q_id stringlengths 5 6 | title stringlengths 3 301 | selftext stringlengths 0 39.2k | document stringclasses 1 value | subreddit stringclasses 3 values | url stringlengths 4 132 | answers dict | title_urls list | selftext_urls list | answers_urls list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1sun0m | Can someone help me identify this object? Possibly Native American (Fort ancient culture). | To me it looks like a generic ax head/chisel morphotype from the Hopewell or Fort Ancient cultures. My father and uncle found them as kids just after the first rain on a plowed and disced field just outside Fairfield Ohio. It is part of a larger collection found in the same area.
[side view 1] (_URL_3_)
[side view 2] (_URL_1_)
[front view] (_URL_0_)
[top view] (_URL_2_)
If anyone is curious about the rest of the collection I can upload more pictures. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1sun0m/can_someone_help_me_identify_this_object_possibly/ | {
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"Looks like a stone celt. _URL_0_\n\nAs a guess, I'd imagine it's an ax from the Adena culture, which inhabited the area you're talking about during the period in which axes similar to this one were in use. _URL_2_\n\nI'm not an expert, but hopefully that will help you. I would get in touch with local universities or historical societies (they exist in Ohio) for more information — nothing like local knowledge.\n\nMore information: _URL_1_",
"It's definitely a celt, as /u/Biolight said. Context would certainly help in identifying it. Assuming the projectile points I can see in the background of the \"front view\" can from the same site, we can probably eliminate Fort Ancient. At first glance, I don't see any stereotypical Adena points either. While Hopewell then becomes the most likely option, it's not the only one left. At the moment, I'm leaning toward post-Hopewell Late Woodland actually, but I might revise that upon seeing more. \n\nHonestly, though, you should definitely contact the Ohio Historical Society on this one. If the site contained multiple artifacts, there still could be useful information that could be retrieved from it with a proper excavation. The OHS could get you in touch with the right people to get the ball rolling on that one."
]
} | [] | [
"http://i.imgur.com/m2isIwD.jpg",
"http://i.imgur.com/PhrnWjN.jpg",
"http://i.imgur.com/V6w5gaB.jpg",
"http://i.imgur.com/0HYRcpv.jpg"
] | [
[
"http://www.zuko.com/timeWarp/The_Ancients_of_North_America_Stone_Celts.asp",
"http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=251",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adena_culture"
],
[]
] | |
22it3g | When a person experiences visual effects during a psychedelic trip, how much of that is neurological and how much is purely optical? | i.e., is the effect primarily due to the atypical movement and dilation of the eyeball or to chemical interactions in the brain and nervous system? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/22it3g/when_a_person_experiences_visual_effects_during_a/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"it's all in the brain. computational models of visual cortex can produce geometric hallucinations similar to the effects of e.g. LSD. you might like to look up some stuff by [Jack Cowan] (_URL_0_) of U.Chicago, he's done a lot of work in this area.."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=jack+cowan+hallucination&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp="
]
] | |
3bieak | how are the speeds of planets and galaxies determined? | Considering velocity is relative, how do we know how fast an object is moving in deep space both relative to earth and other galaxies? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bieak/eli5_how_are_the_speeds_of_planets_and_galaxies/ | {
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"text": [
"We measure it, quite simply. \n\nVelocity may be relative, but we can certainly measure it relative to a given reference, like our planet, our sun, or even our entire galaxy.\n\nIt may not be a simple measurement. Scientists may have to compensate for angles of movement changing perceived speed, or compensate for our own velocity when using a non-earth reference. All of this is doable, there's just some careful measurements and math involved."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
7w09ea | how did amazon become such a giant? wasn’t there other online stores at the time of its creation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7w09ea/eli5_how_did_amazon_become_such_a_giant_wasnt/ | {
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"text": [
"When it came out, it was mostly focused on books. The early web started seeing a lot of specialized sites, like _URL_1_ for pet stuff. One other problem with the early web is that there wasn't really a great way to pay for things in a secure way. You could put your info in, but that was potentially dangerous until SSL became a thing.\n\nThe site I remember being the place to go for everything at the time was eBay. \n\nThe difference with Amazon (as opposed to sites like _URL_0_) is that Walmart already had warehouses and shipping/distribution channels, but it's still based around its brick and mortar stores (they try to push in-store pickup). Amazon had to come up with a more modern business model to get things from the internet to peoples' doorsteps. Other sites around in the 90's didn't have a great way to do this. It's really this model that helped Amazon to become what it has.\n\nSo while they're doing this, you might as well sell anything, not just books.",
"The same reason google became such a giant. They managed to engineer just the right system to be better than their competitors and then people quickly flocked to them. \n\nAmazon is crazy good at being able to quickly send virtually anything and everything right to your doorstep. ",
"Amazon was successful in part because they didn't mind losing money. They were founded in 1994 but didn't turn a profit until 2001 and didn't consistently profit until 2015. This allowed them to offer low prices and gain market share as well as expand. Amazon loses a ton of money on free 2-day shipping for Prime, but it helps them build loyalty and puts pressure on their competition. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"walmart.com",
"pets.com"
],
[],
[]
] | ||
4mmmd6 | Why is schizophrenia considered a mental disorder, while Alzheimer's is considered a disease? | [Schizophrenia](_URL_1_)
[Alzherimer's](_URL_0_)
Is alcohol addiction a disease or a disorder? | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4mmmd6/why_is_schizophrenia_considered_a_mental_disorder/ | {
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"That other post is pretty informative, but here's my understanding of the terminology: A disease implies a certain pathology associated with a known course. A disorder implies functional deficits but not necessarily a certain pathology. In this sense, it's not unlike the concept of a syndrome. So a disease is more specific than a disorder, which is a broader term.\n\nThe pathology behind Alzheimer's is fairly well-understood. The etiology of schizophrenia is not well-understood; although there are some differences in gross anatomy, biomarkers such as genes etc. the diagnosis is made based primarily on symptoms. So is Alzheimer's (because a definitive diagnosis can only be made post-mortem) but we still understand the disease process behind it a lot better than we do schizophrenia, where we basically have a lot of things that correlate with it at the biological level but we don't know what exactly is the cause of it. \n\nThere is some evidence that schizophrenia is not a single disease but rather a spectrum of related diseases. We treat it as one disorder out of clinical utility (ie. if you have this disorder than these treatments will probably help), not because we necessarily think it is one. With Alzheimer's, we know it's not the same disease as, say, Pick's disease or Wernicke's encephalopathy, because we understand the brain pathologies that lead to these things and know they're different from each other. \n\nOn the other hand, dementia (an umbrella term which includes Alzheimer's and many other possible causes) is not a single disease but more of a disorder. Alcoholism, even though you hear it called a disease, is really a disorder, or at least the DSM-5 calls it one. Alcoholism is another one of those things without one definite pathophysiological cause but rather a bunch of contributing factors. Most conditions in psychiatry fall into this category, so they're generally called disorders rather than diseases. They're distinct in terms of symptomology, but the underlying biological mechanisms don't necessarily have a 1:1 correspondence with diagnoses.\n\nI hope this helped clear things up a bit for you. Basically, just remember that a disease involves a certain well-defined physiological process gone wrong whereas a disorder is based on impairments in functioning (mental, physiological, etc.) and not on the cause. With a disorder, something is clearly not working right, but that something could be one of many possibilities. With a disease, that something is very specific. ",
"From a physicians perspective the distinction between \"mental disorder\" and \"disease\" does not really exist. Both refer to a physiologic abnormality leading to particular phenotype.\n\nFor example schizophrenia is an abnormality in dopamine in the mesocortical and mesolimbic regions of the brain leading to hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking and disorganized behaviour. Similarly, in Alzheimer's dementia there are beta amyloid plaque depositions as well as tangled tau proteins in the brain leading to memory impairment, mood changes, etc. In both cases there is simply a physical and biochemical neurological impairment leading to a certain condition.\n\nThe biggest difference between schizophrenia and Alzheimers is the stigma attached to each condition. Alzheimer's is a disease of the elderly and it is easy for people to understand that this \"disease\" has changed their loved one. On the other hand when most people encounter schizophrenics they encounter them in a negative way such s through violence or seeing them on the street. It is easier to brand these people as having a \"mental disorder\" as that term implies that it is \"all in their head\" and not a \"real\" condition"
]
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"https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/alzheimers-basics",
"http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml"
] | [
[],
[]
] | |
oqjov | When, in the universes history, did the first photon appear? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/oqjov/when_in_the_universes_history_did_the_first/ | {
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"text": [
"after electroweak symmetry was broken, about 10^-12 seconds if [wiki is accurate](_URL_0_). That being said, the universe was full of too many charged particles for the first 300000 years for the photons to travel *freely*. Those photons are what make up the Cosmic Microwave Background now. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_universe#Electroweak_epoch"
]
] | ||
4ymvwe | how bipolar 1 works | You see, my mother is Bipolar 1 which means that she is (or was before medication) more Manic. She has been on medication since I have been born and I want to understand more what its like. I have talked to her about it briefly before but I understand she doesn't like to go too much into it. I know that something that triggers her is stress but I would like to know more about what goes on in the mind of someone who is Bipolar 1.
(btw does 1 mean type 1? so like Bipolar Type 1?) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ymvwe/eli5_how_bipolar_1_works/ | {
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"Bipolar 1 disorder is exactly as you said, nor work me to being manic. If your mother is like me (everyone is different) then she probably constantly has thoughts racing through her head. The manic end of bipolar makes the brain fire on all cylinders all the time. Its hard to sum up with just a comment on Reddit . But some aspects of hypomania can auctually beneficial to some people as in my case",
"Bipolar I and II are sort of on the way out as medical terms. Still legit, but the thought now is moving more along the lines of a \"spectrum\" and has support to change the diagnostic criteria. If we are talking differences between type I and type II, then its simple. Type I has \"full blown manic episodes\" where as type II has \"hypomanic episodes\" which are less intense. \n\n\nSo lets start by thinking of it as regular (unipolar) depression...You feel depressed for no reason. Sucks. Big time...Can't get out of bed, life has no meaning, nothing gives pleasure and so forth. Some common symptoms. \n\n\nNow add into that equation a regular mood swing in the opposite direction \"mania\" or \"hypomania\" It is different for everybody, just as depression is. However there are some symptoms that are somewhat common. Extreme bursts of energy, inability to sleep (actually can function without any sleep), spending sprees, intense interest in new activities but then quickly giving them up, high desire to be productive, cleaning the house, being very \"bubbly\" or social-able. Unpredictable or sometimes even dangerous behavior. Constant racing thoughts. People can REALLY get into trouble during manic episodes, more so that depression in many cases. People can do some CRAZY shit while in a full blown manic state. \n\n\nSo that's the very basics, but bipolar is actually quite complicated. Like I said everyone is different. There is also a 3rd state for some people called \"mixed state\" more commonly this is feeling depressed, life is worthless, no one likes you etc. BUT with the extra fun of being incredibly full of energy to think about just how shit life is and maybe you should do something about it. Drink that whole bottle of vodka, get into fights, or much much worse.\n\n\nIt is true people do have \"triggers\" this is also very different for everyone. Some examples are stress, illness, lack of sleep and jet lag. \n\n\nI have my bipolar (1) under pretty good control these days. My biggest trigger by far is jet lag. I do have to travel overseas often and I really do dread it sometimes. I cannot sleep on planes and then have to stay awake for another 12 hours or so on arrival. So I've been awake for something like 30+ hours. BOOM....full blown mania. I will do shit I never usually do. I don't feel AT ALL embarrassed at the time, but then a week, month whatever later when the mania is finally dying down I am so ashamed and feel awful. Thus the chance of swinging back into depression is high. \n\n\nThe mood swings can be \"controlled\" with the right medications but its not a cure. The mood swings can and will occur at some point, but hopefully less often, and less intense. The \"cycle\" of swings is a very complicated topic with much debate. Some people are \"ultra rapid cycling\" so they swing like during the same day, others every few days, others every few weeks, others every few months and so on. \n\n\nI am sorry this got a bit out of control but I hope that helps a little. Feel free to ask me anything specific. \n\n"
]
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[],
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] | |
1jxjhq | How is it that my eyes retain a bright dot from glancing at the sun/the flash of a camera? | How come when I see bright surfaces such as the sun reflecting off of the snow it doesn't burn in my vision in the same way that glancing at the sun does? How do my eyes retain such a "burn" and why doesn't the dark have a similar effect? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1jxjhq/how_is_it_that_my_eyes_retain_a_bright_dot_from/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"The cells in your eyes essebtially get \"tired\" (consuming a certain compound to fire a neurotransmitter I forget the specifics) resulting in your seeing a negative of whatever yiu were just looking at. ",
"You might want to read parts of [this page](_URL_0_). Do ctrl+f for \"afterimage\". Basically afterimages have two causes:\n\n\\1: Chemical. The photopigments in your rods and cones getting bleached.\n\n\\2: Neural. After a while, certain signals are suppressed.\n\nThe linked page will go into much more detail and pretty much answer everything you asked."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color4.html"
]
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1sxzoh | how did the positions in basketball get their names? | All of the positions in baseball and football are easy to figure out , but the positions in basketball stump me... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sxzoh/eli5_how_did_the_positions_in_basketball_get/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Centers obviously play in the center or the middle down low. Forwards play up front or \"forward\" on the court, or at least they used to before the three point line made the game more perimeter oriented. Back in the day gaurds werent allowed to shoot. Their job was to gaurd the other team and gaurd the ball on offense when bringing it up the court. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
ai78fk | Does aurora borealis and aurora astralis happen on other planets? | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ai78fk/does_aurora_borealis_and_aurora_astralis_happen/ | {
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"text": [
"On earth, the phenomenon depends on two things: earth’s magnetic field, and earths atmosphere. \n\nI’m on my phone, so can’t write the entire process, but basically charged particles are shot out of the sun and then are captured by earth’s magnetic field and funnelled down into the atmosphere at the poles. The visible light that we see is the interaction between said charged particles and the stuffs in the atmosphere. \n\nSo, to answer your question, it is very likely for many (dare I say most?) planets to have similar phenomena, so long as they have similar conditions (magnetic field and atmosphere). ",
"Yes. Jupiter has some really impressive auroras, and the other giant planets have them too. Venus and Mars lack a global magnetic field, so they don't have Earthlike auroras, but they do have have some more complicated but less spectacular solar particle+atmosphere interactions.\n\n _URL_2_\n_URL_1_\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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"https://www.iflscience.com/space/mars-has-a-bizarre-aurora-weve-never-seen-before-/",
"https://www.sciencealert.com/saturn-aurora-hubble-space-telescope-cassini-grand-finale",
"https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/media-gallery/aurora"
]
] | ||
48j6ax | why cant brain and spinal cells repair themselves? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48j6ax/eli5why_cant_brain_and_spinal_cells_repair/ | {
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"text": [
"any organs and tissues in the body can recover after injury without intervention. Unfortunately, some cells of the central nervous system are so specialized that they cannot divide and create new cells. As a result, recovery from a brain or spinal cord injury is much more difficult.",
"There are quite a few reasons why cells of the central nervous system can't regenerate. The main ones are that there are chemicals which inhibit growth (the major one is called nogo) and a lack of chemicals which promote growth. The whole architecture of the CNS is also not good for regrowth. \n\nThere are experiments going on at the moment where they knock out one of these inhibiting chemicals using anti-nogo . Doing this you can make the spine regrow a few millimetres. I think this is in phase 2 trials at the moment but it could have moved on.\n\nAnother option is take the cells which are an exception to the rule ( the nerve cells at the back of your nose needed to transfer information on smell called olfactory ensheathing cells) and transplant them into the spinal cord. They have done this with dogs injured in traffic accidents. Some of these dogs are now walking. "
]
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[],
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2hib78 | how does developing taste work? why did i hate coffee as a kid and now it is like nectar of the gods for me? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hib78/eli5how_does_developing_taste_work_why_did_i_hate/ | {
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"There was a recent study that determined musical tastes are mostly based on repetition, simply hearing a song multiple times makes you like it. This explains cultural trends in musical tastes.\n\nLikewise, food tastes are also based around repetition, once you know what to expect, you begin to like something.\n\nIt's the same reason kids like to watch the same cartoons repeatedly, they enjoy the anticipation of what's coming next, and the satisfaction of seeing what they knew was going to happen come true.\n\nBasically our brains like to know what's going to happen, so your brain rewards itself for correctly predicting what it expects a repeatedly eaten food to taste like.",
"Kelley from Spokane, is this you?"
]
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[],
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] | ||
86zba1 | what is "overproduced" music and what does it sound like? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86zba1/eli5_what_is_overproduced_music_and_what_does_it/ | {
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"Calling something over- or underproduced is inherently subjective because people have different tastes and preferences. But a song being \"more\" produced generally refers to background strings/synths/voices etc being added on top of the core instruments and singing. The music producer takes the raw tracks from the band in the recording studio and adds the extras to flesh out the sound.\n\nFor a good example of how \"producing\" a song can change it, listen to the differences between the Beatles' Let it Be album, the original version (produced by Phil Spector) and the reissue \"Let it be... Naked\" with much of the production removed. I don't think the original is necessarily overproduced, but there is something to appreciate in the more raw, stripped down \"naked\" version.",
"Is it something like the millennial whoop? _URL_0_"
]
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[],
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"https://youtu.be/MN23lFKfpck"
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33yvus | the concept of the magnification and objective lenses of binoculars. | Seeking an explanation, conceptual understanding, and the meaning of the technical specifications of the magnification x objective (AxB) of binoculars below:
* 8x21 - Roof-prism binocular with 8x magnification and 21-Millimeter objective diameter
* 10x25 - 10x magnification, 25-millimeter objective binoculars with roof prism system
* 10x32
* 12x25
* 12x32
* 16 x 32 | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33yvus/eli5_the_concept_of_the_magnification_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqpntj7"
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"score": [
2
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"text": [
"objective is how big the lens you're looking thru. magnifcation is how much bigger than naked eye the object is"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
2yjdue | If atoms vibrate, do they emit sound? | If sound is is based on vibrations and atoms also vibrate is sound created? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2yjdue/if_atoms_vibrate_do_they_emit_sound/ | {
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"text": [
"It depends on what you mean when you say that \"atoms vibrate\".\n\nIf you mean that the position of many atoms in a medium oscillates, then this is by definition a sound wave.\n\nIf you excite an atom *in a medium*, then it can relax by creating a phonon, i.e. sound. In [fluorescence](_URL_0_), this is called \"non-radiative relaxation\".\n\nThe other way for an excited atom to relax is by emission of light (or X-rays, or other forms of electromagnetic radiation in general). This also works in a vacuum because unlike sound, light can exist in a vacuum.",
"Sound is the propagation of a vibration. \n\nIn solids, each atom strongly inteact with its neighbors, so the vibration is transmitted. In this case, sound can exist at the scale of the atom, (you have a sound quasi-particule: the phonon). Atoms vibrations create sound in solids.\n\nFor an isolated molecule, the atoms can vibrate, but it won't propagate, obviously. \n\nFor an ideal gas, the interactions between the molecules are negligeable except during collisions. So again, the vibration of the atoms won't propagate. \n\nIn the air, what propagates are pressure oscillation. Those are vibrations at a much larger scale than 1 atom. \n\nIt's basically the same if it's not an ideal gas or even a liquid. The interaction between the atoms of different molecule are too weak (except during collisions which are responsible for pressure. )"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescence"
],
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] | |
a8sk36 | Why do our ears build pressure? | I drive up and down a mountain multiple times a day. I've been trying out different things when my ears build pressure.
Sometimes yawning helps, other times it doesn't. Lately I've been just letting my ears build pressure until they *pop* on their own. When they do that, I feel it in my throat.
Why do our ears build pressure and pop? Why does yawning help sometimes? Why can I feel pressure differences of my ears in my throat?
Bonus question: Sometimes when my ears are pressurized, and I breathe through my nose, it feels as though I'm breathing through my ears. Is there a connection between the nasal passage and the ear canal? | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/a8sk36/why_do_our_ears_build_pressure/ | {
"a_id": [
"eces84o"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"First you have to know that the mouth, nose, and inner ears all connect. This area that connects all of them is called the sinuses. Your inner ear has a passage way that connects to the sinuses called the eustachian tube. This tube is usually closed, which means if the pressure around you changes the pressure inside will stay the same as before until the tube is opened. Yawning helps to stretch and flex the area which can sometimes get the tube to open.\n\nAlso if your sinuses are inflamed because you have a cold or something similar, it maybe really hard to open the tube. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
8otkmd | – i’ve just found out that the recipe and salt contents on some popular fast foods are different countries by countries. why is that? why can’t there be a universal recipe? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8otkmd/eli5_ive_just_found_out_that_the_recipe_and_salt/ | {
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"text": [
"There's an aspect of tailoring food to a local regions taste but there's also sometimes a logistical or cost issue. For example it may be cheap to get an item like apples to any state in the U.S. however getting an apple to Norway may be more expensive as Norway isn't suited for growing apples (this is totally made up for an example). Instead of putting a full apple, maybe they put half an apple and fill it with something else such as elk which is plentiful in the area and can keep prices low.\n\nAlso sometimes there may be regulations involved, in the EU for example aspartame isn't really allowed and it's the key ingredient in diet sodas, so they have to replace it in the EU with something else.",
"I've tasted many local fast foods on my travels and there are many reasons people change the recipes. I've been to the US and bought me a burger from some fast food joint along the highway. I couldn't eat it, because it way way to sweet for my taste. In fact it was horribly sweet. You couldn't sell that where I'm from, because we expect meat not to be cooked in a sauce that could be put on pastry.\n\nThen there is the environment factor. I.e. water tastes different in different places, because of the different minerals etc. in it. Some waters have a higher sodium count than others. So you reduce the salt in the recipe to have still tasty food.\n\nOr the ingrediences. Let's take floor for an example. The wheat used to make floor isn't the same in every country. Even in a country the sorts of wheat differ regionally. If you have the same sort of wheat, the soil where it was grown influences the taste.\n\nThere can't be a universal recipe because to many factors influence the taste.\n\nAlso ther are the local differences in taste, as mentioned above. I had some fast food in Hong Kong you couldn't sell to the masses in europe, because it was so hot, normal europeans couldn't handle it."
]
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[],
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11ejwu | Universal expansion as time | Is this way off base, or just another way of looking at it?
_URL_0_
(Warning - it's long and has trig in it and is linked to two or three other posts) | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/11ejwu/universal_expansion_as_time/ | {
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"It looks like bollocks to me. His starting premise is wrong: that the expansion of the universe is not uniform. He uses the example that we can see distant galaxies receding, but we don't see a ruler growing. There are two problems with that: first, if a ruler was growing at the rate dictated by Hubble's Law, it would grow about the diameter of an atom per decade. Not exactly enough for us to watch it grow. Second, the energy in the chemical bonds so completely swamps the expansion of the universe (at least locally), that we'd not expect the ruler to grow along with the expansion of space. Similarly, we know that gravity is so strong locally that our solar system won't grow with the expansion of space at any perceptible level, at least for a very long time.\n\nAs for the centre of the universe being at the big bang and using Euclidean geometry to derive relativity from there... Also bollocks."
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"http://neophilosophical.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/a-little-expansion-on-lightness-of-fine.html"
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2mars4 | Why does blending potatoes before you cook them give you such a totally different result from blending them after you cook them (something slimy instead of mash potatoes)? | Usually I make mashed potatoes by boiling up some potatoes and then using a stick blender at the end. One day I decided to try doing it the other way around and I blended some raw potatoes and then cooked it. It turned out slimy and uneatable.
(I used the same potatoes to make normal mash potatoes successfully.) | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2mars4/why_does_blending_potatoes_before_you_cook_them/ | {
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"I think that by reducing the size of the potato, you increased its surface area dramatically as well as ripping apart more cells that formed the potato, releasing more starches. Upon cooking, these starches leach into the water and partly dissolve to act as a form of thickening agent.\n\nThis happens with whole potatoes as well, but with far less starch released into the water due to the smaller surface area."
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6qfe5m | how do cooling mattresses/mattress pads work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qfe5m/eli5_how_do_cooling_mattressesmattress_pads_work/ | {
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"They contain pieces of a gel material which has a very high heat capacity. That means if they've been sitting around at room temperature for a while, they have significant ability to absorb heat from you (your body is warmer) before they reach your temperature."
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1fvoie | what makes diamonds more expensive than cubic zirconia | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fvoie/eli5_what_makes_diamonds_more_expensive_than/ | {
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"Monopoly and artificial shortages. DeBeers monopolized the diamond industry and stockpiled diamonds they mined. Combine that with good marketing and you create demand while you control the supply. High demand+low supply=Higher prices",
"[Obligatory 1982 _Atlantic_ article about De Beers](_URL_0_)",
"Nothing. Diamonds have value because we collectively decided, as a human species that diamonds are worth a lot. Diamonds are just carbon, and carbon is everywhere; You are made of carbon. It's completely valueless. ",
"All these people are wrong Dean, they're only repeating what they've been told and don't know what's actually going on.\n\nYou're a big lad Dean, so I'll give it to you straight: diamonds are more expensive because they're more durable and more desired. What do those two words mean? \n\nDurable means tough. James Dean, a guy with a name similar to yours played tough guys, but tough in a different sense. Diamonds are incredibly hard and resistant to scratches and cannot be easily broken. Cubic Zirconia is not like that. You know those plastic pens you chew on in school? The clear ones that get all white and crunch on the corners when you chew on them? That's what Cubic Zirconia look like after a short while of being worn in jewelry. They are not tough. White sapphires (yeah, there's more than two white stones) are way tougher than CZs (what we call Cubic Zirconia), but still not as tough as diamonds. Diamonds are the toughest. :)\n\nAnd what's Desired? It means it's the most wanted. People like to use diamonds in jewelry and unlike CZs they also use them in industrial jobs. There are saws and grinders and other tools in big machines that use diamonds to cut things because diamonds are tough, just like we talked about. So basically, diamonds have two versions: industrial for big machines, and gem for jewelry like your mom wears. \n\nThis makes them more desirable because while they're not completely rare, they're not exactly common and they're hard to get to. CZ's can easily be made in labs, and have for decades. And while diamonds can now to (around the time of your Grandpa) be made in labs, they're still not perfect, and most of them turn out to be yellow. It wasn't until around the time of your Great-Great-Grandfather's time that diamonds were easily acquired in large quantities. In fact, scientists figure that it takes digging about 1,000 tons of earth to find one gem quality diamond. And it takes about 1,000 gem quality diamonds to find one that is one carat or larger. \n\nWhat's a carat you ask? Carats are a way to weigh diamonds. The bigger the diamond the more carats there are in it. No, not the kind you eat. :) A carat is about six millimeters across for a perfectly cut round brilliant diamond. Go get your ruler and check that out. That's about the size of a diamond that is one carat. Cool? Okay.\n\nSo while CZs can be used to make pretend rare diamonds, or to be used in cheap jewelry, they don't last as long, aren't as useful in big machines, and are harder to get to, and just aren't as nice as diamonds.",
"I was just watching [this](_URL_0_) as I was browsing Reddit. Good timing."
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267he8 | What happened in Turkey and C. Asia during WW2? | More specifically, Turkey and the -stans? I can't find anything pertaining to the political, social and economic situation of Turkey at that time, and C. Asia seems to be an industrial footnote to the Soviet war machine. Are there any books of note covering these subjects? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/267he8/what_happened_in_turkey_and_c_asia_during_ww2/ | {
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"I can briefly explain Turkey: Turkey for the most part stayed out of the war, as it had allies on all sides and Atatürk had officially adopted a policy of \"[peace at home, peace in the world](_URL_3_)\" in the 1930's, which his successors carried on. Turkey's treatment of the Jews in WW2 is perhaps the most interesting part of Turkey's WW2 policy. On the one hand, they were one of the few countries that actively offered refugee status to Jewish intellectuals and their families, for a [total of a few hundred people](_URL_6_). More importantly, they offered unparalleled protection for Turkish Jews and former Turkish Jews in territories under Nazi occupation. For [historic reasons](_URL_8_), many Middle Eastern Jews ended up in France. Turkish citizenship at the time required people to register every ten years or so while living abroad, and many of these emigrants had allowed their Turkish citizenship to lapse. To regain citizenship, you had to prove that you had family in Turkey. In a remarkably coordinated effort, the cosmopolitan Turkish diplomatic staff of France worked to save these Turkish and former Turkish Jews. \n\nIn the interest of time, let me just quote from an old post:\n\n > Four Turkish diplomats, **[Selahattin Ülkümen](_URL_7_), [Behiç Erkin](_URL_1_), [Namık Kemal Yolga](_URL_4_),** and **[Necdet Kent](_URL_0_)** all worked together to save \"Turkish Jews\" from death. I use quotation marks because Turkish Jews had to check in the consulates to maintain their Turkish citizenship. Many failed to do so, and so legally their Turkish citizenship lapsed. The consulates in France (where the largest Turkish emigre community was) under ambassador Behiç Erkin chose to ignore that. To regain Turkish citizenship, one had to prove one had relatives still in Turkey (I believe). It's widely alleged that the Turkish consulates accepted the statement “I am Turkish, my relatives live in Turkey” in Turkish (no matter how poorly pronounced) as \"proof\" of Turkish citizenship and provided the necessary papers. But that's not all. On Rhodes, where there was a large Jewish community, when the Germans started to depart the Jews, Turkish Consul Selahattin Ülkümen demanded that the Turkish Jews (and any of their non-Turkish spouses and children) be saved. When the commander refused on the basis that they were due for transportation under Nazi law, Ülkümen said \"under Turkish law all citizens were equal. We didn’t differentiate between citizens who were Jewish, Christian or Muslim,\" and explained that if the commander continued with the deportation of Turkish citizens, he would turn this into an international incident. The Nazi commander relented, though the Turkish consulted ended up being bombed killing Ülkümen's pregnant wife and two consular employees. However, the Turkish Jewish survived on Rhodes. Their neighbors with Greek passports on Rhodes were almost entirely destroyed in the Shoah, with fewer than 1 in 10 surviving the War.\n\n > When Necdet Kent found out the gestapo were rounding people up based on circumcision, Kent explained to the Nazis that this did not prove Jewishness. \"When I saw the emptiness in the commander's eyes, I realize that he did not understand what I am saying. And I said that I will accept to be examined by their doctors.\" He told the Germans that Muslim men, including himself, were also circumcised. More impressively, Kent found out that 80 Turkish Jews had been rounded up and set to be deported to Germany. They were already loaded in to cattle cars. Kent later recalled, \"To this day, I remember the inscription on the wagon: 'This wagon may be loaded with 20 heads of cattle and 500 kilograms of grass'.\" As was typical for Turkish diplomats (who seem to have the most coordinated policy for protecting their Jewish countrymen), Kent demanded that the Turkish citizens be released. The Gestapo commander said they were Jews and refused to release them. Kent then himself got on the train and refused to leave without the Turkish citizens. The train left with him still on board and, at the next station, the German officials had a car waiting for him, apologizing for the mistake and offering to take him back. Again he refused to leave without his co-nationals. Eventually, the German officials relented. Again, he makes the moral choice seem wonderfully simple, \"As a representative of a government that rejected such treatment for religious beliefs, I could not consider leaving them there.\" Namık Kemal Yolga describes the success the Turkish consular staff had in saving all the Turkish Jews they could find:\n\n > > Every time we learnt that a Turkish Jew was captured and sent to Drancy, the Turkish Embassy sent an ultimatum to the German Embassy in Paris and demanded his/her release, specifically pointing out that the Turkish Constitution does not discriminate its people for their race or religion, therefore Turkish Jews are Turkish nationals and Germans have no right to arrest them as Turkey was a neutral country during the war. Then I used to go to Drancy to pick him/her up with my car and put them in a safe house. As far as I know, only one Turkish Jew from Bordeaux was sent to a camp in Germany as the Turkish Embassy was not aware of his arrest at the time.\n\nHowever, while Jews from abroad were well treated, Jews domestically were not always treated well. I am referring to the famous \"[Wealth Tax](_URL_2_)\" of 1942 that was specifically targeted towards Jews, Armenians, and Greeks and, besides providing immediate money for the government, was also meant to help kick start a Muslim entrepreneurial middle class (which really hadn't existed in the Ottoman Empire--traders and businessmen were disproportionately minorities; see also \"[middle man minorities](_URL_9_)\"). The Wealth Tax, and the subsequent [pogrom of 1955](_URL_5_), are generally pointed to as the two reasons why the Istanbul's large minority population of the 1930's was greatly diminished through emigration (particularly by Jews Israel and Greeks to Greece; Armenians had less ideal options) by the 1970's. \n\nThere were various smaller political intrigues in the Turkish political scene, but for the most part, the biggest event of the era was the Wealth Tax. Turkey was mainly focused on internal development (through things like Village Institutes and People's Houses), import-substitution industrialization (focused on \"the three whites\": sugar, flour, and cloth), and political opposition was relatively weak in this period (after the crushing of the [last major revolt in 1938](_URL_10_)). The transition to democracy was 1945-1950, which opened up Turkey politically somewhat, as did it's NATO membership, but during this period it was going through a particularly strong isolationist period. "
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_at_Home,_Peace_in_the_World",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam%C4%B1k_Kemal_Yolga",
"http://en.wikipedia.org... | |
5if2bt | why do pros use arcade sticks for fighting games? are they really better than normal controllers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5if2bt/eli5_why_do_pros_use_arcade_sticks_for_fighting/ | {
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"This isn't true for all fighting games - for example, most hardcore Super Smash Bros. players use the GameCube controller, to the point where Nintendo had to release a special GameCube controller adapter for the WiiU in order to accommodate them when Smash 4 came out. This sort of thing isn't limited to fighting games either - a lot of pro Counter-Strike players also use weird settings that may actually put them at a competitive disadvantage. For example, many pro Counter-Strike players (particularly those that transitioned from 1.6) insist on using 4:3 aspect ratios on 16:9 monitors, even though it limits their field of view and puts them at a disadvantage compared to widescreen players.\n\nThe common denominator seems to be that pros don't like change. After all, they've always played Smash using the GameCube controller. They used to play Counter-Strike on square CRT monitors with 4:3 aspect ratios. I'll bet that pros who play fighting games with arcade sticks played with them growing up. Why change what works? After all, if they change their setup, they'll have to spend time adapting to it. In other words, they might play worse during the transition period. Why take that risk, especially with tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line?"
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mz8pr | What are the downsides to a Molten Salt Thorium Reactor? | Seems like its sort of an energy dream other than obtaining funding. Whats the fine print? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mz8pr/what_are_the_downsides_to_a_molten_salt_thorium/ | {
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"It's an experimental design that has never been made as a full scale power generating plant.\n\nNo one has any idea whether it can be done economically and safely. It is an interesting concept that has never been proven to work well. It isn't as big a leap as fusion, but it's not much further along in development. \n\nThis will probably be downvoted to hell but much of the positive buzz is due to marketing not engineering.",
"not an expert but...\n\n\"Molten salts can be highly corrosive, more so as temperatures rise. For the primary cooling loop of the MSR, a material is needed that can withstand corrosion at high temperatures and intense radiation. Experiments show that Hastelloy-N and similar alloys are quite suited to the tasks at operating temperatures up to about 700 °C. However, long-term experience with a production scale reactor has yet to be gained. Higher operating temperatures would be desirable, but at 850 °C thermo chemical production of hydrogen becomes possible, which creates serious engineering difficulties. Materials for this temperature range have not been validated, though carbon composites, molybdenum alloys (e.g. TZM), carbides, and refractory metal based or ODS alloys might be feasible.\"\n\n\"Salts must be extremely pure initially, and would most likely be continuously cleaned in a large-scale molten salt reactor. Any water vapor in the salt will form hydrofluoric acid (HF) which is extremely corrosive. Other impurities can cause non-beneficial chemical reactions and would most likely have to be cleansed from the system. In conventional power plants where water is used as a coolant, great pains are taken to purify and deionize the water to reduce its corrosive properties.\"\n\nIn summary these types of salts can be chemically scary if shit were to go tits up but its hard to say what will happen in practice. Chemists deal with harsh chemicals all the time but the added nuclear element could make things complicated.",
"At this point, the main disadvantage is that the technology doesn't exist yet, and developing it will be quite expensive. As it's developed, other disadvantages may be revealed. I seriously doubt they'll outweigh the advantages though, especially compared to uranium.",
"First of all, you have to know that this kind of reactors is a Gen IV reactor. Right now, we are only beginning to launch the commercial Gen III/III+. So, a lot a R & D is done for the Gen IV reactors, but not only the Molten Salt Reactor.\n\nFirst, let's talk about Thorium. Indeed, why did most of \"nuclear\" countries decide to go with Uranium rather than Thorium ? Thorium was known back in the days.\n\nWell, three main reasons for that.\n\n* The *scientific reason*\n\nThe first one, which we will call the *scientific reason* is the level of gamma radiation of the Thorium. The irradiated Thorium (used fuel for example) contains a lot of Uranium 232, which has a short half-life (around 70 years) and whom daughter products (^212 Bi for example) are strong gamma emitters. Consequently, it is a problem for the storage and manipulation of the used fuel, from a safety point of view. Back in the 50's, we were not ready to take this risk. Now, we have automated systems, robots and such, that can handle this kind of things for us. But it is expensive, more expensive than the Uranium fuel cycle, even though it produces potentially less actinides (nuclear waste).\n\n* The *geopolitic reason*\n\nThorium is more abundant than Uranium in nature. However, it is more localized in a few countries. Uranium was easier to access for countries like the USA or France for example, to talk about the two main nuclear countries today. It is thus easier to be \"independent\", and avoid the oil problem.\n\nAs an example, India is going for Thorium fuel cycle (and they have a great project), because they have a lot of Thorium and almost none Uranium.\n\n* The *military reason*\n\nThis one is more a personal opinion. I do not know which factors was dominant in the choice to go with Uranium. I guess it was a miw of all of those. The third factor is the fact that Uranium fuel cycle gives us Plutonium. During the cold war, it was the easy way to get it, producing energy and getting bombs at the same time. Defense budget is always very important, and this money \"indirectly' helped the development of the nuclear *energy*. This is one of the reason why we went for Uranium.\n\n\n\n* Additional scientific reasons\n\nIn a Thorium fuel reactor, we create some Proactinium (Pa), with a half-life of around one month. This means that for half of the population to disappear, you roughly need one months, and for 99%, you'd need around a year. For the Uranium cycle, you produce some Neptunium, which has a half life of a little more than 2 days (as compared to the 30 days for Proactinium in the Thorium cycle).\n\nWhat does this imply ? Well, it means that the cooling time of your used fuel will take a lot longer for the Thorium cycle. If we want to go faster, we have to separate the Proactinium from the spent fuel. But that's expensive. If we do not do that, it could have some radiological impact on the long term.\n\nThe melting point of the Thorium is higher than that of the Uranium, which poses engineering (materials) problems.\n\nWe still have not developed the process to separate Uranium, Plutonium and Thorium from spent fuel. Even if we know how to do it in theory. Mainly the problem here is also that **we do not know enough**.\n\nI hope I am not too chaotic in my explanation. Basically, until now, I have only given you the inconvenients of the Thorium cycle as compared to Uranium, and the reasons for which we didn't go for it in the past or now. You have to keep in mind that even though it is under development for the Gen IV reactors (2050 very ish), it is not the only kind of reactors. All of the different kind has its avantages but also challenges to overcome, there are *no* miracle solutions.\n\nI've gone through a lot of disadvantages of the Thorium cycle... Now, I will talk a little about the advantages as compared to Uranium fuel cycle.\n\n* We have more Thorium on Earth than Uranium (estimated at 4 times more the last time I've heard of it)\n\n* It would create less radioactive waste. But we need Plutonium, so we would still need some Uranium cycle to get this Plutonium. I think that one Light Water Reactor (Uranium cycle, PWR or BWR of today) can produce in one cycle the Plutonium for four Thorium cycles. Don't consider this as an absolute truth though, I cannot back it up for now and it's only from memory. Good thing is that we could use the Plutonium in our weapons also. Good way to get rid of that.\n\n* Thorium is a \"better\" fertile material in thermal reactors (slow neutrons), but Uranium is better in fast reactors (fast neutrons)\n\n* Several other advantages, from oxydation properties of the fuel itself to chemical stability, etc. Not that interesting or really meaningful for a layman's understanding.\n\n\n\nI am not sure I exactly answered your question. What really needs to be understood is that we do not have the knowledge, experimental background, etc to know if it will really work or not. It is likely that this will be one of the future reactors, but other solutions exist. It's not all black or all white, and a lot of studies need to be done. We need to find better materials for high temperature (and not only fot the Molten Salt Reactors, other concept would need that).\n\nIf you have more questions, I would be happy to try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. I am not, however, an expert on the Thorium fuel cycle or on the Molten Salt Reactors. I'm not sure I was clear enough. I mainly focused on the advantages and inconvenients of Thorium as compared to Uranium, the historical reasons that explain why we do not have so many experimental knowledge of the Thorium cycle and the fact that several concept of reactors are being developed for the [Gen IV](_URL_0_).\n\nThe main answer to your question would be along the lines of \"we don't have the experimental background, theory is cool, but a nuclear reactor imply nuclear physics as well as mechanical engineering, chemistry, civil engineering, ...\"\n\nOnce again, sorry if I was not clear or if I lost you at some point of this message.\n\n\n\n\n\n* **Edit : As Uzza2 said below**, I got a little lost myself in my explanations, mixing a discussion about Thorium/Uranium fuel cycle with the present question. I wanted to start on why we don't know so much about Thorium cycle and why we still have a lot of R & D to do about it, and instead of then going back to the question, I stayed on a mere comparison of the two fuel cycles. My bad.\n",
"I'm not sure if this will fly in the science reddit, but due to the pervasiveness of conjecture about thorium reactor technology throughout this thread I would urge everyone to [view this](_URL_0_) before further discussing.\n\nVery thorough and insightful look at thorium reactor tech by Kirk Sorenson, its main proponent. ",
"First of all, I suggest everyone read this:\n_URL_0_\n\nSecondly, since this post gets referenced a lot:\n\n*I really believe in, and love the molten salt reactor. Its unique, works well, and has very tangible benefits.*\n\n\n\n\nFour problems with the MSR for those unaware\n\n-Uses ultra expensive Hastelloy-N Alloy to house the salts. Its not even made anymore, but can be made.\n\n-Fluoride salt corrodes cheaper metals, such as 316 SS.\n\n-The vast expertise of MSRE is only on paper now (a lot of dudes are dead, a few remain), so we are literally duplicating equipment made from 1950-1960 and altering it to perform new tasks. Right now my thesis project is designing a batch purifier, which will make 52 kg of salt at a time. Alternative purification gases such as nitrogen trifluoride are being tested.\n\n-Was designed under the premise that uranium was scarce, so that thorium breeding had to be done. That turned out not to be the case.\n\nMore minor problems\n\n-Beryllium fluoride is not produced in batches high enough for a reactor. Took me 5+ months of search and back and forth with Materion to gain 100 kg of it. Its also some of the nastiest crap in hell.\n\n-Seals are the biggest hassle ever with molten salt. Everything needs to be welded shut. Pipe connects have to be done with VCR, which still leak. For those not aware with how agonizing weld seals are let me explain: Imagine having to cut doors open every time you wanted to walk through, instead of turning a knob.\n\nEdit 1/8/13:\n\nPros:\n\n-China is apparently going to produce two molten salt reactors before 2020. They've been given a lot of money and personel. They also have help from us in the USA if they need it.\n\n-China is going to need a ton of Hastelloy N, so Haynes Inc will probably be making a few forgings. Of what and when, they're not allowed to disclose to me.\n\n-Materions new Pebble Bed Plant went online which use a lot of beryllium fluoride. They should be able to produce enough BeF2 for a reactor, I would assume.\n\n-Three of the worlds top universities are on the job doing good work on the MSRE (Berkeley, MIT, and UW-Madison).\n\nCons:\n\n-Enriched natural lithium (Li-7) is not produced in the US anymore and will have to be bought from china. The Y-12 plant at ORNL would have to be contracted for Li-7. This is a strategic resource. Will we be able to get enough Li-7 to run a reactor?\n\n",
"It's an experimental design that has never been made as a full scale power generating plant.\n\nNo one has any idea whether it can be done economically and safely. It is an interesting concept that has never been proven to work well. It isn't as big a leap as fusion, but it's not much further along in development. \n\nThis will probably be downvoted to hell but much of the positive buzz is due to marketing not engineering.",
"not an expert but...\n\n\"Molten salts can be highly corrosive, more so as temperatures rise. For the primary cooling loop of the MSR, a material is needed that can withstand corrosion at high temperatures and intense radiation. Experiments show that Hastelloy-N and similar alloys are quite suited to the tasks at operating temperatures up to about 700 °C. However, long-term experience with a production scale reactor has yet to be gained. Higher operating temperatures would be desirable, but at 850 °C thermo chemical production of hydrogen becomes possible, which creates serious engineering difficulties. Materials for this temperature range have not been validated, though carbon composites, molybdenum alloys (e.g. TZM), carbides, and refractory metal based or ODS alloys might be feasible.\"\n\n\"Salts must be extremely pure initially, and would most likely be continuously cleaned in a large-scale molten salt reactor. Any water vapor in the salt will form hydrofluoric acid (HF) which is extremely corrosive. Other impurities can cause non-beneficial chemical reactions and would most likely have to be cleansed from the system. In conventional power plants where water is used as a coolant, great pains are taken to purify and deionize the water to reduce its corrosive properties.\"\n\nIn summary these types of salts can be chemically scary if shit were to go tits up but its hard to say what will happen in practice. Chemists deal with harsh chemicals all the time but the added nuclear element could make things complicated.",
"At this point, the main disadvantage is that the technology doesn't exist yet, and developing it will be quite expensive. As it's developed, other disadvantages may be revealed. I seriously doubt they'll outweigh the advantages though, especially compared to uranium.",
"First of all, you have to know that this kind of reactors is a Gen IV reactor. Right now, we are only beginning to launch the commercial Gen III/III+. So, a lot a R & D is done for the Gen IV reactors, but not only the Molten Salt Reactor.\n\nFirst, let's talk about Thorium. Indeed, why did most of \"nuclear\" countries decide to go with Uranium rather than Thorium ? Thorium was known back in the days.\n\nWell, three main reasons for that.\n\n* The *scientific reason*\n\nThe first one, which we will call the *scientific reason* is the level of gamma radiation of the Thorium. The irradiated Thorium (used fuel for example) contains a lot of Uranium 232, which has a short half-life (around 70 years) and whom daughter products (^212 Bi for example) are strong gamma emitters. Consequently, it is a problem for the storage and manipulation of the used fuel, from a safety point of view. Back in the 50's, we were not ready to take this risk. Now, we have automated systems, robots and such, that can handle this kind of things for us. But it is expensive, more expensive than the Uranium fuel cycle, even though it produces potentially less actinides (nuclear waste).\n\n* The *geopolitic reason*\n\nThorium is more abundant than Uranium in nature. However, it is more localized in a few countries. Uranium was easier to access for countries like the USA or France for example, to talk about the two main nuclear countries today. It is thus easier to be \"independent\", and avoid the oil problem.\n\nAs an example, India is going for Thorium fuel cycle (and they have a great project), because they have a lot of Thorium and almost none Uranium.\n\n* The *military reason*\n\nThis one is more a personal opinion. I do not know which factors was dominant in the choice to go with Uranium. I guess it was a miw of all of those. The third factor is the fact that Uranium fuel cycle gives us Plutonium. During the cold war, it was the easy way to get it, producing energy and getting bombs at the same time. Defense budget is always very important, and this money \"indirectly' helped the development of the nuclear *energy*. This is one of the reason why we went for Uranium.\n\n\n\n* Additional scientific reasons\n\nIn a Thorium fuel reactor, we create some Proactinium (Pa), with a half-life of around one month. This means that for half of the population to disappear, you roughly need one months, and for 99%, you'd need around a year. For the Uranium cycle, you produce some Neptunium, which has a half life of a little more than 2 days (as compared to the 30 days for Proactinium in the Thorium cycle).\n\nWhat does this imply ? Well, it means that the cooling time of your used fuel will take a lot longer for the Thorium cycle. If we want to go faster, we have to separate the Proactinium from the spent fuel. But that's expensive. If we do not do that, it could have some radiological impact on the long term.\n\nThe melting point of the Thorium is higher than that of the Uranium, which poses engineering (materials) problems.\n\nWe still have not developed the process to separate Uranium, Plutonium and Thorium from spent fuel. Even if we know how to do it in theory. Mainly the problem here is also that **we do not know enough**.\n\nI hope I am not too chaotic in my explanation. Basically, until now, I have only given you the inconvenients of the Thorium cycle as compared to Uranium, and the reasons for which we didn't go for it in the past or now. You have to keep in mind that even though it is under development for the Gen IV reactors (2050 very ish), it is not the only kind of reactors. All of the different kind has its avantages but also challenges to overcome, there are *no* miracle solutions.\n\nI've gone through a lot of disadvantages of the Thorium cycle... Now, I will talk a little about the advantages as compared to Uranium fuel cycle.\n\n* We have more Thorium on Earth than Uranium (estimated at 4 times more the last time I've heard of it)\n\n* It would create less radioactive waste. But we need Plutonium, so we would still need some Uranium cycle to get this Plutonium. I think that one Light Water Reactor (Uranium cycle, PWR or BWR of today) can produce in one cycle the Plutonium for four Thorium cycles. Don't consider this as an absolute truth though, I cannot back it up for now and it's only from memory. Good thing is that we could use the Plutonium in our weapons also. Good way to get rid of that.\n\n* Thorium is a \"better\" fertile material in thermal reactors (slow neutrons), but Uranium is better in fast reactors (fast neutrons)\n\n* Several other advantages, from oxydation properties of the fuel itself to chemical stability, etc. Not that interesting or really meaningful for a layman's understanding.\n\n\n\nI am not sure I exactly answered your question. What really needs to be understood is that we do not have the knowledge, experimental background, etc to know if it will really work or not. It is likely that this will be one of the future reactors, but other solutions exist. It's not all black or all white, and a lot of studies need to be done. We need to find better materials for high temperature (and not only fot the Molten Salt Reactors, other concept would need that).\n\nIf you have more questions, I would be happy to try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. I am not, however, an expert on the Thorium fuel cycle or on the Molten Salt Reactors. I'm not sure I was clear enough. I mainly focused on the advantages and inconvenients of Thorium as compared to Uranium, the historical reasons that explain why we do not have so many experimental knowledge of the Thorium cycle and the fact that several concept of reactors are being developed for the [Gen IV](_URL_0_).\n\nThe main answer to your question would be along the lines of \"we don't have the experimental background, theory is cool, but a nuclear reactor imply nuclear physics as well as mechanical engineering, chemistry, civil engineering, ...\"\n\nOnce again, sorry if I was not clear or if I lost you at some point of this message.\n\n\n\n\n\n* **Edit : As Uzza2 said below**, I got a little lost myself in my explanations, mixing a discussion about Thorium/Uranium fuel cycle with the present question. I wanted to start on why we don't know so much about Thorium cycle and why we still have a lot of R & D to do about it, and instead of then going back to the question, I stayed on a mere comparison of the two fuel cycles. My bad.\n",
"I'm not sure if this will fly in the science reddit, but due to the pervasiveness of conjecture about thorium reactor technology throughout this thread I would urge everyone to [view this](_URL_0_) before further discussing.\n\nVery thorough and insightful look at thorium reactor tech by Kirk Sorenson, its main proponent. ",
"First of all, I suggest everyone read this:\n_URL_0_\n\nSecondly, since this post gets referenced a lot:\n\n*I really believe in, and love the molten salt reactor. Its unique, works well, and has very tangible benefits.*\n\n\n\n\nFour problems with the MSR for those unaware\n\n-Uses ultra expensive Hastelloy-N Alloy to house the salts. Its not even made anymore, but can be made.\n\n-Fluoride salt corrodes cheaper metals, such as 316 SS.\n\n-The vast expertise of MSRE is only on paper now (a lot of dudes are dead, a few remain), so we are literally duplicating equipment made from 1950-1960 and altering it to perform new tasks. Right now my thesis project is designing a batch purifier, which will make 52 kg of salt at a time. Alternative purification gases such as nitrogen trifluoride are being tested.\n\n-Was designed under the premise that uranium was scarce, so that thorium breeding had to be done. That turned out not to be the case.\n\nMore minor problems\n\n-Beryllium fluoride is not produced in batches high enough for a reactor. Took me 5+ months of search and back and forth with Materion to gain 100 kg of it. Its also some of the nastiest crap in hell.\n\n-Seals are the biggest hassle ever with molten salt. Everything needs to be welded shut. Pipe connects have to be done with VCR, which still leak. For those not aware with how agonizing weld seals are let me explain: Imagine having to cut doors open every time you wanted to walk through, instead of turning a knob.\n\nEdit 1/8/13:\n\nPros:\n\n-China is apparently going to produce two molten salt reactors before 2020. They've been given a lot of money and personel. They also have help from us in the USA if they need it.\n\n-China is going to need a ton of Hastelloy N, so Haynes Inc will probably be making a few forgings. Of what and when, they're not allowed to disclose to me.\n\n-Materions new Pebble Bed Plant went online which use a lot of beryllium fluoride. They should be able to produce enough BeF2 for a reactor, I would assume.\n\n-Three of the worlds top universities are on the job doing good work on the MSRE (Berkeley, MIT, and UW-Madison).\n\nCons:\n\n-Enriched natural lithium (Li-7) is not produced in the US anymore and will have to be bought from china. The Y-12 plant at ORNL would have to be contracted for Li-7. This is a strategic resource. Will we be able to get enough Li-7 to run a reactor?\n\n"
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1lnj9l | Do we know approximately how much neurons there are in the different parts of the brain? | Or do we just know how many there are in total?
For example, do we know how much neurons are used for language acquisition? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1lnj9l/do_we_know_approximately_how_much_neurons_there/ | {
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"We have rough, order-of-magnitude counts of the number of neurons in different regions of the brain's gross anatomy. However, this number keeps going up as we continue to study the brain. Just a few years ago, it looked like around 10 billion neurons in the cortex, and now it looks like the number is closer to 20 billion. The cerebellum appears to contain a lot more than that.\n\nWe're still just starting to learn how many parts of the brain are involved in something such as \"language acquisition.\" Other than telling you that it seems to be mostly happening in the cortex, until we've truly mapped out the whole system (which is a matter of ongoing research) you're not going to get an accurate count of neurons. Localization of specific functions is a big area of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. On top of that, there's probably plenty of \"every day\" cognitive circuits that are distributed and/or share parts of the brain; although localization does appear to happen a lot, nothing really complex (like language) is is totally localized, and in fact is made up of many dissociable sub-systems.\n\nTo bolster that point, we're continuing to find that parts of the brain are involved in systems in surprising ways. The cerebellum has been known to be important for motor operations for quite some time, but now there's emerging evidence that the cerebellum has a role in emotion.\n\nAdd to that that there's emerging evidence that glial cells might also have some role in information processing (there's 10x+ glial cells per neuron) and it seems we're just scratching the surface of how these systems work holistically. Aside from glial cells, the number of connections between neurons also adds to overall complexity (i.e., there are a LOT more connections than individual neurons). The point of my last para is to urge you to look at brain complexity as more than a neuron-count.\n\n\n"
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[]
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1ssdqh | why do i get completely blind when i suddenly get up after resting for a long time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ssdqh/eli5_why_do_i_get_completely_blind_when_i/ | {
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"You could be mildly dehydrated. Or you might have orthostatic hypotension (a.k.a. postural hypotension), which occurs when blood rushes to your feet and away from your head as you stand up suddenly. (People with low blood pressure can be especially prone to this phenomenon.)",
"Interesting. Does this happen often? And for how long? \nI have experienced blindness during migraine attacks which can sometimes happen just before I wake up, but it's not complete blindness - I am still receptive to light and shapes/colours.",
"Loss of blood to your head, caused by sitting up too fast. AFAIK, you're literally \"blacking out\" and are basically one step below unconscious. It's something that happens due to low blood pressure, I believe. \n\nIt happens to me all the time, but to a lesser extent (tunnel vision instead of complete blindness). If you lean over, such that your head is closer to the level of your heart, it should quickly dissipate. "
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6nxy5w | why did america fail to become the number one producer of solar panels? wouldn't the government do whatever it takes to gain huge viable markets like this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6nxy5w/eli5_why_did_america_fail_to_become_the_number/ | {
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"Because America depends on oil for more than just energy and fuel. Brobdingnagian amounts of money and power are involved with US oil companies, stocks, and even the economy itself in many other ways. Solar means a huge loss for the oil industry (\"Big Oil\") just as hemp threatened the paper industry many years ago, leading to the beginning of marijuana prohibition.\n\nA lot of countries are trying to move away from oil dependencies due to both dwindling supply, and the costs involved. But America at this point is far too dependent on it to fully adopt solar. ",
"It's not failed, its not being stupid. US business are freaking smart and thought ahead and did seriously good business analysis on this... at least the ones that didn't fail trying to make solar panels. They were stupid.\n\nManufacturing solar panels is a bad business to be in. Demand is low, cost to build them is high, risk is high, and margins are dirt dirt low. This is not a great business to be in. US companies knew this.. but solar is still enticing, but not at the terrible margins manufacturing solar panels will do... so they found a way to make more money:\n\nEngineering and science behind solar panels. Thats where the real money is. Thats what those smart US businesses did. Manufacturing them is a crappy business, let someone else do that. Take the real money, the big margins, the business that any Tom, Dick, and Jian Yang can not in any way compete with or create in a rural area of China or India. Engineering and science behind these is killer money, and the US businesses knew that, and got into that business\n\ntl;dr: The solar manufacturing business sucks, the US knew and instead got into the better business of engineering and designing them instead of physically building them, you can farm that out to cheap manufactures.",
"There is actually a very good reason the US is not the largest producer of solar panels. \n > 1. Solar panels have toxic byproducts. While a solar panel itself is pretty simple in terms of what you [need](_URL_2_), there is the issue of [toxic waste](_URL_3_) that is very expensive to transport and properly dispose of. And that is a massive increase to the overhead of a business. \n > 2. Solar panels aren't cheap to mount on a home. Even after tax credits, it's still going to cost a total of [$12,000 to $20,000](_URL_1_) on AVERAGE to outfit a home with solar panels. And that means solar panels have a very low profit margin. Not many people have 12k they're looking to drop on their home, especially when...\n > 3. Solar panels have massive efficiency [PR issues](_URL_0_). The best solar panels you can actually buy on the market right now have an efficiency of 22%. Yes I know that there are the new panels that have 43% efficiency but chances are they aren't commercially available at the moment and won't be for quite a while. But on average you are looking at 15% efficiency. That's actually fantastic, but try explaining that to someone after you tell them it'll cost 15k to put the panels up on their roof. \n > I hope these can help explain why exactly the US isn't number one in solar panel production. There are some other reasons I could cite but they are largely my own opinion and shouldn't be included in my official explanation.",
"The American government doesn't manufacture things. That's up to private sector business, and manufacturing costs are generally high in America."
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"http://www.businessinsider.com/solarcity-ceo-how-much-solar-energy-will-cost-in-5-years-2016-6",
"http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Solar-Cell.html",
"http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-panel-makers-grappling-with-was... | ||
478b57 | how can luxembourg have an insane national debt and not crumble? | According to wikipedia, the external national debt per capita in Lux is 3.7 million dollars. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/478b57/eli5how_can_luxembourg_have_an_insane_national/ | {
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"Debt per capita doesn't matter very much--what matters is the debt as a percentage of GDP, the size of the economy. After all, wealthy countries can afford to pay more than poor countries even if they have a lower population. Nevertheless, Luxembourg's external debt as a percentage of GDP is also high. \n\nThis because \"external\" debt includes both public and private debt. Luxembourg has a very large financial sector which holds most of that debt. It's not *net* assets; all the debts those banks and corporations there hold is counted, but not the assets they have to counterbalance them. Luxembourg's *public* debt is only 18.4% of GDP (2012 measurement), which is very low compared to most Western countries.\n\n"
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b9eg9t | How does solar radiation pressure impart a force to spacecraft if photons have no mass? | If photons are massless, how do they carry momentum to impart solar radiation pressure to spacecraft? The force due to solar radiation pressure is very important for astrodynamics, and I’m having trouble understanding how this works. | askscience | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/b9eg9t/how_does_solar_radiation_pressure_impart_a_force/ | {
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"Because p=mv is a lie!\n\nOkay, it's not quite a lie. It's an *approximation* that gives extremely accurate results for objects with mass that are moving much slower than the speed of light. However, if you have an object without mass, or an object close to (or at!) the speed of light, the assumptions that this approximation is based on start to break down, and you need to use the proper equation. This is:\n\nE^2 = p^2 c^2 + m^2 c^4\n\nIf you have a stationary object with no momentum, then p=0. This means the equation becomes E^2 = m^2 c^4 ... or E=mc^2 ! This is the mass energy of a stationary massive particle, because we're dealing with special relativity now and that means mass has energy.\n\nOn the other hand, if you have an object with momentum but no mass, then the equation becomes E^2 = p^2 c^2 , or E=pc, or p=E/c. So the momentum of a photon of light is just given by the energy of that photon.\n\nWhat this equation is saying is that momentum comes from a combination of mass *and* energy. If something doesn't have mass, it can still have energy, and that's where the momentum comes from.",
"I actually made a whole [video](_URL_0_) about this, if you're curious. As /u/Astrokiwi says, the only reason to think light SHOULDN'T have momentum is if you apply formulas you may have learned in high-school or Physics 101 to situations where they are explicitly not correct. Those formulas result from taking the more general formulas and explicitly ASSUMING you're not talking about something that is massless and you're moving at speeds that are very slow relative to the speed of light. Waves in general carry momentum, if they didn't you couldn't be knocked over by an ocean wave, and light is an electromagnetic wave. See the video for a deeper discussion about the topic."
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k2me0 | what happens - internally - when you pull the trigger on a gun. | If possible, for different types of guns. Shotguns, pistols, automatic weapons, etc.. For example, does the trigger act like a hammer, it hits the bullet generating a spark? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/k2me0/eli5_what_happens_internally_when_you_pull_the/ | {
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"There are usually firing pins in most guns. When you pull the trigger, there are internal actions that make the pin spring forward and hit the primer which sparks and ignites all the gunpowder causing the bullet to burst forward. ",
"It depends a lot on the kind of gun. A single action repeater, or a revolver does a few different things when the trigger is pulled. First the hammer on the back of the gun will swing forward hitting a tiny cap at the back of the bullet. When this happens the gun powder goes through a reaction, changing from a solid to a gas very quickly. This causes the bullet to be pushed forward by an exceptionally large well directed force. Now the bullet itself as it goes down the barrel catches the rifling and spins. Spinning a bullet makes it cut the air better making it more likely to hit what you're shooting at. At the same time the revolving portion of the gun spins allowing a new round to be fired. (note I think this is out of order, the revolving part moves first then the hammer strikes). \n\nNow, that's the basic idea for a revolver. A semi-automatic pistol works a bit differently. Pistols differ from revolvers in a lot of ways. One of the important parts is the spring fed clip and the spring action at the top of the gun. With a semi automatic pistol two actions are completed when the trigger is pulled. First the round is struck. Then the slide will move back from the force of the explosion. That action causes a gap at the top of the pistol to eject the shell casing, the thing where the gun powder is stored. Then the new round slides up from the chamber. For every pull of the trigger this action takes place. It also cocks the hammer again with each firing.\n\nAutomatics are very much like semi automatics, but the action takes place until the trigger is released. \n\nThe principles vary when getting up into things like rifles.\n\nThe AK47 is a very basic rifle. When the trigger is pulled a bullet is fired. The gas is then caught at near the end of the barrel and directed back towards the casing pushing it back shell casing and causes it to be ejected. Most semi automatic rifles and full automatics use this system. \n\nNow another kind of machine gun is belt fed. These don't use the spring up action of the ak, or pistol, but instead feed a round from the side. I'm sketchy on how they work.",
"There are usually firing pins in most guns. When you pull the trigger, there are internal actions that make the pin spring forward and hit the primer which sparks and ignites all the gunpowder causing the bullet to burst forward. ",
"It depends a lot on the kind of gun. A single action repeater, or a revolver does a few different things when the trigger is pulled. First the hammer on the back of the gun will swing forward hitting a tiny cap at the back of the bullet. When this happens the gun powder goes through a reaction, changing from a solid to a gas very quickly. This causes the bullet to be pushed forward by an exceptionally large well directed force. Now the bullet itself as it goes down the barrel catches the rifling and spins. Spinning a bullet makes it cut the air better making it more likely to hit what you're shooting at. At the same time the revolving portion of the gun spins allowing a new round to be fired. (note I think this is out of order, the revolving part moves first then the hammer strikes). \n\nNow, that's the basic idea for a revolver. A semi-automatic pistol works a bit differently. Pistols differ from revolvers in a lot of ways. One of the important parts is the spring fed clip and the spring action at the top of the gun. With a semi automatic pistol two actions are completed when the trigger is pulled. First the round is struck. Then the slide will move back from the force of the explosion. That action causes a gap at the top of the pistol to eject the shell casing, the thing where the gun powder is stored. Then the new round slides up from the chamber. For every pull of the trigger this action takes place. It also cocks the hammer again with each firing.\n\nAutomatics are very much like semi automatics, but the action takes place until the trigger is released. \n\nThe principles vary when getting up into things like rifles.\n\nThe AK47 is a very basic rifle. When the trigger is pulled a bullet is fired. The gas is then caught at near the end of the barrel and directed back towards the casing pushing it back shell casing and causes it to be ejected. Most semi automatic rifles and full automatics use this system. \n\nNow another kind of machine gun is belt fed. These don't use the spring up action of the ak, or pistol, but instead feed a round from the side. I'm sketchy on how they work."
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68iok9 | What was a rare or weird culinary treat (for the poor, rich, or anyone between) in your time period and region of expertise? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/68iok9/what_was_a_rare_or_weird_culinary_treat_for_the/ | {
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"Taking \"treat\" rather generously:\n\n > Looking back, I find that drinking, in this country at least, has been divided more or less definitely into various epochs, in each of which a different brand of poison and hell-fire dominated the thirsts of the people. Right after prohibition came in, everybody drank a tonic known as Force, which bore a picture on its label of Samson tearing the lion — and its effect was similar; they alternated this with another tonic known as Lyko. Then followed a fruit extract period, until the companies began bringing out extracts without alcoholic content. I still recall the fervent and sincere bitter blasphemies of staunch souls who had quaffed numbers of bottles of extracts, before discovering their nonalcoholic nature. Then came the boom-days of Jamaica ginger, which exceeded all epochs before and since. I doubt not that even now the mad-houses are filled with the gibbering votaries of jake. Legislation interfered with jake, and the makers of white mule, red eye and rot-gut came into their own. Of course, these drinks had been interwoven in all the other periods. Alternating poisons were hair-tonics, wood-alcohol and canned heat. I’ve seen old soaks who apparently preferred canned heat to anything else.\n\n- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, 13 July 1932, *Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard* 2.383\n\nThat was about 17 months before the repeal of Prohibition was ratified. Force, Lyko, and Samson were nominally tonics; patent medicines based on alcohol and sold as drugs. Jamaica Ginger was technically a fluid extract; United States Pharmacopeia requirements called for 4% solids in a solution of alcohol and water (which varied between 70-90% ABV, depending on manufacturer). The resulting drink was too bitter for most folks (including Robert E. Howard) to choke down easily, and the government inspected shipments to make sure they had enough solids by boiling them off and measuring the residue. Canny bootleggers managed to find a solid that wouldn't boil off and wasn't bitter - but it turned out the substance they used was a neurotoxin. Tens of thousands of imbibers suffered gradual paralysis of the extremities - which gave way to a distinctive walk, called \"Jake leg.\" African Americans were disproportionately affected, and there was little to be done for the suffers - you can read up on the grim details in [The Public Health Service and Jamaica Ginger Paralysis in the 1930s](_URL_0_). Blues singers like Tommy Johnson immortalized the condition with songs like [Alcohol and Jake Blues](_URL_1_).\n\nJohnson was a bad alcoholic himself, and was familiar with another of the potables Howard mentioned - canned heat.\n\nEthanol (ethyl alcohol) is a useful chemical for more than inebriation; as a solvent and a flammable substance it has uses in any number of products, including hair tonics, perfumes, colognes, and aftershaves, etc. Those desperate enough for a drink could—\n and did—prove that these were not completely toxic. A similar chemical, in taste, smell, and properties is methanol (methyl alcohol, wood alcohol); however, while both ethanol and methanol are central nervous system depressants, the metabolization of methanol causes the formation of formic acid, which can cause blindness and acidosis, and methanol is highly toxic even in small amounts.\n\nIn products like canned heat (often known under the brand name Sterno), ethanol is “denatured” by the addition of methanol; the production of denatured alcohol and its use in products was legal during Prohibition specifically because it rendered those products undrinkable...or at least, it should have. The desperate, the ignorant, and the greedy who were unaware of—or did not care about—the toxicity of methanol could and did consume it, or served it to others. The dangers and attraction were summed up in Tommy Johnson’s [“Canned Heat Blues”](_URL_2_) from 1928:\n\n > Crying, canned heat, canned heat, mama, crying, sure, Lord, killing me.\n\n > Crying, canned heat, mama, sure, Lord killing me.\n\n > Takes alcorub to take these canned heat blues.\n\n“Alcorub” is rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol); which is likewise toxic when ingested, though less so than methanol."
]
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1fhi75 | Are there any plants or animals that are bioluminescent in the infrared spectrum only? | Would this be possible? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1fhi75/are_there_any_plants_or_animals_that_are/ | {
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"Hot blood animals, like mammals and birds, emit in the IR all the time, so in a sense they're bioluminescent in the IR only unless they are also standard light bioluminescent."
]
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[]
] | |
2r7roe | the reasoning behind sandy hook trutherism. | Do people legitimately believe there was no massacre or is it just the standard tinfoil hat types? If so why? Since no legislation was passed afterwards due to the massacre, why would there need to be a conspiracy behind it to begin with? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2r7roe/eli5_the_reasoning_behind_sandy_hook_trutherism/ | {
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"\nSome portion of the population seems be naturally disposed to seek out and believe in conspiracy theories and these people seem to be drawn to anti-establishment political groups, beliefs, and ideologies.\n\nIn the USA, there is a rather powerful cultural belief that the ownership of small arms is a necessary component to maintaining personal and civil liberty. Some take it farther, believing that tyrannical forces seek to take guns away so that people are less able to resist when their policies are implemented. This belief is a natural fit for conspiracists.\n\nCombine the two and it seems not terribly strange that people believe that tyrranical forces would manufacture school shootings in an effort to build enough support to take away guns as part of a strategy of making the population easier to control.",
"\nThe Just World fallacy. People have a cognitive bias in favor of thinking the world is fairer than it is.\n\nIt's obviously not fair for children to die because some nutjob decided to massacre them. So if you think the world must be fair, then obviously the massacre didn't happen -- things like that simply don't occur in a fair world.\n\nOf course, if it didn't happen, then you still have to explain all the news coverage and political maneuvering that occurred after the fact.\n\nPostulating that the massacre was faked to give political justification to an anti-gun agenda lets you explain the media and politics, without requiring you to live in an unfair world where children can be killed *en masse* by a psycho.\n",
"Not a truther or a conspiracy theorist, but when I heard the shot:kill ratio of the sandy hook shooting, I got chills. Something like 70 shots and 10 deaths in the theatre shooting, 30 shots and 10 deaths at Virginia tech, and the sandy hook shooting was 27 shots fired and 26 deaths with the 27th injured. The shooter was supposed to be a kid with no firearm experience. Everybody in the room I was in started freaking out when that stat was read.\n\nOh and something about how the Facebook relief page was posted the day before the shooting.",
"It's more comforting to think there's a massive conspiracy rather than some lone nut decided to kill a bunch of people one day. At least with the government you can take it down and rebuild it in the image Rush Limbaugh (a lone nut) tells you it's supposed to be. How do you stop lone nuts? There's no effigies to burn, talking points to take create, quotes to take out of context, evidence to be fabricated."
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5u2mpk | the difference between phenomenology and ontology | title says it all. i don't have a strong understanding of philosophical lexicon, so when people have tried to explain the difference between phenomenology and ontology to me in the past, the vernacular used has gone right over my head. please help me understand. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5u2mpk/eli5_the_difference_between_phenomenology_and/ | {
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"Bottom line: Ontology \"What is\". Phenomenology: \"What is experienced\". \n\nOften (pretty much always as far as we're concerned with our everyday lives) those two things seem to perfectly align. If however, you study many branches of science you rapidly learn that what is and what is experienced can be subtly, or even radically different. \n\nExample: Phenomenon: We experience three spatial and one temporal dimension. The ontology however is entirely debatable at this time, and ranges from fewer fundamental dimensions or many more than the ones we experience. \n\nSo phenomenology is the study is what's going on, and ontology would more broadly be the study of what's going on at a fundamental level (which provides the \"why\" for the phenomena)... basically. "
]
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[]
] | |
8him3y | How historically accurate was the video game Red Dead Redemption? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8him3y/how_historically_accurate_was_the_video_game_red/ | {
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"text": [
"To help others who haven’t played the game, can you be more specific about what part of the game you want to know if it is historically accurate?"
]
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[]
] | ||
1ndsnj | why did they used to put a bag over people's heads before executing them in a public hanging? | I was watching the movie Changeling and was confused. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ndsnj/eli5_why_did_they_used_to_put_a_bag_over_peoples/ | {
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"That is so whoever is watching the execution will not be able to see the persons face. The eyes bulge, blood vessels become more prominent and is basically too gruesome to look at.",
"Well, hanging wasn't the clean execution you see in most media. Most of the time it took anywhere between 2 to 10 freaking minutes for the person to die, and during all that time they would be frantically moving and gasping for air. They would make all sort of faces and what not. \nIt wasn't... A pretty thing to see. \n\nSo they covered their faces with a bag or a piece of cloth. It was easier that way. You weren't watching a person frantically gasping for air, you watched a sack of potatoes hanging from a rope.\n\nSame thing happened with (some) execution(s) by electric chair, but not with \"cleaner\" methods like the guillotine. "
]
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[],
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epwl5e | why do pacifiers soothe babies so much? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/epwl5e/eli5_why_do_pacifiers_soothe_babies_so_much/ | {
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"text": [
"Placates the constant desire to feed. Also unless they're seriously distressed, the suck instinct overrides crying if something is in their mouth."
]
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[]
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6pa927 | Why was Baldur Von Schirach the only other Nazi war criminal kept imprisoned for as long as Albert Speer? | Yes, I know Hess was there longer | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6pa927/why_was_baldur_von_schirach_the_only_other_nazi/ | {
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"The immediate answer was that of the \"Spandau Seven,\" von Schirach was comparatively younger (bn. 1907) compared to the three prisoners released earlier before their sentences were up- von Neurath (bn. 1873), Raeder (bn. 1876), and Funk (bn. 1890). All three of these men developed notable health issues within their incarceration. These health issues dovetailed with an active clemency body within the FRG for the early release of IMT convicts. Dönitz only received a ten-year sentence and was released on time. Von Shirach did develop a blood clot in his arteries that might have allowed him a slightly earlier release, a fact that rankled Albert Speer who also had the same sentence. But the Spandau authorities released both men on the same day, 30 September 1966, when their sentence was up. \n\nThe larger reason for why von Schirach and Speer had to serve their sentence and why Hess had to linger on until the 1980s was the breakdown of inter-Allied unity in the immediate aftermath of the war. The Allies made wartime agreements that Spandau and the IMT convicts would be the collective responsibility of Allies. Four representatives of each country (US, UK, France, USSR) governed Spandau and a complex set of prison management evolved around this clumsy relationship. The structure of the wartime agreements over Nazi war criminals convicted by the IMT made it so that collective agreement was needed for either early release or other changes with the management of Spandau. This was in stark contrast to the relationship that evolved with war criminals convicted by the Subsequent Nuremberg proceedings and various national trials of German offenders. Here the FRG government could conduct bilateral talks with the jailing authority to gain clemency. Bonn found it got much traction out of the US, for example, in light of the Cold War and most of the convictions of the American NMTs were either overturned or prisoners amnestied. \n\nSuch \"amnesty fever\" was not going to happen in Spandau with the Soviets having a veto over the process. The Soviets and the GDR learned very early on in the Cold War that Western softness on Nazi criminals was a valuable propaganda point and they were not going to cede this advantage. Having the Soviets in Spandau hold the line against the amnesty fever in the West was valuable moral high ground the Soviets would not surrender. In short, it cost the Soviets nothing to maintain a hard line on Spandau while they could simultaneously portray the West as soft on Nazism. Potentially reversing themselves on Spandau was also a chip the Soviets could use with Bonn in its semi-clandestine dealings with the FRG by holding out the potential of amnesty in exchange for some other concession. Soviet officials were appreciative that health problems could make these men martyrs, hence the early releases. But this left the other Spandau inmates who were in relatively good health with little choice but to serve out their sentences. "
]
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[]
] | |
bcnbcd | how are we able to decipher acronyms and initialisms so easily? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bcnbcd/eli5_how_are_we_able_to_decipher_acronyms_and/ | {
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"text": [
"They seldom occur without any context. This gives you plenty of hints about what they might mean if you'd never heard the words before and had no context, it's be impossible to tell between CPU and scuba"
]
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[]
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58m9vl | Where can I learn more about the history of political Buddhism? | I recently listened to the AskHistorians podcast about Buddhism in Tibet and Bhutan, and the rise and machinations of people like Pagsam Wangpo and Ngawang Namgyal. I found this endlessly fascinating, particularly the way theological justification was given for things like resolving successions and inheritance, and the way Buddhism wove itself into the political systems of the area at the time.
I want to know more about the history of political Buddhism, if such a phrase can be used, but I don't know where to look to find good sources. To clarify, my interest doesn't stop at the Himalayan region; for instance, I'm also aware that Buddhism was a big deal for the political climate of Japan in the first millennium, and very much interested in knowing more about that, too, as well as similar history as it concerns other parts of East Asia. What are some good sources that are reasonably accessible to someone who is not a historian and lacks access to university libraries and the like?
| AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/58m9vl/where_can_i_learn_more_about_the_history_of/ | {
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"Hi there! I was the interviewee for that episode and I'd recommend if you're interested in Tibet and Bhutan further, to take a look at the [_URL_0_](booklist.) \n\nBuddhism has always been mildly political. Remember that even in the earliest retellings of the Buddha's life, he was born a Prince who rejected his fate as a world-conqueror. Wherever it spread to, it also became ingrained with local and eventually national politics. \n\nI don't know of any books that deal strictly with the relationship between Buddhism (at large) and politics (at large). (Though that doesn't mean they don't exist, they just haven't come across my radar.) One possibility might be *A Very Short Introduction to Buddhist Ethics* by Damien Keown. But that would only exacerbate the point that you'd have to look at a specific area, teaching, or lineage to find a work of any real authority. \n\nI can list a few examples that would show the difficulty of this process: \n- In modern Bhutan, people registered as \"religious officials\" are not allowed to vote or hold public office. This includes monks, lay priests, shamans/shamanesses, etc. Bhutan also doesn't use conscription and culturally the military is considered a \"sinful\" career because of its association with killing. In Korea, there are no child initiates allowed, monks freely vote, and all the ones I've spoken to have told me they were proud to serve their time in the military because they are \"patriotic Koreans.\" \n- Other than in Tibet and Bhutan where Buddhist sects captured and held power using monastic structures, there are countless other examples of Buddhist sects wielding secular power in the world. The Ikko Ikki in Japan come particularly to mind. And Japan's continuing trouble with Sokka Gakkai may be a modern comparison with them. \n- Burma has once been described to me as a blend between \"Buddhist paradise and totalitarian state.\" The Sangha in Burma has been at odds with the military government for decades now. This whole adventure has been vigorously documented. \n\nThe myriad differences in local histories, cultures, and economies make it difficult to make any sort of blanket statement about Buddhism and politics. In 1392, the Yi Dynasty came to power in Joseon Korea and immediately expelled the Buddhists from positions of power, relegating the Koreans to the mountains where they could do less social damage (as the Joseon court saw it). In Tibet or Bhutan, such a thing was virtually impossible, but that doesn't mean there wasn't room for various sects to try to gain power over the other, as was discussed in the podcast. \n\nIf you pick a country, it'd be easier to narrow down its relationship with government and Buddhism. Right now I'm reading *Tibetan Nation* by Warren W. Smith. It's a pretty comprehensive history of Tibet and the origins of the Tibetan ethny and national identity, which is impossible to discuss without constantly discussing Buddhism. I'm also reading *A History of Tibet* by the Fifth Dalai Lama (trans. Zahiruddin Ahmad). As a book written by a monk, it's not hard to see where Buddhism might make an appearance (i.e. everywhere). Chapter 1 Part 2 is titled \"The Life of the Buddha.\" In other words: before HHDL5 talks about the country he rules, he recounts the life of Siddhartha Gautama. (Are there any histories of Italy that start with the life of Jesus?) \n\nI also just finished Samuel Hawley's *The Imjin War* which discussed a topic that has been a bit of an obsession for me: how did Korean monks, after being persecuted for centuries, suddenly rise up to fight the Japanese, (at the request of the Korean King!)? Did Seosan/Hyujong feel any remorse at breaking his Vinaya vows to fight Hideyoshi's aggression? \n\nBuddhism has a 2,500 year history. It's experience is tied intimately with the cultures that founded it. The experience of Japanese warrior monks who fought with Oda Nobunaga in the 1500s, is entirely different from those Buddhists who ruled and managed entire Kingdoms in the Himalayas, or protestors who continue to fight against the dictatorship in Burma/Myanmar. \n\nIt'd be best to start looking at certain countries and eras for better understanding and suggestions. "
]
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[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/innerasia#wiki_tibet_and_bhutan"
]
] | |
5mznt0 | why do lcd screens become slow in a temp below 0? | Below 0 degrees, An LCD screen will have a weird ghosting effect, Why is this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5mznt0/eli5_why_do_lcd_screens_become_slow_in_a_temp/ | {
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"LCD screens use a chemical \"shutter\" effect to do their thing. When a current is run through them, the material crystalizes. When the electricity is turned back off, it returns to it's uncrystalley form.\n\nIn low temperatures, the material gets slower and \"goopier\" similar t a lot of substances that act thicker in low temperatures."
]
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wgc50 | What was the medical specifications of a British World War One CONSCRIPTED soldier? | ie. weight, size, eyesight requirements. I was literally thinking the other day wondering if I would have been conscripted - I am 22 and single but have quite bad sight in my right eye. I was kinda of looking for like a table of requirements or something. I think itd be pretty interesting.
Also, how much were the rules bent so that people not able to pass the requirements, were waved through into the ranks. Was there much of a urge to go to the front during conscription (after kitcheners 'pals')? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/wgc50/what_was_the_medical_specifications_of_a_british/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nFun little bit here on the rush to enlist at the war's beginning.",
"I'll come back to this later once I find some good sources.\n\nThe physical requirements for British soldiers decreased as the war went on. This was a fairly universal trend as all the best men were killed or already conscripted by the later years of the conflict. British soldiers in particular were known to be especially unhealthy when compared to Dominion troops. While this may have some roots in the belief the natural environments of Canada and Australia bred tough, manly men there is probably some truth to it.\n\nBritish conscripts were typically urban and didn't have the greatest diets. British Field Service Regulations 1914 puts the average height of an infantryman at 5'3\", considerably shorter than today. Apart from being short, an infantryman couldn't have flat feet or poor eyesight either.\n\nFrom the first hand accounts I've read, requirements were bent and waived quite a lot. I'm sure for every one that got through many more didn't, but accounts of young boys fighting are fairly widespread. There was actually a unit of Canadian youth that were removed from frontline duty and stationed in Wales for most of the war, though they rioted at the end as demobilization stalled."
]
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[
"http://books.google.com/books?id=YPA1dGj_N18C&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=medical+requirement+british+1914&source=bl&ots=JDySSIGrpJ&sig=FmkGHceli2M90EzZiLO5wAcD6SY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kBv_T7DKLcbn0QGL_4XOBg&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=medical%20requirement%20british%201914&f... | |
8dw7gx | Shinobi/Ninjas, Bushido and Seppuku | First of all, apologies for misspellings.
Now onto the core of the question (Spoilers for the Danish novel 'Ternet Ninja' ahead). I've just finished a novel where a ninja doll is possessed by a ninja from the late 16th century. In the backstory to this ninja, he was charged with protecting the children of his village, but failing, he committed seppuku, as dictated by bushido.
I know that the author is passionate about eastern culture, especially the samurai, but I still have reservations about the historical accuracy of this background story, since it was my understanding that ninjas (shinobi?) were considered to be honourless and therefore not living by bushido, while I also thought seppuku was exclusively for samurai.
Am I entirely off on these assumption, or is the author misinformed? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8dw7gx/shinobininjas_bushido_and_seppuku/ | {
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"Hey I meant to write you an answer a while ago, but life got in the way. I hope you'll still find this helpful. It's a bit of an info-dump with lots of links to previous answers and resources.\n\n > I still have reservations about the historical accuracy of this background story, since it was my understanding that ninjas (shinobi?) were considered to be honourless and therefore not living by bushido, while I also thought seppuku was exclusively for samurai.\n\n > Am I entirely off on these assumption, or is the author misinformed?\n\nBoth the author's details and your assumptions are wrong in different respects. But it's quite possible the author isn't trying for strict historical accuracy. Ninja fiction has a long pedigree in Japan, with lots of features that date back a few centuries, so it' s very possible for a ninja story to be true to the historical literary tradition, rather than true to real events. This is giving the author the benefit of the doubt, since I don't know anything about his personal approach or claims about accuracy.\n\nSo, the first problem here is that Bushido is a constructed modern idea. This has been covered in depth on this sub a few times, so here's my round-up of Bushido information.\n\n-- -\n\nNitobe and his concept of “Bushido” are *the* biggest pitfalls in Japanese history. To quote Cameron Hurst in his essay, *Death, Honor, and Loyalty: The Bushido Ideal*.\n\n > One wonders whether the modern Japanese themselves, let alone those of us in the West, would ever have heard of bushido had it not been for the efforts of Nitobe Inazo (1863-1933). In almost every way imaginable, Nitobe was the least qualified Japanese of his age to have been informing anyone of Japan's history and culture.\n\nThere are some good posts already on Ask Historians about Bushido, so I won’t reproduce them. Check out \n\n[Was the way of Bushido ever documented in a book, if so what should I read?]( _URL_3_) answered by /u/bigbluepanda and /u/ParallelPain . They recommend some good journal articles and books on the subject, but I’m going to link to some open-access versions of articles on Bushido, in case you can’t access JSTOR or a quality library.\n\n-\t[Bushidó or Bull? A Medieval Historian’s Perspective on the Imperial Army and the Japanese Warrior Tradition]( _URL_1_) By Karl F. Friday. This addresses the question of whether there’s a continuity over all those years from medieval samurai to WWII, so it should be interesting to you.\n-\t[Death, Honor, and Loyalty: The Bushido Ideal]( _URL_7_) By G. Cameron Hurst III. Gives the full story of how Nitobe and others misread and cherrypicked sources to create a new modern ideology of Bushido.\n-\t[The Historical Foundations of Bushido](_URL_6_) by Karl Friday. I like this one because it’s actually an archived version of a post Karl Friday made on a martial arts board answering members’ questions. A historian who is out there dealing with the public and writing in plain, readable language: my hero!\n-\t/u/ParallelPain mentions Oleg Benesch’s book, [*Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido: Inventing the Way of the Samurai*](_URL_5_), as *the* book on the modern development of Bushido, but if you want to check Benesch out but can’t access his book, his entire PHD thesis is open-access: [Bushido : the creation of a martial ethic in late Meiji Japan](_URL_2_)\n\nBushido's an invented tradition, but one with real influence on 20th century society. In pre-Meiji Japan, most people weren't samurai, and didn't idealize samurai honour or aspire to follow such a code themselves. Modern Japan often does idealize samurai honour and continuously redefines \"Bushido\" as an aspirational code for everyone. In Imperial Japan, samurai honour was redefined as unquestioning loyalty to the Emperor. Today \"Bushido\" in Japanese pop culture is often about being true to your values, even when it means going *against* authority. It's an interesting transformation.\n\n\n- - - \n\nSecond, the concept of \"ninja\" is a tricky thing it itself. As I explained in a previous post\n\n > There is no doubt that \"shinobi\" warfare existed, it's documented from one end of Japan to another over centuries. And there is also no doubt that certain individuals were good at it and worked for their masters' benefit. Some of those individuals were indeed Iga and Koga people.\n\n > The key issue with the ninja tradition, though, is a) was there a particular Iga and/or Koga tradition of shinobi warfare, famed outside Iga and Koga? and b) did Iga and Koga warriors skilled in shinobi warfare ply their trade outside of their own territories and local wars?\n\n > There's absolutely no evidence from the Sengoku period of either of those things.\n\nThere's more elaboration on the problem of \"ninja\" in my posts to these threads:\n[How many koku would a ninja in medieval Japan get paid for a typical assassination?](_URL_0_) and its follow-up [Were there actually female ninjas](_URL_4_). As explained in those posts, plenty of the individuals identified in legend/history as practicing shinobi warfare *were* samurai. \n\nAs for seppuku, putting aside ninjas, it wouldn't even be usual for a late 16th century *samurai* to commit seppuku because he'd failed to protect his charges. As historian Cameron Hurst wrote, \"few warriors actually took their own lives except under circumstances of imminent defeat and death at the hands of the enemy.\" (I wrote a bit about [seppuku in the age of war here](_URL_8_). )\n\nA person committing suicide out of grief and shame from not being able to protect children is completely relatable, so I don't think the idea of a character having done that is ahistorical, but attributing it to a strict expectation of seppuku via \"bushido\" is a mistake.\n\nAll in all, writing about ninja clans in any context is going to involve a lot of anachronism and fiction by definition."
]
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6rja8q/how_many_koku_would_a_ninja_in_medieval_japan_get/",
"http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltart_friday_0301.htm",
"https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0071589",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/52sewz/was_t... | |
a0oplo | why do spices prefer warm climates to cold? | I don't see many naturally occurring spices in colder climates and am curious. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a0oplo/eli5_why_do_spices_prefer_warm_climates_to_cold/ | {
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"The simplest answer is that there's more variety of spices in warm climates simply because there's more variety of plants in general. Plus, a lot of spices also have antimicrobial properties (which is why they're good for preserving food) and so it makes sense that these plants would evolve spices as a defense mechanism in warmer climates, where microbes grow more vigorously and pose more of a threat than they would at higher latitudes. \n"
]
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2owmvu | Melting point of bone? | A friend in my gym clas questioned what is the melting point as well as the heat of vaporization of bone? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2owmvu/melting_point_of_bone/ | {
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"Bone doesn't melt, it decomposes or burns.\n\nYou can decompose off the organic bits from the bone (the network of collagen like strands that give bones their shock resistance) and leave behind a pile of calcium and phosphorous oxides. They probably melt at a few thousand degrees..."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
8vxefc | why do some manufacturers print their own prices on items? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8vxefc/eli5_why_do_some_manufacturers_print_their_own/ | {
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"text": [
"to prevent strors from over inflating prices. They know how much thier product costs. if someone is selling it for more, the customer knows its not Arizona and does not have those hostle feelings. keeps everyone in check.",
"Arizona does it because it's one of their core marketing points. They're trying to place pressure on retailers to sell it at that price.\n\nOther companies, like chips , do it for convenience. It's a lot easier for them to print a price on the bag than it is for the store to put a price tag on it & crush all the chips. A store can always mark other prices or buy unpriced merch.",
"Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): what the manufacturer *would like* a retailer to sell their product for. Retailer needn't abide by it which is why 99¢ Arizonas might sell for more and why most items sell for less. Ex.$100 shoes on sale for $79.99. Varies depending on deals struck between vendors and retailers. \n\nMinimum Advertised Price (MAP): the lowest price a retailer can *advertise* a product for as per its agreement with the manufacturer. Ex. Ad language like, \"At a price so low we can't even print it!\" Useful in keeping brick and mortars competitive with online sellers and helps maintain the integrity of brand image."
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2st2c8 | If the supermassive black holes at the center of the galaxy were stars of the same exact mass, how large would the star be? | For example if you had a supermassive blackhole with 1 billion solar masses, and instead of a blackhole it was a star of similar mass how large of a star would it be? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2st2c8/if_the_supermassive_black_holes_at_the_center_of/ | {
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"The same size as the black hole, because a star of that mass will immediately collapse into a black hole. There's no way to answer that question, because a star of that size is impossible. Besides, the size of a star depends on more than just its mass-- composition and age are the other factors you need to know."
]
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[]
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3vetvl | why are most of amazon's highest discount flash sales on jewelry or watches? how can the seller afford to list them at +/- 90% off? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vetvl/eli5_why_are_most_of_amazons_highest_discount/ | {
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"Because they are the items with the biggest margin. They might be still making money at 90% off.\nMy girlfriend used to work in a watch shop and could buy watches at cost - a watch that retailed for $200 cost her about $30."
]
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[]
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342gug | how do vaccines you can get after exposure to a disease work? | The way I understand vaccines is that you get injected with a small amount of dead or deactivated pathogens so your body learns to make antibodies for them. How can that help if you've already got real pathogens in your system? Or do these vaccines work differently? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/342gug/eli5_how_do_vaccines_you_can_get_after_exposure/ | {
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"After the immunisation ( it can be by vaccine or naturally as a first infection for example ) there will be memory immune cells left in your body. So if the pathogen occurs again in your system, your body can eliminate it quickly. They do work differently.",
"Some viruses take some time to incubate in your body before your immune system notices and starts producing antibodies. The vaccines in these cases are seen by your immune system immediately so they give your body a jump start on creating the antibodies."
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35pykd | the difference between red, pink, and white wine | I'm a douchebag college frat kid about to go to Rome for a summer semester and the only thing I know is cheap beer and vodka | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35pykd/eli5_the_difference_between_red_pink_and_white/ | {
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"The color comes from the incorporation (or lack thereof) of the skins of the grapes. Red wine uses the red (or other dark colored) grapes and their skins. White wine uses a variety of grapes, sans skin. Rose (pink) wine uses a variety of grapes and a bit of skin.",
"The primary difference is the type of grapes used. Red and rose wines also tend to include more skin/pulp (in comparison to white).\n\nDarker wines tend to have more 'body', while lighter wines are 'crisper'. I tend to think of this in terms of sounds - darker wines are low pitch while white wines are high pitch - but this probably isn't all that helpful.\n\nCustomarily, white wines are either for drinking independently or with subtly flavored meals like fish while red wines are better for meals because their flavor stands up better in competition with other bold flavors. So most of the time when you're having wine with dinner, it will be a red wine of some sort.",
"Well i'm no expert but i've seen wine being made in France. And the difference between pink and red is mostly just the type of the grape being used. But The reason red/pink wine has it's colour is because the process of making the wine begins with dumping the grapes into a big container, heating it up, mixing in ingredients, cooling it down, and so on. So basically there are some sticks and stuff inside and most of all the skin of the grapes, which give the color to the wine. Now white wine is made differently. The juice from the grape is squeezed or whirled away and wine is then made from that. Of course the grapes are white for white wine and red for red wine. The methods differ though. At least where i live (Beaujolais region)\n"
]
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1v4ivd | Why are eggs slightly wider on one end? | Simple as that. Why are eggs "prolate spheroids?" | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1v4ivd/why_are_eggs_slightly_wider_on_one_end/ | {
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"This shape provides superior strength and limits the distance that an egg can \"roll\" away. Especially important for those cliff-dwellin' birds!",
"Actually, its because of the animal and vegetal poles I believe. Vegetal poles get more nutrients and so dividing cells are bigger while animal poles are smaller because of more division. It has to do with maintaining a volume to nutrient ratio."
]
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6k1je5 | how can the power company direct renewable electricity to my meter but nonrenewable to the apartment upstairs with no new wires? | I recently received a letter in the mail from my power company that I now have the option to go to 100% renewable energy. It touts how no one needs to come to the house, no new wires, and they just switch it over. I live in a split level home with separate meters. How does this work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6k1je5/eli5_how_can_the_power_company_direct_renewable/ | {
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"It doesn't. The same electric flows out. The company just tracks how much flows out of the meter that should have renewable and buys that much from it's renewable source.",
"It doesn't.\n\nElectricity on the grid is fungible, which means that it makes no difference in the application of it what the source is. Power on the electrical grid may come from multiple sources -- coal, gas, nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, and so on.\n\nWhat the power company is offering you is the ability to purchase renewable energy -- which really means that *they* purchase renewable energy in amounts adequate to meet the demands of all of the people who signed up for the program.",
"It doesn't split it. Basically what they are saying is for every 1KW of electricity you use they will generate 1KW using Renewables sources.\n\nIn reality if you lived down the road from an oil, coal, gas, nuclear etc power station it would probably mostly come from that.",
"They don't direct specific electricity to your apartment, but feed an amount equal to what you use into the system from renewable sources.",
"I'm guessing here, because I can't see the details of the offer from the power company, but you are probably buying renewable credits. The power that comes into your house doesn't change. \n\nIn this case, the power company will generate their power from a mix of cheap fossil fuel and a more expensive renewable. A small group of people who agree to pay for renewable energy will make up the cost difference, so there is no overall price hike to the general population.\n\nIn this situation, the power coming into your house won't be any different that the power going into your neighborhood's. However, you get a warm fuzzy that you're helping the power company move away from fossil fuel. \n",
"In the UK it doesn't, what is actually happening (or at least should be happening and whether it is is up for debate) is the power company in question sees that you are paying them and paying for renewable energy, this money then gets wired into a special account within the power company that says they can only buy renewable energy with this money. So the more people that buy renewable energy the more money the company has to move away from fossil fuels, at least in theory.",
"This sounds like a marketing strategy. \n\"100% renewable energy\" could be the name of the program.\n\nthe electrical grid, depending on where you are, is a constant 60Hz (or 50Hz in some countries)and 480VAC three phase. it is stepped down for consumers to 120VAC single phase or Two phase service, think of it as a dam of water with multiple rivers flowing in and everyone has a dam that controls the flow to a waterfall. \nEach power producing location synchronizes to the grid and pushes out electricity into the larger waterway for power. why you turn on a light it turns on your hypothetical waterfall. \nSo no matter the production type (nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, natural gas, coal) the power gets synchronized to that same grid and the power you see at home is more of a percentage mix by the time it gets to an individuals house or apartment. \n\nThey do have \"solar sharing\" contracts which gives a discount to those who basically paid off the utility's loan for the solar panel for a fixed period of time as well. \n\nIn closing the only way for your house to be 100% solar is if they some how isolated your home or community from the grid (thus increasing instability to the local grid (bad idea for people with things like air conditioning and freezers). "
]
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7zzhf9 | how do people critique music | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7zzhf9/eli5_how_do_people_critique_music/ | {
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"Well in the end it's all subjective anyway . However , music critics will generally tend to favour songs with clever lyricism , memorable melodies , excellent production (how good the album sounds from an audio standpoint) and it's relation to the band/artist them self . Sometimes you'll see bands that would normally be considered predictable in their sound release a new record that is completely different and fresh . Music critiques will either yay or nay the output of the artist based on this criteria."
]
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] | |
58w09s | if it's possible to sli two gpus, why is it not possible to sli two cpus? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/58w09s/eli5_if_its_possible_to_sli_two_gpus_why_is_it/ | {
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"Uhh, multi socket boards have been around for ages...they don't need a physical connection between the two becuase they are connected via the FSB (front side bus) they are in tangled via software support and hardware support. The term SLI broad ATI crossfire is very similar....GPUs are connected via ribbon cable. ",
"You can run multi-processor computers. It's just not supported by consumer-grade CPUs and motherboards because it's not all that useful. The CPU is very rarely the limiting factor in anything. Dual-socket motherboards do exist for the server-grade components if you're willing to spring the extra money on those. \n[Here's](_URL_0_) a $4400 dual-CPU machine from Dell, for example. ",
"If you have multiple CPU cores, which you almost certainly do, you're sort of already doing 'SLI'. Each core acts like its own separate CPU."
]
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"http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t7810-workstation/pd?oc=cup7810w7p_4&model_id=precision-t7810-workstation"
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2f1gxx | how can a drink taste "dry"? | I really enjoy dry whites and beers, but I don't really understand the use of the word dry to describe them. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f1gxx/eli5_how_can_a_drink_taste_dry/ | {
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"Pretty sure it means the absence of sweetness ",
"It's just a way to describe the taste, not the texture or actual properties of the drink\n\nHave you never had a drink that tasted \"dry\"?",
"\"Dry\" is not a flavour, it's a mouthfeel. The word is used to describe astringency, which in wine and tea is caused by presence of tannins (which are found in the skin mostly). \n",
"It refers to the amount of sugar in the drink. Wines are usually classified between either extra dry, dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and extra-sweet. A dry wine has very little sugar, as it has been converted to alcohol, a sweet wine is exactly that, sweet."
]
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4hxei4 | how do swim goggles help you see better underwater? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hxei4/eli5_how_do_swim_goggles_help_you_see_better/ | {
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"the \"refractive index\" of air and of water is very different.\n\nSometimes if you can't see well underwater it's because the index of refraction is not optimal to focus the light on the back of your eyeball, but in some cases it's the opposite. I for example have -6 nearsightedness, but underwater it's drastically reduced and I can see much farther than I'd ever see with air around my eyes. "
]
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1qfi3p | What did the ancients think menstruation was? How did they explain what it's function was? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1qfi3p/what_did_the_ancients_think_menstruation_was_how/ | {
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"There a lot of varying accounts in Egypt about what really caused menstruation, medicinal papyri say a lot of different things on menstruation, but there weren't any big theories on what actually caused menstruation. For the most part, menstruation was seen as a monthly hygienic process for women, but it wasn't uncommon at all for it to carry a spiritual/magical connotation. \n\nMenstrual blood was a common ingredient in medicines. Most likely because it was a product of women, it carried womanly connotations and was used more often in medicines for fertility or feminine ailments rather than standard ones. \n\nThis isn't relevant to the question but I thought you might find it interesting that they actually had products for menstrual care. In medical papyri, tampons made of linen, papyrus, or other cloths were common in menstrual care and were recommended for further use sometimes as an instrument of general vaginal care. Sometimes these tampons were disposable, other time, when made out of less disposable cloths more likely, they could be washed and re-used.\n\nThere wasn't a clear-cut medical definition for menstruation in Ancient Egypt, but the concept of menstruation and the clearing of those fluids certainly held a magical/spiritual context."
]
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3g2uzu | Wooden plane parts? | Hello fellow history buffs! I'm looking for some information on some plane parts I found, they appear to be wooden frames skinned with navy blue painted plywood. They were found near Ewa Marine Airbase in Hawaii sometime in the 1960's. They look as though they were part of a plane that had been shot up. The only problem is I can't find anything about a plane with wood parts stationed at that base. I can post pictures if you think it'll help. Thanks | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3g2uzu/wooden_plane_parts/ | {
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"ctucobq"
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"text": [
"might as well post the pictures"
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ej8bkc | why does a brisket crust get so dark? | Cooked a brisket for 15 hours with only salt and pepper.after about 15 hours the crust was almost black but doesn't taste burnt. Is it from cooking so long or is there more to it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ej8bkc/eli5_why_does_a_brisket_crust_get_so_dark/ | {
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"text": [
"It's from cooking.\n\nThe Maillard reaction changes the proteins in the outer layer of meat into that tasty bark goodness. Simple caramelisation of the limited sugars in the brisket probably has a similar effect but less significant effect."
]
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[]
] | |
equx2l | How did Medieval Catholic Mass evolve to how it is today? | If I were to attend one, say, in the 14th Century or something, would there be a major difference? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/equx2l/how_did_medieval_catholic_mass_evolve_to_how_it/ | {
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"Yes. To respond somewhat quickly to you there have been multiple iteration of the \"Mass\" throughout the history of Catholicism. If we were to isolate two key moments I would undoubtedly say the Council of Trento (1545-1563) and the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) because they both had a major role in shaping the mass (as the core of any major religious ceremony in catholic liturgy). In particular the Mass that we know today (the series of religious rites culminating in holy communion) as the main spiritual moment is a product of Trento and is therefore often referred to as \"Tridentine\". It basically tried to overhaul the complex and often devolved ensemble of rites that existed during the middle ages. Of course this was largely on paper until the different dioceses started to give a somewhat uniform education to priests through the seminars system, a feat that would take centuries to reach. The Vatican II basically modernised the blueprint but kept the centrality of the Mass as the main rite. The most known changes were the switch from Latin to \"common\" in most masses and the \"inclusion\" of lay parishioners in the rite through service books and such.\n\nSo basically you would realistically not have a single \"mass\" in the XIV century but rather multiple rites (some culminating with communion although relatively rare) that could change between dioceses. One example of diocesan peculiarity is the \"Ambrosian Church\" of the Archdiocese of Milano. \n\nIf you are interested in medieval religious practice I would personally recommend to look into Anglican liturgy since \"Anglo-Catholic\" or \"High church\" congregations have a deeper tradition of medieval rites as they were not involved in the Counter-reformation."
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35wsyh | What stopped free blacks in the pre-Civil War American South from being re-enslaved by white people? | Is it that they were deemed able to own themselves, and so were protected under property law? I'm just trying to understand the social and legal constructs that allowed for some blacks to be free (though second-class citizens) during that time. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/35wsyh/what_stopped_free_blacks_in_the_precivil_war/ | {
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"There are numerous examples of this actually happening to black people. Not just in the South, but multiple free black men in the North were kidnapped and sold into slavery down South. If you didn't have documentation on you that said you were free, simply walking down the wrong road could mean the end of you being free. And again, even times when free men had the necessary documents, they were ignored and sold into slavery anyway."
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1qj3z0 | why are there some currencies, like the yen for example, which have so large numbers for so small prices? | For example, a coke in Japan is 150¥. Why isn't it 1.5¥? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qj3z0/eli5why_are_there_some_currencies_like_the_yen/ | {
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"When the Yen was introduced in the 1870s, it had approximately the same value as the dollar. However, 140 years have had their affect on the comparative prices - it dropped a lot because Japan followed a silver currency standard and Western countries followed a gold standard, then around World War II Japan had some pretty massive inflation and was valued at about 360 Yen per dollar. Around the 70s-80s it gained value, and got up around the current 100 Yen per dollar.",
"The numbers, independently, are meaningless. Think of a dollar. Is the number involved a 1 or a 100? In Korea, I don't think of 1000 won as 1000 units, I think of it as 1 unit. If it was 10,000 or 100,000 won for a soda, it wouldn't change that fact. Don't fixate on the number of zeros, just think of the buying power of that note.\n\nThe way that it happens is usually when a country goes from being a poor country to being a wealthy country. When the Korean won was established, Korea was very poor, and so people spent money in terms of single won. But the economy grew rapidly, and so inflation happened, and now 60 years later people spend money in terms of 1,000 won. That's all. "
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o5i1l | transcendentalism | We're working on this topic in English and I have no idea what it is! Can someone explain this to me please? I need to know who some modern Transcendentalists are and how contemporary society reflects Transcendentalist ideas. Thank you! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o5i1l/eli5_transcendentalism/ | {
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"God created the world, but sorta blew himself up to do it. therefore, God is in every part of nature. what is perfect and pure and beautiful is nature. and nature is God. if you want to get closer to God, then spend time in nature.\n\nKeats (a Transcendentalist): Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.\n\nread Poe's \"Eureka\" and Thoreau.",
"I hate myself for saying this, but \"Magnets - how do they work?\" is, at heart, a transcendentalist sentiment. There is wonder in the mundane world, if you take a moment to see it. \n\n",
" > There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide.\n\n-Emerson\n\nAKA be your own person. You can never be anyone else, and trying to force it is futile.",
"tl;dr: Appreciate beauty, live your life. ",
"Key beliefs of the movement: God is in every soul, so external authority is unnecessary. There is another realm of knowledge that goes beyond (*transcends*) what we hear and see from secondary sources, such as books. Individualism and thinking for one's self are the most important values, because society and political groups corrupt pure thoughts. Pay close attention to beauty in the seemingly insignificant aspects of nature. There is a goodness in the natural world, and if we study it we can gain self-knowledge and understanding because we are all connected spiritually.\n\nTL;DR; Individualism, insight, and nature. Could possibly be compared to nature-loving libertarians."
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n1a14 | Is it possible to neutralize the effects of a hot pepper? | I know that people say to drink milk or eat bread but I also know those things aren't that effective. What I was wondering is if there's any sort of food or chemical that works against the effects of a chili pepper so you wouldn't notice the hotness of it. | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/n1a14/is_it_possible_to_neutralize_the_effects_of_a_hot/ | {
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"Milk actually does work. Milk contains casein, which binds to capsaicin oil (what causes the hotness in peppers). If you drink enough of the milk, all of the capsaicin molecules will be lifted off of your tongune. Conversely, if you don't drink enough, then some capsaicin molecules will remain, and you'll still feel the heat.",
"The chemical irritant in hot peppers that causes the sensation of heat is Capsaicin (there is a class of chemicals called Capsaicinoids, of which Capsaisin is the most common). \n\nThis chemical is hydrophobic and in a pure form is brick-red and waxy / oily compound. Being hydrophobic, it will not mix with water, but it is highly miscible in ethanol or oils. \n\nCapsacin is a member of the vanilloid family of chemicals (yes, Vanilla shares a functional group with capsacin) which binds to a specific receptor in your skin (TRPV1) which responds to various noxious stimuli such as high-temperatures (why you feel a burning sensation) and low ph (also why acids feel like they're burning), this results in a depolarization of the nerve cell and creates a feeling of pain.\n\nNeutralization is possible only through removal of the chemical from the binding receptor on the cell. We can do this by creating an environment that does not allow the capsacin to bind efficiently, namely, fats and oils (hydrophobic hydrocarbons), or amphiphillic compounds which allow the capsacin to be dissolved and passed through / away from the areas which have the TRPV1 receptors. Capsacin will dissolve in alcohol, but because ethanol is not hydrophobic, the capsacin remains available to the TRPV1 receptors and will re-bind when the alcohol evaporates or moves away from the area (swallowing). \n\nCapsacin is acid and heat stable, meaning it doesn't lose potency when cooked and doesn't lose potency when placed in a low pH environment like your stomach. This is why, upon exit, due to the similar nature of the skin / mucus membranes within the mouth and lower intestine, you will experience the pain and burning again when, as they say, the oil hits your anus. You can, however, develop a tolerance to the effects by increasing exposure to higher levels / concentrations of capsacin.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n",
"Milk actually does work. Milk contains casein, which binds to capsaicin oil (what causes the hotness in peppers). If you drink enough of the milk, all of the capsaicin molecules will be lifted off of your tongune. Conversely, if you don't drink enough, then some capsaicin molecules will remain, and you'll still feel the heat.",
"The chemical irritant in hot peppers that causes the sensation of heat is Capsaicin (there is a class of chemicals called Capsaicinoids, of which Capsaisin is the most common). \n\nThis chemical is hydrophobic and in a pure form is brick-red and waxy / oily compound. Being hydrophobic, it will not mix with water, but it is highly miscible in ethanol or oils. \n\nCapsacin is a member of the vanilloid family of chemicals (yes, Vanilla shares a functional group with capsacin) which binds to a specific receptor in your skin (TRPV1) which responds to various noxious stimuli such as high-temperatures (why you feel a burning sensation) and low ph (also why acids feel like they're burning), this results in a depolarization of the nerve cell and creates a feeling of pain.\n\nNeutralization is possible only through removal of the chemical from the binding receptor on the cell. We can do this by creating an environment that does not allow the capsacin to bind efficiently, namely, fats and oils (hydrophobic hydrocarbons), or amphiphillic compounds which allow the capsacin to be dissolved and passed through / away from the areas which have the TRPV1 receptors. Capsacin will dissolve in alcohol, but because ethanol is not hydrophobic, the capsacin remains available to the TRPV1 receptors and will re-bind when the alcohol evaporates or moves away from the area (swallowing). \n\nCapsacin is acid and heat stable, meaning it doesn't lose potency when cooked and doesn't lose potency when placed in a low pH environment like your stomach. This is why, upon exit, due to the similar nature of the skin / mucus membranes within the mouth and lower intestine, you will experience the pain and burning again when, as they say, the oil hits your anus. You can, however, develop a tolerance to the effects by increasing exposure to higher levels / concentrations of capsacin.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n"
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"http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/feel-the-burn",
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17217056",
"http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/features/capsaicin.shtml"
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"http://www.ncbi.n... | |
chzbk5 | how much of a cold or flu virus do you have to be exposed to in order to catch it? | As I sit on a train home from work in Australian winter, half the carriage is coughing and sneezing. My understanding is that, generally, cold/flu viruses spread either through the air and being inhaled into the nose/lungs, or by being left on a surface by contact and subsequently picked up by new contact and then passed to the eyes/ears/nose by hand. I’ve read articles about how a single uncovered cough or sneeze can spread a whole heap of virus into the air.
When the virus is bloody everywhere in a container like a bus or train or plane, I can’t see how the majority of people aren’t getting at least some degree of exposure to it. So why don’t the majority of people actually contract it and become sick? Ruling out pre-existing immunity to that particular virus, what determines who does or doesn’t contract a cold/flu when they are exposed to it?
Is it the amount of virus which enters the body? The strength of our immune system? I’d love to know! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/chzbk5/eli5_how_much_of_a_cold_or_flu_virus_do_you_have/ | {
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"Cold and Flu aren't the same thing. A factoid I learned recently was quite interesting: there's about 200 different cold viruses that you catch repeatedly through your life, and you're immune for about three years after catching any one of them. 200 variants is plenty to keep catching them over and over again.",
"1 virion is all it takes to make you ill.\nThere's a few factors at play in whether someone contracts a viral infection. Your immune response is obviously a big one. If you've encountered the virus before then you've already got the tools to deal with it again. Another interesting aspect is the fact that someone else's immune system can stop you getting ill. It's called Herd Immunity. Basically someone else's immune system beats the infection before it gets anywhere near you. Viruses are also obligate intracellular parasites. This means they need to get into a cell quickly or they \"die\". You might just get lucky that no virions made it up your nose in time. Hope this helps",
"In terms of \"how much of a virus do you need\" - we don't really know, in most cases. Some viruses, such as influenza or adenoviruses, only require 10 particles to cause infection. It depends on how the virus infects (it is harder to get infect through the skin than it is to be taken in as someone breathes, for example). \n\nFor \"why does x person get infected over y person\" - it relies on a couple of different factors, all of which are different depending on the virus and the individual person being infected:\n\n1. If you've been exposed to the virus before, your body will have built up what is known as \"immunological memory\" - it has immune cells stored away from the last infection, which can prevent a second infection from building up (so effectively that you may not even know you have had a repeat infection!) \n2. How contagious the virus is. Some viruses are heavy, and when in the air, can't spread well, so don't infect many people. In contrast, the most contagious virus - measles - is an extremely light particle, and can float in a room for hours after it an infected individual has been there. The letter R is used to mark how many people an infected person will infect - for measles, every person infected will infect 17 others, on average. So if the virus is extremely contagious, a lot of people are likely to get it. If not, then only an unlucky few will.\n3. Personal immunity. Just like everyone has different DNA, we all have cells and receptors for things in the body to bind to. This is really diverse, even between family members. Some people have receptors for one virus or bacterium to bind to, but others do not. This is why, even between siblings and parents, some people get sick from a certain pathogen, but others don't. In essence, it can come down to luck.\n4. Health. A healthy individual may have a better functioning immune system, allowing a more rapid and effective assault on a viral infection. Others who are \"immunocompromised\" (such as AIDS sufferers) or more elderly don't have this same functionality, so cannot so easily get rid of an infection. This is why people so often get secondary illnesses in hospitals (as well as the fact that there are many sick people concentrated in a small area) - they are already unwell, and don't have the capacity to fight off further infection. \n5. Personal hygiene. One of the single biggest factors for preventing viral infection (which most effectively spreads through bodily fluids released from a cough/sneeze) is washing your hands. If someone with the flu touches the button to open the train door, then you touch that some button, and then your mouth/nose/eyes/opening... you see where this is going. \n\nWhen you think that a cough can release hundreds of thousands of these particles, and a sneeze millions, you can see how this could be common! But our immune system has a number of very effective techniques to prevent viruses from entry in the first place (the skin, mucous, chemicals in bodily fluids), and prevents a huge number of foreign pathogens infecting us every day."
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bzmf6i | how are cities just “buried” and built on top of? | The catacombs in Paris have sidewalks and ruins of buildings and are now completely covered by the modern city. Also under Manchester... I don’t get how a city used to exist and then another one is simply built on top. Let me know, thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bzmf6i/eli5_how_are_cities_just_buried_and_built_on_top/ | {
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"Well, for the catacombs at least it's actually the other way around. As a TL;DR At the end of the 1700's there were large sprawling networks of stone mines haphazardly placed under Paris that were threatening the structural integrity of the city, and at the same time the city was also facing a crises with graveyards literally overflowing. The Parisians of the time decided they could solve one issue with the other so they reinforced the mines and emptied the graveyards down below. Essentially they mined out the underground and filled it back in later with infrastructure.",
"When an old city was left empty, because of a natural disaster or something, people forgot about it and didn’t go there anymore, because they didn’t have a system like google maps yet. Then, nature would take over. Plants would grow over it and fertilize the soil. Wind etc. would break down the walls and very slowly, a city becomes buried under layers of dirt, stones and plants. It is then invisible and people sometimes build on it without knowing it is there."
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2dvwbm | why did disney channel/nickelodeon/cartoon network aim their shows towards teenagers and put cartoons on a separate channel? | Psychology? Demographics? Money? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dvwbm/eli5_why_did_disney_channelnickelodeoncartoon/ | {
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"I think /u/rudd_fuckers said it pretty well, but I'd also add that the advent of the DVR has a lot to do with it as well. Since everyone has a DVR if you have cable, then it makes sense to be able to fill up the DVR with loads of whatever you are interested in. That way, small children can get their fill of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Octonauts 24/7 on Disney Junior, while teens can watch Dog with a Blog marathons on the main Disney Channel.\n\nIt's ok though, because back when I was a kid we also used to have MTV play music videos and the SciFi channel (SyFy now) would do more than play cheap b-movies.\n\nThe quality of pay TV today is extremely low compared to how it was 10 or 20 years ago. That's one of the major reasons people are cutting the cord and watching things on sites like Netflix more often because they don't need to have a bunch of useless channels and prefer to watch shows on demand. Disney has a lot of their stuff on Netflix while Nickelodeon has a lot of their stuff on Amazon, so you can pretty easily cut the cord and still get programming from both."
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40ty36 | the canadian dollar being as low as it is, how is that affecting us with normal shopping ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40ty36/eli5_the_canadian_dollar_being_as_low_as_it_is/ | {
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"Any item that's imported into Canada is likely to be more expensive. It won't hit right away, since lots of things have been \"in the pipeline\" for a while in order to get to our shelves. You can already see it in the prices of perishable goods, like fresh food, and you'll see it more and more in other things like clothing or electronics.\n\nAnything manufactured in Canada, will likely not increase much in price, unless they use raw materials pursed from away. \n\nIt's not all bad news however. Anything made in Canada intended for sale somewhere else will become more profitable. So Canadian manufacturing jobs, or service jobs for foreign clients, will become booming. This will mean more employment for most Canadians. \n\nThere's also the tourist issue. Tourists, notably Americans, can come to Canada and it's less expensive for them. A $200 a night Canadian hotel room is not likely to increase in cost because of currency changes. To an American that $200 hotel room cost $200 USD when we were at parity, but today it only costs $140 USD. So it's cheaper to vacation in Canada, again this helps our economy and provides jobs. "
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6mgzr0 | Are Julius Caesar's remains still extant? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6mgzr0/are_julius_caesars_remains_still_extant/ | {
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"Julius Caesar's remains are not extant, because he was cremated, not buried. The Temple of Caesar was built on the site of his cremation, in the main square of the Roman Forum, but only the altars remain of it now. There was also a wax-statue displaying the stab wounds in the Forum, but has also disappeared since. \n\n\n\n"
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6kqmn7 | how did early colonial settlers navigate across the atlantic ocean to find the specific port they intended to go(i.e plymouth, jamestown)? | Sure, they may have been able to head in the general direction. But how would a second wave of settlers find a specific port?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6kqmn7/eli5how_did_early_colonial_settlers_navigate/ | {
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"Astrolabe and similar instruments have been around at least 1200 years. With charts and calibration calculating latitude is possible. Along with compasses, maps, wind maps, current maps, and telescopes navigation has been possible to high degree for a long time. ",
"Finding the latitude (north/south) was the easier part of it. This is determined by the how high the sun gets at noon at any particular day. If you have a chart of the height of the sun on July 1 for various places, all you have to do is find that number on the chart.\n\nThe determination of longitude was difficult because you had to know the exact time to know how far east/west you were. It wasn't until the 1700s that the sextant was invented and mariners could tell how far east/west the had gone. One way around that was to get on the right latitude for Jamestown and follow it. Eventually you would run into it. This adds a few days to the voyage, because you cannot take advantage of the Great Circle route, but if you don't know the longitude, it is the safest course to follow.",
"They found latitude using a sextant. They would mark the angle between the horizon and the North Star, and that would be their latitude. (Other stars can also be used to find latitude, but the calculation involved is more complicated) \n\nLongitude was next to impossible to calculate. There was a great deal of effort put into finding ways for a ship to find its longitude, including (side note warning) a board of longitude, set up in Britain to encourage inventors to tackle the problem and award prizes for solutions. The eventual solution was found around 1800, and involved using precise clocks to mark the time of sunrise and sunset. (Side note over) \n\nSince they couldn't find their longitude, early navigators would use dead reckoning and plan routes for their journeys to minimize this problem. Dead reckoning is essentially knowing where you are from where you've been. If you know you started in a certain place and traveled in a certain this direction for a certain amount of time, you can know where you are. Of course, this requires that navigators know the speed, direction, and time traveled precisely, means that it's prone to big errors. \n\nThe solution involves planning journeys in a way that minimizes the effects of these errors. Often that meant sailing to the latitude of the destination, then sailing due east or west until the destination was reached. If the speed isn't recorded accurately, the ship will land a few days sooner or later than planned, but will still reach it. This means that navigators aren't going in a straight line, and might not be taking advantage of the winds. But it got people from point A to point B, usually. ",
"The sea captains and navigators of course. You need 3 pieces of information to navigate the open ocean. Your bearing, or compass reading (the direction you're sailing), your latitude and your longitude. \n\nCompass was easy and one of the first tools developed. Stick a permanent magnet through a cork and float it in a bowl. \n\nLatitude was also not that hard to figure out. A sextant could be used to take the angle of the sun at noon. When was noon in a time without watches? It was when the sun went up in the sky no further and then started to come down. By sighting along the sextent and watching for that up and down movement they could then take the angle the sun was at to tell how far north or south they were. \n\nLongitude was the hard one. In order for that to work you need a very accurate clock. We had grandfather clocks of course and other pendulum based clocks, but they didn't work on ships because of the rocking motion. It wasn't until the first flywheel clocks were invented that it was possible to take an accurate time keeping device on a long voyage. By comparing the local noon time to the noon time on the clock that was set prior to the voyage, they could tell how far east or west they had sailed. \n\n\nAlso, not all ships sailed the open ocean. It was possible to sail within sight of land with only short hops of open ocean. Following the UK, iceland, greenland, to nova scotia and the eastern US. "
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2433ml | Is there any medicine that has no side effects? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2433ml/is_there_any_medicine_that_has_no_side_effects/ | {
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"Paracelsus, old toxicology geezer, said that 'All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. Dose alone determines the poison'.\n\nTrue words - everything is poisonous/has side effects in the wrong amounts. Too much oxygen, we die. Too much water, we die. Too much sodium, we die. Too much tylenol, we die. Everything has side effects. Depends on the amount.\n\nMedicine is basically one gigantic cost:benefit analysis. If the benefit imparted by a treatment outweighs the side effects significantly, then it can be used. On the whole.\n\nEDIT tl:dr - Nope"
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14ah6s | How was 18th century Britain interacting with the Arab world? | I'm thinking in terms of commerce, intellectual and literary exchange, etc. How was 18th century Britain influenced (if at all) by this part of the world? Any information you could share would be useful. I am also grateful for any books or articles you could recommend on this topic. Thank you! | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/14ah6s/how_was_18th_century_britain_interacting_with_the/ | {
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"Arabia was part of the Ottoman Empire. As such, that would be your frame of reference.\n\nTry Gerald Maclean, [*Looking East: English Writing and the Ottoman Empire Before 1800*](_URL_0_). But the development, progressively, of an orientalist paradigm was certainly part of the intellectual relationship, including fetishization of the East. I'm not sure what, if anything, Arabia thought about Britain before 1800. It's only at the end of the 18th century, with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, when you get really substantial political engagement."
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1qvn5k | τ vs π as the circle constant | I read the Tau Manifesto, but I didn't really get much past why it's better for understanding radians. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qvn5k/eli5_τ_vs_π_as_the_circle_constant/ | {
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"It's just like an argument about whether you should measure distance in centimetres or metres (or inches or feet if you're American). Neither is more correct, but one is often more convenient than the other.",
"It is better for understanding a lot of things. Pi is used in lots of places, not just circles and angles, and in all of them, using 6.24... for the constant makes the equations more logical, and generally simpler.\n\nRadian angles is one such place, as it gets rid of an extra constant (2) that really shouldn't be there.",
"Another aspect is that when we talk about circles or spheres in mathematics, it's almost always the radius that's important/interesting. Tau is derived from the radius (circumference divided by radius) while Pi is derived from the diameter (circumference divided by diameter). "
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2up2m3 | if my internet connection is only 20mbit/s, why do i need a 1300mbit/s wifi-ac router? | Why can't I simply use a cheap b or g router that has a much lower transfer rate, when my internet connection is so slow? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2up2m3/eli5_if_my_internet_connection_is_only_20mbits/ | {
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"unless you are transferring stuff between computers within your home (which would use the access point locally but not use the internet) you don't need one that fast.",
"In the event you want to do a device to device file transfer within your network, you'll achieve much faster transfer times; however, that's not the most important thing going on here. In order for your router to achieve the advertised speed on the box, you'd have to be connected under optimal conditions. \n\nThis means if your router is in a different room than where you're using your wireless device, you're not achieving the advertised speed. If you're in an apartment where there are lots of other networks around, you may encounter interference, which reduces speed. \n\nAlso, an 802.11b router is going to cap out at 11Mbps, which won't do you much good with your 20Mbps connection. And with B or G routers, even though G can achieve 54Mbps, you deal with a concept known as \"spread spectrum,\" which in short, means that the more devices connected to your router, the slower everyone's speed goes. So have 3 devices actively using the internet? You're likely not getting the full 20Mbps of your internet uplink.\n\nFurthermore, the 802.11AC standard is far more robust than B, G or even N. Even though 1300Mbps is a lot of bandwidth to work with, you're not always going to operate under ideal conditions. Even with AC's more robust connection, with multiple devices connected, each device is likely to see slightly reduced speeds. The biggest advantage of AC is that you'll still achieve your optimal internet connection speed (most likely) in situations where B, G and N won't provide that for you.\n\nTL;DR: The advertised speed of your router is only achieved under ideal conditions. Also, with multiple devices actively using the network, your overall speed with B, G and N are divided up, and you may not be able to get your internet at full speed. AC is much more robust, making it more likely to achieve the internet speeds you pay for."
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65g63a | why are goats more susceptible to tensing up after being surprised? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65g63a/eli5_why_are_goats_more_susceptible_to_tensing_up/ | {
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"In general they aren't.\n\nThe particular goats you see are known as fainting goats. They have a neurological disorder that causes that strange behavior.\n\nSome people are amused by this, and specifically breed goats with the disorder.",
"That's a particular genetic mutation which causes a form of temporary paralysis (in lots of animals, not just goats); it's not just tensing up, they're really falling right over. The reason you see this in goats a lot is because there is a breed (\"The Fainting Goat\") which has had this trait selected intentionally; most other animals with this trait would be culled. \n\nThis is the condition they have: _URL_0_"
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bp8dy8 | how do websites know to go to the mobile version on your phone even when you click a desktop link but don't know how to go to the desktop version on your desktop if you click a mobile link? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bp8dy8/eli5_how_do_websites_know_to_go_to_the_mobile/ | {
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"Basically html and JavaScript code that checks the resolution of your screen and other browser information to determine what device you are on. But on desktops they can emulate the mobile eviorment given the mobile link and you can also view the desktop version on a mobile if you say so on browser settings on some websites.",
"First of all, it's not a matter of knowledge - your device tells the website whether it's a desktop or a phone (unless you specifically configured it to say otherwise). \n\nIt's a design choice by whoever made the website. Often it's because the desktop site came first and is considered the \"default\", while the mobile site was added later. So the site assumes that if you clicked a link to the mobile site, that's the site you meant to enter, whether you are actually on a mobile device or not.",
"When you send a request for a website, you send information about your device and what exactly you are after in the headers of a request. There is a header called \"user-agent\" this basically defines what device you are on. Mine for example says \"Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 8.1.0; SM-T580) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/74.0.3729.157 Safari/537.36\". Therefore websites know that my device is an android device, so they know to deliver the mobile version to my device.",
"There was a time where smartphones became suddenly big, but most big sites didn’t have a mobile version. The first iPhone was shown browsing the New York Times webpage by Steve Jobs which was not optimized for mobiles at all. Companies paid a lot of money to get mobile versions out which coexisted with the default desktop version. These versions usually have a different source code and a different feature set, which to this day frustrates users, who can’t find important stuff because the mobile site doesn’t support or show it properly. If you visit the domain _URL_1_ you are redirected to _URL_0_ if browser shows a certain device identifier (for mobile devices). Sometimes they just check for the viewport width and height (e.g load the mobile size if the width is < 768px).\n\n Nowadays such an approach is heavily discouraged. You usually develop mobile first and the design is responsive so that it automatically expands to bigger viewports. The main advantage is that you have only one code for all devices and don’t need to do twice the work in case of updates. Because > 50% of site traffic comes from mobile devices nowadays, google expect websites to be mobile first and punishes sites in the page ranking who are not mobile friendly.",
"There are 2 methods for making a website work across different devices. \n\nThe first involves the device (phone or desktop) telling the website what kind of device it is, and the website giving the user the specific version of the site that suits their device. The desktop and mobile versions are generally completely seperate codebases. This method was common when smartphones first became popular as it was a way for companies to give a mobile experience without having to redo their existing desktop website. These mobile sites often had domains like _URL_0_\n\nThe second method is called responsive design, and is overwhelmingly the standard approach today. It involves giving the same website to both phones and desktops, and letting the device decide on which styles to use based on a few factors but mostly screen size. \n\nTo answer your question, I mentioned that in the first method the website decides which version to give to the user based on what device it is. People (developers) tend to expect users to enter the site from the desktop URL (_URL_1_ or www._URL_1_) so do this check when the user hits this URL and redirect the phone traffic as necessary. Unfortunately the developers may not anticipate desktop users to land on the _URL_0_ version so don’t bother adding the ‘check’ to this version. \n\nIt really comes down to sloppy web development, but due to responsive design it’s becoming less of a problem.",
"I did some basic HTML in my class this year and we basically set a certain width of the screen that is commonly used by phones (about 768px), and we design all the content to look good on that.\n\nAfter that's done, we'll change the content formatting around to look nice on a desktop view (anything above 768px) and maybe hide and add a new navigation bar. \n\nIt still depends on how the webpage is coded to detect what device you're on, but that's how I did it.\n\nEdit: saw latter half of the question. Sometimes there will be extra indicators in the link to specifically request the mobile version (like how YouTube has =en at the end of some links to indicate what language it should be showing in), but generally not the case for the width detection method.",
"If you're making a website, you're working at a desktop computer, or maybe a laptop. You need to test both the desktop version and the mobile version. It's awkward if the site forces you onto the desktop version; you need to jump through some hoops to make the site think you're on a mobile browser.\n\nYou *could* give your website a \"development\" mode and a \"production\" mode. In production mode, it would redirect mobile to desktop, and in development mode it wouldn't. But that's extra work, so people don't do that."
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2divti | Why did the British and Ottomans and French team up against Russia in the Siege of Crimea? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2divti/why_did_the_british_and_ottomans_and_french_team/ | {
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"After the Battle of Sinope, Russian Navy dominated the Black Sea, which brought up the threat of Russian attack on Bospor and subsequently Dardanelles, thus opening the way into Mediterannean, something British and French governments and elites took very seriously."
]
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fm9ru | What useful senses are we missing out on as humans? How could we go about acquiring them if we wanted? [followup to egoncasteel's post] | For example, innate sense of compass direction using a "[Northpaw](_URL_1_)" (except less clunky and more like an elastic ankle band).
Some ideas:
internal maps/additive sense of direction
clock/timer
barometer
em field sensor
echolocation
safe poison/nutrition analysis
children's location/stress level
[Original thread.](_URL_0_) | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/fm9ru/what_useful_senses_are_we_missing_out_on_as/ | {
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"not exactly askscience, but f it. I want the ability to measure distance accurately. I can't estimate lengths for crap.",
"More types of color sensors in the eye would be nice, as would being able to see polarization.",
"Northpaw is a great example.\n\nYou can also have a magnet inserted into your fingertip and get an electromagnetic sense.\n\nThis is something I've thought about a lot, actually, the ability of the human mind to use external stimuli received through tools to map those tools onto the proprioceptive map of the body. Imagine a steering wheel with small vibrators in it that helped you know how close the edges of the car was to other things. If I had technical knowledge and investors, this is what I'd be doing with my life -- using this principle to make awesome products."
]
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/fm71s/if_we_connected_the_nerves_of_a_baby_to_a_sensor/",
"http://sensebridge.net/projects/northpaw/"
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4am850 | Before around the 1980s or 90s, most countries only had one, two, or three TV channels, but starting in the 80s and 90s they began to proliferate. What changed in that time? | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4am850/before_around_the_1980s_or_90s_most_countries/ | {
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"In the Middle East the big difference was the launch of the first telecommunications satellites in the 1980s and 90s like Arabsat. This was combined with the launch of some of the first independent (i.e. non-state) TV enterprises around the same time. This started in Lebanon where the first independent TV news network was launched by a local warlord during the Lebanese Civil War and then proliferated from there. Satellite TV remains the norm for TV in the Middle East to this day despite some attempts to limit it in certain countries over controversies about Al-Jazeera and attempts at state restrictions and stuff like that, but that's all within our 20 year rule.\n\nedit: fixed a sentence"
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3b12ro | why do a lot of people seem to be so averse to casinos being built in their town? | I live in St Louis, and there are 5 casinos within a 15 mile radius of me. What harm do people think they cause? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3b12ro/eli5_why_do_a_lot_of_people_seem_to_be_so_averse/ | {
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"There will always be a not in my backyard mentality, for various things. Not just for casinos, but for almost anything.\n\nThere is a concern that casinos can bring in some of the more undesirable elements, such as crime. I have never done research in that area, so I am not sure if it is a stereotype or if it is true. \n\nFrom a macro side, there is a concern over the false hope casinos and lotteries give people. For instance, I am on the board of a charity, and we work at bingos once a month as a fundraiser. Every time, you see people who cannot afford much spending a lot of time with the hope that they can win. If they saved and invested those dollars, they would be better off. This creates social problems, as the poor become poorer. Causing government expenditures to pay for things like social assistance and problem gambling assistance.\n\nAt the same time, in many areas, governments make a lot of money off of the casinos. Money that goes toward school, health care and roads.\n\nIt is not an easy to define issues, and I am not 100% sure on the effects. But what I can say is that it does not matter what the facts are, but what people perceive. There is the perception of it being an issue, and thus people oppose it."
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64ao63 | why an arrow to the body doesn't kill you but a bullet does | I know it depends on where the projectile hits, but I'm talking in general. Why does a bullet do more damage than an arrow? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64ao63/eli5_why_an_arrow_to_the_body_doesnt_kill_you_but/ | {
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"Arrows and Bullets have very different physics that drive their assault upon your body.\n\nArrows, once they enter tend to stay on a very straight trajectory, because the shaft of the arrow keeps it true as it penetrates your skin and goes into your body. The shaft also replaces the flesh it goes through, so it prevents alot of excess bleeding.\n\nA Bullet however, is designed to either expand on impact, or to shatter and cause as much intrinsic damage as it can, as well as it bounces around your body in some cases like a rubber ball launched against a wall.\n\nArrows were primarily designed for hunting, and were adapted for warfare.\n\nGuns were designed with the intention of winning wars and being as deadly as possible.",
"Aside from blood loss which they both cause, hydrostaticshock and permanent wound cavity with bullets cause damage greater than the diameter of a bullet. \n\nPicture a car going 5mph through a puddle, then imagine a car going 100mph going through the same.",
"Bullets have a lot more energy. Even a 9 mm pistol bullet has about 10 times the energy that an arrow from a powerful bow will have. Because bullets are often blunt, and are designed to expand or tumble when they hit the target, that energy spreads out causing damage over an area several times that of the bullet. By contrast an arrow has a sharp head so when it hits the target it cuts through and penetrates deep, making the best use of its relatively small energy but producing a 'narrower' injury.\n\nThat said, bows are lethal weapons. If a gunshot wound to a certain spot would kill you, an arrow wound to the same shot would probably also kill you.",
"Its like the time on naruto when they did the chidori and rasengan on the water tanks. The chidori(arrow) stayed on a straight path and did damage to the area hit. The rasengan(bullet) damaged the nearby area"
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29fu3a | I'm home with pharyngitis and craving entertaining, accurate and can't-look-away historical documentaries. | Preferably ones I can access on YouTube. Ive seen all by Mary Beard -- I love those! Any suggestions? Apologies if this is not an appropriate question for this sub. | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/29fu3a/im_home_with_pharyngitis_and_craving_entertaining/ | {
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"Here are a few that stick in my mind as being more entertaining/compelling; you should be able to find them online or at your library:\n\n* BBC series *Voyages of Discovery* (2006) - hosted by enthusiastic Australian explorer [Paul Rose](_URL_1_), who tells the stories of a few explorers while retracing their routes. Rose has a flair for the dramatic and really gets into the stories and the adventure of the thing. The only expedition I can comment on regarding accuracy is Fridtjof Nansen's North Pole attempt (episode 3 \"The Ice King\"): IMO the program was mostly accurate, but had one claim wrong: that Nansen shocked his crew with his decision to leave the ship and ski for the pole; in fact, this had always been \"Plan B\" and a few crew-members had even volunteered for the mission before he had announced the decision. In any case, if you're looking for entertaining and gripping in a historical documentary, this is the series that jumps out for me.\n\n* BBC series *A History of Ancient Britain* (2011) and *A History of Celtic Britain* (2011) - not gripping, but very engaging. Hosted by the ever-passionate Scottish archaeologist Neil Oliver. Lots of on-location shooting, meetings with specialist archaeologists, and close-up looks at artifacts keep these programs moving.\n\n* Chilean doc *Nostalgia de la Luz* (Nostalgia for the Light) (2010) by Patricio Guzmán - more fascinating than entertaining, since it ties together astronomers and people still coming to grips with losses during the Pinochet regime. Probably more serious and artsy than you're looking for, but very unexpected, beautiful and profound.\n\n* ok, this isn't entertaining, but it is very compelling and [warning] quite disturbing. But if you're into top quality history docs, this is worth seeing. German/Israeli doc *A Film Unfinished* (2010) by Yael Hersonski shows the unfinished footage of a Nazi propaganda film shot in the Warsaw Ghetto, and the reactions of survivors as they view the footage. [website](_URL_0_)\n\n\n"
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3fjbtb | Why is Anglicanism not as prevalent in former British colonies as Catholicism is in former Spanish/Portuguese colonies? | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3fjbtb/why_is_anglicanism_not_as_prevalent_in_former/ | {
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"In a word, Time. The first European powers to reach the New World were Spain and Portugal, these two heavily Catholic nations led the way in colonial expansion for a good two hundred years before the United Kingdom had left Britannia giving them ample time to proselytize and evangelize. Even British possessions gained from other powers, such as Quebec or South Africa, had longstanding Christian traditions before British control. Simply put, the British were too late to the game to have any real long-term religious conversion before decolonization in the 1960s-1970s. I'm more than happy to answer questions about specific regions and religions (especially African) if you have anything additional you'd like to ask. Religious confrontation outside of the European sphere is an interesting affair. \n\n**Sources:**\n\n*A History of the Church in Africa* Sundkler, Steed\n\n*Spain and Portugal in the New World 1492-1700* McAlister\n"
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2utplr | if we can simulate audio and visual elements (e.g, movies, video games), why can't we do that with feeling, tasting, and smelling, elements as well? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2utplr/eli5_if_we_can_simulate_audio_and_visual_elements/ | {
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"Actually, we can, but it's more complicated. Hearing and sight are detection of energy rather than matter (light or moving air), so we can produce it using electricity. We're not interested in light's particle characteristics here, only the fact that we can generate it from electricity. Touch, taste and smell are detection of physical objects. For touch it's obvious, but without some kind of hypnotism or brain electrode things, the only way to smell and taste is for certain molecules, physical objects, to bind to sensors (receptors) in your nose/tongue. These are often esters, thiols and aldehydes, though there are many more. We can simulate smell and taste by creating molecules with similar structure to those that are meant to bind to the receptors, or just synthesize the same molecules. This is how we have aspartame sweetener and synthetic (simulated) fruit flavouring. You don't really think of this because the simulated stuff is hidden from plain sight, only visible on an ingredient list, while you're always concentrating on the source of audio or visual simulation. Taking electricity to be free flow, it's easier to simulate audio and video because it comes from an infinite source, while smell and taste simulators require a set volume, being made of matter. Touch can't technically be simulated because it's so broad. Everything that touches you is a real touch, so you really can't create something that would be classified as a fake touch. You could simulate objects that you think you're touching, like an android vs a human, but that's about it."
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9w0n91 | why do movies and tv shows have to use fake money during taping? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9w0n91/eli5_why_do_movies_and_tv_shows_have_to_use_fake/ | {
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"They don't *have* to, but it's easier on the props department if the huge wad of money that 100 people end up handling for the day wasn't actually made up of $10,000.\n\nIt's also easier to get a hold of for the film maker, with prop money being much cheaper than the real thing.\n\nSo, there is a lower risk of loss, overall, and if someone on set gets sticky fingers, there is less lost.",
"It is cheaper than getting that volume of real money. \n\nIt is less likely to have someone steal it from the set. \n\nAnd if they have to destroy it in the scene it is not illegal (as damaging real currency often is.). "
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15qinq | Soviet Russian USSSR experts, what can you tell me about this real photo double postcard? | _URL_0_ | AskHistorians | http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/15qinq/soviet_russian_usssr_experts_what_can_you_tell_me/ | {
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"Do you have an alternate way of sharing that image? It prompts me to sign into Yahoo.",
"Translation: Solemn meeting on the day of the opening of the Dnerperoges 10 Oct 1932.\n\nIt was apparently taken at the opening of the [Dnieper Hydroelectric Station](_URL_0_)."
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b1ax9r | the logic behind "that is such a virgo move!" what defines an astrological sign's personality, and how does everyone seem to know about them by heart? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b1ax9r/eli5_the_logic_behind_that_is_such_a_virgo_move/ | {
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"In my opinion there is no logic to. The time of the year will have more of an impact on your personality than the environment you were brought up in? Nah not for me.\n\nThe reason why you see inconsistencies is because it's not real. \n\nJust Google debunk astrology signs, there loads of experiments been done.\n\nIn my experience a lot of the people who say things like this tend to be a bit kooky and look at me mysterious and in tune with the universe.\n\nDon't get me wrong I'm a spiritual person and I do truly believe there is much more to our reality then it would ever let on but no it's not astrology.\n\nTest it yourself. Look at the traits of each then look at people born in those signs. How much matches up and how much will match with another random person? \n\nI think all astrology is good for is taking a rough guess as to when someone was born. "
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eev9gd | how do electric motors create so much more torque than gas engines? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eev9gd/eli5_how_do_electric_motors_create_so_much_more/ | {
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"They don't exactly. Reduction is one part, the other part is an electric motor has a flat torque curve across the RPMs unlike ICE",
"The electric motor has full power at low rpm, and at any rpm.\n\nThe gas engine doesn't get full power until it gets a high rpm.\n\nAt low rpms, the gas engine is using less fuel than it does at higher rpm and generation less force because there are less explosions. And so it has less power at low rpms.\n\nThe electric motor doesn't have that issue. It's using the same amount of electricity basically all the time and building the same amount of power as well.",
"They only create more torque under specific operating conditions. This is governed by the fundamental differences between piston driven engines (\"Otto cycle\" engines to be an academic pedant) and electric motors. For my comparison I am omitting the gear reduction, as this is the biggest driver in how much torque a motor can transmit to its final output shaft.\n\nThe Otto cycle generates and transmits power in discrete pulses as each cylinder fires in succession. This means that the inertia of the moving parts of the engine have to maintain its motion in between pulses for a teeny tiny amount of time, which consumes some of the energy the engine produced. The engine must also consume some of its own energy to compress the fuel/air mixture in each cycle of each cylinder. Every Otto cycle engine has a different \"torque curve\" representing how much torque it can produce at any given RPM value. Higher revs means less time between pulse, so more torque can be supplied by the engine, and the torque curve is different based on the design of the engine. Lots of work goes into designing these engines for specific performance parameters, since torque and power production depend on the size of the cylinders, the length of the stroke, valve timing, spark advance, etc. For two extreme references, a heavy diesel engine has lots of low end torque because the cylinders are large, meaning lots of dinosaur juice can be burned, and the stroke is very long, which increases the torque by providing a long \"lever arm\" to turn the crank shaft with. This breaks down at higher speed, since such geometry has high rotational inertia and can't rev very high. In contrast, a formula one engine has smaller cylinders with a very short stroke, so their optimum torque is at high speed, where they can rev extremely high (approx 15,000-20,000 rpm). \n\nElectric motors are much simpler, and don't require as much work to optimize their design for specific purposes. Their chief advantage is that you don't have to make the power at the same time that you are supplying torque. The power has already been made and is stored in the battery, so you can simply dump as much voltage as you want into the motor instantly. The torque of the motor is determined by the current running through it, and current is defined as voltage divided by resistance (V/R). Since the resistance is constant, the current can be increased or decreased by controlling the voltage supplied by the power source. Typically you can dump HEAPS of voltage into an electric motor (relative to its size) and thus it can produce high torque instantly. Once curious property of electric motors is that they are also generators. When they start spinning, they generate voltage that is the opposite polarity of the power supply, so as is spins faster, the net voltage across the motor decreases, and thus the current, and consequently the torque, is reduced, This means that the motor produces maximum torque at zero RPM, and minimum torque at its maximum RPM."
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20bqjc | how do (would) radio communications in real time work in space and / or at high speeds. | I can't get how real-time radio chat is possible in, for example, a space vehicle or plane exceeding the speed of sound. Assuming the vehicle is travelling away from the transmission the wave will never catch it. I know I'm wrong, but how? How did communications at epic space distances (think Apollo missions) work in real time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20bqjc/eli5_how_do_would_radio_communications_in_real/ | {
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"Radio waves move at the speed of light. Which is far faster then sound.",
" > Assuming the vehicle is travelling away from the transmission the wave will never catch it. I know I'm wrong, but how?\n\nRadio waves are a form of light, and so travel at light speed. That is much faster than sound.\n\nHowever it is not instant and communication at vast distances cannot be real-time.",
"Radiowaves travel at the speed of light.\n\n > I can't get how real-time radio chat is possible in, for example, a space vehicle or plane exceeding the speed of sound.\n\nThe speed of sound (1200 km/h) is tiny compared to the speed of light (300,000 km/s).\n\n > How did communications at epic space distances (think Apollo missions) work in real time?\n\nThe moon is, on average, 384,000 km away from Earth. This means that radiowaves take just over a second to travel between Earth and the Moon (or Earth and the Apollo spacecraft) - almost real time.\n\nSpace vehicles that are much further than that, for example the Mars probes or the the Voyager space probes are indeed a lot farther away, which is why we can't actually communicate with them in real time - the communications delay between Earth and Mars is between 3 and 21 minutes, and at its current distance, it takes the information sent by Voyager 1 probe over 17 hours to reach Earth.",
"Radio waves propagate much, much faster than the speed of sound. They travel at the speed of light, so it's physically impossible for any physical object to move away from the source faster than the radio waves it emits.\n\nThere is a delay when communicating with objects across space due to the vast distances. When communicating between Earth and Mars, the delay can be as little as 4 minutes when it's closest to us and as much as 24 minutes when it's furthest from us. Between Earth and the moon, the delay is about 1.3 seconds. There's even a delay when talking between ground stations and satellites orbiting Earth, and these are taken into account."
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4oh8ft | were Americans allowed to own cannons under the second amendment? | "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
basically, did the term "arms" refer only to the individual firearms of the time, or would it have been acceptable for an average person to own a cannon? are there any recorded instances of cannon ownership?
(i realize there's sort of a political tint to this question but i think it would be hard to ask a question about the second amendment that isn't political so i hope i at least phrased it in a neutral way) | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4oh8ft/were_americans_allowed_to_own_cannons_under_the/ | {
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"Yes, private citizens were allowed to own cannons, and many did. It was very common for private merchant ships (for example) to be equipped with cannons. They were called \"armed merchantmen\" - so yes, \"arms\" definitely did include cannons.\n\nHowever, strictly speaking, the Second Amendment only protected cannons (and other firearms) from Federal bans. Along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, it only applied against the Federal government - states were allowed to do whatever they wanted, subject to their own Constitutions and Bills of Rights, which frequently incorporated similar or identical provisions. This lasted until the early 1900's, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated it against the states. For more details, I'd recommend [this good comment](_URL_0_) from /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov.",
"I've come across two incidences of private ownership of cannons in my nineteenth century reading. Both occur in Territorial Kansas, where the Kansas-Nebraska Act had left the question of whether Kansas (and any other territory) would have slavery or not up to the people there in the hopes that this would spare the nation any political turmoil. The theory was that if you took the slavery question out of Washington, it became a local matter that no one much cared about except locals. There's a huge deal of really interesting background here, but I'm just going to hit the high points on the way to the cannons.\n\nThe problem with letting the local people decide for or against slavery, aside from the slavery, is that it doesn't really resolve anything. Specifically, what was the legal status of human property in Kansas before those locals decided one way or the other? If you opposed slavery, it was that slavery was a creature of mere municipal law with no explicit sanction in the law of the nation. Thus, Kansas was free until voted slave. If you were for slavery, then slavery was national law already and applied in Kansas until the territory voted otherwise. You can make a decent argument either way.\n\nMissouri's most enslaved areas lay adjacent to Kansas and they weren't about to just sit by and let a bunch of abolitionists, backed by wealthy New England corporations, set up shop next door. From Kansas' very first election, for a delegate to Congress on November 29, 1854, they came over the border in organized bands. They had expenses paid by major planters and activities coordinated through masonic lodges. The job was to go to the polls and vote, despite the Kansas-Nebraska Act clearly saying that only actual residents of Kansas could do so. If anybody objected, or anybody not looking “sound on the goose” (proslavery) tried to vote, then they would make trouble. One fellow managed to cast a vote by lying about his proslavery bona fides, at which point the crowd literally carried him aloft. Another, John Wakefield, objected strenuously to all of this. He was threatened credibly enough that he took refuge with the election judges and claimed their protection for the day.\n\nBut there's no cannon in that story. Lots of guns and knives, though. The cannon came out for the March 30, 1855 elections. For these, Kansans would elect a legislature that could, in principle, hold an immediate vote on whether or not to have slavery in Kansas. They would also be in charge and so shape the development of the state thoroughly to their liking. The Missourians wouldn't miss that and came over in the thousands. They included a future governor of the state (Claiborne Fox Jackson) and just-former (and stil not aware that he wouldn't be re-elected) Senator David Rice Atchison. Atchison was instrumental in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He came to Kansas that day boasting that he and his border ruffians would take the territory, boasting of the eleven hundred men from his own county who had come to vote\n\n > and if that ain’t enough we can send five thousand-enough to kill every God-damned abolitionist in the Territory \n\nThis man had recently been President Pro Tempore of the Senate, incidentally. \n\nAtchison wasn't kidding. Edward Chapman was present that day and later told his story to a congressional committee sent out to investigate:\n\n > They claimed that they had a right to come here and vote; all they asked was to vote here peaceably, and if they could not do it peaceably they must resort to some other means. Most of them had double-barreled shot-guns, and guns of various descriptions, and most of them had side-arms. I saw a couple pieces of artillery. \n\nThat's not figurative artillery. Chapman saw the proslavery men settle down in a large camp near his house, so he went out to have a talk. He recognized Claiborne Jackson by sight and got introduced around, all very pleasant. They just wanted to vote, you see? Peaceably, even! \n\nChapman and some associates of his left the camp and he went on to Lawrence, where a fair helping of the Missourians had gathered. (Others went to attend other polling places.) He got near to the Lawrence polls before one of the Missourians called him aside and asked point-blank if Lawrence would give them any trouble. Chapman thought probably not, probably taking the lesson from all the weaponry that the proslavery men had on hand as one tends to. The other guy said he hoped Chapman was right. Chapman answered to the effect that Lawrence did have men enough to make a fight of it if they caused trouble. \n\nOh really? The other guy\n\n > thought there would be no use in doing that, and invited me to go down a short distance with him. We went to a wagon, and he lifted up a cloth and some blankets, and remarked to me that there was a couple of “bull-dogs” they had, loaded with musket-balls. They were all covered up in the hay, with the exception of the rims of them; they were a couple of brass cannon. \n\nThe cannon wasn't used that day, but the Missourians didn't haul it all the way for the hell of it and they proved, quite often, that they were willing to use more than threats of violence to carry Kansas elections. They would vote peacefully, unless someone gave them reason to do otherwise. In another district, they literally tried to knock down the cabin where the voting took place and held the election workers at gunpoint until they resigned.\n\nThe proslavery men carried the day and spent most of the summer of 1855 consolidating their hold on Kansas, culimating in a draconian set of laws that literally made saying slavery did not exist in Kansas into a crime. They also got the governor replaced with a more proslavery one and purged from the legislature the few antislavery Kansans elected fair and square in districts where the first governor had ordered new elections after getting solid proof of shenanigans. (That governor, Andrew Horatio Reeder, took the precaution of announcing the special elections while under armed guard.)\n\nThat's two cannons for you. I have one more. At the end of November, 1855, a claim dispute with political overtones ended in the murder of an antislavery settler, Charles Dow, by a proslavery settler, Franklin Coleman. Through a convoluted series of events, this led to the new governor of Kansas, Wilson Shannon, ordering the county sheriff (who was one of the guys who held election judges at gunpoint in the district where they tried to knock the house down) to serve a warrant on Jacob Branson. Branson was a friend of Dow's, had his own land dispute with Coleman, and was also an officer in the not-so-secret militia that antislavery Kansans had set up to protect themselves from proslavery attacks. And occasionally burn down the houses of proslavery settlers. Coleman suspected that Dow had something to do with the burning out of his proslavery neighbor, whose claim Dow had then taken up. \n\nIncidentally, it looks quite a lot like Shannon might have sent the sheriff, Samuel Jones, off with a blank commission so he could make someone justice of the peace in exchange for issuing the warrant against Branson. The whole business is convoluted like this.\n\nThe murder took place not too far from Lawrence. Jones went off and arrested Branson, though given it was December and in the middle of the night, he found Branson sans pants. Branson had to plead with him a bit to get permission to put some on. (Seriously; Branson recounts it in his testimony on the subject)\n\nJones was pretty obvious in going for Branson, assemblying a posse of fifteen or so men and making a fair fuss. People noticed and a party of Branson's fellow militiamen, if from the Lawrence chapter rather than his immediate neighborhood, got together, intercepted Jones, and rescued Branson. They took him off to Lawrence, which was by this point the major antislavery headquarters in the territory.\n\nJones would not take that laying down. He went to Franklin (a town, not Franklin Coleman) and wrote off a letter for his allies in Missouri. He sent that, then wrote a second one to the governor to explain that the law was being thwarted and Lawrence was full of crazies bent on rebellion. It was anarchy.\n\n(back in a moment for part two)"
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6whw6q | why do our brains seem to have specific receptors just for drugs? | For example our brain produces cannabinoids so I assume there is a specific receptor which deals with these. More importantly though, I often read about our brains having opioid receptors, though I don't understand why. Were we supposed to do drugs? Why does our brain have its own specific set of receptors for seemingly every type of drug? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6whw6q/eli5_why_do_our_brains_seem_to_have_specific/ | {
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"A better question is: why are there drugs for every set of receptors? And that's because molecules can take so, so, so, so, *so* many shapes that for every receptor there are bound to be some molecules that lock on the receptors [a little bit](_URL_0_) and some that lock on to the receptors [very, very, very strongly](_URL_2_). And men find these, or make them, and they use them, and then they are drugs.\n\nThe receptors came about through evolution, or else through creation, if you prefer, because they were beneficial to organisms' survival; they were interacted with by endorphins and other chemicals that already exist in your head (this happens to include [the most profound psychedelic drug](_URL_1_) in small quantities).\n\nAnd those drugs that occur naturally, as in those many, many drugs found in plants and fungi, often occurred through evolution (or else through creation) because they were beneficial to the plants/fungi's survival - often by intoxicating animals who would consume the plant sufficiently to dissuade them from doing so. Men who make new psychoactive drugs generally don't make them weaker, but stronger - so this is a case where the natural drugs are indeed likely to be less harmful than the artificial ones.",
"you have it backwards- random chemicals found in nature are drugs *because* they fit our receptors. Opium poppies don't have opiates in them on purpose, we purposefully grow opium poppies because we discovered *hey, this plant is full of chemicals that do stuff*.\n\nNicotine is present in tobacco because it's a poison, it kills many insects that would otherwise eat the plant. \n\nCannabis has THC in it either as an insecticide, a UV radiation buffer, or both, and we cultivate the plant because we discovered *hey this plant does something cool man*. \n\nPlants are filled with complex chemicals for all kinds of different reasons, and such a large quantity of chemicals leads to a few that *just so happen* to fit chemical receptors in our brains."
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol#Mechanism_of_action",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N,N-Dimethyltryptamine",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JWH-018#Pharmacology"
],
[]
] | |
czcahi | when a politician (or whoever) says something to a journalist “off the record” what stops them just reporting the information and source anyway? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/czcahi/eli5_when_a_politician_or_whoever_says_something/ | {
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"Of course they could publish the information anyways but say good bye to any working relationship they had. When you tell something “off the record” it is usually providing background to a story and not the main point of a story, helping the journalist understand the reasoning behind something or what events led up to something for example.",
"Nothing, but if they did that, neither that source nor any other source, current or potential, would ever trust them again. If you can't get sources, you can't get stories, and your career is over. It's like having a friend who is constantly spilling secrets and everyone knows they're doing that. Would you ever trust them with a secret of yours?",
"Professional ethics and standards. If you agree to go off the record and then publish what you're told, the source will never speak to you again. They may tell others to do the same. You'll be seriously compromising your ability to do your job in the future.",
"Politicians and media have a symbiotic relationship.\n\nThe politician can always lie later. Accuse the journalist of fabricating quotes, which could ruin that guy's career."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
jj755 | systemic lupus erythematosus | My Aunt has just been diagnosed with this. The doctors are not making sense to her, she has asked me simplify it for her, and wiki makes no sense to me.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jj755/eli5_systemic_lupus_erythematosus/ | {
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"text": [
"[Wiki on lupus](_URL_0_)\n[Webmd on lupus](_URL_1_)\n\nLupus (System Lupus Erythemoatosus, or SLE) is an autoimmune disease. It means that it's caused by your body's immune system attacking parts of the body itself. This causes inflammation, swelling, and pain. There are many autoimmune diseases like this -- Rheumatoid Arthritis is another one. They are treated by rheumatologists, and if your aunt has only a regular doctor, she should also go to see a specialist rheumatologist. ",
"Your body makes factors, these factors are antibodies, the same antibodies that fight infections. Unfortunately, your body doesn't regulate them very well and they develop to affect your bodies tissues, in particular your tissues of your skin, kidneys, joints, and ligaments. On the whole, the syndrome is called lupus, it effects multiple organs. There are other joint diseases and there are other antibody diseases, what makes lupus unique is that it has several criteria (9 in particular rash, immunologic, hematologic, dermatologic) that comprises lupus. Not everyone gets all 9, not all people with 9 criteria have difficult lives, but on the basis of criteria (how doctors diagnose things) this is what people call lupus. ",
"[Wiki on lupus](_URL_0_)\n[Webmd on lupus](_URL_1_)\n\nLupus (System Lupus Erythemoatosus, or SLE) is an autoimmune disease. It means that it's caused by your body's immune system attacking parts of the body itself. This causes inflammation, swelling, and pain. There are many autoimmune diseases like this -- Rheumatoid Arthritis is another one. They are treated by rheumatologists, and if your aunt has only a regular doctor, she should also go to see a specialist rheumatologist. ",
"Your body makes factors, these factors are antibodies, the same antibodies that fight infections. Unfortunately, your body doesn't regulate them very well and they develop to affect your bodies tissues, in particular your tissues of your skin, kidneys, joints, and ligaments. On the whole, the syndrome is called lupus, it effects multiple organs. There are other joint diseases and there are other antibody diseases, what makes lupus unique is that it has several criteria (9 in particular rash, immunologic, hematologic, dermatologic) that comprises lupus. Not everyone gets all 9, not all people with 9 criteria have difficult lives, but on the basis of criteria (how doctors diagnose things) this is what people call lupus. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus",
"http://lupus.webmd.com/default.htm"
],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus",
"http://lupus.webmd.com/default.htm"
],
[]
] | |
5wlc7n | What was flying like in 1960s America for African-Americans? | I'm having a little bit of trouble researching this topic. The novel I'm writing has a scene where our main character, who is black, is supposed to fly from a fictional city to Chicago in 1968.
He is portrayed as an average middle class African-American boy.
Is it unrealistic for him to be flying?
And how far, in advance, could one purchase a ticket for a flight in 1968?
Thanks in advance. | AskHistorians | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5wlc7n/what_was_flying_like_in_1960s_america_for/ | {
"a_id": [
"debea1z",
"debni9m"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"In the sixties air travel wasn’t quite as popular as today; [travel by air was much more expensive than by rail or bus](_URL_1_); travel by bus cost $2.73 rail $0.71 and air $34.13 (Unadjusted for inflation). [With the average salary of all Americans in 1965](_URL_3_) being $6,900 and Nonwhite Americans being $3,971, when the opportunities for travel arose, traveling by air wasn’t much of an economic option. Not to say that Blacks didn’t at all it just wasn’t all that common.\nYet when the opportunity to fly arose from what I can tell the airlines themselves didn’t assign seating based on race yet Blacks still faced discrimination at the airports. [Congressman Charles Diggs](_URL_0_) of Michigan in a letter to Robert F. Six, President of Continental Airlines noted that at some airports in the south there were white’s only waiting rooms, restrooms, restaurants. Taxi Cabs and limousines would only patron white costumers. Yet he noted that in “Chattanoga(sic) I experienced the strange paradox of permitting Negros to eat in the same restaurant without restrictions, but prohibiting them from using the same toilet facilities as white people.” \n While the airlines didn’t segregate seating, they did however discriminate on hiring pilots and crew, these jobs were restricted to whites till 1963 when [Marlon Green](_URL_2_) won a lawsuit against the above mentioned Continental Airlines.\n\n*edit: Formatting. ",
"To piggyback on this question, I know there was a booklet that helped African Americans on road trips, were there any suggestions in that booklet about air travel? "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/america-by-air/online/abaImage.cfm?webID=308.p7",
"https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_03_18.html",
"http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/aviations-jackie-robinson-16161631/... | |
lsgt2 | Zero-calorie sweeteners: What are these substances? What exactly am I putting into my body? Why is there a choice, and which is doing the least damage to my health? [pic inside] | _URL_0_
This always bothered me. Why is there a choice of FOUR different sweeteners, if they all taste EXACTLY the same and all they do is sweeten my coffee? | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/lsgt2/zerocalorie_sweeteners_what_are_these_substances/ | {
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"Aspartame is a protein. It has the same number of calories per gram as sugar. However, it is 200 times sweeter than sugar, so you can use 1/200th as much to achieve the same level of sweetness and end up with a 0 or 1 calorie drink. \n\nI believe other artificial sweeteners work on the same principle. ",
"The fact that there's four is just capitalism at work, they do the same thing. They are chemicals that stimulate the same taste receptors as sugar. Unless you have a rare defect called [PKU](_URL_1_) which means you can't break down aspartame they probably won't have any health impact at all, definitely less than that of sugar. \n\nThe whole idea that artificial sweeteners cause cancer etc. was an [urban myth](_URL_0_) from the 1990s.",
"Well, why do you have more than one brand of ketchup or whatever? That's the free market.\n\nWhat you're putting into your body is simply chemical compounds which activate the same molecular sensors as sugar, but which don't have the same metabolic content. The ones you linked to also contain sugar (dextrose, maltodextrin). To name a few artificial sweeteners there's, [sucralose](_URL_2_), [aspartame](_URL_4_) and [saccharin](_URL_3_). They all have various pros and cons, in terms of taste, cost, heat-stability and other side-effects. (e.g. aspartame contains the amino acid phenylalanine, which people with the rare genetic disorder phenylketonuria need to avoid)\n\nThere's a huge amount of scares and misinformation about these things. They've also been subject to more scientific scrutiny than almost anything else you put in your mouth, and been found to be _safe_. -That's the scientific consensus. (Why would we allow them otherwise?) You might want to compare that to coffee itself, which is far from as well-investigated, but known to contain [PAHs](_URL_1_) and [acrylamide](_URL_0_). (Both carcinogens. Also present in a lot of fried and grilled food)\n",
"Some types of zero-calorie sweeteners are chiral molecules. Meaning that they have the same exact chemical composition but are not arranged in the same way. Imagine a you put a glove on your right hand, this glove fits your right hand, and is clearly a glove, but if you put it on your left hand it no longer fits, although it is a glove. Now imagine common sugar is a right handed glove, and your body can break it down and turn it into energy, aka you receive calories. Now lets take that right handed sugar molecule and make it left handed. It is still sugar and still taste like sugar but your body can't break down the left handed version because we don't have any enzymes that fit the left hand version. Therefore this molecule is not turned into energy and gives us zero calories. ",
"So let's look at the four you've posted:\n\n* Splenda's primary sweetening agent is sucralose, which has two modes of effect. It is approximately 600x sweeter than sucrose, which means that the dextrose and maltodextrin are used for bulking agents, not sweetness, and so the quantities of those compounds is negligible in terms of calories. The chlorine substituents on sucralose also prevents metabolism, and it passes on in the waste essentially unchanged. Some tasters report a metallic aftertaste with sucralose, the exact mechanism of which is not currently known.\n* Sweet 'N' Low is sweetened with saccharin, which functions in much the same way. It is only 300x as sweet as sucrose, though, so proportionally more is needed. The oldest of the non-caloric sweeteners, it's also well known for having a bitter aftertaste, which is why it's fallen out of favor as more sophisticated substitutes have been developed.\n* Equal is sweetened by aspartame, which is unique in the set you've given. As a dipeptide, it is perfectly digestible by the human metabolism, but its relative sweetness of 180x sucrose means that the quantity you need is sub-caloric. As noted in other answers, aspartame is dangerous to phenylketonurics, but no other health risks have been reliably determined. Approximately 15% of the population does not taste aspartame as predominantly sweet; instead, bitter notes predominate as a foretaste.\n* Z-Sweet is a blend of erythritol and stevia extracts. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, in the same chemical family as xylitol and sorbitol. These compounds have a lower sweetness than sucrose, but are non-digestible, so even at equivalent sweetness they are still non-caloric. Erythritol has an advantage over its cousins, though, as it does not act as a laxative in large doses. Sugar alcohols have a 'cool' or 'minty' note to their sweetness, which results in their popularity in chewing gum, toothpaste, etc. Stevia extract is a mix of related compounds from the stevia plant, and relative sweetness can range between 20x and 200x depending on the level of refinement and mixture of compounds. There is a small yield of caloric energy when metabolized, but significantly lower than its relative sweetness.\n\n\nApart from the business concerns of competitive sweetener manufacturers, the variety exists to meet other needs as well. Consumers concerned with 'natural' foods will gravitate towards the erythritol/stevia blend, and aspartame will be avoided by phenylketonurics, those who do not taste it properly, and people who get their health information from the internet. Saccharin has the advantage of age and familiarity for anyone who became accustomed to it before the 1980s when aspartame was introduced.",
"Aspartame is a protein. It has the same number of calories per gram as sugar. However, it is 200 times sweeter than sugar, so you can use 1/200th as much to achieve the same level of sweetness and end up with a 0 or 1 calorie drink. \n\nI believe other artificial sweeteners work on the same principle. ",
"The fact that there's four is just capitalism at work, they do the same thing. They are chemicals that stimulate the same taste receptors as sugar. Unless you have a rare defect called [PKU](_URL_1_) which means you can't break down aspartame they probably won't have any health impact at all, definitely less than that of sugar. \n\nThe whole idea that artificial sweeteners cause cancer etc. was an [urban myth](_URL_0_) from the 1990s.",
"Well, why do you have more than one brand of ketchup or whatever? That's the free market.\n\nWhat you're putting into your body is simply chemical compounds which activate the same molecular sensors as sugar, but which don't have the same metabolic content. The ones you linked to also contain sugar (dextrose, maltodextrin). To name a few artificial sweeteners there's, [sucralose](_URL_2_), [aspartame](_URL_4_) and [saccharin](_URL_3_). They all have various pros and cons, in terms of taste, cost, heat-stability and other side-effects. (e.g. aspartame contains the amino acid phenylalanine, which people with the rare genetic disorder phenylketonuria need to avoid)\n\nThere's a huge amount of scares and misinformation about these things. They've also been subject to more scientific scrutiny than almost anything else you put in your mouth, and been found to be _safe_. -That's the scientific consensus. (Why would we allow them otherwise?) You might want to compare that to coffee itself, which is far from as well-investigated, but known to contain [PAHs](_URL_1_) and [acrylamide](_URL_0_). (Both carcinogens. Also present in a lot of fried and grilled food)\n",
"Some types of zero-calorie sweeteners are chiral molecules. Meaning that they have the same exact chemical composition but are not arranged in the same way. Imagine a you put a glove on your right hand, this glove fits your right hand, and is clearly a glove, but if you put it on your left hand it no longer fits, although it is a glove. Now imagine common sugar is a right handed glove, and your body can break it down and turn it into energy, aka you receive calories. Now lets take that right handed sugar molecule and make it left handed. It is still sugar and still taste like sugar but your body can't break down the left handed version because we don't have any enzymes that fit the left hand version. Therefore this molecule is not turned into energy and gives us zero calories. ",
"So let's look at the four you've posted:\n\n* Splenda's primary sweetening agent is sucralose, which has two modes of effect. It is approximately 600x sweeter than sucrose, which means that the dextrose and maltodextrin are used for bulking agents, not sweetness, and so the quantities of those compounds is negligible in terms of calories. The chlorine substituents on sucralose also prevents metabolism, and it passes on in the waste essentially unchanged. Some tasters report a metallic aftertaste with sucralose, the exact mechanism of which is not currently known.\n* Sweet 'N' Low is sweetened with saccharin, which functions in much the same way. It is only 300x as sweet as sucrose, though, so proportionally more is needed. The oldest of the non-caloric sweeteners, it's also well known for having a bitter aftertaste, which is why it's fallen out of favor as more sophisticated substitutes have been developed.\n* Equal is sweetened by aspartame, which is unique in the set you've given. As a dipeptide, it is perfectly digestible by the human metabolism, but its relative sweetness of 180x sucrose means that the quantity you need is sub-caloric. As noted in other answers, aspartame is dangerous to phenylketonurics, but no other health risks have been reliably determined. Approximately 15% of the population does not taste aspartame as predominantly sweet; instead, bitter notes predominate as a foretaste.\n* Z-Sweet is a blend of erythritol and stevia extracts. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, in the same chemical family as xylitol and sorbitol. These compounds have a lower sweetness than sucrose, but are non-digestible, so even at equivalent sweetness they are still non-caloric. Erythritol has an advantage over its cousins, though, as it does not act as a laxative in large doses. Sugar alcohols have a 'cool' or 'minty' note to their sweetness, which results in their popularity in chewing gum, toothpaste, etc. Stevia extract is a mix of related compounds from the stevia plant, and relative sweetness can range between 20x and 200x depending on the level of refinement and mixture of compounds. There is a small yield of caloric energy when metabolized, but significantly lower than its relative sweetness.\n\n\nApart from the business concerns of competitive sweetener manufacturers, the variety exists to meet other needs as well. Consumers concerned with 'natural' foods will gravitate towards the erythritol/stevia blend, and aspartame will be avoided by phenylketonurics, those who do not taste it properly, and people who get their health information from the internet. Saccharin has the advantage of age and familiarity for anyone who became accustomed to it before the 1980s when aspartame was introduced."
]
} | [] | [
"http://i.imgur.com/lMF7B.jpg"
] | [
[],
[
"http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylketonuria"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAHs",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin",
"http:... | |
gujs7 | How long does it take for a food born illness to set in? | Example, today I want to pick something up at the grocery store after work, but before I go to the gym. Is it OK to leave meat in my car while I go to the gym? It would be one to one and half hours tops.
**EDIT** Meat would be unfrozen. It would be about 70 degress outside. | askscience | http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/gujs7/how_long_does_it_take_for_a_food_born_illness_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"c1qenxc",
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6
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"text": [
"*borne\n\nis the meat frozen or fresh? how hot is it in the car?\n\ntoo many variables, not enough detail.",
"Perhaps it would make more sense to go to the gym *and then* to the grocery store?\n\nAlso, your safest bet is not to leave your meat out in the car. Hour and a half in the gym plus time spent driving around means you're basically leaving your meat in the car for two hours. Even at normal room temperatures, that's not a great idea. You're going to be leaving your meat in a hot car. You do not want to eat spoiled meat - trust me.\n\n*Edit, more specific answer*\n\nBacteria that will make you sick aren't so much the concern if you're cooking the food thoroughly. Although they will multiple **rapidly** in the environment you described, cooking the food to over 160 °F will kill 'em all. Basically - kill them with fire. The real concern in your case is that bacteria also cause spoilage, which will make the meat really disgusting. There's also the possibility of some really nasty pathogenic bacteria like E.coli and salmonella multiplying within the meat, meaning that when you handle it you could transfer those bacteria to other surfaces in your home.\n\nIn other words - just go to the gym first, and then the grocery store."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
2hghli | what's so special about the f-22s | I understand the over spending and high costs for each jet, but what makes them so special and revered as so bad ass? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hghli/eli5_whats_so_special_about_the_f22s/ | {
"a_id": [
"cksfp48",
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],
"score": [
6,
2
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"text": [
"They're fairly stealthy, have radar that is hard for other fighters to detect (meaning they can see and shoot without being seen in return), they can fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburner and thus burning through insane amounts of fuel, and they are incredibly maneuverable due to engine nozzles that can move to direct the thrust on an angle (thrust vectoring). They really do outclass pretty much everything that came before them. ",
"the reason these are in the news this week is because the planes are being used in combat for the first time, after years and billions of dollars spent"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
jpevm | vacuum tubes | I know they were used in computers and still are used in amps... how do they work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jpevm/eli5_vacuum_tubes/ | {
"a_id": [
"c2e3kna",
"c2e3kna"
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"score": [
4,
4
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"text": [
"First you need to understand a little bit about current and voltage. An electric *current* is the flow of electrons, moving from one place to another. A *voltage* is something that makes electrons want to flow; imagine, for example, that an electron is a ball, and when you have a hill, you have a voltage difference. When you let go of the ball at the top of the hill, it wants to roll down to the bottom. This is like a current flowing from somewhere with higher voltage to somewhere with lower voltage.\n\nThe simplest vacuum tube has two parts inside of it. One is called the *cathode* and it's heated up so that it's really hot (sometimes glowing orange.) The other part is called the *anode*, and it's not heated. Now let's say you have a voltage difference between the cathode and the anode, so that electrons want to move from the cathode to the anode. It turns out that hot metals in a vacuum are happy to release electrons, and the electrons can actually move through the vacuum from the hot cathode to the cold anode. But if the voltage is the other way around, so that electrons want to move from the anode to the cathode, the cold anode doesn't want to let the electrons go, so no electrons move. This simple vacuum tube is called a *diode*, and it is useful because it only lets current flow in one direction.\n\nAnother type of useful vacuum tube adds another part, called the *grid*. The grid is literally a grid of wire that is in between the anode and the cathode. Normally the grid doesn't do anything, and electrons still flow from the hot cathode to the cold anode. But, if the voltage on the grid is changed, it starts to block some of the electrons from getting through. This tube is called a *triode* and it lets us control the flow of electricity with electricity. (It's like a switch that can be turned on or off with an electric signal.) With this building block, you can start to implement digital logic, even building a computer (though computers built from vacuum tubes are gigantic, hot, and slow.)\n\nThe triode has another interesting thing about it: it only takes a small change in the voltage connected to the gate to control a lot of electrons flowing from the cathode to the anode. This is how we can build an amplifier, since a small signal connected to the gate can control the flow of a lot of current, enough to make sound from a speaker.",
"First you need to understand a little bit about current and voltage. An electric *current* is the flow of electrons, moving from one place to another. A *voltage* is something that makes electrons want to flow; imagine, for example, that an electron is a ball, and when you have a hill, you have a voltage difference. When you let go of the ball at the top of the hill, it wants to roll down to the bottom. This is like a current flowing from somewhere with higher voltage to somewhere with lower voltage.\n\nThe simplest vacuum tube has two parts inside of it. One is called the *cathode* and it's heated up so that it's really hot (sometimes glowing orange.) The other part is called the *anode*, and it's not heated. Now let's say you have a voltage difference between the cathode and the anode, so that electrons want to move from the cathode to the anode. It turns out that hot metals in a vacuum are happy to release electrons, and the electrons can actually move through the vacuum from the hot cathode to the cold anode. But if the voltage is the other way around, so that electrons want to move from the anode to the cathode, the cold anode doesn't want to let the electrons go, so no electrons move. This simple vacuum tube is called a *diode*, and it is useful because it only lets current flow in one direction.\n\nAnother type of useful vacuum tube adds another part, called the *grid*. The grid is literally a grid of wire that is in between the anode and the cathode. Normally the grid doesn't do anything, and electrons still flow from the hot cathode to the cold anode. But, if the voltage on the grid is changed, it starts to block some of the electrons from getting through. This tube is called a *triode* and it lets us control the flow of electricity with electricity. (It's like a switch that can be turned on or off with an electric signal.) With this building block, you can start to implement digital logic, even building a computer (though computers built from vacuum tubes are gigantic, hot, and slow.)\n\nThe triode has another interesting thing about it: it only takes a small change in the voltage connected to the gate to control a lot of electrons flowing from the cathode to the anode. This is how we can build an amplifier, since a small signal connected to the gate can control the flow of a lot of current, enough to make sound from a speaker."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
22qj90 | how do gas stations function? | Who makes all of the money?
How do so many survive so close together?
Who actually determines the cost per gallon? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22qj90/eli5_how_do_gas_stations_function/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgpftol"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The company that supplies the fuel to the distributor makes all the money as well as the companies that produce the cigarettes and food items etc.\nThey survive so close together because everyone needs to go there all the time and if youre on opposite sides of the street you get people going one way and the other station gets people going the other. The price per gallon is generally 6-12 cents above cost and you drive around and see what other people are charging. Dude up the street is at 3.49 for 87 you go to 3.48 because fuck him."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
6mrdez | if total blood volume depends on weight. where does the extra blood go when you get slimmer? | Also if you lose weight does your blood volume and number of cells and plasma etc all reduce as well? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mrdez/eli5_if_total_blood_volume_depends_on_weight/ | {
"a_id": [
"dk3uoq8",
"dk407ce"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
"Your body produces less. Blood cells are produced all the time as the cells die, and are carried around in fluid. Your body just uses less fluid (and makes less cells so the concentration stays the same) \n",
"When your body experiences a long term deficiency in oxygen, it responds by produce more red blood cells. When it detects a surplus, it will let up.\n\nA red blood cell in your system lasts about 3-4 months before it dies and its replaced. Your weight seldom changes much over that duration, so there is plenty of time for your body to adjust its red blood cell production. Those extra red blood cells die and are not replaced."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
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