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1i92h7 | why is computer keyboard "qwerty" and not "abcdef"? | Or qwertz (e.g. Europe).
I hope you know what I mean. Why they put the letters in this order? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1i92h7/eli5_why_is_computer_keyboard_qwerty_and_not/ | {
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"In order to keep typewriters from jamming, more popular letters were spread out. ",
"In the days of typewriters, the keys were alphabetically ordered. However this caused some keys to get jammed up, or more frequent typos (remember, typewriter, you cant just hit backspace), due to frequently used letters being too close together. \n\nSo they rearranged the letters into the qwerty board to space the well used letters apart more. This cut back on jams and typos and was carried over to computer keyboards. ",
"Since a few people have already given an ELI5 answer, I'll [link this awesome comic](_URL_0_) that explains about the history of typewriters and the qwerty/dvorak layouts.\n\nAlong with what everyone else said, it's important to note that since the qwerty layout was specifically made just to accommodate the typewriter tech, it's really very silly that people still use the layout to this day. If people weren't so stuck in their ways, I'm sure alternate layouts like dvorak, colemak, or workman would be more widely used.",
"The typewriter thing may well be true, but with qwerty you can type a lot quicker, once you've practised, than you can with alphabetical. \n\nCommonly used keys are easy to reach, and common combos like ious are different fingers. Less used letters like q and z (in English) are out in the corners. When you run a typing learning program (which everyone should do) the levels start with words that only have the common letters in them, then start including the uncommon ones as you level up and have the hang of the common ones. \n\nThis must play a part in the particular layout, although there are idiosyncrasies that we wouldn't design in today, but momentum keeps us with it. There are technically better layouts, that enable quicker typing, but these remain minority use for the same reason. \n\nI recall a TV program, probably on the BBC, about the history of it, and a demo of the typing speed of \"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog\" repeatedly, and it coming out much faster on QWERTY, with typists trained on each layout. \n"
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aysm32 | How as Rome's public money managed? | The question arose in the previous thread [about Crassus](_URL_0_): When the Roman government collected money, whether by taxation or donations from patricians, where did they put it? And how did they disburse it back out again to pay for Legions or grain? Presumably they dealt in actual physical coins; where they stored in a central location and literally counted out to whoever was going to buy grain or pay legionnaires, or how was it done? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/aysm32/how_as_romes_public_money_managed/ | {
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"In the Republic, the State Treasury was called the *aerarium* (\"the place of bronze\"). It was housed in the Temple of Saturn, namely in the vaults beneath the temple, in the Forum. There was also the *publicum,* which was a separate treasury \"for the people,\" but I won't go into that here. The *aerarium* housed all the state revenues, and also some other important items (like the legionary eagles, certain laws inscribed on bronze, important documents, etc). In the Republic, the *aerarium* was administered by elected Quaestors, who were in turn under the direct supervision of the Senate. The two Consuls could withdraw from the *aerarium* at will, but usually at the discretion of the Senate. Then as now, most of the biggest fights in the Senate revolved around money.\n\nThe treasury held coins, of course, but we are fairly certain that the vast majority of state income did not come in as coin (see Hollander, *Money in the Late Republic* 2007). Those assets were variously disbursed in other ways of \"parking\" money, which I won't go into here. When the legions were to be paid, they were probably paid in coin, though much of their \"pay\" was disbursed in the form of equipment and supply fees. The payment of legions in all periods is a complicated and contentious topic. In order to pay the dozens of legions Octavian had under arms after the Battle of Actium, the amount of coins would have been truly staggering--an impossible number. \nWhen \"purchasing\" in large sums, the state almost certainly utilized measured bullion instead of coinage. \n\nAugustus made some changes to the *aerarium.* He separated out a new fund, the *fiscus*, for Imperial business. It functioned basically as a private *aerarium* just for the Emperor, which the Senate could not manage. The regular *aerarium* continued to receive revenue from traditional sources, however, including \"senatorial\" province taxation. Control of the *aerarium* passed chaotically in the early Empire, from Quaestors to appointed Prefects to Praetors and back to Quaestors. Ultimately it wound up in the control of appointed prefects, who were former Praetors, and who were nominally under Senatorial management. \n\nIt's a big topic. If you have specific questions, I can (try to) answer them here."
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1wcwgy | Was it actually agreed by many doctors that smoking was good for you back in the 40s/50s etc? | I always see these old time ads that have doctors advertising a specific brand of cigarettes, and I can't help wonder what the reality of it was.
Were they bribed? Were they legally making false claims?
You'd think that after all the dissections and openings of lugs, people would notice that smoker lungs tended to have much more damage done to them. I just can't believe doctors would agree that smoking is healthy when it can so clearly be seen by cutting open bodies, which they do, that some things just don't go well. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1wcwgy/was_it_actually_agreed_by_many_doctors_that/ | {
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"Not a historian, but I know a bit about this through skepticism and advertising research.\n\nPre-1920, there are cigarettes that claimed to help with asthma, but it wasn't tobacco. By the late teens and early 20's, the idea that cigarettes was connected to lung cancer was being studied. It wasn't mainstream, but small numbers of doctors and scientists were aware of health problems and thought they were related to smoking. So as far as health, by the 40's and definitely by the 50's, doctors knew smoking was bad for you. The extent of the harm was what was still being debated.\n\nAs far as advertising, I haven't seen an ad from the 1920's and on that said cigarettes were healthy or good for you. The quotes that I have immediate access to said:\n\n*\"More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.\"* \n*\"L & M Filters are just what the doctor ordered.\"* \n*\"20,679 physicians say Luckies are less irritating.\"* \n\nThe ads have images of doctors smoking, with white coats or other indications of the medical field. This suggests that doctors approve of smoking, which is the point of the advertising. But notice, none of the ads say they are healthy. They are making no health claims. They are saying the smoke is smooth or less irritating (less irritating than what?) or pointing to doctor preference. \n\nIt would be the equivalent of saying 7 of 10 dentists prefer vodka over any other liquor. They aren't claiming vodka is good for your teeth, but by including dentist in the ad, most people will assume that there is some connection between vodka and teeth.\n\nMisleading? Maybe. That's advertising, though. It uses images and words to take advantage of how our brains work. No doctors had to be bribed, and no lies were told. The ads just took advantage of the trust in doctors at that time, and used that trust to sell a product."
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14w8lo | What were some cultural "fads" of your respective studied time periods? | I was driving to work today and thought about this and it really got me going... Nowadays, with our modern technology and our lightning fast information exchange, we have memes and pictures and sometimes really idiotic things (Call me Maybe, anybody?) that just get repeated over and over by people for weeks, and then fade out and they're just a memory.
I'm curious if there were many of those documented throughout history, maybe sayings that were popular for a week at a time, due to some cultural or political things going on. Would love a little input :) | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/14w8lo/what_were_some_cultural_fads_of_your_respective/ | {
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"A variety of leetspeak was very popular in the antebellum United States. People loved turning phrases into abbreviations. \"Gone to Texas\" became GT. \"Small potatoes\" became SP. \"Will you go\" becomes WYG. \"Done up\" becomes DU. They also loved to deliberately misspell words for some reason. \"All right\" becomes \"Oll wright,\" which becomes OW. Most importantly, we get Oll Korrect, which is one possible origin for OK. This got pretty ridiculous during the presidential election of 1840. Martin Van Buren's nickname was Old Kinderhook, so he became OK. Clayites tried to turn the tables with the slogan \"Oll for Klay,\" so that OK would refer to them. ",
"One of Shakespeare's former actors, William Kempe, Morris danced from London to Norwich as a publicity stunt in 1600; the act is supposed to be the source of the phrase \"nine-day's-wonder.\" [Source.](_URL_1_)\n\nGrantland also has a really interesting piece on [Edward Payson Weston](_URL_0_), a man who started a fad for \"Pedestrianism\" in the 1860s and 70s where people would walk long distances. \n\n",
"I think the meshing of languages always bring up very strange cultural artifacts that might be similar to what you're thinking of. For example, Pidgin Chinese English, or what in Shanghainese was called 洋泾浜 - yangjingbang, named after the river which traders first converged - turned out this kind of lurid, vaguely literate but never truly literate pidgin language that incorporated English words that were transcribed by sound and sometimes definition into Chinese. \n\nThe thing is - unless you speak Shanghainese or Chinese and English.... I'm not sure how to describe this as funny, it's a very... folksy kind of humor, the common image was of the common laborer from somewhere else in China running to Shanghai only to find that he's having to learn both Shanghainese (or what came to be that) and English, and winding up learning neither properly, so they use Shanghainese pronunciations to read English words and it comes out very strangely. The legitimate use of the language by the two communities faded through the 1800s as the prominent Chinese learned English and the prominent British and French learned Chinese (less often, of course), and it kind of held this strange in-between status of a derogatory way of speaking to the Chinese community and this joke amongst the Chinese community about the whites. A common creative rendering of an English word would be something like 沙咸鱼沙 for \"so and so\", which is pronounced \"sah-eh-n-sah\" and means \"sand salt fish sand\", or 雪堂雪堂 for \"sit down sit down\" which is pronounced \"si danh si danh\" which means \"snow hall snow hall\" in writing. All this went away pretty much by the 1930s an 1940s, but some parts remain informally in use, even though the use of Shanghainese is in decline in general.\n\nAlso there's a really strange one that even lasts til today in Shanghainese vernacular and that's how they refer to Indians, like, from India. They're called 红头阿三 by a large number of the older population, and that literally means \"red-headed number 3\", but breaking it down you have 红头 red headed due to the caps the Sihk police officers used to wear, and 阿三 \"ah san\" number 3 comes from the way the police officers would stop someone on the street by proclaiming \"I say, I say!\" Somehow that lasted until today, but it's pretty derogatory generally.\n\nBut I don't think it's so much as a fad as a representation of what a very distinct Chinese cultural aspect can look in a specific situation and circumstance. The Chinese language is incredibly rife with wordplay and current Chinese internet speak is ten times more incomprehensible than the worst leetspeak and is full of puns, double entendres, shibboleths, euphemisms, and virtually anything you can think of. Slant rhymes, deliberate misuse of homonyms are also frequently used in jest and mockery, and this is just a 19th century way of wordplay with an entirely new English vocabulary that they came into contact with. ",
"One \"fad\" if you might call it so (rather a custom really) was for a maiden to give her colours for a knight to bear in battle. Before the battle of Poitiers, while doing reconnaissance, two knights met eye to eye bearing the colours of the same maiden! Many harsh words were exchanged, and during the battle it turned personal, they sought each other out on the field of battle and one of the knights was killed rather than captured (which was the usual custom). "
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8fo9by | how can companies use rival company names in ads to degrade them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8fo9by/eli5_how_can_companies_use_rival_company_names_in/ | {
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"depends where you are. Generally Mcdonalds could only sue if the claim could be proven to be untrue.\n\nif there is small print at the bottom that cites a survey, or a specific quantification,and that fact is true, then they are allowed to show it.",
"As long as what you’re saying isn’t overtly false everything is fine. Addressing an opinion or research that says your burger is better, ain’t nothing wrong with that. Why would there be? ",
"You can sue for:\n\n**Libel/Slander**: deliberate false statements intended to damage reputation\n\n**Trademark infringement**: Trying to sell a product using your trademarked imagery/slogans\n\nYou *can't* sue for negative statements that are true, or ads that are merely referencing a competitor.\n\nBurger King can say our Whopper^tm has 15% more meat than a Big Mac^tm if it's true.\n\nThey can't say Ronald McDonald personally spits in every Big Mac."
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wsipo | How and when did the European nobility form? | I've always wondered how old and entrenched the medieval European nobility was. Obviously, their hereditary class thrived for centuries under feudalism, but what were the conditions that allowed these select families to become the upper class in the first place? How far back does their hereditary succession go? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/wsipo/how_and_when_did_the_european_nobility_form/ | {
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"The answer is \"depends\". Different countries in different time periods have different ways of ennobling people. I can't cover all of Europe, but I'll give you some examples.\n\nOne is obviously land ownership. This is the key at least in the Germanic and Romance areas of Europe. These are places where place names frequently made up people's last names (with the de or von prefix being most common). Warfare also brings status, and this is a pretty ancient tradition, from pre-Charlemagne all the way to the 1300s and 1400s. However, this became increasingly uncommon by the end of the Reconquista in Iberia because they ran out of land to give to people. A lot of condottieri had great success in battle but weren't specifically ennobled, for example. A large reason was that these condottieri were already children of the landed gentry, but due to primogeniture laws, they could not inherit.\n\nThere are also many cases where faithful service would get a family ennobled. Originally, even Charlemagne's family was descended from the mayors of palace in Austrasia. There are also cases where outright wealth and business acumen would get a family ennobled - the Medici, for example, got their start in the wool trade.\n\nFeudalism perpetuated this system by allowing people with land to basically reap exponential reward. You have to note that all of the above methods really led to ownership of land, and land really meant everything. People conquered for land. People served in hopes of getting land as a reward. People crusaded for land. It's really land that matters.\n\nAs for how far back? If you can trace yourself to Charlemagne you can do like the late 500s (St Arnulf of Metz), but most families can date themselves to between the Norman conquest and the 1400s or so.",
"There was a similar question here a while ago, and I commented on the [origin of the Swedish nobility](_URL_0_), which is surprisingly specific. \n\nLong story short, there was a Swedish king named Magnus Ladulås, which is Swedish for \"Magnus Barnlock\" (his real name was Magnus Birgersson, but the nickname stuck and it is how he is universally referred to today) who decreed in some thing called The Ordinance of Alsnö (\"Alsnö stadga\") that anyone who was able to provide the crown with a mounted warrior and a war-horse would be exempt from royal taxation. The ordinance created a class of \"frälse\" (basically \"The Freed\", as in \"Freed from taxation\") which formed the basis for the Swedish nobility.\n\nOne thing to add that I didn't mention in my previous comment that is good for context: Sweden was *barely* a country at this time, and a big reason Magnus Ladulås and his father Birger Jarl is remembered today is that they were instrumental in unifying Sweden into one country. Birger Jarl conquered Finland (which would remain part of Sweden until 1809, a good 550 years or so), more or less founded Stockholm and made it the capital, and passed the first national laws, the so called \"peace laws\". Magnus Ladulås confirmed the peace laws, passed a few laws of his own (most famously the prohibition against \"forced guesting\", see previous comment of mine) and founded the Swedish nobility. All these things, including making a legal distinction for nobility, was hugely important into making \"Sweden\" into an actual country. \n\nEDIT: I just realized I didn't mention when all this stuff happened: Magnus was king 1275 - 1290, the Ordinance of Alsnö was passed in 1280. ",
"At least partially from a military officer hieararchy organized to defend the Roman Empire / Frankish Empire. Thus many titles come from Roman officer ranks in French and English\n\ncomes - > count, comte\n\nmarcheses - > marquis\n\ndux - > duke\n\nprinceps - > prince\n\n\nAlso, serfdom partially came from slavery (servus - > serf) and to a certain extent a noble man was often seen as simply a free man, not slave who is allowed to bear arms. So perhaps you could say it was not nobles above the normal level, at first, but they were the normal level and serfs were below it. I don't know if it makes sense. It is just you are free Roman/Frankish citizen, can own weapons, you own 30 slaves, why not call yourself a noble. There was a certain sense that a noble man is a free man.\n\nSource: not one book, many stuff I read online and offline. Not 100% sure."
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40347w | how does capturing "el chapo" affect mexico and the united states? | What are somethings we should expect? What are the benefits and negatives to his capture?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40347w/eli5_how_does_capturing_el_chapo_affect_mexico/ | {
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"It was simply very embarrassing for Mexico. It was a Maximum security prison he had escaped from. Mexico wants to be taken seriously, in this didn't help. Especially the elaborate tunnel"
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fky5wg | would it be possible to store an entire game's data on your ram alone so that it would eliminate the loading process completely? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fky5wg/eli5_would_it_be_possible_to_store_an_entire/ | {
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"You could store the files on a memory drive which would reduce access time but usually the game files are stored in a compressed format and have to be decompressed then re-loaded in to memory for each level load, so it would require the programmers of the game to design it to be all loaded in to memory in order for it to be instant.",
"Sure, it's doable. Called a RAM Drive. I don't know what the best app for it might be. You'd still normally need to load all the data into ram each time you restart your computer.\n\nI can't suggest a specific ram drive app. \n\nReally though, if you've got an SSD it would get you some improvement, but not worth the trouble, IMO."
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2hmh1h | What was the reaction throughout the Islamic world to the first moon landing in 1969? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2hmh1h/what_was_the_reaction_throughout_the_islamic/ | {
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"As a Muslim I'd like to know, why would the reaction of the Islamic countries differ from everyone else's? Serious question",
"I have absolutely no authority, but I know Turkish, so I searched the archives of *Cumhuriyet*, one of the older, most widely circulated Turkish newspapers. You can go to [this link](_URL_0_) and specify the date you want to see in the top right corner. The search results are in Turkish and behind a paywall, but you can see the enthusiastic pictures and headlines.\n\nFrontpage headlines from the 10 days around the landing, translated (not literal) to English by me:\n\n07/15 - Armstrong's footprints will remain on the moon for 500,000 years \n07/16 - The Journey begins today \n07/17 - Onwards to the Moon \n07/18 - Halfway there \n07/19 - Apollo 11 at the edge of the Moon \n07/20 - Landing Today \n07/21 - ... And They Made It! \n07/22 - They Went, They Saw, Now They Return \n07/23 - Microbes from the Moon Could Spread over Earth in 30 seconds \n07/24 - Citizens of the Moon Are Returning Today \n07/25 - For the First Time, Citizens of the Moon step on Earth\n\nAnd so on. There was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. The launch, landing and return clearly dominated the media the entire time. All the famous photos were printed on the front pages. At least in Turkey, there doesn't seem to be any reactionary Islamic rhetoric published in the mainstream, just plain old marvel and curiosity, as one would expect.\n\nThis was very interesting for me, thanks for making me do this.",
"I just wanted to point out that Muslims do not worship to moon, nor do they consider it sacred. [They do however follow the lunar cycle in their calendar, similarly to some asian nations like China.](_URL_1_) As the phases of the moon are important for telling when important dates are coming in the Islamic calendar, [the Ottoman Empire took it upon themselves to put the crescent on their flag.](_URL_0_) Following suit, many Islamic countries that came about afterwards also implemented the moon in their flags.\n\nI know this doesn't answer the question, but I felt that this was information that anyone who sees this question should know.",
"Here is a picture from 1970 of the first men to land on the moon visiting Pakistan. As you can see, they are being mobbed like celebrities.\n\n[Imgur]\\(_URL_0_)\n\n[Source](_URL_1_)\n\nShould also point out that you are almost guaranteed to find some cleric, or many, who passed some injunction against the moon landings, as there is no one church in Islam and so there is a greater chance to speak up on your own logic. Many Muslim-majority countries of the time were also involved in Cold War politics, and so those in a country against a US-allied government might attack American achievements to undermine their own leadership. \n\nSimilarly, many adverse (and thus likely to be reported) reactions to technology are those who are unsettled by the onset of modernity and how it makes them irrelevant. Modern Muslim sects are far more embracing of technology even when they preach reverting to a time without any, while clerics from traditional/older sects are more wary of modernity and try to oppose it.\n\nPS: I can tell that OP didn't mean it to sound the way it did, but its strange that a question like this makes sense. Firstly, it is very unhelpful to use the phrase Islamic World since it is a favourite for those looking to create an imagined community which doesn't exist in a truly financial or political sense. Secondly, I can't think of many reasons why Muslims would have a reaction different from the people in other developing countries at the time.\n\nEdit: Added source of image.\n"
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3azui7 | What is the history behind Las Vegas and why it is such a unique city? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3azui7/what_is_the_history_behind_las_vegas_and_why_it/ | {
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"Las Vegas for a long time existed primarily as a wide spot on the road on the Old Spanish Trail. It had water and thus was a good spot to rest your team on the way between Santa Fe and Southern California. Las Vegas means \"the meadows\" in Spanish. When the Mormons started settling in Utah, it acted in the same role for their trips to the coast and back. When the railroad came through it became a watering station. And then it did the same for the highways and eventually I-15. It has always been an important way station for folks on the way to Southern California.\n\nPermanent occupation had to wait till the late 19th century. Brigham Young had tried and then abandoned a settlement in the 1850s. A few decades later some developers tried again and got a small mostly Mormon farming community started. And even today Las Vegas is about 1/3 LDS. Ever since the 1850s there were also a series of mines in the area, silver and lead primarily. And Las Vegas became a good central hub for the miners to ship out their goods, pick up supplies, and spend their cash on booze, women, and gambling. Although eventually the gambling was outlawed.\n\nBy the late 1920s it was a small town of around 5,000 supporting the needs of the local farmers and miners, as well as travelers passing through. In 1929 this changed. The Feds started building Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam). And 10,000-20,000 men came to Vegas looking for work. Only about 5,000 found jobs. But a lot more men and women found work servicing the needs of the construction workers. Nevada quickly re-legalized gambling and prostitution had never been illegal. And Vegas, which had always had some establishments centered around parting the local miners from their money, found a larger and more lucrative group of men to entertain. The city quickly built such a reputation that the companies building the dam banned travel to Vegas and even leaned on the town to shut down the illegal gambling dens and speakeasies... which apparently didn't accomplish much.\n\nIn 1936 the dam was complete and most of the workers moved on. The dam had a crew working maintenance, but nothing like the size of the construction crews. However the dam and Lake Mead were becoming tourist sites. And the first resort style hotel was opened on what would become the strip in 1941. The first modern casino-hotel, the Flamingo, opened in 1946. By the 1950s the modern city was taking shape. Vegas was an easy trip up from LA and a series of casinos opened to outdo one another to grab the biggest talent for their shows to draw in the crowds. Most of the casino standards were in place by then. \n\nBasically the little town that had always had a strong service and entertainment tradition for miners and travelers grew up by first serving the needs of the greatest construction project of the early 20th century and then by becoming a destination resort city."
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4hs9md | Once a human reaches maturity, are there any cells left in the body that were there as an infant? | Just curious, since I read a discussion about the point at which someone/something is new (by replacement of parts). | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4hs9md/once_a_human_reaches_maturity_are_there_any_cells/ | {
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"Neurons. There may be more cell types that last this long (without dividing), but you definitely have neurons that have been there since you were a fetus.\n\nThere are some claims on the internet that all the atoms (or 98% of your atoms) get replaced every year, but the best source I could find for this factoid is here:\n_URL_1_\n\nA 1954 article, that's behind a paywall. That said you'd replace alot of your atoms every year. You drink and excrete alot of water, around 50 gallons a year. Water is a really good solvent, and the water in your body is a warm saline solution with little nano machines actively working inside it and churning things up. Plus you breath out alot of C02 (about a kilogram a day), some of that is coming from proteins and other complex organic molecules being burned up that need to be replaced. Maybe the 98% of your atoms being replaced a year is close to true, but I would need to see why and how that conclusion was made to believe it.\n\n_URL_0_"
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f3xu9z | why is a repetitive sound "annoying", but an irregular one isn't? | Like how most people can sleep to music, with the TV on, or around people talking, but cannot if there's an alarm beeping or a clock ticking. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f3xu9z/eli5_why_is_a_repetitive_sound_annoying_but_an/ | {
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"I would say it's the opposite. The irregular is annoying. \n\nThere is another difference in your example than irregular and regular. Music is often pleasant to listen to and people's voices can be comforting. An alarm is often annoying by design.",
"I think because with things like alarms, clocks, dripping taps etc you know what’s going to happen and are unconsciously waiting for it which gets distracting. It’s like when it’s windy and your bedroom window is open and the door is rattling. Even though it might be irregular it is still repetitive and you know it’s going to happen so you listen for it and concentrate on it. At least I do",
"Neural /sensory adaptation. That is, your sensory neurons will actually stop firing after exposure to a prolonged, constant stimulus\n\nFor example, when something is touching your skin for the first time, say, a new watch on your wrist, all your sensory nerves are firing. Neural adaptation is the process of your body getting used to the watch on your wrist and eventually no longer firing sensory neurons to let you know there's something there. \nWhich is why you feel like your wrist is 'naked' when you don't wear a watch after a while of wearing one constantly. The stimulus has changed and the neurons are now firing at a different frequency they are used to. \n\nNot all sensory neurons adapt, and some (phasic) adapt fadter than others (tonic).\n\nChanges to the intensity of a stimulus (volume, pressure, light) will throw the balance again and cause you to notice the stimulus\n\nThere's a really cool thing about the feeling you get when you're sleeping and you feel like you're falling that's to do with it too"
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84m9ed | I have seen many European writers referring to 'martial races' in Colonial era. What does this term exactly mean? How militaristic really were these races? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/84m9ed/i_have_seen_many_european_writers_referring_to/ | {
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"While I’m certainly not an expert on the concept, ideas surrounding martial race are something I engage with in in my PhD thesis, so I can provide at least a partial answer, with particular reference to Scotland (with Scottish Highlanders being one of the archetypical examples of a supposed ‘martial race’).\n\nIdeas about ‘martial races’ emerge in the latter half of the nineteenth century as the product of a convergence of factors – notably the expansion of European empires and new ideas about race (influenced in turn by Darwinism). European colonisers – particularly the British – are looking for ways to explain different levels of military capability among their subjects. Heather Streets, one of the foremost scholars on the phenomenon, locates this in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, which had an unprecedented effect on domestic popular and official opinion thanks to the gruesome and shocking nature of the reprisals against British soldiers and civilians. Explaining the Mutiny – which had taken the British entirely by surprise –through racial differences became popular, particularly among soldiers. Hindus, particularly those of high caste, are imagined as unmanly, cowardly and treacherous, and are contrasted with those who stay loyal (such as Sikhs, another famous ‘martial race’).\nThis way of thinking spreads across the British and other European empires, acting as a useful rationalisation for differentiating between races and their perceived capabilities. ‘Manly’ or ‘martial’ groups became favoured targets for recruitment for colonial powers. It should be noted that this kind of categorisation has a long history – Italians, for instance, have been viewed as inherently unwarlike since the sixteenth century or before. Yet new ideas about race – particularly conceptualising race as subject to a version of natural selection, in which ‘stronger’ races would inevitably conquer and displace weaker races – means that these ideas gain particular credence and substance in this period. \n\nThe question of whether these races actually WERE better fighters is much more difficult to answer. Naturally, whenever someone wanted to construct a racial hierarchy, they put themselves at the top (which is not to say that they weren’t anxious about it – the British, for instance, get very paranoid about perceived racial decline due to urbanisation and industrialisation in this period), so at least some of the claims were more than a little dodgy by default. You can see this when comparing various national mythologies about the First World War. Every nation has a battle they won (or distinguished themselves in), everyone claims to have had the best soldiers, or been regarded as ‘shock’ troops, or had the highest number of casualties (per capita, usually). No one who fought remembers their contribution as being ‘kinda middling, adequate I guess.’ For societies that value military prowess, there’s usually a way to spin things so that you come out looking good.\n\nMuch of the mythology also falls apart when you look closely enough. If we return to our Scottish Highlanders, it’s quickly apparent that most of these kilted warriors are actually from Lowland Scotland, which makes sense because that’s where most Scots actually lived at the time. This gets even more muddled by the wars of the twentieth century, where mass recruitment (and then conscription) blurs the lines even further, becoming impossible to maintain much geographic cohesion among new drafts. So, when we talk about Highland regiments distinguishing themselves at various battles, we’re hardly ever talking about actual Highlanders, or even Scots past a certain point.\n\nOn the other hand though, success in warfare has a close correlation to morale, which in turn reflects self-belief. In other words, if you believe that you’re better than your opponents, this is going to help you win. There might be many cultural, economic and other reasons why some groups are more militaristic than others. European colonialists might rationalise this as being inherently racial, but we might now point to other factors that can explain the same differences they observed. Not that this kind of thinking has disappeared – as any French people sick of being called cheese-eating surrender monkeys might attest – but that most people find it repugnant to view race in such explicitly hierarchical terms.\n"
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8kaxjt | what is worse on your liver...drinking 1 beer with 8.4% alcohol content or 2 beers with 4.2%? | I was out the other night with my wife and I was drinking some bud light. Then we went to a bar that had Boulevard Tank 7 which is 8.5%. Since 2 Bud Lights equal 1 Tank 7 but you are drinking more liquid...is it harder for the liver to process the more alcohol you are drinking or does it all equal out? I hope this makes sense. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8kaxjt/eli5_what_is_worse_on_your_liverdrinking_1_beer/ | {
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"8.4 % is probably worse for your liver because the alcohol is absorbed and processed by the liver quicker. The same way it’s worse to drink a bottle of wine in one go instead of over a few days. ",
"Your body sees the alcohol as a poison and works on getting rid of it. So getting a huge concentrated 8.4% burst of alcohol will be more draining to your liver than the two small 4.2% bursts of alcohol.\n\nIt's the same way when you get a snake bite: The venom pushed in your body will go to your lymph nodes which will be overwhelmed once it arrives all in one go. That is why putting a bandage over the limbs and reducing the quantity in which the venom arrives at the lymph nodes a way to survive.",
"Another thing to add to the above- 2x 4.2% beers will be (approximately) twice the volume of water. I don’t know if that’s better for your liver specifically, but certainly it’ll be better for your body as a whole (assuming you aren’t incredibly hydrated already)."
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359axq | looking at distant objects in space... is it literally like staring back in time? | I was reading the wikipedia page on the JWST yesterday and saw this line "The more distant an object is, the younger it appears: its light has taken longer to reach us." This is something I know, but it got me thinking. When we view a distant object in space, is it literally like looking back in time?
To expand on this.... Let's say it was possible to create and extremely powerful telescope that we could quickly deploy a few hundred light years away from earth. One that was powerful enough to get a few meter resolution of the earth's surface if we pointed it at the earth. (This is a theoretical.) Now let's we did just that i.e. pointed it at the earth from a point so far out in the universe where light from long ago (let's say a million years) is just reaching it. Would that telescope literally see the earth as it looked a million years ago? What if the distance was such that light from 73 years ago was just reaching it... Would it point to the earth and see WWII in "real time."
I know this is kind of a stupid question, but the thought that the JWST might allow us to "see" events that occurred millions of years ago out in the universe is intriguing me greatly. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/359axq/eli5_looking_at_distant_objects_in_space_is_it/ | {
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"If you put a telescope 73 light years from Earth and pointed it at Earth, yes you would see Earth 73 years in the past. But you could never see WW2 because it would take you at least 73 years to get the telescope out there, since nothing can travel faster than light. So this isn't a method that would allow you to see into your own past. It would, at best, let you see what you've missed on Earth as you were taking this telescope out into the far reaches of space."
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1quo4c | how do dollar stores manage to sell brand named products for such a low price? | 2 liter bottle of Coke for a $1 vs. the same drink for $2.50 a grocery store. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1quo4c/eli5_how_do_dollar_stores_manage_to_sell_brand/ | {
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"Because at a grocery store all those high prices you're seeing are 'impulse' buys. They're stationed at the front where people will quickly buy anything. \n\nFor Cub Foods there's a section where you can buy this hugeeee can for pop for less than a buck. Yet Upfront there are smaller bottles for more than twice the price. Once again, because they know people will be making impulse buys upfront ",
"It could also be the store buying overflow of stock from other companies. Here in Sweden we have one that buys from all around Europe. So a product that's expensive in let's say Germany is dirt cheap here because we don't know the brand (and the brand won't get damaged by low prices) a little OT but yeah some companies might get to much of an item that they can't turn fast enough so selling it of cheaper is more cost effective. ",
"Dollar stores generally operate on a high volume, low margin basis. What this means is the store attempts to sell many more items per day than a large grocery store but receive less profit per item. They rely heavily on buying from wholesalers at low cost and having very little operating costs. \n\nYou may also notice that many dollar stores carry very few or no perishable goods. A large grocery store may require extra profits on items like Coke because they may have to discard the $200 of turkey meat that is now expired and no longer salable. \n\nThere are many other factors that can contribute to the sales price, however. Some Dollar stores are large chain franchises that heavily utilize economies of scale to obtain large price cuts from wholesales. Small Dollar stores generally rely on low financing costs.",
"As others have said, dollar stores buy overflow of stock from other companies, products from factories that can't ship because they are slightly irregular etc. Food nearing the expiry date and so on.\n\nAnother reason is that a lot of the name brand products they sell are actually Chinese counterfeits. Especially beauty products and toiletries such as toothpaste and soaps. You can usually tell these by reading the labels though as there are frequently grammatical errors or spelling mistakes."
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59v6hq | why is it unhealthy to remain unconscious for too long? | Can someone help me out with this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/59v6hq/eli5_why_is_it_unhealthy_to_remain_unconscious/ | {
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"It isn't unhealthy to remain unconcious for \"too long\". The problem is that if something renders someone unconscious such as a blow to the head, the longer they are out indicates greater levels of damage and disruption to the brain.\n\nYou are confusing the cause and the symptom. It isn't bad to sit in a giant pool of blood, but it is a really bad sign to see an injured person sitting in a giant pool of blood."
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1hsssq | what happens if air is injected into your blood stream? a very small amount? a syringe worth? | Just wondering
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hsssq/eli5_what_happens_if_air_is_injected_into_your/ | {
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"Any defect in the bloodstream is called an embolism - defect meaning anything that is in the bloodstream that isn't blood. When the defect is air, it is called an air embolism. \n\nYou suppose the first 'question' in our chain: how does the air get there in the first place. The usual candidates are medical procedures, though major injury to a blood vessel can have the same impact. Obviously, an injection is a medical procedure. Most medical procedures with a few exceptions involve the 'return' side of the vascular system, ie the veins - which is by design, and has a lot of positive side effects for an AE. \n\nThe effect of an AE depends on where in the circulatory system it occurs. If, as we've indicated, the embolism occurs in a vein, it will be transmitted to the heart - specifically the right Atrium. The air will then be passed by the pumping action of the atrium into the right ventricle. This is the first place where a serious problem can occur. If the quantity of air present is enough to displace a 'large volume of blood' - about 100 mL - then the ventricle may become partially or totally obstructed, which would prevent the movement of blood in the body, and lead to death. \n\nIf there is *not* enough air to occlude the ventricle, the air will be pumped to the lungs where it has the potential to escape the body through the same process that all other blood gases do. \n\nIf the AE begins in the arterial part of the vascular system, the problem can be much more serious as it can block the flow of blood to a major organ or system (eg, the brain or heart). The reason this can occur in the arteries but not the veins is that the arteries only 'narrow' in the direction of the flow of blood, and veins only 'widen.' An AE in an artery would behave exactly as any other arterial blockage, and would lead to an infarction. \n\nNow, the blood is full of dissolved gases all the time (that's its primary purpose after all) - so there is an extent to which it can handle this problem. The blood has a limited capacity to dissolve air within itself, and given time the air in blood will dissolve (assuming it does not kill the patient first). So a 'very small amount' would likely be either dissolved before anything of significance happened, or be expelled through the lungs. A larger amount could pose a more serious threat, depending on precisely how large the embolism is, and where it took place. \n\nThis problem is something that is experienced by divers (associated with decompression sickness) - but in reverse. Gases that are dissolved in the blood under pressure come out of suspension when the pressure is decreases, causing an air embolus. Interestingly, one of the treatments for an AE is a hyperbaric chamber - basically 'playing back' the conditions of decompression sickness in reverse. ",
"Depends how much and where.\n\nIf its into an artery, it'll travel down until the vessel gets too thin, at which point it will obstruct blood flow. This is called an 'air embolism'. What happens afterwards is the same as when any blood vessel gets occluded, the tissue fed by that blood vessel can become necrotic due to oxygen deprivation unless it can get blood flow from other blood vessels. If its a small amount of air, the occlusion might be somewhere where the tissue can be blood flow from elsewhere. Nothing bad will happen as eventually the air will dissolve into the bloodstream and be reabsorbed by the surrounding tissues. A larger amount of air, however, and it can obstruct an artery that feeds an entire organ, such as a cardiac artery, a cerebral artery, or your mesenteric artery (feeds blood to your bowels). This can cause bigger problems depending on what organ becomes ischemic (oxygen deprived): a heart attack, stroke, etc. Air getting into the arteries isn't very common because arteries tend to be deeper into the tissue and rarely involved in injections (which are the leading cause of air emboli).\n\nVeins are the common site for injections, both medically and recreationally. Once again, the same general principles as above can apply but since veins flow from smaller to larger, problems don't tend to arise until you hit a critical juncture. Veins are also a bit more resistant to air emboli as there are valves in the veins. Normally the valves are used to help build pressure so blood can get back to the heart, but these valves can serve to trap, disrupt, and break apart air bubbles in blood stream. If the bubble is large enough, a vein can get occluded at the valve, but veinous blood flow has a lot more co-axial flow so a blockage in a vein can usually be circumvented through other veins.\n\nThe big problem that comes from an air bubble in the veinous system is when that bubble eventually gets back to your heart and gets pumped into your lungs. A large enough bubble can block blood flow in the heart. There's also the pulmonary arteries, the vessels that carry blood from your heart to your lungs, get rather narrow. If these vessels get blocked, you get something called a pulmonary embolism, which is a life-threatening condition. Blood flow to the lung gets blocked, blood can't get oxygenated, and you basically suffocate while still being able to breath.\n\nThe veinous system can handle a lot more air before it becomes a risk, but injections into the veinous blood flow are more common and more likely to be done by somebody without medical training (ie - IV drug users). The arterial system, however, can cause serious complications with as little as 0.5mL of air into a cardiac artery (a potential complication that can arise from cardiac angiographies) or 2mL into a cerebral artery.\n\nAir emboli are also the cause of the symptoms when experiencing 'the bends' from diving, though in diving, its from nitrogen gas rather than normal air.\n\nSource: Medical professional that does IV injections",
"I always thought it would be cool to see this in a movie. When someones is being held hostage with a needle in their neck, have it be full of air instead of poison. ",
"Ok so like you are five... Air can be squeezed (compression) and stretched (vacuum) and liquids can't. So if air desplaces enough blood in your heart it no longer is pumping blood just compressing the air when it contracts. The elasticity in the air prevents the right ventricle from pulling blood from your vena cava (think of pulling something heavy with a stretchy rope) this reduces the amount of blood the comes into your heart and air's ability to be compressed prevents the right ventricle and left ventricle from pushing the blood to your lungs (right ventricle) and body (left ventricle)(imagine trying to push a heavy weight with a soft spring, the spring will absorb most of the pushing force). When this happens it's called cavitation and it not only can happen in the heart, but also in any pump that uses a centrifugal pumping system that depends on it not having air in the system.\n\nSource: Firefighter/Paramedic for many years\n\nEDIT: Changed the word fluids to liquids\n\nAlso when I say push against a heavy weight I refer to systemic vascular resistance (SVR). That’s the force the heart has to work against to pump blood.",
"Thanks everyone for their answers. Now I will second guess injecting air into my veins. ",
"Great, now I'm worried I could die getting a shot.",
"As an ex junkie Ive shot up with air in the rig plenty of times, never any adverse effects. But I imagine an entire syringe full would be a different story. ",
"Don't do it op",
"I was in the hospital recently and a bubble went down my IV line. I pointed it out to a nurse, and she said \"Don't worry about it.\"\n\nI didn't. Nothing happened. \n\nOf course a bubble isn't the same thing as a syringe worth of air.",
"Did you recently see the Heat?",
"The Heat! \n\nCoincidence? I think not! "
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688dn1 | Did the concept of "interracial couples" exist in Ancient Rome? | Were marriages between someone from the Middle East or Africa and someone from Europe common? Was there stigma against these couples? Were Julius Caesar and Cleopatra considered an "interracial" couple? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/688dn1/did_the_concept_of_interracial_couples_exist_in/ | {
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"Yes and no.\n\n\nModern racism is a post-Classical concept, it does not appear in surviving Egyptian, Greek or Roman literature or other accounts.\n\n\n\n \nXenophobia, bigotry, sectarianism and extreme nationalism were all amply represented in Classical times but the racism familiar to us today was pretty much unheard of.\n\n\n\n \n \n*Were marriages between someone from the Middle East or Africa and someone from Europe common?*\n\n\n \nYes, there are many sources describing or depicting marriages between Romans and non-Romans, both in Rome and in the provinces, from common legionnaires to senators and emperors. \nAs to the possible stigma against such marriages it is difficult to say exactly how the Romans may have felt about any given ethnic group at any given time, but generally speaking, they were more concerned with culture, power, wealth and social class or standing. A Roman, and one of Latin descent, stood above all, whereas a barbaric appearing Gaul might be considered contemptible. The poor were generally frowned upon as much as happens in any society, but Roman citizens were still more respected than any barbarian culture. Greeks were often accepted/admired (depending on the person or group of course) above various 'barbarian' cultures because of many similarities. However, evidence seems to show that a ethnicity played little part once that group was Romanised. If they looked, acted and behaved like a Roman, then to most, they were a Roman. Non-Romanised foreigners were certainly subject to some disdain.\n\n\n\n \n*Were Julius Caesar and Cleopatra considered an \"interracial\" couple?*\n\n\nNo, because the concept was unknown, add to that Cleopatra was a Ptolemy, a Greek family originally installed after Alexander the Greats conquest of Egypt.\n\n\n\n \nBut the marriage was extremely unpopular with the Roman senate. Calpurnia (Caesar's official wife. he wasn't married to Cleopatra under Roman law) was the daughter of a prominent Roman family and while like a good Roman woman she was subservient and demure, Cleopatra was powerful and outspoken. Caesar had many enemies in Rome by this time - chief amongst whom was the orator Cicero. Cicero declared Alexandria \"the home of all tricks and deceits\" and openly admitted that he despised Cleopatra. He was of the opinion that women were intellectually weak and should always be under the power of their male guardians so he was greatly concerned about Cleopatra's influence over Caesar. Rumours began to circulate that Caesar planned to move the capital of the Empire to Alexandria and senators began plotting how they could reverse Caesar's reforms."
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6gck58 | Mercury isn't moving at a speed close to that of light. Why did Newtonian gravity fall short in predicting its orbit? | My understanding is that relativistic effects are negligible at speeds far, far below that of light (~50 km/s, give or take, in the case of Mercury's orbital speed). Does that rule of thumb apply on to special relativity? | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6gck58/mercury_isnt_moving_at_a_speed_close_to_that_of/ | {
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"It's because its orbit lies so close to the sun. Einstein's theory of general relativity explains the discrepancy between the predictive path calculated with Newton's law of universal gravitation, and the physical observation of Mercury's orbit.\n\n[Wikipedia: Universal Law of Gravitation, Problematic Aspects ](_URL_0_)",
"The issue here is the Sun's mass much more so than velocity (relativistic effects also happen due to gravitation). Mercury is close enough to the Sun to cause an easily measurable difference in orbital precession relative to Newtonian theory. This too is actually a comparatively small change, if you were looking at your watch face as an analog of a complete orbit about the Sun the relativistic precession of perihelion would be less than 1/5 of a percent of the space swept out by one second hand, or equivalent to the angle a constantly moving second hand sweeps out in 2 milliseconds. Per century. But because orbits are large, this is a measurable amount on the scale of the Solar System (corresponding to a difference in location at perihelion equal to the diameter of the Earth).\n\nIt just happened to correspond to something that was possible to measure to that level of precision in the early 20th century. Today there are lots of things where we need to account for relativity. GPS satellites, of course, which rely on very precisely synchronized clocks in orbit, without accounting for relativity measurements would diverge by several km per day between re-calibration. Astrometry space telescopes (like Hipparcos and GAIA) need to account for the fact that the apparent positions of stars will be different depending on whether or not they are viewed along a sight-line that is parallel or perpendicular relative to the position of the Sun, due to the bending of light caused by the Sun's gravity. It's a small effect but for very precise measurements it makes a difference.",
"/u/rocketsocks has it covered, I just thought I'd add: there are two \"relativities\" - special relativity, which deals with speed effects, and general relativity, which deals with gravitational effects. The Mercury phenomenon is explained by general relativity.",
"it's not just \"moving fast\" where newtonian physics fails. apparently also orbiting close to a big mass makes a difference in general relativity (as the first correction is 1/r³). in general you would have to take the solution of Einstein's equation and see when it approximately resembles newton's law of gravitation and pin down which set of approximations need to be used to say when newton's law fails. see post-newtonian corrections\n\nthat particular rule of thumb is just *one* rule of thumb. "
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3hk6ce | Why doesn't the downward acceleration of satellite orbits cause them to fall farther each passing second? | Not understanding the acceleration element in orbiting satellites has always bothered me.
In a simplified explanation, I learned that satellites stay in orbit (let's say a constant distance from Earth) because of two separate vectors: a lateral one and a downward one.
This was illustrated simply in my college textbook by showing a ball that travels 5 km laterally in one second, and falling 5 meters closer to Earth in that same second. The 5 meters it fell in that second exactly counterbalances the 5 meter increase in the distance to the Earth due to its curvature (not to scale of course). This makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense is that while the lateral vector is constant, the acceleration toward Earth should (in my mind) cause it to become closer to Earth each passing second. After all, acceleration is a speed over time squared, right? So in the first second it may fall 5 meters, but in each passing second, shouldn't the distance the ball travels closer to the Earth increase dramatically?
I believe this user was asking something similar in the link below.
_URL_0_
I understand acceleration isn't necessarily a change in speed, but also direction. However, if the two vectors are independent (sideways and downward), wouldn't the speed of the downward vector always be accelerating--covering more distance with each passing second, becoming closer to Earth? Unfortunately I can only think about this problem in layman's terms--so I wonder if I'm doomed to be hung up on this for eternity, haha. | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3hk6ce/why_doesnt_the_downward_acceleration_of_satellite/ | {
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"So, thinking about it in terms of two vectors of motion isn't *exactly* right. There *are* two vectors. One is its vector of motion, or its velocity. The other is its vector of acceleration due to gravity.\n\nThe satellite's velocity makes it want to move in a straight line forever. The satellite's acceleration makes it want to change its vector of motion to be more towards the source of gravity (the Earth). As the satellite moves through its orbit, its vector of motion is being 'turned' by gravity. However, since the satellite is not sitting still, the vector of acceleration due to gravity is also constantly 'turning' away from its vector of motion. The acceleration of gravity *is* increasing the velocity of the craft toward the center of the earth, but by the time it's accelerated it enough to want to move in the opposite direction, the satellite is already on the other side of the planet, and now gravity is pulling it in the *other* direction.\n\nShort answer: play some Kerbal Space Program. I never had a strong grasp on orbital mechanics until I started playing that game. Now thinking about them is completely natural.",
"Your confusion is coming from the fact that you believe there are two forces acting on the object in orbit- really there is only one. \n\nLet's take the simplest case- a satellite in a circular orbit around a spherical body. There is exactly one force acting on the satellite- the force of gravity pulling the satellite directly towards the center of the planet it is orbiting. That force is always exactly perpendicular to the velocity of the satellite- and the satellite's speed is always a constant. \n\nA second part of your confusion is you are thinking of \"downward\" as a constant direction. Really, what is considered \"down\" is actually constantly changing. \n\nIf you want to imagine a satellite which passes over the North and South Pole, when the satellite is directly over the North Pole, the force of gravity is pulling the satellite \"down\" and when it is over the South Pole, from the perspective of someone standing far away from Earth not rotating with the satellite, gravity is now pulling the satellite \"up\" (and similar when it is on the sides- it is getting pulled left and right). All of these pulls get cancelled out, returning the satellite right back to where it started after every revolution. ",
"One way to visualize this is to imagine the physics happening in discrete steps. Imagine an object in an orbit with (picking randomly) a velocity vector parallel to the planet's surface of 5 km/s and an acceleration vector towards the surface of 10 m/s^2. Play out this situation for one second. The acceleration vector has given the object a 10 m/s velocity towards the surface, and it's moved 50 m in the same direction. But by this point, the object has moved 5 km due to the initial velocity (actually a little less, now that the gravity vector has shifted direction and is slightly opposing that velocity vector), which has carried it away from the surface. If this is a circular orbit, these changes will put the object at the same altitude, with the same magnitudes for the velocity and acceleration vectors, but in slightly different directions.",
" > After all, acceleration is a speed over time squared, right? \n\nNo. Acceleration (a vector) is the rate of change of velocity (a vector). In terms of units it is speed over time. In the case of a circular orbit the velocity vector is changing at a constant rate, it's only changing in direction but it is changing none the less. Of course you probably understood this but goofed in your description.\n\n > So in the first second it may fall 5 meters, but in each passing second, shouldn't the distance the ball travels closer to the Earth increase dramatically?\n\nNo. You are focusing on the distance between the Earth and the orbiting object. That puts you in a rotating and thus accelerating reference frame. I am pretty sure that is what is confusing you. The relevant distance in this case is the distance between where the object would have been had it not been deflected by gravity (heading straight off into space) and where it is as it orbits the earth. If you think about that distance I am sure you will see that that distance is increasing with \"each passing second\". I don't know what example in which book you are citing but I have got to believe that example was inspired by [Newton's proof of Kepler's 2nd law which he described in Principia](_URL_0_). It's not the most transparent explanation of the physics for a novice so I can see your confusion.\n\n > However, if the two vectors are independent (sideways and downward), wouldn't the speed of the downward vector always be accelerating--covering more distance with each passing second, becoming closer to Earth?\n\nAs others have pointed out, what is meant by downward is constantly changing. It's rotating. If you focus on the downward direction you are in an rotating/accelerating reference frame and that is going to confuse you. "
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52mllk | Footprints on the moon Destroyed by seismic activity? | If there is seismic activity on the moon that can last up to an hour would the footprints that we are told will be there forever be flattened out and destroyed by Lunar quakes | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/52mllk/footprints_on_the_moon_destroyed_by_seismic/ | {
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"The moon has some seismic activity. It has a cold interior and therefore no tectonic motions to cause the really large earthquakes (7.0+) we see on earth. A 5.5 one would not be enough to flatten dust piles. At least not in thousands of years. The recent Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter still found tracks and other artifacts at the Apollo sites. So all the quakes since Apollo didn't flatten the existing prints.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n > Shallow moonquakes on the other hand were doozies. Between 1972 and 1977, the Apollo seismic network saw twenty-eight of them; a few \"registered up to 5.5 on the Richter scale,\" says Neal. A magnitude 5 quake on Earth is energetic enough to move heavy furniture and crack plaster."
]
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"http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/15mar_moonquakes/",
"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/revisited/#.V9idiDXkWUl"
]
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34e7ri | Are there examples of prizes for discoverers, similar to the X Prizes? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/34e7ri/are_there_examples_of_prizes_for_discoverers/ | {
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"There have been many challenge prizes over the past few centuries, often backed by governments, national academies, businesses or philanthropists.\n\nIn 1775, the French Academy of Science offered 2,400 livres for anyone who could cheaply produce sodium carbonate. The winner was the [Leblanc Process](_URL_1_).\n\nIn 1863, New York manufacturers Phelan and Collender offered $10,000 for a material to replace ivory billiard balls. The winner used [an early form of plastic](_URL_2_).\n\nStarting in the 1910s, financier Jacques Schneider offered a prize (the Schneider Cup, later the Schneider Trophy) and £1,000 for feats of fast flying. Winning designs strongly influenced important WW2 planes like the Spitfire and the Mustang.\n\nThese examples come from [this guide to historical challenge prizes](_URL_0_) from UK innovation foundation Nesta, which also covers other historical prizes, including the margarine prize and the canned food prize."
]
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"http://www.nesta.org.uk/news/guide-historical-challenge-prizes",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leblanc_process",
"http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_2947"
]
] | ||
3zjrxa | why aren't elections publicly funded? wouldn't that be better? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zjrxa/eli5_why_arent_elections_publicly_funded_wouldnt/ | {
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"Disregarding arguments about practicality, it's not in the interest of those governing to make elected offices truly available to anyone.",
"Your first practical problem would be passing such a law. Congress is full of people who won their seats by raising lots of money for their campaign, so having to raise a lot of money isn't a problem for them. They don't want to vote to take away their advantage and give all candidates the same amount of money.\n\nAssuming you can pass the law, you have to work out which candidates deserve public funding. Why only four candidates per party in the primaries, and how do you decide which four candidates qualify? Why do only the Republicans and Democrats get public funding? How much support would a third party need before they also qualify for public funding of their primary and their nominated candidate? How will they campaign to get that support and qualify for public funding if you've banned donations to campaigns?"
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141qri | Why does Olanzapine "cause body weight gain" even though it "disturb the metabolism by making the body take preferentially its energy from fat" | _URL_0_ > Metabolic effects.
Shouldn't it promote weight *loss* since it's essentially making body use up the fat? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/141qri/why_does_olanzapine_cause_body_weight_gain_even/ | {
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"Olanzapine causes weight gain due to it's antagonistic effects at serotonin (5HT) receptors, muscarinic receptors, and histaminergic receptors. \n\nOlanzapine and other antipsychotics like it) also causes lowered levels of leptin (peptide involved in suppressing hunger) and increased insulin levels, which also contribute to weight gain. \n\nRegarding the different atypical antipsychotics and their receptor activity, generally the ones with the less anti-muscarinic, anti-histaminic, and anti-seretonin receptor activity have the least amount of weight gain. \n\nFor example, aripiprazole and ziprasidone have negligible effects on weight gain, diabetes risk, and worsening of lipid profiles. They also have little activity at blocking muscarinic and histaminic receptors. Regarding seretonin, ziprasidone is a potent antagonist but also inhibits the reuptake of serotonin (so increases the chance of it binding) and aripiprazole is a potent agonist/antagonist at different types of seretonin receptors. "
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olanzapine"
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2zpan5 | when people hunt animals using poisoned arrows/darts why doesn't the meat make them sick despite it being imbued with potentially lethal poison? | I presume only a small amount is used but still, 1mg of Golden
Poison Dart Frog poison is enough to kill between 10 and 20 humans!
Is it maybe that the poison is neutralised in the process of killing the animal, leaving the meat safe to eat? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zpan5/eli5_when_people_hunt_animals_using_poisoned/ | {
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"A lot of animal poisons are destroyed by heat so you just have to make sure the food is properly cooked for it to be safe. ",
"I've read that, at least in some areas, they excise the meat surrounding the wound and toss it.",
"1. A lot of toxins are destroyed by heat, so cooking the food removes them.\n\n2. A lot of toxins aren't poisonous when ingested, as they are destroyed by stomach acid.\n\n3. Removing and discarding the meat nearby the wound removes enough poison to make the rest of the animal safe."
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95od1i | What was the dark side of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk | Im a turkish person and ı recently watched a video about the distasteful views Gandhi had. That made me curious about the founder of my country. In advance, thanks for answering. | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/95od1i/what_was_the_dark_side_of_mustafa_kemal_atatürk/ | {
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"Well, off the top of my head, he was quite an alcoholic. Mustafa Kemal drank about a bottle of Raki a day, which is around 50% purely alcohol. He died of cirrhosis, which he had for much of his life, and no doubt from his alcohol intake.\n\nAtatürk was also a fairly common patron of brothels in his youth, to the point where even the most positive biographies of the man I’ve read have brought this up.\n\nI wouldn’t describe this part as being particularly “dark”, but Mustafa Kemal was very cynical about religion. He claimed to “have no religion, and at times [he’d] wish all religions at the bottom of the sea,” according to an interview with Grace Ellison in her book *Turkey Today*. This is a troubling matter for many conservative Turks. Many people believe he merely fought for secularism, although this aspect would suggest he had a personal distaste for religion.\n\nMustafa Kemal Atatürk’s presidency was, in effect, a single-party state, and open elections for the presidency only began after his death. However, Atatürk himself did attempt to introduce an opposition party to his CHP, that being the Liberal Republican Party, in order to replicate the multi-party systems of democratic nations. The Liberal Republican Party, however, would be taken in by reactionaries and conservatives who wished to eliminate Atatürk’s reforms, and its founder, a supporter of the reforms, would dissolve the party. No other party would be formed until after Kemal’s death.\n\nHitler apparently idolized him in some capacity. Kemal’s total ignorance of Western demands for his country, the success of the ensuing war against the Western powers, and the following recreation of Turkey in a secular and very patriotic view (and as an ethnically nearly-singular capacity) became a beacon of a Germany he could one day create. There is actually a very intriguing book on this very subject, [Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination](_URL_2_), by Stefan Ihrig, published by the Harvard Press. If you’re interested in this aspect, I recommend you check it out.\n\nProbably the worst of Kemal Atatürk’s actions as President was his obsession with a “single Turkish people”, which no doubt was an important tenet Hitler would cling to. In the atrocities and aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War (The western front of the War of Independence), thousands upon thousands of ethnic Greeks were killed in Turkey and ethnic Turks were killed in Greece. After the war, Turkey and Greece had the population exchange, where 1.6 million people were forced out of their homes as refugees, and forced to go to Greece if they were Orthodox, or Turkey if they were Muslim. This was planned by Turkey as a means to authorize the forced migrations of Greeks from Turkey that had already began during the war, with the benefit of new Turks coming in to populate the devastated regions from both World War I and the Turkish War of Independence. This led to Turkey having a near-unilateral religion. Kemal seemed to hold an image of “Turkishness”. He believed that a religion should unify a people into one nation, and viewed the separation between Turks, Arabs, and Persians as evidence of a separate “natural religion” of each people. This actually was a famous part of one of his own works, [Medeni Bilgiler](_URL_0_).\n\nPlenty of his foreign policy actions, such as his friendliness with both the Soviet Union and the United States, could be perceived as bad, depending on who you talk to.\n\nNearly all of these points are tackled in Andrew Mango’s [Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey](_URL_1_). It’s actually a very even-handed biography of the man, and I really recommend you pick it up.\n\nThank you for a great question!"
]
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"https://www.idefix.com/kitap/medeni-bilgiler-gazi-mkemal/arastirma-tarih/tarih/ataturk/urunno=0000000166228",
"https://www.amazon.com/Ataturk-Biography-Founder-Modern-Turkey/dp/158567334X",
"http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674368378"
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3llcku | why do squirrels move so sporadically? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3llcku/eli5_why_do_squirrels_move_so_sporadically/ | {
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"A lot of predators are attracted by movement. Humans are a great example - something moving when everything else is still, or moving in a rather odd way, really attracts our attention.\n\nSquirrels are a tiny bit more invisible when they sit absolutely still. So they put on a little burst of speed to get to where they want to be, then pause to hopefully throw off the tracking of that eagle or weasel or coyote that spotted them. \n\nSure, it's not a perfect survival strategy, but every little bit helps. "
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5i2jfp | how do people in submarines breathe after being submerged for long periods of time | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5i2jfp/elif_how_do_people_in_submarines_breathe_after/ | {
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"To oversimplify, submarines have systems for removing CO2 and adding O2 to maintain a normal, breathable atmosphere inside. Spacecraft are similar, though even more self contained.",
"Are you asking where the breathing air in a submarine comes from? \n\nIf that's the case there is a machine called a carbon dioxide scrubber. What it does is turn the carbon dioxide into water and a byproduct via a chemical reaction. \n\nBut this does not make any oxygen. There are 2 ways to get oxygen. Either you bring tanks of oxygen onto the sub, and you release oxygen when you need to. \n\nOr you create oxygen from the water. The process is called electrolysis. What it does is separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen atom. ",
"When the o2 generators go down they can also burn oxygen candles.\n\nSource: former uss seawolf submariner",
"There are multiple systems on a sub that work in conjunction to maintain breathable air to the crew. Nuclear subs have a more than ample supply of electricity, so water can be broken down into O2 and H2 via electrolysis. The O2 is stored and dispersed into the ship, while the H2 is sent to a CO-H2 burner to eliminate both hydrogen and carbon monoxide. CO2 scrubbers are used to remove excess CO2 from the air. Note that the nitrogen in the air becomes a relative constant, since we don't react to it. Note that the sub normally maintains a slightly higher O2 level than is found naturally, with the side effect of finding it hard to get to sleep the first few nights aboard\n\nIf needed, the sub's diesel generator can be used to ventilate, or replace the air on the ship, as it sucks it air for operation. This can even be done while submerged when the sub is at snorkel depth. This is an important capability in the event of a fire or other toxic gas issue, and crews drill often on this when underway\n\nThe ship does have extensible emergency air breathing (EAB) systems and masks for the crew. The EAB masks have long hoses and support buddy connections so that crews can continue to do their jobs in degraded atmospheres. The sub's air tanks can sustain the crew for very extended periods of time.\n"
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16sd5h | elii'm5: what does "wild-type" mean in the context of genetics? | I am reading through some papers I don't understand for school and I see the phrase "wild-type" all over the place. What does it mean?
Thanks in advance | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16sd5h/eliim5_what_does_wildtype_mean_in_the_context_of/ | {
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"'Wild-type' means the phenotype of a species that occurs in nature (in other words, \"normal\"), as opposed to 'mutant'.\n\nSo for example, in humans, wild type would be having five fingers, whereas mutant might be having six."
]
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t2kcz | How much mass could a human move? | You see feats of strength clips all the time of people pulling buses by their teeth, etc. If we eliminate variables such as gravity, friction, etc., how much weight--lets say in the shape of a steel cube--could a human move from a dead stop? (Their feet can be anchored on an object of infinite mass if this helps answer this hypothetical.) | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/t2kcz/how_much_mass_could_a_human_move/ | {
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"F=ma (Force equals mass times acceleration). A tiny force can move an enormous mass but the acceleration will be very low.\n\nIn this thought experiment the limit is just short of an infinite mass.\n\na=F/m where F is finite and m is infinite gives a value for acceleration of zero. Any positive finite values for F and m will give a positive finite value for a.",
"Newton's first and third laws:\n\n *Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.*\n\n*For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.*\n\nImagine drifting in space with another person of equal mass, and you push off from each other. Both of you would fly away from your starting points at equal speeds. Now imagine pushing off from a heavier person, you would both move, but the heavier person wouldn't move as far from their starting point.\n\nNow imagine standing on the moon, and you jump. The same amount of force used to send you upwards, was also used to push the moon away from you.\n\nYou can move anything you can imagine in a friction-less environment.\n",
"Vaguely related to this, if you've ever had experience moving boats/ships around with your bare hands, you'll have some intuitive understanding of what a human can move with minimal friction. A single man can move a cruise liner, given time.\n\n[Moving a destroyer or QE2 by hand](_URL_0_)\n\nIn the absence of gravity and friction, some pretty bizarre things would happen. But given your anchoring of the feet to an object of infinite mass, a human would be able to move anything, of course before he dies from oxygen deprivation.",
"\"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.\"\n-Archimedes\n\n...which, despite some of his other questionable scientific statements, turns out to be true. If you eliminate gravity and friction, a human being could accelerate literally *any* mass, albeit perhaps very slowly. \n\nIt all boils down to Newton's equation, F=ma.\nF = force\nm = mass\na = acceleration\n\nSo a human can apply a finite amount of force, let's say 100 pounds because I don't know how much the average person can bench press. So as the mass of the object you're trying to move increases, the acceleration decreases. You could move something the size of a planet... it would just take a very, very long time to accelerate it to any noticeable speed."
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zae5d | Why won't fuses protect electronics from an EMP? | My understanding is that an EMP fries circuits by inducing a very large current in the circuit. Aren't fuses supposed to break the circuit in case of a very large current? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/zae5d/why_wont_fuses_protect_electronics_from_an_emp/ | {
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"First of all, EMPs are so quick that a fuse would not be able to help, however, an EMP creates current everywhere in the circuit, so even if your fuse could react fast enough it wouldn't do anything.",
"Layman answer, but:\n\nAnother reason is that an EMP can induce voltage and current between any two arbitrary points on a circuit, whereas a fuse is typically designed to protect an entire circuit under the assumption that the voltage difference crosses the fuse. \n\nSo if an EMP induces a voltage difference directly across the leads of an electronic component, the fuse doesn't come into play at all."
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7pfpac | what was special about frank zappa? why was/is he considered a musical genius? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7pfpac/eli5_what_was_special_about_frank_zappa_why_wasis/ | {
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"I tried to listen to him several times over the years and just couldn't, didn't understand the big deal with him."
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6mucq3 | why do cows not wink when they get flies in their eyes? | I'm working outside and during hot days in summer the flies are really annoying. And I was wondering why they bother us that much, because they are actually harmless(or is this wrong?).
Why do we have the reflex to wink when they land on our eyes but some animals like cows don't? Why aren't they annoyed by all those flies around them? I've never talked to one though so maybe they are annoyed...
Are we too sensitive and is it really useful when it comes to flies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mucq3/eli5_why_do_cows_not_wink_when_they_get_flies_in/ | {
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"I have animals.. not cattle, but I have a donkey, llama, and sheep. Mostly what I see them do when flies start to annoy them is shake their heads, but I have seen them blink too. They stomp their feet or swish a tail when they are annoying them as well.\n\nMostly though, livestock are not bothered by the flies until they start to get tickled by them, or are aware that it is a biting fly. Mind you I see some horses so irritated by flies that their owners have to keep fly masks on them or the horses are really annoyed. \n\nLivestock, and wild animals, eventually come to realize they waste a lot of energy dealing with flies so unless it is a biting fly, why bother?\n\nYou will note that when you see pictures of people in poor areas of Africa they are sometimes seen with flies crawling on them and they don't seem to mind. I suppose it's because they don't care and have gotten use to the flies where as we get irritated easier."
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1u6in6 | if our universe is, say, a balloon that's expanding... what's outside of the balloon? there has to be space (no pin intended) for it to expand in, right? | Otherwise,is our universe creating space as it expands? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1u6in6/eli5_if_our_universe_is_say_a_balloon_thats/ | {
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"It's a bit tough to wrap your head around, but the universe is more like the *surface* of a balloon. As you inflate it, there's no more actual \"balloon-stuff\" but the existing stuff makes more surface area.",
"The space that is our universe is what is expanding."
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1j558r | the storyline thus far of the game of thrones series (up to the most recent tv series not the books). | With all of the twist and turns and deaths, its hard to keep up with it. Could someone(s) help me out? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j558r/eli5_the_storyline_thus_far_of_the_game_of/ | {
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"[one and two recap.](_URL_1_)\n\n[three recap... A bit longer.](_URL_0_)",
"Three hundred years ago, House Targaryen conquered the seven kingdoms of Westeros in the war called Aegon's Conquest. Seventeen years ago, House Targaryen was deposed by the eight major houses in the war called Robert's Rebellion. The kingdom's at a fragile peace because people are loyal to their major house and not the king, and the king has no standing army. Every major house lives in a different climate and has its own regional culture. They compete for wealth and authority.\n\nRobert of House Baratheon and Eddard of House Stark both get killed by House Lannister, who had been continuously undermining the kingdom and consolidating their resources. This leads to the War of the Five Kings where five different people are fighting either to be king of the whole continent or to have their own region independent.\n\nThe War of the Five Kings ends when Eddard's son Robb, the King in the North, gets killed by the lord of one of his own minor houses, along with nearly all of his tens of thousands of soldiers and his commanders. Before that, the claimant Renly Baratheon was assassinated by his brother Stannis Baratheon. Stannis then tried to attack the capital city Kings Landing but failed and lost most of his army, and runs to the far north in order to stop an invasion of the continent by a race of mythical ice-men.\n\nIt remains to be seen:\n\n1. What do the ice-men want with the continent?\n2. How will the kingdom redistribute Robb Stark's lands?\n3. A hundred other things I didn't cover.",
"Incest can fuck up an entire kingdom"
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3cjeu7 | why do you lean when playing racing games? e.g leaning into corners or moving the controller to the side | When playing racing games I always find myself bracing or leaning into corners even though I know I am playing a game.what is making me do that and why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cjeu7/eli5why_do_you_lean_when_playing_racing_games_eg/ | {
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"Especially when it comes to a new, foreign, and time-limited tasks, your brain is trying to \"find the solution\" to the problem given as quickly as possible(whether that problem is making it around a corner, not getting shot, or answering a question). Because of this, you sometimes use the wrong solution for this specific problem (a game) and apply the real life solution (turning/leaning/ducking).\n\nEver see those game show outtakes where people answer a question with something inappropriate and almost instantly? It's a bit like that. You're so busy trying to figure out what to do as fast as possible, you don't take the time to ensure it's the correct solution before acting."
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1glgij | Why are digital computers so bad at large integer factoring, but quantum computers are supposed to be way better at it? What makes the difference? | Lots of modern encryption - including the ubiquitous RSA standard - is based on the fact that large integer factors are a bitch for digital computers. Apparently products of large primes are particularly hard. Why is that? And why are quantum computers supposed to be way better at it? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1glgij/why_are_digital_computers_so_bad_at_large_integer/ | {
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"Integer factorization is not solvable in polynomial time. There are sub-exponential algorithms for that, but they are still very slow. This essentially ensures that the problem will not be solvable by normal computers, as a small increase in the input (the size of numbers to be factored, or of the encryption key length in the case of crypto) will lead to huge changes in the computational resources required.\n\nQuantum computers can do it because there's a known algorithm with a complexity of O(log^3 N), which is sufficiently efficient. This algorithm (known as Shor's algorithm) has a part which relies on the effects of quantum superposition (essentially, the ability to be in many states simultaneously). Quantum superposition allows the algorithm to evaluate a function at all points, simultaneously, and that answer can be obtained with a high probability by applying a quantum Fourier transform. The mathematical details of the quantum part of Shor's algorithm and how exactly that works are well beyond me, but that is the idea of why a quantum computer would be much better at this problem.",
"A digital computer will factor using an iterative algorithm - something like:\n\n while i lessThan square_root(number)\n if number dividedBy i has no remainder\n return false\n\nA quantum computer can (potentially) put all possible values into a \"quantum register\". Programming it is much different, more like:\n\n if there exists a dividedBy b, such that there is no remainer\n return false\n",
"The other explanations here are probably more accurate, but I'll throw an analogy at you that might help, grabbing the way nature already uses quantum effects in biology. (please someone correct me if I remember this wrong.)\n\nrelatively recently (with in the past few years) it was discovered that plants use quantum effects when photosynthesizing. When a photon of energy hits a leaf cell, there are multiple paths it could take to be processed by the chlorophyll. These 'paths' are simply the best ways for energy to flow from point A to point B at any given moment (the interior of cells are fluids with lots of stuff suspended, so the best path might change from moment to moment)\n\nRahter than guess, plants manage to have the photon travel all the paths via superposition, then the probabilities collapse and the photon has actually travelled the most energy efficient route. \n\nA quantum processor attempts to do the same thing with math: Solve for ALL inputs at once, then collapse and only spit out the truth value for the correct input(s). Done perfectly, it should ideally take the same amount of time as if you had guessed only correct inputs to try. "
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m6zrt | dna replication | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m6zrt/eli5_dna_replication/ | {
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"DNA is a long string made up of four subunits, A, C, T, G. DNA in cells exists as two long strings twisted around each other running in opposite directions.\n\nA always pairs with T, C always pairs with G. So the two strands run:\n\nstart...ACTG....end\n\nend ...TGAC....start\n\nTo replicate the two strands are opened up by some proteins at specific points in the genome called \"origins of replication.\" Then a protein that makes DNA based off of a DNA template called DNA polymerase copies the DNA strands. Because A always goes with T and C always goes with G the two strands get copied exactly. Mistakes do happen, but there are proofreading proteins that check for mistakes, cut out the bad parts, and then they get redone.\n\nThis is made more complicated by the fact that DNA polymerase only can add DNA to the end of existing DNA strands. This is overcome by priming by an RNA polymerase that builds a short RNA segment complementary to the DNA strand called a \"primer\" (DNA and RNA are chemically similar enough that the DNA polymerase can add to RNA segments). This is then later removed by another enzyme and the DNA is synthesized by another DNA polymerase.\n\nThis is more complicated for one strand since DNA polymerase only works in one direction:\n\nstart...ACTG....end\n\nEnzyme works - > \n\n < -Enzyme works\n\nend ...TGAC....start\n\nbut since the open part of DNA only grows in one direction, one enzyme has to form short segments only based off of RNA primers. These later get joined together by another enzyme.\n\nedit: formatting",
"Here's the best analogy I can think of:\n\nDNA is like a zipper, where all the teeth of the zipper are coloured. There are 4 colours: yellow, blue, red and green.\n\nTeeth are always in coloured pairs when the zip is done up, so a yellow tooth on the left will be followed by a blue tooth on the right, a blue on the left will be followed by a yellow on the right, red on the left followed by green on the right, green on the left followed by red on the right.\n\nWhen DNA replicates the zipper is undone, so you end up with 2 separate strips of coloured teeth. Because teeth are always in pairs, you can zip the separated coloured strips to 2 new blank strips and colour the blank strip based on the colours of the original strips. Once you've done that you've now got 2 identically coloured zippers.",
"Okay, so you have DNA, which is made up of 4 kinds of nucleotides. Big word, I know. We give them the letters CGAT. They are lined up kind of like teeth on a zipper. There is a specific order they go in that is unique for every living thing. \nThe key part is that the teeth on one side of the zipper have to match up with the teeth on the other side. If you have C on one side, it has to match up with G. A has to match up with T. \nSo, what if you only had one side of the zipper? Could you make the other side from scratch? Of course! You just match up the teeth on the one you are making with the one you already have. \nThe thing that does this is proteins. Proteins do pretty much everything, and for the most part, each protein has one single job to do. First, they unzip the DNA and look at each strand. For each strand, they make a matching tooth for the half of the zipper they are working on. They keep doing this until the whole zipper is complete. Since you started with two sides, and you added a new side to the zipper, you will have two whole copies of the zipper when you are finished. \nThere are a few more details once you have this down: there are proteins that keep the zipper folded up so it will fit in a cell, and a protein that unfolds the zipper. Once unzipped, there are proteins that keep it from zipping back together again. The new side of a zipper can only have teeth added on in one direction, so one side will be fine, but the other side will have to work backwards a section at a time. There are proteins that put a placeholder on the backwards part to give the backwards-working zipper-building protein something to work off of, a protein that removes the placeholder, a protein to put the real teeth where the placeholder was, and a protein that makes sure it is all glued together properly. Also, there is a tag put on the side that was already completed so that if you make a mistake, you can tell which is the side you should have been copying from.",
"Creatures, plants and lifeforms are built using lots and lots of invididual cells -- they're like the bricks that make a building. DNA is a special code that cells use to build the building -- they are the blueprint plans.\n\nThe problem is that each builder only works on a small part of the building, so you need lots and lots of builders and -- because builders don't share -- you need lots and lots of copies of the plans. That's okay though, because the plans can be copied really easily.\n\nThink of the full blueprint plans as a big page that is folded in half. The left side is exactly mirrored by the right side. This is really good, because it means that when the plans get copied, you can split the pages in half, and two people can copy them -- saves a lot of time. The person who gets the original left half can make a mirror copy, and that will be the new right half. The person who got the original right half can make a mirror copy to make a new left half. After both people have copied, they now have two complete blueprints.\n\nThis is what happens with DNA. The DNA is split in half, and copied by tiny machinery in the cell resposible for DNA-making.\n\n\n(ELI15)\n\nDNA is an alphabet that only has 4 letters, A,T,C,G. Think of DNA like a sentence that is a few thousand to a few million letters long. Using the left half/right half analogy above, the mirror of \"A\" is \"T\"; the mirror of \"C\" is \"G\" (and vice-versa).\n\nDNA-making proteins inside the cell split DNA in half, and mirror the half they get, creating two pieces of DNA. Mutation occurs when the enzyme is dyslexic, and mirrors an \"A\" with a \"C\", etc. When the wrong copy is copied, the wrong letter stays in the new code. The mutation is like how a photocopy can be perfect, but if someone draws a rude phallus on one of the copies and photocopies that, the phallus is perpetuated.\n\nThat hurt my brain.",
"DNA is a long string made up of four subunits, A, C, T, G. DNA in cells exists as two long strings twisted around each other running in opposite directions.\n\nA always pairs with T, C always pairs with G. So the two strands run:\n\nstart...ACTG....end\n\nend ...TGAC....start\n\nTo replicate the two strands are opened up by some proteins at specific points in the genome called \"origins of replication.\" Then a protein that makes DNA based off of a DNA template called DNA polymerase copies the DNA strands. Because A always goes with T and C always goes with G the two strands get copied exactly. Mistakes do happen, but there are proofreading proteins that check for mistakes, cut out the bad parts, and then they get redone.\n\nThis is made more complicated by the fact that DNA polymerase only can add DNA to the end of existing DNA strands. This is overcome by priming by an RNA polymerase that builds a short RNA segment complementary to the DNA strand called a \"primer\" (DNA and RNA are chemically similar enough that the DNA polymerase can add to RNA segments). This is then later removed by another enzyme and the DNA is synthesized by another DNA polymerase.\n\nThis is more complicated for one strand since DNA polymerase only works in one direction:\n\nstart...ACTG....end\n\nEnzyme works - > \n\n < -Enzyme works\n\nend ...TGAC....start\n\nbut since the open part of DNA only grows in one direction, one enzyme has to form short segments only based off of RNA primers. These later get joined together by another enzyme.\n\nedit: formatting",
"Here's the best analogy I can think of:\n\nDNA is like a zipper, where all the teeth of the zipper are coloured. There are 4 colours: yellow, blue, red and green.\n\nTeeth are always in coloured pairs when the zip is done up, so a yellow tooth on the left will be followed by a blue tooth on the right, a blue on the left will be followed by a yellow on the right, red on the left followed by green on the right, green on the left followed by red on the right.\n\nWhen DNA replicates the zipper is undone, so you end up with 2 separate strips of coloured teeth. Because teeth are always in pairs, you can zip the separated coloured strips to 2 new blank strips and colour the blank strip based on the colours of the original strips. Once you've done that you've now got 2 identically coloured zippers.",
"Okay, so you have DNA, which is made up of 4 kinds of nucleotides. Big word, I know. We give them the letters CGAT. They are lined up kind of like teeth on a zipper. There is a specific order they go in that is unique for every living thing. \nThe key part is that the teeth on one side of the zipper have to match up with the teeth on the other side. If you have C on one side, it has to match up with G. A has to match up with T. \nSo, what if you only had one side of the zipper? Could you make the other side from scratch? Of course! You just match up the teeth on the one you are making with the one you already have. \nThe thing that does this is proteins. Proteins do pretty much everything, and for the most part, each protein has one single job to do. First, they unzip the DNA and look at each strand. For each strand, they make a matching tooth for the half of the zipper they are working on. They keep doing this until the whole zipper is complete. Since you started with two sides, and you added a new side to the zipper, you will have two whole copies of the zipper when you are finished. \nThere are a few more details once you have this down: there are proteins that keep the zipper folded up so it will fit in a cell, and a protein that unfolds the zipper. Once unzipped, there are proteins that keep it from zipping back together again. The new side of a zipper can only have teeth added on in one direction, so one side will be fine, but the other side will have to work backwards a section at a time. There are proteins that put a placeholder on the backwards part to give the backwards-working zipper-building protein something to work off of, a protein that removes the placeholder, a protein to put the real teeth where the placeholder was, and a protein that makes sure it is all glued together properly. Also, there is a tag put on the side that was already completed so that if you make a mistake, you can tell which is the side you should have been copying from.",
"Creatures, plants and lifeforms are built using lots and lots of invididual cells -- they're like the bricks that make a building. DNA is a special code that cells use to build the building -- they are the blueprint plans.\n\nThe problem is that each builder only works on a small part of the building, so you need lots and lots of builders and -- because builders don't share -- you need lots and lots of copies of the plans. That's okay though, because the plans can be copied really easily.\n\nThink of the full blueprint plans as a big page that is folded in half. The left side is exactly mirrored by the right side. This is really good, because it means that when the plans get copied, you can split the pages in half, and two people can copy them -- saves a lot of time. The person who gets the original left half can make a mirror copy, and that will be the new right half. The person who got the original right half can make a mirror copy to make a new left half. After both people have copied, they now have two complete blueprints.\n\nThis is what happens with DNA. The DNA is split in half, and copied by tiny machinery in the cell resposible for DNA-making.\n\n\n(ELI15)\n\nDNA is an alphabet that only has 4 letters, A,T,C,G. Think of DNA like a sentence that is a few thousand to a few million letters long. Using the left half/right half analogy above, the mirror of \"A\" is \"T\"; the mirror of \"C\" is \"G\" (and vice-versa).\n\nDNA-making proteins inside the cell split DNA in half, and mirror the half they get, creating two pieces of DNA. Mutation occurs when the enzyme is dyslexic, and mirrors an \"A\" with a \"C\", etc. When the wrong copy is copied, the wrong letter stays in the new code. The mutation is like how a photocopy can be perfect, but if someone draws a rude phallus on one of the copies and photocopies that, the phallus is perpetuated.\n\nThat hurt my brain."
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70lrl1 | Did Britain entertain retaking the U.S. and if so, for how long did such sentiment endure? | (Repost as it didn't get much attention last time) Anecdotally, my father -- a history major -- claimed that the British in speeches, writings and more from both public officials and the general public such as newspapers, entertained a sentiment of retaking the United States or adding them back to the British Empire. He further claims that when British military observers relayed the state of the United States armed forces at the end of the Civil War (with more than a million men under arms) that all such sentiment vanishes from the British. My own, limited, research doesn't really turn anything up on this beyond the Trent Affair. So I have three questions:
1. The titular question: Did the British ever entertain a revanchist sentiment toward the "lost" American colonies?
2. If so, when did such sentiment end and what was the cause?
3. Were there British observers of the American Civil War and what were their thoughts throughout the war?
Any suggestions for further reading on this topic would be greatly appreciated as well! | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/70lrl1/did_britain_entertain_retaking_the_us_and_if_so/ | {
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"Follow up question: Did any of the other major countries (Spain, Portugal, probably not France) consider taking the US after the UK lost them?",
"There is always more that can be said here, but we have had some similar questions in the past. I would point to [this answer](_URL_2_) from /u/partymoses touching on it, while [this thread](_URL_0_) looks at changes to Anglo-American relations, as does [this one](_URL_1_) although it is a bit older.",
"Britain never considered retaking all of the United States, and the most they ever entertained was dividing it (supporting the Confederacy, a plan which never happened) and blocking its growth (forts along the Ohio River Valley, using Canada to block northern growth, and fighting over areas like Oregon). Even if animosity continued between Britain and America until the 20th century, the biggest escalation of it was the War of 1812, which never had the end goal of returning America to the fold.\n\nThe fact is that immediately after the American Revolution, Britain was still economically controlling the U.S- under the Articles of Confederation, Congress couldn't pass tariff laws, and so British goods flooded the American market. All in all, Britain was still profiting off their old colonies, at least until the Constitution was signed. By that point, the French Revolution was stirring, and Britain's attention had long returned to Europe. \n\nBecause America had decided on being an isolationist and neutral country, they did nothing to help the French Revolution. Britain could care less about them at this point, besides problems in the Ohio River Valley with old military forts, and Jay's Treaty gave them everything they wanted, so they pretty much just backed away. \n\nOf course, the War of 1812 did bring British attention back to America, but it wasn't to retake the US, merely to force them to trade. This was because of Jefferson's embargo on both Britain and France, eventually letting it up on France and only focusing on Britain. After America's respectable showing in the War of 1812, Britain and the rest of Europe understood that the old thirteen colonies were now a respected country, so at this point any talk of taking them back was naught.\n\nTLDR: No, they did not consider taking America back, and even if they did they never took actions to implement such a plan besides annoying America in the West."
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5e1mgr | why do people experience cold shivers when they hear things like nails being filed, or chaulk on a chaulkboard? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5e1mgr/eli5_why_do_people_experience_cold_shivers_when/ | {
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"ELI5: is it only my country that spells it/call it Chalk?",
"The researchers speculate that the amplification of frequencies in the 2kHz—4kHz range could have been important for human survival early in our evolutionary history — allowing us to respond to a baby's cry for help, or heed the warning call of another individual. This hypothesis is one that has been explored before in monkeys, and the one species that was examined did not demonstrate the same aversion to these sounds as humans."
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244nb2 | as someone from outside the us how do credit card scores work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/244nb2/eli5_as_someone_from_outside_the_us_how_do_credit/ | {
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"A credit card score is basically a number telling someone how likely you are to pay back borrowed money.\n\nBad scores mean you miss payments, or only pay the minimum and generally should not be trusted.\n\nA good score means you pay your credit back promptly. ",
"Every action you do that involves credit (take out a loan, open a credit card, get a credit card bill, make a payment, miss a payment) is reported to one or more of the three credit ratings companies (yes, they're private companies). They then apply their secret algorithms to all that data and come up with a number between 300 and 850 that approximates how likely you are to pay off your debts. If you've nearly maxed out all your credit cards, are behind on your mortgage payments, and don't have a history of paying off debts on time (not that you've necessarily missed payments before- it's also bad not to have any credit history), you'll have a lower score.\n\nWhen you request more credit, whether it be another credit card or a new mortgage, the creditor looks up your credit score and determines how much money they're willing to loan you and what interest rate they'll charge based on your score. People with higher scores are lower risk of defaulting, so they'll offer a lower rate and larger loans."
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3r5yfp | how can artists like weird al use the same chords & rhythm from other songs and not get sued? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3r5yfp/eli5_how_can_artists_like_weird_al_use_the_same/ | {
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"Weird Al, specifically, asks permission before he spoofs a song, even though technically he doesn't have to. He's protected because parody is considered fair use. I don't really understand what you mean by the same chords and rhythm, but beyond spoofs and covers, you can't copyright a chord or a rhythm. If you could, making new music would literally be impossible. ",
"Parodies are generally considered a fair use exception to copyright law (it's not guaranteed but Weird Al style works would usually be covered). But Weird Al asks permissions for all the songs he parodies, and won't make a version without the original authors approval.",
"In the United States and many other countries, parody and satire are considered legitimate exemptions to copyright law, so he isn't breaking the law. Al's songs usually bring [more notice to the original songs](_URL_0_) meaning it's usually a good thing to be singled out by Al. Artists usually sue when people do bad things that reduce the value of their works. Finally, as others have pointed out here, Weird Al is a nice guy who asks permission from the original artists even though he doesn't have to."
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3rn06p | Can the industrial scale air capture of CO2 from Carbon Engineering really work? | I saw some Reddit posts about the [YouTube video](_URL_0_) and [their website](_URL_1_) but there wasn't much activity on the threads. The video is old and their site doesn't seem to be updated. Can this really happen? Has anybody heard of them recently? I want to believe. | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3rn06p/can_the_industrial_scale_air_capture_of_co2_from/ | {
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"There is nothing stopping this from working except economics. On CE's [update page](_URL_0_) it looks like they are still actively constructing a pilot plant to test the particulars of their technology on a large scale.\n\nEverything I can see from their method appears sound (even if lacking particular details) but what will really matter in the end is how efficiently they can capture the CO2. Even if it is too high the fraction of CO2 in the atmosphere is really small and that means it is relatively hard to get it out, and in the end for this type of process that means it will require more initial capital for the system and more electricity to run all the pumps, heaters, valves, etc. I'm assuming their technology is good enough that the energy required to run the facility and the resulting CO2 produced from that energy is less than the amount captured or they wouldn't have started the project in the first place.\n\nThe economy will come into play here as this technology is going to be very expensive. The only way it will be continued is if someone pays a lot of money for that CO2. This can be the government or private companies paying to sequester the stuff underground or it can be oil companies doing Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) which is essentially pumping the CO2 into a well to push out more oil. The feasibility of EOR and any oil harvesting technique depends on the global oil market prices and right now they are pretty low which retards developments like this. Maybe CE has the right stuff to get CO2 really cheap and push more companies to expand their EOR stuff but without more knowledge into the particular company I cannot really say."
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191ahf | Would 2nd generation and on slaves in the United States retain the same African accents that their parents had due to minimal contact/dialogue with their owners and other white people? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/191ahf/would_2nd_generation_and_on_slaves_in_the_united/ | {
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"I'm not sure if they would retain their native African accents but they would retain a distinct accent and more of the social habits of Africa. This is best evident in the South Carolinian rice plantations, White planters generally only lived on the plantations November-March when the malaria carrying flies were killed by the cold weather. As a result most of the year the Rice counties had a black population of 95-99% with minimal white contact. In contrast to the Chesapeake, South Carolina slaves tended to be darker, retain a distinct language \"Gullah, and retain many of their African practices. The more foreign nature of the South Carolina slaves also helps explain why South Carolina always had a certain \"radicalness\" present in their political life.\n\nThere is an amazing poem in Freehling's *Road to Disunion: Volume I* that really captures the blackness of the Rice plantations and the paranoia planters often felt surrounded by the blackness of the swamp and of their fellow man. I'll try to find it and post later."
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txkas | What is happening inside your brain when you are drowsy? | Example: When you are struggling to stay awake in the car and your head starts nodding off but you try really hard to stay awake, what is happening? How is the brain able to stay awake when if feels the urge to sleep so strongly? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/txkas/what_is_happening_inside_your_brain_when_you_are/ | {
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"A simplified answer: while counteracting sleep pressure (or drowsiness or sleep deprivation), parts of your brain that govern attention become more and more active as you try to sustain attention. This 'compensatory' activity in these regions also drives activity in parts of your brainstem that promote overall arousal. \n\nThese brainstem arousal centers in turn generate wakefulness in the rest of the brain, like the cortex. They also serve to inhibit inhibit sleep-promoting centers of the brain. This enables sustained attention despite sleep pressure. But eventually, with enough sleep pressure, no amount of compensatory activity will prevent lapses in attention. ",
"Interesting how why we need to sleep is unknown to science."
]
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eezctf | investment banking | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eezctf/eli5_investment_banking/ | {
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"TL; DR - commercial/retail banks take deposits. Investment banks create securities. [oversimplified]\n\nFirst off, most banks are commercial banks (aka retail banks). In general they take deposits from individuals and make loans, as well as offering services like credit cards. \n\nInvestment banking works more with the markets directly relating to financial securities (stocks, bonds, derivatives, etc) and financial advisory services. But investment banks do not take deposits. \n\nWant to have your company go public and be listed on a stock exchange? The can determine a listing price and distribution. Need to issue $10B in bonds, they can partner with other firms to create the terms and get them sold. Want to merge with another company? They help with due diligence and the terms and the funding (loans, stock conversions, etc.).\n\nTraditionally (at least since the 1933 Glass–Steagall legislation) these were separate institutions. Many banks collapsed (for instance) when they used deposits to speculate on the markets. These functions are still separate but can be housed in one corporation. And most investment banks chose or were pressured to become commercial banks (at least from a regulatory perspective) after the crisis of 2008.",
"The most ELI5 interpretation of them is that investment banking has one job, and that job is to help their clients find money for their business. They find investors. They help companies merge etc.\n\nBy definition, **Investment banking** is a special segment of **banking** operation that helps individuals or organisations raise capital and provide financial consultancy services to them.\n\n [_URL_2_](_URL_2_) \n\n & #x200B;\n\nInvestment banking sells services. They can help you whether you want to buy something, or sell something. They aren't the buyers or sellers themselves, they are advisors. All investment banking activity is classed as either \"sell side\" or \"buy side\". The \"sell side\" involves trading securities for cash or for other securities (e.g. facilitating transactions, market-making), or the promotion of securities (e.g. underwriting, research, etc.). The \"buy side\" involves the provision of advice to institutions that buy investment services. Private equity funds, mutual funds, life insurance companies, unit trusts, and hedge funds are the most common types of buy-side entities. taken from [_URL_0_](_URL_1_) \n\n**DO NOT CONFUSE INVESTMENT BANKING AND INVESTMENT TRADING.** They have touching points but they are not the same. Investment banking will help you get your company on the open market so you can sell your stocks (1st hand). Investment trading will buy your stocks, sell them forward (2nd hand), and also deals with many more financial instruments (option trading, bonds, FOREX etc.)\n\nP.S. if you wish to lose all knowledge of investment trading and descend into madness, go to r/wallstreetbets and leave your sanity at the door.",
"Investment banks are companies that work with investments - for example, they help companies to issue stock and bonds, advise on buying other companies or assets, create derivatives based on the value of underlying assets or indices, trade financial instruments, create structured products like securitized mortgages or loans, all that fun stuff. They also don’t traditionally take deposits - you aren’t supposed to be able to open a chequing account with an investment bank. They work purely in the world of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and sometimes wealth management.\n\nInvestment bankers basically are people who work for investment banks or investment banking arms of full-service banks. The career is typified by very long hours and high pay.",
"Let's say you own a bakery. You need money to expand. So you go to a normal bank and get a loan.\n\nNow let's say you own 10,000 bakeries and you need money to expand each one. You could go to a regular bank and get a loan, but you might not like the terms or they might not be able to lend you all that money. So instead, you go to an investment bank. The investment bank finds a bunch of investors who want to lend you money, and helps you issue bonds to those investors (a bond is essentially a promise to pay someone back for a loan they made you). Or, the investment bank helps you raise the money by finding investors who want to buy part of your business, and helps you navigate the various requirements for you to issue stock to them in exchange for the money.\n\nInvestment banks also offer advisory services, like helping you analyze whether to purchase that other chain of bakeries who is your main competition.",
"Think real estate agents. Every time you want to buy or sell a house, you get an agent that does the heavy lifting for you and takes a percentage cut. \n\nIB does the same when a firm needs to buy, sell or IPO. The process to do these require a lot of specialized knowledge on the area and market conditions and firms are better off outsourcing these fairly difficult and niche tasks (like buying or selling a house, only really happens a couple times in the life of a firm) to experts who who do this day in and out. Just like making a bad real estate investments, a bad M & A (mergers and acquisition) or a bad IPO could be ruinious to the firm in the short - medium run, so firms are willing to pay the massive fees that these IB firms command. [2-3% of $1B raised is a lot of money]. \n\nI think the real estate agent analogy holds for a lot of these. Some clarifications: \n\n1. Yes, IBD does only mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs. For other related activities like raising debt capital, there are other related teams in the capital markets division of the banks. IB sits under capital markets as well.\n\n2. Why is it so lucrative? Surface reason, money. 2-3% of $1B being earned by a team of ~10 IB is a lot of revenue per employee for the bank. They get bonuses accordingly. Also, the work you do is incredibly impact. You can be working on the biggest deal in the industry that year and advising on where $1B+ of capital is going to be deployed!\n\n3. Is it a lot of work? Yes. These deals are usually massive and have a lot of work that needs to be done before. It is also extremely time sensitive. So during crunch time its not uncommon to put in ~100 office/week at the office. \n\n4. Usually called the sell side of the deal because it is usually the seller who bears the 2-3% fee that bankers charge (just like real estate agents again!)",
"There are two things you're asking here OP:\n\n1. What an *Investment Bank* is\n2. What *Investment Banking* is\n\nFor number one, there's basically two sides to an investment bank: the side that deals with doing deals, giving advice and raising capital (the **Investment Banking Division**) and the side that deals with making markets for investors, brokering ideas to large investors, creating new securities and publishing research (the **Sales and Trading** or **Markets** division).\n\nFor the second question, you can liken the investment banking division to a couple of things: 1.**account managers**, 2. **realtors for businesses** and 3. **mortgage and home equity brokers for businesses**.\n\n1. As **account managers**, bankers working in an **industry group** will be the first point of contact for a company within a specific industry. They'll be the ones who own the relationship, provide ongoing strategic advice, oversee/represent the companies during any transactions (i.e. company sale or capital raise) and if there is no dedicated realtor team (M & A team) to execute the sale they will do it themselves.\n\n2. As **realtors for businesses**, bankers represent clients looking to sell their business or looking to buy a business. In the first case, they'll figure out how much that business is worth and try to connect the seller to appropriate buyers. In the second case, they'll help screen for potential businesses to buy and will organise the whole process of buying said business.\n\n3. As **mortgage and home equity brokers for businesses**, bankers help raise money through a mortgage (i.e. debt, most oftentimes a bond) or by forgoing some piece of the \"home\" for money (i.e. equity, selling pieces of the company). The difference is that the banks also initially administer/co-administer the mortgage (purchase the bonds by themselves or as part of a syndicate) or buy the entire piece of the house (purchase all of the new stock being issued) usually all of this at a discount, this is referred to as **underwriting**. They will usually find investors to pre-agree to buy the debt or equity from them before buying it themselves so they don't take on too much risk - because it was at a discount they make a decent profit on selling it on. \n\nNow, the above differs a tonne:\n\n- The \"IBD\" (Investment Banking Division) could just represent the first two types of banker (the \"account manager\" and \"realtor for businesses\") and there could be a separate \"Capital Markets\" division that handles the third type (\"mortgage or home equity broker for businesses\"). \n\n- An investment bank could also be \"independent\" and not have a \"Sales and Trading\"/\"Markets\" side; these firms are usually referred to as \"independent advisors\" because they can't underwrite any debt or equity since they don't have the money (balance sheet) to do it.\n\n- There are also other teams that fall under investment banking that I didn't get into for the sake of the ELI5 including: Public Finance, Leveraged Finance, Corporate Broking, Ratings Advisory, Risk Management Solutions and a bunch of other niche teams.\n\nHope that's helpful."
]
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86wxre | when you are holding a pencil and you move your arm up and down, why does it look like the pencil is flexibel | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86wxre/eli5_when_you_are_holding_a_pencil_and_you_move/ | {
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"Different parts of your vision are good at different things. The part of your vision that is good at seeing detail is a very small part of the very center of your vision. You can see how small it is by keeping your eyes focused on a single word in a text, and trying to read the next few words without looking at them. \n\nOutside of that focused area, the eye is more dedicated to identifying motion rather than detail. The very edges of your vision, your peripherals, are entirely dedicated to motion, which is why you can see movement out of the corner of your eye if you had no idea something was there. \n\nThe area just outside of your detailed center of vision can pick up a good amount of detail, but relies on your brain to fill in the blanks. When you wave the pencil in front of your face, the center of your vision can see that the pencil is rigid, but the area just outside of the center sees motion and less detail. Your brain fills in the blanks, interpreting the image as \"the pencil is loose and wavy\" "
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23prgz | A question about Lenin and his cat | While this may seem rather trivial (because it is), BUT does anybody know the name of Lenin's cat, if any? I heard the story that he did not name his cats, due to naming implying ownership - a bourgeoisie concept. However, I cannot find a source or even a definite answer. Thanks in advance. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/23prgz/a_question_about_lenin_and_his_cat/ | {
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"Googlefu, JSTOR, Worldcat, and a smattering of other search tools have failed me. As does my extensive-but-not-expert knowledge of Lenin. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it does reduce probability somewhat.\n\nBut speaking from that expertise, it would be an extremely odd behavior and sounds more like a myth meant to polarize him and his ideology. He was not anti-ownership to such a ridiculous extreme - the Soviet model was of collective ownership, centrally managed. I also don't see how naming a cat particularly implies ownership of it - as a counterexample, it would imply somehow that nicknaming a friend was to own them.\n\nThe only solid evidence of anything related to Lenin and cats is a brief film you can find on Youtube, but I don't speak enough Russian to follow any trail on it. That might be of some interest."
]
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1snopo | possible to be a "healthy" alcohol user? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1snopo/eli5_possible_to_be_a_healthy_alcohol_user/ | {
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"There's probably not a big health problem with doing it short term like this, the human body actually tolerates alcohol very well. You're not going to get liver or pancreas problems with a couple of drinks a day for a while.\n\nThe real problem is that for many people who self-medicate through periods of emotional pain using alcohol, short term turns into long term. And then you have an addiction, which is a *huge* problem. It starts slowly, maybe you have a drink at 2pm. Then you start anticipating that, and having that drink at 1pm and then another one later. Then you drink a couple of drinks at 1pm and a couple more throughout the evening. It just gets worse from here. \n\nPlease see a therapist or psychiatrist instead of drinking!",
"Psychologically, alcohol can be used in a healthy manner to relieve occasional bouts of stress or anxiety. But, if you're using the alcohol to mask serious underlying issues then there is a problem. Alcohol may be alleviating the symptoms, but's not treating the cause. To some extent it may be preventing you from addressing the cause of the problems. Prolonged use of alcohol in this manner is a slippery slope. If you want to continue drinking, keep track of how much you are drinking each day and make sure you are not escalating. \n"
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2avw66 | Jefferson and Abolition | I've heard (Ken Burns' "Thomas Jefferson") that there's some evidence that, at one point, Jefferson considered a push for abolition but abandoned the idea, in favor of more easily attained objectives and that his later racist writings were a rationalization of his not addressing slavery, personally or politically. What evidence is there and what do historians think of a possible abolitionist Jefferson? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2avw66/jefferson_and_abolition/ | {
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"Jefferson, to the best of my knowledge, never thought the races were totally equal, but, it's possible he became more racist over time. Fergus M. Bordewich, author of \"Bound For Canaan\" seems to vaguely imply Jefferson might have moved towards heavier racism due to frustration of seeing slavery continued in practice. Here's what Bordewich says, in full:\n\n\"Jeffersons racial dilemma, in all its dimensions-moral, psychological, emotional, political,-was very much that of nation itself in the early years of the 19th century. No American of his time examined his own ideas of more seriousness and Jefferson, process that has been recounted with thoroughness by **John Chester Miller, in the Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery**. In his struggle, and ultimate failure, to find a resolution to the problem of slavery, the uncertainties of young nation can be seen as a no other single mind. From the grinding stress of that ambivalence would grow the inspiration for the abolitionist movement, and it's activist cutting edge, the Underground Railroad, as well as the most bigoted defense of slavery, and the political philosophy of states' rights. \n\nJefferson embodied the very best in a nation that was increasingly struggling to find a painless way to end slavery, an effort that was doomed to failure from the start. He had, as much as any man living, created the United States, crafted the principles by which it strove to live, and been a part of the compromises that has been necessary to bring the country into being. More than most, he believed that slavery was morally incompatible with white men's freedom, and ultimately a reef upon which the nation might someday founder. In later years, his idealism, like that of many of his generation, would atrophy. Despite protestations to the contrary, he would eventually slip uncomfortably close to the camp of those who embrace slavery and state's rights as pillars of American stability. Yet his clarion appeals for liberty, which are most memorably enshrined in the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence, would have an impact far beyond his ultimately class-bound intentions.\"\n\nJefferson surely hated slavery, and was quite furious when his 1784 plan to the Continental Congress to ban slavery in all western territories, south and north, failed by one vote. He wrote of the matter:\n\n\"Thus, we see the fate of millions unborn hanging on the tongue of one man, and heaven was silent in that awful moment.\"\n\nHowever, *Notes on the State of Virginia*, which came out in 1787, had a lot of racist remarks, like the foul of odor of blacks, and the thought the whites were certainly intellectually superior to blacks. \n\nFrom what I understand (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), Jefferson (like many early abolitionists, including those who worked on the Underground Railroad) never believed that the races were completely equal. Believing that blacks were inferior to whites in one manner or the other, yet still opposing slavery, was quite the norm for many early abolitionists. It'd be rare to find an early abolitionist who believed that the two races were completely equal. But, as Bordewich semi implies, Jefferson indeed may of gotten more racist over time, partially due to frustration. Jefferson often spoke, and acted, towards getting rid of slavery. Certainly his reflection of the failings to rid of slavery in 1784 show how frustrated he was about the his own failings, and the failings of the country as a whole to get of rid an institution that he so much despised.\n\nHope that helps somewhat. I'm hoping someone more knowledgable than me can comment. "
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gn4pj | Why are there no planets/major objects orbiting the sun perpendicular (or at similarly large angles) to the rest of the planets? | All the planets and the asteroid belt (to the best of my knowledge) orbit the sun in a relatively tight plane. Why is this? Also, are there any planets orbiting in the opposite direction of the sun? If not, why? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/gn4pj/why_are_there_no_planetsmajor_objects_orbiting/ | {
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"The planets all formed from a protoplanetary disc. This disc formed from a ball of gas - which as it compressed, formed into a rotating disc due to conservation of angular momentum.",
"Here are a few interesting links from wikipedia:\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"This question is [in the FAQ.](_URL_0_) Enjoy!",
"Just wanted to poke in and say Eris' orbit is almost at a 45 degree angle to the \"tight plane,\" and while no planet orbits the sun in the opposite direction (orbit direction is determined by the rotation of the protoplanetary disk), Venus has an opposite rotation (i.e. Sun rises in the west and sets in the east).",
"Some [exoplanets have very highly inclined orbits](_URL_0_), so the Solar System may not be typical."
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"http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/58275/title/Backward_p... | |
34co0e | if the same animal with different fur color is considered a different species, why aren't humans classified as different species based on hair color or other varying traits? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34co0e/eli5if_the_same_animal_with_different_fur_color/ | {
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"Physical features have nothing to do with being a species. Being a part of the same species is defined as being able to breed and produce offspring that can then produce more offspring. ",
"The same animal with a different fur color is not a different species. It is just different colored. All cats are from the same species regardless of what color they are. Two animals are considered different species if they are unable to produce offspring that are fertile. "
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6mkigd | mining for virtual currency... | How is it assigned a value, how come the computing power need to "mine" is so substantial, etc.. ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mkigd/eli5_mining_for_virtual_currency/ | {
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" > How is it assigned a value,\n\nIt's not. It's a fiat currency. It's only worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. **Just like the US dollar**. But people are accepting it at stores and stuff. And other are interested in it, so they.... speculate and invest (and a few lucky bastards made millions) and they make the market price go up. \n\n > how come the computing power need to \"mine\" is > so substantial\n\nIt's a pretty intense mathematical process to go find new coins and help process the ledger for new transactions. It takes a lot of computer crunching power. That crunching power takes actual electrical power, which costs money. \n\nJust like the US penny, if it costs more money to make than you can sell it for, you LOSE money by making it. \n\n\n > etc.. ?\n\nGonna have to give me a little something. ",
"In addition to what /u/heckruler said, what gives cryptocurrency value is that it is hard to mine, which makes it rare, like gold, and hence valuable (as a trade commodity, status symbol, or investment into it's future value). \nThe fact that it's hard to mine is intentional. In fact, the mining difficulty is usually increased every so often so that as more/better mining hardware comes online, the world-wide mining rate remains almost constant. This is intended to keep the cryptocurrencies valuable and keep the people incentivised to mine.\nMining in itself performs the important role of processing transactions done with any given cryptocurrency, like a bank with personal checks. So having a constant mining rate is good for stability of the financial system."
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e0jz6v | I’ve heard that quantum computers can break encryption easily, why? | You can assume that I’ve a 101 level understanding of AES and Qbits. | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/e0jz6v/ive_heard_that_quantum_computers_can_break/ | {
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" > I’ve heard that quantum computers can break encryption easily\n\nQuantum computers can (EDIT: With technical advances that have not been made yet!) break *some* encryption easily. In particular the security of RSA, a ubiquitous public-key cryptosystem, depends on the difficulty of factorising large numbers. On a quantum computer Shor's Algorithm makes factorisation vastly quicker, breaking RSA. By contrast AES, a common symmetric-key cipher, does not rely on the difficulty of factorisation and is not broken by Shor's Algorithm.\n\nA quantum computer can be more powerful against *any* encryption than a classical computer by using Grover's Algorithm, but doubling the key length counteracts the speedup this algorithm can offer, so in practice it is not a significant concern. Given *N* possible encryption keys, a classical computer would require up to *N* attempts to brute-force it (trying all the keys) whereas Grover's Algorithm on a quantum computer would take *√N* attempts. If N is big enough, even √N is still too big.\n\nThe general topic of encryption that is resistant to attack by a quantum computer, but is not itself quantum cryptography, is known as *post-quantum cryptography*. There are candidate algorithms to replace RSA for public-key cryptography. Another proposal is to move to a system similar to Kerberos that facilitates secure communication without using public-key cryptography."
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begs52 | why does it feel like you get infinitely higher when coughing after smoking weed, vs when you don’t cough? asking for a friend. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/begs52/eli5_why_does_it_feel_like_you_get_infinitely/ | {
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"I’m fairly certain it’s the lack of oxygen to the brain caused by the coughing that makes you feel extra high",
"The lack of oxygen to the brain that comes from coughing I always thought, but also could just be a placebo."
]
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3v6p7r | why is scientology named for science when it's foundation and practices don't seem to be based on any scientific evidence or use the scientific method? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3v6p7r/eli5_why_is_scientology_named_for_science_when/ | {
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"It's beliefs are based on a bunch of ~~pretty terrible~~ science fiction novels. The US government isn't in the business of deciding what religions can name themselves. Hell, one church a few blocks away from my house is part of \"[Church of Christ, Scientist](_URL_0_).\"",
"It's based on the word for knowledge. Religions tend to maintain that they deliver knowledge to adherents. Also it's hard to get membership up in the Church of MumboJumboICameUpWithInTheShitter.",
"Well... two answers to that. The cynical side of me would say that it's because Hubbard (The founder) was trying to imply that his religion was based on scientific methodology (something he straight out claims in a lot of his texts on the subject) while maintaining a good cover story that the name is not based on the word science, but rather based on the same root word. This way he could claim it to be as scientific as he wanted, while still allowing himself to present it as mystical when it served his intent.\n\nThe more generous side of me accepts the \"company line\" on the meaning behind the name (after all, what do I care what the name means, it doesnt change whether I do, or do not think it's all true). That company line is that the word is based on the latin scio, meaning \"knowledge\" and the greek logos, which is the root for the suffix \"-ology\", meaning \"the study of\". So the name literally means \"the study of knowledge\". Since the religion makes claims about increasing one's knowledge about self, the universe, and one's relationship with the universe I think its actually a fairly clever name. \n\nWhat they actually DO, and what their name means are entirely different things, and just because their name is clever does not mean their ideas are. Keep in mind that what you name something has everything to do with marketing and PR, and very little to do with reality..."
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3if558 | why does call of duty have so many nat issues while other games don't? | It seems like COD games have far more problems than any other games relating to other players with different nat types, whereas in other games seem to have almost no problems with this, why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3if558/eli5_why_does_call_of_duty_have_so_many_nat/ | {
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"Honestly, It's cause cods trash nowadays. They don't put in the time to fix all these isues cause they're too concerned with trying to push the next money grab of a game out. There's that, and the fact that on top of it there's so many noobs from all over the world trying to play at once that the servers just say fuck it just through them all into one. Than you got little camper Juan from mexico fucking with jims connection in California. "
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38sy04 | Does irregular positioning of ears affect the ability to perceive its location? | I understand that differences in sounds between ears helps locate the direction the sound came from but does irregular ear position affect this? (In a normal case of a 1-2 cm difference in height, or a extreme case, like one ear on your shoulder) | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/38sy04/does_irregular_positioning_of_ears_affect_the/ | {
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"text": [
"Yes. Ears are also slightly rotated up and down in different directions which can help a bit in determining whether a sound is coming from above or below. Different heights would help with this as well. "
]
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5xh5od | how is it that i am allowed to take oestrogen if i feel like a woman trapped inside a man's body, but not testosterone if i feel like a strong, attractive man trapped inside a weak man's body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xh5od/eli5_how_is_it_that_i_am_allowed_to_take/ | {
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"text": [
"Um, well...you can. You just can't actively participate in competition sports that outlaw steroid use.\n\nSo, go for it. I am sure you can find a doctor to prescribe it."
]
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bxrgq4 | What happened to the Soviet Baltic Fleet in WW2? | During WW2, Nazi Germany managed to drive all the way upto Leningrad. At the same time the Finns had the Continuation war, effectively putting the city under siege. In such a situation there would have been no safe harbour for the soviet ships in the Baltic. The only friendly piece of coastline would be in Leningrad which was under siege and the only neutral coast would be in Sweden. Where did all the ships go? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/bxrgq4/what_happened_to_the_soviet_baltic_fleet_in_ww2/ | {
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"The Soviet Baltic Fleet spent most of World War Two operating in the Gulf of Finland. Its surface forces supported the operations of the Soviet Army around Leningrad, and supplied outlying bases, while the submarine fleet attempted to carry out attacks on German shipping in the eastern Baltic. Fifteen submarines were transferred to the Northern Fleet, through canals and inland waterways, and four more were sent to the Caspian, but most of the fleet would remain in the Baltic.\n\nOn the 22nd June 1941, the Baltic Fleet had two battleships, two modern cruisers and one older one used for training, twenty-one destroyers (with six more completing by the end of the year), 42 patrol vessels and minesweepers, and 70 submarines. It was split into three main groups - the OLS (Otryad Legikh Sil or Group of Light Forces) with the modern cruisers, two destroyer squadrons and a submarine flotilla, based at Riga and Liepaja, the main group of forces (or *eskadra*), with one battleship and two destroyer squadrons at Tallinn, and the remaining forces at the naval base of Kronstadt. Unlike the Army, the Baltic Fleet was not taken by surprise. Admiral Kuznetsov, commanding the Soviet Navy, had paid attention to intelligence reports describing increased German overflights of Soviet naval bases, Finnish civilians evacuating the area of the Soviet base at Hanko and the absence of German merchant ships at Soviet ports. Despite this, the Baltic Fleet was unable to prevent German minelayers moving into forward positions in the Finish Archipelago.\n\nThe Baltic Fleet moved to full combat readiness shortly before the end of the 21st June 1941. However, this took some time to percolate throughout the organisation. As a result, while Soviet ships did, during the early hours of the 22nd, encounter German ships laying the *Apolda* minefield at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, they did not fire upon them. The first shots fired by the Baltic Fleet were fired by two of its reconnaissance aircraft, which engaged the German minelayer *Brummer* at 2.28 AM. Shortly afterwards, German aircraft were sighted over the naval bases at Oranienbaum, Liepaja and Kronstadt; the order to begin firing at them was given at 4.47 AM. At 6.30 AM, an order was given to lay a mine barrier across the Baltic, between the base at Hanko and Estonia's Hiiumaa Island. Three thousand mines were laid in this field between the 22nd and the 24th June, but the destroyer *Gnevny* was sunk and the cruiser *Maxim Gorky* heavily damaged (and not repaired during the war) by mines from the *Apolda* field during operations in support of the minelaying. On the 23rd June, with German tanks threatening Liepaja, the base was evacuated. Nine merchant ships and three submarines were evacuated, but the destroyers *Lenin* and *Desna* and five submarines, all under repair, were scuttled and their crews used to bolster the defences of the port. Other bases were similarly evacuated; the cruiser *Kirov*, three destroyers and seven submarines left Riga for Tallinn just before the city fell on the 1st July.\n\nIn July, the Baltic Fleet began offensive operations against German movements along the Latvian coast. Operating from Tallinn, in conjunction with air attacks and fire from shore batteries on Hiiumaa Island, a number of destroyer raids on the Riga Bay were carried out. Shipping was attacked and German columns ashore bombarded. Aircraft from the Baltic Fleet and the Red Army bombed Berlin from airbases on Saaremaa Island, with the naval aircraft dropping 36 tons of bombs on the German capital. Three modern destroyers were lost during these operations with *Serdity* being sunk by bombing, *Smely* by torpedoes from a German motor boat and *Statny* by a mine, while 17 bombers were lost over Berlin from 33. Raiding into Riga Bay was halted in early August, as German troops began to menace Tallinn. Instead, the Baltic Fleet began to evacuate the port, despite the Germans and Finns laying a large minefield off Juminda which the ships had to travel through. Between the 7th and 24th August, 17,000 civilians, 9,000 wounded troops and 15,000 tons of material were evacuated from Tallinn, but at high cost; two destroyers and four minesweepers were lost. These losses were small compared to what was to come, though. On the 27th, the final naval evacuation of Tallinn took place. Roughly 23,000 troops, as well as government officials and party leadership from the Baltic States, were loaded onto 67 cargo ships and 128 warships, which then attempted to fight their way through to Kronstadt. Delays meant that they had to pass the Juminda field at night, which, combined with a lack of minesweepers, meant heavy losses. The following day, attacks by aircraft and torpedo boats, and fire from shore batteries caused further losses. Of 29 large cargo vessels taking part in the evacuation, just one made it to Kronstadt - 25 were sunk and three ran aground on Hogland. Five destroyers, three patrol vessels and two submarines were lost, and the large destroyer *Minsk* heavily damaged. Somewhere between five thousand and fourteen thousand people were killed during the evacuation.\n\nWith Tallinn evacuated, the Baltic Fleet was restricted to Kronstadt and Leningrad. The fleet was arrayed to provide fire support for the defenders ashore. Most of the fleet, with the battleships *Marat* and *Oktyabrskaya\nRevolutsiya*, cruiser *Kirov*, seven destroyers and six gunboats, were retained between Kronstadt and Oranienbaum to bombard German moves along the coast. Two destroyers and three gunboats (plus three more destroyers in various stages of completion) were deployed on the Neva to support the defenders to the city's southwest, while the cruisers *Maxim Gorky* and *Petropavlovsk* (the former damaged, the latter the unfinished ex-German *Lutzow*) and three destroyers were kept in the port at Leningrad to serve as a mobile reserve. Counting coastal batteries, the fleet provided some 345 extra artillery pieces to the defenders. They were quite effective, but German counterbattery fire was also a threat. *Oktyabrskaya\nRevolutsiya*, *Kirov* and four destroyers were forced to retreat from Kronstadt by heavy German fire, while at Leningrad, *Petropavlovsk* was sunk by artillery fire on the 18th September. At the start of September, units of the fleet were used to evacuate the garrison at Björkö (now Primorsk). Meanwhile, the Germans and Finns captured the Fleet's coastal artillery positions on the Moonsund islands; during these operations, the large Finnish coastal defence vessel *Ilmarinen* was sunk by a mine. On the 20th September, the Germans decoded a message from Admiral Tributs to his counterpart in the Black Sea, suggesting that the Baltic Fleet might attempt to break out and seek internment in Sweden. The battleship *Tirpitz*, five cruisers and three destroyers were moved forwards to prevent such a breakout, while the Luftwaffe began a concentrated air offensive against the fleet. These bombing raids did considerable damage to the Soviet ships around Kronstadt. *Marat*'s bow was blown off by \na bomb, sinking the ship in shallow water - while she was immobilised, her after turrets could still fire, and she operated as a floating battery (under the name *Petropavlovsk* from 1943). The destroyers *Minsk* and *Steregushchy* were sunk, but were later salvaged, as were a number of smaller vessels. *Oktyabrskaya\nRevolutsiya*, both surviving cruisers and three destroyers were also hit by bombs but survived. \n\nThe Baltic Fleet continued to evacuate outlying bases throughout the autumn of 1941. On the 1st November, they evacuated 6,500 soldiers from positions on the Björkö\nIslands, while an evacuation of Hogland and its surrounding islands recovered 3,250 men, four tanks and 49 artillery pieces between the 29th October and 6th November. The largest of these evacuations, though, was the evacuation of the Soviet base at Hanko. Starting on the 26th October, convoys began the dangerous voyage between Hanko and Leningrad, despite the risks from mines, air attack and surface forces. Some 22,000 men and a considerable amount of heavy equipment were brought out of the base, but at a great cost. Three destroyers, three minesweepers and a patrol craft were lost, along with roughly 5,000 lives. Operations outside the Leningrad area were brought to a close by winter, as the Gulf of Finland froze over."
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2bwrtn | why does my stereo measure volume starting in the negative decibels? | _URL_0_
And yes, -40dB plays pretty fucking loud. I'm sure 0dB would blow out my speakers; it's nowhere near what 0dB is supposed to be (the threshold of human hearing) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bwrtn/eli5_why_does_my_stereo_measure_volume_starting/ | {
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"\"Decibel\" or dB isn't a unit of _URL_0_'s a way of measuring things with large ranges relative to some arbitrary value. dBFS is the measurement for digital signals, and 0dB is the maximum. dB V is the measurement for analog voltages, dB SPL is the measurement for sound pressure level in air. All are different and mean different things.\n\nAnd you have to consider what it's measuring. Is that the amp gain? The signal going through it? It's all relative.\n\n\n0dB *SPL* is the threshold for human hearing. 0dB V is moderately low signal. 0dB FS is the highest possible digital signal without distortion. ",
"0 is full signal. So you are -40dB below max. "
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2fut9p | Can someone explain how long it would take something to fall into the sun from a distance of 1au assuming no acceleration or external interference? | I'm trying to figure this out, but I'm finding that I'm not 100% sure where to even start. I envision an object at a distance of 1au sitting completely still (relative to the sun) and then suddenly switching on the gravity between the two bodies. How long would it take before it crashes into it (assuming no initial acceleration, no orbit, no influence from external things, and ignoring that most things would probably burn up well before it gets there, etc). I was also wondering how fast the object would be travelling at the time of impact. How would I go about calculating something like this?
***Nerd Alert:*** *This question was inspired by an episode of TNG (Relics) where the Enterprise enters a Dyson sphere, becomes immobilized and starts falling into the sun from a distance of roughly 0.6au. I realize that they were already set in motion, but I was really curious about how much time something would really have in a similar situation.*
Edit: Apologies if I posted this in the wrong sub or with the wrong tag.
| askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2fut9p/can_someone_explain_how_long_it_would_take/ | {
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"It's not a trivial calculation, because the acceleration due to gravity as the object gets closer and closer. The time it takes is half the orbital period of an fully eccentric elliptical orbit, which is given [here](_URL_0_). I'll let you plug the numbers in yourself.",
"I did a numerical solution and I found the time to impact is\n\n~1.111 Sqrt(R^3/GM) = (1.111/2 Pi) * (Orbital period) ~ (1/6)*(Orbital period).\n\nFor earth (1 A.U.) around the sun this is about 64 days 13 hours.\n\nFor your inspiration (0.6 A.U.) around the sun this is about 30 days. \n\nEdit: This 1.111 number is actually Pi/(2 Sqrt[2]) = 1.11072.\n\nSo the time to fall to the sun is exactly: T/(4 Sqrt(2)) = Sqrt(R^(3)/GM) / (4 Sqrt(2)) where T is the period of the orbit at that distance.",
"Now for a follow-up: when is the point of no return? When will it be impossible for a current tech rocket to save itself by accelerating perpendicular to the initial vector to graze the sun without crashing into it?",
"One can answer this question with a pocket calculator and Kepler's 3rd law.\n[Kepler's 3rd law](_URL_0_) is\nP^2 = k*a^3\nmeaning that the square of the orbital period \"P\" is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis \"a\". The constant \"k\" is the same for any object orbiting the Sun, but will be different for stars with other masses.\n The major axis of an elliptical orbit is the size of the longest direction, and the semi-major axis is half that. If you have a circular orbit, the semi-major axis is just the radius.\n\nFor Earth, \"P\" is one year and \"a\" is one AU.\n\nAn object in your scenario is traveling on a path equivalent to the limit of a *very* narrow elliptical orbit with the high end at 1au and the low end deep inside the sun. The semi-major axis of this orbit is 0.5au.\nThus the period in years is 0.5^(3/2)~0.354.\nBut that's the period for one orbit-- we aren't planning on a return trip *back* from the sun, so the one-way time is half that, about 0.177 years, or 64.5 days.\nThis works for any starting distance, so for our good Picard starting at 0.6au,\ndays to impact=(1/2) x 365 x 0.3^(3/2)~30.0 if that star has the same mass as our sun.\n",
"Think of an orbit that just skims by the surface of the Sun and loops around it. In other words, you have a tiny bit of lateral speed when you release the falling object at 1 AU. From Kepler's laws, you get that the [orbital period](_URL_1_) of this is 2\\*pi\\*sqrt(a^(3)/(G\\*M)), where G is the gravitational constant and M is the mass of the Sun and a is the semi-major axis of the orbital ellipse. Major axis is the longest diameter of the ellipse, in other words the distance from the point of drop to the Sun plus that tiny bit to make the object miss the Sun. Semi-major axis is half of that. If you divide the orbital period by 2, you get the time from dropping at the furthest point to the point where it's closest to the Sun.\n\nNote that the orbital period doesn't actually depend at all on how elliptic the orbit is, it only depends on the semi-major axis. If you decrease the starting lateral speed, the object will hit the Sun instead of skimming the surface. Zero lateral speed is just an edge case, the major axis is going to be exactly 1 AU then and semi-major axis, a, half of that. So that gets you the time to hit the Sun. This comes out as 64 days and 13 hours. (Technically the centre of the Sun, you'd have to subtract a bit for the time to hit the surface, I believe that's going to be about 15 minutes or so, which is less than our precision anyway.)\n\nEasiest way to solve the speed of the object is to use conservation of mechanical energy. This also goes by name of [specific orbital energy](_URL_0_) in this context, or vis-viva equation, these are all essentially the same thing in slightly different forms. In any case potential energy + kinetic energy stays constant. To start with, kinetic energy is zero. Potential energy we can calculate easily at any point. The only remaining unknown is kinetic energy at the surface of the Sun which we can then solve for. Potential energy is -(G\\*M)/r, again G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the Sun and r is distance from the Sun. Kinetic energy is v^(2)/2. Technically those are the energies divided by the mass of the object (specific energy), the mass of the object doesn't matter in the end for what we're about to do.\n\nSo, to start with, we have E=-(G\\*M)/1AU. And at the surface of the Sun, E=-(G\\*M)/R+v^(2)/2, with R being the radius of the Sun. These are equal and we can just solve for v to get v=sqrt(2\\*G\\*M\\*(1/R-1/1AU)), which comes out as 616 km/s. If you check out the escape velocity from the surface of the Sun, you'll find out that it's about 617 km/s. This is no coincidence. This whole thing works backwards. If you shoot something at escape velocity from the surface, it'll go infinitely far and approach the speed zero. If you drop something from infinitely far with speed zero, it'll hit the target at escape velocity. We didn't start quite infinitely far away so our speed is 1 km/s less. If you shot something at 616 km/s from the surface of the Sun, it would get to about Earth's orbit and then fall back. If you did it 1 km/s faster, it would escape the solar system."
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s7981 | how can we know so much about north korea's missile, when they will launch it, what the trajectory is, and all of this other information when north korea doesn't communicate with the outside world? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/s7981/eli5_how_can_we_know_so_much_about_north_koreas/ | {
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"contrary to popular belief the NSA and CIA don't just listen in on my dirty phone conversations with my girlfriend. ",
"Space flight and rocket trajectories are fairly common knowledge actually. Even \"amateurs\" can figure out what the rocket will likely do, and it's capabilities from what is public. NK had released a handful of info about it. And yes, spying as well, but prob less than you think. ",
"Actually, they told us. They want their missile launches to appear to be as not-ICBM-y as possible, so they went through all the hoops of reporting a missile launch to the appropriate international bodies. You have to do this so airline flights and ocean shipping can be rerouted, just in case something goes wrong. They also reported the satellite's hopeful orbit to the international body that handles satellites too."
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79qknv | how is scoville test performed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79qknv/eli5how_is_scoville_test_performed/ | {
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"They take a small, exact amount of the dried pepper in question, dissolve it in alcohol, then mix this solution into a cup of sugar water. They have 5 tasters drink that concoction to see if any of them can still detect the heat of the original pepper. If 3/5 tasters can detect the heat, then they'll dilute the solution further until they can't. \n\nThe more dilution needed before the heat can't be detected, the hotter the pepper, and the higher its score on the Scoville scale.",
"But why is it not on a log scale?",
"And I've always wondered how something can be 100× hotter. What does that even mean ? At what point does your stomach melt",
"The dillution technique isn't being used anymore, because it is subjective. Every persons tolerance to capsaicin is different and actually rises, the more of it you intake.\n\nToday a **high-performance liquid chromatography** is used. The heat producing chemicals in a chili are observed, measured and then transfered into the scoville system, because it is the familiar one. Every chili or sauce has different components with different amounts of capsaicin in different parts of the plant, therefore it is often difficult to measure the exact \"spice-level\". It is still more usefully and accurate than the old procedure. \nThere are a lot of crazy methods for classifying hotness, for example the ***Dremann Hotness Scale*** where the chili are measured in their spiciness in relation to the salsa they are in. \n\n\nHope this helps and I apologise for any grammatical or orthographical errors, English isn't my first language.\n\nEdit: Some formatting",
"Originally, the Scoville Scale was a human-driven test. The dried peppers were powderized and diluted in sugar water, and a panel of 5 humans tasted the dilutions until a majority of them detected spiciness. If that dilution was, say, 1/1000th of the original solution, then the scoville rating was 1000 * 100 = 100,000 Scoville Units.\n\nBut this scale had flaws: Between labs, you could easily get a 50% difference in ratings. So a new unit was developed: Scientists established a standard curve for spiciness, and then looked at what chemicals were in each level of spiciness using a tool called High Performance Liquid Chromatography. They made a new scale based on **American Spice Trade Association Pungency Units.** But because Scoville was already publicly known, they came up with a conversion between ASTA Pungency Units and Scoville: 1 ASTA Pungency Unit = 16 Scoville Units.\n\n**TL DR** Originally, Scoville ratings were done with an elaborate taste test. Today, Scoville ratings are calculated by a lab test based on chemical composition of the peppers.",
"Since people are answering HPLC, and HPLC is absolutely not something a layman encounters often, I'll take a stab at simplifying it. \n\nHigh-performance liquid chromatography is a way to 1) separate all the different chemicals in a mixture and 2) learn how much of each chemical there is in that mixture. Since peppers are spicy because of a specific chemical, capsaicin, they can look for that chemical in an HPLC experiment. The way it works is that as each different chemical goes through the machine, it interacts with the makeup of the machine differently. So, some chemicals will go through faster, and some slower. Since they know how fast capsaicin flows through, they can identify it and measure how much there is. So, they mash up a pepper, run the juice through the machine, look for capsaicin, and there's your Scoville test!\n\nHopefully that helps!"
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1mncga | Is there a factual basis for the common belief that French naval ships during the Napoleonic wars were better than British naval ships? | I know French ships are commonly regarded as being better (usually due to Hornblower novels etc.) but is there a factual basis to this belief?
French ships taken up by the Admiralty were usually reduced in the number of guns before being put into British service and there are many letters of complaint to the Admiralty from common sailors about the poor conditions when serving aboard formerly French ships. French ships also required much more maintenance and had Great Repairs more frequently than their British built equivalents. Were French prize ships invariably taken up by the Admiralty? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1mncga/is_there_a_factual_basis_for_the_common_belief/ | {
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"Good question. There is certainly a legend that French ships were better than English. This was believed at the time, not just after the fact. \n\nNapoleon said, “The French navy is called on to acquire a superiority over the English. The French understand building better than their rivals, and French ships, the English themselves admit, are better than theirs. The guns are superior in calibre to those of the English by one fourth. These are two great advantages...\" (Source : _URL_1_)\n\nAs far as ships of the Line went, the French 80 gun class seems to have been particularly admired by the British. “French 80 gun ships were fine vessels and were well known for their ability to absorb tremendous punishment; virtually every ship of this type captured by the English was put back in service by them and one, the Francklin of 1797, became the basis for an entire class of English ships after the wars were over (1). Given their armament, strength and excellent handling characteristics, the versatile French 80 gun sail of the line were easily the best ships of the line built during the entire Napoleonic Wars. » (Source : _URL_1_)\n\n(1)\tThe Canopus class of ships were designed to the lines of the Francklin.\n\nOn the other hand, Robert Gardiner, in his book « Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars » (Chatham 2000), argues that French frigates were not superior. Here is a summary on the question from a review of his book :\n\n”The old canard that French ships were superior, because they were better 'designed' is given a final and comprehensive refutation. French ships were designed for very different roles, where speed in ideal conditions was valued above seaworthiness, structural strength and the ability to carry the stores and water for sustained cruising. Occasionally a French prize proved useful, if only to show that larger ships had some advantages, but they were costly to maintain, short-lived and although French designs influenced the design of the Leda class the best British frigates of the period, the Lively class were of entirely domestic design. Gardiner demonstrates that when built to the same size British designs met British requirements better than any French equivalent. French designers were better versed in the theory of ship design, but theory was of limited utility when applied to wooden ships driven by sail. The greater sea-going experience available to British designers enabled them to produce better ships.” (Source: _URL_0_)\n\nGardiner believed that French frigates were faster, but were not designed to have the extended range and seaworthiness of English frigates.\n\nBrian Lavery is an historian who has written extensively about the sailing navy, and particularly ships of the line, in the following books: “The Ship of the Line (volumes 1 & 2)”, “Nelson’s Navy, The Ships, Men, and Organization 1793-1815”, and “Building the Wooden Walls – The Design and Building of the 74 Gun Ship 'Valiant'”. \n\nLavery writes that British ships were inferior to French ships in the Seven Years War. Particularly, French ships were more weatherly, with their battle ships able to sail 6 points to the wind, while the British could only manage 7. The British captured French Ships in the Seven Years War, and took lessons from them. Lavery thinks that the design and building of the 'Valiant (first in the class of famous British 74 gun battleships) is where those lessons were applied to British shipbuilding. \n\nThe French advantages of speed and weatherlyness came at a cost, which was “hogging” and a shorter lifespan. The British new design used heavier scantlings and timbers, with closer spacing of the frames, to try to avoid this. They also raised the lower gun decks to make them more available in rough seas. Lavery thinks that by the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, British warships were generally equal (if with slightly different characteristics, and various exceptions) to those of the French.\n\nIn short, modern experts seem to think that the legendary superiority of French ships in the Napoleonic Wars is somewhat overblown, and may only apply to certain classes, such as the French 80 gun battleships.\n\nOn the other hand, the legend seems to have been in existence during the Napoleonic wars. \n \nUnfortunately, I don’t think we have actual sailing and fighting comparison trials available. There are probably British Admiralty primary accounts which may give a better view of what British seamen thought at the time, but I don’t have them. \n"
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uon80 | Do mirror neurons ever "fire" when you look into a mirror? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/uon80/do_mirror_neurons_ever_fire_when_you_look_into_a/ | {
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"A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when you perform an act, and when you watch someone else perform the same act. By definition, when you are looking in the mirror you will be performing the act. So it would fire. The fact that you are looking in the mirror is somewhat irrelevant."
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387rwe | why are diamonds still so valuable? | It's pretty common knowledge that the diamond market is controlled by the companies who own the mines, and we can make diamonds artificially in labs. Why haven't we collectively decided not to pay so much for them anymore? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/387rwe/eli5_why_are_diamonds_still_so_valuable/ | {
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"A oligarchy of companies control the direct supply that they make available. They always keep supply available well under the demand, which helps dictate a higher price",
"Its is common knowledge on this site were many people post it over and over and over. \nIt is pretty easy to think that something is now know to everybody because you have read it here several times. \nThe truth is: Many people still think they are rare, they are sold for a high price and people still pay them because they think thats how its supposed to be.",
"The tradition of buying diamond rings for proposals is some of the best marketing an industry can have. As long as the companies who make diamonds can keep associating their product with love, they'll always be able to sell them at a higher price. Love is something that is universally, uh, loved, and love makes people do stupid things.",
"Alright, I'm finally annoyed enough at seeing \"fuck diamonds\" posts to say something about it. So without further ado....\n\nThe early 20th century was a different time with different morals. Premarital sex was far more taboo than it is today, and women did not work as much as men did, the expectation being that they find a husband to support them. Also, it was very important to most potential husbands that the woman be a virgin before their marriage. Keep these things in mind.\n\nNow, even though premarital sex was frowned upon, men still wanted sex without necessarily committing to a lifelong relationship. This lead to some men leading women on with a promise of marriage, using her for sex, and then leaving her when he got bored. This was very bad for the woman because now that she was no longer a virgin, she would have a much harder time finding a husband, and by extension, financial security. This was a serious enough issue that breaching a promise to marry was actually a crime in many jurisdictions and the man could be forced to pay damages for the woman's emotional distress and decreased earning potential. \n\nKnowing all this, De Beers sensed a marketing opportunity. They told women that if a man wanted to propose marriage, he should prove that he wasn't doing so for underhanded reasons, and the best way to do that would be to make a significant financial commitment to the woman he wanted to marry, upfront. And it just so happened that De Beers had the perfect way to make that committment: buying a beautiful, diamond engagement ring! (Because handing someone a stack of cash isn't terribly romantic). Now, men were essentially paying a deposit when proposing marriage, one that the woman had no obligation to refund if he didn't hold up his end of the bargain,~~and that she could convert to money (by selling it) to have some means of supporting herself after a broken engagement and loss of reputation~~. After further review, I don't think resale value factored into this as De Beers worked very hard to make resold diamonds worthless, by cutting off jewelers who accepted second-hand diamonds.\n\nWhy is it still around today? People have largely forgotten the origins of the tradition and just see it as something you're supposed to do. Societal change is slow and this is something that will probably die out or change as time goes on and the wealth/power imbalance between men and women gets smaller and smaller.",
"They're actually less controlled than most think, as a bunch of competing producers have popped up and broken the monopoly very recently (the big one is run by this nutty Israeli guy). At the end of the day, though, diamonds still require a lot of resource and labor to obtain and process.",
"I don't have an answer to the question but I do have a fun fact about diamond engagement rings.\n\nThere is a common misconception that diamond engagement rings are an ancient tradition. Sure, there is a rich history of rings being exchanged during marriage ceremonies, and there have also been a variety of circumstances where royals and other elite gave diamond jewelry for an engagement. But, it wasn’t until the De Beers diamond cartel decided to funnel millions into marketing and advertising campaigns that the diamond ring became deeply embedded into the culture.\n\n**[Here's a quick video about the scam.](_URL_0_)**\n",
"Most people here haven't addressed the question, they've just reiterated the problem--why do people think diamonds are rare and valuable, still? And most people just say that it's because of marketing, basically. But *why* is the marketing still effective? Don't people know better than that now? So my answer is that it's at least partly due to the fact that people don't buy diamonds for themselves. The consumer and the purchaser are different. So while a person might have a certain standard if buying for oneself, they will defer that standard to the person they're buying it for. Women, having it bought for them, have their eyes on tradition, prestige, and bragging rights for diamonds. If they were to not have a diamond engagement ring and say that it was their choice, people might think it's sour grapes, because their man was too cheap to buy a diamond for them and they were just lying when they said they didn't want one. The man might think yeah, I've heard these are worthless, but my woman wants it, and so I'd better get it for her or I won't hear the end of it. So basically, it's this particular dynamic between the person buying the diamond and the person the diamond is being bought for, that leads to the diamond economic bubble--the continuing high valuation of diamonds despite it being built on lies.\n\nThere's also the fact that people have long valued diamonds, so deciding they're not valuable at all would be tantamount to saying that something one has a lot of is worthless. That is, it would be offensive to other people to say that diamonds are worthless, so people don't want to say it or admit to it. People want to continue to believe that what they have is valuable. Kind of like how,have you ever encountered someone who has fallen for that internet scam where someone writes from Nigeria claiming to be the widow of someone important, and they want your help in transferring some money, and if you help you'll receive some huge amount of money in return? People who've fallen for that, and lost huge sums of money paying \"fees\" for the money transfer, become really committed to believing that it's a legitimate request. It's too painful to think they've been scammed and that they've lost all their money.",
"Because people are stupid and believe what they want to believe.\n\nthat's really all it is.\n\nDo you know why words with english and german roots are considered obscene?\n\nDo you know why parents STILL hit their kids?\n\nDo you know why school classrooms are set up they way they are?\n\nDo you know why Brits drive on the wrong side of the road?\n\nBecause we've always done it that way. We're way past trying to impress our French overlords with our language, we're way past sending our 9 year olds to backbreaking labor, we're way past groups of clerks working in a room that looks like a classroom with their boss facing them instead of a teacher and we're way past London cab drivers hitting British pedestrians with their whips on when on the right side of the road. But I'll be damned if 100 years from now someone won't be hitting their kid for saying 'shit' about going to school while wondering aloud about the brits driving on the wrong side of the road."
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ad7pgz | Why is my current cold "a cold in the nose", whilst others are "in the head/chest/throat"? Is the infection localised there, or is it that different cold viruses exhibit different symptoms? | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ad7pgz/why_is_my_current_cold_a_cold_in_the_nose_whilst/ | {
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"There are certainly countless different viral strains, whose infectivity may range from asymptomatic to severe. Especially with the common cold. It also mutates all the time so new \"mixes\" of different phenotypes are always transpiring around you.\n\nThe infection might very well be more localized, but most likely due to differences in the virus' own capacity to infect different tissues/wreak havoc, and not due to some sort of bad luck that \"got it stuck to only infecting a certain location\". AFAIK, rhinoviruses (common cold) have the respiratory tract as their pathogenic route of entry. This may be due to the specific molecular mechanism of pathogenesis in those tissues (tissue specificity), or due to much simpler things like how the virus \"likes\" colder temperatures than the human body so it is able to be successful only in the airways that are constantly being cooled by breathing.\n\nViruses are so tiny that, as a general rule, their infectivity and area of infection are much more tied to the actual capabilities of the virus and natural selection allowing it to proliferate and infect whereas another cannot. A localized infection is certainly a thing, but it's not usually because a virus failed to infect those parts, but that it just can't.",
"A few more thoughts to add to /u/AshesAreSnow's answer. Viral specificity for particular cells and tissues is known as \"tropism\" and is usually dictated by interactions between proteins and other chemical groups on viral capsids (coats) and a cognate receptor (in this context sometimes referred to as a \"viral receptor\") or co-receptor on the host cell, which is used to gain entry. \n\nThe vast majority of viruses enter animal cells by exploiting endocytic machinery, not by fusing directly with the plasma membrane and injecting their DNA or RNA directly into the cytoplasm ([RIG-I-like receptors](_URL_1_) detect and initiate immune responses against viral DNA/RNA in the cytoplasm, in addition to a large number of cytoplasmic nucleases that degrade foreign nucleic acids). Because capsids are composed of symmetrically-arrayed [capsomeres](_URL_0_), individual particles are multi-valent, capable of physically interacting with and clustering their target receptors. This has the effect of promoting intracellular signaling, downregulation and internalization of the receptor, and, usually, internalization of the particle.\n\nSome viruses, like α-herpesviruses and measles virus, have wide and diverse cell tropism, capable of using different receptors to infect many different kinds of cells, for reasons that are currently unclear. \n\n"
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2wqp15 | What were Soviet-era Houses of Culture for? | I saw [this picture](_URL_1_) on [another subreddit](_URL_0_). Was this for showing films and propaganda? Lectures on Leninism-Marxism? Anyway, I'd love to start a conversation about this stuff. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2wqp15/what_were_sovietera_houses_of_culture_for/ | {
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"What were they for? Exactly what it says on the tin. A \"palace of culture\" is simply what we would today call a convention centre. A large building where conferences, meetings, concerts, lectures and the like are held. Events such as communist party meetings would be a staple fixture in these places, but their use was not limited to political affairs only, with these often quite massive buildings also housing offices or various leisure venues. They were fairly ubiquitous in the Eastern Bloc, and in many cases, they are used for pretty much the exact same purposes to this day, the architectural blight that is the [Prague Congress Centre](_URL_0_) being just one example.\n\nIn addition to \"palaces\", \"houses of culture\" also existed. These were basically smaller versions of the above, and once again, were in no way unique to the Soviet sphere of influence. They were community centres or cultural centres just like the ones that have been in use well before the communist regimes established their own or the ones you might find in many cities around the world to this day, provided you account for the particularities of life in a communist country at the time.\n\nI am unaware of any official distinction, at least as far as socialist Czechoslovakia is concerned, between the two. The differences were purely practical, with the smaller venues being more suited to leisure and oriented towards the local community as opposed to hosting international conferences with thousands of attendees. Youth organizations, restaurants, gyms, sports clubs, exhibitions, concert and dance halls, cinemas and the like would be some of the activities or services commonly found in a typical \"Kulturní dům\" – and in many places, they still are.",
" > Lectures on Marxism-Leninism\n\nNo. Lectures on «Political Economy», the «history of the Communist Party», «Scientific Communism» and the «history of philosophy from Marx to Lenin» where given in the educational institutions along with other subjects.\n\nIn the houses of culture you had culture. Artemy Troitsky describes how rock music, (first pop rock, then the rest of it,) got slowly [accepted enough to be performed](_URL_0_) in the houses and the palaces of culture in his «Back in the USSR». \n\nHe mentions for instance that while, during the Beatles craze, you couldn't have Beatles there you could have Beatles \"parodies\". Officially they were mocking popular music in the rotting capitalist west but in practice they played Beatles, which everyone loved.\n\nCulture which wasn't accepted yet by the authorities was performed in private flats instead. \"kvartirnik\" was the term for flat concert and a \"kvartirnaya vystavka\" is a fine arts exhibition also held in a flat."
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676m18 | Did the Zaporozhian Cossacks ever go on naval campaigns? | I am very interested in the History of Poland-Lithuania, and I was reading about Khmelnytsky Uprising and it prompted me to go back and Play the game Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword, based on one of my favorite novels.
Well, in one part it mentioned naval campaigns and described them as "essentially pirate raids."
Are there any examples of this? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/676m18/did_the_zaporozhian_cossacks_ever_go_on_naval/ | {
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"Yes, the Cossacks went on naval raids all the time - it was a major realm of Cossack activity.\n\nThe main authority on this is Victor Ostapchuk, who has investigated the Cossack presence in the Ottoman-controlled Black Sea during the seventeenth century. I was also talking with him just this morning, so your question comes at a coincidentally good time. The important article here is \"The Human Landscape of the Ottoman Black Sea in the Face of the Cossack Naval Raids\" (2001), which covers this topic in some detail.\n\nThe Ottoman Empire of the mid-16th Century controlled every port on the coasts of the Black Sea and had effectively stamped out piracy. Ostapchuk describes it as an \"Ottoman Lake\". Not having faced any military threat there within living memory, the Ottomans were generally unprepared for the appearance of the Cossacks in the second half of the century. Operating out of long boats called *chaika*s in Ukrainian, they sailed down the Dnieper to attack Ottoman fortresses on the north shore of the Black Sea, gradually expanding their activity to raids on the Crimea, and the coast of Ottoman Europe down to the Danube and Bulgaria. The big shock came in 1614, when they suddenly crossed the open sea to destroy the Anatolian town of Sinop. Per the chronicle of Hasanbegzade, quoted by Ostapchuk:\n\n > ...going over the top of its [fortress'] ramparts and walls they entered inside and descended upon the center of the city and destroyed its circumference and edifices and shed the blood of several thousand men and woman and struck the mentioned city with the broom of plunder and the fire of devastation and they left neither name or nor sign of its buildings, turning it into a wilderness and a desert.\n\nThereafter the Cossacks looted innumerable Ottoman cities, essentially every place they could reach either on the coast or slightly inland. They operated large fleets with hundreds of ships and thousands of men, taking slaves and booty wherever they went. The Ottomans responded by establishing naval squadrons for patrol and by tightening their control over the mouth of the Dnieper, forcing the Cossacks to raid in smaller numbers, but they were never able to totally prevent them from entering the sea. After Sinop, the Cossacks attacked Kaffa (1616), Varna (1620), and Trabzon (1625), to name just a few, and often revisited sites earlier destroyed. Most famously, In 1624 they even made their way up the Bosporus to loot the suburbs of Istanbul. Trade on the Black Sea became a dangerous business, as well as trade along waterways connected to it. Cossack bases located in secluded stretches of the Danube delta meant that even this vital lifeline of the empire became unsafe. Although often romanticized in Eastern Europe as religious warriors, they seem to have had no qualms about looting Orthodox Christian populations as well as Muslims. Ottoman sources describe the Cossacks as a terrible scourge and relish every naval victory of the Ottoman patrols whenever they could catch a Cossack fleet off-guard. Curses are showered upon them whenever they are referred to. Ostapchuk argues that their activity terrified the Ottomans and significantly changed their relationship with the Black Sea, which was transformed from a safe haven into a place of foreboding and danger, as evident in the writings of the traveler Evliya Çelebi, who \"at times seems almost haunted by Cossacks.\"\n\nBy the 1620s Cossack raiding against the Ottomans reached such an extent that it led to a breakdown of Ottoman-Commonwealth relations. In 1621 Sultan Osman II led an Ottoman army to Hotin, one of the goals of which was to force the Commonwealth to restrain Cossack raiding. His effort was a failure, and only exacerbated the problem as the Commonwealth had allowed Cossack ranks to swell in exchange for their participation in the campaign. In 1636 the Cossacks even went so far as to occupy the Ottoman fortress of Azov, which they held for several years, and to pledge the fortress to Muscovy (they turned down the offer). The real turning point was the revolt of Khmelnytsky in 1648, which finally drew Cossack attention away from the Ottomans. Thereafter Cossack leadership was forced to maneuver between the various powers active in Eastern Europe, including the Ottomans, which encouraged them to maintain as positive of relations as were possible. Incidentally, this applies solely to the Zaporozhian Cossacks - the Don Cossacks continued their naval raiding throughout the second half of the century. In 1669 Cossack Hetman Petro Doroshenko offered his vassalage to the Ottomans. They accepted and in 1672 invaded the Commonwealth again in order to protect their new vassal and shore up their own control over southern Ukraine, annexing the province of Podolia with its fortress of Kamianets-Podilskyi (Kamaniçe). They remembered the devastation which the Cossacks had inflicted upon the Black Sea and resolved to keep that frontier safe. Ottoman rule lasted until 1699, when the Treaty of Karlowitz signed in the aftermath of fifteen years of warfare with the Habsburg Monarchy, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Venice, and Muscovy stipulated that the region should pass back into Commonwealth control."
]
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1s23x0 | what is happening when we close our eyes? | why can we still perceive light with our eyes closed? how are phosphenes produced and why? are our eyes simply open and just looking at the back of our eyelashes because they're closed? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s23x0/eli5_what_is_happening_when_we_close_our_eyes/ | {
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" > why can we still perceive light with our eyes closed?\n\nYour eyelids are not 100% opaque. Some light comes through.\n\n > how are phosphenes produced and why?\n\nMechanically applying pressure to the vision cells in the retina can stimulate them."
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1xkvl8 | What do you think this magazine cover is symbolizing? | _URL_0_
I was wondering what you guys thought the meaning of the cover of this magazine was. We debated it in APUSH but my teacher never told us what he thought the meaning was. I am interested in what others think about it. Thanks :) | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1xkvl8/what_do_you_think_this_magazine_cover_is/ | {
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"What about the big news stories that were happening around that time: the *Ruth Synder execution* (January 12, 1928) complete with a tabloid photo secretly taken at the moment of her death in the electric chair, the anarchists *Sacco and Vanzetti murder trial* (1920–1927) with protests on their behalf were held in every major capital in the Western World, the *Leopold and Loeb murder trial* (1924) made into a play in 1929, the *Wineville Chicken Coop Murders* (1928) involving a bloody ax and three dead children and the *Bath School disaster* (1927), the worst school mass-murder in US history (38 children and 6 adults killed, 58 injured). It must have seemed that an endless wave of criminality and depravity was engulfing the nation.\n"
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18j0wm | Where does the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" bridal tradition come from? | Title says it all. I'm really curious where this seemly arbitrary tradition gets its roots. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18j0wm/where_does_the_something_old_something_new/ | {
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"The full rhyme is \n\nSomething old, \n\nsomething new, \n\nsomething borrowed, \n\nsomething blue, \n\nand a silver sixpence in her shoe. \n\nThe origins are obscure but the rhyme first gains popularity in Victorian England. Each item is simply something that is traditionally considered lucky for a new bride. \n\nSomething old - ties to her own family \n\nSomething new - new ties to her husband's family\n\nSomething borrowed - an item borrowed from a happily married woman, \n\nsomething blue - blue symbolised love and purity in ancient Rome and was a very common bridal dress colour until white took over \n\nsilver sixpence in her shoe - this is a Scottish tradition to give prosperity to the new couple \n\n\n\n"
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31tim5 | why are 'reality' competitions that are so obviously staged so widely popular? | I just saw MasterChef Junior for the first time and there is no way there are 3 seasons worth of 24 child cooking savants. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31tim5/eli5_why_are_reality_competitions_that_are_so/ | {
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"^^*...the* ^^*silence* ^^*is* ^^*your* ^^*answer...*",
"Maybe because cooking shows are in right now. I watch it because I like to see what is being cooked. I doubt these kids are doing this alone but it is entertaining and it gives me ideas.",
"Because we're sadists? ",
"Drama, even fake drama, helps to spice things up. Look at the WWE for example. They openly admit the whole thing is fake, but it is still entertaining to thousands of people. The same goes for these \"reality\" competitions.\n\nFor whatever reason it is easier to associate with the drama for most people when it is presented in a realistic fashion. This is the reason behind the \"found footage\" horror movie craze a while back. It helps to immerse yourself, while dedicated dramas, even with their own merits, are less \"realistic\" to some people.\n\nThat is my guess, anyways.",
"Most people like to watch others being humiliated, it used to be blood sports but these days were more civilized.\n\nEdit: And its cheap to make"
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5fap6h | Were there regular political editorials in the Wiemar Republic, and did commentators and politicians take Hitler seriously, or was he seen as a 'clown'? | Where can I find German newspapers editorials and/or political interviews discussing Hitler in 1928 until the 1930 elections? Not to be "Trump=Hitler" melodramatic, but I was wondering if the political 'elites' of the Wiemar Republic thought of Hitler and the Nazis as a 'flame out' party like Trump was thought of in the first few months of the 2015 GOP primaries. I am curious at how much of a shock the 1930 and later July 1932 election was. | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5fap6h/were_there_regular_political_editorials_in_the/ | {
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"You'd like looking up for \"Der gerade Weg\" (The right way). It was a newspaper edited by Franz Gehrlich in the 1930s which fiercely opposed Nationalsocialism. In the internet you can find much of the content prior to its ban and Gehrlich's arrest by the Nazis in 1933. I think the political satirical illustrations might fit into the sort of critique you are asking about. I'd link it here but I'm in a hurry right now. Also I don't remember if there's any of it available in english, (assuming that you can't understand german; otherwise there will be no problem finding it online)."
]
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16x55h | If I somehow increased my WiFi router's frequency to the frequency of visible light, would the antenna shine? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/16x55h/if_i_somehow_increased_my_wifi_routers_frequency/ | {
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"By definition, yes.\n\nIt wouldn't work very well between rooms though.",
"Indeed, and such modems are in production and use right now. High-bandwidth optical modems are being developed and used in the ocean, [described here](_URL_0_) and marketed [here](_URL_1_). They have demonstrated reliable communication at up to 100-150m depending on water conditions.\n\n",
"Yes. The antenna might be more like an LED lightbulb, and you would need to re-design and re-build. TV remotes use infrared, which is close to visible. ",
"If you raised the frequency to the visible spectrum all other things left unchanged, you would have a non-functioning, non-glowing antenna, even assuming no plastic housing on the antenna to block the light.\n\nI will assume the concept of resistance is familiar to you for DC (direct current). For AC (alternating current) which includes radio frequency, there is a similar concept called \"impedance.\" Impedance is a function of frequency. As the frequency increases, the impedance increases towards infinity. The current effectively goes to zero, and no light is generated. This can be thought of as similar to having two buckets partly full of water. You can pour water from one to another, and back again. As you start pouring back and forth faster you run out of time to move any real volume of water; only a little splash might get through.\n\nOptical systems are not really compatible with radio frequency systems. Until relatively recently RF engineering, and optical engineering have been two completely separate fields. However, as we continue to push in to higher and higher frequencies in pursuit of greater bandwidth, the electromagnetic waves behave more and more like visible light. Engineers actually have to be pretty creative at these frequencies because conventional antennas (like on your router) don't work. Let me know if I can explain anything further.\n\nTL;DR\nAll things unchanged, it wouldn't glow."
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3ryqwu | how can facebook games use other companies' characters and not get sued? (photo in comments) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ryqwu/eli5_how_can_facebook_games_use_other_companies/ | {
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"The ads and games you see are for companies based in China. There is little recourse anyone in the US can do to these companies, as they are based in a country that does not respect US Copyright laws (or turns a blind eye to it). Facebook will put them up until Pokemon/Digimon/Disney/Whoever sends them a cease and desist or copyright infringement letter. You can bet they do not have \"Over one million players\" either. They dont give a shit, they want your information and money.",
"Some are too small to attract attention, so they're just going to do this sort of crap until the company it stole from realizes and sends them a copyright infringement letter."
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3f77bc | What is the history in the Middle East that led up to the conflicts of today? | Who kicked who out of land, why do two countries claim ownership of the same land, ect | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3f77bc/what_is_the_history_in_the_middle_east_that_led/ | {
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"Wow, you don't pick simple questions do you? This isn't my expertise but I'll take a dance with the bear...\n\nSo Palestine... The total mess of his region came from several conflicting agendas that smashed into each other in an unholy mess. The region, prior to WW1, was an Ottoman province mostly inhabited by Arabs with a small Jewish population. \n\n\nDuring WW1, the British were trying to incite the Arabs to revolt against the Ottoman Turks - in a famous serious of correspondence (the McMahon correspondence), the British foreign secretary gave assurances to Sharif Husayn of Mecca for Arab independence but subject to a few niggling details - the exact borders to be defined later. The British were trying to keep some territory (Lebanon) for French colonial ambitions and Husayn expected there'd be some horse trading but he'd at least get Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia. \n\n\nThe same year the British and French divided up the Middle-East into spheres of influence (Sykes-Picot Agreement) between the two, to avoid any squabbling and keep their alliance strong. The Brits wanted Palestine (to protect the Suez Canal), Iraq and Iran (their line of communication to India). The French wanted Lebanon and Syria because they wanted a reward for the bloody mess being fought on their land. Many of these points were a violation of the spirit of the earlier promises to Husayn (e.g. Syria and Palestine). \n\n\nFinally in 1917 the British made the Balfour Declaration of a Jewish national homeland. That came about because the Zionist movement had been lobbying for such a territory as they were sick of the abuse and racism they were facing (and this was pre-WWII). The British also thought that the Jews had undue influence over American and Russian policy (they didn't, but casual racism against Jews worked in their favour for a change) - they were trying to keep the Russians in the war and speed the American entry into the war.\n\n\nThese three competing statements/promises setup the mess that was Palestine. Britain got to administer the 'mandate' and Jews began immigrating. The Arabs (not unnaturally) had no intention to work with the Jews since that would legitimize their new state and to the Arabs, these were foreign intruders on land they'd occupied for centuries. So the Jews began working with the British and setup their own government systems and infrastructure. \n\n\nPrior to WWII, both the Jews and Arabs realized that the British were their chief impediments. The Arabs revolted and were suppressed (losing men and valuable material). The Jews also turned against the British as they were trying to limit immigration in order to keep the peace with the Arabs. WWII happens and the Jews actually contributed forces to the British which gave them valuable modern training. \n\n\nPost war, the Brits are trying to restrict Jewish immigration to keep the peace with angry Arabs, the existing Jews started an insurgency and used terrorism to strike back, all the while the Brits were interning Jews fleeing Europe after the Holocaust and looking like colossal dickbags (this is called a PR debacle). Finally the Brits decided this wasn't worth the it and just walked away in 1948. \n\n\nNow at this time the Jews supported a partition of Palestine (55% of it becoming a Jewish state) and the Arabs opposed this in principle. But the latter had to depend on other Arab states since they'd lost their military forces in the failed revolt of 1938 and those other states had other fish to fry. Trans-Jordan was in fact planning on grabbing some Palestinian land. \n\n\n1948 came and the British withdrew their forces. Fighting followed as the Jews pushed Arabs out of their projected borders. The Jewish government structures setup earlier transitioned flawlessly into becoming the defacto government. The Palestinian Arabs didn't have a government structure in place and were poorly served by their leaders who all legged it. So on May 15, 1948 Israel is proclaimed which triggered the Arab states to invade. But the Israelis had veteran soldiers from WWII and benefited from interior lines against the various Arab states who attacked piecemeal. Jordan even had a special arrangement with Israel that they only wanted some Palestinian land. So needless to say the Israelis won handily.\n\n\nThis war was the *Nakba* (catastrophe) for the Palestinians as (the numbers I've been given) 90% became refugees - some fleeing the violence prior to the actual war, some fleeing the war itself. They weren't welcome back and their deserted villages were destroyed and newly immigrated Jews were resettled. So now you've got the origin of that mess. I've tried to be impartial to both sides."
]
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3f28e6 | can someone please explain to me why we see the moon in different phases and also why sometimes the moon can be seen during the day and night and sometimes can't be seen during either? | Hopefully this makes sense. Kind of embarrassed that I have gone 21 years without being clear on this. I thought we saw different phases because it's the earth's shadow cutting off part of the sun's light shining on the moon, but that's a lunar eclipse? I know it has something to do with orbits (and rotations ?) but what is going on? Thank you! Diagrams are welcome. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3f28e6/eli5_can_someone_please_explain_to_me_why_we_see/ | {
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"This one is quite easily explained by typing \"Phases of the moon diagram\" into Google image search.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nBasically the phases of the moon are based on where the moon is relative to the earth and the sun.",
"This isn't technically accurate but it helps with illustrating the concepts. Over the course of approximately every month, the sun and the moon have a race around the earth and the sun is always slightly faster than the moon. At the start of the race, both of them are at the same point and the moon is not visible at all because all of the sunlight on the moon is on the side we can't see from earth. Over the next few days of the race, as the sun creates a small lead, some of its light can be seen as a sliver on the moon but only at a point during the day when that sliver of reflected sunlight isn't completely dominated by sunlight in the sky: just after sunset. As the sun increases its lead over the moon over the next several days, the portion of the moon that is visible increases and the \"distance\" between them in the sky increases so it becomes easier to see the moon during daylight hours. The sun's lead continues to increase, until a point at which we see a full moon and the sun and moon appear to be at exact opposite ends of the sky, ie - moonrise occuring just as the sun sets. This is the halfway point of the race. During the next half of the race the reverse starts to happen, where at first we see all of the moon all night and then it sets just before sunrise, then we see slightly less of the moon for most of the night and then for a little bit after sunrise, then we see the moon for the later parts of the night and for longer during the day but with it becoming less and less visible as the sun appears to catch up to it over the course of several days. This pattern continues until the point where only a sliver of the moon is visible only just before sunrise and then eventually the race ends and they are both at the starting line again and the moon is no longer visible."
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3m88fe | How did humans interact with great apes in ancient times? | I've heard stories about Roman travelers finding gorillas and what not, and how they thought they were more savage humans. Are there any other records like this? How did Africans interact with them? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3m88fe/how_did_humans_interact_with_great_apes_in/ | {
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"hiya, a few earlier posts\n\n* [How long have black African people been caricatured as apes and monkeys? Do these portrayals predate Darwin's theory of human evolution?](_URL_1_) featuring /u/Parnasse\n\n* [What is the first reference we have about the similarities between humans and apes?](_URL_0_) includes links to a half-dozen more posts\n\nAll of these posts have been archived, so if you have follow-up questions for any of these users, ask them here, and include the user's username so they'll be notified."
]
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2nbqv0/what_is_the_first_reference_we_have_about_the/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2p8w31/how_long_have_black_african_people_been/"
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xu3p6 | If man were to finally make it to Mars, what would the space suits have to be be able to endure? How would they be any different from those used to travel to the moon? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/xu3p6/if_man_were_to_finally_make_it_to_mars_what_would/ | {
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"They would, in all likelihood, be very similar.\n\nThey still need the backpack for the rebreather system to provide oxygen (unless you're just going for a short walk, then you could take a smaller bottle).\n\nThey still need to be tolerant to low pressure, but not necessarily vacuum. In fact, in contrast to 'the movies' (you know who you are, Arnold), a suit leak wouldn't be so bad. You'd have some time to patch it up (if it was small) and wouldn't die immediately.\n\nThe biggest difference would probably be the temperature regulation and radiation protection included, which would make the suits a bit less bulky. Mars doesn't have quite as high a temperature swing as the Moon, so it would be easier to regulate the astronaut's temperature. Not as thick protection would be needed from radiation (as Mars has some protective effect).\n\nSo, they would be similar to the lunar suits but less bulky.\n\nPersonally I would like to see NASA get going with the [biosuit](_URL_0_)."
]
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"http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/"
]
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3f12ty | when you try and kill a fly by clapping your hands together around it and narrowly miss the fly, does it stun or deafen the fly in any way? they seem to steer clear or fly as if under duress - why is this? | About a [7] and its something I can't leave behind me now. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3f12ty/eli5_when_you_try_and_kill_a_fly_by_clapping_your/ | {
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"Well, you do stir the air quite a bit when you do this. That would throw their little airborne bodies around some.",
"When you clap your hands, because of the format of your hands (open it resembles a bowl), the air that is being compressed by your movement is swatted away from your hands. That way, even if the fly didn't move at all, the air pressure your hand creates would push the fly away. Try to drop one single rice in a glass of water and than try to pressure it fast against the wall of the glass. You will see the water movement pushing the rice to the side of your finger. Almost the same principle (air and water are both fluids).\nThat's why those fly-swatting hands you can buy are punctured.\nThat way the air between the fly and the swatter isn't moved horizontally to the swatter, but is moved through the swatter as well, making it easier to hit the target.\ntl;dr: swat it slow to move less air around your hand and kill the sob OR get a swatter."
]
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[],
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4fx78h | what is mlb arbitration and how does it work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fx78h/eli5_what_is_mlb_arbitration_and_how_does_it_work/ | {
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"After a few years with a team certain players are eligible to renegotiate their contracts (not sure exactly the rules for eligibility). If the team and the player can't agree on a new salary, it goes to arbitration.\n\nAt the arbitration panel, the player submits what he thinks should be paid and makes a case based on similar players. The team submits what it thinks the player is worth. Thenthearbitators deliberate and eventually pick one number or the other -- they can't split the baby. And that's the player's new salary.\n\nBy requiring the arbitrators to pick either the player's bid or the team's, it forces both parties to make an effort to be reasonable in their ask. If one side gives a ridiculous high- or lowball offer, it forces the arbitrators to choose the other one."
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1hijj8 | How much could you increase atmospheric oxygen before it becomes too toxic? | So now we have 21% oxygen..
What if you had a gym and increased oxygen composition to 30%.. would you see increased athletic performance with greater oxygenated blood or can the body not handle that? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1hijj8/how_much_could_you_increase_atmospheric_oxygen/ | {
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"It is worth noting that we inhale air at 21% oxygen, and exhale it at around 16% oxygen. We already do not utilize the majority that we intake in each breath.",
"An environment with high fractional oxygen at the same *partial pressure* as atmospheric oxygen is safe, was the environment used in early spaceflight, and continues to be used for spacewalks. This means 100% oxygen at something like 160mmHg, or 0.2atm. An environment with 100% oxygen at *higher than the partial pressure of oxygen in that atmosphere* (above 0.2atm) is toxic and can cause problems.\n\nTo your question, the answer is **no increased performance** (assuming the safe pressure). Since the partial pressure is the same, the same \"amount\" of oxygen is available to you, just not clouded up with a bunch of other gasses. An important thing to remember is that oxygen is not the only critically limiting factor. Carbohydrates to burn and waste CO2 are also going to cause problems."
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2zz3pf | How does the human nervous system generate electrical impulses? | As I understand it our nervous system runs on electrical impulses generated via the peripheral and central nervous system. How and where is the electric potential created? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2zz3pf/how_does_the_human_nervous_system_generate/ | {
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"The idea that neurons carry electrical signals is a bit misleading because it conjures the image of electricity like what we get through a wall socket.\n\nThink of electricity from a wall socket as working a bit like a hydroelectric power plant in a river. In this case, you have a bunch of water with a bunch of energy, and you could make this water do work for you by putting a water wheel in the river and capturing this kinetic energy.\n\nElectricity from your socket works somewhat the same. The electrons are negatively charged, and they're attracted to more positively charged areas. So if you have an electrical cord (river) with a bunch of electrons flowing through it (water) you can have those electrons do work for you by putting something in the middle of it (ie. microwave, etc...)\n\nSo the important thing here is that the flow of electrons is drive by **charge**, and that the flow is happening because you have two areas of relatively different charge, and the electrons will spontaneously flow from negative charge towards positive charge. These areas of different charge are said to have an **electropotential difference**, and without this difference you have no flow.\n\nIn human neurons, the long part (eg. river, power cord) is called the axon. The axon has a bunch of charged ions (Sodium *Na+*, Potassium *K+*, Calcium *Ca++*) floating around inside it, as well as a bunch floating around outside. To simplify, I will pick just one of the ions: Sodium (Na+). The wall of the axon has a bunch of one-directional pumps to move these ions around. The sodium pump can pump huge amounts of Na+ out of the axon into the extracellular space. By sending a bunch of positively charged ions out of the cell, we have increased the positive charge outside, and reduced the positive charge inside. This is our electropotential difference, and now it can be used to do work.\n\nWhen we want to send an impulse down the axon, we can open up sodium gates which allow the sodium to flow back in, and propagate the signal.\n\nThis is a gross over-simplification, but I figure it will do for just a few paragraphs. If you google *action potential propagation* you will find a lot more."
]
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1jm9h3 | What systems/functions of the human body rely on us being warm blooded as opposed to cold? | I'm sure that enzymes wouldn't work effectively if our body temperature was much lower, but is there anything else that relies on the warmth? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1jm9h3/what_systemsfunctions_of_the_human_body_rely_on/ | {
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"'Warm blooded' isn't a term used in rigorous settings any more, because it doesn't really mean anything. Large reptiles have core temperatures greater than ambient because of their size, and flying insects generate a lot of heat, despite these both being 'cold blooded' organisms. Have a look at the [wikipedia page](_URL_0_) for thermoregulation.\n\nAs for non-enzyme systems... on a cellular level, everything is achieved by enzymes- there are no non-enzyme systems. But if you look up the symptoms of [hypothermia](_URL_1_) you might get a good idea, although a lot of them are a response to the failure of our thermal homeostatic processes, so it's kind of hard to tell.",
"As /u/blackrat47 said, the human body performs all of its reactions with the help of enzymes, so anything that disrupts enzymatic function will result in the slowing of cellular reactions. So in essence, everything in human physiology relies on the presence of a fairly constant body temperature, which is why we expend so much effort to maintain temperature homeostasis. "
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zzjxv | Is it at all possible that Aztec human sacrifice is simply myth fabricated by the Spanish in order to justify taking over their land, or is their external evidence that supports this practice other than Spanish records? | I have a very radical professor this semester who very much believes in alternative teachings and firmly believes that the natives in Mesoamerica were not as violent as history has presented them to be.
I'm looking for strong evidence that would debunk his theories. (Or perhaps even support it? I'm always willing to learn about alternate theories to history.) | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/zzjxv/is_it_at_all_possible_that_aztec_human_sacrifice/ | {
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"There is plenty of archaeological, osteological and even written evidence that it was practiced in Mesoamerica. We have it recorded in native art, and first hand accounts of Spaniards who saw it. The extent is up to debate. He could be entirely correct that it was not widespread. He could also be entirely wrong. The only primary evidence we have of numbers is through Spanish accounts, as far as I know. Sadly, the Spanish destroyed every piece of soft imagery they cold get their hands on as it was considered Satanic. Supposedly there was a good deal of imagery of human sacrifice, which the Catholics suppressed in order to stamp it out.\nPractice your google fu and you'll find plenty of evidence.",
"\"This kind of eyewitness observation can be combined with Aztec pictorial and alphabetical sources, the detailed accounts of elders interviewed by friars, as well as the archeological evidence, to show violence was a part of Aztec life. We now know that ritual killing long predates the Aztecs with the earliest Mesoamerican evidence coming from hunter-gathers in the Tehuacan valley at around 5000 BCE. It is also likely that many city states before the Aztecs practiced some form of human sacrifice. But there is a huge discrepancy between the numbers that Spanish \"eyewitnesses\" tell us and what careful archeological work in the area has revealed. For instance here is what the record shows at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, the most thoroughly excavated Aztec site in Mesoamerica where the largest number of sacrifices likely took place:\n\n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n-- Two sacrificial stones(Techcatal) stood at the entrance of two shrines at the top of the Great Temple. Each rose from the floor about 50 centimeters and served as altars for ritual killings, just as Diaz De Castillo described them.\n\n\n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n-- More than a thousand ritual knives, mainly of flint, were uncovered in excavations of different stages and offering caches. They were carefully decorated and transformed into the face of a deity awaiting the sacrificial moment. Evidence shows these knives were not used in the ritual killings but were symbolic offerings.\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n-- Traces on the surfaces of statues, alters, and floors of certain ritual chambers reveal that sacrificial blood was smeared on divine images and spilled in significant quantities.\n\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n--The human remains of 126 people were buried throughout the site. Forty-two are children who, suffering from various diseases, had their throats slit so their blood could be used as an offering to the gods. Forty-seven human heads with top vertebrae connected were found in various offerings. One three complete human skulls have been recovered. They were perforated at temples probably indicating that they had been hung on a nearby skull rack. Thirty-three facial skull masks decorated with shell-and-pyrite eyes and representing the lord of the Underworld, Mictlantecuhtli were deposited on the temple floor.\n\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThis is the sum total of all sacrificial human remains found in over thirty seasons of intensive excavations in the main ritual precinct of Tenochtitlan. It is remarkable the more human remains have been found at the site of Tenochtitlan (1-550 CE) than at this central ritual landscape and capital of the Aztec empire. A Spanish account claims more than 80,000 enemy warriors were sacrificed in a four day ceremony, and yet no evidence even approaching one-hundredth that number has been found in the excavations of Tenochtitlan.\"\n\n Page 62-63 The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction By David Carrasco\n\n\n_URL_0_)",
"Honestly you are going to get a lot of different estimates depending on which historian you ask as to how many were sacrificed each year. You can see a little of the arguing over the numbers in the wiki page.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\"Thus while total estimates are impossible, it is clear that fifteenth-century Mexico witnessed a steep increase in human sacrifice, which was in turn linked to Aztec expansionism, to a parallel increase in a tribue of all kinds, to the internal dynamics of Aztec society- and some have said to ecological pressures and protein deficiency.\"\n\n\nPage 155 Mexico: Volume 1, From the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest\n By Alan Knight\n\n\n_URL_1_\n\n\n\n\nAlan Knight is professor of Latin American history at the University of Oxford, England, where he is a fellow at St. Antony's College and director of the Latin American Centre\n\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\"I should note it is very hard to actually determine the frequency of human sacrifice. The Spanish conquistadors deliberately exaggerated the extent of human sacrifice to make the Aztecs appear more barbaric; This helped justify the conquest and domination. Although we cannot make a quantitative estimate, however, most scholars agree that sacrifice was frequent and widespread in Aztec Central Mexico. \"\n\n\nPage 313 The Aztecs By Michael E. Smith\n\n\n_URL_2_\n",
"Aztec human sacrifice, as others have pointed out, was not a myth; only estimates of the numbers and regularity vary. However I wanted to address the second part, the posited \"reason\" of taking over land.\n\nJohn Weaver doesn't talk about Mexico's experience in *The Great Land Rush* (though many other historians of New Spain do) and you are correct that in situations where people were seen as having \"civilization\" of a kind in terms of physical culture, it was necessary to establish \"native title\" so that it could be uprooted.\n\nThat said, human sacrifice was not necessary as a cause for uprooting that title. Massive die-offs of population and the simple fact of conquest were plenty sufficient to claim right of ownership. If you look at other cases in the Americas that did not involve ritual sacrifice, or involved it on a far smaller scale, the process of takeover and reorganization was quite similar--with only minor alterations for local forms of overlordship and social or cultural norms.",
"I spent a little time studying the osteological markers of heart sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Here are some sources you could use:\n\nCucina, Andrea and Vera Tiesler\n2006 “The Companions of Jannab’ Pakal and the “Red Queen” from Palenque, Chiapas: Meanings of Human Companion Sacrifice in Classic Maya Society.” in Janaab’ Pakal of Palenque: Reconstructing the Life and Death of a Maya Ruler. Ed by Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina. pp 102-125. The University of Arizona Press. Tucson\n\nRobicsek, Francis and Donald M. Hales\n1984 “Maya Heart Sacrifice: Cultural Perspective and Surgical Technique.” in Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Ed. Elizabeth P. Benson and Elizabeth H. Boone. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. pp 49-90.\n\nTiesler, Vera and Andrea Cucina\n2006 Procedures in Human Heart Extraction and Ritual Meaning: A Taphonomic Assessment of Anthropogenic Marks in Classic Maya Skeletons. Latin American Antiquity 17(4): 493-510. \n\n\nPS. Evidence shows that the most likely method of heart removal in the Maya world would have been a left anterior thoracotomy or a transphragmatic entry, performed on a human who was stretched backwards over a spherical object.\n\n***\n\nThat being said, there is an incredibly long history of anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, authors, politicians, etc attempting to paint the indigenous populations of the Americas as savages in order to further some other end. This professor is most likely attempting to combat that, if in a poorly informed fashion. While you spend the time looking up ways to argue these facts with him, I would suggest looking into this as well, as a way to properly contextualize class discussions and your own understanding of the colonization of the Americas."
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"http://books.google.com/books?id=n1Mn3sBHQH8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&... | |
4g6vtl | how/why does radiation stay in a given area for so long? | Like areas where there was once a meltdown, still dangerous today. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4g6vtl/eli5_howwhy_does_radiation_stay_in_a_given_area/ | {
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"It isn't the radiation that stays, it is the material that produces the radiation that hangs around\n\nRadiation is a byproduct of the transformation a radioactive material goes through when it decays. It might (for example) start out as plutonium, decay into uranium and spit out a byproduct like an alpha particle, which is the 'radiation'\n\nA material like Plutonium has a half life of about 25,000 years, which means that in 25000 years time, half the plutonium has gone through this transformation. The other half still remains, waiting for its turn to go through the transformation.\n\nFast forward another 25000 years, and half of THAT has gone, leaving you with 1/4 of the original amount, etc\n\nOn a human scale, that is a long time for an area to be contaminated"
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1y39p1 | If things increase in temperature when put under pressure why isn't the bottom of the ocean hot? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1y39p1/if_things_increase_in_temperature_when_put_under/ | {
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"Things do increase in temperature when compressed, but after you finish compressing them, they can still cool down.\n\nIf you pump up an air tank to high pressure it will get hot. Let it sit, and it will cool down to room temperature but still be high pressure."
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4ammzc | why do computers die? why would an n64 just stop working after a period of time? | Basically this.. Why do computers wear out? Aside from software making the hardware obsolete, why would something like an N64 stop working? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ammzc/eli5_why_do_computers_die_why_would_an_n64_just/ | {
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"In computers there is a componenent called a capacitor. A capacitor stores charge. Capacitors are used all over a computer.\n\nOver time, capacitors degrade. This is what causes a computer to fail, because if an important one breaks, the whole thing can break",
"over time the boards are exposedto everything from cockroaches to layers of dust can in the right circumstances can cause short a circuit. personalty i have seen lots of dust and humidity can kill a computer. i have seen 2 different grades of equipment (laptos, ibm think pad V panasonic toughbook) in the same environment have life spans that differ in the decades",
"If the computer is getting hot enough. The contact silver solder for the heat sink can degrade away over time. This results in less heat transfer which quickly fried the CPU",
"The computer code itself should run indefinitely, what does wear out over time are the physical components.\n\nIssues like rust, power issues (a spike in power damaging components for example) problems caused by heat such as solder cracking, or components wearing out (a lot of components use mechanical properties to affect the electrical signals, so the metal film in a capacitor may wear out through repeated charge cycles or a battery chemistry will slowly decay)."
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12eyep | the inferno section of the divine comedy | and a summary of each level or ring? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/12eyep/eli5_the_inferno_section_of_the_divine_comedy/ | {
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"Dante is a pretty cool guy whose beloved Beatrice bites the dust is taken to the afterlife. Hell is Dante's first stop.\n\n* Level 1: Limbo. Unvirtuous Pagans and the unbaptized. Didn't get eternal punishment, but didn't get reward because they never accepted Jesus. Lots of Classical characters are chillin' in Limbo. Dante continues, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.\n\n* Level 2: Lust. Lustful souls are blown about by eternal strong winds representing the power of lust to blow us about in life. He meets Cleopatra and Paris and Helen of Troy and other lustful figures. \n \n* Level 3: Gluttony. Cerberus stands guard over the gluttonous. They lie in slush brought down by relentless icy rains. They are meant to represent the cold, empty, meaningless sensuality of their lives. They are blind and unaware of their surroundings.\n \n* Level 4: Greed. The greedy and miserly are meant to push large weights around (sometimes depicted as large bags of money) and joust using these. The god of wealth Pluto, or Plutus, watches over them. \n\n* Level 5: Anger. The angry/wrathful are punished by being forced to fight one another for space on the surface of the river. The downtrodden lie on the bed of the river surrounded by inky water. \n\n* After this, the punishments of active rather than passive sins are carried out in the city of Dis. The walls are guarded by fallen angels, who refuse to let Dante in. An angel from heaven comes and tells them to let Dante in and they do. \n\n* Level 6: Heresy. The heretics are trapped in flaming tombs. Two of them chat with Dante.\n\n* Level 7: Violence. Divided into three rings. 1). Outer ring: Violent to people and property. Forced to stand in a river of boiling blood and fire. The more violent you are, the deeper you stand. Alexander the Great is dipped up to his eyebrows. 2). Middle ring: Suicides. Transformed into thorny bushes and trees. These trees are the only ones who will not be resurrected for the final judgment. They renounced their bodies by killing themselves. 3). Inner ring: Violent against God, usurpers, and sodomites. The inner ring is a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes falling from the sky. Blasphemers lie on the sand. Usurpers sit. Sodomites wander in groups. \n\n* Level 8: Fraud. 10 pockets of stone are cut into one large space. Bridges connect them. They are for different types of fraud. 1). \"Panderers and Seducers\" are whipped by demons and forced to march endlessly. 2). Flatterers are forced to sit in human poo, meant to represent the useless words they produced. 3). Those who commit simony have their heads stuffed into the rock and flames burn the soles of their feet. 4). Sorcerers and false prophets have their heads turned around and walk backwards everywhere. 5). Corrupt politicians are immersed in boiling pitch, supposed to represent their sticky nature and dark words. 6). Hypocrites walk around with robes made of lead covered in gold, meant to represent their gilded nature. 7). Thieves are guarded by a dragon-monster and are tormented by snakes and lizards. 8). Fraudulent advisors burn in individual flames. 9). A demon uses a sword to wound and chop up the \"Sowers of Discord\". 10). Various falsifiers are subjected to various diseases.\n\n* Level 9: Treachery. Divided into 4 concentric circles. 1).Treachery against family ties, the punished are covered in ice up to their faces. 2). Traitors to political entities, Dante encounters a man gnawing on the head of a former compatriot. 3). Traitors to the guest-host relationship. Forced to lie flat in the ice with everything but their faces covered. 4). Traitors to their lords and masters. Punished by being covered completely in ice, in various distorted positions. \n\n* At the center of Hell is Satan, and his domain is those who commit a personal treachery against God. A beast with three heads and six wings, he is trapped in ice. He beats his wings to try and free himself, and constantly cries from his six eyes. Brutus and Cassius are in the left and right mouths. In the center mouth is Judas Iscariot, being constantly chewed by Satan and having his back flayed by his claws. It's portrayed as an inverted trinity.\n\nDante descends below Satan through the center of the Earth to Purgatory and the narrative continues. "
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4d7lnj | if i'm moving at 100 mph and throw a ball forward at 100 mph does that ball now travel at 200 mph? | Basically the title | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4d7lnj/eli5_if_im_moving_at_100_mph_and_throw_a_ball/ | {
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"Relative to the ground yes, provided you throw it in the direction you are moving.\n\nRelative to you no, it is traveling at 100mph.\n\nRelative to the sun it's probably closer to 67000mph"
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1tqut9 | I inherited this WW2 medal about a decade ago. It was given to a civilian for keeping a large portion of the railways in the UK open. Does anyone know any information about it? | Sorry if this is the wrong Sub-Reddit for this sort of question. The medal also comes with a certificate signed by King George. I'll hopefully be getting the certificate too tomorrow. I'd just love to know more about it, and what medal it actually is! If relevant, the box it came in has C.V.O on the front. The medal is in the picture below:
Cheers for any help!
_URL_0_ | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1tqut9/i_inherited_this_ww2_medal_about_a_decade_ago_it/ | {
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"I believe /r/whatisthisthing is more focused on answering your type of question, though /r/AskHistorians is usually happy to help.\n\nThat said...I believe you have a medal for the [Royal Victorian Order](_URL_0_). The letters CVO suggest that this is a Commander grade honor."
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sua4t | Can birds communicate between each other outside of the standard "warning!" or "there's food here!" calls? Can they convey more complex thoughts through chirping within their own kind much like humans can with speaking? | I'm sitting here listening to one my budgerigars making chattering sounds face-to-face with another budgie. The idea of "are they making small talk to pass the time in captivity?" came to mind. | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/sua4t/can_birds_communicate_between_each_other_outside/ | {
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"I couldn't find the exact link I was looking for, but this researcher seems to think so.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nSomewhere there is a video, narrated by the researcher, where he 'translates' what is going on. It is amazing. Sorry I can't find it.\n\n\n\n\n"
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du146q | Was tank riding (tank desant) official Soviet military doctrine, or was it an ad-hoc battlefield innovation by frontline commanders? | All those fancy pictures of Soviet soldiers leaping from advancing T-34s - was this behaviour approved by those in high command?
Additional question: I'm aware of tank riding in other theatres as well, but as I recall, both German and American infantrymen dismounted far away from combat. Did Soviet soldiers actually ride tanks into battle like armoured personnel carriers, or were these pictures merely deliberate propaganda? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/du146q/was_tank_riding_tank_desant_official_soviet/ | {
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"I am away from my bookshelf right now so I'll have to double-check on the doctrinal status of tank desant at the outbreak of the war. I do know, however, that the 1942 infantry manual provides instructions for the employment of desantniki at the company level - how to distribute machine gunners and submachine gunners, things like that. The 1944 update of the manual also contains similar instructions, but updated to reflect greater emphasis on the desantniki's role in city fighting. The 1942 manual is hosted here, in Russian. So, yes, tank desant was a formal tactic at least in the second and third periods of the war. I will have to get back to you on whether this was a formalization of an ad-hoc practice from the initial period of the war. The PU1936 regulations specify cavalry as the primary land desant arm, but that's more at the operational/strategic level so I'm not sure if it carries over to tank desant.\n\n_URL_0_"
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8rqvu5 | Do firefighters have to tackle electric car fires differently? | Compared to petrol or diesel car fires. I can think of several potential hazards with an electric car fire - electrocution, hazardous chemicals released from the batteries, reactions between battery chemicals and water, lithium battery explosions. On the other hand an all-electric car doesn't have flammable liquid fuel.
But do the different hazards actually affect firefighting practice, or do firefighters have a generic approach anyway?
UPDATE 19 June: Wow. Thanks for awesome answers everyone. I'll attempt to do a brief summary:
* It's not a major issue for putting out the initial fire. Water can still be used. A spray of individual droplets doesn't provide a conductive path.
* It *is* a concern for cutting people out of a crashed vehicle. Responders must be careful not to cut through energised high voltage wiring. But non-electric cars also have hazards to cutting such as airbags.
* It's a concern for removing and storing the wreck. Li-ion batteries can reignite after seemingly being extinguished and this can go on for days.
* Vehicle manufacturers provide fire departments with safety information, for example diagrams of where not to cut a vehicle. | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/8rqvu5/do_firefighters_have_to_tackle_electric_car_fires/ | {
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"[Understanding Why Electric Car Fires Pose a Unique Hazard](_URL_0_)\n\nThus Tesla actually designed two \"first responder cut loops\" into their cars--one in the front trunk, one in the back--and each year releases Emergency Response Guides for first responders instructing them on how to fight a Tesla fire.\n\nCutting either of the loops \"shuts down the high voltage system outside of the high voltage battery and disables the SRS and airbag components,\" reducing the risk of explosion.\n\nThey also have to show firefighters where not to cut during rescue/firefighting efforts. \n\nAdditionally, information is included in Tesla's guide warning of the toxic vapors released by a burning battery.\n\n\nIt should be noted that the battery packs in these cars are made up of thousands of smaller batteries. Not just one or 2 huge ass LI-Ion cells.",
"Yes. The DOT publishes an emergency response guidebook for many different chemicals and situations. [PDF Link Here](_URL_0_). In this guide, section 147 should be used for batteries (and electric + hybrid vehicles). This directs first responders to evacuate the area up to 25 meters in all directions, to wear respirators, and what methods can be used to fight the fire (dry chemical, CO2, foam). The section for gasoline fires is 128.",
"Auto engineer with experience with electric and hybrid vehicles:\n\nThe HV batteries will have a few different isolation systems to help with this issue built in. First they will have big relays that will open the connections outside of the battery pack in the event of a crash or other failure. Second there will be a manual disconnect that is fused which will also open circuit the battery pack to the rest of the car. \n\nIdeally if a fire starts anywhere not in the battery pack it should be safer than a combustion engine fire as the HV system is disconnected from the HV batteries. ",
"I don’t know a lot about this matter but I know that when Richard Hammond (a U.K. car show presenter) crashed his Rimac (electric hypercar) firefighters had to be on standby for 5 days cause the batteries meant that the car kept lighting itself back on fire. [The top comment of this post should help answer your question](_URL_0_) ",
"Mercedes Benz has Rescue Assist which are QR codes that can be put on any Mercedes after 1990 to show first responders what area to cut with the jaws of life and how to extricate victims from each model.\n\n_URL_0_",
"As a firefighter in Washington DC here are the special precautions/items we take into consideration when fighting an electrical vehicle fire/cut\n\n1. During a fire involving a Electric Vehicle, shock should not occur because the Hugh voltage of a electric vehicle does not use the earth as a ground. A f/f standing on the ground does not complete a circuit when a stream of water hits he electric vehicle. There is still a possibility though if you touch an electrical component of electrical shock\n\n2. There will be common fluid leaks to look for with an electrical vehicle KOH-potassium hydroxide, marlotherm, sulfuric acid.\n\n3. A telltale sign of a EV is the international orange color associated with the wiring system that provides power. The wiring usually runs beneath the floorboards and along the cars lower frame\n\n4. As with any electrical system, try and dump the electricity first and wait for 5-10 minutes if possible to let the electricity drain.\n\n5. Always check disconnect switch before rescue operations (most of time located under back seat)\n\n6. Before any cutting operations, make a spy cut first or peel back any insulation to check for wires (edited a word, autocorrect)\n\n7. The battery pack and cables remain hot for several minutes after power is shut off\n\n8. Capacitors may still work after main power is shut off\n\n9. Never cut directly into the battery pack\n\n10. Large EV fires can be controlled with water. If the fire is small in nature and involves just the batteries, consider using the type D extinguisher or a type BC extinguisher\n\n11. Safety devices should automatically open circuits close to the traction battery in a EV\n\n12. Use a fog stream to dilute toxic gases from a burning EV car battery (try to control the spread of toxic fumes basically with a fog stream)\n\n13. Use the NAERG for info on exposure to subsantes on a EV...(use the guide in the 140s I think 147 maybe? I don’t have a NAERG readily available at this second)\n\n14. As with any vehicle fire, park the wagon at least 50 feet+ away from burning car, secure a water supply, use 2 handlines, approach the car at a 45 degree angle from the front bumper of the car, douse the passenger compartment first, then engine compartment, and finally ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pop open the trunk and check for a body in there before you leave the scene of ANY vehicle fire \n\nAs for #14 this happens more often then you think. It happened just this year here a company put out a car fire in an alley off Texas avenue and left the scene, cops showed up, trunk was locked, called FD back to scene, popped open the trunk, voila one body with multiple GSW wounds. It happened a few more times in the years past as well. So many times in fact, it’s now EXPRESSLY written in our standing orders.\n\nEdit: people Messaged me asking what a NAERG is...here is a copy of the North American Emergency Response Guidebook - NAERG...published every 3 or 4 years. Every fire truck in the country carries this book.\nSo you know the placards you see on trucks that are inside those diamonds? 1993 for example with a flammable designation. Look up the name of the chemical (the blue section everything is in alphabetical order there, or by number in the yellow section, ascending order) then refer to the GUIDE NUMBER it tells you (the orange section) so if a chemical says refer to guide #147, turn to guide number 147 in the orange section and follow what it says\n\n_URL_0_",
"In terms of extinguishing the fire this scenario isn't much different. If it is a small fire it would perhaps be best to use an extinguisher. A fully involved car fire is going to get the hose regardless of being diesel, gas, propane or electric. \n\nThe biggest difference when approaching an electric vehicle is when the vehicle needs to be cut apart. The high voltage wires are *typically* in the floor, a different color and to be avoided. Another huge hazard is the high pressure air bag cannisters in the pillars of the car. These are potentially right in the middle of where cuts may need to be done. With either of these hazards the answer is the same; peek and pry so you know what you are cutting before you cut it. If it isn't a safe place to cut, don't cut there.\n\nFirefighting is a dangerous job. Every call will have hazards. Every call is approached in the exact same way: using the incident command system.\n\nBut to answer your question: Do electric vehicles have special hazards? Yes. \n\n\n\n",
"Depending on if you can get to it or not, most EVs come with an emergency disconnect, so the first option would be to disconnect from there. On most traffic accidents most first responders are trained to disconnect the battery first. ",
"So the fire itself is handled very similarly to an other car fire. Electrocution is not necessarily a major concern during firefighting operations (link to testing about electrical/hybrid fires _URL_0_). The point you worry about electrocution is during extrication. There are bright orange wires that you definitely do not want to cut. Auto makers have emergency electrical disconnects in cars and are vehicle specific. Additionally some auto makers will actually donate cars to cut up for practice. For example I know recently Tesla donated something like 13 cars in my area and hosted an auto extrication class on their cars. ",
"I work for a Toyota dealer. We provide first responders with free special training for how to deal with hybrid batteries in collisions and fires.\n\nThe amperage of those systems is such that if the cut in the wrong place with the jaws of life or a hot saw the shock could be fatal. We teach them how to neutralize and disconnect the battery to make the car safe. For rescue.\n\nAlso if the battery catches fire it is possible for it to burn for days. \n",
"I work in South Lake Tahoe, California which is only a few hours away from a Tesla plant. Electric cars have definitely changed car extrication and fires. The power inside of these vehicles is crazy powerful. They also have an electric supply that maintains a level of charge even when the battery is cut from the system. There’s been some vehicle fires that have been extinguished, taken to the truck yard, and caught on fire multiple times over days because of the inherent charge that they can have. They’re very dangerous. \n\nTo add to that, the technology in modern cars in general have changed making extrication harder. They started twisting the metal when they make it for parts of the frame. Sometimes the metal is so strong that jaws and cutters that are reasonably modern aren’t strong enough to cut through it. They’re making special equipment strong enough to cut through it now, but it isn’t cheap and isn’t easy to outfit departments with.\n\nBut in general, the risks are made aware to all firefighters. Tesla has supplied us with diagrams and other information on how to handle new complications with modern vehicles. The fun never ends 👍",
"If you have watched the second season of the grand tour this was mentioned after Hammond’s accident - supposedly for the next 6 days the car continued to catch fire as the battery cells gave out - so it’s more of a long term issue rather than just an emergency issue",
"Somewhat.\n\nWe still use water and extinguish like any normal car fire. We just avoid cutting the main battery wires so no one gets electrocuted.\n\nThe wiring is actually done up to where it shouldn't be a risk when cut, but why risk it?\n\nSolar roofing does not have the safety wiring built in that should go dead if cut, so I worry more about having to roof vent a house covered in solar panels. ",
"Yes, but even before electrical cars magnesium block engines were pretty exciting. Mostly on Volkswagens, they would emit a huge blue arc when water hit them while on fire. Startling if you aren’t expecting it. Just get in close and stay steady, it will eventually cool and extinguish. \nIf you have never fought a car fire I can tell you tires popping will get your attention as well!",
"I work at a goverment fire research lab in Canada. 3 years ago we did a test series on EVs specifically for the interest of fire fighter safety. My job as a tech was primarily wiring up these brand new cars with temp sensors and hooking up chemical sampling lines. I was also the \"video\" guy. I was not privy to the final report but my first hand experience of multiple large scale EV fires left me with these two unscientific observations: new cars have so many airbags and shocks (trunk, hood, rear). These go off without warning and are very powerful. Also, these cars are made of so much plastic, they give off some pretty nasty chemicals when engulfed in flames. Overall, I'm not sure what conclusions the researchers drew from this testing but it was definitely a memorable experience and made me fall in love with my job. Thanks.",
"I am a firefighter and I recently received my certification for hybrid electric and electric vehicle fires. \n\nWe first identify what the type of car is. Is it a hybrid which runs a combustion and electric motor or just electirc like a Tesla.\n\nThe manufactures try to make the batteries accessible for mechanics for when they fix the car so they place them either in the center of the car usually below the back seats, trunk, or in the front engine compartment.\n\nThere are battery disconnects similar to a normal battery in a car and the high voltage lines are usually orange so we are able to notice them and avoid them\n\nIt's not normal for the battery to get damaged in the first place because it's usually very secure in a metal casing to protect it from the environment and crashes.\n\nThe cars also have a lot of safety points built into them so they tend not to pose a risk to us, manufacturers like Tesla post first responder guidebooks for us so we can see where everything is inside the car. \n\nSo once we make sure the battery is disconnected, we treat it like any car fire, approach from the side and stabilize it. Turn it into a pool. ",
"On hybrid vehicles: Make sure the vehicle is off first for your safety. (They are super quiet when idling. Next cut the 12 volt battery as you would on a regular vehicle. Negative first, then positive. This will kill power to the high voltage system as well. Next, bust out the hurst tools and start cutting!",
"One thing that most people don't realize yet about electric cars: because the electrical system is high voltage there's always going to be a small possibility that the body could become live after a crash or flood and potentially kill someone. Teslas (probably other electric cars too) have special \"first responder loops\" that are supposed to be cut to quickly disable the high voltage system in the event of a crash. In the Model S there is a loop under the front trunk that should be pulled or cut, and in the Model 3 there are instructions to cut into a spot in the C pillar with the jaws of life.\n\nThere's a YouTuber who buys and rebuilds flooded/wrecked Teslas, and out of the five or so salvage cars he's bought *none of them had the first responder loop cut*. Basically there *are* important steps that need to be taken when dealing with electric cars, but no one seems to know them and as electrical cars become more common it will be important to educate people to avoid injury or death.",
"Toyota put out a training manual for EMS response for the Prius when it came out, most likely for all hybrid models now. They have an orange pull out connector in the trunk that splits the pack in the middle, all the wires are color coded orange, and they are all kept in the drivers side bottom frame rail for safety. \n\nIf you think about it in terms of rate of energy release, the battery only has to be wired to provide a bit more than the car will ever draw under hard acceleration. You can control the wiring of the battery to some extent, but the limitation basically becomes whatever amount of power the car requires, you have to deliver that amount plus some overhead for electrical efficiency and thermal management.\n\nBut a tank of gas, until you get into something like top fuel dragsters, you can get all the fuel a car needs through a 1/4 or 3/8 hose. If the tank gets a 3\" puncture you can't really control the rate of release. If it leaks onto a fire it burns at whatever rate it vaporizes. It's hardwired into the chemistry of the fuel.\n\nNot saying one way or the other is safer; they are different hazards. But anything that can release energy quickly enough to move a 4000lb car up a hill is going to be a hazard. A double A powered flash on a camera transfers energy fast enough to kill someone if the conditions are right.",
"I used to work at a Ford dealer in 2004 when the Escape Hybrids first came out. We all had to pass a test with the same information that firefighters and other first responders were provided about which wires were safe to cut and which weren't.\n\nWe also had to know how to access and disable the high voltage circuits by rotating and removing a plug under the carpet in the rear cargo area. This was the absolute FIRST step to take if at all possible in the event of a fire or accident.\n\nI'd imagine modern hybrids and evs have something similar.",
"The NFPA doesn’t currently have a standard for lithium-ion batteries; but according to most studies and accounts, Li-ion batteries do not contain enough Lithium to pose a significant threat and can be doused with water to contain the hazard. Of course, lithium metal batteries are a different beast and must be treated as a metal fire, where water would worsen the reaction. However, in most cases the goal is to isolate the fire and prevent it from spreading, so drenching the surrounding area in water will probably be the best bet. Firefighters are professionals however and will make the best choice decoding on the circumstance. ",
"Fog Nozzles, which are probably the most widely used nozzle, disperse the water in such a way that the water coming out of the nozzle will not conduct electricity, however it is advised that the nozzle-man be a few feet away from the electrical source.\n\nWith a car fire, most departments just run and gun it with water ASAP. This may depend on how well equipped the responding department is. Dry Chem extinguishers at the ready for a very small car fire may happen, but most car fires aren't small by the time the department arrives on scene. Hybrid and electric cars are not always obvious either, especially when its covered in smoke. Vehicle extrication (no fire) is completely different though. Proper care can be taken then, as a 360 is more likely preformed and more time to have information gathered.\n\n*Although distilled water is a nonconductor, the water we use does conduct electricity. However, it is not a good conductor as compared with metals. The amount of electricity water will conduct depends on several factors, including the dissolved mineral content in the water stream, the continuity of the hose stream pattern, and the distance between the energized source and the nozzle. Often, the water pumped through the nozzle from a hydrant has a high iron content, as evidenced by the rust color, particularly in the early stages of the stream’s application. A solid stream from a smooth bore nozzle would theoretically conduct electricity more readily than the stream from a fog nozzle because of the insulating quality of the air in between the water droplets of the latter. Nevertheless, examples of water streams conducting electric current back to the nozzle team at standard voltages are very rare, especially inside a building. The rapid movement of an advancing nozzle breaks up the stream continuity and makes the stream a poor conductor of electrical current. Sparks may fly, but current is seldom conducted back unless the nozzle team is extremely close to the electric source and the source is high voltage ( > 600 volts). Water fog patterns (30°) are recommended as the safest application method, and the greater the distance from the energized source, the safer it is.*\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThere's tons of information out there on this :)",
"After an apple engineer died in his Tesla a few months back, the local fire department had to wait for Tesla engineers arrive and disassemble the battery before they could fully put out the fire and recover the driver's body. \n\nApparently the battery from the car re-ignited while in storage at the fire department several days after the accident. \n\n_URL_0_",
"EV battery engineer here. I’ll borrow one of my favorite German words: jein.\n\nMost cells contain everything they need to create a fire, especially as the cathode and electrolyte decompose. As such, water will not put out a fire by suppressing oxygen. In addition, due to the various soluble byproducts, dust, and other contaminants, it can become a path for a short circuit. That said, in my experience this is rarely a *danger* to an occupant or first responder, because both poles of the battery through ion-loaded water to chassis to each other is orders of magnitude less resistance than between any 2 points in the human body, and the current flow through the human body ends up being minimal.\n\nWater will, however, prevent cells from entering thermal runaway or, if runaway is in progress, stop it from reaching the ~180C threshold you see when the cell vents flammable (and often ignited) gas. There is no common substance better at absorbing heat with minimal change in temperature, which means that heat continues to flow into water a lot better than similar amounts of other substances. If you can get enough water quickly enough, you can make the fire a lot less bad, though the vehicle is totaled anyway (from water damage if not the fire itself).\n\nI have never worked at or invested in Tesla. That said, it is my professional opinion that they do an amazing job with occupant safety. Tesla makes one of the only cars on the road that can be on fire for ~30 minutes before the passenger compartment ignites - which gives first responders a very long time to respond - and they do the best job of reducing propagation from cell to cell. In the vast vast majority of single-cell thermal runaways (unfortunately a random fact of life with any lithium ion chemistry found so far), there will be no propagation and the driver won’t notice. I’ve pulled several of their packs apart and there are usually a couple cells that had gone off with no consequences to the vehicle beyond a couple miles of range. They also have an excellent thermal barrier between the cells and interior.\n\nFor comparison, ICE car fires are on the order of ~2 minutes from start to passenger compartment ignition.\n\nAlso, EVs in general catch fire much less frequently than ICE cars by any metric but news tends to latch on to these incidents regardless."
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8vsti4 | What would happen if a Roman consul died mid term? | This seems like a really dumb question, but I can’t find an answer for it. Would the other consul take over? Would they have a re-election? What would happen? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8vsti4/what_would_happen_if_a_roman_consul_died_mid_term/ | {
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"Until the 80s the consuls were military commanders first and foremost, and spent almost all of their time outside the city. This can be seen in lots of the circumstances surrounding the office. For example, the revision of the calendar by shifting the beginning of consular office by adding two extra months before March may be in part a political gesture, to extend the brief time that consuls spent in the city between taking office (originally March 15, then January 1) and going off on campaign. Consular office did not have an age limit until the *lex Villia* in 180, and extraordinarily young consuls were occasionally elected (e.g. Scipio). But the norm was for consuls to be, shall we say, mature leaders. This, combined with the military aspect of the consulship, made it virtually certain that some consuls--and other magistrates, naturally--were likely to die in office eventually. \n\nIn consulship was a particularly knotty problem in that the consuls were the possessors of the auspices, and by religious custom these had to be passed on in an unbroken sequence. Consuls presided over the elections of their successors, and at the end of the year the former consuls laid down the auspices, which were taken up by their successors. Moreover, the auspices were required for the holding of consular elections to begin with. The death of a sitting consul therefore raised not only political and procedural problems, but religious ones as well. In ordinary cases, with the death of a single consul, the surviving consul assumed his auspices and presided over the special election (for which the consul's own auspices would suffice) of a suffect consul, who would take the deceased's position for the remainder of the year. This could cause some issues, such as the need for the surviving consul to return from campaign to elect a suffect, but usually it wasn't too big a deal. In the unfortunate event that both consuls were either killed or incapacitated, which did happen sometimes, the auspices were assumed by an *interrex*. The *interrex*, one of the handful of magistracies still exclusive to patricians by the historical period, had no colleague and was, almost uniquely, chosen by the senate from is own ranks, to which he returned after the completion of his duties. The *interrex* had five days to take the auspices and hold consular elections. If the auspices were bad and forbade the elections, or for some other reason he was unable to complete the elections, after five days the *interrex* named a successor, who likewise held the position for five days, and so on until the consular elections were held. Normally this action was carried out in an orderly fashion, and only when neither consul could preside over the elections. Towards the end of the Republic this could be an issue, however, as elections frequently became postponed to mere days before the assumption of office and turmoil disrupted normal political procedure. *Interreges* presided over the elections of Crassus and Pompey for the consulship of 54, and *interreges* presided over the elections in 53 and 52 as well. Prior to Sulla (elected to the dictatorship with an *interrex* presiding) *interreges* had not been appointed since the late third century, after which point consular elections that could not be carried out by either consul were usually handled by briefly-serving dictators who handled the auspices. The last *interregnum*, in 52, was caused by the rioting that occurred after Clodius' murder by Milo, which prevented the elections from occurring. After fifteen *interreges* eventually Pompey was made sole consul without election.\n\nThis last case is not unimportant, because the conditions under which suffect consuls were supposed to be elected were not always entirely clear. The death of a consul was obvious enough. The death of both consuls clearly necessitated some sort of special action to preserve the auspices, whether *interregnum* or the appointment of a dictator to preside over the elections--of course, in the most famous example of such a calamity, Octavian assumed an extraordinary magistracy immediately after the deaths of both consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, at Mutina, without resorting to either measure (the dictatorship had been outlawed by Antony recently anyway). But what if a consul was simply no longer a consul? This problem arose in 87, when Cinna was driven from the city and deprived of his consulship by senatorial decree. Under normal circumstances consular office could be revoked, but only by a vote of the people in the centuriate assembly, which was to elect a new consul to replace him. Cinna, Appian tells us, went to the army at Nola (which was not his army, but App. Claudius's, which sort of seems to sink any argument for \"client armies\" as the cause for civil warfare in the first century) and appealed to them, stating that they, as citizens, had granted him consular office (a common oratorical formula) and that only they had the right to take it away. The senate's actions were therefore, Appian's Cinna says, not only an insult to him but a direct assault on the power of the people to elect the magistrates. The appeal to an army particularly was more than practical, it was symbolic: the consul, as a traditionally military leader, was elected by the centuriate assembly, symbolically the Roman people in their guise as a citizen militia electing its own leaders. Cinna's further argument, that the senate by this move would (if it was allowed to stand as a precedent) legitimize the ignoring of the voting assemblies and take the state for themselves, was clearly effective, and probably was quite a real fear. The language of the texts is somewhat unclear. Appian says the senate (singular, βουλή) outlawed Cinna and that they (ἐχειροτόνησαν, plural) elected Merula as suffect consul. The switch from singular to plural might be Plutarch's expansion of the senate to the body of individual senators (particularly appropriate in an electoral context) or it might be Plutarch switching the subject to the Roman people, who are not explicitly mentioned. Likewise, the verb might mean that the senate itself elected him or that an election (presumably a normal one) was held. It's hard to say--depending on what we think, the election of the suffect consul might have suffered a serious misuse. \n\nIn the Principate the suffect consulship gained a new character. The end of free elections (originally still held as a formality, but ultimately abolished entirely) and the primacy of the emperor made the consulship more a mark of formal prestige and imperial favor than anything else. Two consuls were still created (in many years, and often in succession, including the emperor himself), but in addition to these several sets of suffect consuls were created. Initially these pairs took up consular duties for four months each, but eventually this time narrowed to only one month: in some years honorary suffect consuls, who had no actual duties, were also named. Consuls might still die, of course--but in such circumstances not only did it not matter, but they could be replaced easily anyway!"
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3qzbg5 | why are software companies shifting to subscription packages rather than outright purchases? | Companies like Adobe and Celtx and more and offering only subscription packages and no options for single purchases. What if I want to pay once to just own the current version that does everything I need? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qzbg5/eli5_why_are_software_companies_shifting_to/ | {
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"Because up until the subscription model, Adobe CS was one of the most pirated pieces of non-OS software out there. They allowed it because many of the Pirates were learning graphic artists, so it basically built their customer base. \n\nThe change to a subscription model is a pretty brilliant way to enforce purchase, but make the software cheaper, and in turn make more money than they were before. ",
"I cant believe that nobody has mentioned piracy yet, many people could pirate a 100+ dollar program, never update it so they dont lose the software and keep it free for life. You cant pirate a subscription, Adobe products are some of the most highly pirated and a subscription keeps them from losing revenue to pirates.",
"All the other answers here are right, but I don't see a lot about the ops portion of this. If you've ever worked on the backend of a software, being cloud based makes maintenance significantly easier. You don't have to deal with versioning, maintaining support and bug fixes for old versions, etc. You're also only maintaining one code base and you can easily push out updates to your software and monitor your usage. ",
"If the requires continuous updates and upgrades it is more cost effective for them to charge as subscription fee for their work. It is also easier on the customer to buy a piece of software once and pay a low subscription fee than it is to buy a completely new set of software when the next edition comes out. ",
"Same reason Streaming is promoted over legal file downloading. They are basically switching from selling a product to rent seeking.",
"I work in software development. This strategy is called \"Software as a Service\" and is becoming the new norm. There are rumors Microsoft is moving towards this model with Office too.\n\nThere are two major reasons for this strategy. The first has already been mentioned - piracy. \n\nThe second reason is more complicated: the development lifecycle. \n\nA) It is too lengthy for the current consumer and less profitable (at least in the short-term, arguably in the long-term depending on the success of the product).\n\nA good example of the development lifecycle being too long is to look into Early Access games on steam. On average, even a small quality game takes 3 years, but that length of time receives a lot of negative feedback to the developers. Users don't really *understand* what goes into software development and therefore don't have the patience to wait.\n\nB) But on top of that - the world is a lot more competitive. The earlier you get your product out, the more likely your product is to dominate the market. (Or at least this is the perception of management.)\n\nC) Users are finicky and expect a lot more out of their products now. For better or worse, they expect their feedback incorporated into the software.\n\nD) Probably one of the most major factors - Success of an old-time software development lifecycle is unknown until the product is released. And by then, major changes are too late. You see this a lot in video games for console, and it puts some smaller companies out of business. The service model completely prevents/bypasses this. The developers can respond to feedback to improve user experience and lower the risk.\n\nThere is the negative side too though that isn't really acknowledged because it's bad publicity. This is the 'customer is always right' model, and in software development this is often far from true. It also demands quicker development, which means bigger teams and faster fixes, that are often detrimental to the product.\n\nRegardless, it is becoming the new norm, and will likely remain that way for some time.\n\nThe biggest risk against it though is exactly what you've mentioned: another bill to pay. Long-term are users going to be willing to add so many bills for luxuries? Netflix, spotify, youtube has a subscription model now, office, photoshop, etc? This shit is going to add up.",
"Because money. If you buy a package and then don't upgrade for years, they lose out on revenue. Subscription keeps the money coming from as long as you use the program",
"A couple of reasons. Firstly, the company can determine how much income they'll have at any given time because it's constant (individual sales are usually inconsistent and mostly random).\n\nSecondly, more money. If they make you rely on something that you have to pay for monthly, they've got you. They'd rather have $10/month off you rather than a single $100, especially for something you're going to keep for a long time.",
"Long story short, many things are switching to subscription because it's easy to make the customer think he's getting more out of it, while generating much more profit for the company. Simple psychological behavior, like the sunk cost fallacy, means that many customers keep paying the (otherwise smaller) monthly fees, end up paying many times the cost of the one-time package, but the company does not have to spend more effort or resources on it, just reroute it differently.",
"Along with the other reasons listed, a subscription model offers a lower barrier of entry in terms of price. With the Adobe Suite, before now pirating it was the only real option for non-professionals, now its actually feasible for a student to pay for it.",
"My theory is this:\n\nSoftware utility hasn't really improved much in the past 10 years. Really, what can the average user do with Office 2016 that they can't do with Office 2007? Or a lot of other programs, IMO.\n\nSo there really is no compelling reason for people to \"upgrade\" any longer. In order for software providers to continue to make money, they have to come up with a different method of charging for their products. If you bought Office 2007 eight years ago for $499 (about $5 per month, if you paid full price), and only use it for simple office tasks, such as letter writing, spreadsheets, etc., it will work for you for another 8 years. Why spend another $500 for features you don't need?\n\nBut the subscription model requires you to pay and pay again, as long as you are using the product. So the software companies have a reliable stream of income forever.",
"Lot of reasons and most important ones are\n\n* Software companies want every user to have the up-to-date version of their software, which translates to easier patches, better security etc.\n\n* To enforce up-to-date the software company you can't make them buy their newest version every time. The only viable option is give the updates free or charge them by subscription packages.\n\n* The book keeping for companies that buy packages is easy because they don't have to worry about long term assets ( because when you buy the software and use for 3 years, then you have to handle the books differently ).\n\n\nSimply it is the best way to sell and deliver software.",
"A lot of responses say 'money' but if you break it down, companies that upgrade regularly [may actually end up spending less](_URL_2_). Adobe, for example, have priced Creative Cloud in such a way that three years subscription is approximately equivalent to the old CS6 Design Standard (although you actually get a lot more with Creative Cloud so it's arguably a much *better* deal). The operating costs for Creative Cloud are substantially higher as well (as Adobe have to provide an always-on cloud service) which has led to a[ *decline* in profits](_URL_1_) since releasing Creative Cloud.\n\nThe old way of developing was that you worked on a product, adding features and ironing out the bugs until it was 'ready'. At this point you wrote it to a disk, printed the manuals, stuck it in a box marked *Version 2.3* and shipped it to a store to be sold. Then when your customers found some problems you would work on solving them, go through the whole process again and in addition supply your loyal customers with a disk marked *Version 2.31*. This way of developing is, as I'm sure you can imagine, very outdated in a world of downloadable installers, endless software updates, etc. But it's still the primary model for development for a lot of our most used software. \n\nA subscription model allows developers to adopt more of a *[rolling release](_URL_0_)* approach to development, which should allow for more innovation through faster iteration. That's why the big players like Microsoft and Adobe *say* they are moving to subscription models; we will just have to wait and see whether it delivers the goods as promised."
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"http://www.cnet.com/news/how-greedy-is-adobes-creative-cloud-subscription-not-very/"
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7paqyb | when someone makes a weld, why are there sometimes colors that show up on the weld itself? what do they mean? | [Picture for reference](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7paqyb/eli5_when_someone_makes_a_weld_why_are_there/ | {
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"The colors you are seeing are the metal tempering at different temperatures.\n\nIf you heat iron (not metal in general, just steel really) to a certain degree, it actually changes color. Then you can \"set\" that color by cooling the metal to room temp. Colors for steel range from straw-purple if I recall correctly. \n\nSo you get the rainbow effect because a weld causes uneven heating. "
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"https://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Weld-1.jpg"
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