments: he was, according to him and his peers, simply better than many of his countrymen and society was better with his family in charge of these lesser, dirtier, stupider, crueler sudras and pariahs.\n\nNot kidding - this American of Indian descent living in South Carolina was even more 'racist' than the white supremacists there! ",
"The Caste system come from a very very very very very very long history and is entrenched in the fabric of the nation itself. Sure, many of us urban-ites like to think that the Caste system is old world and doesn't exist. But, instances like when a Senior employee in the Indian government was not granted a Leave to pursue Higher Education, on scholarship no less, from a Foreign University, just because his manager thought he is incapable of study because he is from a Lower caste. \n\nHere's a documentary (one of the best on the subject) on what the Caste System is like for the uninitiated, mind you it can get disturbing. \n_URL_0_\nOne cannot have a Rational argument with the people who believe in these things.",
"My family are the highest caste. We live abroad and have done so since I was 2 years old (over 20 years now). We all live in the UK. \n\nCaste is not really an issue in the UK. Few people talk about it in our social circle. However I know there are other Indians living here who take great pride in it (for whatever reason). \n\nPersonally I don't care. My family don't really care anymore either. Dad used to like talking about it but realised how ridiculous the concept sounded. \n\nIn modern India, it is still a factor. The older generation of parents will not choose a bride or groom for their children if they are out of caste. But they are old and very traditional though. And then there is reservation etc too. \n\nMy immediate family are super open minded etc. I have technically married 'out of caste' by marrying an English man. But they were all welcoming and loving to him. Maybe it is because I am the oldest of the most recent generation in the family and am given more leeway, I don't know. ",
"Let me warn you, OP, that there are a lot more higher caste Hindus on Reddit than lower caste Hindus, and most of them have never faced the bias against the lower castes.\n\nReservation in education and in public sector jobs continues to be a thing because the upper castes still sneer upon the lower castes. In the absence of reservation, 70% of the seats and jobs would be occupied by the 30%. (70% of the Indian population belongs to lower castes) Also, you will hear claims that there are universities with > 50% seats reserved for lower castes. Let me just tell you that any reservations above 50% violate the constitutional rules pertaining to reservations. These people are either lying or woefully unaware that their universities are engaging in illicit activities.",
"If you're American, you can understand the caste system in India today by looking at (black-white) race relations in the US. \n\nThe proportions are off, but the dynamics are very similar: caste is more important in rural/backward areas than in cities, it is more important in dating/marriage than at work, affirmative action exists but is disliked by many, etc.",
"I did just stumble across this piece today: \n[MODI'S INDIA: CASTE, INEQUALITY, AND THE RISE OF HINDU NATIONALISM] (_URL_0_)\n\nThe TLDR: Much of the careful thought of the nineteenth-century reformers and the founding generation has been shunted aside by the force of caste-based politics on the one hand and capitalist materialism on the other. The political principles on which the Indian state is founded have not been sufficient to create an inclusive, egalitarian society. Although the post-independence generation of Congress politicians promoted a secular vision of the Indian nation, they did not pursue the kinds of reforms that might have brought social reality closer to their political ideal. In doing so, they opened the way for the ascendance of caste-based politics and, ultimately, the more reactionary rise of religion in politics.\n\nHindu nationalism, with its dual focus on cultivating traditional social practices and providing social services afforded neither by the state nor economic growth, would seem to provide the strongest alternative to a modern capitalist society. But Hindu nationalism itself has adapted to India’s increasing wealth. The upper castes, particularly the Brahmins, once prided themselves on simple, even ascetic, living; they now hold up material success as another sign of caste superiority. The traditional Hindu elite is no longer distinguishable from the modern economic elite.",
"How do I look up the caste of people I know? Is there a system where I can input a last name and get info on the caste? I would help me to explain some weird interactions I see between my colleagues.",
"You guys think White privilege is atrocious? Welcome to Hindu privilege, niggers.",
"The caste system is technically illegal now but is still heavily engraved into the culture. While I was there I was touched constantly for being white/having blonde hair. I was constantly given preferential treatment.",
"I've heard educated second generation Hindu youth in the US talk about caste AND skin color in disgustingly backward ways. They parade their own high caste and fair skin and deride those of lower castes and darker skin color. I swear it's the kind of shit you'd expect of people in the old country that don't know any better. These issues are especially prominent when it is time to get married. ",
"As for Indians abroad, I think it's really a mixed bag. I'm American (from CT) but my parents are Jain/Hindu and from Zanzibar, Tanzania. My great grandparents immigrated there from Gujarat. Grandparents and parents were all born there. My cousins and I were all born in the US or UK. As for caste, we don't seem to care. Most of my cousins aren't even married to Indians let alone people in our caste. I don't even know what caste we're part of, but I'd assume a merchant caste like most Gujarati Jains.\n\nThen on the other hand, there's a lot of Patels (a caste from Gujarat) where I live. Many of my parents' friends are Patels. Like my parents, many of them are from Africa (specifically Kenya and Uganda). Their kids are born and brought up here. Unlike the kids in my family, these kids only marry within their caste (other Patels) and feel quite strongly about it. I've talked to a couple of them about it and they are perplexed as to why I don't seem to care about my caste. \n\nMy uncle got divorced a few years ago and is remarried to a Patel women. Several people in the Patel community expressed their displeasure with this \"mixed\" marriage. But my uncle and his now wife were in their late 40s so who gives a shit. \n\nIn short, caste outside of India is a very different concept. Some people don't care while others really do care. I think it's rather silly. Indians are some of the [most racist people in the world](_URL_0_). We already discriminate *amongst* ourselves on language, skin color, religion, etc.. Do we really need one more thing to further divide us?",
"Two more examples involving modern Indians when they leave India:\n\nFriend (female) has been dating a guy from a different caste. He's maybe .5 castes below her caste in the macro castes (Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra), and mostly just from a different geographical caste. Her family disapproves.\n\nShe's in a southeastern city, he moves to Buffalo. They're both smart people pursuing advanced degrees (doctor/lawyer/engineer). One day, she's visiting some relatives nearby, and uses their desktop computer to book a train ticket to visit him in Buffalo.\n\nShe goes to Buffalo to see him, without telling her family. The family in the US checks browser history, sees her booking searches/URLs, and pieces together what she's done.\n\nFlash forward to me, picking her up from the train station, bawling, mission aborted by the American uncle at the Indian father's bidding. All because he's the wrong caste. I mean the guy is a good dude, well-educated, obviously whether his family is not-quite-brahman caste is irrelevant, as he's effectively a brahman.\n\n\nStory #2:\nEvery Indian I meet outside of India, in academia, science, and business is a Brahman(religious/academic caste) or Kshatria(warrior caste). Sometimes in labs, offices, and schools, a Brahman-caste guy will refuse to work with a Kshatria-caste guy, or feel really wronged when the under-caste person gets a promotion over them.\n\nSo yes, the caste system still has huge impacts today. Out of the Indians you meet in your country (assuming U.S. by username and fact we're on reddit) probably > 2/3 will be Brahmans, and maybe 1/3 will be Kshatriya. You will rarely/never meet dalits outside India."
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2itzjs | i bought a light bulb that (according to the packaging) should last for 15 years. how did the company determine said bulb's lifespan? | I mean, surely they didn't run it for 15 years to test it out. Right? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2itzjs/eli5_i_bought_a_light_bulb_that_according_to_the/ | {
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"You are correct. Most electronics are gauged on their Expected Life Service (ELS) or Life Expectancy. These items are tested, and put through rigorous use, both by artificial means and abuse.\n\nThis way, they can determine that, say over the course of 10 years the lightbulb will be turned on an average of 19 times a day, they can simulate 10 years worth of turning on and off with an automatic part to gague its response.\n\nDozens of these experiments are carried out and scientists then determine the useful lifespan of a product. At that point, it is sold for distribution.\n\nTypically, the Expected Life Span, is measured in use hours. Most electronics have a \"Good life Expectancy\" of between 45-70 thousand hours. Roughly 4-8 years of use and time out of the more common derives. Some have exclusively shorter and longer sentences that can be determined."
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3t4hw6 | what happens to the money people raise on kickstarter, indiegogo, ets. if their goals are not met? | Do they keep the money they raised or do they have to return it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t4hw6/eli5what_happens_to_the_money_people_raise_on/ | {
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"It never gets collected. People pledge a dollar amount on a credit card. If the goal is not met than the credit cards are never charged. "
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6pw5jy | why does the pigment in animals eyes change colour only after birth ? are there any other body parts that change in a dramatic way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6pw5jy/eli5_why_does_the_pigment_in_animals_eyes_change/ | {
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"Hum, if I remember correctly, the pigment never change colour. \nWhat happens is that the \"default\" color is blue for quite a lot of mammals. After birth, the eyes begin to produce a pigment called melanine that gives the eyes their definitive colour. \n"
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2yj82h | what did amd do wrong and why did they fall behind intel in terms of processors? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yj82h/eli5_what_did_amd_do_wrong_and_why_did_they_fall/ | {
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"The history between AMD and Intel is extremely interesting. AMD was actually only able to make x86 chips because of IBM, who wanted to use the Intel 8086 chips in its IBM Personal Computers, or PCs, and required two manufacturers - much like how Apple today has multiple manufacturers of all of the components in their phones and tablets.\n\nSo AMD piggy backed in a way on the innovations of Intel, providing clones of their architecture and chipsets. However, after a decade of licensing Intel's architecture, AMD had to stop producing new clones of Intel's designs, meaning that AMD had to design its own architectures that may, or may not, have included compatibility with Intel's. Ironically, modern 64bit processors are of AMD design: Intel had designed the original x86 architecture, but was pushing \"Itanium\" for theri 64 big instruction set, called i64. However, AMD extended the x86-32 architecture (32 bit x86 - it had already been extended from its original 16 bit) into the x86-64 that's in common use today.\n\nBut even with Intel adopting and licensing their instruction set, Intel as a company is simply better at two things: chip design, and chip naming. Intel's chips work and are stable, throughout the whole range of their chips. AMDs work, usually, but are less stable, and underperform when compared to Intel chips of similar spec. Intel's naming and marketing is very phenomenal - They use simple series names with revision numbers to help people know what's next, and give specs like \"Cores\", \"Clock Speed\" and \"Cache Size\" to help people quickly and easily compare chips or figure out what the chip can do. As such they're favored by businesses because they are significantly more transparent with those figures than AMD is. And even among non-techies, Intel is a known brand name that they can trust when they go and buy a computer.\n\nAt the moment, AMD is struggling to try and define a market, creating their own terms like \"APU\" instead of CPU with GPUs. While they've made strides to be more transparent with frequencies and capacities, they still feel to professionals like they're trying to pull a fast one: their current A-series APUs, for instance, list \"Compute cores (CPU + GPU, total count)\" instead of treating the two separately. As any professional can tell you, those aren't the same and need to be treated separately! But at the same time, they are a good \"cheaper alternative\" for consumers who will never know (or never need to know) the difference, and their competition in the market place keeps them alive and drives innovation.\n\nAMD IS however doing really well with their ATI graphics division, which they acquired a few years back: it's still just as well known as Nvidia, and often as reliable.",
"They didn't really do anything wrong. They just don't have the money or resources to keep up with a behemoth like Intel.\n\nThe only reason they were ever able to compete is that Intel made some really stupid decisions with the Pentium 4. AMD stuck to a more conventional design and was able to make CPUs that were as good as, if not better, than anything Intel had to offer. \n\nUnfortunately, they were never able to gain much market share, mainly because of the well-documented collusion between Intel and the big system makers. They did well at retail, but were effectively excluded from the OEM market, which is where the vast majority of CPUs are sold. \n\nIntel was eventually fined a few billion dollars and forced to stop their anti-competitive practices, but it was too late to matter. Intel had already used their considerable resources to recover from their blunder and AMD hasn't been able to compete on anything but price since.",
"There was a point a few years ago when AMD CPUs were faster, so Intel paid companies to stop using AMD CPUs in their computers and paid developers to make their programs run slower on AMD CPUs.\n\nThis caused people to believe that AMD CPUs were slower, as such AMD lost market share and didn't make as much money.\n\nBecause AMD didn't have as much money as Intel they couldn't do as much research, so their newer CPUs fell behind Intel's.",
"For most of my life I was an AMD fan and only owned AMD and ATI products. The Athlon 64 days were the golden days of AMD where Intel had the awful Pentium 4 paired with super expensive and unnecessary RAMBUS DRAM. AMD processors were actually better than their Intel counterparts. Unfortunately Intel is a behemoth and pumps so much money in to their R & D division and the Core2Duo products obliterated AMD's offerings. The C2D products helped pull Intel so much further than AMD that now they are an entire generation ahead in terms of lithography. Intel Cpus are at 22nm and moving on to 14nm while AMD is still on 28nm. Creating smaller lithography manufacturing processes requires substantial amounts of capital seed money, it's money that AMD just doesn't have. AMD isn't a bad company, they were the first to do 64bit architectures and the first to put integrated GPUS on CPU dies. They also made overclocking an industry accepted standard.",
"Intel spends more on R & D in one quarter (3 months) than AMD makes in a year. When you have that kind of backing you better be 1-2 generations in ahead."
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22ak3r | why don't you gain 500 grams when you eat a 500 gram steak? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22ak3r/eli5_why_dont_you_gain_500_grams_when_you_eat_a/ | {
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"A lot of the steak is water, fiber, and other things your body either doesn't absorb or quickly gets rid of the excess. Also, calories can be stored more efficiently as fat (9 calories per gram) than as protein (4 calories per gram). But if you had a sufficiently accurate scale, and ate a 500 gram steak, you would in fact be 500 grams heavier immediately afterward. Plus the weight of the steak sauce. And hopefully some fries and a drink. Now I'm hungry.",
"Assuming you haven't gone to the bathroom since eating, it's because some of the mass of the steak gets turned into calories that your body uses for fuel, producing carbon dioxide which you exhale. In addition, water is constantly evaporating from various places on the body causing further weight loss.\n\nAnother factor may be that a 500g steak is 500g uncooked, so after cooking, it will weigh less.",
"Technically, immediately after eating the 500g steak you've gained 500g. The steak is sitting in your stomach.\n\n"
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490b9a | what is rooting your phone, using twrp, and flashing a new os? | I've been trying to force my LG G3 d852 to update from Androind 4.4 to at least 5.0 (or even 6.0) and I can't get it to. I've never dealt with rooting/flashing of my phone and most of the websites just give barebones instructions that aren't exactly easy to follow to someone with no experience.
My phone barely works as is, so it's important that I can figure this out and understand how to get this to work. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/490b9a/eli5_what_is_rooting_your_phone_using_twrp_and/ | {
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"Go to Xda-developers, much easier than explaining. It's different for every phone. Essentially, you unlock the bootloader, change the recovery (twrp - this is the software that allows you to manually install ROMs) then find a compatible ROM you like/that works and go for it... Don't do any of the above without reading all you can read.\n\nSource: bricked phones in the past lol"
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2lx93a | what information can employers "see" if i am using work wifi on my mobile device? | If I am sending an email, do they have rights to the text? If I am paying a bill on a credit card app, can they see my bank information? Is the content of imessage available to them? What sorts of information am I sharing with my employer if I am using their wifi?
I am sure these answers varies from work place to work place, but I am asking in general. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lx93a/eli5_what_information_can_employers_see_if_i_am/ | {
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"It really depends on the type of network gateway your employer is using. I work for an IT firm and we sell a specific gateway thats used to manage wired and wireless connections in large scale environments. If I log in with my iPhone, my employer can see what device i'm using, my MAC address, what browser i'm using, what websites i'm visiting, what internet dependent apps i'm using, how much data the websites or apps are using and how much time I spent online. They can't see what i'm typing or my screen unless they have a specific agent installed on my device.... do they have said agent on my company supplied laptop however. ",
"The simple answer is that they can see everything that you send and receive though the network and it does not matter if it is encrypted or not.\n\nIt really depends on the company and their policy regarding the wireless network what they choose to monitor. \n\nTo elaborate a bit more usually the wireless network provided by the employer might be for the convenience of their employees or their customers.\n\nWhen it is for the convenience of the employees they monitor the mails you send and receive, the sites you visit and everything work related the same way they monitor their wired connections.\n\nWhen it is for the convenience of the customers they usually monitor the sites that you visit in order to prevent potential threat to the IT security of the company. \n\nMy advise is to be careful what you visit and do on any wireless network no matter if it is work or public.\n\n"
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kh6ka | what is the difference between pdf documents and bmp/jpg/gif/png documents? | As the title says. Is it something about the image/print quality? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kh6ka/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_pdf_documents/ | {
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"PDF's can \"understand\" that text is different from images, and so they can compress the text much moreso than an image. BMP/JPG etc either do not compress at all, or they compress as an image, and don't recognize text. That is not entirely accurate, buts a LI5 explanation.\n\nNinja edit, fixed quotes",
"PDF's can \"understand\" that text is different from images, and so they can compress the text much moreso than an image. BMP/JPG etc either do not compress at all, or they compress as an image, and don't recognize text. That is not entirely accurate, buts a LI5 explanation.\n\nNinja edit, fixed quotes"
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borni0 | how does somebody take a video first person view, but when they look in a mirror, they don’t see the camera? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/borni0/eli5_how_does_somebody_take_a_video_first_person/ | {
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"Can you explain what you mean or provide an example?\n\nMirror shots are usually filmed at specific angles to hide the camera, use sets with duplicate rooms on either side of a false mirror, or digitally erase the mirror in post.",
"I might not be the best person to answer this, but as no one else has & I used to make movies as a kid I might as well.\n\nThere are a few techniques that I know of, a lot of people will use strategic angling to produce the effect. The other is to take 2 separate videos (one of the persons “reflection” and another of the original scene) and splice the two pieces of footage together. Or, a combination of both of those techniques."
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1l0pl1 | what air traffic controllers actually do. why is this not a fully automated sort of thing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l0pl1/eli5_what_air_traffic_controllers_actually_do_why/ | {
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"They direct traffic, basically like air traffic cops. They make sure planes don't collide, planes that are landing are doing so in an orderly fashion, and in certain priorities.\n\nThere's no way a computer could do it, the same way 911 dispatch can't be done by computer; there are too many factors of varying importance and degrees to account for. Say two planes are approaching the single runway. One is a passenger jet liner, 300 people aboard, leaking fuel. The other is a military transport flight, engines 2 and 4 out, carrying chemical weapons. Which one do you land first?\n\nOnly a person can make the necessary judgments to make that distinction. While the jet liner has 300 people aboard, the chemical weapons could wipe out the city. Each situation could be different as well. Engines 2 and 4 are out, but if the plane has a good wingspan, it can glide for quite a while. Fuel leak is not that significant a problem, since the engines are still running fine, but the fuel could catch fire due to all sorts of causes, destroying the plane midair. There is no computer program in the world that can take in all those variables quickly* and then make a judgment.\n\n\\* another bit is information entry. You're a pilot, with 300 people aboard your jet, which is leaking fuel. Can you really enter all the necessary data into the computer in time for the computer to make a judgment and leave enough time for you to carry it out? With a person listening, you can give the highlights, tell them what is the most pressing problem, and they can make a judgment based on those key bits of information.",
"Air Traffic Controller here. Both /u/Muskau50 and /u/tmntman make very good points, but there are other things to consider as well. To automate the national air traffic control system would not only require all the aircraft to be working on the same system, but all the Airports to be working on the same system with the same equipment as well, and a small airfield in rural Iowa can't afford the same tech that O'hare can. That's where air traffic controllers come in, we are the glue that holds the entire system together, we act as liasons between the gaps where technology fails.\n\nAnother thing to consider is the fact that while yes, we use automation procedures, technology is not 100% reliable. Equipment fails, overheats, goes out of calibration. When this happens, and yes it happens, you need someone able to handle the situation using, in some cases, nothing more than a light gun to broadcast instructions to the pilot of an aircraft visually.\n\nWhat about trust? Computer systems can be hacked, brought down by an outside source. Change a few parameters in a hypothetical AC program and all of a sudden the computer is putting aircraft at the same altitude and breaking separation, or using the wrong runway, and no one would know until there was a disaster. A person who has been certified and qualified, can be trusted not to make these kinds of elementary mistakes.\n\nAnd then there's the human element. Pilots are people too. If you were having an emergency and you needed assistance, would you want to talk to a robot, or do you want another person on the line to reassure you and tell you that you are going to be fine. An air traffic controller working at a busy airport has more lives in his hands in a single day than some Doctors have in their lifetime. It's our job to care.\n\nTL;DR: It's too expensive, it's too complicated, equipment breaks down and you need a backup, and the human element."
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66stsq | where do pharmaceutical companies get the materials to manufacture opioids? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66stsq/eli5_where_do_pharmaceutical_companies_get_the/ | {
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"They produce, purchase and/or import them in licensed facilities. Just because a drug is \"illegal\" to possess without a prescription, doesn't mean it's illegal to make - as long as it's properly licensed and regulated. "
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cnnfht | what’s the science behind why pacing whilst on the phone or focusing on something makes you able to concentrate even more? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cnnfht/eli5_whats_the_science_behind_why_pacing_whilst/ | {
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"I have heard the act of turning (like changing directions) activates the decision making part of the brain. This is why casinos are laid out so pathways don't allow people to make 90 degree turns.",
"Pacing is a physical manifestation of our thought processes. By moving at a constant step, it acts as a tempo to step from one thought to another and to loop back around if we reach a dead end. The same thing occurs when we are thinking and bob our heads back and forth, gesture with our hands, or look to different places with our eyes. You may notice people performing these actions while talking on the phone even if the other side can't see them.\n\nPacing also is good for your body. Sitting tends to cause your blood to pool in your legs so walking will help circulate that blood around. It also acts like exercise to release hormones that counteract feelings of anxiety.\n\nEDIT: For more information about the psychology aspect, take a look at [Embodied Cognition](_URL_0_). Embodied Cognition suggests that your body and mind's states are linked such that one can influence the other. Thanks to /u/bokan for identifying this.",
"You've probably heard that [some large percentage] of human communication is nonverbal.\n\nIt's kind of a bullshit number, but the gist of it is true. When we interact, we are very animated and use a lot of expressions and body language to communicate. However, when you're on a phone, you're limited to just a limited-bandwidth voiceline with nothing else.\n\nSo, when talking to someone on the phone, you tend to compensate the significantly constrained method of communication by gesturing more yourself, which includes pacing around.",
"Your brain begins to consume much more energy and glucose under heavy concentration. It would make sense that you have to engage your circulatory processes and increase your heart rate and oxygen intake to get that going. Basically, your blood needs to get pumping to get the brain what it needs.",
"It doesn’t make you able to concentrate more, you might just feel that way. In reality, you’re forced to communicate only verbally while on the phone, meaning certain people might feel uncomfortable if they’re not stimulating themselves in other ways. This is the same reason why some people fidget or shake their legs, it serves as extra stimulation that they feel more comfortable with.",
"Pacing is probably a *result* of you concentrating more rather than a *cause*. Speaking to someone over a \"low information\" channel like telephone is more difficult than in-person. When you focus more intently on that task, your body needs to burn more energy -- if you don't have a specific place to put that energy, it's likely to come out as a fidget. Pacing is a really common fidget.\n\nFocusing on some particular (not terribly distracting) thing while talking to person not there does help you focus on the conversation. This is because your brain is trying to make up for not seeing the person you're talking to seeking out visual stimulation. If you focus on a picture or a document or something, your brain is satisfied with the visual stimulation it's getting, and you're less likely to be distracted by something else during the call.",
"Related is the [Yerkes Dodson law](_URL_0_). This relates your arousal level to your performance at a task. Some monotonic tasks, like factory work or boring highway driving, are performed better with higher levels of arousal. Other complex or novel tasks, like solving a math problem or studying a map, are performed better with lower arousal.\n\nThis is why we turn down the radio to better read street signs, or why increasing your arousal by pacing may help you focus on a phone call.",
"Personally for me I think it's sensory overload. Basically I have to overload my senses to be able to focus otherwise every tiny thing distracts me. So when I'm talking on a phone I walk around and when I'm studying I play music and tap my foot. I can't focus without this overload.",
"ACH is the neurotransmitter that allows your motor neurons to communicate with your muscles. Activating your muscles releases ACH, and this is what allows muscle memory to exist (completing reflexlive movements without the help of your central nervous system) \n\nWhen I was an actor, pacing while memorizing lines made it much easier.",
"The ability to concentrate is still only partially understood by cognitive psychologists.\n\nOne way of thinking about (model) of attention/concentration is that you have different \"pools\" for different tasks/senses.\n\nFor example, doodling while in class helps some people concentrate, because while the auditory-linguistic part of their attention is activated (hopefully) by the teacher, the tactical-movement and sometimes visual attention (if the teacher isn't very visually engaging) is bored and looking for something to do, drawing your attention away from the subject at hand. That's why when you give yourself something to occupy the part that's \"bored\" it can shut up and let you properly concentrate.\n\nSame with phone conversations for some people. The auditory-linguistic-social parts are engaged, but your body-movement parts (or for me, the visual parts) are itching for something to do.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSource: Studied this just now for my exam in cognitive psychology.",
"Forgetting about the phone conversations for a second, you pace when thinking because the increased blood flow literally makes you smarter. Hence all the stories of people getting good ideas while swimming or running or something.",
"My EMDR doctor says that pacing is an example of self soothing techniques based in bi-lateral stimulation. We are soothed, calmed, and better able to focus by the bi-lateral repetitive movement. This same principle is why rocking a baby will help it to sleep, and why our eyes move around during REM processing. It is the basis for EMDR therapy, which uses various types of bi-lateral stimulation (eye movement side to side, vibrating/tapping devices in each hand, etc) to help trauma victims reprocess traumatic memories and minimize overall trauma symptoms. This same principle is why people in a state of shock, children, and people with autism will rock themselves."
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7dqrbx | how are cadavers maintained and preserved in a morgue? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7dqrbx/eli5_how_are_cadavers_maintained_and_preserved_in/ | {
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"Bagged and kept in the fridge till they are picked up by the funeral home. The cold slows the growth of microorganisms that lead to decomposition. The body gets pretty dried out in those fridges, but they stay in relatively shape"
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51j6sx | why is glass transparent, but powdered glass opaque? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/51j6sx/eli5_why_is_glass_transparent_but_powdered_glass/ | {
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"Whenever light passes through a boundary between two materials, it scatters a little bit. So when you crush glass into a powder, light shined through will have to pass through a whole bunch of air-glass-air boundaries. At each boundary, some of the photons will scatter. After enough of this, very few photons will actually continue on through since most will be scattered, then the powdered glass just appears opaque.",
"It's for the same reason that a block of solid ice is clear, while a pile of ice in the form of snowflakes looks white.\n\nThe single clear piece of ice/glass refracts and reflects all the light passing through it in more or less the same direction, so that light tends to stay together.\n\nThe powdered ice/glass refracts and reflects the light passing through it in as many different directions as there are individual pieces of ice/glass, so that light ends up scattered.\n\nPowdered glass in particular may also have a bumpy surface, which can add additional scattering."
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216wpf | how did we train cavalry (read horses) to charge into battle without fear | Horses in my experience seem fairly timid animals, how were we able to train a horse to forgo all of its own instincts to charge into a battle with screaming dying blood drenched horses and men all around and crash into the frontlines of infantry with blades and armor without them cowering in fear? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/216wpf/eli5_how_did_we_train_cavalry_read_horses_to/ | {
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"Blinders so it can't see, and plenty of spur action so it just runs forward.",
"Having had horses before, they are fairly timid, and also quite dumb. Usually cavalry horses were specially bred and trained to act almost specifically as war horses. Combine that with blinders and spurs and you've got a mounted soldier."
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9cu5oe | thrust and equations. | Could somebody please explain the equation you would use to calculate thrust for a rocket launch?
Thanks in advance! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9cu5oe/eli5_thrust_and_equations/ | {
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"Tyler Raiz explains it pretty clearly here.\n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"I don't think this question is suitable for ELI5 but if you are interested you may want to take a look at the Nasa site here:\n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\nSome of the variables will be design variables. For instance given the areas you can calculate the mass flow and the exit Mach, and given the total temperature and pressure, which can be aproximated as the temperature and pressure inside the combustion chamber, you can calculate the rest.\n\nAlso by enforcing Pe ≈ P0, which is in fact desirable, and approximating the combustion temperature as the adiabatic flame temperature of the fuel-oxidizer mixture (you can look up that), you can further simplify the problem. In the end you can get an approximation of the thrust in terms of nozzle design and fuel, I believe this is as simple as it can get.",
"No. All you can do is give increasingly complicated gross simplifications until you have a degree in aerospace engineering.\n\nTo start though F=MA. Force equals mass X acceleration. So how much stuff, and how quickly you throw it away from your ship, equals the force of thrust produced. \n\nThe next level up comes to questions about flow rates through nozzles and that is instantly going to require math that would give a high school physics teacher a tough week. After that you get into nozzle design which is really what you need to be able to do to answer this question in a way that makes sense."
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1dunlf | why is it bad for a car's transmission to shift into neutral while the rpm is still high? | Its something I always hear from friends, for example, having the car in neutral at a stop light and forgetting then revving the engine is bad. Also to just randomly throw it into neutral while driving.
edit: I should also mention that in my case the car is an automatic and has a carbureted engine. I don't know if that makes a difference. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dunlf/eli5_why_is_it_bad_for_a_cars_transmission_to/ | {
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"All car engines are reciprocating engines^1: they involve moving pistons back and forth very quickly. For a four-stroke engine spinning at 3000 RPM, for example, each piston is reversing direction 6,000 times per minute. That's 100 times per second; if you try to move your finger^2 back and forth at that pace, you will fail. But that's well inside the normal operating range of most engines. The accelerations involved for vehicle engine pistons are very large! This is why every engine has a redline: a speed beyond which it is not certified. It may work for a while, but the materials at that speed are experiencing stress greater than they are designed for. \n\nOperating the engine for long faster than its redline speed will eventually cause the engine to fail catastrophically. If you ever hear of a car throwing a rod, or a piston, or see a disabled race car with one or more neat little holes exploding out from the hood, it's experienced a failure of this nature. The mechanical parts guiding the piston failed, so instead of experiencing the huge acceleration it was supposed to, it got thrown physically out of the car entirely^3.\n\nRevving the engine in neutral at a stoplight isn't necessarily all that bad, though it could annoy the people around you^4. As long as you keep the tachometer below the redline, you should be fine.\n\nRandomly throwing the car into neutral while you're driving isn't different in principle, but in practice there are additional factors to consider. When you're going, the engine is developing power. That power is being directed through the transmission to the wheels, moving the vehicle. Suddenly popping into neutral disconnects the wheels, leaving all that power with nowhere to go, so the engine speeds up very rapidly. It can be very difficult to avoid exceeding the redline in this case, particularly if the RPM was already high.\n\nWill exceeding the redline briefly on occasion ruin the engine? Probably not right away. All it does is raise the risk of a catastrophic failure because of the increased stress the components have experienced. This risk is cumulative over the life of the engine, it never goes down. It's a better idea to avoid exceeding the redline to the maximum extent possible.\n\n~~---------~~\n\n1: ask me about turbine engines later if you want to hear about non-reciprocating engines.\n\n2: or any part of your body\n\n3: this ruins the engine, but usually isn't too bad for the driver. It is extremely dangerous for anyone around the car^5 at that time, though, as you've now got what amounts to a huge bullet flying out in some random direction.\n\n4: Revving the engine at stops is also illegal in certain places, such as Germany. Don't try it when there are Polizei around!\n\n5: it usually means very bad news for motorcycle riders, though.",
" > having the car in neutral at a stop light and forgetting then revving the engine is bad\n\nthats BS. Revving the engine while it is still cold is not a good thing to do (since it has more wear than usual because of worse lubrication). But the engine does not care if it is in neutral or makes your car race over the highway at max speed.\n\nIf you would step on the gas *for a long time* in neutral (about 1 min or longer), there would be the possibility that the engine coolant would become hotter than usual (because there is less ventilation than usual when standing still), but the electrical fan in front of your cooler would deal with this.\n\n > Also to just randomly throw it into neutral while driving.\n\nDon't do this. If you decelerate while not in neutral, the engine will stop injecting fuel into the engine (at least in modern cars). If you throw the car in neutral, the engine has to use a little bit of fuel to keep it running. You also dont get to use [engine breaking](_URL_0_) while in neutral (which is good practice on long descending slopes). Also staying in a gear makes accelerating more smoothly, since the engine already has the right rpm.",
"If your talking about a manual gearbox, to put it in neutral, generally you have to have pushed in the clutch and the release bearing on the clutch has disengaged it from the flywheel, the revs will drop to tick-over so it doesn't hurt it at all. Unless your foot is buried on the throttle still, in which case you will bounce the car off the rev limiter, which although a safety measure, isn't an ideal situation for an elongated time period.\nIf you're in an automatic, its probably to do with torque converters or something. Auto boxes are a clever bit of kit. I don't really have much knowledge, as Ive only ever played with manuals. Us Europeans need manual gears. \n",
"Imagine riding your bike very fast putting quite a bit of pressure on the pedals to make them spin and then... your chain falls off sending your legs into a crazy spinning motion with no resistance. ",
"I think it has more to do with damaging the gearbox than the engine. In the early days you had dog gears and double declutching was necessary when changing through the gears. In that case you need to match the rotation speed of the engine and the output shaft or gear. That is where you would have problems with suddenly switching to neutral after revving too high.\n\nDouble declutching: \n\n1. Press clutch to disengage current gear. \n\n2. Use accelerator to match revs of engine and output shaft (which has now been disconnected).\n\n3. Press clutch again to engage new gear. \n\nThe clutch action needs to be done twice hence **double** declutching.\n\nWith modern synchromesh/dual-clutch boxes this problem should not arise. With automatics you usually have a torque convertor which works on fluid pressure i.e. no solid connection - so definitely not a problem with automatics.\n\nEDIT: Formatting"
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ehivic | how do pyramid schemes negatively impact society and the people that get caught in them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ehivic/eli5_how_do_pyramid_schemes_negatively_impact/ | {
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"As with most get rich quick schemes (scams) the most likely people to participate are those who are the most desperate and vulnerable. People who are wealthy/financially stable and looking for an investment opportunity are for the most part highly financially literate and most likely to opt for traditional investments to grow their wealth. \n\nPeople who are poor, have minimal levels of financial literacy and just want to improve their lives are the most likely to fall for such scams. A pyramid scheme by design benefits only the people in the top tiers of the scheme who know exactly what they are doing and are exploiting the vulnerability of people in bad situations. \n\nThese kind of scams also often affect whole communities as people ask their friends within the community to join, not knowing it's nothing but a scam. This serves to keep people impoverished as well as ensuring that there is no investments which are put towards creating intergenerational wealth. People who fall victim eventually realise they've been had and this can cause depression, feelings of guilt and isolation from friends who were also caught up. \n\nThe whole thing is a hot mess.",
"Many pyramid schemes like Scentsy require new participants to spend money on packages which can cost over $100. For other Multi-level-marketing companies, this \"buy-in\" price can be a lot higher.\n\nMany people are unsuccessful in selling their merchandise once purchased and fail additionally in recruiting others. So for one, they don't make their initial investment back, two, they don't progress in the MLM system by recruiting new consultants. \n\nPeople quickly lose money and spend a lot of time trying to gain it back through an uneven rewards program. At the same time, they usually try and bait their friends into joining the company or persist that they buy their samples. There's a habit of people losing friends and allienating family because of this.\n\nTL;DR it costs money. People don't make that money back. They attempt to sell to family and friends in manipulative ways."
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2z5jhi | why is the ferguson police shooting suspect being charged with first-degree assault and not attempted murder? | One of the officers was shot in the face and one near the chest, easily life threatening wounds. So why are they not charging him with attempted murder? Just curious about how the law works in this case, I'm not trying to be controversial or anything.
Edit: Explained by justthistwicenomore:
> It would appear that, in Missouri, first degree assault is attempted murder. See _URL_0_
A person is guilty of assault in the first degree if he:
knowingly attempts to kill another person, OR knowingly causes or attempts to cause another person serious physical injury.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2z5jhi/eli5_why_is_the_ferguson_police_shooting_suspect/ | {
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2pm7z0 | why are older cubans so set against opening up of diplomatic relations between the us and cuba? | Surely this improves everyone's lot and actually has a more positive effect on the attitudes in the communist society of Cuba?
Is it just political sentiments or are there serious negative implications for older Cubans? Why are they so determined to make things difficult for US politicians? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pm7z0/eli5_why_are_older_cubans_so_set_against_opening/ | {
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"They got run out of their home country by the current governemnt.\n\nCuba and it's government stand to gain a LOT more than the US from normalizing relations and opening up trade.\n\nThey want this oppressive government to fail so that they can have an opportunity to reclaim their country.\n\nThere is probably a lot of lingering resentment over murdered/imprisoned family members too.\n\nThat's the very rough and incomplete description of their possition.",
"It's not just older cubans. I've talked to 2-3 younger than 30yo cubans(who actually were born there and escaped) at school and even they are against it. Reasons cited is there is no freedom of expression there. Everyone for the most part is poor and the government is fascist.",
"They're hoping that if the Castro regime falls, somehow they'll get back the property they lost when Castro took over."
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50p75f | what is the little box thing with wheels hanging from a crane at a construction site? | I see these all the time when I drive by a construction site that is closed up for the day. Sometimes there are more than one little box thing hanging. What are these and why must they hang!? I'll try and get a picture of one on my drive home tonight to help give some context. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50p75f/eli5_what_is_the_little_box_thing_with_wheels/ | {
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"Does it look [sort of like this](_URL_0_)? If so, it might be a generator. It could be on the crane because it's being moved, or for security purposes so it doesn't get stolen."
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9x2u9w | why does microfiber clean glasses so well but other fabrics don’t? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9x2u9w/eli5_why_does_microfiber_clean_glasses_so_well/ | {
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"Basically, microfiber cloth is like regular cloths, but very tightly wound compared to regular cloth. This allows it to pick up extremely small particles, like the tiny bits of dust and dirt off of glass, and it's soft, so it doesn't scratch. Meanwhile other cloths would probably just spread it around, or scratch the glass."
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3w59uj | how can these whiskey co. keep up with mass production, and say they age for 10+ years? | Such as Makers Mark and those sort of people. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3w59uj/eli5_how_can_these_whiskey_co_keep_up_with_mass/ | {
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"It takes money to make money. Most new businesses lose money for a while before they can turn a profit. As big as they are, it took Amazon over a decade to start turning a profit.\n\nThere's some things they can do, such as selling unaged whiskeys or use some of their capacity to produce booze under contract for other companies but, ultimately, they just need to wait until they have products ready for the market.",
"Maker's and other established companies know on average how many gallons they sell a year. But let's pretend snewzie's whiskey is a brand new distillery. \n\nThe first year, I might sell as many gallons of bulk alcohol as I can, or even unaged moonshine style whiskey. Save whatever surplus in whiskey barrels to age. The second year, make more white whiskey, maybe try to sell some whiskey from last year, again saving some of this year and year 1 whiskey. \n\nRepeat this for 5 to 10 years, and you've built up an inventory of aged whiskey, while still not going bankrupt. ",
"Sometimes they can't, so they have to allocate their product. This is happening a lot right now, but how much of that is a real shortage, and how much is marketing is up for debate.\n\nOther strategies are to lower the proof of the product by adding more water, so what they have in inventory goes further (Maker's Mark tried to do this a few years ago but they reversed their decision after a huge backlash), or removing age statements from their products, so they can mix younger whiskey into it. (Jim Beam just did this with Beam Black, it used to have an 8 year age statement, meaning none of the whiskey in the bottle is younger than 8 years old, but they removed the 8, and now have an \"XA\" on the bottle, meaning \"Extra Aged\")\n\nWhen there is an excess, distillers can store the whiskey that has aged the desired amount in huge steel vats so it doesn't age any more.\n\nIt's hard to predict marketing trends so far in the future, and distillers attempt to do so, but sometimes it just comes as a surprise, so you get situations where only the best-performing stores get a couple bottles of a desirable whiskey every year.",
"The age refers to the youngest whisky in the bottle. Therefore, companies usually \"overproduce\" compared to their estimates (based on historical averages, market growth, market share projections, etc). This way they can always count on having older whiskey to add to any given year's production. However.... This is not perfect, so distilleries short on aged product can buy from those with a surplus.\n\nEdit:spelling.",
"Not all whiskey is aged for 10 years, that may only be a small amount of what they sell the most of. Much of what is sold at bars or liquor stores have only been aged between 2 and 7 years with 4-7 being the most common. \n\nIn Kentucky there are more barrels of bourbon aging then there are people. So close to 5 million barrels of whisky at any given time. That would equal about 375 million gallons of product. (Depending on the age only about 45 gallons or less come out of a barrel and it is cut with water to get it down to 80-100 proof. So a barrel will give you roughly 75 gallons of whiskey to bottle) Or roughly 1,875,000,000 bottles of whiskey. \n\nSo not all of it that has reached its year mark gets bottled every year. What's left over continues to age and may be used next year, or may be bottled at 10 years. \n\nSome expensive bourbons that have been aged for 20+ years were made in a time where they could not have foreseen the rise in Bourbon popularity. Also due to the extremely long aging, a lot of it evaporates and you only get back about 25 or so gallons from a barrel. So a very small amount of it is bottled yearly. In another 20 years, it should be more common as the distilleries are likely putting more in barrels now for he future. ",
"In addition to the other comments here, some are actually just bottling someone else's product:\n_URL_0_",
"It is possible to 'age' whiskey with ultrasound. Does anyone actually verify the age of liquor?",
"Most of your veteran distillers have lots of whiskey on hand.\n\nTake Jack Daniels, I toured there while on vacation this year and it was certainly a sight to see their operation. They have now, after over 150 years of working Whiskey operations, 89 Barrel houses, that house each, over 22,000 barrels of whiskey, and they are all being turned over and aged as time goes by. With that much Whiskey on hand, its actually easy for them to maintain a moving product, as they have built up to this point.\n\nNewer distilleries, its much harder because it takes a lot of money to make something from nothing. To start a business, its quite common for some distilleries to start making liquor, but not see a dollars profit for 1-2 years, and lots fail out. There are plenty of failure distilleries that couldn't hack it and shut shop or were bought by a larger brand name that could manage the production more effectively.",
"Many times a new whiskey company will purchase “their” first batch from an established mass producing generic distillery, and then brand, bottle and sell it. Often while developing their own specific blend for aging and future sales.\n\nMany popular middle and lower shelf liquors are made by a third party mass distiller.",
"The really simple answer is \"they have a lot of barns/warehouses full of whiskey just sitting around\".",
"I live in the bourbon capital of the world. More barrels of bourbon than there are people. By like, alot. That's how.",
"I actually read that a lot of start-up whiskey companies will sell booze from other distilleries until their own product matures - not sure how true that is.",
"\"Artisanal whiskey\"? sadly that stuff is usually a scam its bought from other producers blended and sold.\n\nHow do actual whiskey makers do it? like any business they plan and project for growth gradually increasing production numbers in set increments often mirroring the aging times of their products. This is why shortages occur when something is unexpectedly popular.\n\nside note: artisanal is in quotation marks because of the high amount of bs with this product that being said this does not mean all small makers do this",
"I live in Rochester & Black Button Distillery just started like 4 or so years ago.\n\nThey subsidize their whiskey production by using the same stills to make vodka and gin -- which don't have to be aged. So you sell the vodka & gin to make your money while you wait on the whiskey to age.\n\nIt's the alternative to buying other companies' whiskeys and repackaging them, like other commenters have detailed.",
"It's like a slow game of chess. I visited the Isle of Arran distillery in Scotland in the summer which is a new distillery. They have just turned a profit for the first time after 20 years. They age their whiskey at 10, 12 and 18 years old so have to run at a loss for a long time but are producing large volumes. They will now have a decent, predictable supply so can start marketing and getting a return on investment. \n",
"Let's not forget how Makers Mark did fail to keep up with demand and announced that they would start watering down their product 7% or something to hay effect. They took it back after widespread outrage.",
"Well, for some of the small ones, they can't. Tasmanian whisky has gotten super popular, world-wide, over the last little while. In much the same way that Japanese whisky has now made a name for itself. \n\nThe article at the below link kind of addresses your question - \n\n_URL_0_\n\nAnd just for the record, I came to this article through my local newspaper. I don't read Executive bloody Style.",
"Late to the party but I'll comment anyway. As a new and small bar owner I was considering getting on the front of the \"local distillery\" bandwagon before it takes off and becomes the next fad. While I'm aware of my local distilleries I haven't quite gotten the sense that any customers care at this time. But the point is, this is how I learned that new distilleries have to begin by selling moonshine (unaged whiskey) and various rums and vodkas because whiskeys take too long to mature. Anyway, I think this is part of the puzzle piece of answering your question, distilleries have to exist for a long time before they can put out a 10, 12, 14, or longer aged whiskey/scotch.",
"Challenge Accepted. Explaining like you're *literally* five ^^for ^^^^comedic ^^^^^^effect\n\nRight now, some men are loading alcohol made from mostly corn into barrels they burned on the inside on purpose. When you turn 21, that stuff will have been sitting around in the barrel for 16 years. Grown-ups think this kind of alcohol tastes better when it sits around for a long time so when they sell it they say how many years it has been around. The law says that the alcohol can be older than it says on the label, so if they make a little too much now and can't sell it all the year it's ready, they can try again the next year without changing the label. Look, basically ask again when you're old enough to buy a bottle. ",
"My dad actually designed the Bacardi and Bullet factories if yall have any questions I can answer no problem.",
"Also it should be noted that for examples like Johnny walker blue label where it says the scotch is 50-100 years old is true but the percentage of that 50-100 year old scotch is actually a lot lower meaning only 20% of the whole bottle may be the 50-100 year old stuff. This happens all the time for a lot of companies.",
"They can't. Which is why we're looking at a whiskey shortage in a few years because of the rise in whiskey popularity over the last few years. ",
"I worked for a company that sold stuff to chain stores. It was the exact same product, we just packaged them differently for the more 'exclusive' srores.",
"You're talking about high end whisky which is only a very small percentage of the market.\n\nThe vast majority of whisky is no age statement blended whisky. However these blends are by no means bad just because they are low end. They work hard to maintain a decent and consistent taste profile using some very nice ingredients and then a lot of cheaper grain whiskys whose taste they usually do a decent job of hiding. Of course this involves using some older higher quality whiskys to get the taste right.\n\nBecause these blenders are a more consistent and reliable customer, even the makers of older higher quality whiskys will tend to sell most of it to the blenders to use in blends. But they'll sell a relatively speaking small amount to customers directly. This is what you know as high end whisky with an age statement.\n\nIf one of these high end whiskys booms in popularity then that just means they sell less to the blenders that year.\n\nTake the story of Johnny Walker Red Label and Cardhu. JW Red has no age statement. It is easily the most popular whisky in the world (can't find a source but I think it's responsible for something like 10% of global whisky sales).\n\nOne of Johnny Walker's most expensive ingredients used to be Cardhu. Cardhu also did a 12 YO single malt but the vast majority of Cardhu went into JW. Then in 2000 a very successful advertising campaign led to sales of Cardhu's 12 YO single malt surging in Spain. So Cardhu sold less of it's 12YO barrels to JW and bottled more of it themselves to sell in high end shops.\n\nBut JW's blenders found it hard to get the taste of JW red right without Cardhu so they pressured Diageo (the parent company of both) to make Cardhu continue to supply them with their 12YO. Cardhu did this, and tried to keep up production of their 12YO at the same time by keeping the bottle the same but changing the description from \"12 YO single malt\" (12 years minimum ageing, all malt whisky from one distillery) to \"12 YO pure malt\" (12 years minimum ageing, all malt whisky but from several distilleries) and diluting their Cardhu with other similar 12 year old malts they brought from wholesalers.\n\nThen there was an outrage and they had to reverse their decision. But that meant less Cardhu 12 YO for Johnny Walker Red, and so JW had to find other expensive whiskys with a similar taste profile for their blenders to work with, for a bit. \n\nFast forward 12 years and now Cardhu are making a lot more spirit, their 12YO is still doing well, and they are once again the primary top end ingredient in JW Red. But it took 12 years to increase manufacturing, in the meantime they just had to reduce their contribution to the blend.\n\nTl:dr - Most age statement whisky is mixed into Johnny Walker. If your age statement whisky becomes popular you just hold more of it back from Johnny.",
"Probably get buried, but I made a short film about Kentucky Bourbon (and cycling). Learned a lot on that trip\n\n_URL_0_",
"Don't quote me on the but when I was at jack Daniels this summer they said they had around 80 storage buildings with 20,000 barrels per building and got around 250 bottles per barrel ",
"I might be a bit late, but I can help a bit on the Scotch front, and offer a bit of insight that no-one else has picked up on. \n\nBasically, what you're referring to is the art of the blender. All whisky houses will have a set style. This means that, year on year, you want your 10 year old to taste the same, your 12 year old to taste the same, and so on. \n\nNow, as others have pointed out, age statements refer to the minimum age of the whisky in the bottle. But when you bottle it, each year's barrels are different from the last, and within each year, each barrel will vary as well. Your goal is to mix a selection of barrels together that produce your signature taste. \n\nYou therefore will use a mixture of different ages, different qualities, and different attributes, to achieve a consistent product. This variety of source material does give a bit of leeway for adaptation. For a crude example, you might use one very good old barrel to mitigate the effects of having to use a lot of younger stuff. \n\nNow, it is indeed difficult to predict trends a long way ahead, and you do have supply issues, but the distilleries will have forecasters and finance to produce enough for their future plans. \n\nAlso, there are tricks you can use to fudge the difference between what you planned, and what you have. \n\n\n* You can raise the price if you're short, or introduce older bottlings if you've got a surfeit of old stuff. \n\n\n* You can do special bottlings at higher margin to help you along - say from a particularly good or interesting cask. \n* You can introduce a line with no age statement (as long as it's aged for 3 years, you can call it Scotch), which means that you basically don't have to look as far ahead, and can respond a bit quicker to fluctuations in demand. \n\n\n* You can let your house style drift a bit each year to compensate for supply. \n* You can also vary the amount, and price of the excess that single malt distilleries sell to the blenders (something like Jonnie Walker will have various single malts as well as grain [unmalted] whisky in them). \n\nIf you had a massive supertasting supercomputer, you could feed all this info in, and it would tell you what to do. But until that point, we have the blender, the financier, and the marketing department all working together to plan for and respond to an unpredictable market. \n\n[If there are any master blenders who want to step in and correct me, please do. And then pop on over to /r/scotch, who would love to hear from you]",
"This was actually a serious problem with Tequila in the 90's. It got really popular. The problem is that blue agave takes 10-12 years to mature and be ready to harvest. As a result tequila prices went up and farmers planted more blue agave. It took a while but things settled back down.\n\nThis was also a problem with cristal champagne in the 2000's. Everyone wanted to be a \"Balla\" and drink some cristal. Once again supplies got low and price increased. Luckily cristal doesn't take years and years to make.\n\nWhiskey does have the benefit of coming in many different ages. It's all about the long game. If demand is high and supply is low, great charge more. If demand and prices are low, then keep it in the barrel and charge more for it later. For whiskey it's all about waiting. The only real work is done when distilling and bottling. Also whiskey distillarys frequently sell to each other. Unless it says single malt or single barrel it's a blended whiskey. That bottle of makers may not have been 100% made by makers.",
"Because they have warehouses full of barrels of whiskey that are in the process of aging.... Production isn't the issue, its forecasting. They can make their regular production quota for years and years, then all of a sudden, their drink becomes trendy. Prices go up because of limited supply. They start producing more. Takes 10 years to reach market, so they have to advertise and advertise to be sure that people will want their product when it finally arrives...",
"I'm a Kentuckian who lives in the bourbon capital of the universe, and I can tell you that demand is becoming more and more a problem. Cheap stuff might always be available but the good aged bourbons get extremely high priced and batches run out quickly. They are building distilleries here like crazy right now and I've wondered myself how they can invest all that money (im talking like 250 million for just one that I know is being built) and not see a return for so long but here having a warehouse full of bourbon is the same as money in the bank. ",
"First you build inventory in casks. Do this for ten years. Once you've built up a ten year reserve you can start selling the first year's production. ",
"Technically, Makers Mark is Bourbon, which is a sub category of whiskey. There are very specific parameters you mush follow to legally label your product as Bourbon in the US. If you're out that way (which nobody will ever be because it's in the middle of freaking nowhere) you can take a distillery tour at Makers Mark. I have been twice. They have HUGE rickhouses where they store the bourbon barrels until they are aged. Some companies do water their product down or resell other companies products, but Makers Mark and all of the other bourbon distilleries I've been to (I did the whole Kentucky Bourbon Trail last year) have multiple huge rickhouses where they store their product until it's appropriately aged. As another commenter said, they know about how many gallons they sell per year, they know how much they will lose to evaporation during aging, so they know how much raw product they need to produce and barrel each year.\n\nThere is a new distillery that opened a few years ago in my hometown. They started out selling their raw product (basically moonshine) and after 1 year they started selling some of their 1 year old whiskey and allowing the rest to age. Every year their product gets better because it's been aged longer. They have to barrel a lot more than they sell at first until they have a good amount in stock. Some new distilleries will re-label the extra product from other distilleries, but certainly not all.",
"My good friend from high school is starting a distillery and he said that he is looking at doing vodka, and other non-aged spirits under a different company name while his whiskey ages. Then launch is whiskey under its own brand name. ",
"The problem that some will tell you is that the whisky companies are *not* keeping up. Many have their products up on allocation. And we're slowly seeing more and more younger whiskies pop up on the market to fill the gap. Distilleries are using the shortage to raise prices on longer aged whiskies, as well as introduce new \"premium\" labels ",
"maybe the same way nine women can make a baby in one month?",
"I visited the Rebecca Creek distillery in San Antonio, Texas, a couple of years ago, and I had the same question: how do you run a business that won't have a product for a number of years? They do a couple of things: 1. They produce vodka using their distilling equipment; it requires no aging. 2. Since they invested in bottling equipment, they perform bottling for other distillers. 3. They sell a blended whisky made from single-malts purchased from other distillers. 4. Since they age their whiskies in Texas, the heat makes evaporation go much faster than, say, Scotland, so the whisky is mature in 2-3 years (not 12-20). The side businesses keep them afloat until their primary whisky is mature, and the rapid evaporation in the Texas heat means that they don't have to wait so long. ",
"Lots and lots of storage space? Here is a video of a nice little [Whisky Plant Fire](_URL_0_)\n\nwatch parts 2, 3 and 4 for some fun/sad goodness.",
"Also, they can use leftover whiskey from the previous year to help. Basically any whiskey that is aged 10 years has whiskey that is at least 10 years old, but it can be 11, 12, 13 etc. as well. So they can make extra and just let it age longer.\n\n",
"i highly recommend the documentary on netflix about jack daniels. will answer every question you could imagine, except, why is it called number 7\nit is an amazing doco.",
"I live in Kentucky, specifically Bardstown which is the Bourbon capital of the world. There are no less than four different major distilleries with in three miles of where I live. Their operations are huge. Bourbon is set to age in ric houses which are roughly 6 floors high and filled with level after level of Bourbon barrels. There are dozens of the building to each distillery. ",
"In short they don't know exactly. Large producers have a better guess and to ensure they don't run out produce a surplus. This surplus is sold off under different brands or labels and some to other producers to back blend or sell as \"bottom shelf\". Filtration and blending are what make each label unique, save for a few variations in barrel or mash.\n\nSmall producers hope to run out I think. Demand passing supply creates interest and you can charge more. There are perfectly boring bourbons that demand a higher price because of this mystique.\n\nCurrently there is a concern about the bourbon supply as the world, specifically the Asian markets, have exploded for bourbon. \n\nTL;DR They don't know and either produce a surplus or allow the demand to adjust the price. "
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2scz52 | in reference to the "most common names of nyc taxi drivers" post, why do certain races seem to dominate specific jobs? (middle eastern/indian taxi drivers, asian nail salon employees, etc.) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2scz52/eli5_in_reference_to_the_most_common_names_of_nyc/ | {
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"Taxi jobs are nice for immigrants because they pay well and you can leave to visit your home country and have a job when you return. Quite a luxury for a low education job. "
]
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[]
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2x6zp7 | why do people make goofy faces and sounds at babies when they cant even comprehend anything? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2x6zp7/eli5why_do_people_make_goofy_faces_and_sounds_at/ | {
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"Babies learn to understand and communicate with their caregiver very early. For instance, crying is a way to communicate a need to the caregiver. Long before they are old enough to actually talk, they can understand a LOT of what's going on around them.\nOne of the first thing they learn to do is to \"decode\" their caregiver faces. A smile, for instance, triggers certain specific connections in the brain and is hard wired as a positive, safe message. Research has also shown than infants even as young as a few days old tend to cry more when they hear other babies cry, which would mean that they are already hard wired for empathy.\nA very well known experiment by Piaget tested how the caregiver faces are interpreted by babies: the babies are crawling on a checkered board: half way across there is a huge visual gap. They are on a glass surface so they don't know that they can't really fall, they can only see that there is a cliff. Then as they moved on the cliff, they watch their mom. When the mother is making a safe, smiley face, they tend to take the risk and crawl over the cliff. When their mother makes a sacred face, they get the message that it's dangerous and they stop crawling in that direction.\nBack to why people make goofy faces and sounds to babies: they make this because even when they don't know all the facts above, they intuitively realize that babies DO understand and do communicate, in various subtle non-verbal ways, with the people around them.",
"Baby doesn't understand what is being said but they do recognize tone of voice. High pitch, low pitch, fast, slow, etc. It's been said that babies recognize happiness and anger in the mothers voice while still in the womb. So high pitch cutesy mumbling reminds baby of good times in womb."
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g2t1u4 | how does the human body respond to intermittent fasting and how does it impact metabolism? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/g2t1u4/eli5_how_does_the_human_body_respond_to/ | {
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"I got a lot out of it, finally got back to 189. I ate crappy food at first, but actually started craving good food. Seemed like my mental alertness increased. Lost 20 pounds in 90 days, and kept it off...mostly.",
"This has been asked on this sub a lot. Your best resource is looking through previous answers.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n [_URL_0_](_URL_1_)"
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cug9v7 | why do mris take so long compared to other forms of radiation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cug9v7/eli5_why_do_mris_take_so_long_compared_to_other/ | {
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"I'm going to assume you are asking why it takes a long time versus other medical imaging techniques.\n\nAn x-ray is just a picture, so it is done very quickly. A CT scan is basically just multiple x-rays done in sequence, so it's just a bunch of pictures, which is also pretty quick.\n\nAn MRI is much more complex. First, you have a magnetic field line up the protons in your body. Then a radio wave is pulsed in, and antennas list for echoes from that. There's a built-in time for that, and each slice must be done, so it takes a while to go through them. And in each one of those slices, they usually have to run several pules, both to look for different echo patterns, and to vary the pulse that they send. There's also computational time to process that information, since it isn't a straightforward picture like an x-ray.",
"The pulsetime in MRI is about 1 second.\nThat is the time for 1 signal to resonate with the nuclei of atoms. That energy decays over time, and after 1 second the extra energy has turned into its previous randomized state.\n\nBut the scan is low resolution. By scanning the same space again, you can increase the Signal To Noise Ratio.\nUnfortunately, this process is with the square root of amount of scans. So 16x more scans is 4x more resolution.\n\nAnd the scan is only in a small space. Either a 2D slice, or a small 3D space. Either way you have to build the big 3D picture out of those scans.\n\nThose 2 facts combine to a total scantime that is nontrivial, but manageable.\n\nSay you do 100 slices of 16 scans per slice, that's 27 minutes.\nJust an example. Or 400 slices at 4 scans per slice.\n\nBut I bet that weighing the amount of resolution, and amount of scanned area, is always on the mind of people in the decision chain.\nThese machines are expensive to build and expensive to maintain.\nSo spending half an hour in one costs a lot.\n\nA sidenote: The amount of energy in the pulses is very small. It is in the Radio frequency range, and completely harmless.\nThe giant magnet you are lying in can have consequences though, and I understand the machines are quite noisy."
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2vhlx8 | excluding fallout, what is the smallest possible nuclear explosion that would still cause damage (ie: only blow up a single car or person but no surrounding physical damage)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vhlx8/eli5_excluding_fallout_what_is_the_smallest/ | {
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"That's an interesting question. The smallest weaponized nuke I know of was the Crockett system which was a tactical battlefield-level nuke fired as an artillery round. Supposedly the damage was very localized.",
"One of the smallest-yield nuclear weapons ever built was the \"Davy Crockett.\" It had a yield as low as 10 tons of TNT. So not really all that small. \n\n_URL_0_\n\n\n"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_%28nuclear_device%29"
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4ntouv | why are most computer monitors and tv screens landscape, rather than portrait? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ntouv/eli5_why_are_most_computer_monitors_and_tv/ | {
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"Human vision is landscape -- two eyes side by side, so our field of view is much wider than it is tall. Thus it feels natural to film things and present things this way. ",
"The question should be: why are phone screens vertical? That is a far more recent development, and it's due to how a phone has to be shaped. My old phones had small landscape screens, but once people wanted full touch screens they made them portrait since a phone has to reach from ear-mouth.\n\nAnd yes we see in landscape, and have better vision left-right than up-down.",
"Because they evolved from TV sets, which are landscape. For just about everything besides movies and games, portrait is better suited to the task."
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7jnw54 | why isn't it illegal to pay congress members | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7jnw54/eli5_why_isnt_it_illegal_to_pay_congress_members/ | {
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" > why isn't it illegal? \n\nBecause Congress would have to make it illegal, and they're the ones getting paid.\n\nUnless there is an explicit deal made it isn't bribery. Giving money to the campaign of a representative you believe will support your position is protected speech under the 1st Amendment."
]
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64rfs2 | - why do clouds turn dark before they rain? | I understand that they accumulate water vapor, but how does that turn them grey? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64rfs2/eli5_why_do_clouds_turn_dark_before_they_rain/ | {
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"They're dark because you're looking at the shadow side of the cloud. As they grow and thicken, less sunlight can light the underside of the cloud so they get darker and darker. If you were in an airplane above the cloud, during the day, the top of the cloud would remain [bright white](_URL_0_) because it would remain lit by the Sun. "
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47q24m | if the large size of dinosaurs were attributed to the abundance of oxygen during that time, why didn't the mammals grew big like the dinosaurs after the comet strike. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47q24m/eli5_if_the_large_size_of_dinosaurs_were/ | {
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"Couple of things.\n\nThe association isn't that abundance of oxygen *caused* them to be big, it merely *allowed* them to get bigger than normal. That said, it is disputed to what degree even that is true:\n\n\"**The scientists determined that changes in sauropod body size do not track changes in atmospheric oxygen content**, carbon dioxide content or changes in temperature, all of which had been hypothesized as driving sauropod body size. Instead it appears that some traits sauropods inherited from their ancestors, such as swallowing large amounts of food without chewing, allowed the beginnings of increased body size, which was further allowed by the development of evolutionary novelties along the way (i.e. a bird-like breathing system that would have allowed oxygen to be supplied to their bodies more efficiently). **To put it another way, there was no single cause for the observed trend in body size, but rather an intertwined mass of pressures and constraints which shaped the evolution of these dinosaurs**—a constant interplay between what was evolutionarily possible and what was advantageous to local conditions at a given time. While the review does not once and for all solve the mysteries of sauropod size, its recognition of contingency and constraint in their evolution will remain important to the ongoing debate about these dinosaurs.\"\n\n_URL_0_",
"The large size of dinosaurs is not attributed to an abundance of oxygen. During the Carboniferous, the high oxygen content of the air (30%) contributed to the giant size of insects, but when giant dinosaurs walked the earth (the Jurassic and Cretaceous) oxygen content of the air was actually the same, or even lower, than what we have now. \n\nAdditionally, please keep in mind that most dinosaurs were not giants and that the biggest animal that has ever lived is actually a mammal. One that exist even today: the blue whale. ",
"There are mammals alive today bigger than the biggest dinosaur we know of. Being \"huge\" is a survival strategy. Like having a shell, or being able to fly, or having tool-using intelligence. Like those traits, it can aid survival (too big to eat, or big enough to kill). So if it arises, then it may persist. Paleontologists have speculated that dinosaurs may have experienced something of an 'arms race' with some predators becoming big enough to kill large herbivores, but larger herbivores being able to resist large predators, and so on.\n\nIt's also important to note that many dinosaurs were *not* large. \n\nAnother thing that is important to note is that an advantage in one place at one time, is not necessarily an advantage in another place at another time. Take being large. If you are big, you likely need lots of terrain and food. You're also potentially pretty dangerous. Humans have covered the face of the earth. We don't like dangerous animals. We box up all the terrain. We harvest all the food. For thousands of years humans have been wiping out large species across the globe. Simply put, nowadays it is often a significant *liability* because it puts you into greater competition with humanity.",
"* oxygen levels were not a big contributor to vertebrate size\n* dinosaurs weren't universally large, we just notice the large ones more...there were plenty of chicken sized dinosaurs\n* there are a number of prehistorical mammals, particularly during ice ages, that are much larger than their modern counterparts ",
"They did! The blue whale is the biggest animal known to have ever lived. There used to be huge land mammals as well, but they all died out several thousand years ago. It's generaly believed we hunted them to extinction.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_"
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bl1opx | how did cinco de mayo become so popular in the us when it's not all that significant in mexico? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bl1opx/eli5_how_did_cinco_de_mayo_become_so_popular_in/ | {
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"According to Encyclopedia Britannica:\n_URL_0_\n\n\"In the mid-20th-century U.S., the celebration of Cinco de Mayo became among Mexican immigrants a way of encouraging pride in their Mexican heritage. Critics observed that enthusiasm for the holiday celebration did not take off with a broader demographic until it was explicitly linked with the promotion of Mexican alcoholic beverages and that many U.S. festivities tended to both perpetuate negative stereotypes of Mexicans and promote excessive drinking.\"\n\nWhich matches with my own experiences. I never heard of it until Beer ads started promoting it. (also why are there 8 comments but none showing?)",
"Same way St Patrick's Day did here when it's not all that significant in Ireland: Americans want another day to go drinking.",
"Basically every American holiday is built up around spending money. If there could be more expensive festive Veteran and Memorial Days we would do it.",
"Makes me wonder how the rest of the world justifies their alcoholism?\n\nWe Americans obviously do it with holidays (ingenious if you ask me).",
"The celebration Mexican Independence from Spain actually falls on September sixteenth, the day of \"El Grito\" (\"The Shout\"). The fifth of May, \"Cinco de Mayo\", commemorates the Battle of Puebla, in which Mexico defeated the French forces of Emperor Maxmillian. It's not a national holiday in Mexico, and is officially observed only in the Mexican State of Puebla. In the States, it's become a commercial holiday to promote the sale of Mexican beers and food.",
"Commercialism, basically. But hey, it's as good an excuse as any to find a taco truck or authentic restaurant and get some tacos al pastor with a can of tecate.",
"It makes sense that a cultural heritage festival like Cinco de Mayo is going to be more important to you if you're a minority ethnic group - there's an aspect of cultural preservation and celebration that just isn't as necessary when you're the majority ethnic group. When you're surrounded by people of the same culture it doesn't feel necessary to celebrate or preserve it, but when you're surrounded by a \"foreign\" culture, it does.\n\nAs others have mentioned, the same dynamic applies to St. Patricks; and I'm from Chicago where we have [Casimir Pulaski Day](_URL_0_), which nominally celebrates a Polish cavalry officer from the Revolutionary war, but is essentially the same thing for Polish heritage. \n\n(Yes, as with all holidays the commercial aspect (buy more beer!) erodes some sincerity of the holiday, but that's true of all holidays to one extent or another, so I don't think such a cynical view is necessary.)"
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3f7qyx | why do flies look like their washing their hands whenever they land on something? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3f7qyx/eli5why_do_flies_look_like_their_washing_their/ | {
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"If I'm not mistaken I believe its a sort of 'grooming' technique, where they are cleaning any left over chemicals or residues from what they have previously touched. "
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r6ivp | how does algorithmic stock trading add value to our economy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/r6ivp/eli5_how_does_algorithmic_stock_trading_add_value/ | {
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"Algorithmic stock trading adds nothing to our economy and actually hurt it. \n\nThe algorithms cannot take into account world news and they cannot see potential. They have no fundamental understanding of markets or the economy whatsoever. They can only take advantage of micro discrepancies between markets (we're talking fractions of a cent). The algorithm will make millions of these micro transactions. Generating alot of money at the end of the day for the owning firm, but that money has to come from somewhere.\n\nBasically the algorithmic trading programs redistribute wealth away from others and too the owning firm.",
"I'm going to assume you're actually curious and don't just want to hear people tell you why they think it's bullshit. \n\nEssentially, these algorithms detect an opportunity to trade for a small amount of profit. The profit from this trade is very tiny, and the window of opportunity is likewise very small, so humans can not make these trades manually. In order to actually make it worth it, these algorithms must trade like this many, many times.\n\nThe most notable benefit of this sort of trading is liquidity. If liquidity is high, it is easier to sell something without a significant change in price, or a loss of value. This leads to less volatility in the markets. \n\nAnother effect is the more narrow bid-offer spread, which is the difference between the ask price and the sell price of a security at any point in time. The more narrow the bid-offer spread, the lower the cost trading is for all market participants.\n\nThere are other benefits as well, and you can read about it [here.](_URL_0_)",
"Provides liquidity\n\nTightens spreads - market efficiency "
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6gc6z9 | are there genuinely 7 different colours? or are these somewhat arbitrary divisions, and there's actually infinitely many colours? | Also, if you look at a colour spectrum or rainbow, what happens at the point where one of the main 7 colours merges into another? It seems like we get a lot of blues that are pretty similar, then the change accelerates as we move into green.
Also, I wondered, I read that some objects will for example absorb green light while reflecting all other colours. In practice would an object absorb/reflect coloured light in terms of the 7 main colours as nice clear lines, or could it absorb say half of the green frequencies?
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gc6z9/eli5_are_there_genuinely_7_different_colours_or/ | {
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"It's subjective. Some languages see green as a shade of blue, for example.\n\nMany languages also don't have a word for \"pink,\" and it's instead called \"white-red.\" It's not that the color (or a specific band of wavelength) doesn't exist in the cultures, they just don't have a separate name for it.",
"The spectrum was \"split\" into 7 colors by Newton.\n\nA branch of Greek philosophy(Sophists) believed that there was a connection between colors, musical notes, days of the week, and known objects in the solar system. We have 7 colors because Newton wanted there to be 7 because there were 7 of other things too, and it let him make [this neat chart](_URL_0_)",
"It's a farily arbitrary division.\n\nPhysics: There's an infinite number of colors.\n\nHuman anatomy and perception: There are three kinds of color detectors (cone cells) in our eyes. One detects red light, one detects green light, one detects blue light. Other percieved color are mixtures of them.\n\nNow with this out of way:\n\n > what happens at the point where one of the main 7 colours merges into another?\n\nNothing spectacular (heh). If the light is something in between blue and green, both blue and green cone cells send a signal to the brain, so the brain simply interprets it as turqoise, the blend of them.\n\n > In practice would an object absorb/reflect coloured light in terms of the 7 main colours as nice clear lines, or could it absorb say half of the green frequencies?\n\nVery often, a material reflects/absorbs/emits a wide spectrum of colors, which means it's white/black/gray/metallic/yellowish. Quite often, a material reflects/absorbs/emits a narrower spectrum of colors with a peak at a particular frequency/wavelength/color, albeit with smooth transition into surrounding wavelengths. For all intents and purposes, this means it reflects/absorbs/emits a singular color.\n\nReflection/absorbtion/emission at a single frequency as \"nice clean lines\" is rather rare in your everyday life. It usually involves fancy optical equipment like diffraction gratings, expensive prisms, mirrors and lasers.\n",
"I can't have been the only one who learnt about 'indigo' and 'violet' as a kid and thought, \"bullshit, they're both just purple.\"\n\nContrasting colours can be differentiated for sure but where the line is drawn for similar colours can be arbitrary. ",
"_URL_1_\n\nThat gives some decent insight onto the subject. I have experience in art, so I can do things like identify lavender and imperial violet. Realistically speaking, they're just the seven easy to make distinctions. We can tell apart a large variety of colors by direct comparison, the problem is more remembering names for them all.\n\nFor people that know the names of a lot of colors, it tends to be based on some standard, such as [Web colors](_URL_2_) for online stuff, the colors in a 120 piece set of markers, a box of crayons or paint colors. When describing colors with words we can only be so precise.\n\nAs a bonus tidbit--in ROY G BIV--Blue is what we would now call sky-blue or turquoise, Indigo is what we would now call blue(as in blue jeans) and Violet is more commonly called Purple.\n\nAs for color absorption, that is covered under [spectral lines](_URL_0_). If something absorbs blue, it might absorb 520 nm light specifically.",
"You might call a designated color a wavelength of light. As the frequency changes so does the color. If you made a comparison to music, colors would be like notes, even though sound can be of any frequency. \n\nThe principle values we use to determine shades of color are hue, saturation, and lightness. For instance you can have two shades of blue that are the same color or frequency, but one is more pure and brighter, and the other has more grey in it and is darker. They are technically two shades of the same color. So even among the nearly infinite colors of the rainbow even the same colors can have different shades so the variation is endless. \n\nIn art the pigments and dyes used for paints and inks came from natural substances and so the colors tended to designate where it came from. An example is cobalt blue, or lead white. \n\nIn other words if the only way to get a particular blue color was to crush precious gem stones into powder, and those gemstones were of a common color, that shade of blue tended to be referred to by name. Another shade of blue maybe made from metal oxides, would be made by the same process in different countries and yet still result in a standard color because it's just a chemical. IE if you make gold metal in one country, it's mostly going to be the same color as gold metal in another country. It's the same with other chemicals like iron oxide, lead oxide, etc. ",
"Take the \"Request An Explanation\" bar at the right of this screen. What color is it? Is it Green or Blue Green, or Green Blue? Is it Aqua, Cyan, Turquoise, Ming, Pacific Blue, Bondi Blue, Cerulean, or Teal? That all depends on our own specific eyes because we each see the color slightly differently. Thus each of us associate a color value with a name, but that color value may not be seen exactly the same. \n\n > Teal RGB Color Code: #008080. The hexadecimal RGB code of Teal color is #008080. This code is composed of a hexadecimal 00 red (0/256), a 80 green (128/256) and a 80 blue component (128/256). The decimal RGB color code is rgb(0,128,128).\n\nBut what if party A sees it as above, while party B sees it as 00 red (0/256), a 81 green (128/256) and a 81 blue component. Does that one digit make it another color? Or do both party A and party B consider it the same color? Swatch book designers assign names to colors. Thus each of us accept that name for the color we see whether or not what we each see is different.\n\nThe same applies to dividing up the color wheel. Some standard is established it into seven divisions while another divides it into twelve. It works because we accept that what we each see is logical whether or not we all see it the same."
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cu7id9 | how to flares burn underwater | How do flares work and how are they able to burn underwater? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cu7id9/eli5_how_to_flares_burn_underwater/ | {
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"Fire requires 2 things. A combustible fuel, and an oxidizer. In a regular fire you might have gasoline as your combustible fuel, and the regular oxygen in the atmosphere to work as your oxidizer. Water prevents fire because it replaces the oxygen around it, and thus smothers your fire. \n\nA flare brings its own oxidizer to the party, so it's not smothered out by the water. Rockets work on a similar concept, in the vacuum of space. They burn a mixture of liquid oxygen and a fuel source.",
"Fires get put out by water because it suffocates them, they're not able to get oxygen. Flares contain their own oxidizer, usually nitrates that get broken down and release oxygen. It's sort of like they have a scuba tank.",
"Some mixes of chemicals combine fuel and and oxidizer and are able to burn hot enough to stay on fire"
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4e1xs8 | what is happening when you see the air ripple on a hot day? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4e1xs8/eli5what_is_happening_when_you_see_the_air_ripple/ | {
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"Light travels at different speeds through different mediums, and as the density of the mediums vary. The air is being heated at different rates between you and the horizon creating different air densities, like ripples on the surface of a river. Light from the horizon refracts as is passes through the different boundaries of densities, just like looking down into a river bed or sea shore through the water."
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68bmg8 | how can something be "more hydrating" than water? | I was under the impression that hydrating is just talking in water, so how can some drinks supposedly let your body take in more than just pure water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68bmg8/eli5_how_can_something_be_more_hydrating_than/ | {
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"Drinks like gatorade contain electrolytes which are basically salts, which help your body absorb the water you put into it faster. Thats why salt makes you thirsty. So those drinks arent giving you any more hydratiom than water, but simply allowing the water you take it to hydrate your more efficiently. Usually sports drinks are intended to be consumed along with additional water to better support an active body.\n",
"There's no concept of 'more hydrating'. Why? Because hydrating means provide your body with water, and it happens either way whether you're drinking bottled water, sea water or even piss. It's just marketing language. \n\nHowever, sports drinks come in various electrolyte concentrations that can help your body depending on when you want to drink:\n\n* hypotonic drinks have a lower electrolyte concentration than your blood. Since the electrolyte concentration in the cells is higher than the blood/sports drink and water always flows to the compartment with the highest salt concentration (osmosis), the water goes into the cells and the body is most efficiently hydrated. Hypotonic drinks work the best before an event.\n\n* isotonic drinks have the same electrolyte concentration as the blood, which is ideal during/after exercise. You want to replace the fluids/electrolytes that you've lost by sweating. Most of the time isotonic drinks also contain carbohydrates to provide the body some extra fuel and absorb the electrolytes more efficiently (electrolyte/water transport channels in the small intestine work better in presence of glucose).\n\n* hypertonic drinks contain high glucose/high electrolytes(/protein). The goal isn't necessarily rehydrating the body, but replenish glycogen stores (a form of glucose stores in muscle tissue) and electrolyte levels. Works best after an intense workout.\n\nSource: am recently graduated physiologist looking for a job\n\n**edit** I got some flak for my explanations not being 100% correct, which is true. When explaining the human body as simplistic as possible you can't have anything right, people forget it's an ELI5 and sometimes you have to leave certain parts out in order to make the subject comprehensive for someone who doesn't know much about the human body. If you want an explanation that covers everything I suggest you should post a question over at r/askscience or r/physiology. There are simply too many different systems in the body that interact/counteract with each other depending how healthy the body is and/or the state of the body during rest/exercise. But I'll try to adress the most common responses here (still in ELI5). Sorry for formatting or spelling, I'm on mobile. Also, English is my third language.\n\n* is Gatorade/Powerade/G-Fuel hypo-, iso-, or hypertonic? It depends what kind of drink you buy, each brand has specialized sports drinks series designed for your type of exercise and preferred moment of hydration in the flavor that you like. By the way, tonicity refers to the sodium concentration in the beverage, not the glucose content.\n\n* dehydration vs. hypovolemia vs. hypernatremia. Dehydration is when the total body water (cells, blood, spaces between cells) is less than normal. Hypovolemia is when the blood volume is less than normal (about 5L). Hypernatremia is when the salt concentration in the blood is higher than normal. Some simple examples: you just donated blood? Hypovolemia. Exercised for a long period in the heat without drinking? Dehydration and possible hypernatremia. Did you drink a 2 liters of sea water? Hypernatremia and hypervolemia. They all trigger thirst response, but the underlying mechanisms are different.\nMake sure you drink 1.5-2 liters of water per day to keep your body hydrated and filter out unwanted chemicals whether you're exercising or not regardless of outside temperatures. Don't chug it all in once but drink it throughout the day. If you're thirsty, it's already too late. Check your pee: if it's clear, you're good to go.\n\n* point of hypotonic beverages (and water). The premise is that the hypotonic water flows into the cells, plus you're overfilling your cardiovascular system. When exercising, water leaves the blood compartment first due to sweating before 'using' the water that in in the cells. This acts like a sort of buffer before you feel the effects of hypernatremia. That's the marketing part, but you could drink water as well. You don't have to go to the store to buy this stuff and it's saves you money.\n*But you're overfilling the system! Don't the kidneys filter excess water out of the system?* Yes they do. The primary jobs of the kidneys are regulating blood pressure and sodium content, filtering metabolites out of the blood etc. First response is: 'Fuck! Sodium concentration is too low, too much water and the blood pressure is too high!' What happens is that the kidneys excrete water, but don't **re**absorb while retaining electrolyes. Result: pissing. But not during exercise. During exercise the sympathetic nervous system activity is elevated (responsible for fight/flight), causing the activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). This cascade is designed to prevent blood pressure from dropping too low by releasing agents in the blood stream that cause the arteries to constrict and the kidneys to recollect more water that already has been excreted. An example of the power this system can be found in people with heart failure and hypertension (high blood pressure), where the sympathetic nervous system is overactive all the time, and the RAAS as well. \n*But how can you properly exercise when all the arteries are constricted? Shouldn't the arteries to the exercising muscles stay open to provide blood?* Yes they do, it's a process called functional sympatholysis and is a phenomenon where the local environment overrides the sympathetic signals coming from the body. This enables the main arteries to the exercising muscles to dilate under influence of local nitric oxide (NO) release. \n\n* best cure for a hangover? There is no cure, only prevention. Alternate between water and your preferred alcoholic beverage of choice as much as possible. Alcohol counteracts the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the kidneys, also known as anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), which makes you pee more than you drink. Drink 1-2 glasses of water before you go to sleep. Don't expect miracles the next morning but the headache should be a bit more bearable.\n\n* better explanation of the point of adding glucose and sodium to drinks. When you're healthy, it doesn't matter how you ingest sodium, glucose and water. The body is capable of transporting sodium ions through the intestinal border, causing water to follow it. But drinking tap water or water without added electrolytes also works well. Another way to get water into the body is the so called GLUT transporter. It is a protein that transports glucose and sodium from the gut into the body, causing the water to follow. This protein never fails and is one of the reasons why sports drinks also contain glucose, in addition to flavor and provide a bit of extra energy. For diarrhea, IV rehydration works the best but an oral rehydration solution is the next best alternative. It's super rich in electrolytes and glucose, and if you don't have it in your arsenal when you're sick you can make one yourself as well. Sports drinks also help as a last resort but they don't have the stopping power that ORS has. If you want to know more about this topic, u/Dex2Dex can provide a more detailed answer down below.",
"What would happen if you drank distilled water in large amounts?",
"No no. All of these posts are missing the main reason why glucose and sodium are added to rehydrating drinks.\n\nIts not just about osmotic gradients. It's about glucose and sodium channels being coupled with the gates that allow water absorption in your GI tract. (By coupled I mean triggering one will trigger the other.) If you want to maximize absorption of water after whatever balance your body thinks it has achieved you facilitate the process by adding glucose and sodium to activate these coupled transport gates. That is why WHO rehydration packs have these additives... otherwise if it was purely about osmotic gradients you wouldnt need glucose, only salt.",
"As someone with DI, allow me to explain. Diabetes insipidus is an issue with your kidneys (or nerves) having problems flushing out electrolytes in the right concentration. Essentially, you urinate more than you should and excrete more water than you should. In my case, I take electrolytes to retain water. Without something with electrolytes, such as just plain water, I excrete 90% of the fluids within 30 minutes of drinking. Because your body needs these electrolytes to function and to hold water, an electrolyte balance must be maintained. Hydration without electrolytes in the case of DI leads to severe dehydration, as your body can't hold water without the right electrolytes. ",
"Actually there is one thing I know of that is truly more hydrating than just drinking water alone. But it's not a special ingredient or any of that salt electrolyte bullshit. Consuming chia seeds that have been soaked in water overnight will continuously keep you hydrated throuought the day. The seeds are covered my a membrane that, when soaked, it expands and absorbs. They can hold 10 times their weight in water. And after consuming, as your body digests the seeds, the membranes slowly absorb into your system releasing all the water that has been absorbed. They keep you more hydrated than anything else and give you incredible energy."
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7rhxtl | hypothetically speaking, how would it feel travelling at the speed of light? will you feel inertia and resistance? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7rhxtl/eli5hypothetically_speaking_how_would_it_feel/ | {
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"It's meaningless to try and describe travelling at this speed, because accelerating any object to the speed of light is incompatible with the laws of physics and would break break the universe."
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6lx11d | why is it acceptable to eat steaks rare or medium but minced meat must be thoroughly cooked throughout? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6lx11d/eli5_why_is_it_acceptable_to_eat_steaks_rare_or/ | {
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"Meat is generally minced when it is approaching its use-by date. Steaks on the other hand usually have strict bacterial quality control, and so can be eaten less-cooked.\n\nBasically, it comes down to contaminants, and how many can be expected in each style of meat. Minced meats can be assumed to contain salmonella and other contaminants that need to be cooked out. Cuts of steak, if provided through a certified butcher and slaughterhouse, can be assumed to be most likely clean of such contaminants.\n\nPlus, minced meat has the entire surface exposed to the atmosphere; steak only has the outsides exposed, and these are seared in the pan to kill anything residing on them."
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6c8wco | how do computer parts (as in cpus, ram, motherboard, etc) work physically | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6c8wco/eli5_how_do_computer_parts_as_in_cpus_ram/ | {
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"At the most basic level, its just electrons moving down the wire. It is of course, much more complicated than that and there is an entire field of engineering for the physical design of various computer parts.\n\nSo, I'll start with the simplest, RAM. RAM is made up of a series of electronic cells, these cells contain enough circuitry to store one bit of logical information, a 1 or a 0. typically, these cells are assigned in blocks of 8 as bytes, and modern memory 'sticks' contain billions of them.\n\nNext, I'll Cover the CPU. CPU's contain two major elements, Cache and Cores. Cache is very similar to RAM, except it is much faster, and is usually much smaller. Cache is used to reduce the amount of time the CPU has to spend waiting on the main memory. Cores are the computational units, and consist of billions of transistors. The CPU has a control unit that receives instructions from memory, directs the flow of information to the appropriate part of the CPU, and essentially ensures that the CPU works, and thus the rest of the computer. There are other parts, such as an Arithmetic Logic Unit, which is a subcomponent of the core that handles mathematical operations.\n\nLast of the items you specifically mention is the motherboard, the motherboard acts as a unifier for the CPU and memory, as well as offering access to other input/output systems, such as mouse and keyboard. The Motherboard contains a socket for the CPU which is connected to two 'bridge' chipsets, the 'Northbridge' chipset handles memory and enables the CPU and the RAM to interact with one another. The 'Southbridge' Chipset acts as an Input/Output hub, enabling other parts of the computer, such as Hard Drives, USB Ports, and Internet ports to talk to the CPU. The Southbridge also contains the CMOS Memory chip, another bit of RAM which has its own battery to maintain information, storing things like BIOS settings. Which brings us to the Flash ROM chip, which is what contains the BIOS itself.",
"How do they work physically? They use electrons. Learning the basics of electricity and electronic circuits will go a long way towards understanding how computer components work. Its much harder to teach this without visual aids, but imagine a battery and a light bulb. Now put a wire leading from one terminal of the battery to the light bulb, and then another from the light bulb back to the other battery terminal. This is a complete circuit, now add a switch on one of the wires that can break that circuit to turn off the bulb. This represents the most basic component of computer data, on/off, yes/no, 1/0. This is literally one 'bit' of data. Now add another switch in line with the first one. Now you have a bit more complex logic, called AND, because you must enable both switch 1 AND switch 2 for the bulb to light. Alternatively another 'logic gate' as they are called is OR, which you can imagine by splitting the wire so flipping either switch OR the other will light the bulb. Now hopefully you understand how switches can be used for logic... so now try to imagine the *transistor*, which is literally a switch that is controlled by electricity. Instead of having 2 wires attached to a switch, the transistor has 3 wires, one which controls its 'open' and 'close' function by applying the correct voltage. Now we can have logic gates controlling other logic gates... you'll have to use your imagination, or dig deeper into the subject on your own to understand how we get from that to a CPU."
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4wvank | how do two artists communicate to collaborate with each-other? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4wvank/eli5_how_do_two_artists_communicate_to/ | {
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"\"Hey man.\"\n\"Sup.\"\n\"Wanna collab?\" \n\"Sure\"\n*Proceeds to make top song on iTunes*"
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20f26l | why is it that people drown in an ocean when you can float in a swimming pool? | With some skill and practice one can learn to float in a swimming pool so why is it that people drown in ocean/sea when sea water is more dense than fresh water and therefore the human body should be more buoyant in it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20f26l/eli5_why_is_it_that_people_drown_in_an_ocean_when/ | {
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"But the ocean has waves, and it takes some effort to float. Also, panic figures heavily into it: once you catch a lungful of water from a wave you weren't expecting, it's amazing how fast things can get pear-shaped. But there are people who have lasted an amazing time at sea; survival techniques, when tested, sometimes had their duration tests ended simply because the subjects got bored.",
"Pools are also dangerous, drowning in a pool is more common than you would think"
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58gbd5 | why are a bakers dozen one more than an actual dozen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/58gbd5/eli5_why_are_a_bakers_dozen_one_more_than_an/ | {
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"When a customer ordered a dozen of a product, bakers would make 13, rather than 12, so that if one of them turned out bad (smaller than the others, didn't cook properly, whatever) they'd still be able to deliver the order.",
"There are a few competing explanations.\n\nThe most common one is that a baker who had an order of a dozen would bake 13 in case something was wrong with one of them. Laws on bakery were apparently very tight in the ancient world, so overdelivering by one item was a way to make sure you wouldn't get into any trouble for selling underweight - some of which were quite brutal. The cost of failing to deliver was so high that you always overdelivered to be sure. We have some archaeological evidence to suggest that this might be the case.\n\nAnother is that it was part of a primitive wholesalers market. The baker would charge a certain amount for a bun, and charge 12 times that much for a pack of 13, figuring that anyone reselling them could resell them at the same price per unit and still turn a profit.\n\nFinally, most practically, if you're working on a baking sheet you can get the most buns cooked if you stagger them with a row of 4, a row of 5, and a row of 4, leaving the corners open so that you never misshape a bun. That'd give you 13.\n\nProbably some combination of these is true.\n\n"
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21q3qz | why do actors during death scenes always closing the dying persons eyes with the palm of their hands ? its kinda weird | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21q3qz/eli5_why_do_actors_during_death_scenes_always/ | {
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"It's a ritualistic thing. People's eyes don't close automatically when they die, and it's tradition, I guess, to close them so that the person's dead eyes aren't staring back up at you. People do it in real life.",
"It's not just a ritual, it is sometimes hard to close eyes and certainly disturbing to have a corpse with open eyes. Back in the day they would cover eyes with coins to hold them down.",
"I think he's more concerned that they should be just doing it with two fingers and making contact with the eyelids. Instead they seem to just wave their palm over their eyes like they are an automatic soap dispenser and they close.\n\n\nIf this is indeed what you're wondering about I'm sure it's something simple like people just tend to blink when things touch their eyes.\n",
"Ok to answer OP's palm question:\n\nThey are actors playing as corpses; not real corpses, surely you don't like people poking their fingers on your eyes.\n\nIt's easier for you to close your eyes yourself when your eyes were obstructed by the hand",
"Nurse here, sometimes the deceased eyes won't stay closed, we try to close them but sometimes they spring back open, usually you can keep them at least partially hooded but its hard to keep completely closed. ",
"Just a bit more to what's been posted:\n\nWhat actor wants to play out the rest of a death scene struggling to keep their eyes open? Pretty sure it's a lot easier to play dead for several minutes with your eyes closed."
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9iu0qr | why do patients who suffer severe trauma often complain of being thirsty? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9iu0qr/eli5_why_do_patients_who_suffer_severe_trauma/ | {
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"Severe trauma often involves blood loss. You need water to make more blood, so you get thirsty.",
"Patients who have suffered a severe trauma resulting in a lot of blood loss begin to go into shock. Without enough blood to circulate the oxygen to all of their organs, muscles, etc, their body goes into a natural state of damage control. What blood supply you do have is sent to the brain/heart in an attempt to keep these 2 most vital organs running. However, with oxygen practically cut off to the rest of your body, things begin to shut down; and one of the first systems to be ignored for the \"greater good\" is your digestive system. \n\n\nNaturally, you will experience a water craving because (even though everything is going haywire) your body wants to get back to normal and replace your blood volume. However, drinking water will cause the patient to vomit (because the digestive system is offline) which will cause further imbalances in the body and the possibility of breathing in/choking on the vomit resulting in respiratory distress."
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1y712z | the plot of the fourth season of lost | As the show goes on, it just keeps getting more complicated, so please help me understand this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1y712z/eli5_the_plot_of_the_fourth_season_of_lost/ | {
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"I don't think there is anything to explain here. It just doesn't make any sense. ",
"You actually have to finish all the seasons before it makes some kind of sense. And even then, not everything makes sense. It's very hard, borderline impossible, to explain it out of memory though (at least for me, I have a pretty bad memory). \n\nSource: I finished watching all the seasons a few weeks ago. ",
"This doesn't answer the question you're asking, but it does help to answer why you need to ask it.\n\nLost was written somewhat without planning. The writers would throw interesting ideas out there and were just going to figure out how to resolve them or make them make sense later on. Also, depending out think like audience reaction, and just what the show runners (people who oversee the show, kind of like movie director) liked. A good example is Ben Linus. The original intent was to have him on for a few episodes, but they liked him so much that they incorporated him into a larger storyline.\n\nThe problem is, resolving plots and explaining things in TV and movies is difficult, because people get bored with just straight exposition, or explaining things. So if there was a 15 minute scene where Jack and Ben sit at a table and just talk about things and Ben explains a bunch of the mysteries, it would be boring. So they have to come up with creative ways to get information across and keep the show interesting.\n\nAnother issue is, and I'm not sure if this applies to Season 4, but there was a time in the middle of the show's run where they weren't sure how many more seasons the show was going to produce. So they kind of \"treaded water\" for a bit to stall for time while they worked it out.\n\nI'm sorry this doesn't answer what you asked, but I hope you find it interesting why season 4 was a little off.",
"When you're done watching the series, download the LOST: Chronologically torrent and watch it the better way. It makes more sense and leaves a nice, tidy ending that the normal order flaked on. \n\nEdit: _URL_0_"
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7zkg8j | why can one slightly dripping tap keep me up all night but a thunderstorm allows me to sleep better? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7zkg8j/eli5_why_can_one_slightly_dripping_tap_keep_me_up/ | {
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"Thunderstorms produce rain, producing white noise, that and other sounds that we find soothing lull some people to sleep. Noises are just annoying.",
"I'm no professional, but (based on personal experience) I'd say it has something to do with the fact that a dripping faucet is rhythmic and happens at a constant, regular interval. It creates a type of anxiety in people that I'm in no way qualified to label or even discuss, I just know what it does to me ha. \n\nThunderstorms, on the other hand, produce constant noise; whether it's rain, thunder, or wind, there's constant sound being produced. \n\nAgain, I'm no professional, and my answer could be completely wrong. I'm just basing what little knowledge I have off of personal experience. "
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5f5nqi | why do we get such a strong urge to bite, chew and swallow a lollipop when its more pleasurable to just suck on it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5f5nqi/eli5why_do_we_get_such_a_strong_urge_to_bite_chew/ | {
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"Because you are evolved to eat food, not just suck on it and get flavor. Putting something flavorful starts the digestive process and you not eating something confuses the body. Thus it gives you the urge to eat. ",
"I think it's just personal preference, since I've never felt the want to chew a lollipop rather than to suck on it.",
"It's not just the actual flavor that gives you pleasure. Your body is hardwired to chew. It's starts when the teeth come in, and you never grow out of it. You actually get an imperceptible \"buzz\" from the entire eating process, and this includes the chewing. It's why people enjoy crunchy foods, like potato chips. Some people chew ice, chew pens/pencils/miscellaneous items. Some people grind their teeth in their sleep, so it an unconscious impulse. "
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2v6ci8 | why is it when we hear a song i.e in the mall, in someone else's car etc, do we find ourselves singing/thinking/humming this song for the rest of the day, even though we barely register or recognise the song in the first place? | I've had this conversation many times, people hear a song in passing or in the background, and they end up singing/humming/thinking about the song for the rest of the day...
Example: I found that I had heard "Feliz Navidad" over Christmas in the mall and kept on singing it absentmindedly throughout the day, annoying the heck out of family and friends! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v6ci8/eli5_why_is_it_when_we_hear_a_song_ie_in_the_mall/ | {
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"These are sometimes called earworms or sticky songs. They are still not perfectly understood.\n\nBrains love patterns. Studies have shown that when a person is listening to a song, and then the song stops, the brain keeps responding to the memory of the rest of the song. That's why catchy, well-known songs are stickier. \n\nThe only thing brains like better than patterns, is completing them. Unfortunately sometimes a very repetitive song can get stuck in a loop (maybe you don't know how part of the song goes, so you just keep looping through a small part of it). This means the brain can be trying to finish the pattern all day. \n\nSome common cures include actually listening to the song in full, or at least imagining a big theatrical ending the to song in your head - to give your brain some closure. Or alternatively distracting the language/auditory parts of your brain by doing something like a crossword puzzle."
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559id4 | how can herbivores turn plants into musles, skin, bones etc? | I've always been bothered by how for example cows can live of a diet of grass and flowers yet grow so large, how exactly does the process of turning plants into tissue and such work?I get that it has something to do with plants and animals being carbon-based but do all animals possess the capability to transform matter as necessary? Cause that would be pretty fucking magical if you think about it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/559id4/eli5_how_can_herbivores_turn_plants_into_musles/ | {
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"Every life form on earth is basically made from the same basic building blocks: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. When you eat the protein of another organism, you break it down into its constituent amino acids, and then reform those amino acids to use in your own proteins. This applies no matter if you're a cow, a fox, a human or a gorilla."
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1k1zcg | scoville units | How do they scientifically measure spiciness? Isn't spiciness relative? Help! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1k1zcg/eli5_scoville_units/ | {
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"scoville unit is the measurement of concentration of capsaicin, the chemical that causes you to feel the heat. capsaicin causes specific taste buds receptors on your tongue to overload causing the \"heat\" and \"pain\" sensations. \n\nsome animals don't have those taste bud receptors. thus they don't taste \"hot\" "
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9iv0af | why albinism is more common in blacks than in other people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9iv0af/eli5_why_albinism_is_more_common_in_blacks_than/ | {
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"Not an expert on the subject by any means, but I would imagine it has much to do with the heritable traits of the gene that causes this expression. \n\nA larger percentage of Africans live in an area where travel is still somewhat limited. Developed nations have more genetic diversity in general, because people travel so much and meet so many people.This is not so much the case in Africa, though it has changed drastically in the last 50 years. \n\nThink of it this way, if you grew up in a rural village in the middle of Zimbabwe, your mate selection is going to likely be limited to those in your village, which increases the frequency in which this gene is inherited. If you share a common ancestor, which would be more common with a limited gene pool, you are going to be more likely to be a carrier. \n\nI would imagine this is similar in other areas of the world where travel is limited, such as the rural amazonian regions. But if there is no albinism gene in their pool, it won't be more prevalent. \n"
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48sgzq | what is permanent shadow? how is it formed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48sgzq/eli5what_is_permanent_shadow_how_is_it_formed/ | {
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" The sun emits ultraviolet (UV) rays which causes tanning, and, depending on your skin type, may also lead to sunburns. Most people can avoid sunburns by applying sunblock which, as the name suggests, blocks many UV rays. But leave part of your body untouched by the sunblock and the UV rays get through, causing burns.\n\nA nuclear bomb explosion works in a similar way. The explosion acts as the sun does, except that instead of emitting UV rays it emits thermal radiation. The radiation will bleach anything it ends up hitting, much like the UV rays cause sunburns. But anything that gets in the way — including a soon-to-be-vaporized body — will soak up those rays, effectively shielding whatever is behind it from the bleaching effect. In a real sense, the dead acted as a form of nuclear sunblock. The result is the imprinted \"shadow\"."
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j7eyu | the "super congress" | Is this just another media slang term being tossed around for reactionary grout? Really, what are the implications of this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j7eyu/eli5_the_super_congress/ | {
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"The Debt Ceiling bill that was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama today (8/2) created a special joint committee of Congress. The committee is to be made up of members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate and will have a total of 12 members, 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans. The job of this 'supercongress' is to find 1.5 trillion dollars to cut from the national budget by Thanksgiving.\n\nThey then write a bill detailing the cuts and it gets sent to the House and the Senate for approval under a closed rule (no amendments), no fillibustering in the senate (a technique the minority often uses to effectively kill the bill before it gets brought to a vote), and passes by a simple-majority (50% + 1).\n\nImplications: 12 dudes get to determine what to cut and what to save. Then the rest of Congress gets to simply say Yea or Nay. If the bill doesn't pass it goes back to the 'Supercongress' for another attempt to appease a majority. ",
"The Debt Ceiling bill that was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama today (8/2) created a special joint committee of Congress. The committee is to be made up of members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate and will have a total of 12 members, 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans. The job of this 'supercongress' is to find 1.5 trillion dollars to cut from the national budget by Thanksgiving.\n\nThey then write a bill detailing the cuts and it gets sent to the House and the Senate for approval under a closed rule (no amendments), no fillibustering in the senate (a technique the minority often uses to effectively kill the bill before it gets brought to a vote), and passes by a simple-majority (50% + 1).\n\nImplications: 12 dudes get to determine what to cut and what to save. Then the rest of Congress gets to simply say Yea or Nay. If the bill doesn't pass it goes back to the 'Supercongress' for another attempt to appease a majority. "
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69qdpj | what is the significance of l'hospitale rule | Recently studied L'Hospitale rule but I do not understand its significance in mathematics. How does it give some kind of solution to an infinite or undefined problem? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69qdpj/eli5what_is_the_significance_of_lhospitale_rule/ | {
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"Lets say we have two functions f(x) and g(x), and we want to calculate the limit of f(x)/g(x) at a given point c.\n\nNormally, the easiest way to do it is to find the limits of f(x) and g(x) at that point, and then the limit is just the result of the division between these two numbers. Unfortunately, this fails if the limit for g is 0 (because you can't divide by 0) or if the limits are infinite.\n\nThe L'Hospital rule gives us a way to calculate this - take the derivative of both functions and find the limit of f'(x) / g'(x) instead. There's a good chance that f'(x) and g'(x) will have concrete, non-zero limits, which will make this calculations much easier."
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dhno2t | why do grammatical errors just 'sound wrong' even if you don't know the grammar behind them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dhno2t/eli5_why_do_grammatical_errors_just_sound_wrong/ | {
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"Bad grammar 'sounds wrong' because you understand the grammar - even if you have never put it to words. You know that 'the red fire big truck' is wrong, even if you have never been taught the proper order of adjectives.",
"Welcome to the world of linguistics. We've been trying to answer this question for ages, and a lot of people have great thoughts but nobody really has a definite answer. One of the most popular theories currently is that we don't \"learn\" language like we do math or biology. We \"acquire\" it through use. Some people think we are wired to do this with a special device, others think our brains just naturally work that way, but the point is that the more you expose yourself to language, the more you are able to tell what is grammatically \"correct.\"\n\nAnother thing that helps is that the \"variety,\" or \"dialect\" of English (I assume you were learning English, but this is true for many languages) that is taught in schools is the same (or very similar) to the one used in writing, so if you read a lot, you'll probably \"acquire\" the \"correct\" grammar naturally and intuitively.",
"Check out this article on language rules we adhere to without realising;\n\n_URL_0_",
"Children acquire language, it's a passive thing, no learning required. Your brain is wired for grammar (not the type you learn in books) and 'learns' all the rules of your mother tongue(s).\n\nWhen linguists talk about the rules of English, they are not talking about the same rules an English teacher would be talking about.\n\nHave you ever heard a small child say 'I goed' instead of 'I went'? That child has never heard 'I goed', but his brain subconsciously took the root form 'go' and added the past forming suffix '-ed' and put them together. That's an amazing little feat of what linguist call generative grammar.\n\nAfter about age 10-12, your brain stops acquiring language, and it usually has to be conciously learned after that.\n\nAn interesting (but sad) side study is feral children who never heard language during this stage, never really learn to competently speak a language.",
"You probably got the answer but in some cases in arabic a sentence might sound right but is actually when it comes to grammar is entirely wrong and someone that actually knows arabic could misunderstand it or find a different meaning for it",
"I've always wondered this as well. I started learning English from a very young age because I have american relatives and always wanted to be able to communicate with them, so I started learning from movies and music and would write down words that I didn't know and looking them up in the dictionary afterwards. When I got to 5th grade (when I was in middle school this was when you'd first learn English), my teacher was surprised at how much I knew and spoke despite never having had classes, I just knew things were right because they sounded well in my head.",
"Grammar is the tool we use to understand words put in a structured order. It tells us number, possession, time, plurality, perspective, etc. If you commit an error, you are giving information that doesn't make sense, literally, even if you know what the speaker or writer meant, your brain can see the mistake and it highlights it for you. \n\nThis is why native Chinese speakers sound so wonky to native English speakers. Chinese grammar is incredibly simple, like tenseless simple. In Chinese you simply say \"Yesterday I go on bus\", no need to change the verb they told you straight away that they did it in the past. An English speaker, even knowing by the word 'yesterday', will interpret 'go' as the present and it will annoy us because our grammar rules tell us to look at the verb to tell us when something happened. \n\nTL:DR; Grammar gives us crucial information on how to interpret language, deviations from these patterns are extremely noticeable and sound 'wrong' even if we can't exactly describe why.",
"I compare this to driving, When you drove for a number of years, there are sights (relative positions/velocities of other cars or objects) that are \"unnatural\" and trigger defensive/alert responses. The same thing probably happen when you hear misconstrued sentences.",
"I don't think anyone will have an explanation for you. In some languages word order is super important (English being a prime example. The blue big ball sounds and feels wrong for no apparent reason) while in others that rely more on 'cases' word order is more free (In Russian you can basically freestyle the entire thing)\n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor anyone who doesn't know what cases are/only speak English. \"Me know the grammar rules.\" you know this is wrong. It is clearly \"I\" there. Similarly He/Him. But overall we don't use them besides a handful of words.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n. . . let's look at \"the\" in German for a prime example. In English we would use \"the man\" and \"the woman\" without any kind of change. \"Der Mann\" and \"Die Frau\" would be the same in German. But . . . yeah that isn't entirely right either \"The man is walking\" (Der Mann) is entirely different than \"The dog sees the man\" (Den Mann) or even \"The child gives the man a cup\" (Dem Mann) I'm sure you can see where I am going, but let's add one more \"The men\" (Die Manner) adds yet another level. Surely boy and girl would follow the same rules right? No. . .for some reason the word for girl is treated as neither male/female (Das Madchen). But don't let it scare you, once you know the assigned gender for a noun and a handful of rules this all makes sense.\n\n\\*Please excuse any errors I've only been studying German for a few months",
"Humans like patterns. That's why you can \"feel\" music. Because there is a pattern and your brain is recognizing it. All speech is comprised of rules that govern the patterns.",
"I haven't read all the answers, but it seems that everyone is forgetting a huge point: Grammar is only a set of rules that describes how a language works. That means that \"sounding right\" in fact came before \"being grammatically correct\".\n\nNo one woke up one day, made up a bunch of rules for a \"new language\" and then started teaching them to people. People were speaking the language for ages, and then someone tried to compile a set of rules that tried to describe how to speak in a way that \"sounded right\".\n\nThese sets of rules are very useful for a foreigner trying to learn the language. This theoretical foreigner finds these rules useful because they lack the exposure to know what \"sounds right\".\n\nBTW, I'm not a native English speaker, but these ideas are valid for all languages ever. Grammar is only a set of rules that try as accurately as possible to describe what \"sounds right\".",
"Imagine seeing a tile floor with an intricate pattern, and it's perfect save for one tile that is upside down.\n\nThat floor is the English language, and that one tile is the grammatical error. It's wildly different from what you're used to hearing from movies, songs and other media you've been exposed to since you were young, so it jumps out at you more than it would to someone who doesn't see the whole floor.\n\nThe other kids in your class haven't seen the whole floor, they just see 4 or 5 of the tiles, which isn't enough for them to understand the pattern.",
"It's basically the difference between being able to do something and being able to describe how to do the thing.\n\nYou can probably throw a ball and hit a target, but if I asked you what angle to throw it at and how much force to apply you wouldn't have a clue",
"This would be a great question for /r/asklinguistics.\n\nGrammar is not something that is imposed by decree. It is not like the laws of man, such as \"No parking 10pm-6am.\" It is more like the laws of nature, such as \"Acceleration due to gravity on Earth is approximately 9.8 m/s^(2).\"\n\nBut like the laws of nature, we are able to study them and analyze them and explain them in words. We instinctively know the grammar of our native dialect of our native language. We do not instinctively know how to explain it.\n\nGrammar instruction in school (when done right) is all about explaining how the standard dialect of the local language works. Unfortunately, many people interpret this as a sledgehammer of \"thou shalts\" and \"thou shalt nots\" and teach that the standard dialect is the one true correct way.",
" 4%2=0\n\n 4%2=0\n\n 4%2=0\n\n 4%2=0\n\n4%2=7\n\n 4%2=0\n\n 4%2=0\n\nEven if you don't know why 4%2=0, if you see it repeated enough, your brain will accept it. Therefore, you don't have to know how it works for your brain to send you warning signals when you read 4%2=7. Your brain has been trained to accept a certain pattern, so if something breaks that pattern, you get the sense that it's wrong, even if you don't actually know what makes it right or wrong in the first place.",
"Spoken language is akin to bird songs, being arbitrary and subject to styles and fashion, and it constantly changes (albeit slowly) just because. You can tell something is not right because your ‘ear’ tells you so, just like when you hear a wrong note in a song without being able to tell why because you lack any formal musical training. Every language spoken on Earth has its own ‘music’, its own feel, it’s something even linguists cannot put in exact words... perhaps only poets really can.",
"I was having this exact discussion with my husband yesterday. I grew up in New Zealand and am now living in Canada. One of the things I absolutely can not get my head around is their use of 'off of' for example \"Get off of the couch.\" \n\nWhy not just say \"Get off the couch.\" ?? \n\nIt sounds so incredibly wrong and I can't stand to hear it. Drives me mad. My husband's father is a retired teacher and he says it is perfectly grammatically fine. Ugh, not to my Queen's English speaking ears."
]
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3u7m40 | . why do we get bayonet and screw light bulbs? why not just one type? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3u7m40/eli5_why_do_we_get_bayonet_and_screw_light_bulbs/ | {
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"The bayonet types came from UK manufacturers and Edison developed the Edison Screw (ES) fittings in the USA. These were adopted internationally largely according to the patterns of trade and colonization of the UK and USA.",
"IIRC, bayonet was mostly used in places with a lot of vibrating like ships-enginerooms, cars etc. Bayonet couldn't unscrew (? Sorry, English not first language)"
]
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67l3nn | sulfur's process in vulcanization | What is sulfur doing to make vulcanized rubber useful? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67l3nn/eli5_sulfurs_process_in_vulcanization/ | {
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"The 1st lesson in materials science: the strength of a material (eg rubber) is related to how hard it is to pull it apart at the molecular level. At the molecular level, pure rubber is basically a bunch of long ropes (polymer), which by themself, can be reasonably hard to pull apart because the ropes get tangled, but we can do even better. What the sulfur does is it ties the ropes together in many places so now it's really hard to pull apart the ropes/molecules so the rubber is stronger. (Tying \"ropes\" (polymers) together is called cross-linking if you want to look more into that)"
]
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4b70fu | if dolphins and whales are mammals who don't have gills and need to frequently come to the water surface then why can't they survive in land? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4b70fu/eli5if_dolphins_and_whales_are_mammals_who_dont/ | {
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"Whales are very large and can collapse under their own weight. They can also dehydrate from lack of water, starve to death, or asphyxiate if their blowhole gets clogged with sand or rolled underneath",
"Their bodies are so adapted for being in the water, their bodies are too heavy for them to properly support themselves. It's exhausting for them to struggle to breath on a beach with their own weight pressing down on their internal organs. They need the *buoyancy* of being submerged to support their huge bodies. This is why they can live for hours or maybe a day on a beach.\n\nSkin damage from getting dry and sunburnt is also a major issue so they need to be kept cool and wet during a rescue event.",
"Imagine an astronaut having spent one year in space. Despite all the exercise to maintain his strength in a zero-G environment, his heart will have shrunk by two third, his bone mass will have reduced dramatically and its muscles will have followed the same path. Back on Earth, the astronaut will be carried out of the capsule straight onto a wheelchair, and it will take weeks before he can get back on his feet.\n\nLife in the sea is like living in zero-g. But now, consider these mammals having spent their WHOLE LIFE in that environment, following millions of years of evolution inside that environment, without having trained their body to support their weight on land... You can now picture the disaster their body will face once on land.\n ",
"I'm curious about the dolphins too,could they just wear a manufactured hydrating skin to keep them cool and wet?",
"Being mammals and breathing air has nothing to do with being able to survive on land. They're AQUATIC mammals, not land mammals. They're not evolved to breathe, walk or even support their own weight on land. Their skin needs to be kept moist and will quickly dry up and start to crack on land. \n\nThe larger species of whales can literally be crushed to death by their own body weight on land, which does not happen in the sea because they are buoyant and supported by the water. I mean, just think about how big a sperm whale or a blue whale can get. Sadly, this happens frequently when individuals or even whole pods of whales mysteriously beach themselves (perhaps because of parasites, or maybe because of something humans have done to screw up their environment). They'll inevitably die unless humans intervene to get them back into the open ocean. And even then, they sometimes beach themselves all over again.\n\n"
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24ofgx | what is the process of "scrubbing" before surgery | I have been on a significant 'House' kick and have watched doctors scrub down before surgery on TV many times. It seems like it's a very involved process. How does it work? What exactly is the process? Are there different rules then just washing your hands? Why don't regular people wash their hands like this? Also any other interesting information would be greatly appreciated. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24ofgx/eli5_what_is_the_process_of_scrubbing_before/ | {
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"The goal of scrubbing in to surgery is to reduce the number of bacteria on the surgeons skin so as to reduce the chance of infection in the patient. to do this, doctors scrum thoroughly with bactericidal soap (generally beta dine surgical scrub) and make sure to get all parts of their hands. This includes cleaning under their fingernails with an included plastic cleaning device. They also want to do this for a specified amount of time in order to allow sufficient contact time of the beta dine with the hands in order to most efficiently kill bacteria.",
"after ya scrub, you run water over it flowing from finger to elbow. then you go into the operating room without drying your hands because drying would contaminate them. you use a clean towel to pat dry, unless you used alcohol wipe which just evaporates. then you gown up. everything that's blue is \"clean\". the area immediately in front of your body and your hands are clean. if your goggles get fogged up, tell the tech or nurse to take them off for you. don't faint into the surgical field!"
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4jfo8a | why every national flag exists only once? how could all countries over the world coordinate so well what flags they choose to represent your country, especially before global communication was possible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jfo8a/eli5_why_every_national_flag_exists_only_once_how/ | {
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"Two countries had the same flag until 1936, without even knowing it, Liechtenstein and Haiti. They discovered it during the flag presentation at the Berlin Olympics.\n\nIt was only then that Liechtenstein added a gold crown to their standard.",
"Several countries have flags which are extremely similar to other countries (Luxembourg and Netherlands, Chad and Romania) which can cause confusion, while Monaco and Indonesia have effectively identical flags.\n\nHowever, to answer the actual question, most countries in the world created their flags within the last few hundred years, at a time when communications were good enough that they were aware of other nations' flags.",
"Global communication was possible long before every current country had a flag, and national flags have been changed if they doubled up.\n\n[There are some that are doubles, or near doubles.](_URL_1_) This is usually because they were former colonies, were at one time a single country, or share a religion or ethnic background. However, sometimes it's just [happenstance.](_URL_0_)",
"National flags really weren't a thing until nationalism took off in the 19th century. Before that anything that looks like a flag would really either a coat of arms (which were usually far too detailed for any exact matches to be possible) or a war flag, which weren't merely decorative and instead were used to convey simple orders such as \"Attack\" or \"Fall Back\".\n\nBy the time most nations started choosing a national flag, global communication was certainly possible, it was just not as trivial as it is now. Also one function of the flag is to uniquely distinguish the nation so similarities to existing flags is taken into account.",
"The Irish flag and the Ivory Coast one are close enough that every so often Loyalists in Northern Ireland [accidentally burn the Ivorian flag](_URL_0_)."
]
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"http://www.newsonaut.com/countries-with-almost-nothing-in-common-but-their-flags",
"http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xf-like.html"
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"http://i.imgur.com/JobjldC.jpg"
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2cjiij | what's so bad about cnn? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cjiij/eli5_whats_so_bad_about_cnn/ | {
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"Its Reddit. CNN is both good and bad in its own ways. Dont listen to what Reddit says (ironic) because they are biased towards a lot of things, and hate a lot of things.",
"This is a pretty arbitrary opinion. Personally I think that any news network is going to have a slant in one direction, and if you can't immediately identify that slant you probably just agree with it. CNN tends to be more liberal, and Fox tends to be more conservative. ***All news networks are biased and jump to conclusions.***",
"I don't think anyone says that CNN is biased or untrustworthy; I think it's more of a matter that they're sensationalists who beat stories to death while neglecting more important news. Take MH370 for example.\n\nI am personally annoyed by their overuse of distracting CG, but that's just me. Of course, all cable news is shit.",
"CNN, like any news outlet, is a business. The most important element is sales, and sales (viewership in this case) are achieved by pandering to fear/hype and by speculating and sensationalizing. ",
"CNN has been known to run stories that are either biased, misconstrued, over or under exaggerated, or sometimes completely false. Here are some notorious examples from its TV career:\n\n-It has been known to cast a negative light on Republicans, with 75% of them targeted at making them seem like the \"bad guys\"\n\n-Ovctaiva Nasr, a correspondent for the Middle-East, was fired after offering condolences to an influential, non-extremist Muslim leader because it did not support the Zionist viewpoint they were going for.\n\n-After the 9/11 attacks, they were known to be very lenient towards the Bush Administration and the invasion of Iraq.\n\n-CNN has been criticized for either showing too many serious or propagandized stories or too little real coverage of serious events instead of balancing them like other major news organizations.\n\n-They have been known for cropping or editing images and taking them out of context to prove a stance which they have.\n\n-Many CNN executives have lobbied with governments (such as Iraq) to maintain their presence there\n\n-Some CNN executives are actually good buddies with major politicians, so when they would get into trouble, CNN would purposefully air only certain arguments which defended their interests (i.e. Rick Kaplan and Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal).\n\nYou can read a whole Wikipedia entry about this [here] (_URL_0_).\n"
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bau6wl | why is so hard to not think negative thoughts? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bau6wl/eli5_why_is_so_hard_to_not_think_negative_thoughts/ | {
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"Pick an animal. Make sure it's not an Elephant. What's the first thing that comes to your head? Elephants. So stop thinking that you have bad thoughts and just focus on positive thoughts. The more you worry about negative thoughts, more you focus on it. Takes a lot of practice but you can do it",
"We get used to everything, we don't appreciate what we have. Positive things are rooted in what we have, negative things in what we can't have.",
"If it often gets overwhelming, so you can't sleep for example you should talk to a therapist. \nOther than that just be aware of your thoughts and consciously change them to something good. Use music or comedy, whatever is good to you. \nMeditation helps some people (if you aren't self medicating) If you are smoking alot of weed for example, try to stop. Change diet. And so on. ",
"This is known to psychologists as \"negative intrusive thoughts\" and it is an area of active research.\n\nIt's an issue which affects different people to different degrees. Nearly constantly negative intrusive thoughts becomes *obsessional thinking* which is a hallmark symptom of OCD and other mental disorders, but nearly everyone experiences unwanted negative thoughts at least once in a while. It seems to be worst in those with a strong inner monologue and who tend to think heavily during quiet moments, and it seems associated with the language center of the brain.\n\nTypically we can manage to suppress thoughts which we don't want or need to dwell on, but this can be difficult to do with negative thoughts. They present as more \"urgent\" since they may influence future behavior. Our ability to suppress thoughts decreases when we are stressed, anxious or depressed; and in turn, these negative thoughts can *cause* stress, anxiety or depression, leading to a feedback loop which can make these thoughts very persistent. ",
"If there’s a way you’re looking to think, think of it this way.\nLet’s try rephrasing it. Are you trying to not think negative thoughts, or are you trying to think positive ones?\nIt’s the way you choose to view the task that determines how you complete it.\n\nBest of luck"
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3x24zh | if each pixel is merely a combination of a red, blue, or green light, why don't colorblind people who can, for example, not see red or green colors, only see blue on computer monitors? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3x24zh/eli5_if_each_pixel_is_merely_a_combination_of_a/ | {
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"It's not that colour-blind people can't see red or green. They can see them both fine; they just can't tell them apart."
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5uiija | why our brain focuses on scary and creepy stuff when we try to sleep? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5uiija/eli5_why_our_brain_focuses_on_scary_and_creepy/ | {
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"**TL;DR: Attention goes to emotionally-processed memories and thoughts more, and they can intrude when triggered, and also intrude even more during the nighttime when there are fewer distractions. Use distraction but not your phone.**\n\nIn terms of attention, we're not very good at processing the finer details of a desire or command. We're kind of like a Facebook newsfeed, just getting the main flashy bits of content down, and not the context that makes the actual point totally different. So, if you want to *not* think of a pink elephant, attentionally, all you really subconsciously notice is the \"pink elephant\" part.\n\n\nThis will get worse the harder you try to not think of something, like trying to get away from a basketball in a small room by throwing it as hard as you can. It's just going to keep bouncing back into your head.\n\n\nAnother thing that plays into this is the way memory is processed. Things that happen when we are feeling strong emotions get remembered, they stick in memory and they don't fade as much. It doesn't have to be the actual thing that caused the emotion for you to remember it. This is oversimplified, but your brain's 'emotion centre' just has to be 'online' at the time that you're doing all your normal processing of the information going in via your senses. This is why you can remember something inconsequential and momentary, like the colour of the napkins on the table during your best birthday party, but not something bigger like whether or not you were in school three days before.\n\n\nLuckily in many ways, we're distractible beings, and all of the most upsetting, scary, creepy, sad, infuriating, and otherwise nasty-feeling memories and thoughts don't have to intrude on us unless something reminds of of them. We're busy being distracted with everyday life. This is true for pretty much all emotional memories, unless they were traumatic. Trauma cases memories to be processed differently, and they can be triggered very easily, and pop up in very sensory, concrete ways and we can feel like we're re-experiencing the bad thing that happened.\n\n\nSo, all together, at night there are fewer distractions, you're not doing much else so a lot of everyday attentional 'noise' is cancelled out. This leaves emotional stuff a bit more space on the stage to do a little dance for our attention. Things that are scary or creepy have the strong fear-spectrum of emotions attached, so are good candidates for our attention. If you add to that a desire for them to go away, and even thoughts like \"*no! stop thinking about the clown\"! and *\"It's okay the clown's not real, the clown's not real\"* all your mind notices is *\"Hey! clown clown clown\"*. You might get more creeped out, and have worries about other scary or creepy things you've thought of or seen before, and hey presto, they're popping up all over the shop.\n\n\nThe best things to do is create mild distraction that isn't going to disrupt sleep too much. If you get really creeped out, escape to fantasy could work. Reading is very good, some people find white noise calming (some find it scary), or gentle music. Some people will do a mindfulness practise, some use relaxation techniques, a body scan, or 'diffusion' techniques that can create some distance between you and the thought or image or whatever it is, before moving onto some imagery. Unfortunately, screens keep us awake, so our magic distraction boxes that we stare into all day can help in the moment, but prolong wakefulness."
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2qrt4k | would no punches pulled, full on ww3 be the end of the world? | Whatever countries make it a true WW3, Russia and China vs US and EU I guess. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qrt4k/eli5_would_no_punches_pulled_full_on_ww3_be_the/ | {
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"End of the world: No\n\nEnd of civilized society: definitely\n\nEnd of mankind: 50/50\n\nIts all speculation though.",
"\"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.\" - Albert Einstein"
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6brs93 | supplements v eating food. why is the latter considered to be more effective than the former? | Do supplements actually work? If so why do packaging say it cant be replaced for food?
Is the latter much better at absorbing the nutrients or something? Why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6brs93/eli5_supplements_v_eating_food_why_is_the_latter/ | {
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"Most of what you're getting via food is the protein and fats that your body actually uses to build tissues and carbohydrates for energy. Supplements, specifically vitamin and mineral supplements, provide nutrients that you need very tiny amounts from, and which most healthy people get naturally from whatever food they eat in addition to the proteins and carbs their body needs. Additional vitamins and minerals, past the miniscule amounts required for you not to get scurvy or beri beri or pellagra, don't do anything. You just pee them out. Moreover, if you are just eating supplements, you're getting nutrients but youre not getting *nutrition,* because they don't provide the protein and carbohydrates your body requires to function.\n\n"
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36m26a | why can't some people like any song on first listen but may with multiple, but others can figure it out on first listen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36m26a/eli5_why_cant_some_people_like_any_song_on_first/ | {
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"Some people are not as musically inclined as others. \n\nBut it could also have something to do with what you're listening to. \n\nEver notice how pop tunes often get into your head immediately? That's because they're simple, easy to \"hear\" -- or \"catchy\". They may have some complexity beneath the surface, but in general, they're very simple. Think: any pop star. \n\nThen listen to Beethoven. Or Yes. Or Genesis. Or Tool. \n\nThe really complex stuff is hard to initially comprehend. But on repeated listenings, as your ear and mind get acquainted with the more complex and sophisticated melodies, base lines, rhythms and harmonies -- you get hooked. \n\n "
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17up3f | eil5: can somebody explain the physics of what is going on in this video? | Can somebody explain what is going on in this [video](_URL_0_!)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17up3f/eil5_can_somebody_explain_the_physics_of_what_is/ | {
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"text": [
"The angular momentum of the spinning weights makes the forces act in unintuitive ways. (see also: _URL_0_)"
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6vvbyx | how does cpu ipc make performance faster when clock speeds are the same? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6vvbyx/eli5_how_does_cpu_ipc_make_performance_faster/ | {
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"IPC is Instructions Per Clock, if the clock speeds are the same then it is the only metric that matters.\n\nIf two processors are running at the same frequency(4GHz) but one can accomplish 8 things per cycle while the other can only accomplish 7 then the first will be 14% faster because the total instructions it can complete in a fixed amount of time is 14% higher"
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dvqkb1 | how and why do oysters make pearls? does removing the pearls kill the oysters, and are they edible afterwards? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dvqkb1/eli5_how_and_why_do_oysters_make_pearls_does/ | {
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"A pearl forms when an irritant gets inside the oyster. Like a rough grain of sand. The oyster deposits minerals on it, slowly covering it in layers of smooth, shiny pearl, to protect it's soft inner body.\n\nYes, it kills it to open it and get the pearl.\n\nYes, it's totally edible. The oyster, not the pearl. I mean, the pearl would just go right through you.",
"Oysters make pearls by coating sand or any other small substance that gets inside them. It's a natural function like when our bodies try to heal a cut. The longer the oyster stays alive, the bigger the Pearl will get. No idea if there is a limit on how big a pearl can be. I'd just assume the major limiting factor would be the longevity and size of the oyster. \n\nTo open a oyster far enough to remove a pearl entails having to cut it's abductor muscle to open it 180 degrees. \n\nThis kills the oyster.\n\nYes, the oyster is edible after removing the Pearl. I've found pearls in my oyster on several occasions and damn choked on the damn thing while trying to slurp it down."
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5usmjc | why is it predators are reluctant to attack us? | I've never really understood why this is the case (as it appears to be the case).
If we start with something like a bear, it is very reluctant to interact(engage/attack/etc.) with a Human, at all. Now I don't understand why, it's massive compared to us, taller, wider, stronger etc. It must know that it could easily take us out if it wanted but doesn't (a vast majority of the time). I don't understand why.
Something like a Great White shark too, they don't outright attack Humans, they 'investigate'. They circle then 'nip', why not just attack us the way they do Sea Lion's etc?
The same for a vast array of other animals, too.
Then there are animals such as the Gray whale that even if they have a negative experience with humanity they will still approach us... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5usmjc/eli5_why_is_it_predators_are_reluctant_to_attack/ | {
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"When you go to the grocery store, do you just grab random stuff and put it in your mouth without knowing what it is? Or do you prefer to eat things that are familiar? \n\nAnimals grow up eating certain prey species. Humans are not normally among them. They do not like to prey on things they find strange and threatening. Maybe if every generation age humans all the time, things would be different. But any animal that ate humans regularly would have either exhausted it's food or been stabbed to death a long time ago.",
"I think animais don't feel the need of attacking a human. And seeing a human may not be common to wild animals so they still act cautious, even if we are smaller.\nAbout the whales, only because a species has problems with humans, it does not mean every individual of that species knows about that. \n\nAnd well, most animals aren't aggressive dicks. They are just living beings in a chaotic world.",
"We don't taste nice to sharks, the majority of attacks are the shark mistaking us for a seal, hence why they stop the attack after a few bites and most people survive. The only shark (I know of) unlike this is the Tiger shark. \n \nAlso most animals, including humans, don't like fighting. It is the last resort. Hence why bears stand on two feet before a fight, cats circle each other, gorrillas hit their chest, humans fire warning shots. Only when two animals think they can take each other they fight, as neither backs down. Or if they are in danger or a member of their group is.",
"We're large enough that even a bear might get injured before it kills us, especially since it doesn't know what nasty tricks we may have up our sleeve.\n\nSince any injury can get infected and be fatal, the predator will not take that risk unless it is very hungry and has no other, more familiar prey available. \n\nAnd that's not even taking into account the fact that we usually come in groups, which multiplies the threat we represent.",
"Thing is, Humans are tall. Because we stand on two feet we reach about 150-180cm. That means most predators will look up at us. Most animals aren't accustomed to that and the height difference alone makes us look much larger than we are.\n\n\nCats look down on mice, for example. Similarly, lions are about eye level with most of their prey (and they're pack hunters and scavengers most of the time, they don't often hunt 1-on-1 because they have no stamina, most of their prey could outrun them otherwise.) \n\n\nYour example, bears are notorious cowards and omnivores, however if they are hungry enough or a mother guarding cubs you better believe they'll attack.\n\n\nAlso, most animals haven't tasted human meat. They don't know that we're food yet. Those that do, such as man-eating tigers [are quickly hunted down when possible](_URL_0_), because otherwise they will start to prey on humans regularly. IIRC I think the hunter riding the elephant got to keep his arm but I'm not sure. Notice how it charges an elephant and aims for the rider.\n\n\nSame reason you shouldn't leave food out for wild animals, they might come to associate us with or as food.",
"Great whites don't like the taste of human. They usually only attack us if they get confused and think we are a seal. They aren't very bright. So they nip to sample us to see if we are good to eat.\n\nOther animals have learned to fear humans, and animals with that fear passed it down to their offspring. Because the truth is there is no animal more dangerous than humans.\n\nA bear is bigger and stronger than us, but we have weapons. We usually work in teams and don't travel alone. If you see one human, there are probably others, and they can kill from a distance. It isn't worth the risk. If lucky the bear might kill a solo human who is unarmed, but thats a big risk for little reward. It is better to avoid the human if possible.\n\nWe're the deadliest predator in the entire world. We have killed and eaten every species of animal that it is possible for us to eat, even highly toxic ones like the pufferfish and venomous snakes. We have killed bears, elephants, hippos, and driven multiple species into extinction. We hunt in packs and arm ourselves with deadly weapons that more than compensate for our individual weakness. We are smart and wily and set traps.\n\nIf you're a non-human animal and you come up against human territory, then a healthy fear and respect of humans helps you survive. Most species of animal on earth have learned that.\n\nFor animals who never saw a human, they have no way of knowing what we are about; having never seen one of us they don't know what we are capable of and rightly approach with caution. Looks can be deceiving. Porcupines are small but even bears will avoid approaching them. Skunks are small and unpleasant enough to be avoided. A human shows up to an animal who never saw one before, they will be curious but cautious. An unknown quantity is dangerous. Smart animals learn quickly that humans are more trouble than we are worth.",
"Who says they are reluctant? There has been numerous documented cases of animals attacking humans. The fact is in this day and age most humans simply don't live in the vicinity of dangerous wild animals. Other such animals that do live in close proximity have been domesticated over a long period of time but yet such is the nature of animals, Even they regularly attack . Dogs do attack humans and at an alarming rate. \nOn another note though, touching on your point about size ect, humans are obviously not the most physically imposing animal on this planet but we are the most dangerous and for good reason. We possess the biggest intellect and given the chance can outsmart almost all living creatures on this planet. We probably can appear pretty intimidating doing our weird shit like driving things and firing things and so on which is completely alien to any other living thing. We are able to create a way to communicate with each other across the whole world which we are doing right now( the internet ) so rightfully we are the top dog. The apex",
"Humans have (completely or partially) exterminated most species that would prey on them like wolves or sabertooth tigers.\n\nELI5: because we fight back.",
"As for bears, they are actually less predatory than made out to be. They usually eat small animals and fish from streams, and will rarely regard something above a wolf in size as food. \n\nPredatory instinct is usually about food. If it doesn't look edible, or seems to pose a risk of fighting back, the animals won't go for it. Most 'attacks' from predators are territorial. Common instances are if you, even accidentally, come to close to where a preditors cubs\\nest is. \n\nBears and wolves are relatively harmless otherwise. Large cats however are developed to take down large prey, using extremely large and sharp claws and their teeth, so to them, humans are small enough to be considered prey.\n\nSimply put, most predators don't like to get into a fight they could potentially lose unless it involves defending something important to them, or if they are desperately hungry. Its a stigma that we have put on them via forms of media (books, movies, tv, news). Its also a stigma that some hunters like to reinforce, to give them reason to hunt predators for ~~stroking their ego~~ environmental and safety purposes.",
"Animals have no idea how strong we are. Humans are ridiculously weak for our size, plus we walk on two legs which probably freaks them out too. Like think of a chimp, they are smaller than us but can rip us apart with their bare hands. And would you start a fight with a housecat? Eff no! Even though they are tiny compared to us they could get in a few terrible wounds before we got them down. Predators don't have bandages and antiseptics and PTO, they don't want to get injured."
]
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4t0aeTX954"
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8p8tos | is water rain clean? does evaporated liquid get filtered/cleaned in the process before raining? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8p8tos/eli5_is_water_rain_clean_does_evaporated_liquid/ | {
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"text": [
"Since it evaporates, it is unlikely for it to carry dirt with it. However, the raindrops falling back down will take any and all dirt particles from the air with them."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
4aafzy | are stars the center of every solar system or could stars be circling an enormous planet? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4aafzy/eli5_are_stars_the_center_of_every_solar_system/ | {
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"For a planet to be large enough to be bigger than a star (which would be necessary for the star to orbit it rather than it orbit the star), it would be large enough that there would be sufficient gravity to create the high enough temperatures and pressures for hydrogen to be fused which would make it in itself a star.\n",
"A solar system by definition has a star at it's centre. It is possible however that somewhere out there there are large rocks orbiting and even larger rock without a star being involved.",
"Let's assume there's a massive rock orbiting a smaller rock, no star involved. No matter how you scale the two, as long as one is bigger than the other, wouldn't the smaller one always be considered a moon of the larger?\n\n(Actual question)",
"If a planet were large enough to have a star orbit it then it would be so large that gravity would cause it to ignite and start fusion. Thus making it a star. \n\nSo every solar system that has a star, has it (or them) at the center. \n\nNow you could theoretically have a system that has no star with multiple planets orbiting a larger planet. But that would not be a solar system. The \"Sol\" part of solar system means sun and therefore you cannot have one without a star. "
]
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5t9pzy | why can you not cook and eat rotting meat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5t9pzy/eli5_why_can_you_not_cook_and_eat_rotting_meat/ | {
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"text": [
"Bacteria create toxins as they reproduce. the toxins aren't cooked away, they are chemicals that persist in the food after prep. That's the danger."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
eahg7z | what is the difference between emotional pain and physical pain in our brain, is there any inherent immediate purpose behind emotional pain when comparing it to physical pain ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eahg7z/eli5what_is_the_difference_between_emotional_pain/ | {
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"The only difference is that physical pain is caused by a lesion. Pain is the way you interpret the lesion, it's not your arm that is in pain because you burnt yourself, it's your brain that creates the pain.\n\nIn both cases, emotionnal pain or physical pain, the same brain regions are activated. That mean that you don't need to hurt yourselr to feel pain. And that's why depressed people can feel acute pain sometimes.\n\nThe point of both types of pain is more or less the same, it warns you and others that something is wrong with you and you need assistance",
"There's an interesting idea that emotional pain evolved in primates as a part of the social hierarchy. Instead of using physical violence as a reward-punishment system, primates use emotional pain. \nIt could be that the purpose behind emotional pain is to avoid physically hurting the individuals of the group, while still being able to settle disputes.",
"Emotional pain, like physical pain, creates memory in our brain so that we remember when we’re in a similar situation in the future that something has caused us pain before and to be careful to not get hurt again.",
"Oh and what I said comes from this book about how pain works: _URL_0_"
]
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[],
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"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47872175"
]
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1ru0v0 | why are citizens protesting the thai government? | One news report stated Thai government riot police fired tear gas at protestors trying to overthrow the government. Why are people unhappy enough in Thailand to protest - or is this just a radical group? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ru0v0/eli5why_are_citizens_protesting_the_thai/ | {
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"cdqvvkx"
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"text": [
"In quick summary: To protest an amnesty bill proposed by the government of current prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, younger sister of Thaksin Shinawatra who was ex-minister of Thailand ousted via military intervention in charges of mainly tax evasion, financial corruption, and of course favouritism.\n\nCurrently, the proposed bill would give protection to Thaksin allowing him to return to Thailand and give him ability to lead the government again. So anti-Shinawatras are leading the protest, and thus the current conflict.\n\nI wouldn't call them radical, but they are pretty direct.\n\n\nThis has been on the news for over a week now, surprise you're only catching this now..."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
1xcmm0 | why do i some times hiccup when i inhale from a cigarette? | I've been told it's a known effect from nicotine, but I'm looking to see if anyone knows why this is.
I can light up, take a few drags and then randomly I'll get the hiccups, but only when I take a drag and inhale. After the smoke, they're gone and if I take an extended time between drags, they don't happen. Only on inhalation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xcmm0/eli5_why_do_i_some_times_hiccup_when_i_inhale/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"all hiccups are something messed up in your diaphragm. the ones you get during smoking are as well, the dry smoke just seems to irritate it in just the right way to get those hiccups. the same fixes work as the ones for normal hiccups. (melt a little bit of sugar in your mouth.) I've switched from smoking to vaping, with an equivalent amount of nicotine. and I haven't had that type of hiccups since then. so it's not the nicotine.\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
am0ett | how does high amounts of radiation kill someone quickly? | so I know that radiation can alter ones genetics so that their kids come out all effed up and can even cause hair loss & vomiting, but how does high amounts of radiation, either caused naturally or by a nuclear bomb, kill somebody in such a short span of time?
thanks for reading and sorry if it's a stupid question, I've just been playing Fallout: New Vagas and it got me thinking | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/am0ett/eli5_how_does_high_amounts_of_radiation_kill/ | {
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"The worse incident of this was a Japanese scientist who fell into a chamber which had insane amounts of radiation.\n\nThey essentially kept him alive for a few months and they were condemned because it was essentially torture in the name of science and research (ie the effects of high Level radiation)\n\nCan anyone remind me of the name of the incident?",
"***TL;DR:*** *Three ways, instant death by heat, and slightly longer death by radiation poisoning because all your body's cellular instructions get shattered, or even longer death by cancer.*\n\n\\---\n\nThink of standing under the summer sun on a clear and windless day. You feel the warmth from that sun enter your body and affect your skin. What's happening is that the sun is giving off thermal energy, and its light - parts that you can see, but also parts that you can't - is absorbed by your skin and the energy it carried is converted into heat. There's also radiation types that are super-excited and bang into the molecules of your body and knock them out of kilter, but our atmosphere and our skin screens most of these out.\n\nNow imagine if that sun was five times bigger in the sky. You'd get uncomfortably hot pretty quick, right? And more of those dangerous radiation particles that knock your body out of whack get through.\n\nFifty times bigger, and your clothes would start to melt. More other radiation too.\n\nFive hundred times bigger, and just like when you focus the sun's rays on a piece of paper using a magnifying glass, you'll start to burn.\n\nIf you're close to an atomic explosion, you get THOUSANDS of times as much thermal radiation as the sun gives off, and it flash-fries you and kills you.\n\nSo say you're in some sort of suit that protects you from heat. Well, that atomic explosion can also be rich in the type of radiation that is super-excited and disrupts your body's molecules, including the DNA that tells your body's cells how to reproduce. Some of that radiation can come from radioactive dust that is left over later too. Because their instruction set is now scrambled, those cells can't reproduce any more... and the ones that reproduce a lot to make more blood or do other really important things to keep you alive stop doing that function. So you die, although a bit slower than flash-frying.\n\nAnd if you only get a bit of radiation and it causes an instruction to break that makes a cell just keep pumping out identical copies of itself without ever stopping... that's cancer, and that can take even longer to kill you.",
"Simplified, radiation kind of works like little bullets that can fly past cells and hit you on the inside. Depending on the type of radiation it will more likely hit the skin(eg alpha particles) or penetrate deeper.\n\nWhen only a few bullets hit you they might break some cells. That happens all the time and the body can clean up and repair. If you are unlucky the DNA of a cell gets damaged, but the cell survives and reproduces with this screwed up building plan. Thats how radiation can cause cancer.\n\nWhen you get high dose of radiation its like the bullet example, with the exception that you run into a wall of thousands full auto gatling guns tearing your cells to shreds, causing so much damage that your body cant patch you back up.",
"When radiation hits your DNA, it causes damage. Most of the time DNA gets damaged, it can be repaired, but radiation can damage the DNA so thoroughly that it takes a long time to repair or can't be repaired at all. So when you're exposed to a very high dose of radiation, many cells in your body will have completely destroyed DNA.\n\nCells with destroyed DNA can't make any new proteins. In the long term, that means your cells can't divide and therefore not be replaced if they die. In the short term, that means that they can't replenish enzymes, the proteins that are responsible for many important tasks in your body. All the cells in the body will continue their function, until they run out of those enzymes - and then they will just stop working and ultimately die. Your digestive tract will very quickly suffer from inflammation and all your nerves will stop working properly, ultimately you'll just pass out and die from organ failure.",
"What you're describing is the [acute radiation syndrome](_URL_0_), which as you mention, is different from the stochastic effects of radiation (cancer, mutations, heritable effects).\n\nThere are many stages of it, depending on how much dose you receive.\n\n* For low doses (2-5 Gy) you destroy the blood stem cells in your bone marrow. This means that you're unable to produce white blood cells responsible for your immune system. This kills you in a matter of weeks to months if you don't get care, but is usually survivable otherwise.\n\n* For moderate doses (+10 Gy) you destroy (in addition to your blood stem cells) the stem cells in your intestine. This means that your intestine cannot regenerate itself as it gets grounded down by foods. This eventually leads to infections, rupture, etc. You usually die within 1-2 weeks, but you can recover if you're lucky and the doses aren't too high.\n\n* For really high doses (+100 Gy) it is not exactly known what kills you, because it's so rare. It's speculated that the blood vessels in your brain becomes ruptured and start leaking fluid. Pressure builds up in your head and you die within 24 hours. You cannot survive this.\n\n\n"
]
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[],
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome"
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