q_id stringlengths 5 6 | title stringlengths 3 296 | selftext stringlengths 0 34k | document stringclasses 1
value | subreddit stringclasses 1
value | url stringlengths 4 110 | answers dict | title_urls list | selftext_urls list | answers_urls list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
31ph3o | what is that weird vibration that happens when you stretch? | When I stretch, like a real good stretch where I pull my arms up way over my head, it feels like my head is vibrating and the vibration is radiating through my body. I also hear this low vibrating noise in my ears. Why does that happen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31ph3o/eli5_what_is_that_weird_vibration_that_happens/ | {
"a_id": [
"cq3uvap",
"cq3vnbh"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It's probably due to your stretch receptors, which detect change in length in the muscle, contracting to protect the muscle initally then slowly letting go. This could give you 'vibration' you feel especially when your muscles are stiff.",
"Not exactly sure, but this could be due to your Golgi Tendon Organs regulating the length of your muscles. These GTOs exist in all of your skeletal muscle, and they will cause any given muscle to contract if it is stretched too far. This is to keep you from tearing muscles all the time."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
18uijk | what causes shorter attention spans in children? | I know that it is often said that current media shortens attention spans (TV seems to be blamed most often), but how exactly is that? What about watching TV causes children to have shorter attention spans? Are there any credible studies that have suggested anything to the contrary? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/18uijk/eli5_what_causes_shorter_attention_spans_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"c8i7yhy"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"TV provides a constant novel stimulus, which keeps a kid very interested and makes a kid's brain release lots of dopamine. Over time, the kid's brain learns how to adapt to the constant novelty, developing faster ways to process it and such. Now the kid is used to being bombarded with new and interesting information at a rapid pace. What happens when this kid tries to do something less stimulating, like reading a book? The kid's brain doesn't release dopamine as quickly as the kid is used to, so he gets bored and looks for something else to do."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
14ddu3 | thermohaline circulation | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14ddu3/eli5_thermohaline_circulation/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7c4urb"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"At the north and south pole the surface water is quickly cooling because of the outside temperature. Cold water wants to sink to the ground.\n\nAt the equator the outside temperature is really hot and thus the water heats up and tries to rise.\n\nAfter this at the equator there is \"very few water\" at the ground and \"a lot of water\" at the surface and at the poles ther is \"very few water\" at the surface and \"a lot of water\" at the ground which leads to big streams of water flowing at the ground from poles to equator and at the surface from the equator to the poles.\n\nNow add to this the rotation of earth and the shapes of the continents and you get big streams going crazy through the oceans transporting warm water to europe and stuff."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
31y05z | why do mlb games start at random times like 7:05, 7:10, 7:40 etc., instead of just starting at 7,8,9,etc.? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31y05z/eli5_why_do_mlb_games_start_at_random_times_like/ | {
"a_id": [
"cq61awr"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"Because of television broadcasts. It let's the station start their broadcast at a normal time, say 7, and have five or ten minutes to do an intro to the game before first pitch. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
6nt4bc | why can we only use a small percentage of the energy produced by a combustion engine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6nt4bc/eli5_why_can_we_only_use_a_small_percentage_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"dkbyy98"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"A good precentage of the original chemical energy is immediately lost as heat during the combustion event. The heat pouring out the exhaust and through the radiator is all useless waste energy.\n\nThe energy that is converted to piston movement then has to go through a few more drivetrain conversions to actually put rubber to pavement, and there are additional friction losses at each step.\n\nPistons move the crankshaft, the crankshaft spins the transmission, the transmissions rotates the driveshaft, the driveshaft turns the differential, the differential rotates the rear axle, the rear axle turns the wheels, the wheels put force to the pavement. Each step creates some frictional loss and converts more energy to heat.\n\nEngines also sacrifice a percentage of their energy to run the compressor, alternator, power steering pump, and anything else that may be driven directly off the crankshaft pulley."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
a5yxyf | when an online video dips in resolution why doesn't the audio lose quality as well? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a5yxyf/eli5_when_an_online_video_dips_in_resolution_why/ | {
"a_id": [
"ebqnn9g"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The way quality shifting happens is that when the receiving computer realizes that data isn't showing up fast enough to show the next video frame in time, it sends a message back to the transmitting computer to drop down the quality of the video. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nBut audio doesn't use nearly as much data per second, so dropping the quality of the audio isn't going to help that much. So the transmitting computer sends the audio as-is despite dropping the video quality. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
5j2ew3 | why can't astronauts or satellites take high quality cameras to anywhere they are going and take nice pictures of planets and space? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5j2ew3/eli5why_cant_astronauts_or_satellites_take_high/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbctdd5",
"dbctzlu",
"dbcy03x"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"There are several problems. Firstly, cameras have mass. Delivering a kilogram to orbit costs $2500 to $12500, which makes for one costly camera. Then there is the fact that \"nice pictures\" have absolutely zero scientific value compared to... much less nice, much more detailed, images, often not in the visible spectrum.\n\nAlso... how often do you think we get the opportunity? We have maybe two dozen probes out there, at most we get one-two planetary flybys a year. Satellites don't go to other planets. Interplanetary probes do.",
"They do to a certain extent; ISS Commander Chris Hadfield got some pretty sweet shots of Earth during his time up there (_URL_0_). As far as photographing planets other than Earth or the Moon, a nice commercial-grade camera isn't designed to deal with the distances involved, and a human hand isn't the best tool for holding a camera steady for a nice long exposure shot that would get you a cool looking starfield. ",
"They can and they do, at least for photos from Earth orbit and the Moon.\n\nSee [here](_URL_1_), and [here](_URL_0_), for example. And these are just the ones that I know are online. Several other astronauts were also very busy with a camera. At least one of the American astronauts (Jerry Linenger) sent to the old Russian space station Mir took literally thousands of high quality photos during his stay there.\n\nFor pictures of other planets, though, it gets trickier. On such long trips, the limitations are a lot stricter: every kilogram of mass you bring with you is extremely costly, bandwidth to send the images back to Earth is limited, electricity may be limited, and you want to dedicate these limited resources to scientific experiments and observations. Oh, and the equipment has to withstand months (typically years) of extreme temperatures and radiation, so you can't just duct-tape a regular off-the-shelf digital camera to the probe. ;)\n\nProbes and rovers typically *do* have very good cameras, but they're made to take much more specialized pictures. Perhaps black and white only, or perhaps in wavelengths that the human eye cannot see. Plain old color photos just aren't very interesting to scientists."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://chrishadfield.ca/photos/"
],
[
"http://chrishadfield.ca/photos/",
"https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/"
]
] | ||
oh4o7 | why don't they make contact lenses that act as sun glasses? is it possible? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/oh4o7/eli5_why_dont_they_make_contact_lenses_that_act/ | {
"a_id": [
"c3h7cst",
"c3h7t83",
"c3h868b",
"c3h8lmp",
"c3h8ql9",
"c3h9638",
"c3haui1"
],
"score": [
25,
23,
7,
11,
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"There's nothing stopping you from having tinted lenses. They actually do make tinted lenses for people who have trouble seeing colour correctly, to help then distinguish shades.\n\nHowever I imagine the main problem is that you can't easily take off contact lenses, so unless you know you're going to spend all day outdoors they might become annoying.",
"There are contacts with UV protection. The problem with tinting them like sun glasses is that you won't squint to protect the whites of your eyes and they can get damaged by the sun since they aren't covered by your contact lens either. Along with the thing about not being able to take the lenses off easily in darker areas and indoors. ",
"Would it be possible to make contacts that act as transition lenses? like they turn into 'suncontacts' upon going outside?",
"I was watching the special features on one of the DVDs and Johnny Depp wore tinted contacts during filming Pirates of the Caribbean so that he wasn't squinting every shot...so they make them.",
"you would looking fucking scary with those in.",
"At one time I used Nike's Maxsight contact lenses when I played volleyball. They gave everything a softer tint. They worked. But the product has been discontinued.",
"Imagine how annoying it would get indoors.\n\nIt's not exactly fun to pop in and out contacts."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
6kdrto | how do trees die? do they have a life span and die from "old age", or do they only die when they become infected with a fungus/infested with termites/etc.? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6kdrto/eli5_how_do_trees_die_do_they_have_a_life_span/ | {
"a_id": [
"djlae9m",
"djldgc6"
],
"score": [
6,
5
],
"text": [
"They die like anything else. Sure they can die of the causes you mentioned. Even if none of those happen to the tree, over time cells become less able to reproduce identical copies of themselves. Due to this, the tree will not be able to keep growing or replace its current cells, so it will die. Trees don’t need to replace their cells that often, so they can live a long time. ",
"Trees vary a lot in life expectancy. The aspen is short-lived, oaks are long, but both will eventually die in expected ages. Way out on the edge, however, there are exceptions. Nobody really knows the life expectancy of a bristle cone pine, for one example. Some plants may actually be, from our vantage point, immortal-- until something kills them."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | ||
buxyl1 | how can michael bennet run for president without being born in the usa? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/buxyl1/eli5_how_can_michael_bennet_run_for_president/ | {
"a_id": [
"epj56bq",
"epj57xi",
"epj61zl"
],
"score": [
3,
11,
3
],
"text": [
"His dad was an aid to the US ambassador of India. The rule is if you’re a US citizen at the moment of birth not where you were born. His dad was born in New Jersey working for the government in India...he’s a US citizen.",
"So this is related to the phrase \"Natural Born Citizen\" used in the constitution. The generally accepted definition of this phrase is a citizen who was a US Citizen at birth and did not need to go through the naturalization process. This means that Bennet's American parents made him a citizen at birth, regardless of the physical location where he was born. The same can be said for Ted Cruz from the last election cycle, who was born in Calgary to an American mother.\n\nYou can read a little bit more about this at the Harvard Law Review: _URL_0_",
"There's debate over the exact meaning of the phrase, but the Constitutional requirement is:\n\n > No person except a natural born citizen...shall be eligible to the office of President.\n\nIt's generally accepted, though, that a natural-born citizen is simply someone who was a citizen from the moment of their birth. This is true of people who were born on US soil, and it's true of people who were born overseas to parents who were US Citizens.\n\nThere was some small controversy around John McCain in 2008, who was born on a US Air Force base in Panama, though this was mostly lost around all of the Obama Birther nonsense that was going on at the time as well. And it was generally accepted that McCain was eligible to run (and I believe that his status was officially recognized by the Senate as well). And Ted Cruz, who lost in the Republican primaries to Donald Trump, was born in Canada to a mother who was a US citizen, and was therefore a dual citizen by birth."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://harvardlawreview.org/2015/03/on-the-meaning-of-natural-born-citizen/"
],
[]
] | ||
6mx8j0 | the difference in coca-cola, diet coke and coke zero, and if that's the same for pepsi, diet pepsi and pepsi max | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mx8j0/eli5_the_difference_in_cocacola_diet_coke_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"dk53xs4",
"dk595el",
"dk5cslb"
],
"score": [
3,
3,
7
],
"text": [
"Coke uses corn syrup for sweetener. \n\nDiet coke uses aspertaim (artificial) as a sweetener. \n\nCoke zero uses a different artificial sweetener and other ingredients meant to simulate the original coke flavor better. \n\nThere are probably some other ingredients different between each in order to keep the flavors similar but the sweeteners are the main difference. \n\nAnd yes the differences are similar for the Pepsi products, although I'm not 100% certain on Pepsi max. ",
"Coca-Cola Classic is the original flavor. Depending on where you are, it either uses sugar or high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener.\n\nDiet Coke is a slightly different flavor, closer to the (miserably failed) New Coke from the 80s. It uses various sugar substitutes for sweeteners. In the US it uses aspartame (AKA - Nutrasweet). There's also been some limited releases using Splenda (sucralose).\n\nCoke Zero is the same flavor as Classic but uses some newer sugar substitutes. In the US, this is a blend of aspartame & AceK, which some people tastes closer to real sugar.\n\nFinally, there's Coke Life (in the green can). It's original flavored coke with about 2/3 the sugar, making up the bulk with stevia extract (a plant-based sugar substitute).\n\n-----\n\nOn the Pepsi side of things, you've got pretty much the same story. Pepsi is sugar/HFCS, Diet Pepsi is sucralose in the US, Pepsi Max is aspartame/AceK with extra caffeine & ginseng, Pepsi One/Pepsi Zero Sugar is Pepsi Max with regular levels of stimulants & Pepsi True is a sugar/sucralose blend.\n\nInterestingly enough, some of the newer Mtn Dew flavors have taken to using a HFCS/sucralose/AceK blend without advertising it. Regular Dew is 290cal per 20oz bottle and the new Dew-S-A flavor is only 170.",
"I got this.\n\nBack when diet sodas were introduced, they were kind of terrible. So bad, in fact, the Coke didn't want to tarnish the brand of their regular soda...instead they created a new brand, marketed mostly towards women, called Tab. That was their marketing plan, and they stuck with it for nearly 20 years.\n\nUpstart Pepsi took a different approach. Their soda's consistency and flavor lent itself to artificial sweeteners a little better, so they were able to formulate a diet version that was slightly less terrible. The marketed it under the Pepsi brand, and it slowly grew to dominate the diet market.\n\nBy the early 1980s, Coke had had enough, and decided it was time for their own Coke brand diet soda. But the same factors that made Diet Pepsi successful worked against them...try as they might, they just couldn't make the Coke recipe work with the sweeteners of the day. They stopped trying, and invented a completely new recipe (one many say was more like Pepsi), and marketed that as Diet Coke. It was wildly successful, and very quickly started to take market share away from Diet Pepsi. \n\nIn fact, Diet Coke was a bit too successful. A few years later, facing stiff competition from Pepsi in their regular cola line, Coke abandoned their nearly century-old recipe, creating a regular version of Diet Coke, which tested better than the old Coke or Pepsi. When they didn't anticipate was the extreme nostalgia for the original Coke, and \"New Coke\" went down as one of the biggest marketing blunders in history. Coke eventually was forced to reintroduce the original as Coca-Cola Classic, the public never acquired a taste for New Coke, and it was eventually phased out.\n\nFinally, in 2005, with new sweeteners available to them, Coke took another swing at a diet version of the original formula and came up with Coke Zero. Claiming it was \"indistinguishable\" from regular Coke, it has largely been marketed towards men, and has gained a significant share of the diet soda market.\n\n \nSo to recap:\n\n* Diet Coke = Diet New Coke before New Coke existed\n* Coke Zero = Diet Old Coke\n\nHope that clears things up.\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
1zgokq | current state of russian military forces (equipment, vehicles, technology, etc.) compared to the united states' current military forces | Edit: I only now realize I think I meant NATO instead of United States | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zgokq/eli5_current_state_of_russian_military_forces/ | {
"a_id": [
"cfthxhz",
"cftn7xv",
"cftt0ut"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"[UNITED STATES](_URL_1_)\n vs \n[RUSSIA]\n(_URL_0_)",
"Russia has manpower and nukes, and that's about it. Most of their military technology is outdated and/or falling apart. NATO, even without the United States, has the air power necessary to defend itself against any Russian invasion in the long term, although they may temporarily lose some of their Eastern nations.\n\nWithout air power protecting their ground troops, Russia won't be able to do much against Europe short of nuking them.",
"Russia is still in the middle of their \"Modernization\" program that Putin has been dumping money into. The Russians have a lot of very advanced technology and weapons, but not in the numbers that they would like. The Russian attitude has always been to try and upgrade what they already have for as long as possible rather than buy new things. \n\nOne of the big problems of the Russian military that the Russians freely admit to is the lack of adequate radio and GPS systems. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=Russia",
"http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=United-States-of-America"
],
[],
[]
] | |
c2nk7t | why do household smoke alarms use d batteries instead of the more common aa batteries? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c2nk7t/eli5_why_do_household_smoke_alarms_use_d/ | {
"a_id": [
"erlb6gx",
"erlbbhk",
"erlbusf"
],
"score": [
15,
7,
5
],
"text": [
"D-cell batteries last longer.\n\nEvery smoke detector I've ever seen used 9-volt batteries though.",
"i have yet to see one that isnt 9v but,\n\nthey use larger cells because, while being passive in nature, the smoke detector is always using power and would drain the AA too fast. AA is used more for push button applications, where you only need power for a moment while you pusha button. \n\nSo if you are seeing D cell batteries, that's why, but i bet you are seeing 9v",
"Smoke detectors don't use D cell, they use 9-volt, which based on size, are more efficient than AA/AAA (1.5v each)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
22ujjd | how do international atms work ? | Hi,
Today my father asked me the question how does an ATM work and how if i travel to some other country withdraw money in that local (country) currency .
I have a somewhat idea that telephone or internet is used somehow to link ATMs but i really dont know much and worse i couldnt explain to my dad .
Maybe if you guys could add animation , video , images which I can show my dad i would be really grateful .
Thanks for reading !
Have a nice day | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22ujjd/eli5_how_do_international_atms_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgqisgs",
"cgqj904"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Most ATMs are linked to global financial networks, and the transaction can route to your bank, whether international or not. \n\nThe only difference in a foreign country is it dispenses money in the local currency, then automatically converts it to dollars for the withdrawal from your bank account. Like you'll withdraw 200 Euros and you'll see on your bank statement a withdrawal of 270 something dollars, depending on the exchange rate\n\nI used ATMs to get cash when travelling in Europe instead of exchanging currency at Forex or a bank. The exchange rate was better with the ATM. ",
"They literally call your bank and ask if you have the money (all automated of course). They also have a up to the minute exchange rate, probably plus a surcharge. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
aoap0i | what is this debris that falls off the sides of a rocket during it's launch? | [_URL_1_](_URL_0_)
& #x200B;
You can see it in most (all?) rocket launches. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aoap0i/eli5_what_is_this_debris_that_falls_off_the_sides/ | {
"a_id": [
"efzgl6y",
"efzh4jy",
"efzht3p"
],
"score": [
22,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Mostly ice. \n\nThe fuel for rockets is often cryogenic, that means it's super cold. So cold that what's normally a gas, like oxygen, condenses to make a liquid.\n\nEven really well insulated rockets get cold on the outside when you put something this cold in them. If you put a cold thing in the humid air of a place like Florida, the water in the air condenses on it. You've probably seen this on the sides of a soda can. But this is much colder than a soda can, so the condensation freezes. When the rocket fires, the violent shaking detaches this ice.",
"Mostly just ice. The fuel tanks utilize liquid oxygen which requires them to be kept incredible cold. This means that the side of the fuel tanks will tend to collect a lot of condensation on the side that will later go on to freeze due to the temperature of the rocket. ",
"Have you ever used canned air (airduster)? You know how the canister gets really cold and accumulates frost? \n\nIt's like that, but with literally tons of fuel and they have to manually keep it cold "
]
} | [] | [
"https://youtu.be/y-cv_JJOxGI",
"https://youtu.be/y-cv\\_JJOxGI"
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | |
7k68wp | what are these black spots that mysteriously appear floating on the air? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7k68wp/eli5_what_are_these_black_spots_that_mysteriously/ | {
"a_id": [
"drbveqx"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"So you or your girlfriend have any especially wool-y type clothes? Or do you have a cat that has very fine hair and sheds a lot? "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
j40cm | republicans and democrats [eli5] | Why only two main parties? Why does one associate with one party over the other? Is there anything that they both agree upon? What's the beef? I am very clueless in US politics, so please inform. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j40cm/republicans_and_democrats_eli5/ | {
"a_id": [
"c28y8ig",
"c28y8tv",
"c28yb10"
],
"score": [
6,
4,
4
],
"text": [
"There are only two powerful parties in the US, for two related reasons.\n\nFirst, in national elections, the states in the US are \"winner take all\". If you win a state's election and you get 55% of the votes, you get all of that state's votes, and not just 55% of them. This makes it very easy to have one or two strong parties, but makes it very difficult to have three strong parties. A strong third party would not be able to become important just by winning a lot of votes in a lot of states. Winning 30% of the vote in every state but coming in second or third would be less effective than winning 51% of the vote in the smallest state. \n\nThe other reason is that both of these parties agree on a lot of things and are able to argue against anyone who doesn't believe in what the Democratic and Republican parties agree on.\n\nThe reason they are treated as if they are very different on TV and in the newspapers is because of \"partisan politics\". \"Partisan\" means \"supporter\". In partisan politics, \"winning\" is often the most important thing. It's often more important than an agenda, or whatever reason you wanted to \"win\" for in the first place. Partisan Democrats and partisan Republicans talk about one another as if they were almost always wrong, and sometimes as if they were downright evil.\n\nPartisan politics is like turning politics into sports. One team will win, either \"your team\" or \"the other team\". In American football, it doesn't matter if you agree that the opponent's quarterback is a very good person who plays the game well, you still want your team to win. One result of this is that in the news, politics is usually covered by telling you who's \"winning\" opinion polls, or who's probably going to win the election, rather than letting you know what each person stands for and letting you decide between them. This is often called \"horse race politics\", because it covers who's coming out ahead rather than what anyone actually wants to accomplish once they win an election.\n\nAs far as what the Democrats and Republicans agree on, quite honestly, it's most things! Most Republicans and Democrats believe that capitalism is very important, that \"real\" campaign finance reform is bad (campaign finance reform would mean that businesses would be able to give less money to politicians to run for office), that whatever the government does about the economy should result in less unemployment and less inflation (the problem is that sometimes what you do to \"fix\" one hurts the other), that we should lower crime, and in basic freedom. How they differ is often not what they believe in but what they believe is the best way to make it happen.",
"Republicans and democrats generally disagree on how much government should be involved in things.\n\nRepublicans want less government on things related to the economy (fewer taxes, fewer regulations), and more government on social issues (making abortion illegal, gay marriage illegal), and more military.\n\nDemocrats generally want the opposite. More government involvement on things related to the economy (more help for the poor, more regulations), less government in social issues, and a smaller military.\n\nThere are tons of things that Republicans and Democrats agree upon, but you shouldn't expect to hear about them because it's not useful. Nobody needs to see a debate on whether murder is a bad thing, or if chocolate chip cookies taste good. What you'll hear about instead are the selling points for each party: Republicans are good for the economy and business, Democrats are good for helping the poor and middle class. Republicans are aligned with your Christian morals, Democrats are aligned with your modern ethical views.\n",
"There are only two main parties because the voting system doesn't encourage sharing.\n\nImagine that you're in a class with 10 people total, and the class has to decide as a whole what to eat for snacktime for the school year: ice cream, cotton candy, or carrots. Let's say that 4 kids like carrots, and 6 kids like sweets (3 like ice cream, 3 like cotton candy). Even though more people like sweets than carrots, if everyone votes for their preference, carrots will win because more people chose it than any other option. The only way for a sweet thing to be chosen is for people to change how they would like to vote to keep from getting stuck with carrots.\n\nThis explains how people associate with one party as well - since there are only two options to choose from (sweet things or healthy things), everyone has to pick which one is more like what they prefer and stick with that one. Some people may not like carrots very much but they prefer to eat healthy foods over sweet foods, so they will vote for carrots just to keep sweet things from winning. It's not *ideal* for them to have carrots, but it's better than the alternative.\n\nSome people may like something sweet and healthy - like grapes or strawberries or cantaloupe - and so they're stuck in the middle. Whichever way they vote, they don't quite get what they want, but they never gain any traction on their own.\n\nNow, in this situation, both parties agree on certain things. Everybody wants to eat *something* for snacktime, and everybody has particular reasons for choosing what they want to eat. Both people can make very good arguments for why their snack is better than the other snack, and some people will get very angry about whose snack is better - they might even start making fun of the other kids for liking the \"wrong\" snack! This is because snacktime is very important in this class, and some people like making very important decisions.\n\nIt's a little hard to describe the parties with snacks, but I'd like to call the Republicans the \"sweets\" and the Democrats the \"healthies.\" Democrats like to make sure that everyone is healthy and strong so that they can be the kids that they should be, without any extra weight holding them down - this should ideally keep everyone close to the same level of happy, without too many highs or lows. Republicans want to make sure that people can be happy in their own special way without anyone telling them what to do - this can end up with some people carrying a lot more than other people, which makes some kids happy and other kids sad. Neither side is perfect and they both have their drawbacks, but nobody really wants to compromise and vote for grapes."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | |
66mh11 | how is cord blood different from regular human blood? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66mh11/eli5_how_is_cord_blood_different_from_regular/ | {
"a_id": [
"dgjpasj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The blood cells found within are similar to those found in bone marrow (they're able to replicate) and can be used for bone marrow transplants. The blood cells circulating in your vessels now have lost their nucleus and are unable to replicate. Virtually all of your new blood cells are made within your bone marrow and last approximately 6 weeks."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
3htb7a | why exactly are there so many posts that have easily gone over 3,000 as of recently? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3htb7a/eli5_why_exactly_are_there_so_many_posts_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"cuaddtw"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Reddit raised their visible karma soft cap from 5000~ to 8000~\n\nAs for why posts in /top reach 15k points, is because after a certain amount of time, a posts true score is revealed by reddits' automated voting regulation system."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
3n0116 | why is the general consensus that life developed on earth independently? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3n0116/eli5_why_is_the_general_consensus_that_life/ | {
"a_id": [
"cvjlbd5",
"cvjlicx"
],
"score": [
2,
15
],
"text": [
"That is a hypothesis, known as Panspermia. So far, we don't really have much evidence in favor or against it. We know it's probably possible for simple lifeforms to survive the trip, but that's it.\n\n_URL_0_",
"The argument that life came from someplace else, is just begging the question. It still had to originate/evolve somewhere. It's no more mystery that it involved \"there\" than it evolved \"here\"."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia"
],
[]
] | |
eavuu5 | how does "cooking" glasses work to protect the glass from thermal shock? | My parent put hot tea into a cheap glass and it didn't break. He said that it was because he "cooked" the glass in water (like how you would boil eggs) so the glass wouldn't get thermally shocked.
I found some guides online to boiling glasses (read in Vietnamese [here](_URL_0_)) but basically, you put the glass inside a pot filled with room-temperature water and then cook it until it boils.
Can anyone explain how this protects the glass from thermal shock? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eavuu5/eli5_how_does_cooking_glasses_work_to_protect_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"fay1w45",
"fay1y4z",
"fay79t5"
],
"score": [
3,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Glass breaks because of high tension in the glass which stems from a temperature difference between one side and the other. If you pour hot water into a cold glass, the inside of the glass will get really hot, and tries to expand. Since glass is not a good heat conductor, the outer side stays cool and does not want to expand, the tension between the glass that expands and the glass that does not expand is often enough to overcome the fragile structural strength of the glass.\n\nWhen you boil the glass you heat it evenly and thus one hot you can pour hot water into the inside without creating a bit temperature difference along with all the tension and glass breaking.",
"It preheats it to the same temperature as the water they're going to pour in, but slowly. \n\nGlass cracks during thermal shock because temperatures cause glass to expand and shrink rapidly. When hot water is poured into a glass that is room temperature or even slightly colder if your house is cold, the rapid change in temperature causes the glass to react too quickly and it shatters. \n\nPreheating the glass slowly gives the glass time to adjust and then will accept the shock of the hot water being poured in.",
"Life pro tip: put a metal spoon in it before pouring and make sure it's not really cols.. the spoon will absorb some heat and balance out the shock by raising some of the first heat towards the top. Or just use a mug."
]
} | [] | [
"http://meogiadinhhay.com/cach-de-ly-khong-be-khi-rot-nuoc-soi.html"
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | |
c7q33n | what happens to our eyeballs when we close our eyes? do they roll back or stay in the same position as they would when our eyes are open? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c7q33n/eli5_what_happens_to_our_eyeballs_when_we_close/ | {
"a_id": [
"esgwbir",
"esgwghf"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"They stay.\n\nJust close your eyes and use your eye muscles to move them like they'd be open. You can move them to Look wherever you want to look while they are closed.",
"I understand (by the question) that you are an alien. Every person would know the answers \n\nBusted!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
58m1sx | when you go to pick up something and overestimate its weight, what exactly is going on psychologically? | I'm sure most or all have had this experience, which is accompanied by a peculiar sensation as well. You go to lift something, such as a can of soda (or beer), perhaps there is more than one can on the table, the one you are currently drinking, which is mostly full, and an empty can, which weighs much less.
This is a familiar task, so you have an expectation based on previous experience, and you know how much effort it should take to lift a can full of soda (perhaps a more general schema involving objects of similar form is involved for "items of unknown weight").
If you happen to lift the empty can by mistake, what happens is you apply far more initial effort than is required due to the expectation that the can is full, thus heavier and requiring more effort to lift at the same rate; the empty can is lifted at a much faster rate than expected and is "jerked up" suddenly, at the same time, one experiences a peculiar sort of surprise when their expectations are challenged this way, and perhaps compensatory mechanisms kick in here. The rate one expects it to be lifted is overshot, as well as the perception of weight not meeting one's expectation, but this is after the decision is made, and the task of lifting the can has occurred
So how does this really work? I noticed that this application of lifting effort seems to occur automatically in this case, being as it's so familiar (you "know" how much effort it takes, even if you end up being wrong later). It also seems difficult to reproduce thoughtfully; it's hard to apply such a large amount of initial effort so quickly when one is aware the can if empty, thus light. Instead, the can is lifted and *then* much more effort is applied to lift it more quickly. Obviously expectation has a big influence, even for tasks that appear to be very similar.
To be honest, one might have to compare videos of cans being lifted that didn't meet the subject's expectation of weight (automatic process) to see if this "thoughtful over-application of effort" is actually executed the same (rather than just "feeling" different). I would expect fine-grained differences, and maybe even obvious differences in execution due to "anticipation", unless perhaps if one has practiced lifting this same way, in which case the execution of this task would become more automatic.
Not my major, but I'm taking intro to psych out of pure choice. I'd like it if someone could provide a better explanation than this as to what's really going on when something like this occurs.
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/58m1sx/eli5_when_you_go_to_pick_up_something_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"d91jy9n"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Have been training parkour for over 7 years now and thought a lot about this one. But i think you've pretty much got it haha.\nFrom my understanding, \nInformation comes in from environment via the senses, the task/action is mapped out in the brain.\n'X' amount of energy to 'Y' places throughout the nervous system is calculated (this is where I'd see the 'expectation' would be formed). \nThen there is the decision to follow the action through, and here conscious effort and intention come into play as well, 'commitment' if you will.\nAnd then there is the part where we are doing it, external factors(that weren't part of the original calculation) can still come into play.\nSo i guess the calculation could be made less accurate at various points for various reasons :p sprry if this is too many words with too little info."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
1gde3i | why does mcdonald's charge $1 for a small, medium and large soda? | I understand that $1 is relatively cheap for a soda (even though the markup is astronomical). So maybe the marketing motivation is to get me to stop in for a soda and buy more stuff. But why wouldn't they charge $.50 for a small, $.75 for a medium and $1 for a large then? Or why offer small and medium sizes at all? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gde3i/eli5_why_does_mcdonalds_charge_1_for_a_small/ | {
"a_id": [
"caj4l0j",
"caj54cq",
"caj54oa",
"caja0xm",
"cajdgzw",
"cajfzxk",
"cajha3g"
],
"score": [
9,
5,
4,
2,
2,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"The markup is *so* astronomical that any size of soda costs McDonald's effectively zero. So the only question is what people will pay for a soda.\n\nThe thing is, people generally either want a soda or do not want a soda. So with your alternate prices, lots of people would go \"ooh, the small is cheaper, I'll get that\", and very few would go \"well, I wasn't *going* to get a soda, but if it's only $.50 I guess I will\".",
"The way McDonald's makes money is when you order ala carte. That is you order a sandwich, drink, and a side without using the value menu. The value menu sets the prices as low as they can go because they can get you to upgrade the value menu for only a couple cents more. \n\nWhen you order ala carte, they get to charge full price for sandwich, drink and side. Most people are going to just order the sandwich, given a choice. If a seemingly value drink will make them spend the extra dollar, McD's just made a profit from your order. \n\nIf you are just driving through for a drink, you may realize that you need a snack to get you through the drive home, and that explains the half price drink specials you see at some places during the afternoon. ",
"The easy answer is money. Any question that starts with \"Why don't/do they?\" can be answered with \"money.\"\n\nIn this case they are marketing \"perceived value.\" That is if you think you are getting a good deal you will be more likely to buy from them again. Somebody somewhere did a cost benefit analysis, or they are testing it in your area, on whether maintaining a constant price for soda will increase sales or not. Even if you don't typically get a large soda, knowing that it is an option for a relatively low price may tend to bias you towards McDonalds over other fast food joints.",
"I find it hard to believe that they actually charge the same exact price for all three...?",
"Because you live in a country where they actually do that... it's like 2.50 for small here and 3.75 for large.",
"By pricing all the soda sizes the same, it makes the medium look like a good deal. And if that's a good deal, the large much be a steal!\n\nSomeone who was only going to get 2 McChickens might now also get a soda as well.\n\nEven people who were already getting a soda are also, happy to get a free upgrade to a large. Or just happy to be getting a good deal if they already intended to get a large.\n\nBeing happy when you do something (like eating food) will make it taste better and you'll have good memory floating in the back of your mind about McDonalds. Next time your thirsty/hungry, you might think of McDonald's a little sooner/faster. Maybe even before you remember you wanted to try something you saw on a commercial for Jack in the Box.",
"Back in the 90's I ran a couple of McD's restaurants. At the time - I doubt this has changed - all of the soft drinks/pop in terms of purchased stock items - was simply syrups. Each restaurant had a significant water filtering machine and carbonation.\n\nAll the magic was done at the drink tower where the syrup was mixed with the local, heavily filtered water and carbonated.\n\nA regular part of my job was to ensure/adjust the syrup/water mix for proper calibration/flavour.\n\nThe syrup cost is minimal. The cup/lid/straw price is minimal. The most expensive part of serving a soft drink is the labour. My local McD's now has self-serve soft drink dispensers where the crew hand you a cup and you do all the work.\n\nI don't remember the food cost for soft drinks, but the one cost I've never forgotten was that a small coffee (that's the coffee, cup, lid and expected cream/sugar/stir stick) was 8 cents. I think we were charging about a dollar for them."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
2hdyei | would being constantly cold growing up cause the human body to produce a fuller, thicker beard to keep the face warm? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hdyei/eli5_would_being_constantly_cold_growing_up_cause/ | {
"a_id": [
"ckrsf0m"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"ELI5 is for explaining concepts, rather than questions. It might help to rephrase. \n\nBecause all I can give you at the moment is a \"No, why would it?\""
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
awxn6x | how do wheelchair bound individuals avoid getting blood clots. like the ones you get for sitting down too long on long flights. | Edit: wheelchair users* sorry for being offensive. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/awxn6x/eli5_how_do_wheelchair_bound_individuals_avoid/ | {
"a_id": [
"ehq51rx",
"ehqe8sb",
"ehqlnn1",
"ehqzuba"
],
"score": [
4,
3,
13,
2
],
"text": [
"Well, you can get drugs that \"fluidify\" your blood and lower your pressure in order to prevent blood clots (such as aspirin), though i'm not sure that wheelchair users actually have to take those. Staying still is surely a risk factor for getting a blood clot but it doens't guarantee that you'll get one. Being on a chair is also better than standing, since the hydrostatic pressure in the veins of your legs will be inferior, thus letting blood return to your heart more easily without getting blocked down there.",
"Sometimes they don't (avoid it), but usually as long as you're not lying in bed all day it's less of a concern. Most wheelchair users are taught to shift their weight frequently to prevent pressure sores, which also helps with blood clots",
"Hi, I am a paraplegic (t4 complete spinal cord injury from a motorcycle accident) and the easy answer is we don't. When I was first injured they gave me blood thinners to help prevent this but about 2 months after I stopped those in exchange for a daily aspirin I developed a dvt clot in both legs. Now from my understanding the body kinda gets used to being in a chair but leg stretching and exercise helps a lot. Currently I take eliquis twice daily for blood clots but seeing as it's $170 per month prescription I'm hoping to stop that soon. ",
"People who use wheelchairs are more likely to get blood clots. Most people that I work with who use wheelchairs are placed on blood thinners in order to avoid blood clots from happening. \n\nThere are a couple other things that are done to prevent blood clots. Some people wear special compression stockings which are basically to squeeze the legs to decrease the likelihood of blood clots. Sometimes people are even given special cuffs that are very similar to blood pressure cuffs. These cuffs occasionally will puff air through the cuff that is around the person's leg and squeeze the legs in order to move blood along. \n\nIf the person has movement in their legs, they will often be encouraged to do kicks and ankle pumps every so often to move the blood along. Many people use wheelchairs not because they cannot move or use their legs but because they are at a high risk of falling or don't have the energy to walk around for many of their activities, so they are still able to perform leg exercises to prevent blood clotting.\n\nPeople who use wheelchairs should also be extra careful with their diets in order to prevent blood clots. People who are overweight and/or have diets high in bad cholesterol and fats are at greater risk for blood clots, so if someone uses a wheelchair they should be extra careful to remain at a healthy weight and have a healthy diet."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
4r9tkx | why did casinos ruin atlantic city but succeed in las vegas? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4r9tkx/eli5_why_did_casinos_ruin_atlantic_city_but/ | {
"a_id": [
"d4zdzea",
"d4ze7l4"
],
"score": [
9,
3
],
"text": [
"Atlantic City used to be the only place within driving distance of New York/Philadelphia etc. to allow casinos. As more and more locations near NY/Phila started allowing casinos (starting with casinos on Indian reservations in Connecticut), Atlantic City no longer has the monopoly on gambling in the Northeast.\n\nLas Vegas is known for casinos but the casinos also offer other forms of entertainment. Casinos in Las Vegas only get one-third of their revenue from gambling with the other two-thirds coming from other offerings (shopping, restaurants, entertainment, etc). In Atlantic City, the reverse was true, with two-thirds of casino revenue coming from gambling itself.\n\nFurther reading: _URL_0_",
"Not a definitive answer, but Atlantic City doesn't offer that much more beyond gambling. Sure, they have random musical acts which draws in the random crowd and whatnot, but beyond gambling there isn't much to do compared to Las Vegas where it's more of an \"experience\". Also, another reason for the downward slope is the somewhat recent development of casinos in Pennsylvania and New York which offered the same things as AC without the depressing setting. If you've ever been to AC, the place is like one giant slum outside of the casinos. At least Las Vegas doesn't make you worry you're gonna get mugged or catch a disease the moment you step outside. The most recent nail in the coffin is that the AC casinos became really stingy with their rewards and comps. I don't know if that was a result of poor business or the reason, but I know it's pushed away a lot of former regulars. My .02."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/the-death-and-life-of-atlantic-city"
],
[]
] | ||
6rechs | when a digital picture is resized to be smaller in resolution, how does the computer determine which pixels to 'remove'? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6rechs/eli5_when_a_digital_picture_is_resized_to_be/ | {
"a_id": [
"dl4iis4"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"When you shrink down a digital picture in the computer, the computer turns lots of pixels into less pixels by guessing what would fit best in its place.\n\nHere's a crude example: let's say you have two pixels:\n[20] and [10]\nthen the computer can replace those two by\n[15]\nthere ya go you've made your picture twice as small.\n\nIt's a bit more complicated than that but you get the picture.\nPun intended."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
3v5fsj | high quality pictures look better than the naked eye? | I was with my friend and we were taking pictures of the stars. I looked at the pictures he took and noticed that they looked "prettier" through the camera than through my eye. Why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3v5fsj/eli5_high_quality_pictures_look_better_than_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cxkfvgu"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Likely because the camera is adding more contrast/saturation than is in the scene. \n\nWhen taking pictures of the stars, it doesn't hurt that the camera can have a massive aperture (allowing it to collect more star light), relative to your pupil. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
3ycw0q | how does espionage work in real life? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ycw0q/eli5_how_does_espionage_work_in_real_life/ | {
"a_id": [
"cychdm9"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The CIA has essentially three broad types of \"spy.\"\n\nAnalysts are people who sit at a desk poring over reams of information form both public and classified sources, then write reports about what they think is going on in the world. Those reports are then re-written by their boss to whatever the current political requirement is, which is why CIA director George Tenet famously declared that it was a \"slam dunk\" that Iraq had WMDs. The analysts had concluded just the opposite, but that wasn't the conclusion Dick Cheney wanted to hear, so they \"fixed\" it.\n\nOfficers are people who go out into the world and manage intelligence operations. Despite what you've heard in movies or bad reporting, these guys aren't \"agents.\" An agent is a person--typically a foreign national--who the CIA bribes or bullies into spying on his own country or some group. Officers manage agents. An officer may work under official cover, where they are posted to a US embassy somewhere with a bullshit job title like \"deputy attache of cultural affairs.\" The advantage is that gives them full diplomatic immunity, and they can't get so much as a parking ticket. The downside is that everybody knows they're CIA, so they get watched pretty closely. Or an officer might be NOC, non-official cover. These people pose as businessmen, aid workers, whatever and conduct more sensitive operations. The plus is nobody knows they're CIA, but the downside is they can be arrested and even executed for espionage. Valerie Plame was a NOC officer until Dick Cheney blew her cover for cheap political revenge.\n\nFinally, there's the black ops guys, who are mostly military or paramilitary, who go out and do unsavory things.\n\nThe life of a CIA operative is nowhere NEAR as exciting as it's made out in the movies; it really is just another government job. Although the CIA keeps a lot of stuff classified, we know precisely how dangerous it is to work for them. At the Langley headquarters, there's a memorial wall that contains a star for each employee killed in the line of duty. Since they opened their doors in the 1950s, just 113 stars (last time I checked) have been carved into the wall. Most of those stars appear during times of war, when officers are working in areas where people are actually shooting at each other.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
2ql907 | why do assassins in movies/games always hold their knives with the blade facing down and not up? | [like this](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ql907/eli5why_do_assassins_in_moviesgames_always_hold/ | {
"a_id": [
"cn742ag",
"cn746iy",
"cn7a54z"
],
"score": [
5,
20,
2
],
"text": [
"A grip like that would allow a thrown punch to be a slicing move and also allow the knife blade to be utilized in blocking moves. ",
"holding the knife the traditional way gives good reach and finesse for fighting and holding the opponent at a distance. It is often a weaker grip, easier to disarm and harder to make powerful blows with.\n\nThe goal of an assassin is almost always contrary to that goal. An assassin always wants a killing blow, which is more often a deep stab than a long distance slash.\n\nFinally, it looks cool. everyone holds a knife the normal way, so when you see someone holding it the other way, the assumption is they know what they're doing and why they would want to hold it that way, which helps with the \"assassin\" portrayal. \n\nHere's a good description of several grip types and the advantages \n_URL_0_",
"It opens up a wider range of fighting options for the assassin/fighter."
]
} | [] | [
"http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs9/i/2006/039/9/b/Kelsey_Scorpion_Knife_Assassin_by_FantasyStock.jpg"
] | [
[],
[
"http://www.jayfisher.com/Knife_Grip_Styles_Hand_Sizing.htm#The_Reverse_Defensive_Knife_Grip_Techniques"
],
[]
] | |
czn0ss | how do our bodies turn food (physical matter) into the electricity and heat that powers and sustains our brain and our body? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/czn0ss/eli5_how_do_our_bodies_turn_food_physical_matter/ | {
"a_id": [
"eyzfrwv",
"ez0c3up"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Heat is released by the chemical reactions that our body uses to do stuff. There isn't a single reaction but they occur pretty much everywhere. A really common one is turning the chemical ATP into ADP. ATP is the most basic unit of fuel that our body uses and it will break down ATP into ADP which releases a bunch of energy. This energy is utilized to do pretty much everything in our body such as tightening muscles and firing neurons however doing so also releases heat. We don't directly consume ATP so our bodies must make it from the food we eat, which also releases heat.\n\nAs for electricity, our body does this by moving charged particles, such as potassium and sodium ions, around. Our body will use really tiny pumps to keep sodium out of the cell and potassium inside (these are driven by ATP). This gives the cell a net charge relative to the areas surrounding it. When certain conditions are met, holes open up and various negatively charged or positively charged ions flow into the cell which changes the charge in the cell. The cell is capable of pumping these ions back out and resetting its charge.\n\nWe can't eat wood because our bodies aren't capable of breaking it down to make other chemicals out of.",
"This is physical chemistry. You consume large unstable molecules that are very energetic. Atoms and molecules want to get to lower energy, more stable ground states, so in undergoing chemical processes that rearrange those molecules, they release excess electrons and heat and perform work. We call all this metabolism.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nWe excrete a lot of waste, like uric acid, carbon dioxide, and fiber. Most of the food you eat is fiber, and that passes right through you. The nutrition that passes through the intestines into the blood stream is mostly (eventually) exhaled as CO2. You also flush out a lot through your kidneys what was in your blood stream you couldn't exhale. Very little makes it's way back into your intestines for expulsion. So what's in your feces? Like I said, fiber, but also dead gut bacteria, and whatever else you couldn't absorb. Some 1-3% of your body weight is bacteria, mostly in your gut. These guys have a symbiotic relationship with you, they eat what you eat, and produce things you can absorb and make use of. Also - your poop is brown thanks to your liver. It recycles iron from dead red blood cells, and throws the red heme proteins down the garbage shoot - the bile duct. We call these bile pigments. If you're ever sick enough that your intestines are completely empty (aka extreme diarrhea), your first solid BM may actually be bleached white from your stomach acids, there wasn't enough stuff in your gut to slow your shit down enough to pick up enough bile pigment to get stained.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nANYWAY, many of these molecules you exhale and expunge are very stable molecules, it takes more energy to turn them into something useful than we can ourselves produce, so they're no good to us. So how do plants use poop and CO2 as fertilizer and food... Man, if only there were some big-ass external energy source that could provide plants with the free energy needed to transform these ground state molecules into more energetic molecules... If only there were SUN-thing...\n\n & #x200B;\n\nWhy can't we eat wood? Funny thing about that... So some time in early Earth history, some living things learned how to make a large sugar molecule - cellulose. What, you thought that sounding similar to fructose, sucrose, dextrose, lactose, maltose, etc. was a coincidence?\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSo plants had finally evolved. It was the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, which spanned for 60 million years. And for 60 million years, NOT A SINGLE GOD DAMN THING could eat cellulose. Plants and trees would die and fall over each other and for piles upon piles, for 60 million years. The cells components would decompose, but the cell walls were eternal but for forces of nature physically destroying it. There was no decomposition - because decomposition is done by bacteria and the like. We call this period the coal forming period, because this is where the majority of coal on Earth came from.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThen fungus, which had already existed, evolved to break down cellulose. It was the end of the coal forming period. Coal can still form, but essentially at a much slower rate, at the bottom of pete bogs or some shit.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nCellulose is a big sugar molecule, but it's stable as hell. Our guts can't crack it. So this is what we call fiber, and it's a necessary component of our diets, keeping our digestive tracks moving efficiently. It's like toilet paper, wiping you from the inside out. If we could digest cellulose, we'd have the metabolism of a mushroom, and when was the last time they did anything awesome? \\~365 million years ago when they figured out how to digest cellulose, that's when. You wanna be a mushroom?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
30yesl | our immune system stuffs our nose when we get a cold, this makes it harder to sleep which is bad for recovery, why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30yesl/eli5_our_immune_system_stuffs_our_nose_when_we/ | {
"a_id": [
"cpwy5fs"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The mucus you get in your nose is used to catch unwanted germs during a cold. You can sleep fairly easily if you just breathe through your mouth; your body doesn't think that being really comfortable is a priority when trying to fight a virus."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
7wxhdx | why does a very fever affect the brain and cause the patient to utter nonsense? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7wxhdx/eli5_why_does_a_very_fever_affect_the_brain_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"du3xoms"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"We are massive, absurdly complicated nanomolecular machines consisting of something like 10^28 individual molecules doing the exact right thing at the exact right time and in the exact right place because the laws of physics and chemistry say they should. The only reason any of this works is because our bodies have, over the course of billions of years, been selectively trimmed so they automatically maintain the exact right conditions to keep all of these chemical reactions going themselves. When you overheat the brain, you cause every chemical reaction in the brain to get faster, but they don't do so at the same rate and therefore everything becomes unbalanced. We're designed well enough that we can survive some overheating, but the longer it goes the less well the body can compensate. This makes everything in the brain start behaving in unintended ways, causing delirium and potentially permanent damage."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
4fqryd | what would happen if you gave yourself an iv of mt dew? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fqryd/eli5_what_would_happen_if_you_gave_yourself_an_iv/ | {
"a_id": [
"d2b6duo",
"d2b7tyn",
"d2b863i",
"d2b86ox"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
8,
3
],
"text": [
"You would probably die horribly. Your body is not designed to handle pure sugar and carbonated water entering your blood vessels directly.",
"We push d50 into veins which is just sugar. I wonder how the carbonation and ph might affect the blood though.",
"The carbonation would result in an air embolism. The osmotic difference with the blood would probably cause widespread red cell hemolysis. Agree with Frommerman, die horribly.",
"Let's not forget about infection. Mountain Dew is hardly sterile. I can imagine septicemia becoming a problem. If you survive that, the following symptoms can be expected: Huge weight gain, copious neck hair growth, social awkwardness, and a desire to live in your parents' basement."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
1aauqr | what happens to the debt if debtor leaves the country? | Here is a situation:
A foreign citizen temporary moves to the US for studying, job contract, etc.
In a couple years he has a debt, say $50-100k (credit cards, medical bills, student loan...).
Then, he moves to another country and never bothers to pay off the debt or declare bankrupcy.
Are the creditors able to collect his debt somehow or sue him abroad?
Are there any related international treaties?
Will he ever be able to get a visa and visit the US again?
Is the credit worthiness information shared between countries?
Can a foreign bank (i.e. Canadian) access a US credit report?
Is there any difference if the debtor is a US citizen?
What about other countries? I.e., if someone has a debt in, say, Germany and moves to another EU country? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1aauqr/eli5_what_happens_to_the_debt_if_debtor_leaves/ | {
"a_id": [
"c8vnhlr",
"c8vpk2l",
"c8vpuf1",
"c8vrpng",
"c8vsx3w",
"c8vuvhm",
"c8vuxt6",
"c8vv25z"
],
"score": [
6,
35,
8,
9,
28,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"I worked with a woman whose husband did this. Came to US from New Zealand, got married, had a child, took out shit loads of loans, went to med school, graduated, and hauled ass back to New Zealand. Left her and their child. Dick",
"Essentially, they \"get away\" with it. But ask yourself this; unless you're already super established and have a tone of stuff lying around that proves that you can either pay back the loan or the bank will take your shit, you're not going to get a massive loan (like 10 million dollars or something) that will really be worth completely and totally skipping your established life in the country for. If you're just some random asshole, you're gonna get like 10,000 bucks, *max*, if you're in good standing so far. Is that really worth skipping a country for? Because if you ever go back there, prepare to pay.\n\n**Summary Edit:** if you have a huge debt worth leaving a country forever for, then you probably have assets that the bank can seize. If you don't, then you're going to become a very, very poor man whenever you plan on returning to that country.",
"Generally, that kind of debt is civil, not criminal thing, in the US. As long as there's no fraud in getting the loans, he's probably fine as .long as he doesn't try to return. Companies use guilt and threats of ruining your credit score to coerce people who don't want to pay their debts, increasing the debt at the same time. If you work in the same/cooperating jurisdiction, they can garnish your wages (taking a percentage every paycheck, before you get it). They might be able to have your assets seized if they can convince a court you've fled, again if the assets are within jurisdiction. I so doubt any company would pursue you cross-border for something that size, regardless of law, due to the high cost of international lawyers.\n\nI have no idea about the EU system.",
"in the USA the FDCPA regulates debt collection, if a debtor even leaves the state a debt collector can no longer collect unless licenses to practice in that state. With this being said, the debt collectors then turn the account back over to the client. Mastercard, Chase, or the like. These international companies are then free of FDCPA regulation and are allowed to resell the accounts to other debt collectors in your country if they ever find you.",
"You're getting terrible answers. Basically, you can't make debt disappear by running away. The most you can do by running away is make it more difficult for your creditors to get their money back.\n\nThe creditors are always able to sue the runaway debtor in US courts, and the courts would be able to take away any US assets the debtor owns (for example, a house).",
"Not a lawyer, just anecdotal evidence from a story my mom told me (this is the US btw). Apparently one of my childhood friend's brother managed to rack up a bunch of debt. In order to get away from the debt collectors, he fled to England (I think that was the foreign country). What is sad is that his dad told my family that the dad couldn't contact his son, because if the collection agencies could prove that the dad was in contact with the son, then that would trigger some legal issue (like if it seemed like the dad knew where the son is, then he would be compelled to reveal his location or face the consequences, and the collectors could file for deportation or sue in the foreign court, or something). \n\nSo basically: No. Fleeing does not erase debts.\n\nI think as others have mentioned, until you get some resolution such as bankruptcy, you are liable.",
"This exactly what my dad did. We moved to the US 16 years ago, and he's gone to school here to get a masters, etc. Then when the job market shrunk he couldn't get a job. He also started drinking, my parents separated and he moved back to our home country. \n \nWhen he moved back he opened several credit cards, and having a good credit history was able to buy a bunch of shit from ebay (ipads, iphones, laptops) that sent to one of his friends, who then sent them by mail to my da. \n\nCredit collectors did drop by our house looking for him, but naturally he was long gone, and my parents were divorced by that point. Nothing ever did happen to him legally. He made a profit selling the shit his friend sent him, and he's most likely never coming back to the US again.\n\nThe total debt he told me he had was only around 8g though... I'm not sure what would happen if his debt was significantly larger... ninjas probably",
"A friend of mine was being sued and since he had duel citizenship (merica and Whales), he filed for bankruptcy and moved to Whales for seven years. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
2rk74j | how do multi-day freeclimbs work in rock climbing? how do you get ropes above you to catch your fall? | I was reading about an attempted multi-day freeclimb of the Dawn Wall of El Capitan recently, and was confused as to how they were able to use ropes to catch their falls, and how you rest after each day. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rk74j/eli5how_do_multiday_freeclimbs_work_in_rock/ | {
"a_id": [
"cngmc2p",
"cngmjv3"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"I think how it works is that as you climb up, you attach anchors in the rock at the point that you're at, but you need to climb above the anchors that you've put in in order to place more, meaning that if you do fall, you're starting above your last anchor, and when you hit the end of the rope it's probably going to hurt like hell. Once the anchors are in though, you can run ropes through them to help people below you.\n\nAs for sleeping, you just attach [something like this](_URL_0_) to one of your anchors.\n\nAlso apologies if I'm using incorrect terminology",
"Climbers carry the rope up with them and attached it to the rock face as they go. There are two approaches (generally speaking):\n\nIn sports climbing the rock will have metal fixtures drilled into it that they can clip the rope into. The climber will have one end of the rope attached to themselves and the other to the belayer*. Whenever they pass one of the fixtures they'll thread the rope through a clip on the fixture. If they fall the most recent clip will act like a pulley allowing the belayer to catch them.\n\nIn traditional climbing, there are no pre-attached fixtures. Instead the climber attaches temporary ones as they climb the route.\n\nOn a big ascent the climbers will alternate so one person climbs and the other belays from below. Then the climber will attach themselves to the rockface using several ropes and bits of equipment and belay to allow the other person to climb up to them.\n\nWith regards to rest, climbers can find flat areas to pitch tents or in some cases just attach the tent and all their equipment to the rock face.\n\n*the person below you holding the other end of the rope. There job is to hold on to the rope if you fall, and to feed you more rope as you need it while you climb."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://25.media.tumblr.com/b383ce0ff661fc3b96f06a60bfa83ceb/tumblr_mym7hdpy6f1rj73y8o1_500.jpg"
],
[]
] | |
6a7fw9 | how do tv ratings currently work, and how do networks decide what shows to cancel? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6a7fw9/eli5_how_do_tv_ratings_currently_work_and_how_do/ | {
"a_id": [
"dhca0b1"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The ratings factor in those things. They get different numbers for viewing live, viewing later the same day, viewing within three days, and viewing within 7 days.\n\nWhen the show is streamed, they have exact numbers on that. They don't have to do the surveys to get those numbers, just the logs of the servers.\n\nAs far as what the network execs consider, it's all about the money. The more popular a show is, the more they can charge for advertising. But there's two things that are almost universally true for television shows: Each season cost more than the one before it, and each season has fewer viewers than the one before it.\n\nThere comes a point where even a show that is still popular can cost too much to make, and the network knows that it can make more money with a newer, cheaper show with a smaller audience."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
1a1afx | homelessness | Main causes, why it persists, what it's like... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1a1afx/eli5_homelessness/ | {
"a_id": [
"c8t6wi9",
"c8tfv1y"
],
"score": [
3,
847
],
"text": [
"The main cause of homelessness is mental illness. It persists because it is very hard to treat and prevent, and I have no idea what it is like because it have never experienced it. I suspect it is unpleasant.",
"I'll not go into what causes it, because I was only 3 years old when it began for me, and 8 years old when it ended. I will tell you what it is like.\n\nNobody cares about you. They make a big deal about you when others are watching, but when it is just you - forget it. Homeless adults get ignored because everyone thinks they got that way on their own. Homeless children get ignored because people are selfish, uncaring assholes. \n\nYou are 5 years old.\n\nPeople see you on the street and they cross the road. They pretend to not hear you when you ask for spare change. You are carried out of the hotel lobby, in the freezing Salt Lake City winter, because your presence bothers the guests. Some people will -try- to hit you with their car if you stand too close to the road with your sign. You get real good at stealing candy bars and beef jerky. Canned foods are a snap to pocket. Dad doesn't ask where it comes from - he is too drunk and stoned to care. Your older brother helps you cook it when the wind dies down enough to start a fire.\n\nYou are 6 years old.\n\nYou discover that supermarkets and delis throw away food that is out of date, and when they do it, and on those days you feast. The rest of the time you eat nothing unless you steal it. You steal bottled water from the gas station because they won't let you use the faucet in the bathroom. You pretend to be just some kids playing in the duck pond at the park, but you are actually bathing.\n\nYour father tries to do the right thing so he enrolls you in school, but then the school notices you wearing the same clothes every day so they call DCS to check on you. DCS sees that you live in a tool shed in some old lady's back yard, so they send you to foster care. \n\nYour foster parents beat you daily, and force you to study the Bible every waking hour, and then you go to sleep on a piss soaked mattress with 7-8 other paychecks (I mean foster kids) in the corner of their basement. \n\nEvery morning you are required to stand in a bathtub, naked, with 3 other children holding a quarter sized dollop of shampoo in your hand for 5, 10, 15 minutes.... however long it takes for your foster parents to come into the bathroom and certify that you are not wasting it. I don't want to tell you what the older kids do to you when nobody is looking.\n\nYour father is finally let out of rehab and regains custody of you. You move in to a friend's house while your dad gets back on his feet, working as a high-rise satellite dish installer. Eventually the alcohol gets him kicked out again, so you move into a motel. Next week its a new motel. And again next week. Sometimes we move in the dead of night. Sometimes we are chased away.\n\nYou are 7 years old.\n\nThe years of molestation and beatings from other homeless kids and foster parents has really started to do a number on you. You find yourself starting fires just to see things get destroyed. You release hundreds of captured bees into a hotel ventilation system to get back at how they treated you. You put rocks through windshields. You get picked up by the police over and over, and not once does anyone do anything beyond the bare minimum required. Nobody ever asks why. They just want to forget abut you.\n\nYou move to Maryland and live in squallor in one of the most dangerous towns in America. Someone is murdered in the motel room directly above yours. Distant relatives discover what has been going on. They send for you.\n\nYou are 8 years old.\n\nBig house in the country. Food on the table. Nobody hurting you any more, but for 10 years you are constantly being asked why do you never smile? They years of psychologists and psychiatrists try everything to figure out why you never smile. Why you avoid people. Why you lock yourself in your room every night. Why you never have friends over, or why you never visit friends. You are so incredibly intelligent but when you make it into the best university you can't even manage to go to class every day... but you won't touch alcohol. You don't do drugs... you don't smoke cigarettes because you are too afraid. Your only friend in college is someone as fucked up as you are.\n\nYou are 22 years old.\n\nYou move to a new town. You start a new life. With your abilities you are able to buy your own home within 2 years. An empty home. Just you and your cats. You don't allow family to visit. Your couple of friends have never seen the inside of the place. Every single door is barracaded so you can try to get some sleep at night. But you can't. Any time a girl fancies your company you make sure to let her know that you are absolutely not interested in any sort of romantic involvement, because every relationship you have ever been in has ended disastrously.\n\nYou are 30 years old.\n\nYou are the Co-Chair of a major online retailer. Your company does millions of dollars every year in sales. You do everything you can to be sure that your employees are happy and productive. And every night you cry yourself to sleep because you know that if your business faltered, even for a second, those employees would drop you like a hot rock.\n\nYou are 35 years old. \n\nThere hasn't been another human being step foot in your home in years. You finally decided last week to replace the only pair of shoes you own because after almost 3 years of wearing them every day you got tired of the snow coming in and soaking your socks. You could have bought every single pair of shoes in the store with the cash you had *in your pocket* but you still bought the cheapest pair of shoes that fit.\n\nYou go home and lie down on the couch with your tablet and read various news websites until you fall asleep. You pay $55 per month for cable and broadband internet with Charter, but you haven't even taken the cable box out of the styrofoam since you got it 3 years ago.\n\n35 years old. I have a place to live that is all my own, but I am still homeless. I have shelter but I can find no solace. I have all the money I could ever need or want, but every day I wake up wondering why I didn't pull the trigger the night before.\n\nThat is what it is like to be homeless.\n\n**************\n**************\n\nEDIT : WOW. I just sat down at my computer and saw all the support and all the messages. It's hard to talk about things like this when you are staring face to face with someone because you can hardly get the first sentence out before you start to tear up. When I originally wrote this post I was only able to do it because there was nobody around to see me cry. After I finished writing it I thought nobody would ever really see it but it still felt like I had actually gotten something off my chest. I really did feel just a little bit better to think that maybe out there someone would hear what I had to say - that maybe I'd break through the noise *just a little* and someone out there would understand. My advice to people who had to deal with similar stuff in their childhoods : don't keep it bottled up inside. It will turn black and it will start to eat you. Talk to someone - write it down if you have trouble speaking the words. It has helped me and it might help you too.\n\nIt's almost 9am here, and my crew is going to start filtering in any minute. After seeing this amazing outpouring of support, and reading each and every reply, it looks like I'm going to have to tell people that \"my allergies are acting up again.\"\n\nThank you, Reddit, and Redditors, for your kind words."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
6aoj12 | in movies, why do the bad guys always say " i've transferred the money to an overseas account"? why can't they just transfer the money to a bank in the u.s. or wherever the person lives? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6aoj12/eli5_in_movies_why_do_the_bad_guys_always_say_ive/ | {
"a_id": [
"dhg673m",
"dhg6op5"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"The overseas account is supposed to be somewhere that the local law enforcement cannot get to and freeze. It is a way of being paid that can't be taken back.",
"Typically overseas/offshore accounts are in small island nations that allow corporations or people to store money. The reason people do this is primarily to avoid taxes or being audited - if you are getting a lot of money illegally, it's a good option. \n\nThe small countries that have these accounts typically take bribes from the wealthy account owners, so it's a win win. The owner gets to hide money, the nation gets a sizeable sum. The only people who lose are the tax payers."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | ||
arcgcb | why supreme court judges can remain in position until they resign or die? | In other words, why aren't there term limits for Supreme Court judges? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/arcgcb/eli5_why_supreme_court_judges_can_remain_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"egm7s30",
"egmie84"
],
"score": [
19,
2
],
"text": [
"It's to avoid the politicization of the bench. Justices' decisions aren't subject to political pressure. \n\n They don't represent parties or positions on issues, their job is to decide whether actions taken by any part of the government is within the bounds of the law, and ultimately the constitution. You don't want that subject to pressure from the legislature, executive, or electorate. \n\nThere is recourse to remove a justice, but it's only happened once. ",
"The simple answer is that the constitution says so. The reasoning for it is that Congress is beholden to the people, so they make laws that they think the people will like. The. Kurt’s are beholden to the constitution. They aren’t supposed to rule based on popularity but by the legality of what they are determining. To avoid being swayed by popular opinion, they hold their position for life. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
2x1x69 | i can go for days without drinking any water, yet i am supposed to drink half a gallon a day. is this simply a case of "there is also water in your food" or will these no-water-days eventually harm my health/make me die earlier? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2x1x69/eli5_i_can_go_for_days_without_drinking_any_water/ | {
"a_id": [
"cow5150",
"cow55i0",
"cow5ib9",
"cow65pw"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"Do you drink anything else?",
"There is water in your food. And most other beverages contain mostly water. So you can go quite well without drinking water directly. It's hard on your body if you don't get enough water, especially on your kidneys as I recall.",
"No you can not. You would most probably died after 3 days. Unless by without drinking water you mean I drink soft drinks that actually are from at least 90 % water. ",
"There is no scientific basis for the \"drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day\" thing. Unless you have a medical condition, the best basis for knowing if you're consuming enough water is the color of your urine. It should be pale yellow or straw colored. If it's dark, you're probably not getting enough water. If it's clear, you're probably drinking too much.\n\nMild chronic dehydration can be detrimental to your health, leading to such things as gout and kidney stones. (Largely because your body isn't able to flush waste from your body effectively enough.) It can also cause your blood to be too thick, increasing risks of stroke, DVT, etc.\n\nYou can be overhydrated, though; it's called water poisoning. Your electrolytes become too dilute and your body isn't able to pass signals. It's exceedingly rare outside of water-drinking contests and the occasional athlete who rehydrates with pure water, but it can cause, and has caused, death."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
2loko8 | why do my cheerios make a "crackling" sound in my milk? | Is this, like, the milk being absorbed or what? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2loko8/eli5_why_do_my_cheerios_make_a_crackling_sound_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"clwq4wf",
"clwwh03"
],
"score": [
17,
2
],
"text": [
"When you pour milk into your bowl, the cereal absorbs the milk. As milk flows into the crispy kernel, the liquid puts pressure on the air inside and pushes it around.\n\nThe air shoves against each pocket’s walls until they shatter, forcing out a snap, or a crackle, or, as you, know, sometimes a pop.",
"you might be eating rice krispies instead of cheerios."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
2mq1xt | how do you use the urinal without it splashing back at you? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mq1xt/eli5_how_do_you_use_the_urinal_without_it/ | {
"a_id": [
"cm6j2g0"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"I've removed this question, as it is asking for an answer, not a conceptual explanation.\n\nPlease consider posting this in /r/answers or /r/nostupidquestions."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
309g6z | how would a group of people go about starting a union? | I thought about this a little bit the other day when I was reading an article about video game developers/programmers working 80+ hour weeks only to be laid off after the product launches with little to no severance.
Then again just now in another thread that mentioned that most EMTs (ambulance drivers) make enough money to float around the poverty line.
So I thought. How hard is it to Unionize? Is it like basically founding a small government? Or is there a clear cut layout for how something like that gets started?
I've worked the same job with and without unions, and the only difference I can tell is about a 200%+ pay increase. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/309g6z/eli5_how_would_a_group_of_people_go_about/ | {
"a_id": [
"cpqb145",
"cpqbg5u"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Here is a good article that will help you through the basics. It seems the main determinate in forming a union are the fact that you need to recognize the strong \"need\" for a Union, and becoming an official recognized Union in order to gain legal representation\n\n**_URL_0_",
"There is a clear cut way to form a union. You would want to either check out the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or consult a labor lawyer (labor law means unions, which is different from employment law).\nFirst, you should check out if there are any existing unions for your area of work. If you can get the help of a national organization it makes things much easier. The AFL-CIO and SEIU can help you find existing unions and local organizers.\n\nTo start a union, though, you first need to define a bargaining unit. These are the employees that the union will cover. It might be something like all hourly workers at the company. Or all clerical employees.\nNext, you have to get 30% of the employees in the proposed bargaining unit to sign a petition showing support for a union. Or they can fill out \"authorization cards.\"\n\nOnce you have signatures or cards from 30% of the employees, you submit it to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and they will conduct an election. There are a lot of rules about who can say what during the election period (the NLRB doesn't want management to be able to make employees sit there and listen to anti-union speeches against their will until the election is held). If the union is approved by a majority of covered workers in the election, then you have a union! Your employer now has to bargain with you as a group. You also have to start collecting dues and figuring out how to best organize.\n\nThe biggest hurdle facing unions now is \"Right to Work\" laws. Although a union covers all employees in a bargaining unit, not all employees have to join the union. However, it used to be the case in most places that the union could still take some union dues out of the paychecks of employees who didn't join. The idea behind that was the union needed money to bargain and those employees still benefited (since the union represents the entire bargaining unit) so they would have to pay. Otherwise everyone would benefit from negotiations but would have no individual incentive to pay dues to support the union's operation.\n\nRight to work laws are state laws that prohibit a union from collecting fees from nonmembers, even if they are in the covered bargaining unit. Since most people won't want to pay for \"free riders\" it's hard to get a union going in a right to work state because even if you have 70% support, those workers aren't going to want to pay the dues for the other 30% while the other 30% do nothing and benefit from the union's work."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.opeiu.org/NeedAUnion/StepstoCreatingaUnionWorkplace.aspx**"
],
[]
] | |
84u4pa | is there a scientific or psychological reason why knowing we are going to die doesn't drive us crazy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/84u4pa/eli5_is_there_a_scientific_or_psychological/ | {
"a_id": [
"dvsdnvq",
"dvsfbs0",
"dvsfq6g"
],
"score": [
13,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"1. Evolution has weeded out people who go crazy when presented with basic facts.\n2. Although we *personally* will die, we appreciate that other humans (maybe even our own descendants) will go on after us.\n3. We have developed coping techniques, such as contemplating an afterlife or reincarnation.\n4. Some people simply don't care what happens in the distant future.",
"You've asked a deeply philosophical question more than a scientific one. I'd refer you to this video on [Optimistic nihilism](_URL_0_) by Kurzgesagt. They present just one of many ways of approaching this problem of death and finality, and ultimately how you deal with the reality of death will be your own -- be it through religion and afterlife, family/DNA legacy, an established philosophy, or a mixture of them all. In any case, this is a thinking problem, specifically one that not everyone can, or should, agree on, and your way of dealing with the idea of death will ultimately be uniquely yours (however, taking into account opinions of others will help you define your own).\n\nIf you feel as though the reality of death is causing you to be compulsively anxious, then also consider seeking help from a counselor or therapist. All of these philosophies are good to ponder, and thinking about death is something everybody does every so often, but don't let fear or anxiety begin to interrupt your daily functioning. That's breaching into psychological disorder, which is bad for you and should be treated just like a physical ailment: by seeking help.\n\nA personal answer: I believe there is an afterlife. I'm not sure whose interpretation of it is correct, but I don't really care. Arguing over that will ultimately be futile (and in most religions, would harm your happiness in the afterlife as well). But even if there isn't an afterlife, enjoying the time I have before I get there is important -- after all, if God put me here, He surely didn't do it just for me to not enjoy myself. Thus, I believe I have a responsibility to make the most of my life, and in turn, help others do the same. Otherwise, I'm just wasting space, matter, and resources. If I die and there is an afterlife, I'll be able to look back and be proud of what I've accomplished. If I die, and there is nothing more, then at least I've made the experience worthwhile for myself and hopefully others too.",
" > Yet, I still can't shake the idea that someday all of this will have been for naught. \n\nHe said, typing on the computer he created from scratch, in the house he built from materials he extracted from the Earth, having eaten the food he grew...\n\nThe real answer is the futility of one life, which you are feeling, compared to the grand, hardly fathomable scope of humanity and life itself. You're right to feel the futility because you can only seem to see yourself or the world from your outside vantage. As soon as you find some things worth sacrificing short term happiness for, long term gain, etc, for people and ideas beyond your own, once you're invested in working towards a goal that you aren't the primary beneficiary of, and have to grow to rise to challenges you didn't know existed, it will quickly become apparent that in many cases you dying personally isn't that high on the rank of preferences a human can have.\n\nThe psychological mechanism is perspective; it's the recognition of the benefits we inherit and experiencing our place in the chain of the cosmos..."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRqu0YOH14&t=3s"
],
[]
] | ||
a8711b | what is toxoplasmosis? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a8711b/eli5_what_is_toxoplasmosis/ | {
"a_id": [
"ec8g5fv"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"toxoplasmosis is an illness caused by a certain parasite, often spread by cats. If you have cats you most likely had it at some point in your life without knowing. Most common is a symptomless infection where you dont even feel anything, in other cases stuff like being tired, headache and swollen lymph nodes can occur. However there are speculations that toxoplasmosis may be related to some cases of schizophrenia but thats not confirmed."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
5hww8t | why some washing machines doors have glass? what the purpose? | Like it sad in the title - what the purpose of the glass in the doors of some washing machines? There are no glass in dishwashers and it seems obvious - who, except pets, need to look for the clothes and dishes while they are washing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5hww8t/eli5why_some_washing_machines_doors_have_glass/ | {
"a_id": [
"db3k7xz"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"It's so you can know if there's water in a front load machine before opening the door. This might seem moot nowadays with automatic locking doors, but technology likes to fail at the most inconvenient moments. The door locks can also be overridden in a pinch, and if you had to get your laundry out of a malfunctioning washer, it's always good to know if you're going to have to deal with the water beforehand. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
34uuo9 | how does nikola technology convert rf signals like wi-fi, bluetooth, and lte into power? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34uuo9/eli5_how_does_nikola_technology_convert_rf/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqy9obt"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Radio waves such as WiFi, Bluetooth and LTE are built on the underlying concept of electromagnetic radiation. This is essentially a form of energy that propagates through air. Through a concept called induction, this electromagnetic radiation can be captured from the air and used to power electronics. \n\nFor similar reasons, if you hold an incandescent light bulb up near the broadcast tower of a radio station, the bulb can/will light up."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
1qekti | how do memory devices erase data? | I couldn't fall asleep last night because this was bugging me. How is it removed from the device, and where does it go? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qekti/eli5_how_do_memory_devices_erase_data/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdc0n40",
"cdc0npq",
"cdc0zda",
"cdc0zop",
"cdc2hu6"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
3,
8,
3
],
"text": [
"It just gets marked as available for storage, at which point it could be overwritten at any time.\n\nYou could also just write 0s over it.",
"Ram in your device is volatile which means that once power lost all stored data is lost. \n\nOn non volatile storage data isn't actually erased until it is overwritten.",
"For non volatile storage like magnetic disks, at the start of the drive, an index is created. This index keeps track of things like folders, names of files, when a file was created, and most importantly, where on the drive the data for that file is located.\n\n When the computer searches for a file, it doesn't have to scan over every spot on the hard drive, it just has to look through this index. If it doesn't see it, it assumes it doesn't exist. \n\nWhen you delete a file, the computer, to save time, just removes the data in the index. In a magnetic disk, it just writes 0's over it. (how that works is another story).\n\nBecause of this, you can recover deleted files. If you ever delete something accidentally, you can run some software that will scan the hard drive looking for data that doesn't have an index pointing to it.",
"Imagine data as a bunch of switches which are up or down (0 or 1).\n\nSo the data might be 010010100111. Somewhere else, the device keeps a directory (also in 0s and 1s) that says what data is where.\n\nNormally, when data get \"erased,\" that just means that the directory changes to eliminate the reference to the data. In essence, the device forgets that the data are there.\n\nBut the switches stay in the same place at first. That makes sense--changing all the switches to 00000000000 would take time, and cause wear and tear, without serving much purpose.\n\nThat's why saving a program takes time (you're moving switches up and down) while deleting doesn't (you're just changing the directory).\n\nEventually, the device will re-use that block of switches for some other data. Then the original data are truly gone.\n\nThat's why it's possible to recover data if you haven't used your device much since you erased it--it's still there, and all you have to do is find it and put it back in the directory.\n\n\n",
"The technicalities of how computer memory is erased has already been covered, but a relevant issue is the evident misconception about what information is. Data isn't a \"thing\"; turning your coffee cup upside down might convey to the server that you don't want a refill, so the orientation of the cup \"contains information\". But nothing real pops into existence by turning it over or vanishes when it is turn the other way."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
31g8by | how are universities allowed to suspend or expel a student who says the n word? it seems like this would violate ones freedom of speech. | [My university just suspended a girl for writing the n word on the board.](_URL_0_) This was not done in a classroom but was supposedly done in a study room. This seems like this would violate ones rights. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31g8by/eli5_how_are_universities_allowed_to_suspend_or/ | {
"a_id": [
"cq18p4g",
"cq18svm",
"cq18v07",
"cq1a53z",
"cq1bq8w"
],
"score": [
19,
2,
3,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"\"Freedom of speech\" means that the US government can't make a law that stops you from saying something. It does not apply to private organizations like colleges and businesses, who are allowed to make their own rules (like dress codes).",
"This is actually an open question for public universities to a certain extent. Public universities have to follow the first amendment, just like any other arm of the government has to. But, they also have some ability to do things to preserve order on campus and to facilitate learning. Think of a judge, who throw someone out for yelling ethnic slurs in open court not necessarily because of the content of the speech, but because it was disrupting a trial. \n\nHowever, it's usually a pretty high bar to do this, especially for expulsion---though less so for suspension. It's all about balancing. \n\nHere's a more thorough analysis from the other recent episode of this: _URL_0_\n\nLast, as an aside, private universities are basically free to suspend anyone they want for any reason. This isn't a private university, but want to put that out there. ",
"USCar is a public school, BUT they have a code of conduct that you adhere to when you go to that school (as with most schools). if you do something that tarnishes the school's reputation, they are free to take action against you as they please. ",
"Freedom of speech is not an absolute. There are many obvious exceptions, like the oft repeated prohibition about shouting \"Fire!\" in a crowded theater, or \"Bomb!\" aboard an aircraft.",
"you seem to be mixing up \"freedom of speech\" with \"freedom to insult\". freedom of speech is to protect unpopular opinions from being silenced. The woman wasn't expressing her opinion, she was expressing a racist insult."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/03/south-carolina-probes-racist-word-photo/25269439/"
] | [
[],
[
"http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/03/10/no-a-public-university-may-not-expel-students-for-racist-speech/"
],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
3cmkta | doesn't a tv need massive computing power to decide which color every pixel should be, 30 times per second? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cmkta/eli5_doesnt_a_tv_need_massive_computing_power_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"csx1w61",
"csx2ais",
"csxfk96"
],
"score": [
7,
21,
6
],
"text": [
"Define \"massive.\" Those basic Intel graphics cards from 2008 (at the latest) had all the same abilities, and it also has to handle 3D. All a TV has to have is a dedicated DTV decoder, which means handling MPEG-2 and H.264 (aka MPEG-4 in most contexts). \n\nIt's not having to do much of anything that an actual computer has to do. It's just decompressing the data and putting it on your screen. It's not like, say, a 3D game that is creating virtual objects and lighting and responding to user input.\n\nRelative to computing in the 90s, sure, it's massive. Relative to anything even your phone does today? Not so much. A $30 Raspberry Pi can handle it. ",
"Displaying an image is simpler than it looks. It isn't a big calculation. It's millions of simple ones. Processors are really good at doing that.",
"No. The TV receives a signal that tells it what every pixel should look like 30 times a second - it doesn't have to \"decide\" anything. It just needs enough processing power to decode the signal."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
3gbgtr | what happened to local co-op in games? aside from the internet (of course). | I realize high speed intent has allowed us to play with whoever, wherever, but why is Nintendo the only company supporting local co-op? My wife and I struggle to find good games to play together. So, what happened? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gbgtr/eli5_what_happened_to_local_coop_in_games_aside/ | {
"a_id": [
"ctwlhm7",
"ctwy87y"
],
"score": [
6,
3
],
"text": [
"A local coop game requires more processing power to render the game from multiple viewpoints. As the last generation of consoles dragged on longer and longer, developers were having problems making the game continue to make the game look better and better while also leaving enough ram and processing power for the game to be capable of being played by multiple people in the same room. Budget is another issue. Triple A game budgets have become massive, so every penny has to perfectly spent (which also why you don't get any fun cheat codes anymore).\n\nThe rise of online gaming also made it offline multiplayer redundant. No longer would you have to drive out with your console for an hour to play 8 v 8 Halo match via LAN, you could now play 16 v 16 matches whenever you wanted. So, they had even less incentive to cater to the small market who plays games together in the living room.",
"A really, really big factor is copies of the game sold.\n\nMario with two people. Local:\n\n2 controllers + game + console.\n\nOnline:\n\n2 controllers + 2 copies of game + 2 consoles.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
24kvel | what am i seeing when i look at a 2d molecule diagram? what are those hexagons and the lines coming off of them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24kvel/eli5_what_am_i_seeing_when_i_look_at_a_2d/ | {
"a_id": [
"ch83vle",
"ch83ygv",
"ch83zfl",
"ch844bw"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"The dots are atoms. The lines represent electrons shared between atoms. The structure of the diagram won't accurately reflect the physical structure of the molecule once that structure becomes even slightly complex, but the diagrams are useful when thinking about how chemical reactions (which are almost always based on shared electrons) can occur.",
"Essentially each corner is a carbon. the lines represent bonds and at the end of the line is a CH3 group. the Hexagons are benzenes ( a 6 carbon ring). double bonds are the two lines. It is a simpler drawing. The hydrogens are no longer drawn as one knows where they need to be due to carbon needing 4 bonds (any left over bonds are to H). _URL_0_ essentially its these ones with the carbons as corners and hydrogen eliminated\n",
"You mean like one of [these?](_URL_0_)\nThat's half of an organic chemistry class right there. But in short, every straight line is a bond between two atoms. An atom, which is carbon if it's not labeled with a letter, is at an intersection between two lines. So a Hexagon is a set of 6 atoms which are bond together in a ring, almost always carbon.",
"I think you are talking about the [skeletal formula](_URL_0_) of a molecule. The lines represent bonds, the letters represent atoms. \n\nCarbon and Hydrogen atoms are not labelled, because there are so many of them. However, it is easy to work out where they go if you have some knowledge of organic chemistry. \n\n[I've drawn the carbon and hydrogen on here](_URL_1_) You can see it makes things clearer just to leave them out."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://science.marshall.edu/saken/ps110/ch19.htm"
],
[
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Amygdalin_structure.svg/500px-Amygdalin_structure.svg.png"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_formula",
"http://imgur.com/g4puJOW"
]
] | ||
5kdbsz | how is it 'allowed' the american coalition in syria started in 2014 but the security council of the un only agreed in 2015 for an intervention? | I don't why the agreement of the council is so important if the US was already interfering? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kdbsz/eli5_how_is_it_allowed_the_american_coalition_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbn3qjh"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The UN does not have to sanction a nation going to war, and the US gives up no sovereignty to the UN. We act when we want to act and do not care what the UN says. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
10ehmd | how can the full retail price for a 7" tablet be $200, but a 4" phone be $600? | NXOC*))4A@493OeA$m7DOWR1Ok@nnhx2@8s(4!1TT@wTvaLTgch4q9EhwW[GcUyvm9:]pR & At < f+f*+ & (q$_URL_0_^6a5LSfNWdUq8#zb@)gV+3[! & (M > < CHccQ.QUM,,WK:*PBt1+n & B8~CkcXOR < 8VCVg#rt2Lvk$9R- > n]sV73AKwH!-aJ^3$mIIG7r85T-wT%t | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10ehmd/how_can_the_full_retail_price_for_a_7_tablet_be/ | {
"a_id": [
"c6cry7q",
"c6cs1dx",
"c6csn3k",
"c6cspf2"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Partially due to market forces. Most tablets aren't subsidized by a phone company, so the price has to be low enough that a consumer will consider buying it. Since cell phones are often subsidized by a carrier, the full price can be higher without affecting the typical consumer directly. \n \nYou also picked out the Nexus tablet as a comparison, rather than an iPad. I suspect that Google may presently subsidize the Nexus. That $200 price might not be a reasonable basis for comparison. \n \nThe phone also has the engineering challenge of fitting all that functionality into a smaller space. The tablet has a larger display, but I don't think that its cost offsets the size challenges that must be solved in a cellphone. ",
"There's probably several reasons. First, people have arguably more use/demand for a smartphone than a tablet, and so the smartphone can be priced higher. Second, manufacturing wise it is harder to get high performance in a smaller size. Third, those are the low end tablets which don't perform as well as a Galaxy S3 (higher pixel density on smartphones). Fourth, there are licensing costs associated with the phone network capabilities, but I'm honestly not sure how much that actually affects this.",
"Specialized Components due to battery life and weight. The display on a smartphone is a much higher pixel density than a tablet. The phone is expected to be able to run for days on standby, and hours while transmitting continuously on its radios - the tablet's battery life can be measured in hours regardless of its usage. \n\nThe tablet can weight as much as it wants - upwards of a pound. The phone must be able to be carried in one hand while talking. This means that a combination of very expensive, low power components and a large (but not too large, ie the weight ceiling) must be used to ensure that the phone can be used as a phone (long battery life, long talk time, light enough to carry on your person). \n\nThe tablet can use off-the-shelf components (screens, USB controllers, etc) - the phone requires custom hardware from bottom to top to ensure it can work as a phone. \n\nThe actual radio does not really cost that much, but the regulatory costs for the radio can be very high. It's the integration required to get it all work that kills you. ",
"Supply and demand"
]
} | [] | [
"qN.lU"
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
9vk4oo | why does it take so much longer for my phone to "find out" that the wifi password is wrong than just connecting if it's correct? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9vk4oo/eli5_why_does_it_take_so_much_longer_for_my_phone/ | {
"a_id": [
"e9d228a"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"The router adds a delay to the response to prevent systems from rapidly sending passwords to try and find the right one. A couple of seconds is mildly annoying to a user, but it makes a brute force attack take much longer."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
44naf7 | why isn't philosophy part of the high school curriculum? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44naf7/eli5_why_isnt_philosophy_part_of_the_high_school/ | {
"a_id": [
"czrcs3r",
"czrdpti",
"czrf7v2",
"czrirw8"
],
"score": [
8,
17,
29,
2
],
"text": [
"Many of those philosophers are taught in other courses already. History and math being the most common, though English classes will frequently mention them as well. There's just no need to have another class devoted to that.",
"It depends. In some parts of the world philosophy IS part of the high school curriculum. In Europe is relatively common. ",
"Probably because its relatively useless in this day and age. Also its hard enough to get kids to pay attention and appreciate practical courses, let alone more abstract ones like philosophy",
"Well in my high school, philosophy was a choice for an elective. But the reason why it isn't focused is probably because high school student need to focus on other subjects like Ap classes, sports, etc."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
1sxq4b | how do movies make such huge disaster scenes of landmark sites? | I've always been astounded at watching what looks exactly like the Statue of Liberty crashing and breaking into a million pieces, or watching a plane crash into a highway. So how do they do it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sxq4b/eli5how_do_movies_make_such_huge_disaster_scenes/ | {
"a_id": [
"ce29a3c"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"Two methods:\n\n1) Scale models in slow motion. Blow up a 1:64th scale white house with a can of gasoline and replay the film in slow motion. It looks very much like the actual building blowing up in real time.\n\n2) Computers. Airplane crashes and large cityscape scenes are usually done with CGI backgrounds. The actors and the foreground are models, the background is replaced later with a scene of devastation a computer rendered."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
5i497i | why microsoft was sued for violating the sherman anti-trust laws, visuals would be helpful? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5i497i/eli5why_microsoft_was_sued_for_violating_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"db58tsz"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"One reason why they were being sued for violating the antitrust laws is because they included their Internet browser with their operating system. So they lawyer that was suing microsoft said that netscape was being affected because people were using Microsoft Internet Explorer and that Microsoft was including that browser as a way of pushing netscape out.\n\nThere was also several cases where they used their size and how many users they had to get software makers to focus on making software available to them rather than available to others such as Linux or Apple. Programs such as word that was used in every office."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
1ry7f7 | why does an iphone cost ~$600 retail (without contract) but an itouch (similar hardware without a $20 cellular chip) is hundreds less? | They both have the same hardware, operating system, etc...
Is Apple just greedy or how do they make money off iTouches? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ry7f7/eli5_why_does_an_iphone_cost_600_retail_without/ | {
"a_id": [
"cds3g92",
"cds3lf4"
],
"score": [
3,
8
],
"text": [
"They are not really all that similar hardware. As well as not having the GPRS and GPS hardware, they use older generations of the processor, and older and smaller cameras. They run the processor slower, which may suggest that the are using 'binned' chips that wouldn't run at full speed. They also use a much smaller battery, and all around cheaper production and materials.\n\nThe lower price really does represent a lower cost of manufacture.",
"Nonsense. SoC is several years old, less ram, worse camera, smaller battery, cheaper chassis manufacturing, no fingerprint reader, no LTE(obviously), worse speakers, worse mic. Pretty much every single part of the hardware, except maybe the screen, is cheaper than on the iPhone. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
1jjhij | why can't people under 65 voluntarily sign up for medicare in the us? | Wouldn't more healthy, young people paying premiums or taxes help the system become more financially solvent? Wouldn't this serve as good competition and alternatives to expensive private health care?
Most people who even pay higher premiums (over their normal Medicare taxes) while under 65 to be a part of the deal. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jjhij/eli5_why_cant_people_under_65_voluntarily_sign_up/ | {
"a_id": [
"cbf9o17",
"cbfap8e",
"cbfazjj"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"\"Medicare for all\" was a proposed and shot down plan for healthcare reform in the US. Obamacare became a more conservative compromise. Medicare was reserved for those 65 and over, partly due to the large cost of it and other political issues.",
"2 things to remember About medicare. First,Medicare is not a solvent, independent insurance plan. Second, doctors and hospitals charge a much lower rate for Medicare services because of the volume of patients it represents. All Americans pay into it to subsidize the cost of of Medicare just like social security. They do this because the elderly require a lot more health care than the average adult, so no for profit insurance company would take people over 65 on, and most senior citizens can't afford total cost of their healthcare out of pocket. \n\n Now you COULD make some adjustments and increase the amount each individual contributes to the system, and provide it to more people, but think about the political enemies you're creating. Private insurance companies disappear, doctors and hospitals take an across the board paycut because the govt basically sets the price for all health services.\n\nEdit: substitute payout for payout.",
"That would be the \"single-payer\" system that most of the rest of the civilized world uses, to good effect. Republicans said it was Communist, like our good \"Communist\" friends Canada, Britain, France, etc."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | |
wedux | obama's executive order giving him control over the internet for national defense. | I heard it was very secretive, what does it include?
What can go wrong?
What good can come of this?
This seems to be something which he should address publicly including his reasoning behind it and what he believes the benefit will be. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/wedux/eli5_obamas_executive_order_giving_him_control/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5cmz9s"
],
"score": [
57
],
"text": [
"ELI5: The websites you visit on your computer aren't going to be affected. The President wants to make sure that if there was an emergency, so you could call 911 and get an answer, or if there was important news for grownups to get on the radio or TV, they could. It basically helps our government to work together to solve any problems that come up in response to that emergency.\n\nELI18: In short, it looks like they're just trying to implement a policy whereby the nation can be more agile in responding to a crisis and making sure that lines of communication can stay open during that process. It doesn't give the President \"control over the internet,\" it seems like it's just a way for the government to communicate more efficiently during a time of national crisis.\n\nHere's some sources, in case anyone was wondering:\n\n* [Article explaining in plain English](_URL_0_)\n* [Another article explaining the issue](_URL_2_)\n* [Executive Order -- Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions](_URL_1_)\n\nSynopsis: \"Critics\" claim that section 5.2 gives the Presidency the option to \"turn off\" the internet at will. Here is that section in it's entirety:\n\n----\nSec. 5.2. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall: (a) oversee the development, testing, implementation, and sustainment of NS/EP communications, including: communications that support Continuity of Government; Federal, State, local, territorial, and tribal emergency preparedness and response communications; non-military executive branch communications systems; critical infrastructure protection networks; and non-military communications networks, particularly with respect to prioritization and restoration;\n\n(b) incorporate, integrate, and ensure interoperability and the necessary combination of hardness, redundancy, mobility, connectivity, interoperability, restorability, and security to obtain, to the maximum extent practicable, the survivability of NS/EP communications defined in section 5.2(a) of this order under all circumstances, including conditions of crisis or emergency;\n\n(c) provide to the Executive Committee the technical support necessary to develop and maintain plans adequate to provide for the security and protection of NS/EP communications;\n\n(d) receive, integrate, and disseminate NS/EP communications information to the Federal Government and State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as appropriate, to establish situational awareness, priority setting recommendations, and a common operating picture for NS/EP communications information;\n\n(e) satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate;\n\n(f) maintain a joint industry-Government center that is capable of assisting in the initiation, coordination, restoration, and reconstitution of NS/EP communications services or facilities under all conditions of emerging threats, crisis, or emergency;\n\n(g) serve as the Federal lead for the prioritized restoration of communications infrastructure and coordinate the prioritization and restoration of communications, including resolution of any conflicts in or among priorities, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense when activities referenced in section 5.1(a) of this order are impacted, consistent with the National Response Framework. If conflicts in or among priorities cannot be resolved between the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, they shall be referred for resolution in accordance with section 2.1 of this order; and\n\n(h) within 60 days of the date of this order, in consultation with the Executive Committee where appropriate, develop and submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, a detailed plan that describes the Department of Homeland\n\nSecurity's organization and management structure for its NS/EP communications functions, including the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service, Wireless Priority Service, Telecommunications Service Priority program, Next Generation Network Priority program, the Executive Committee JPO, and relevant supporting entities.\n\n----\n\nIf you're a conspiracy nut, then prepare for your internet to go bye-bye, the guv'ment are comin' for our internets too!\n\nFor the rest of us, if there's a major disaster or national security event, the government is going to try to do its best to ensure that the agencies that rely on or distribute emergency communications (i.e. national response teams, military, members of congress and the executive branch, etc.) can continue to flow and prevent interruption or failure if a part of their infrastructure fails during that time. This includes the utilization of privately owned, commercial, or government communication infrastructure."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57469950-93/obama-signs-order-outlining-emergency-internet-control/",
"http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/06/executive-order-assignment-national-security-and-emergency-preparedness-",
"http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/10/3149831/obama-national-security-e... | |
eovlid | when we feel a spark from static discharge, what are we really feeling? what's going on at the cell level? do we have electricity sensing nerves? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eovlid/eli5_when_we_feel_a_spark_from_static_discharge/ | {
"a_id": [
"feftde9"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"The static discharge is a very small arc of very low amperage (less than 0.001 Amps), but very high voltage (usually 3000V-10000V). This high voltage creates a very high local temperature (over 1000 degrees C). This causes the air (well, plasma at this point, but eh) to expand slightly very quickly (this is actually what you hear, btw). You feel this heat and pressure spike."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
17qgvn | how a knife thrower always hit's the target with the pointy end. | Baffles me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17qgvn/eli5_how_a_knife_thrower_always_hits_the_target/ | {
"a_id": [
"c87wlsa",
"c87wse6",
"c87yjkh",
"c87z8pd",
"c87zgpu",
"c880k0x",
"c880p70",
"c881m6g",
"c881wtp",
"c88276e",
"c882fyp",
"c8856xe"
],
"score": [
70,
278,
28,
3,
35,
7,
14,
2,
2,
2,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Practice. Knife throwing isn't nearly as practical an offensive strategy as movies would lead you to believe. It takes tons of practice and oftentimes more than a little luck. ",
"You learn how many turns it takes from the distance you are. I was an introverted teen. I taught myself to throw all kinds of knives up to a 3 foot axe. Practice makes perfect. Once I feel the weight now I know pretty much how much turn it will take to land.. I have throwing knives that I practice with. But Im pretty sure I could still land an axe.",
"[Throwing knives don't always go smoothly](_URL_0_)",
"I threw a few knives while hanging out with a friend a few months back. I knew it wasn't going to be as flawless as it looked in my head but it was way harder than I would have figured. It only stuck once or twice. Definitely takes practice. ",
"Every knife needs to spin exactly one and a half times to stick. A heavier knife will take longer to spin and therefor needs to be thrown from farther. Each different knife has its own particular distance it needs to be thrown from. Steak knife is about 7 feet, a large kitchen knife is about 9 feet. \nFace your target. Hold the knife by the tip of the blade between the tips of your fingers. Put it back, like by your ear (careful now) and throw straight. You want to throw kind of gently. Don't force it. The knifes own weight and momentum makes it stick, not a hard throw. Once you find the distance, stick to it. Release when your arm is pointed straight at the target. \nA Vietnam vet taught me and now I can play a decent game of darts with steak knives. So with a spin of one and a half times, you release with the handle pointed at target. It spins half a turn to point the blade at the target and then once full rotation. ",
"I kept thinking about this while watching the Hunger Games. I later checked to see if the knife throwing was done professionally and apparently they taught the actress how to do it:\n\n > **Learning how to throw knives — what was that like?**\nIt was very interesting. I don’t have that strong of an arm, so it was starting with throwing a tennis ball at a target [with] the right form. And then move to a baseball. And then move to plastic knives. And then move to duct-tape-and-cardboard knives. And then move to the actual knives. A lot of it was physics, and knowing how much force to put on the knife. The knife goes three knife-lengths every rotation — a lot times I’d throw it, and it’d end up with the butt end in, and the blade would be sticking out. Which is not what you want to do.\n\n[soure](_URL_0_)",
"Ah yes, sorry about the apostrophe on the 'hit'. It was a typo.",
"Practice, lots of practice. I never used to understand how for example jugglers could always throw clubs the same amount of spins and always catch them right but now I can juggle clubs myself and it's easy, you start with 1 club 1 spin and than add on to that 1 more club or 1 more spin and rinse lather repeat until your brain does it automatically, same thing with knives.",
"I throw from holding the handle with no spin. I hit with the pointy end by aiming the pointy end at the target. If I was in a situation where I had to throw a knife I wouldn't have time to mess around with pinching the blade ever so softly between my index and thumb.\nI hold by handle and wham! Stick!\n",
"To add to all the responses - apart from practice and quick estimations of distance there are also throwing techniques that eliminate spin almost completely. You can check them on youtube.",
"It does not have to spin. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nBut with knife throwing its very easy once you get the hang of the throwing the knife at a certain distance at a target. Its all basically the same motion. However if you move one foot, either forward and back things suddenly get difficult because you have to add or remove that little amount of force to make it work. Once you have thrown knives for a while it is pretty easy to land on a static target at any fair distance at least 70 percent of the time. \n\nProfessional knife throwers at the circus or on the street only practice at the distances they need to practice for the show that is lets say 5 10 and 15 feet. If you ask them to do something in between these ranges would actually mess them up more than anything because they don't practice these ranges to perfection. Because its not only the turns but also where it lands, vertically and horizontally. ",
"Here are the collected video links posted in response to this post (deduplicated to the best of my ability):\n\n|Source|Video Link|\n|:-------|:-------|\n|/u/samort7 | [Chinese shovel-who needs swiss army knife](_URL_5_)|\n|/u/Diclonyuus | [Welcome to League of Draven](_URL_6_)|\n|/u/Kardlonoc | [How to Throw a Knife With No Spin or Thorn-Style: Combat Knife Throwing with Ralph Thorn](_URL_0_)|\n|/u/LanceCoolie | [You must never hesitate](_URL_4_)|\n|/u/piratedicecream | [Kung fu hustle knife scene](_URL_1_)|\n\n* [VideoLinkBot FAQ](_URL_2_)\n* [Feedback](_URL_3_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umKb9WhGdmM"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/03/23/hunger-games-isabelle-fuhrman/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji1nBmcKuoo"
],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji1nBmcKuoo",
"http://www.... | |
3c38t0 | unlike usps/ups, why does fedex refuse to deliver your package/letter a day or 2 early, even if it's out for delivery before the "scheduled delivery date?" | I'm sure it's happened to many of you before, checking the FedEx tracking and it arrives in your city a day early and ends up on the truck for delivery, only for it today "Scheduled for delivery the next day" while USPS/UPS deliver it as soon as they're able, even if its earlier than estimated? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c38t0/eli5_unlike_uspsups_why_does_fedex_refuse_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"csrvusi",
"csrvyuf",
"csrxoop",
"csrxuy2",
"csry47p",
"css5b0r",
"css5ld0",
"css6p37",
"css6xll",
"csscpca"
],
"score": [
38,
7,
238,
24,
2,
2,
10,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"They do deliver early if they can. For example FedEx Smart Post which many vendors rely on for shipping Internet goods is officially a 5 day service. But because most of their packages are actually delivered early in 2-3 days ahead of the delivery guarantee many vendors use it and claim \"2/3\" day delivery and just refund customers when it takes longer. Amazon used to use this service until recently for their 2 day deliveries (shipping from a closer warehouse to keep it within 2 days even though it is a 5 day service). \n\nTheory (could be wrong): What you may be experiencing is how FedEx labels their status, maybe that's the issue. Out for delivery may simply indicate it is at the local distribution center awaiting sorting into a truck, not actually sitting in a truck. ",
"\"Scheduled\" could mean \"Our computer system determined that the truck going your way has enough parcels for a single work day\".",
"I work at a Fedex Office (Kinkos).... I have to deal with this question everyday. \"Well it SAYS it's here in the city.\" Yes, but it likely hasn't been sorted yet. Or it's on a truck with tons of other packages. Like another user said, it's more a fault of how the online tracking system labels it. \n\nThat stupid website also tells people that their packages are on hold at our location when they aren't even there yet... that's a fun one to explain to people as well.",
"I work for FedEx Express. We will take packages out early if we can to lighten the load the future. Sometimes we just get hit with so many stops we won't have time to take out stuff that's not due yet. Maybe the driver took your package out on road and didn't have time to stop so he put a package not due scan on it. ",
"If I can get 2 day service by paying for 5 day service why would I ever pay for 2 day service?\n\nIf they regularly drop 5 day packages in 2-3 days, the 2 day service will get undercut by a competitor.....themselves. Out in the styx where I live it may get dropped early just due to the fact that they may have another deliver to make that has to happen and they may not want to make another trip out in 2 days again for only the one item. In a city where they are out and about everyday in every neighbor hood anyway, it doesn't do much good to move stuff before you have to.",
"Sometimes I get this from UPS tracking: \"Exception Reason:\tTHE PACKAGE REMAINS AT THE UPS ACCESS POINT AND IS REACHING THE AGED DATE\"",
"I've worked for FedEx for a long, long, long time. I was expecting some bashing on this thread. Glad there wasn't too much. But, my husband used to say the same thing...UPS delivers early, FedEx won't. FedEx sucks. Honestly, part of the reason is to keep value in the different service types. Charge more for overnight, less for 2 day, less for longer transit. There is certainly that element. That said...if too much arrives ahead of schedule and is held, that can cripple the operation for the following day. \n\nRight now, volumes are really, really high. And customers rarely give much notice of the volume they intend to ship...so we have to be flexible, accommodate as much as we can...and that may mean holding shipments until they are due, despite the fact they arrived early.\n\nPeople never see the hoops we jump through daily so that their commitments to their customers are honored. It's something we take seriously and work hard to do. ",
"They do deliver early, depending on your area. I used to live somewhat close to Memphis, TN and close to the FedEx and UPS hubs for my area. Ordering from say Newegg, who also had a Memphis warehouse always got my item delivered the next day when using 3 day shipping, as long as I ordered before about 10AM so it was picked at Newegg quickly.\n\nEverything else said here remains true, I was just lucky to be in what was a low volume area near major shipping hubs.",
"Fed ex ground package handler. I going to try to answer this based off our policy and what happens in the system. I work loading, so I have an arm scanner that I scan ALL boxes before loading them on to a truck at the big Columbus hub. I might imagine especially at the end of the morning shift if boxes are in the truck they get scanned so next shift doesn't necessarily put them in a box wall without a scan. This means a scanned box will still be sitting in the Columbus hub but the computer system thinks the truck is loaded and on its way to west Virginia. Or some other destination. A box will however very very rarely spend more than two days in a hub, but one day happens. Especially if it's fucking Jegs Auto parts and they keep putting hazardous materials in regular boxes.\n",
"FedEx Express Driver:\nIt all depends. Technically, we aren't required to deliver early, some Managers don't want us doing it (\"If we deliver it early, there's no incentive to pay for overnight services\"). At my location, it's up to the driver. \n\nMy perspective is this: If it's Thursday, I'm taking my Fridays out so that I can have an easy Friday. If a client is a tipper (not just cash, food is great. Mentioned the food smelled good when a client was BBQing. They gave me a burger and a hot dog, they became one of the favorites) at all, I'll get them their stuff as I get it. If it's medication, I'll get it early because I know how much it sucks to run out. If it's way out of the way and I have something already due out there, I'll take it to save time. If the client is a dick, I'll hold it until the most convenient time for me, or until the last day I can attempt it, whichever comes first. \n\nI'm also one who leans on the go above and beyond side though. If a business is closed and I know where the recipient lives (and I have time), I'll take it to their house. Vice versa as well, if I know they're working and I'm already near their work, I'll take it to them there. It saves me time and it makes them happy.\n\nLong story short, you've probably either got a dick FedEx courier, or one who's overloaded with freight. And those in the latter pile often end up becoming those in the former."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
9zsh26 | what’s the difference between climate and weather? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zsh26/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_climate_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"eaboa9u",
"eabof4n",
"eaboffc",
"eabpkog"
],
"score": [
4,
10,
21,
2
],
"text": [
"Weather is what is happening right now, climate is the over all average trend over a period of time. ",
"My bio professor would always say this: weather is the clothes you put on, climate is what is in your wardrobe. \n\nClimate is about trends and patterns, while weather describes whether it’s raining/sunny/hot/cold/etc on a day-to-day basis. Hope this helps!",
"Climate is the overall, long-term conditions for a particular area.\n\nDeath Valley has a hot, dry climate. The UK has a cool, wet climate.\n\nWeather is what is happening at that very moment.\n\nSo Death Valley has a hot, dry climate, but the weather might still be raining.",
"Imagine youre driving to the store. You go down the road, make a left on to one street, go a few blocks, then right, etc. Weather is those areas between the turns, but climate is the point a to point b. Weather is small scale, short term, climate is large scale, long term. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
3tcrk3 | how would gas prices be impacted if we stopped trade with middle eastern countries and rogue governments? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3tcrk3/eli5_how_would_gas_prices_be_impacted_if_we/ | {
"a_id": [
"cx521a1"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The United States (who I assume you are referring too) doesn't import a lot of its oil from the Middle East. We get most of our oil from [Canada, Latin America, and oil produced in the USA](_URL_0_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150444802/where-does-america-get-oil-you-may-be-surprised"
]
] | ||
ye4yb | why do identification card expire anyways? | Is it just a cash grab? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ye4yb/why_do_identification_card_expire_anyways/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5uqij7",
"c5utu57"
],
"score": [
4,
4
],
"text": [
"most identification cards have photos right? well, let's say you have one that you got from when you were 18 and you are now 50 - how similar do you think you'd look? How about at 80? Think your address/hair color/etc would still be the same? They expire so that information and photos are kept up to date and relevant. ",
"There are actually several reasons. The most significant are:\n\n1) The most obvious which has already been covered is that your face will change over time and as such you need a new card to update your photo. \n\n\n2) It is a good way to ensure that peoples biographic information (name, address, etc) is up to date. If you do not force a renewal, people often forget to update their information.\n\n\n3) It helps to prevent fraud. Technology moves on quickly and as such the most sophisticated cards from ten years ago could be reproduced relatively easily with a colour printer and some good laminates today. By keeping the card renewed, the card can benefit from additional security features which significantly reduces fraud.\n\n\n4) The lifetime of a card is not indefinite - most cards have a physical shelf life of 5-10 years. After this point, the manufactures can no longer guarantee that they will remain safe and secure, the layers may peel away etc. Again, its an anti-fraud thing - you cannot have cards in circulation that are badly worn as it means fraudsters can make replicas of a beaten up card much easier.\n\n5) The card production business is big business worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Governments buy the cards from companies who make the ID cards up for them - by changing the design, they can re-tender the business and try to get a better deal.\n\n\n6) Depending on the type of card, there are a boat load of international standards, recommendations and best practices which the ID card should follow. These standards constantly change and in order to support them, the cards must also be updated. If the card doesn't support the standards for a few generations, it will soon loose credibility internationally (eg, imagine trying to cross a border today with a paper passport from 1974).\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
5ozh2m | how does spicy food, specifically high in capsaicin, boost our immune system? | There are a lot of references (usually not from credible sources) that suggest spicy food help to boost the immune system, but is the mechanism known or understood in any capacity? Is there any actual truth to this, or does it dwell in the land of homeopathic remedies?
There have been some recent studies like [this one](_URL_0_) that seem to suggest an overall health benefit from those who regularly consume spicy foods, but has there been any other confirmed research or credible peer reviewing on this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ozh2m/eli5_how_does_spicy_food_specifically_high_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"dcn9hwr"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Spicy food doesn't boost our immune systems.\n\nThere is some small correlation with spicy food intake and longevity, but the reasons are a mystery."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3942"
] | [
[]
] | |
3zlcuc | how can multiplayer games send information back and forth to players in split-second combat (including processing time), but it takes 2 seconds to load a basic webpage? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zlcuc/eli5_how_can_multiplayer_games_send_information/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyn0goe",
"cyn0hp1",
"cyn0je9",
"cyn0wj3",
"cyn1a4j",
"cyn1f31",
"cyn1yqa",
"cyn2eoz",
"cyn34vv",
"cyn3mw3",
"cyn4s0w",
"cyn5g1c",
"cyn6zls",
"cyn98ut",
"cyna17z",
"cyna4pq",
"cynb1qc",
"cync74s",
"cync8ch",
"cyncf8d",
"cyncmwb",
"cyncy88",
"cyndpw1",
"cynelz3",
"cynemn7",
"cyneo37",
"cynepb0",
"cynflau",
"cyng12c",
"cyngdit",
"cyngt7i",
"cynh5ip",
"cynhj9f",
"cynhsmo",
"cyni10e",
"cynig5b",
"cynjjg7",
"cynk8hl",
"cynl2rf",
"cynl664",
"cynmp9g",
"cynoh9q",
"cynp57z",
"cynpsyl",
"cynqb0r",
"cynqqk8",
"cynr16a",
"cynrvd5",
"cyns41f",
"cynspal",
"cyntjw0",
"cynuc6f",
"cynum9y",
"cynuwpk",
"cynv44v",
"cynv5k1",
"cynvg5s",
"cynvjgf",
"cynw2fu",
"cynwocg",
"cynwqhq",
"cynxqie",
"cynyi83",
"cynzmq2",
"cyo1r41",
"cyo2isi",
"cyo2x5d",
"cyo416y",
"cypiitm"
],
"score": [
16,
4,
4448,
17,
834,
2,
5,
2,
2,
2,
2,
3,
14,
8,
3,
2,
821,
302,
6,
3,
3,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
3,
2,
3,
4,
2,
2,
15,
9,
2,
2,
6,
5,
48,
2,
2,
18,
3,
4,
2,
2,
2,
3,
2,
2,
2,
2,
3,
2,
2,
5,
3,
3,
3,
5,
4,
4,
2,
20,
2,
2,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"A lot of the logic and animation is done by the local machine in a game. Like the computer will say that this player moved to this location rather than transmitting all the map and model information in real time. The map, all the models, and the logic of movement is all loaded beforehand (either from the memory on your system, or in the pre-game loading time).",
"It's a bit more complicated than this, but the game only needs to send basic coordinates (X, Y, Z plane) speed, and direction for players and objects - not the entire HD viewing experience that you see on your screen. If a web page only needed to show 5 numbers on the screen, it would also be instantaneous. In addition, the game and game server are coded specifically to \"talk\" to each other quickly efficiently while a web browser and web server have to be able to perform a huge number of general tasks.",
"When you load a webpage, it's a one-time connection. Your computer contacts a DNS server, which identifies the computer you want to talk to and provides you with a route to contact it, and then you have to open the route before you can start loading the webpage. And even simple webpages these days are spread across several different servers for media hosting, ads, APIs, etc, all of which you also have to contact, and you only find out you need to contact after the first page has started loading\n\nMultiplayer games keep a connection open, so they only need to send data.\n\nAdditionally, the data being sent in a multiplayer game is simpler than you'd think. A player character could be represented by 3 numbers for their coordinates, a number for their vector, a few bytes to indicate what they've got equipped, and a few bytes to indicate what action they're taking (shooting, emoting, jumping, etc). Your computer can reconstruct the scene from that information.",
"The packets used in games are relatively small. Usually they are just command codes or positional data with identifiers. The packet is then processed locally to update the game as needed. All images and sounds already reside on the local machine so don't have to be transmitted.\n\nIn contrast, loading a webpage first requires establishing a connection (something which is often already done and kept open in a game) and then must send all the data about the webpage to the local machine before it can be properly loaded.",
"Games actually send very little data in the grand scheme of things because rendering is handled locally so you can send small amounts of data and just handle the interpretation client side. It's like the difference between being told to draw a triangle over the phone rather than having to actually send a picture of a triangle through the mail to the other person. Also online games use interpolation and other techniques to hide the effects of delay or lag to the end user.\n\nEdit: Okay so for those wondering interpolation is when you have a set of data and you generate new data points that fit in with the existing data. You use this in online games to make things look smooth because in reality the internet isn't. there's always delay(lag) when dealing with online among other issues like packet loss and data arriving out of order (packet 2 arrives before 1 does). If you tried to code a 1 to 1 experience then everyone would be teleporting around the screen all the time because by the time one movement confirmation is received it's already out of date you're really dealing with past information. You also need it because games don't update instantly the game logic is only updated in certain certain time steps (frame rate) and data is only sent out over the internet in certain time steps (tickrate).\n\nFor example, say in the previous update we know that a player was at the orgin (0, 0 , 0) but in the next hes reported as being at (0, 10, 0). We dont want to just move that player to (0, 10, 0) because it's gonna look like he teleported so we use interpolation to move him smoothly to this new location. The end user sees something more like this:\n(0, 0, 0) to - > (0, 2, 0) - > (0, 4, 0) .......... to it finally hits (0, 10, 0) and now it actually looks like the player moved more naturally to that position. \n\nAs for the other tricks I mentioned there's a ton. Well first there's just straight lag compensation. Interpolation makes things look smooth but they also need to feel smooth so you have to code the game so that it takes into account the lag that is happening and still provides as 1 to 1 of an experience as possible. Some games use movement prediction to try and hide lag. Have you ever played an online game when a player is lagging or disconnects and their player keeps walking into the wall? that's generally why that happens. Others use roll back techniques as well that work well in small cases. If push to far though you get snap back or rubber banding issues. even simple things like having hit registration in a shooter (the hit noise in halo or the hit markers in COD) make the game feel less laggy to the player.\n\n",
"The data packets sent by games are tiny. I think I remember Counter Strike only needing around 2-3 kilobytes per second both ways. Granted, this was over a decade ago, but I doubt much has changed in that regard. The average website these days is thousands of times larger than that.",
"The games don't actually send a lot of data to each other. An x,y,z,azimuth,elevation array for each character, and a vector for each bullet. Your game also has some logic to extrapolate between what the opponent did in the last two updates and so can end up making assumptions about what they are doing next, IE: They were moving straight ahead the last two ticks, I will assume they have continued moving in this direction until I get a new update telling me otherwise. This is why you get games where when someone is lagging they are constantly running into a wall.",
"When you connect to a web page, your computer looks up a DNS server for the correct IP address of the website. It then sends the appropriate data to the web server (if applicable), which is something like \"GET /r/explainlikeimfive\", followed by a bunch of lines about who you are, what browser you're using, and what cookies are stored on your computer. That server then responds with a large text file. However, this text file might have images or scripts it has to load up, repeating this process several times over, until eventually you have a web page.\n\nWith a game, all of the important parts are already on your computer, and just have to be told what to do. So when you press the \"Up\" arrow key, you just send the server something like \"D1\", to let it know that you're moving in some arbitrary direction. The server on the other hand just has to send you a few sequences of numbers when something interesting happens.\n\nI'm not entirely sure, but wall hacks and such happen because the server is sending you more information than you really need, but it might send it to you anyways, because the server doesn't quite know if you can see through solid brick or not. Though, there might be more complicated reasons for this.",
"Just as an analogy to help differentiate the type of communication happening.\n\nA phone conversation is direct-feeling real time communication.\n\nIf you visit your library and ask for a book, It takes time for someone to find it and bring it to you.\n\nA video game provides multiple players real time feedback. A web page is a store of information being fetched for you. There's actually not a ton of similarity between the two situations.",
"Video Games are generally installed to your Console/PC, meaning that all the data required to play the actual game (like pictures, sounds, animations) don't need to be downloaded again whilst the game is in operation. When you're in a multiplayer match, your console is sending simple messages back and forth to show where you are located on the map, where enemies are located and to trade shot information back and forth. Because it doesn't use much data to calculate and interact with these results, the games themselves seem to operate rather fast. This also depends on your location and distance from the hosting server, which is usually measured as your 'ping'. Long story short, multiplayer games generally don't use alot of data because they don't require much data to operate properly.\n\nWebsites on the other hand can be full of advertisements, photos, videos, music etc. that must all be loaded every time you open a website, which on average can use more data than a round of CoD online. The higher quality the media on websites, the more data used and the longer it takes to load said data.\n\nTl;Dr - It takes less data to run a multiplayer game online than it does to open a website, mainly because games are operated client side and minimal data needs to be exchanged during a game session, and websites are cluttered with media that needs to load.",
"When you open a webpage you send a request to see it, it sends the response back, you look at it. When you follow a link you send another request, it sends the response back. Pages that auto-refresh are just sending you updates every few seconds or whenever something changes on their end.\n\nPlaying a game or watching some streams are opening a constant two-way or one-way connection between you and a server.\n\nIt's like the difference between leaving someone voice messages back and forth and calling them. Or between email and instant messaging services.",
"Everything that goes across a network is divided into delivery units called packets. Compare these to a choo choo train. A webpage might have a large train of stuff to deliver to paint the webpage for display...lots of cars of different shapes/sizes. \n\nUpdates in a game involve much smaller packets that don't have to be acknowledged upon receipt...and when these small packets travel, everyone gets out of the way to let them go by....they skip all the lines and go right to where they need to go. ",
"TCP verses UDP. TCP maintains a stable connection through the use of handshakes. Basically TCP makes sure all data is sent and received. UDP only worries about if the data was sent, it couldn't care less if it was received or not. This allows UDP to be many times fast in connection speeds.",
"Video, audio and games primarily use UDP rather than TCP. \n\nUDP doesn't have the ability to check for errors in transmission that TCP has.\n\nWith TCP, if a packet (technically a frame at L2) doesn't arrive at the receiving host, the receiving host will request it again. It doesn't make sense to do this with this type of media. Imagine shooting a gun in a game, but the packet containing the bullet doesn't arrive, the the computer requests the packet again. But you've moved on in the game. I could have phrased it's better but hopefully it's understandable.\n\n So with games, using UDP, that is effectively a \"fire and forget\" protocol, it doesn't have the massive overhead of error checking etc. By the time the packet is lost, you no longer need it and it doesn't make sense to resend it.\n\nUDP is great for this kind of traffic.\n\nIf you want to look at a web page and you connection isn't great, you want your computer to request lost packets in order of the static page to display correctly. Hence, web pages use TCP.\n\nEDIT: I'm drunk in the pub so please excuse the shit grammar",
"I'm just a student in computer science, I'll tell you what I know but I'm not an expert.\n\nWebpages and games have different protocols to send information. Websites give you the information using http protocols which is slow but effective. When you connect to a server, it sends you chunks of data(packets) until it has send it all, but is not guarantied that all the packets arrive in order or don't arrive at all, so TCP(which is used in http protocols) takes care of getting all the data in the right order. When server sends a packet, the client needs to send another packet to the host only to let it know that it received a packet, if a packet never arrived and the server already sent the next packet, the client will ask the host to replace the lost packet. In other words, host and client need to tell each other every little detail to make sure that all packets get in order.\n\nVideogames in the other side, they use UDP protocol, which means send packets and they don't care if the packet arrived, or are not in order. For example you receive the position of another player, the player is moving forward but suddenly a packet gets lost, now you see a gap in the player movement, but it doesn't matter because the next packed has arrived to tell you the current player position.\n\nEdit: In case you are wondering, this can also be called **lagg**. The client is not getting enough packets to work properly, as a result, you may see player teleporting or acting strange. Some AAA games try to predict the movement using the less packets possible. For example in call of duty, somebody with bad connection will have big gaps while moving, and the game tries its best to predict the next movement using current packets, and the result is players trying to walk thought walls.",
"I heard a good one about this. Imagine you're describing a few changes of a neighborhood to a friend who used to live there for years. That is a game. For a website, imagine describing in deep detail a house and it's surroundings in the same neighborhood to someone who's never seen it before.",
"A webpage is actually hundreds of websites that needs to be accessed vs gaming which is basically a stream of data whether you ask for it or not. Plus, gaming servers send very small amount of information. what is sent is essentially telling your game to recreate the animations so the actions and information is very small. This is also how Voice over IP works, too. Plus you and the game server are sending each other information at a super fast interval and not waiting for responses from the other person, you're just spatting out information all the time where a website and you confirm each other's actions and wait for the other person before proceeding.\n \n & nbsp;\n\n & nbsp;\n\nWebpage basics:\n\nMe: What's the IP address of this website?\n\nDNS: Here's the IP\n\nMe: I want to talk with you, website, are you there?\n\nWebsite: I'll talk with you, I acknowledge your request.\n\nMe: Alright, we're talking.\n\nMe: I want this webpage, website.\n\nWebsite: Okay here's a list of all other websites you need to get information from to fully understand my webpage\n\n(tons of repeat back and forth with DNS and establishing sessions with other websites)\n\n & nbsp;\n\nHere's a typical gaming session:\n\nMe: Game server, I want to participate in this server.\n\nGame Server: Okay, I see you participating\n\nMe and Game Server at the same time: Here's what I got, I don't care if you got it or not\n\nMe and Game Server at the same time: Here's what I got, I don't care if you got it or not\n\nMe and Game Server at the same time: Here's what I got, I don't care if you got it or not\n\nMe and Game Server at the same time: Here's what I got, I don't care if you got it or not\n\nMe and Game Server at the same time: Here's what I got, I don't care if you got it or not\n\nMe and Game Server at the same time: Here's what I got, I don't care if you got it or not\n\n & nbsp;\n\nedit: I'm humbled by the gold, much appreciated. As others have mentioned, this is really just a rough overview of what happens. There's many factors that go into loading, mainly dealing with server, internet, type of data, and your own computer. The internet in all its bits and bytes is a magically digital place. Thanks again!\n\n\n",
"Think of a puppet show.\n\nA web page is the entire puppet, props, and scenery.\n\nA game server knows you already have the puppet, props, and scenery, and it just moves the strings.",
"Well the shortest answer is that a Webpage is transferring probably 1000 times more data then any game is.\n\n\n",
"Game is a stream of UDP data and the data is very small. Say your game is walking about, then the only data you need is a vector3 for positioning, which is only 6 bytes of data.\n\nTo put that into perspective, it takes more data to load this comment to you, than to relay a position in a game.",
"so websites use browsers to reach you, right? browsers need to talk with all websites. so they taught browsers to speak all languages. and all dialects, and to be safe, all possible dialects of all languages that someone might ever come up with. This means that each website can't just blab away, because the browser can't tell what language they speak. They have to send a full unabridged dictionary, and a small lexicon explaining exactly what is considered a \"dog\" in their part of the internet.\n\nNow the game and it's server on the other hand, are twins. they grew up together. they learned no language other than the one they came up with together. They mostly communicate with nods and grunts, and are so in tune with eachother that they always know what the other guy mean without explanation.\n\nIn more technical terms, the 2 second website starts out by sending you several megabytes of javascript that does NOTHING AT ALL. All it does is establish a functionality framework that the rest of the website can use to show you ads and rescale images automatically so that the PR department don't need to upload images in a specific size when they want to blog about the new packaging of the product.\n\nThe game has a pre-established protocol that severely limits what can be sent between client and server, but also severely limits what NEEDS to be sent by client and server. The client just spews timestamps, coordinates and vectors at the server, describing your bunnyjumping in perhaps 500 bytes per second. ( 0.05% of the data the website needs to send before it can even start describing to the browser what it wants.) The server in turn already knows exactly what the incoming digits means, and sends a similar stream of digits back without any explanation, that your game client knows exactly how to interpret.\n\nAdd to this that a web request needs to send signals back and forth anything between 2 and 10 times before page load starts, while the game just sends the data on a one way trip, and you start to get the picture.",
"I think it's TCP vs UDP connections. Web pages use TCP which is a protocol that makes sure specific information is loaded/recieved 100% before the user can interact with it. UDP on the other hand is real time connection. This means that it doesn't matter if ALL the information or packets are recieved before displaying the info on the screen. This is why sometimes on multilayer games you see lag and choppy game play. \n\nEdit: for instance, Youtube is TCP (loads or buffers aka no information missed) Skype is UDP (no loading - choppy audio at time of low network) ",
"As what other people have said, loading webpages uses TCP (slower but more reliable) while gaming mostly uses UDP (faster but less reliable). ",
"In addition to what others have mentioned, games are also really good at hiding latency. Clients will often predict the results of their actions locally, which will be correct the vast majority of the time and will go unnoticed by the player. Occasionally there is a discrepancy, in which case the server wins, and this is where you will notice some strange behavior.",
"It's multifold but the gist is that serving the game data is more optimized than most websites because you are only passing instructions. Your game already knows what everything looks like. If you were passing just a piece of plain text similar to what games would pass it would be super quick as well. ",
"Follow up Question. \n\n... And why do the ads always seem to load first and the stuff we're interested in last... ",
"### Websites\n\nWeb pages generally have to connect to many servers to display, and often are coded poorly so that it's impossible to know the layout. (The better ones can do layout, so you can read it while it loads.) Your computer gets instructions to display some text, run some scripted programs, and load a bunch of pictures from other places. It has to do a DNS request to find the other sites, hosted images, hosted javascript, and hosted ads. Then it often has to download the images to determine the size, then do layout. And many javascript instructions load even more stuff from several other sites. Many websites use different fonts, which are also downloaded from yet another site and cause even more lag.\n\nMost traffic is on mobile, which tends to hammer the CPU. Even those \"mobile friendly\" sites install crazy amounts of javascript programs which causes a big slowdown on older devices. Adding to the display time, is running scripts on the fly, so it's basically compiled into instructions from human-readable code. Desktops can handle this much better.\n\nAll the traffic, except images, is essentially in HTML. It's wordy. When you have to send a large number like 1,234,567,890 it's several digits (like 80 bits).\n\nOne of the most important things to speed up your browsing is to install an ad blocker. It can cut the time to 1/10th for loads.\n\n### Games\n\nGames communicate completely differently. Your graphics card will display at, e.g., 60fps whether you get any network traffic or not, and someone will keep moving even if you didn't get a specific status report, so it will also appear they're moving around, lag-free.\n\nGames try to minimize traffic by sending many very small updates continuously, and provide a smooth transition (Network says player is at location A, then at location A+2, so it displays player moving smoothly from A to A+2 instead of teleporting). They communicate in binary, and when you have to send a large number like 1,234,567,890 it might be 32 bits. It doesn't have to convert from letters to machine-readable numbers.\n\nGames don't use (much) scripting on the back-end. The UI might be scripted, but that's not an issue regarding lag. Also, things like LUA programs are partially compiled into byte-code first, unlike javascript website programs (although that might be coming soon).\n\nThey also use prediction, so if you don't get a report for player, it'll assume he's moving the same direction for the next couple seconds. You can see issues with this on some games: poor prediction plus poor network causes rubber-banding.\n\nMany games also allow client-side authoritative status reports, so a player can run around a pre-made world and tells the server where he is, and the server sends this info out to those that can see him. Normally, this is dangerous because the client can be hacked to teleport around or move too fast, but this is seen as a valuable tradeoff for gaming experience. In wow, you get very good feedback as you move around because you're actually moving around your own version of the world, and the client is telling the server where you are. (Normally, your game would \"request\" to move somewhere and the server will allow it or not, but this lowers the feeling of interaction due to lag while waiting for a response, or causes you to bounce back if the move request is denied by the server.)",
"Quite a lot of the processing is done client-side. The game connection sends the bare minimum of data -- such as \"Player #3 receives a headshot from Player #2\" or \"Player #4 is at this location headed this direction.\" The game engine on the local side (i.e. on your own computer) worries about everything else, such as what does Player #4 look like (agreed on in advance and/or updated as necessary, then stored locally), and how to draw it. \n\nMeanwhile every time you load a web page, the browser is re-loading the whole text, plus checks all the image links to see if they've been updated, and reloads them if they have (or it has been told not to store them).\n\nWhat your online game does is more like what an AJAX tool on a page might do... receiving very small, periodic updates and then doing logic locally to figure out how to present it, and only updating that small portion of the displayed page, instead of redrawing the whole page (which is how you used to have to do that sort of thing! :P).",
"TL;DR: games need tiny amounts of data that can be sent very very quickly, while websites use big fat chunks of data that have to be sent slowly. \n\nLong answer: websites have a lot of data, and they have to get it from a lot of different places. All the photos, special menus, text, etc had to be downloaded from the web server. It takes time for the server to find what to give you, and more time for it to actually get to you. On top of that, modern web pages are crammed full of tiny programs that report what you're looking at, what you're mousing over, who you are, and what type of computer you have to whatever company put them there. They also present images and \"deals\" to you. These are colloquially known as \"ads\". So, not only are you making a connection to the website, you're also making connections to many different advertisers sites as well. \n\nNot only do websites have a lot of data, but they have to send it in a particular way. Let's say I'm giving you a picture, but I can only give you one square inch at a time. I number the pieces, promise to send them one at a time, and you put them together. What happens if I forget to send a piece, or it gets lost on the way to you? To work around this, I wait until you say \"ok I got piece 3\" before sending along piece 4. This is slow, but essential when missing one piece will mess up the message I'm sending. \n\nGames have no such problems. They don't have to send images, because every possible image the game could create is already stored on your computer, and loaded into memory when you launch the game. You don't need to download a picture of getting teabagged, the game just tells your computer to display the teabagging it already has. Also, games can send data very quickly because there's no error checking - things are happening so quickly, and updates are being sent every couple of microseconds, which means missing a message here or there doesn't really matter. ",
"While most of the information here is correct (DNS, TCP vs UDP, packet size, etc.), there are a few other things that make games faster:\n\n1. Games are more likely to be located near you - When finding a game server, results are usually filtered by ping. This means that you are more likely to join a server that is physically located near you than to join a server that is far away. Lower latency means a faster load. Websites on the other hand can be located anywhere, and they are often located in only one place sometimes far away. (This is not true for many large websites like reddit which use CDNs to distribute data across many servers).\n\n2. Websites are inefficient - Server side processes for websites can be pretty bad. The best example I can think of is Wordpress. Don't get me wrong, Wordpress works well for many people, but it is often inappropriately shoehorned into large or complicated sites. Servers are then bogged down with simple page requests. This usually doesn't matter because people will wait 2 seconds for a page to load. You'll never see this happen in a game, as it would be a fatal flaw.\n\n3. Websites are inefficient 2 - The programming languages used in websites tend to be slow. PHP dominates the web, and it is awful, but it is commonly used because it is \"easier\". Video games on the other hand are usually built in languages that tend to be faster (C, C-like, Java, etc.).\n\n4. Databases suck - For a site like reddit the big overhead is that the server has to make thousands of DB queries to load a simple page. While most recent queries will be cached in RAM, any given request may contain requests that are not cached (because they are older or less travelled), and have to be loaded from disk. These disk queries are significantly slower than cached queries. A game server on the other hand will have all the information needed to run the game in the RAM already because there is no need to store something long term in permanent storage.",
"When you're playing multiplayer everybody is playing in the same room. When you're acessing a home page you're searching a book in another room. And maybe there are a reference to a another book in another room.",
"because they only send few numbers, when you have simple game it's maybe x, y and z position, that's just 3 numbers, that's nothing. Developers try to optimize this so they sent few data as possible. \n\nWhen you load webpage you have to download, images, templates, icons, text, ads etc. ",
"Imagine you're on the phone with Dave, and I walk up and say \"Hey, ask Dave about the project.\" Simple, right?\n\nNow imagine I just walked up and said \"Hey, ask Dave about the project.\" Okay, which 'Dave' are we talking about? What's his phone number? Wait for him to answer the phone. And *then* you can ask him.\n\nCreating the connection can be more time consuming than transferring the information.",
"There are a couple of rules that multiplayer game developers follow to permit near-real time network play:\n\n* **Exchange as little information as possible**\n\nTake, for example, my all-time favorite game Left4Dead2. Each zombie has a position within the map that is defined by its X, Y, and Z coordinates. If you listen to the developer commentary, you learn that the zombies don't report their Z coordinate unless it changes (e.g. climbing/falling). This reduces by one-third the amount of position information that must be exchanged for each running/walking/standing zombie.\n\n* **Calculate as much as possible locally**\n\nEach player has an identical game program, and so calculations that don't affect gameplay directly can be done for each player locally. This also makes it possible to detect cheaters since their calculations won't agree with the other players' games.\n\n* **Send the information as fast as possible, even at the risk of corrupting or losing it**\n\nMost web pages are delivered using the network protocol called TCP. This protocol emphasizes reliability, and guarantees that information will arrive without error and in the same order it was sent. This is good when transferring data where minor errors cause big problems, like images, music, or written language. The downside is that TCP has significant overhead.\n\nMost multiplayer games, on the other hand, use a different protocol called UDP. UDP runs on top of the same hardware and software as TCP but does not guarantee delivery, correctness, or even the order in which information arrives. These tradeoffs give UDP a lower overhead and a higher throughput than TCP in almost all scenarios. \n",
"[Here's a simplified web page request.](_URL_0_)\n\n[And here's an extremely simplified gaming conversation.](_URL_1_). In this example players are talking directly with each other for reduced latency (Not always possible, and definitely not used in all games. If you've ever had a \"NAT problem\", this is likely the reason.)",
"Imagine you're in your car.\n\nThe World Wide Web is a city. Every time you click on a link, you take another turn at a crossroad. It has to load everything from each street, besides common elements : new buildings, new people, new cars, some common elements (roadlights, road appearance ...).\n\nWhen you're in a multiplayer game, you're on the highway. All you have to \"load\" is how fast you're moving, how and when you're passing or getting passed on, where you're moving but the general surrounding are next to the same. The only time you'll have to get a huge load is when you're drastically changing the environnement (changing highway).\n\nThe main difference is the amount of data exchanged at a time.\n\nOn one, it's huge but one at a time (web). On the other side it's small but all the time (game).",
"The information exchanged in a multiplayer game is a handful of numbers, representing where characters are, maybe where they're pointing, possibly what action they're taking.\n\nWeb pages can contain huge amounts of data, images, javascript (which might take time to execute, making some aspect of the page seem slow to load), ads (these come from a different website that the one your're on, usually). There is also often a delay while the website does some work in the background to dynamically put together the page, like, fetching reddit comments for example. Visiting a website in 2015 actually means making dozens of http requests, and waiting for the response to each:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nAlso, in a game, you often aggressively organise the infrastructure so that players are playing with other players, and on servers, which are close to them; this is generally not the case for websites (unless they use a CDN and cache things close to their users, but still, not as fast as just being close to the server.)",
" > but it takes 2 seconds to load a basic webpage?\n\n1998 says, \"you spoiled bastard!\"",
"Think of it like ordering pizza.\n\nYou need to:\n\n* look up the number on the fridge\n* pick up your phone\n* wait for the tone\n* dial\n* wait for the tone again\n* be greeted\n* eventually be put on hold\n* tell them your phone number\n* eventually tell them your address if they didn't have it already\n* check if they typed it in correctly\n* listen to some bullshit offer they're running today\n* *finally* place your order\n\nWell, this is what a website does every time you click on a link. And to be fair, just one webpage would compare to ordering 20 pizzas in separate calls.\n\nGames on the other hand place one call to the pizza place and never hang up. They go through the initial ordeal once while the match is loading, but after they just keep ordering and ordering. But since they also own the pizza place, they have trained the pizza guy into being as efficient as possible taking their favorite orders: they will go P instead of Pepperoni, A instead of Anchovies, M instead of Margherita... So if the game suddenly orders P-A-M the cooks can start with the 3 pizzas straight away.\n\nEdit: formatting on the phone is such a bitch.",
"If a baby keep his mouth open (multiplayer game) I can keep shoveling in food... If I keep having to tell them to open their mouth (website), it takes a helluva lot longer to finish their meal (load).",
"clever programming to reduce number of packets to only a handful of packets a second where as webpages require ten thousand or more packets to many different servers as as fast as possible. also a lot of multiplayer games just guess what's happening between packets which creates the running in place/teleporting or other crazy behavior when the person lags.",
"Web pages contain LOTS of elements that can be scattered among several different websites and servers. For example, this page you're reading right now, contains elements from _URL_4_, _URL_3_, _URL_1_, _URL_0_, _URL_2_ and probably several others I missed. Each of these elements requires another HTTP retrieval process, processing time, etc. They might be located on other servers in other locations with slower connections than the main site you're visiting. By the time you gather up all the elements of a web page and display them on-screen, it can sometimes take awhile, even if the amount of data from each place is pretty small. \n\nHTTP, which is the protocol web pages are transferred through, has a fair amount of overhead. It really sucks for \"chatty\" communications involving lots of small transfers back and forth between two parties. It's like using a big 18-wheeler to move a box of pizza from point A to point B. The truck has plenty of capacity, but not alot of speed - not exactly the most efficient way to do it.\n\nGame servers develop their own customized communications protocols that are highly optimized for this type of \"chatty\" back-and-forth traffic. For the task of delivering small packages quickly between two places, you want a Corvette - not much carrying capacity but fast as hell moving from point A to point B.\n\n\n\n\n",
"Ill basically summarize what everyone has said.\n\nWhat happens on a web page\n\n* DNS Lookup\n* SSL handshake.\n* TCP connections (lots of overhead, data cannot be corrupted)\n* 1 HTTP request for the webpage (wait for it to complete) may involve database or not. But the size is say only 10KB\n* Browser interprets the webpage\n* send more HTTP requests to Fetch the resources like images/css/javscript funny cat gifs that were analyzed from previous steps. Needed to display the full page.\n* downlaod everything (possibly a few MB)\n* start rendering in the correct order (and lots of logic) so as not to corrupt the intended web page style.\n\nWhats happens in a game\n\n* You connect to the server and maintain connection(s) TCP and UDP\n* The game loads everything you can possibly need for display in to memory on your own computer. Nothing to Download. This is Key.\n* As you do things like Shoot or Move. Only a few bytes (less than a KB) are sent across to theother people and again these bytes of data are specific to the game and well known to all clients (browser = the game in this case)\n* Hosts/computers computes any scores and movements that are essential to game mechanics and dont compute on other kinds of data. For e.g. Where you are looking in an FPS is not important. Packets that update everyone like seeing you shoot are \"broadcasted\" to all other gamers in the game. You also receive Broadcasts of these packets.\n* packets can trigger things like showing explosion on a particular location in your screen.\n\n If you compare the process of the two you do not really need to understand each and every thing. But you can estimate that Web pages have a lot more work and unknowns to take care of. Standard to follow. Whereas games are specialized and therefore able to cut out unnecessary standardization.\n\n\nKey thing in gaming is that nothing is actually downloaded during the game. Think about it, the only way every page you visit would be as fast as games is if you had the entire internet downloaded to your computer in advance. \nOnline games tend to push Gigabytes of updates when you launch your game isnt it? It's exactly what they are doing.\n\nOnly exception here is \"Second Life\". It's not really a game but a mix of both worlds and ends up being neither.\n\nUDp is faster than TCP in reaching you because it does not care about being accurate and so less work to do.\n\nEdit: Games typically use both TCP and UDP. HTTP 2.0 is an attempt to do that combo as well based on QUIC. That doesn't take away the \"think time\" on servers and \"pipe time\" in downloads.\n\nI am sure I could have explained this better, this is all I could come up with in 5 minutes.\n\nElementary, my dear Watson ;)",
"Kinda like how it takes a split second to read a word in a book but takes 10 minutes to find the book in a library. ",
"lets use the telephone we call grandma on to explain it\n\nso loading a webpage would be like asking dad to build a tree house and he calls the tree house place and tells him how the treehouse is made and they give him instructions on what the treehouse looks like and how to build it\n\nso he hangs up abd looks at his notes and realizes it in includes special parts so he then has to call up and order each part in a separate call because they might come from different people \nal in all he spends the better part of an afternoon ordering parts and stuff and complains he didnt get anything done today because half way through you changed your mind and decided you wanted a tire swing\n\nnow how about games\n\nso i want to play chutes and ladders with my friend so we call each other up on the phone and set up a game board at each of our houses\n\ni tell him im gonna be the race carand he says he's gonna be the puppy dog\n\ni tell him i roll a 7 and since i landed on a blue square i get to go twice that much\n\nhe says he rolls a 5 and says puppy gets to roll twice\n\nanyway i ended up winning because my sorry board had more blue squares than the candyland board he was playing on ",
"The top comment is a little inaccurate. \n\nDNS simply translates a domain name to an IP, it doesn't give you any specific routes.\n\nMultiplayer games don't really 'keep a connection open'. Most multiplayer games utilize the UDP protocol, as opposed to the TCP protocol you use to view web pages. UDP is more lightweight and designed for faster response.\n\nAlso, when browsing, your browser will wait for most of the page resources to arrive before rendering them.",
"games run a constant loop that bounces data while websites usually avoid these loops and gets/posts data only when its needed.",
"It takes a lot of time to download a 5 minute video advertisement with boosted volume. The page has to make sure it is fully downloaded and auto playing before it can display the content.",
"Because of file sizes. The data sent by multiplayer games is very minimal. Mostly a few coordinates, which are basically just a bunch of numbers. That's just a few bytes, probably less than a single kilobyte (don't know the precise numbers from the top of my head). A webpage with a few pictures can easily be several megabytes of data. The time it takes to send and receive data in video games is practically equal to the \"ping\" or latency to the server, which is probably less than 50ms in most cases. The time it takes to load a website is ping+(bandwidth*data size). That's a completely different order of magnitude. ",
"A webpage and a game use a completely different protocol (TCP for webpage UDP for game{mostly}) basically the difference is when loading a web page first your computer says, \"I would like to load this page\" then the server starts to send you the page, but its cut up into pieces, and after it delivers every little piece it asks your computer if it got the piece, if it did then it sends the next piece, if it didn't then it resends the lost piece, where as a game because it moves so quickly and a dropped frame or two isn't a huge deal it just fires pieces at you and doesn't check to make sure you got them.",
"When you load a webpage, it's like calling Grandma and asking her to mail you a present. That present is full of pictures and music CDs.\n\nWhen you play a combat game, it's like calling Grandma and asking her to tell you what room she is in the house. Since you already know what her house looks like, you can immediately know where she is.",
"The graphical information like the model for the characters and the trees and the rain is all stored on the computer and loaded before the game starts, information that is required for the online game like where the player is and what button they just pressed is quite small compared to these things and can be stored in packets that travel quite quickly/ ",
"What do you mean simple webpage? Do you know how many individual TCP connections it takes to load something like _URL_0_? ",
"It doesn't take 2 seconds to load a basic web page; it's just that there aren't really any such things as basic web pages any more -- web design has become infested with a lot of extra (and often unnecessary) fluff.\n\nThis is a basic web page; see how fast it loads:\n_URL_0_",
"ELI5:\n\nWeb Page: A library has a book you want, you have to go to the Library (web browser), ask the librarian where the book is (DNS Server) and then walk to find the book. Sometimes, books are in multiple parts, spread over lots of differnt aisles in the Library, so it takes time to fetch all of them and read all of them because like a complex story book, web pages are complex and contain a LOT of information.\n\nMultiplayer Game:\nYou're playing a game of tag with your friends in the yard. You're all already at the yard (game) and you can all see where each other are (players also in the game). To see where all your friends are only requires a little bit of information, and friends who are behind a wall need no information at all because you can't see them, and a lot of the information is already provided before the game starts... the yard, the number of players etc.\n\ntl;dr Web pages need lots of complex information, like fetching lots of books in a library. Games require very little information, like playing catch or tag in the yard.",
"When sending data over the internet, the data is split into little \"packets\". When you load a webpage, the server makes sure that all of the packets arrive in the correct order. This means that a lot of time is wasted, since the client must say \"packet received, send the next one\", and if the packet isn't received then it must be re-sent. It's slow, but it guarantees that the data will arrive in the right order - this is important for a video or photo, for example, where the result must be rebuilt from a combination of packets on the client side. \n\nGames use a different strategy where packets are sent and then forgotten about. Because of this, data doesn't always arrive in the correct order. The timescale that packets are sent at means that this isn't really noticable unless one of the client's has a bad connection (so 1 in 50 packets is sent successfully), in which case that player will be jittery and laggy.",
"Two differences:\n\nA good amount (but not all) games use UDP to communicate and they have much smaller data packets to send. (IIRC Minecraft uses TCP since TCP has some nice features packed that are not of interest for this answer)\n\nFirst UDP vs TCP; It's not that much different if nothing goes wrong. TCP packs a lot more information however.\n\nTCP makes sure that all the data arrives in the correct order and nothing gets lost.\n\nUDP cares a bit less; you send data out and that is where you stop caring. They might not arrive in order or at all but it uses a lot less bandwidth depending on what you do.\n\nThat makes a lot less difference tho, especially when the line to the server and other players is clean, which nowadays, it mostly will be.\n\nMost difference is in the data being send.\n\nWhen you load a webpage, the server will have to send you everything (ignoring caching because it's mostly irrelevant), all pictures, sound files, styles, text, etc.\n\nThis can take some time and for each part of the website the browser has to establish a TCP session (essentially).\n\nAll this means that it can take a second or four to load a webpage.\n\nGames, however, already know how a level looks like. They know the level (most of the time), they know models, sounds, etc etc etc.\n\nSo instead of the server having to send all that information ala \"The map looks like this, these are the player models, here are all the sound files oh and here comes the player input\", you can reduce the amount of data send.\n\n* \"Player X now at A, B, C\"\n* \"Player X now looking Q°, E°\"\n* \"Pistol for Player X fired.\"\n* \"Player X hit Player Y\"\n\nSince the packets are smaller and sometimes all of it can fit into a single packet, there is almost no latency compared to a UDP solution.",
"All the textures and meshes and weapon values and all that good stuff are installed on your PC, or are stored \"client-side\".\n\nThis means that the server-side data only needs to consist of positional values. The coordinates so it knows where you are and stuff. So really it's only very small amounts of data enabling it to be fast! \n\nI find streaming HD video to be much more taxing than spectating a game of Counter Strike in game for example. ",
"Most of the comments so far pretty much nail it. Games only transfer stuff like coordinates, speed, and orientation, while browsers load a bunch of assets that more often than not are not optimized for the web.\n\nEven though games have to transfer little data there is still a lag to be death with. Data cannot be transfered faster than the speed of light. Lag is also introduced when data goes from data center to data center, through bridges and gateways. \n\nDevelopers deal with lag by making the game locally guess the state of the game based on the data it already has. For example if player B is at coordinates [2, 2, 2], is facing y, and is moving forward at a speed of 2 units per second, then the game (locally) can assume that the player has moved from coordinates [2, 2, 2] to [2, 4, 2] in one second, and display that until it gets the data from the server. The game then verifies that the state is correct when the data arrives from the internet. If the game unsuccessfully guessed the state of player B based on that data retrieved from the server it will correct itself which is why we some times see players disappearing from one place and appearing at another. This is just an example of one technique, there are a lot more and it would take me far too long for me to explain it to you. \n\nIf anyone wants more info let me know and I can point you to some interesting reads on the topic.",
"ELI5: Web servers are configured for higher bandwidth, while your game is configured for low latency.\n\nELI12: It is the core difference between UDP and TCP.\n\n* TCP attempts to send data, and when it detect a transmission error (a packet was not received, or corrupted), TCP attempts to ask for that packet again. If you transmit files, like a webpage, it is ideal. You want to be sure that data integrity is as close to 100% as it can be .\n\n* UDP just sends packets, and doesn't check if the packet was ever received or received uncorrupted (acknowledgment). I'm not a network engineer, but sometimes, your packets get lost. Network infrastructures involves a lot of hardware, who are built for massive throughput, maybe sometimes at the cost of integrity.\n\nSo when you use TCP, TCP will automatically WAIT until all your data segments are received, and it will often involve data traffic back and forth to complete your data. It is great for most networking algorithms, but not for games.\n\nIn video games, if a packet was not received or corrupted, you don't have time to wait for it to arrive, you just go on with your game loop, and interpolate with the continuous stream of the vector positions. If it's corrupted you can check for it directly and discard it.\n\nUDP is also used in video conference, voip, and also in internet video broadcasting (maybe not UDP, but it's the same concept: no integrity check)\n\nMany developers think UDP is a dead protocol, but there were many articles explaining that UDP is mandatory in game networking algorithm.\n\nTLDR: In a webpage, data integrity matters at the cost of latency, while in games, it doesn't because the data stream is continuous. The comparison is simple: discrete events versus continuous events.",
"Games only transfers a very small amount of data between players (their coordinates, orientation, etc), everything else is then handled by your own PC (drawing them on the screen, showing their animation, etc). This comment is bigger than the total amount of data a player transmits per second in an online game. were talking maybe a hundred bytes, 1kb max (which is 1000 bytes (1 byte = 1 character or number or symbol).\n\nWebsites on the other hand, have thousands of rows in code and text to download. And this does not include images and other media, that is usually several megabytes big (1mb = 1 million bytes).\n\nIt takes milliseconds to transfer a handful of numbers, but 2 seconds to download several million bytes of data.",
"Two different beasts, my friend, but I believe it would be safe to say the reason websites load slow is because of Javascript, ads, and media files (pics and videos).\n\nFirst, multiplayer games usually cache (or save locally) big size data, like maps, this is why you have a long loading screen when starting a new game. During game play all the game sends are player location data, events and stats, and that's it. That's very small data but it's time sensitive.\n\nNow, websites ...\n\n\nTurn on the developer console in Chrome and visit a random website. You will see maybe hundreds of connections opened and closed. Each connection might be to a different server, maybe a different country. If any of those servers might be slow to respond, or any of its infrastructure like dns is slow to respond, the html on the website might 'block' further connections and not display the site until it times out or succeeds. Furthermore, some media files are big and take time to transfer, some backgrounds need to be rendered and then cached locally, etc you know when Chrome says Waiting for Cache and won't load anything? Some website or OS file operation is waiting on a reply from some slow remote site, and it's blocking the entire browser. You have to wait until it's complete before the rest will work.\n\n\nAlso, a 'basic' website like reddit or imgur are dynamically created, with data pulled from a database, created, cached, and coordinated between maybe web hundreds of load balanced servers to send to your browser. Each step takes maybe .02 of a second, but it starts to add up. I believe Reddit has a 'rendered in X secs' at the bottom of its page. That's how long it took to create this unique page that you are viewing now.\n\n\nFinally, websites today are written to 'block' content until the ads are displayed. I remember when the reverse was true: we purposely loaded ads via Javascript after the page was loaded, but not today.\n\nTurning off Javascript may speed up your browsing at a cost to the experience.",
"There's 2 methods of sending data on the Internet: TCP and UDP or Transmission control protocol and user datagram protocol respectively. Most Web pages load using TCP. The reason why TCP works slower is because it uses error checking to determine if it received all the packets or data. All the packets are numbered and sent in groups and if any of the packets in a group are missing, the group is resent until they all get there. \n\nUDP on the other hand is best effort and also why lag exist in games. UDP has no error checking and just spews the packets out and hopes they get there. That's why it can seem you're hitting a target in COD but the hits aren't registering, because the hits aren't getting to the host/server and being registered. It usually works though because you're usually firing alot of bullets anyway and if a game water to use UDP, everything would be crazy laggy",
"the amount of data sent in a multilayer games is minuscule . We are talking less than a few megabytes down and less than a megabyte up for an hour's session gaming. All the graphics processing is done on your side , all the collision processing is done on the server side . \n\nedit: for example , a 40 minute game of league of legends can be reconstructed using a dozen or so **KBytes** ",
"Web pages and file transfers use a protocol called TCP. It isn't the fastest, but gives you assurance no data gets lost on the way. Like this:\n\n TCP packet walks into a bar and says \"I want a beer\". \n Bartender replies \"Do you want a beer?\". \n TCP packet says \"Yes, I want a beer.\" \n Bartender - \"Okay, are you ready to receive a beer?\" \n TCP - \"Yes, I'm ready to receive a beer\" \n Bartender - \"Okay, I'm going to give you the beer now, the transmission will take at most 3 seconds\" \n TCP - \"I will grab it\" \n Bartender gives the beer \n TCP receives the beer \n Bartender - \"I gave you the beer\" \n TCP - \"I received the beer\" \n Bartender - \"Is that all?\" \n TCP - \"Yes\" \n -- end of connection--\n\nWhile games use a protocol UDP, that doesn't check for correctness and if even the thing gets delivered. It's like that:\n \n UDP packet walks into a bar and when it's barely trough the door already screams \"BEER!\" \n Nobody hears it over the chatter. \n UDP packet screams again. \n Still, bartender doesn't hear it. \n UDP packet keeps screaming. \n Bartender finally hears it, throws 40 beers in packets direction. \n One beer hits the UDP packet. Half of it spilled on the way but its okay.\n \n",
"Meh, late for the show. In any case multiplayer was possible even before the internet. You would dial your modem to your friends house, where another modem would reply (analogue old school line). They would perform a handshake to agree on speed (in baud's) and such and you'd be then connected p2p. Then you'd fire up a game like DOOM or Duke Nukem 3D and off you go. The latency was quite horrible considering today's standards, around 300 milliseconds , but it was the fucking bees knees to play a Death Match with your friend. Until somebody picked up the phone in the other room and the line got messed up.\n\nFore more stuff like that, check the **Bulletin Board System** era around the 90's.\n\n",
"A multiplayer game client only needs to send very little data. For an FPS it's pretty much three numbers which represent where you're aiming, and another number where the bits represent which buttons you are pressing. The game server uses this to control your character in it's instance of the game. The server sends more stuff back to you, but its not that much. Things like the positions of you and the other players, events like players dying and stuff.\n\nAlso it's common for games to use UDP rather than TCP, since if a packet is lost, it's not really a big deal. If a UDP packet doesn't make it, that packet just doesn't make it and the rest just go along their way. If a TCP packet doesn't make it, all the other packets behind it get held up until the first one gets re-sent and makes it. HTTP for web pages use TCP.",
"Basically ~~two~~ three reasons:\n\n1. Data exchanged between multiplayer games are extremely small compared to data being loaded from websites. Games send information like \"player A moved to point [x,y,z]\", which can be just a few bytes. Websites consist of large images, animations, videos, sometimes sounds and programs too - these data, especially multimedia like videos, take megabytes of data because information about almost every pixel has to be transferred.\n2. Game communication happens via UDP protocol, which aims for fast data transmitting at the cost of not checking if the data was corrupted during transmission, which means you can sometimes see a little bugging in the game but it's fast and overall everything looks more or less OK. Websites are loaded via TCP protocol, which basically sends some data there and back to check if everything was transmitted correctly, so there are no bugs in images, texts etc - this is a little bit slower.\n3. Every time you load a new website, the connection to the server is being established all over again. This involves looking up the server's IP address by connecting to a DNS server first and asking for translation of the domain name, then there are TCP handshakes with the actual server etc. If the website contains images from other websites, the DNS lookup has to be done for them as well. These things can be optimised by using caches etc., but generally these connection establishments take some initial time and further slow the process down. Games only establish the connection in some way at the beginning of the session, plus they don't even have to make handshakes because the UDP protocol simply doesn't require that.\n\nEDIT: Added reason 3, which I forgot about and saw in someone other comments.",
"Imagine your game is a map of the world. Everyone you play with has the exact same map, because they all have the same game. If you want to tell someone where you are you send them your position on this map, that is all they need. They can do the same and you know where they are. You know what time it is there, what temperature it is and many other things because that is known to everyone playing that game. All this with just with a single position in the game.\n\nA webpage is like sending someone your position in this game world that does not have the game or map. You need to send them the whole game first or you have to send them a picture of you at the location with all the additional information around it (time, temperature, etc). This is a lot more information to send.\n\nI could go into packet sizes of TCP and a lot of technical details but this is ELI5. If you want more technical detail feel free to send me a PM.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://imgur.com/Avy3SVJ",
"http://imgur.com/rsEoZYG"
],
[],
[
"http://imgur.com/IAbWQuN"
... | ||
2iaekf | how could theatre patrons hear the actors on stage before modern electricity? if it has to do with room acoustics, then why are microphones needed now? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2iaekf/eli5_how_could_theatre_patrons_hear_the_actors_on/ | {
"a_id": [
"cl0b8eq",
"cl0bkzh",
"cl0bn1a",
"cl0cxq7",
"cl0d368",
"cl0d9ys",
"cl0jxr2",
"cl0kutq",
"cl0rm9i"
],
"score": [
18,
4,
3,
14,
4,
10,
3,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Part of it is room acoustics, part of it is vocal projection by actors. As far as I know stage actors still train in projection (basically having a big booming voice that carries well but doesn't sound like you're just shouting your lines), but microphones are probably mainly in use to make it easier on the actors' voices and easier for everybody generally.",
"Yes, projection and acoustics. I also presume that there were actually many parts of the theatre from where the actors could NOT be heard. And some types of speech/acting don't lend themselves to projection- a heartfelt emotional exchange, or introspective remarks. So mikes allow the actors more expressive range and so give a better performance.",
"All with room acoustics. If you see live theater today in a good room they won't have or use microphones.",
"back then, they also didn't have the huge ass theater rooms that can sit 10-20k ppl. ",
"We are used to the more natural tones of actors who don't have to project. Think of how opera singers project, and how many people don't like them. ",
"I play in the orchestra for a music theatre all the time. Occasionally a mic will malfunction. This is the test of experienced vs inexperienced actors. The experienced will just start projecting, and the show goes on as usual (though we musicians play quieter). Inexperienced become inaudible, and it really ruins the show. ",
"Theatres are built to have as much (or as little) acoustics as the performance needs. In ancient Greek theatre they used masks that were made with specific materials to project the actors voice as much as possible. \n\nMicrophones were introduced to theatre/performing when popular music changed from a more classical sound to jazz and the type of music we hear today. Opera singers are trained quite differently than any other genre and current music involves more belting (think of most pop singers we know today) which can be very taxing on the voice. ",
"Acoustics and projection as others have said, but also... sometimes you just couldn't hear very well. Go find a totally unabridged version of a Shakespeare play (which is actually a bit of a task--as editors have modernized the language they've also abridged quite a bit of it). Shakespearean plays are 5 acts, not because the material is actually that long, but because you had to repeat yourself over and over again in case something got lost. All of the characters basically repeat who they are and what they're doing at the top of every scene.\n\nOlder operas do a similar thing. An entire 10-minute aria will basically boil down to \"I'm sad.\" You don't need to hear every word to get what's going on. I could tell you the entire story of Wagner's *Ring of the Nibelung* in about 5 minutes, but all together it's like 14 hours of opera.",
"\"How Music Works\" by David Byrne has a couple of very interesting chapters about how the invention of amplification and changes in recording technology changed the styles of music that were performed. \n\nFor example, the \"crooning\" singing style that became fashionable in the 50's wouldn't have worked in the 1850's because no one would have been able to hear the singer."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
16ex9t | i have a laptop with an ethernet port and a wireless card. why can't i use both at the same time for faster internet? | I have a very basic understand of the internet, but why doesn't this work? Why isn't there an optimized option to use both (one possibly being a dedicated "in/download" and the other "out/upload")? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16ex9t/i_have_a_laptop_with_an_ethernet_port_and_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7vdt3n",
"c7ve82l",
"c7vgw9c"
],
"score": [
14,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"It's hypothetically possible to bond the two network connections together to increase your speed. But, both your laptop and the router that you connect to would have to understand how to do it. It's not a commonly used feature so most consumer hardware doesn't support it. It's more common on servers but then usually only multiple wired connections, not a wired and a wireless.\n\nThe biggest reason why this isn't practical is that your Internet speed is likely not bottlenecked by your computer. The slowest link is going to be the connection outside your house. So, bonding those two connections together would let you talk to your router faster, but it would still be the same speed from your router out to the rest of the world.",
"Upvotes to aragorn18, and I want to try too.\n\nYou can totally do this, but it doesn't make internet faster, because there's an even slower connection from you to the outside world.\n\nI do this a lot, but it's not to make internet faster. It's a convenient way to connect to two very *different* networks at the same time. This is usually only mattering when there are lots of different big networks around you, like in a big building.\n\nEdit: Remember, your wireless and your ethernet come from the same place, which is that router box on the desk. ",
"Actually, you can! There are just a few caveats which make it impractical for most people, unless you're talking about specialized business connections.\n\nIt breaks down like this:\n\nImagine you have to send a lot of mail to various places, and your mailman will only accept 5 letters per day (He'll only deliver 5, and only pick up 5). You have to hold the rest of the outgoing mail until you can send 5 more, and the post office will hold your incoming mail until you can receive 5 more.\n\nFurthermore, the places that you're sending mail to can *only* identify you by the return address written on your envelopes, and will send a response back to exactly what you write there.\n\nSo, you're fed up with this 5 mails a day thing, and decide you'll get smart. You register for a P.O. box at the local post office. Now you can send/receive 10 mails each day, 5 from each mailbox!\n\nThe problem is once you start communicating with someone via mail, you can only use that one mailbox to send letters to them. If you try to reply to them with the other mailbox, they'll get all confused, think you're crazy, and stop talking to you. So, you have to keep really long lists of which mailbox you use to talk to which people. This list is really tedious to maintain.\n\nThe other problem you run into is you can't properly balance uneven mailflow. Let's say you and your penpal talk a *LOT*. You can't use the second mailbox to help deal with the massive amount of letters that you're sending, since then your friend would think you're crazy and stop talking to you (as I mentioned earlier). This also means that any other people who you have to send mail to from that mailbox have to wait a long time for their letters to go out, even if the second mailbox is idle.\n\nThe end result is you still can't talk to anyone at a rate faster than 5 letters/day, so the speed improvements are not as good as you'd expect.\n\n---\n\nTo take a step away from ELI5, you can do what you're suggesting, but there is very, very little support for it because in 99% of situations it won't make a difference, and the other 1% are going to require special setup anyways.\n\n**The limiting factor of bandwidth in many applications is the tunnel from your house to the ISP (i.e., your connection speed), and not the WiFi or Ethernet** (which are often an order of magnitude or two faster). Moreover, for many people, the wireless and ethernet simply merge back together at the router, so splitting them up only for them to be merged back together is pointless when there is something else throttling the bandwidth.\n\nThe part of the system which handles picking which interface (either the ethernet or wireless card) to send data out of is called the **routing table**. It's basically table of IP addresses which says \"If you're trying to send data here, use this interface. Or if you're trying to send data here, then use this interface.\" with as many entries as are necessary.\n\nIf you actually have multiple internet connections to your home or business, you can use specialized routers and routing software to **bond** the connections together, which is also known as **multi-homing** or **out-bound load-balancing**. Basically, the router automatically picks whichever connection is being used least whenever your computer tries to establish a new connection.\n\nWith high-end business lines, you can actually pay the ISP to bond the connections on their end if all of the connections are through the same ISP. This is like telling the post office that you *really* own both mailboxes, and that they can deliver mail addressed to you to either one, and they'll accept mail from you from either one. The second mailbox will no longer have a unique address, and instead will just be overflow when you go over your 5/day limit. Not all ISPs (post offices) support this though."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | |
a07i1f | why do cuts bleed more when you run water over them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a07i1f/eli5_why_do_cuts_bleed_more_when_you_run_water/ | {
"a_id": [
"eaf7c7a"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"When blood vessels get damaged you bleed, blood cells passing the damage send a special message for platelets (another thing that makes up your blood). \nPlatelets that come by stick together to form clots and they get really sticky. This is what stops you from bleeding out. \nOnce enough of them have gathered the damaged blood vessel (from the start of this explanation) no longer sends out the \"help I'm damaged\" trigger, so the clotting process stops.\n\nRunning water over a cut washes away the forming clot, making it start this process all over again.\n\nSorry if this is too simple an explanation for you. [WebMD has more detailed info](_URL_0_)\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.webmd.com/dvt/blood-clots#1"
]
] | ||
26w05f | how is there not rampant e.coli and salmonella in the porn industry with all the rimming and ass to mouth that goes on? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26w05f/eli5_how_is_there_not_rampant_ecoli_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"chuzk21",
"chv00h0"
],
"score": [
7,
2
],
"text": [
"They clean. Extensively.",
"E. coli is rampant -- within us already.\n\nMost of the bacteria in our body is benign as long as it doesn't reach the blood stream. The digestive tract is fairly rugged, when it comes to dealing with pathogens. This leads to two factors: the e. coli you would most likely be exposed to is non-pathogenic, as are most E. Coli strains, and it likely won't be able to colonize your body as it won't survive the trip through the stomach in the numbers required to get a foothold in your intestines.\n\nKeep in mind that bodily fluid transmission of disease requires one to have the disease already -- given that most hostile E. Coli infections cause massive intestinal distress, they generally aren't going to be working while infected.\n\nOtherwise, salmonella doesn't colonize humans in the same way as chickens, so that generally shouldn't happen."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | ||
3sekfj | how is tension 'stored' in a muscle, and why? | I have a bad shoulder and I have been told by my physiotherapist this is because I store all of my tension there, how can I store tension? And why my shoulder? Was there likely a previous injury that makes it more susceptible to 'tension'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sekfj/eli5how_is_tension_stored_in_a_muscle_and_why/ | {
"a_id": [
"cwwjlff",
"cwwksw2"
],
"score": [
2,
8
],
"text": [
"There are a lot of tension in the shoulder in general. mostly due to the weight of the arm. one thing a sling does is relieve this tension by shifting the weight off the shoulder. I'm not your physiotherapist (I'm an engineer) so I can't tell you exactly why. but the obvious answer is the weight of the arm. \n\nthere are also a lot of ligaments and tendons in the shoulder. in simplified terms, these are like rubber bands. like rubber bands, they can only work by tension. you can't really compress them and get them to do anything meaningful. this may be what he/she meant by 'stored' \n\nAn injury could have caused it. I know I've damaged my shoulders a lot from wrestling in highschool and rock climbing with improper form. it could also be improper muscle buildup. I know if you run with improper form your leg muscles will form imbalanced, and this can pull on your knee cap and weaken your knees. I can only assume the same is true of the shoulder. so it could be an injury, or it could be a result of your daily activities building your muscles in an imbalanced way. ",
"Second year Physical Therapy Student here\n\nLigaments are not elastic, if they were, our joints would rub and bump into each other at all stages of life. That would be bad.\n\nMuscles and tendons have elastic properties, which can lead to a storage of energy tension (read up on the \"amortization phase\" of muscle activation)\n\nMuscles are mainly composed of two substances: Actin and Myosin. These are responsible for the contractions of our muscles. These 2 form \"cross-bridges\" where they connect and pull against each other to contract. \n\nThere is a resting state of normal muscles called \"tone\" where there are a certain number of these cross-bridges taking place (you break these few/weak cross-bridges when you stretch after sleeping or a long car ride, which feels good).\n\n A muscle with increased tension (like the type you go to a massage therapist to have worked out, like in your shoulders) is an abnormal increase in these cross-bridges, where the muscle is abnormally shortened, and thus has increased tension.\n\nYou are storing tensions most likely due to poor posture, be it the way you carry yourself or due to a past injury, which causes the muscle(s) to be over worked and thus an abnormal increase in these cross-bridges. \n\nMost likely you are carrying yourself in an abnormal fashion as it increases your comfort level for the time being, but can be detrimental over the long run, as your body adapts to this incorrect posture.\n\nStretching and strengthening the body bilaterally and symmetrically allows for proper posture and removes unnecessary/extra stress on certain parts of the body."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
565zpg | why is the eu freedom of movement policy so rejected by the british, but so pushed by other eu member states? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/565zpg/eli5_why_is_the_eu_freedom_of_movement_policy_so/ | {
"a_id": [
"d8gk2j6",
"d8gkkg7",
"d8gm5yd"
],
"score": [
4,
13,
2
],
"text": [
"Britain = Island.\n\nRest of EU† = Continent.\n\nThis simple fact of geography given the two groups vastly different experiences with migrants. Their policies are reflections of the past success/lack thereof of border control systems.\n\n † OK, Ireland is an island. ELI5 isn't always the whole answer.",
"Britain has never really been a true part of Europe, its island status has always isolated it from most of the events on the mainland. This lead to vastly different culture, governance and legal system. The UK has far more in common with the countries itself has spawned, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Many people would rather be part of an Anglo sphere who they can actually relate to, than a vastly diverse continent which has vastly different ideas, culture and needs to what the British have.\n\nEdit: I realise it's not strictly OPs question but it ties in heavily to why we reject freedom of movement and other EU policies.",
"I've often wondered if it's something to do with the number of EU migrants coming to Britain to work vs the number of British migrants going to EU countries to work. Does anyone have figures for this?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
foscts | why is an immortalized cell line immortal? | I understand that normal cells have an upper bound on the number of cell divisions, does the "immortalized" imply that this cell line does not experience the shortening of telomeres during cell division? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/foscts/eli5_why_is_an_immortalized_cell_line_immortal/ | {
"a_id": [
"flgvlqn",
"flgw0cz"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Yep, pretty much. All eukaryotic cells contain the genes necessary to produce telomerase - an enzyme that increases the length of the telomeres - so while the telomeres do shorten during cell division, they just get made longer again afterwards. However, cells normally don't activate these telomerase genes, because they're oncogenes - genes that contribute to cancer. By turning the telomerase genes off in all non-immortal cells, that's one more thing that has to mutate before a cell becomes cancerous, and having long telomeres outside of the immortal cell lines isn't very important anyway, so there's nothing lost. It's also not just telomerase, there are a few other aspects of the cell replication system that are limited use too, which also require mutation.\n\nShould also be noted that a cell line is only considered 'immortalized' when in a lab environment.",
"There are many ways to to immortalize a cell line. One is what your said in your description. There is a virus that can replicate telomeres and essentially make the cells divide indefinitely. The virus is called TERT if you are interested.\n\nPlease note that even though the cell is \"immortal\" it will eventually start to lose its phenotype or characteristics. \n\nExample: If you replicate a skin cell for 500 passages, it will eventually stop acting like a skin cell and more like a cancer. This isn't necessarily because of rapid mutation found in cancer cells, it's because the cell lines actually adapt to laboratory environment passage after passage."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
54micd | when a nuclear bomb detonates, what stops the self-sustaining chain reaction of fission events? why isn't the blast infinite? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54micd/eli5_when_a_nuclear_bomb_detonates_what_stops_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"d8333vo",
"d834719",
"d835jhx",
"d8362gu",
"d83k9o1",
"d876wbq"
],
"score": [
13,
4,
4,
6,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"The explosion blasts the nuclear material apart which stops the fission reaction. This typically happens after a few percent of the material has fissioned. Even if you were to keep the material together, there's only a finite amount of nuclear material in the bomb that can undergo fission, so it would still stop once enough of the nuclear material had fissioned that a chain reaction could no longer be supported.",
"Because only certain rare materials are fissionable in the first place: the uranium or plutonium. Only with those elements can you have a self-sustaining reaction; the amount of energy it would take to fission other elements would be vastly more than the nuclear blast can provide.",
"Either bomb bomb breaks apart, halting the reaction, or you deplete the fuel and it stops. ",
"The same reason your barbeque goes out when you run out of charcoal (or propane or whatever).\n\nNuclear fission is \"difficult\" only really big atoms that are almost falling apart anyway will \"catch\" the neutrons and then fall apart as a result.\n\nSo we take something that is already crumbling and cram it really close to itself. (that's the enrichment talk. We try to get rid of everything _but_ the fissionable fuel.) When we put enough crammed into a small enough space, the crumbling of one leads to the crumbling of others. (This is why it's a \"chain reaction\".)\n\nThis happens because, as they crumble, the atoms release neutrons. And if those neutrons get crammed into (close proximity to) other nuclei they also crumble. This crumbling releases more neutrons and a lot of heat. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.\n\nIf the neutrons hit something that isn't fuel-worthy that something simply becomes radioactive.\n\nMeanwhile the heat and whatnot is forcing the blob of fuel apart. Once the individual atoms are far enough apart the likelyhood that a neutron will actually strike the atom falls off sharply.\n\nSo the fusion reaction peters out for much the same reason that saddle burrs cannot stick to each other unless they are first touching each other.\n\nSo an atomic bomb is set off by using a regular explosion to _cram_ the fuel into an incredibly tiny space. That craming causes the big atomic blast. The blast undoes the mashing, and whatever didn't react when it had the chance just turns into dust that we call fallout.\n\nThe super-closeness needed to sustain super-critical (explosive) fusion just doesn't happen at earth-normal pressures and densities.\n\nIt's so hard, in fact, that the explosion used to start the fusion has to go through a bunch of baffles and stuff (called \"lenses\") in order for it to deliver enough mashing power. The fast and slow parts of the explosion have to arrive from all sides at the same time for it to work.\n\nAs a meta-thing, keeping the baffling lens designs secret is enough to keep non-nuclear nations from \"getting the bomb\".\n\nFusion explosions are \"hard\" to make until you have the recipe and the carefully controlled conditions. \n\n",
"Okay so imagine you had a room full of mouse traps covering the floor, walls, and ceiling, and each time a trap goes off, it throws a ping pong ball into the air, which can land on another trap, setting it off, which then throws another ball into the air etc etc. This is a chain reaction. \n\nYou have potential energy (the mouse trap springs) and in order to release it you have to apply an activation energy (knocking the bait plate) and then the energy is released. \n\nIn the case of a nuclear weapon instead of mouse traps and ping pong balls, it's Uranium 235 which really doesn't like being quite so big and having quite so many protons and neutrons. It wants to be smaller and if you give it enough time, it will decay into lighter elements and release energy. But to make a bomb, you want a lot of it packed in really tight like putting those mouse traps really close together. \n\nThen when the fission reaction begins (usually by jamming one big piece of uranium into another big piece reaching a critical mass) each time the Uranium splits it releases neutrons which strike other atoms of uranium, giving them the activation energy they need to split, which releases more neutrons, and so on and so forth. \n\nThe reason the reaction doesn't go on forever is because there isn't an infinite supply of uranium. It's usually just a few pounds of material. \n\nWe can slow this chain reaction down by using neutron moderators, that act kind of like nets in the mouse trap room, slowing down how likely a ping pong ball will be to strike another trap. This slows the reaction down so it burns instead of exploding. \n\n\nTry this very cool website that lets you model a fission reaction and see how it actually works with a graphical demonstration. \n\n_URL_0_",
"There are two reasons the reaction isn't infinite:\n\n\\1. There is a finite amount fuel. \n\nThis is only part of the reason, but it is just worth noting that you need fissionable atoms for fission events to proceed. \n\n\\2. The bomb destroys itself while exploding.\n\nThis is something that can seem superficially obvious but it is actually quite subtle in how it works. A nuclear bomb works because a critical mass is formed. This is a combination of mass, density, and geometry that makes it so that neutrons formed by fission reactions are able to ignite further fission reactions (the essence of the chain reaction). The issue here is that as the bomb heats up, the density and geometry are going to be changing. The core is getting hot, and so it is going to start expanding (decreasing density, increasing volume). At some point, it will expand to the point where neutrons from fission events will stop being able to find more atoms to fission. At this point, the reaction itself has stopped. The actual fission reaction in a bomb only continues for a fraction of a second, but in that fraction of a second it can fission many billions of atoms.\n\nA trick of good bomb design to keep the core together as long as possible, to get as many reactions in as possible before the reaction stops. As an example of relative efficiencies, in the Hiroshima bomb only 1% of the core underwent nuclear fission before the reaction stopped. In the Nagasaki bomb, it was more like 17% of the core. Later bomb designs allowed for greater efficiency. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/nuclear-fission"
],
[]
] | ||
71vq1u | why does the value of currency tend to inflate over time as opposed to deflate? | Whenever you see the cost of something say 30 years ago was $200, you have to adjust that $200 for inflation to get what it would be in today's dollars, i.e. $300. Why does the cost always go up over time, why is $200 1977 dollars $300 2017 dollars and not less? Can it ever be less? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71vq1u/eli5why_does_the_value_of_currency_tend_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"dndtjp5",
"dnduxf0",
"dndwibr",
"dndwk9n"
],
"score": [
5,
4,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Because a small amount of inflation is good for the economy as it encourages people and companies to spend money, which is what keeps the economy going. So government policies are all designed around trying to ensure a stable, low level of inflation.",
"Note this is only really true in the fiat currency era, where small amounts of inflation were decided as good, and as a result we aim to have that. In the US, under the gold standard, we averaged a slight amount of deflation, which makes sense since the supply of gold is fixed, so it makes sense that it would become relatively more valuable over time.\n\nSource: [250 Years of Inflation in the US](_URL_0_)",
"To answer that final question: yes, it can be less, but the problem with deflation is that it encourages people to hold on to their money, knowing that it'll be more valuable next year, rather than spending it - and if enough people are doing that, the economy grinds to a halt. Money's only useful if people are actually exchanging it for goods and services, after all.",
"Because the central bank takes steps to increase the money supply just enough to maintain a small amount of inflation. The central banks don't like deflation because it can lead to a [deflationary spiral](_URL_0_). Since inflation will vary from year to year, the central bank targets a low inflation rate that is just high enough that if there is a recession and inflation drops, they can inject more money into the economy before deflation sets in."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://i.imgur.com/OJcQ8mN.png"
],
[],
[
"http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deflationary-spiral.asp"
]
] | |
2r63gg | how come there is no better medications for simple sicknesses like cold and cough other than minor relief meds? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r63gg/eli5_how_come_there_is_no_better_medications_for/ | {
"a_id": [
"cnct5n5",
"cnct6rd"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Colds and flus are caused by viruses. We have antibiotics that are used to kill bacteria, but viruses are much harder to kill without also killing healthy cells. We can give vaccines that help prepare the body's acquired immune system to target specific viruses, but once your cells are infected with a virus usually the only thing that can be done is to treat the symptoms until your body is able to deal with the virus naturally. That is why cold and flu medication are aimed and treating the cough and headache and runny nose. Also antibiotics do nothing to treat a cold or flu, so if you have one don't try to get antibiotics to treat it. Taking unnecessary antibiotics only hastens the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria.",
"The \"common cold\" isn't, for one thing - what we call colds are a wide and constantly mutating range of viruses. If you developed a miracle cure for one of them, it would be obsolete before you could get it to market, because the virus would have become something else while you were getting approval for your medication.\n\nAlso, colds are mostly inconvenient and annoying, but hardly life-threatening. What if there were a cure for every cold virus ever, but it cost $5000? Most people would continue to take the existing treatments and/or just suffer through the damn thing."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | ||
29xk28 | why have they not started issuing social security cards in plastic form like the dmv does with drivers licenses? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29xk28/eli5_why_have_they_not_started_issuing_social/ | {
"a_id": [
"cipgsdu",
"ciphbda",
"cipksyu",
"ciplivz",
"cipn3ov",
"cipn69r",
"cipo5o6",
"cipuqyk"
],
"score": [
15,
13,
5,
6,
2,
7,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Oh god somebody please answer this. I never understood using that damn piece of paper as an item for your I-9 verification. It looks like something a half baked forger can copy.",
"The reason I've always heard is so that it will deteriorate more quickly if you ever lose it.",
"You shouldn't carry your SSA card; it should sit home in a file folder. Permanance is not an issue.\n\nMy card is so old my name is TYPED on it!\n",
"There's no reason to carry it with you. I have my original card, issued at birth 40 years ago, and it's in fine shape. There was also a time, farther back than when I was born, that SS cards actually said NOT TO BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION right on them. Oh how times have changed.\n\n",
"Lol my SS Card was laminated by my mom ages ago. Anyone else in the same shoes?",
"The reason for this is if you lose it outside it will be destroyed fairly quickly, its s piece of identification you are not supposed to have with you at all times if you read the back of the card. Keep it secret, keep it safe.",
"In Canada we get a plastic card with our Social Insurance Number (i think that's the same thing?) on it.",
"My mom laminated mine a super long time ago. Every time I've had to use it no one has ever said anything."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
2xxt3a | what exactly is illegal or unconstitutional about obama's immigration orders? | The GOP seems to be tying itself in knots over this but all in all i read they simply say it is unconstitutional or illegal, or over reaching, it seems they never say why they feel this way. what am i missing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xxt3a/eli5_what_exactly_is_illegal_or_unconstitutional/ | {
"a_id": [
"cp4d1xv",
"cp4dr4n"
],
"score": [
3,
4
],
"text": [
"Nothing is actually illegal or unconstitutional. If it was, they would have initiated impeachment proceedings. They're just saying it for political brownie points and to continue the narrative that Obama is abusing his power as president (which is patently false).\n\nEDIT: If you think this is false explain why. But to the extent of my knowledge there is nothing illegal about Obama's immigration orders. The Republican party is absolutely pushing this message for their political agenda. I don't see how this is contentious.",
"Congress passes laws in regards to immigration and naturalization, this includes the deportation laws.\n\nPresident Obama signed Executive Orders that basically negates these laws by delaying the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants.\n\nThe reason that many in Congress think that it is unconstitutional is because the Executive Order ignores the powers of Congress to set for legislation and laws, of which the Executive Branch is supposed to enforce.\n\nYes...There are politics behind it, both Republican and Democrat, but at the end of the day, it's the matter of the Supreme Court to decide if the actions of President Obama violated the checks & balances of the government."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
35c877 | why is alcohol so expensive in my provnce (ontario, canada) | I know that it is regulated by the goverment, but what exactly makes it so expensive?
The reason I ask is because I seen a picture in a American Walmart and I seen a case of Bud Light for sale for $16-18.
Yet here, you can't even buy beer in supermarkets, and a case of 28 x 341ml bottles of Bud Light comes to a total of $38.95 plus tax, which is insane. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35c877/eli5_why_is_alcohol_so_expensive_in_my_provnce/ | {
"a_id": [
"cr31jld",
"cr32ape"
],
"score": [
4,
3
],
"text": [
"What's insane is that you want to drink *Bud Light*.\n\nHaving said that, it's [taxes](_URL_0_), for the most part. The exchange rate plays a part, but at the moment it's not a significant factor.",
"There are 2 things that have caused this.\n\nThe first is a \"sin\" tax. Here in Canada we tend to slap extra taxes on things the government deems \"bad\". Mostly you are looking at alcohol and tobacco (hopefully one day, weed). The US has the same kind of taxes, but not not nearly as much and it varys state to state and county to county. So the picture could be from a \"low price\" county. \n\nAlso, alcohol sales in most Canadian provinces is kind of fucked up. In Ontario you have the beer store, the LCBO and a smattering of small locations out in the sticks. LCBO is effectively a government entity, accountable to the Ministry of Finance. The beer store is OWNED BY MOLSON COORS.\n\nSo one retail store has a strong incentive to keep prices high, the other just sells at \"market rate\" and has little incentive to run efficiently or compete with the other retailer. \n\nIt's worth mentioning that this is done because the government wants to maintain control of who is purchasing and how much. Basically they want to make sure the ID laws and other liqueur laws are followed so they have chosen to do it themselves. The fact the operations make money is \"apparently\" a happy side effect. \n\nEffectively this means there is no compilation in the purchasing of alcohol in Ontario. \n\nOperations who produce the alcohol on site are obviously different. Micro brews, wineries and places like that can sell direct. However, even bars and restaurants must purchase from the LCBO. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquor_Control_Board_of_Ontario"
],
[]
] | |
1y2es0 | what exactly are "phantom vibrates"? | Is it our brains thinking we have a text/call when we actually don't?
Or is it that our phones sometimes briefly spas out when there are no notifications?
Are there cases of both? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1y2es0/eli5what_exactly_are_phantom_vibrates/ | {
"a_id": [
"cfgqfx7",
"cfgr1g3",
"cfgrmgf",
"cfgs9rf",
"cfguy08",
"cfgvvub"
],
"score": [
7,
3,
12,
10,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"I've been holding my phone in my hand and had phantom vibrating, I then instinctively go to grab my phone and realize it's in my hand. Seriously, what the fuck is that shit?",
"I'm pretty sure it's all in my mind, mainly because this happens when my phone isn't even on me. That was kind of a dead giveaway. ",
"I will swear I can hear mine sometimes but no text is received. I have read about this before, and it has to do with anticipation. If you are expecting a text or text fairly often, you will get more phantom texts or calls. ",
"_URL_0_\n\nIs a good start. The page is written very simply and with a lot of plain english. Basically it's because we have become so trained to the feel of a vibration that we want to feel it thinking we have been communicated with. It's similar to how everyone loved when the mail man drove down the street before the internet was a thing. ",
"My kitchen is directly beneath my bedroom and sometimes when i'm at dinner i actually hear the vibration of a text/call. I'll run upstairs and sometimes i actually do have one, but other times it's nothing... yet i swear i heard it. \n\nAlso i wear a lot of skirts/pants without pockets so i usually hold my phone in place under my waistband. Same thing, sometimes i feel a vibration and check it only to see it was nothing, while other times it's a text or call. Strange. ",
"NOT SCIENCE, just my idea.\n\nOur brain makes associations, we do that all the time.\n\nMAYBE, our brain can actually perceive in some way electromagnetic fields vibrations (it's possible, after all it's still an electric machine).\n\nSince 90% of the times that there's an increase in these waves, our phone vibrates (because it's receiving a text or a call), it could associate that \"feel\" even though you have no sense for it.\n\nSo, whenever there's an increase in electromagnetic potential, our brain could trigger a phantom vibrate because it expects it will happen.\n\nCan anyone with some actual science disprove / help?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_vibration_syndrome"
],
[],
[]
] | |
cdnlw1 | why aren't there many naturally occurring liquid substances on earth? does matter have a "preference" for being in a solid and gaseous state? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cdnlw1/eli5_why_arent_there_many_naturally_occurring/ | {
"a_id": [
"etv3uyq",
"etv4we3",
"etvekg7"
],
"score": [
5,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It's largely a matter of temperature. Different substances change states at different temperatures. We are in the liquid water range, which is necessary for life as we know it.",
"What do you mean? Our whole planet is covered in water, but even that is insignificant. Below the fifteen or so miles of crust is an entire planet of liquid rock. We're like 99% liquid, dawg.",
"Yes liquid state is much harder to maintain than solid or gaseous state. We even are lucky we have some liquid substances on Earth. Outside Earth liquids are rare. \n\nYou need the right balance of pressure and temperature for a given matter to be liquid, outside that it's either solid (excess pressure or too cold) or gaseous (lack of pressure or too hot)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
1gepbp | why is the tinfoil hat associated with conspiracists? | Just as the title states. Why is a tinfoil generally used as an icon for conspiracists? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gepbp/eli5_why_is_the_tinfoil_hat_associated_with/ | {
"a_id": [
"cajhgsg",
"cajhuvx",
"cajiohf"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Tin foil hats prevent the government's mind control lasers from working on you. I understand this but if I believed it I'd be wearing one.",
"Because a tinfoil hat is basically a [Faraday cage](_URL_0_)\n\nIf the government is able to read your brainwaves from the electromagnetic radiation it produces, or are able to control your brain by surrounding it with sources of electromagnetic radiation, then a Faraday cage around your head would prevent this.\n\nApparently wearing one is \"very warm\" and quite uncomfortable.",
"Tin foil hats prevent mind control. Since this discovery, those controlling your mind have made you think it's silly to wear a tin-foil hat. Genius, really. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage"
],
[]
] | |
ajpwvs | why are the coldest days always sunny? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ajpwvs/eli5_why_are_the_coldest_days_always_sunny/ | {
"a_id": [
"eexm3lb",
"eexm5a2",
"eexovog",
"eexpcvi"
],
"score": [
47,
2,
4,
6
],
"text": [
"Clouds provide insulation of a sort trapping heatradoated back from earth in the atmosphere. No clouds means all the heat escapes. ",
"Clouds trap the heat of the sun and human byproduct, no clouds and all that heat escapes more easily making the air mass colder.",
"PV=NRT clouds cant form when the pressure is too low. when it is cold, pressure drops. cloud go away.",
"The cloud thing is part of it. The other part is that days which are cold and clear are typically caused by high air pressure (sinking air.) Superdupercold upper atmosphere air is more dense than \"average\" air, making it relatively heavy, causing it to sink. As it sinks and gets closer to earth's warm-ish surface, it warms ever-so-slightly. This makes it LESS likely for clouds to form, which makes this air VERY clear. The temperature stays VERY cold, though. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
5gqlrl | if you can't compress in liquid why is it the deeper you go in the ocean the more atmospheric pressure you experience. | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5gqlrl/eli5_if_you_cant_compress_in_liquid_why_is_it_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"daubk4d",
"daubwn1",
"daucuqf",
"daufmcl"
],
"score": [
3,
3,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"You can't compress it. However, the deeper water is still technically supporting all the weight of the water above it. ",
"You can compress liquids actually, just not as much as gasses and some liquids compress more than others.\n\nWhy is there more pressure further down? The further down you go the more water you have above you, and all that weight is pressing on you, creating pressure.",
"Actually, you *can* compress water. It just takes massive amounts of pressure and then still does not compress very much. \n\nBut, that is not what's important here. You are also incorrect in thinking that atmospheric pressure (pressure caused by the Earth's atmosphere) increases as you go deeper into water. What increases is gauge pressure. This is additional pressure not caused by the air of Earth's atmosphere. Gauge pressure could come from anything really, except for the weight of Earth's atmosphere since that is what all earthbound equations share and is always already factored in as atmospheric pressure. This atmospheric pressure varies itself with height above sea level, but is an average of 1 atm (standard pressure unit) at sea level. 1 atm is the atmospheric pressure we use for all calculations of pressure under a body of water that begins at sea level (elevation of 0 m/ft). \n\n**Gauge pressure** adds onto **atmospheric pressure** to give **absolute pressure**. This is the term that you are looking for.\n\nGauge pressure, and therefore absolute pressure, increases with depth into the ocean. Atmospheric pressure remains the same because all outside pressures acting on a fluid act evenly throughout the fluid (fluids are liquids and gases).\n\nAnyways, the reason for increasing pressure with depth in to the ocean is that the amount and therefore weight of overlying water increases with depth, and causes higher and higher gauge pressure. The weight of overlying atmosphere remains the same as you go deeper into the water. So, with the same atmospheric pressure and increasing gauge pressure, you get higher absolute pressure.\n\nThe reason why humans do not get squished by the pressure of the Earth's atmosphere is that our cells exert a similar pressure outward, which acts against atmospheric pressure, basically cancelling it out. As you go deeper into water, pressure outside the human body acting in on the human body increases, and is felt. Cancelled out atmospheric pressure plus gauge pressure (increasing with depth) results in an absolute pressure that our bodies don't entirely counteract. \n\nNow, a typical 5 year old probably wouldn't have payed attention for this entire explanation, but if he/she had they might now understand what's going on. ",
"Imagine a cylinder of metal. The taller you make it, the more it weighs. Therefore, the more pressure it exerts at the bottom (since the area at the bottom doesn't change)\n\nIt's the same with water, the deeper you go, the more water is above you, and therefore the more pressure."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | |
4f8ns2 | why are most people more sexually attracted to other parts of the human body in comparison to the sexual organs? nsfw | For example, some men are more sexually attracted to female breasts than the vagina. However, human breasts are primarily made up of fat and glandular tissue, specifically to nurture their kinfolk.
A vagina is a sexual organ, and breasts serve no other purpose than to breastfeed babies.
**Why are most people more sexually attracted to other parts of the human body in comparison to the sexual organs?** | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f8ns2/eli5_why_are_most_people_more_sexually_attracted/ | {
"a_id": [
"d26s9to",
"d26t3jp",
"d26uxbw",
"d26vk16",
"d26ydno",
"d27230h",
"d272qwe",
"d275xn7",
"d2761uz",
"d2765gq",
"d27kij9",
"d27tal8"
],
"score": [
316,
70,
7,
39,
4,
3,
4,
8,
3,
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Well, youre kind of answering your own question.\n\nMales seek a fit mate to breed with. Breasts signify maturity and wide hips (or a nice ass if you want) signify great fertility. Females on the other hand want someone who can look after them. So they are usually attracted to fit and muscular males. The form and shape of your genitals dont really matter in breeding/carrying over your genes, so they don't need to be attractive. As long as they are fit to do their job, its good.",
"\"A vagina is a sexual organ, and breasts serve no other purpose than to breastfeed babies.\"\n\nNot quite true. Humans are the only mammal to have fully developed breasts when not pregnant. Same with storing fat around the hips. Based on the fact the fashion has historically sought to emphasize these assets (corsets, girdles, etc), there must be some sort of psychological element we don't understand that causes men to seek out these traits in potential mates.\n\nNo idea how that explains foot fetishes, though.",
"Because those features indicate other features that make a good mate:\n\n* breasts are an indication of sexual maturity and fertility\n* skin, hair, and symmetrical feature indicate your are well nourished and free of disease\n* height and broad shoulders indicate a good provider and protector\n* wide hips and big butt are signs of an easier childbirth",
" > breasts serve no other purpose than to breastfeed babies.\n\n[Nipples activate the same part of the brain the genitals do.](_URL_0_) If you can't see how that makes breasts have a purpose beyond dinner for offspring I don't even know what to say.",
"The term that comes to mind is sexual dimorphism. Females are identified by the differences from males, I.e. breasts, hips, even facial structure. In the same process, males are identified by broad shoulders, height, facial hair, and more musculature.",
"I will put forth the Joe Dirt interpretation, \"Why's the sky blue? Why are boobs good? Just is...\" That's how I feel too I guess. ",
"You do not see sex organs often during the day, and you do not see sex organs during sex as they are in use. You do see the shape of people's bodies during the day (and sometimes cleavage and such) and you see breasts and faces during sex. \n\nAdditionally the fact that breasts serve the purpose of feeding children is an indicator of both sexual maturity, good health, stable food supply, and the ability to feed offspring which is also a major subconscious attractant for sex on an evolutionary level. So evolutionary breasts are a sex organ. ",
"An ELI5 explanation would be that since we wear clothes, most people never see other people's genitalia, therefore only being attracted to something you rarely see doesn't make any sense. Even though we wear clothes, the breasts and buttocks are still fairly visible, and considering how complex the issue of attraction is probably only play a piece of the total puzzle. Larger breasts and buttocks tend to indicate fertility, and subconsciously probably act as cues, as does body proportion, facial structure, eyes, scent, body language, and so on.",
" > breasts serve no other purpose than to breastfeed babies.\n\nHumans breasts are larger proportionately than the breasts of any other great ape. They are a secondary sex characteristic, like feathers on a peacock.\n\nA better question would be why some men are leg men. The answer of course being that legs are sexy.",
" > A vagina is a sexual organ, and breasts serve no other purpose than to breastfeed babies.\n\nWell, breasts are at least secondary sexual organs. When manipulating body parts while a person is having an MRI, we can see that both the breasts and the vagina cause increased blood flow in the same part of the brain, a part that isn't triggered by identical stimulation of, say, the ear or the elbow. Additionally, the breasts change under arousal -- the nipple becomes erect, the areola changes color, etc. So although the breasts may not be a primary sexual organ which is solely for reproduction, they are at the very least secondary sexual organs.\n\nHumans are hardwired to feel good when someone plays with their [Dalek Bumps](_URL_0_) and we tend to be attracted to others based on that which in ourselves makes us feel good.",
" > breasts serve no other purpose than to breastfeed babies.\n\nAnd this is **exactly** why men are attracted to them.\n\nI'm attracted to women that my hormone-addled brain considers to be healthy and capable of raising my offspring well.\n\nSo wide hips (fertile, easy birth), and large breasts (good for feeding offspring) are good for that.",
"You are using words like \"most\" and \"more\" as if you've got some data. Give me a vagina any day of the week and I'll show you my boner (figuratively speaking)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.livescience.com/15380-nipples-genitals-brain-map.html"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM"
],
[],
[]
] | |
1nccgc | how does basic stock exchange work and how would one get started? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nccgc/eli5_how_does_basic_stock_exchange_work_and_how/ | {
"a_id": [
"ccha775"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"You buy a stock that's priced at $1.50 a unit, you buy 10 shares for $15\n\nThe next day it goes up to $4 a unit because there was a successful merger, they released a new product that everyone likes, etc. and you sell your 10 stocks for $40 giving you a $25 profit which you then use to buy other stocks priced low.\n\nAs to how one would get started. Stockbrokers come to mind first. You give these guys $5000, they make the best investments that they can think of, and grow your money for you, of course they take a cut of the profit, be it 5%, 10% whatever.\n\nMany insurance companies also allow you to grow your insurance through investments, from your $126 a month premium, you can opt for some of that to go towards investments, which will be given back to in one of 3 ways.\n* PUAs Paid-up Additions, annually you receive money back from said investments.\n* Face value additions, the money earned is added onto your death benefit\n* Reduced premiums, any money made will be put towards your premium in order to make it so you don't pay as much.\n\nOf course, if you lose money through insurance investments that money will then either have to be paid back, or your death benefit stands reduced."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
313g3f | what really is pied piper from the tv show "silicon valley?" could the software theoretically work in real life? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/313g3f/eli5_what_really_is_pied_piper_from_the_tv_show/ | {
"a_id": [
"cpy3ma3"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It's a compression algorithm. It's a way to take a set of data and make it smaller.\n\nYou use them *all the time.* JPGs. Zip files. h.264 video. These are all ways to write data in a way that takes up less space."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
z3q4d | why don't bugs bleed red when they explode on my windshield? | Come to think of it, why isn't the sidewalk riddled with red dots after I go on a bug stomping genocide? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/z3q4d/eli5_why_dont_bugs_bleed_red_when_they_explode_on/ | {
"a_id": [
"c616eoh"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Bugs don't have blood. Bugs have hemolymph. Hemolymph serves as both blood and the other fluid that surrounds cells in our bodies. The color difference comes from the molecule that binds to oxygen. Blood contains hemoglobin, an iron-based protein that binds to oxygen. Hemolymph contains hemocyanin, which is copper-based. When we bleed large arthropods like [horseshoe crabs](_URL_0_) we can see that hemocyanin gives the the hemolymph a blue, not a red color. Not as noticeable when you squash bugs because other tissues are mixed in with the hemolymph."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.wired.com/magazine/wp-content/images/st_processcrab/st_processcrab_f.jpg"
]
] | |
cdzene | how viagra works as an erectile dysfunction medicine and also to help with high blood pressure? | Maybe i’m too dumb for this but doesn’t low blood pressure cause less boners? Why would you need an erectile dysfunction medication like viagra if it also helps to lower high blood pressure? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cdzene/eli5_how_viagra_works_as_an_erectile_dysfunction/ | {
"a_id": [
"etxaadj",
"etxavlc",
"etxb24o"
],
"score": [
10,
4,
4
],
"text": [
"The reason you don't have a boner all day every day is because the blood vessels are all constricted and blood can't get in. Viagra makes these vessels relax and open up, and blood goes in. This also lowers your blood pressure in your arteries because the arteries also relax and open up, and stop squeezing so hard.",
"Sildenafil (Viagra is a brand name) is a vasodilator. This means it widens the blood vessels, which in the case of high blood pressure will increase the volume of the circulatory system and reduce blood pressure.\n\nAn erection is caused by the body restricting blood flow out of the penis, meaning it backs up in the spongy tissue of the penis and basically inflates it with blood. Rather than restricting flow out the Sildenafil will increase the flow into the tissue.",
"Drugs of all types have side effects. Meaning they make the drug to do one thing, and find that it does something else entirely.\n\nThese side effects can be negative, like increased chances of cancer, positive, like lowering your cholesterol, or just different.\n\nIn this case, the blood pressure medication had a side effect of making the patient hard. Likely because the medicine affected the blood flow overall, and erections are caused by blood flowing into the penis.\n\nThe negative side effects were not terrible or manageable, and so the drug was approved for use in erectile dysfunction patients as well as the original high blood pressure patients."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | |
cop3fq | how can it be illegal to have really dark tint on windows for the back seat and further, when some vehicles don't have windows there at all? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cop3fq/eli5_how_can_it_be_illegal_to_have_really_dark/ | {
"a_id": [
"ewk9nsx",
"ewk9p5h"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"It's not about impairing your vision to drive. It's about officers being able to see into your car. \n\nIn California you cant have any tint what so ever on the driver, passenger or front windows, but the back windows can be as dark as you want.",
"I think it's more for allowing the authorities to look inside the vehicle and see who is in the vehicle. They can see through the windscreen for the front seat. I am guessing the vehicles that don't have back windows don't have passenger seats back there?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | ||
1v9nme | why are skilled trade people in asia paid so low wages? | I really never understood this. When Europe and US were having the industrial revolution skilled workers (carpenters, electricians, plumbers) could still make a living and have a relatively normal "middle class" life. My grandfather was born in the 20's and started to work in the 30's in Denmark as a welder and bought his first house when he was 20. And even long ago when we had blacksmiths etc, they could also make a normal living.
Why is it then that all through Asia wages are very low for skilled workers, even today in China which is relatively modern. They are living from hand to mouth it seems like. Could it be because a lack of unions or low skilled workers (i.e they are easily replaceable as electricians even though they are certified)? Genuinely curious about this matter, hoping someone know enough about this topic. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v9nme/eli5_why_are_skilled_trade_people_in_asia_paid_so/ | {
"a_id": [
"ceq2dya"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Living in China, i can say it falls down to 2 factors\n\n1) there are too many people who can replace you. Don't like earning such a small package? There are 1000 who would move to the city to do it instead. \n\n2) Look at salaries in the countrysides (often less than 100 US per month) and compare to the city (closer to 300 US for lower paid workers). It may seem small to you but CHina is still incredibly cheap. \n\nA small breakdown of costs; \n\ntypical skilled manual workers salary; around 2000 rmb\n\n > breakfast: 10rmb\n\n > housing: 500rmb-1000rmb (very poor conditions)\n\n > phone: cheap smartphone for 500-1000rmb\n\n > transport: 2rmb for subway accross beijing, 0.4 for bus. (varies according ot city)\n\n > bike: 50rmb\n\n > a beer: 5rmb"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
1d8hy0 | why do big movies seem to only open on tuesdays, thursdays, and fridays? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1d8hy0/eli5_why_do_big_movies_seem_to_only_open_on/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9nxk2k"
],
"score": [
17
],
"text": [
"The cinema week runs from a Friday to Thursday. A majority of the time, over 60% of a cinema's business is the business it receives at the weekend, so opening day a majority of the time is the Friday so that hype is built up before the weekend.\n\nWednesday and Thursday openings are called advance previews, again, to garner hype before the weekend where everyone blows their money, and possibly take the pressure off on the Friday if it's going to be a huge film (such as Iron Man 3, which opened on Thursday). In the UK, the Wednesday opening would be there to take advantage of the Orange Wednesday.\n\nI don't think I've ever seen a film open on a Tuesday.\n\nSource: I work in a cinema"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
e84wl3 | . what is the belief to warming up your car for a few mins in the morning? are there any benefits to your vehicle, or does it cause harm? if so, then why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e84wl3/eli5_what_is_the_belief_to_warming_up_your_car/ | {
"a_id": [
"fa99r1i",
"fa99v2v",
"fa99zyj",
"fa9l68v"
],
"score": [
16,
2,
6,
3
],
"text": [
"Warming up your car gives the engine and oil a chance to come up to operating temperature when it is particularly cold outside. The oil does a better job lubricating once it is warmed up enough to thin a little bit,and this significantly reduces engine wear and tear at the piston rings, valve lifters, and other moving parts. The transmission fluid also works better close to normal temperatures, but doesn't usually warm up much from idling, and needs to be driven gently as it warms up. Shifts can feel rough when the transmission fluid is still cold. \n\nModern cars with lightweight, aluminum engine blocks warm up pretty quickly, but old steel engines take 10-15 minutes. Carburetors also work much better once the engine is warm, so older cars without computer driven fuel injection can be difficult to drive before they warm up. My 1969 Pontiac can be so rough in the winter that it actually dies at stop signs if I don't bump the throttle a little bit when the car is cold. Once it warms up a bit it does fine. I try to warm it up until the coolant reaches normal range before driving it. The oil is a little behind the coolant in warming up, but by then it is close enough.",
"The properties of materials changes with the temperature. when it's really cold out, the materials (especially the oil) may have properties that make the engine not work as well and cause extra wear. So the idea is that you allow everything to warm up before making the engine work really hard. I don't know how well this works however.",
"1. Traditionally, the carburetor needed to warm up to operate effectively, otherwise the engine would stall due to insufficient air supply. (This is no longer true with most modern automobiles.)\n\n2. Colder metal is more brittle / warm metal is more flexible. As the engine block warms up, it takes a bit of time for temperatures to equalize, so you don't want to introduce a large pressure or sudden temperature change on your engine before it's gotten at least somewhat warm. Slamming the gas pedal of a cold engine can crack bits of metal (or heaven forbid, crack the entire engine block itself).\n\n3. Until the engine has some heat to give, I've got none of that sweet, sweet heat to defrost my windshield with!",
"A quick search online brings in [several](_URL_1_) articles that essentially say it's not really [necessary](_URL_0_). The [EPA](_URL_2_) and [_URL_4_](_URL_3_) say no more than 30 seconds is plenty, with one expert from Penzoil claiming that the time it takes to warm up oil in cold weather is milliseconds, not minutes. \n\nSo it seems like, turn on your car, scrape it off if necessary, and you're good to go. The general consensus seems to be that anything else is just wasting fuel.\n\nThis is all assuming your vehicle is newer enough to not use a carburetor, which seems to be early to mid 90s? Anything past that and you shouldn't have to worry about it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/experts-weigh-in-do-you-need-to-warm-up-your-car-in-cold-weather-2/433065",
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/29/the-biggest-winter-energy-myth-that-you-need-to-idle-your-car-before-driving/#:~:targetText=Auto%20experts%20to... | ||
5rnvdk | why do parents use jealousy tactics to make babies eat, how does this work? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5rnvdk/eli5_why_do_parents_use_jealousy_tactics_to_make/ | {
"a_id": [
"dd8qgbv"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"I don't think that it's jealousy tactics but merely making the baby feel comfortable to know that the food is safe to eat.\n\nAdults do it all the time when testing a foreign food. They hesistate until someone they know takes a bite and didn't throw up before they try it out themself.\n\n "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
5jeqns | how does friction create static electricity? | Why is it that when I build up friction from sliding my socks across carpet that i can shock someone with static electricity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jeqns/eli5_how_does_friction_create_static_electricity/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbfl0wx",
"dbfmmw5"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Basically, the interaction between two surfaces (where friction is involved) transfers charges (mostly electrons) between them and creates a charged object. You could do this through rubbing, through pressure and even with heat. \n\nWhen you touch someone and give them a static shock, they are acting as a conductor for your excess electrons, and this flow of electrons, i.e, current, is the shock that they feel.",
"It's called the Triboelectric effect. The friction allows for the transfer of electrons between materials as they're moved across and apart from each other. It's the phenomenon associated with static cling in your dryer. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.