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1djuyc | why does a song sound different when you hear it on the radio compared to listening it on e.g. a cd on the same speakers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1djuyc/eli5_why_does_a_song_sound_different_when_you/ | {
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"It's mostly dynamic range (how loud or soft something can get). We measure changes in volume in dB. Our ears have a dynamic range of about 120-130 dB, so we can hear the difference between loud and soft pretty well. Commercial CDs have a dynamic range of 96dB, which is close enough to the human hearing to be comfortable.\n\nNow FM radio (I assumer you're talking about FM) has a very limited dynamic range, about 50dB. That's a big jump. So, radio stations have to do what is called compression, which basically shrinks the dynamic range of a song, so it's harder to hear the difference between a \"soft\" signal and \"loud\" signal. Thus, you get a different sound from a CD to radio.\n\nSource: I'm an audio engineering student \n\nEdit: After some research, I also found out that FM radio can only transmit up to about 15kHz. All this means is that the high end of is a little muffled. Most people can hear up to 18-20kHz, so it's really only the tinny-high stuff that gets taken out. ",
"All of what other people said - but also stations usually speed up songs slightly to fit more in per hour. Its drives me CRAZY.\n\nIts hard to tell, until one of your favorite songs comes on and its way ahead of your whistling rhythm.",
"Nearly every radio station uses one of these compressors:\n\n_URL_0_"
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2anvkq | when answering the most difficult unsolved maths problems, how are wrong answers known to be wrong? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2anvkq/eli5_when_answering_the_most_difficult_unsolved/ | {
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"Let's start with a simple example and work our way up.\n\nSuppose \"What is 2232^(2)?\" were a difficult, unsolved problem. \n\nSuppose you gave me a proposed solution: 4981825.\n\nI know, immediately, without even thinking, that your proposed answer is wrong. How do I know that? Well, 2232 is even, so 2232^2 must be even, but your proposed answer is odd, which makes your proposed answer wrong. So we go back to the drawing board.\n\nDifficult, unsolved math problems have difficult, long solutions. Some solutions run [over one hundred pages in length.](_URL_0_) However, the principle applies: it's easier to verify an answer than it is to come up with it in the first place. A mathematician will send his or her solution around to peers, and those peers will check it for inconsistencies, errors, or flaws in logic. The proof will typically be split into semi-independent parts. Different people might focus on verifying different parts of the proof, because different people will have different specialties. \n\nAt the end of the day, if the mathematician's peers think the proof is sound, the proof will be published in a journal. If the proof contains errors, the author will look for ways to repair the proof and salvage the remaining, true bits. Oftentimes even proofs that ultimately fail will have instructive or useful segments. They might highlight strategies that would otherwise have been overlooked, or they might fail so sharply that certain strategies are blocked off -- and it's important to know when that happens, so that other people don't waste time on those strategies for that proof. "
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4x65br | why do astronomers feel like tabby's star may have an alien megastructure around it? | All I know is that the star's luminosity drops a little over 20% sometimes. Does it do this on a regular schedule to indicate something in a stable orbit? Does it dim differently than a spherical object would make it dim? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4x65br/eli5_why_do_astronomers_feel_like_tabbys_star_may/ | {
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"The dips in luminosity are of differing scales and periods. This is really weird, because orbiting objects should have a regular period, and we can usually simulate a plausible set of planets to explain the changes we see in the star. Other ideas, such as a swarm of comets, have been proposed, but it would need to be an extremely unusual and massive swarm. So far, no suggestion for a set of orbiting objects is an especially compelling explanation for what's going on.\n\nComplicating matters further, historical records seem to indicate that the star has been declining in brightness for more than a century. If true, there's no ready explanation. However, others have countered that the records in question really just reflecting changing telescopes over the decades, and that other stars in those records show a similar apparent dimming.\n\nCurrently, there's no very good explanation. While this leaves room to dream about an alien Dyson sphere, the safe money is still on some collection of orbital mechanics and stellar dynamics."
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56ao0z | why do some people feel slow and out of it during the day but awake and focused at night? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56ao0z/eli5_why_do_some_people_feel_slow_and_out_of_it/ | {
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"People have different natural waking and sleeping cycles. If not restricted by work hours or stuff like that the will slowly adapt to their natural cycle. There was a woman in scandinavia that after retirement went on to live her natural cycle that consisted of 48 hour waking periods and 24 hours of sleep. ",
"Your body has what is often referred to as a **circadian rhythm**. This is basically just a 24-hour long cycle that repeats every 24 hours (very approximately). \n\nThe circadian rythm regulates the function of a number of processes, especially in the **autonomic nervous system**. That's the part of your nervous system that you don't control. It releases hormones, regulates body temperature, and does a lot of other stuff that keeps you alive. \n\nOne of the systems within a circadian rhythm is the sleep-wake cycle. Contrary to belief this isn't a binary on/off, but rather a smooth and continuous sine wave, going from \"more awake\" to \"less awake\" over the course of the day and night. \n\nThis is a very complex process involving hormones and neurotransmitters like cortisol, melatonin, serotonin, dopamine, and many others. The levels of these chemicals in your body create different levels of \"wakefulness\" or \"sleepiness\". \n\nThe circadian rythym is meant to be susceptible to outside Zeitgebers, which basically just means stimuli that helps you determine an external sense of time. Since human biology is meant to operate in the daytime, the presence of sunlight is meant to increase our wakefulness, and the absence of it is meant to coax us into sleepiness. It's a pretty simple process, whereby more like detected by your eyes sends a signal to the brain that says, \"hey, there's a lot of sun!\" and then your brain starts pumping out wakefulness hormones in response. \n\nBut because your circadian rhythm is highly sensitive to outside influence, its easy for it to change and adjust based on innumerable factors. It is also sensitive to genetic mutations or variations; a large number of people differ from the \"normal\" rhythm by at least 2 hours in either direction, sometimes more so. \n\nI am an extreme night owl - I feel best going to bed around 4AM and waking up around 12PM. I start to \"wake up\" around 10PM and am most productive between 11PM - 3AM. \n\nAlthough genetics are almost certain a factor, I've often considered there to be a psychological component to this. I'm fairly introverted - I am a friendly and open person during the day, but this takes a lot of energy out of me, and I work best in a quiet environment, where no one disturbs me, and where I feel I have total privacy. \n\nBecause of this, I think I've naturally gravitated towards nighttime productivity because ever since I was very young, that was the time when other people would be asleep and I could be completely alone. It presented a sense of psychological relief and freedom that has likely strongly impacted my circadian ryhtm even well into adulthood, because I had come to greatly enjoy that time. \n\nI also probably tend *dislike* the hours of 8AM-12PM, because this is the time of day where other people feel \"most awake\", so if I do have to wake up at 8AM, other people are usually difficult to tolerate because I'm at a very low energetic point, and they're at a much higher energetic point, talking louder, moving faster, etc.\n\n\n\n"
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43nqhi | if lead is so insanely dangerous why do we leaden things like decanters and water pipes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43nqhi/eli5_if_lead_is_so_insanely_dangerous_why_do_we/ | {
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"Leaded glass is pretty inert and doesn't intact with much. It's pretty safe.\r\rLead pipes are just old. Once they have been installed for a while, they get a protective costing over the lead and are fairly safe. We don't install new ones anymore.",
"Leaded glass is sparklier than lime glass (the regular stuff) and easy to blow or cut into decorative shapes. It's safe to use as a drinking vessel, but not for storage of foods or drink. After 2 days, you're looking at wine with 5x the EPA's safe standard for drinking water, and the lead content will keep increasing. Frequently-used lead glass is safer, as the more lead leaches out of the glass, the less is available to leach out into what you're drinking.",
"We don't make any pipes leading to your drinking faucet out of lead anymore since we learned how bad lead is for humans. This is a bit ironic since the whole plumbing profession is named after lead (Plumbum being the Latin for lead, and Pb the chemical symbol)."
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9vhh33 | reuptake inhibitors | Drugs like SSRI’s and SNDRI’s restrict the reuptake of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. It just seems counterintuitive that inhibiting the reuptake of these chemicals improves the concentration of these chemicals to improve mood? What am I missing here?
Cheers | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9vhh33/eli5_reuptake_inhibitors/ | {
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"If the reuptake is inhibited then more of the neurotransmitter is left in the synapse to interact with the receptors on the other neuron. As more is produced the concentration increases because what was there isn't gone. Think of it like a bar. If you do 1 in and 1 out the concentration stays the same. 1 in 0 out it increases.",
"The reuptake inhibitors block the \"pumps\" ,for lack of a better term, from pulling the serotonin and norepinephrine back into the neuron. Therefore leaving them in the space, called a synapse, to help transmit the electrical signals between neurons. The thought is that most depression is caused by low levels of these neurotransmitters in the synapses and by turning off the pumps there will be higher levels of them available where they are needed",
"In-between your brain cells, there are little spaces. Those spaces are filled with fluid and lots of little molecules whose job is to get the brain cells to work together to do certain things or make you feel certain ways. When one brain cell wants to tell another brain cell to do something, it puts a molecule into the space, and the other brain cell grabs it so it knows what to do. When the first brain cell is done letting the second one get the message, it takes the molecule back. \n\nWell, some of these molecules are for telling brain cells to make a person happy. If there aren't enough of these to go around, sometimes when the first brain cell takes the molecule back, the cell that gets the message hasn't done its job yet to make the person happy enough. What reuptake inhibitors do is tell the first cell it can't take the molecule back so that the second one has lots of time to use it.",
"Reuptake of neurotransmitters can be thought of as how a neuron recycles neurotransmitters. Reuptake inhibitors, such as SSRI's, block this recycling. This will result in more serotonin staying in the synaptic cleft(the gap between neurons). This increased concentrated is thought to increase the likelihood of serotonin interacting with receptors in the postsynaptic neuron. This in turn increases the likelihood of an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron. \n\nI am simplifying the process a bit for ELI5. There is still a lot we do not know about neurotransmitters and the effects of psychoactives. "
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fth2ll | if a person is revived is it legally murder? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fth2ll/eli5_if_a_person_is_revived_is_it_legally_murder/ | {
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"It would be attempted as they’re not actually dead. The person isn’t legally dead until they give up resuscitation efforts and record the death."
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2dj1ug | when/where do insects sleep? i've never seen one "sleep" | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dj1ug/eli5_whenwhere_do_insects_sleep_ive_never_seen/ | {
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"Most of them don't sleep they restore energy on the move like ants. they doesn't need to **rest** to get back up again. I know there work rate is very high but there body is structured good enough to keep them working without a significant or noticeable sleep.",
"Mr. Bug: I have but 24 hours to live. Alas! There is no time for sleep! Carpe diem!",
"[Pictures of sleeping insects + dew.](_URL_0_)",
"Alright, there are a ton of wrong answers here.\n\nNo one really knows what the reason for sleep is. We just know that if you don't sleep, crazy shit happens and then you die.\n\nWhen you sleep, your brain synchronizes brain waves, your heart rate slows, your breathing slows, and your body temperature drops. That is because we are big animals in a resting state. Our body isn't working hard when we sleep so our organs don't need to work at a high rate.\n\nGenerally the more complex the animal, the more sleep it needs. We know that physical things happen to the brain when we sleep. It synchronizes brain waves, it creates, destroys, or strengthens neural connections, and it goes through cycles of deep sleep and rem sleep.\n\nThe significance of creating, destroying, or strengthening neural connections is that we are conscious living animals that make decisions and have memories. The way that our neurons are structured and how they fire is what creates a memory. So when our brain is changing the connections in our sleep, It is reinforcing what we have learned and optimizing our brain for these additional memories.\n\nTiny insects don't have memories (as far as we know). They solely rely on instinct and that's it. So they don't need to optimize their brain because they don't learn. They don't need complex sleep cycles to enhance memories or what they've learned, but humans, cats, dogs, etc do because we learn and need that knowledge to continue for our survival.\n\nDoes that make sense? I'm on mobile right now so my thought process might seem jumpy or broken on here. Let me know if you have any questions.\n\nSource: Degree in Psychology and I study Sleep and Sleep Disorders",
"You might find this interesting: [Link](_URL_1_)\n\nTL;DR We havn't found a way to study insects brain activity and we can therefor not *know* they're sleeping. What we have done is observe a state called torpor that seams to be some kind of sleep basically only reacting to strong stimuli.\n\nI don't know shit about insects but I do know how to copy paste the question into Google... \n\nTS;RM (to short; read more) _URL_0_ "
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"http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/f/insect-sleep.htm"
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5m8wq4 | legally, what are the requirements for an action to be considered a "hate crime"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5m8wq4/eli5_legally_what_are_the_requirements_for_an/ | {
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"For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”\n\nSource: [_URL_1_](_URL_0_)",
" > Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person . . . [shall be imprisoned].\n\nThat's from US federal law, [18 USC § 249](_URL_0_). Basically, it's a hate crime if you injure or kill someone else because of their race, color, religion, or national origin (or gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability - those are included in a later section).\n\nLet's say you're a Neonazi and your Neonazi group needs money. You go out to mug someone. The first guy you come across is a black Jew. You mug him. That's not a hate crime because you didn't target the guy based on his race or religion. While you may happen to hate his race/religion, it wasn't a motivating factor in the crime. If you went out looking for black people to mug, though, and injure a black person, that would be a hate crime.\n\nThat being said, most states have slightly different definitions and different law enforcement agencies have their own definitions for tracking statistics. They're all basically the same, though."
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16t1h0 | how do the japanese type? | I'm learning Japanese, and seeing the remarkable differences between Japanese and English, I was wondering if they have different keyboards or if their capslock key was used for the difference between Hiragana and Katakana, etcetera. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16t1h0/how_do_the_japanese_type/ | {
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"They make the syllables in romaji on the keyboard, which automatically turn into their hiragana counterparts. The current word is underlined, and they press SPACE to turn the current word into kanji if appropriate. Then, if they want a different kanji, they can scroll through a list of alternatives. It can actually be done quite fast, especially considering that Japanese is often more brief than English. Example: they type \"ka\" -- > か -- > 火\n\nEdit: Source: currently working in Japan",
"On a slightly different topic, whilst in Singapore (75% Cantonese Chinese population), I was watching a man writing a text on his iPhone which had a space for him to draw the character and just to the side of that space would come up the nearest matches which he could just click to select."
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6wyqhk | how magnetic chargers work. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wyqhk/eli5_how_magnetic_chargers_work/ | {
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"Did ye search?\n\n_URL_0_"
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3cjh6q | why do so many humans require glasses? | Do other animals suffer from the same poor vision as Humans? Have the invention of glasses enabled humans to continue having vision problems (evolutionary speaking)? Could wild animals survive with the same vision issues as humans? What would the human race be like had we never invented glasses?
Edit: thanks for the very interesting discussion and interesting hypothesis' Redditers! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cjh6q/eli5_why_do_so_many_humans_require_glasses/ | {
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"This has been asked before, though I'll admit a simple search has a mediocre but acceptable signal to noise ratio. Try _URL_0_.\n\nBut a quick answer is that we do unnatural things like reading, while evolution selected for distance activities like hunting. ",
"Short sightedness (Myopia) is usually caused by your eye being too long and the focal point of your lens being in front of your retina. The so called hyperfocal distance of the eye is around 1m, so when you have normal sight, everything 1m and beyond requires the same curvature of your lens. When something is closer, muscles in the eye squeeze the lens, and change the focal point to hit your retina. \n\nWhen you have myopia, and work with objects at distances below 1m (like reading, doing fine motoric work with your hands like sewing or the likes), it is more relaxing on your eye compared to being normal sighted - your muscles have to do less work.\n\nIt is not entirely proven if the trait is being passed hereditary, or is developed in the first 20 years of your life (that is the timeframe when your eye is still growing), but it seems to be both of these. Someone being at school, reading a lot puts more strain on the eye, and will tend to develop Myopia in his life. \n\nSo I guess its a trend from being out and about during your life (farmers and manual labor) to being an educated society with lots of reading and near-the-eye work which causes this.\n\nFor reference: _URL_0_\n\nEdit: just noticed other questions. _URL_1_\n\nMyopia occurs in animals as well, mostly domesticated animals. If we never invented glasses, but kept on reading in our youths, we would have some big issues today with people not seeing further than 100 feet or so (I am short sighted, and I would say 100 feet is the max distance where I can properly distinguish things)",
"You'll see all sorts of wrong answers to this: nearsightedness is due to glasses becoming popular, nearsightedness is due to lack of selection for good vision, etc. But really, in humans, myopia is simply a disease of the modern world, like obesity, diabetes, or heart disease. There are numerous studies which show that among pre-industrialized peoples, the prevalence of myopia is quite low. For example, see pages 5-7 [here](_URL_0_) for a list of citations. Some rates cited in that paper: 0.4% for hunter-gatherers in Gabon, 1.2% - 1.5% in Angmagssalik Eskimos. Myopia is NOT a \"natural\" state of humans.\n\nMyopia rates can increase dramatically when populations go through economic changes. One of the best datasets comes from Singapore, where the military measured the eyesight of all new conscripted soldiers. In the late 70's, myopia was at 26%. In the late 90's, it was at 83% ([source](_URL_2_)). Similar trends have been observed elsewhere. This is far, far too fast for natural selection to be causing the change. Moreover, ethnically chinese children in Singapore have myopia rates of 29.1%, while those in Sidney have rates of 3.3% ([cite](_URL_3_)).\n\nSo what _is_ causing myopia rates to increase? People have claimed all sorts of factors: increased close-in work, high glucose diets, all kinds of things. But to my mind, the most convincing explanation is lighting. Myopia occurs when the eyeballs grow too \"long\" from front to back, causing light to focus in front of the retina instead of on the retina. When children are growing up, their eyes are growing too. Without sufficient exposure to strong sunlight, however, their retina never gets the signal to stop growing, and the eyes get too long inducing myopia. The biochemical pathways behind this are well documented in [animal models](_URL_1_) but it's not entirely pinned down in humans yet.\n"
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6l7m0k | what is the scientific difference between a doctor prescribing stronger doses of a medication, versus more frequent doses? are they not the same? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6l7m0k/eli5_what_is_the_scientific_difference_between_a/ | {
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"Depends on the medication.\n\nTake Seroquel for example. At a lower dose like 150-200mg, it helps to treat schizophrenia. At a medium dose, like 300mg or so, it's great as an antidepressant. At higher doses in the 600mg+ range, it's a bipolar medication.\n\nThe medication itself can be metabolized fairly quickly, so higher doses are useful in treating different things. A lower dose, taken more frequently, would just maintain that dose level for a longer period of time; a patient taking 150mg 4x/day would never have more than the 150mg in his blood; versus a patient taking one 600mg pill."
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4ieino | i have always been told that standing in front of a microwave door would be harmful for me cause of radiation? do microwaves release ionizing radiation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ieino/eli5_i_have_always_been_told_that_standing_in/ | {
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"Microwaves use gigahertz radio waves. They are not ionizing. They cook the food my heating the water molecules the food.\n\nThe grill in the door acts as a Faraday cage to keep the radio waves from escaping, while allowing you to watch the food.\n\nEdit: typo",
" > Do microwaves release ionizing radiation\n\nThey do not, they have far to little energy to ionize anything. Just to put it into perspective: The photons generated by a microwave oven have an energy of just 0.00001eV, which is a tiny amount. In order to ionize atoms, meaning to entirely remove atoms from them, you need somewhere around 10eV - which 100,000 times as much. That's basically like comparing a nerf gun projectile to a rifle bullet."
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2ayfyj | how come there are no videos showing the plane hitting the pentagon? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ayfyj/eli5how_come_there_are_no_videos_showing_the/ | {
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"text": [
"...[here](_URL_0_) is the securtiy video. What else are you looking for?"
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ahg9s7 | what is a prenuptial agreement and why is it portrayed in such a negative manner in film and television? | I have seen this prenuptial agreement situation happen in a lot of TV and film and I just don’t understand why the usually male character freaks out when the usually female character presents her partner with a “prenup”. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ahg9s7/eli5_what_is_a_prenuptial_agreement_and_why_is_it/ | {
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"I can't really speak for everyone on this issue but from what i understand. If you are entering a marriage with someone, you are doing it with the assumption that they are your partners for life. At least at the time you are marrying with that in mind, naive or whatnot.\n\nA prenuptial agreement serves as the basis of what happens when a divorce happens. You spell out exactly who owns and does what when that happens. For one side, it can be seen as protecting their own life if things go wrong, but the other side can see this as \"why did we do thing if you didn't think this will work?\" or \"are you telling me you are not confident in \"\"us\"\" that you want to have this made\".",
"The idea is to make a legal document outlining whose stuff is whose before the marriage, so if they should divorce, there is a clear delineation of how assets are to be distributed. For example, someone wealthy might want a prenup to ensure their partner isn't simply going to marry with the goal of divorcing soon after and taking half of the wealth with them. Makes for good television drama, as it raises the question if someone really loves them or if they are just getting married for money. In real life, I'm not sure how common prenups are nor how often they are able to be legally enforced.",
"It is an agreement drawn up before marriage with the presumption that the property and inheritance rights aren't going to follow the standard form.\n\nIn films the focus is on the divorce clauses that exist which are meant to guard against gold digging. The negative aspect of that is the lack of trust that can be felt by making one given that one would normally be expecting to share everything with the new spouse.\n\nHowever, other aspects that are more positive exist. Two people I know already had kids each and got married in their 50s so they had one drawn up to maintain some seperation between the inheritance between the two sets of children. This was more based on their being so many more opportunities for falling out over that sort of thing."
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93bh35 | why are rape+homicide rates so high? what motivates someone who is simply out for sexual gratification to rape (and possibly end up murdering the victim) and why is that seen as a better alternative than paying for sex? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/93bh35/eli5_why_are_rapehomicide_rates_so_high_what/ | {
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"Ive studied violent crime in grad school a bit. It’s not as simple as looking for sexual gratification. In fact the sex is secondary for most, and the real thrill comes from overpowering and beating the system if only for a little while. Sex is just a means to that end for many. ",
"Rape in general is about exerting power over someone. Yes sexual gratification is involved, but that is not the point of it. Exerting power and forcing someone to do something against their will is the point of it, and that cannot be replicated with someone that is willinging doing something for pay. \n\nMurder when not a crime of passions, or negligence is often done for similar power reasons. Having the power over someone's life and exerting that power to end it is very rewarding for certain kinds of people. \n\nBut neither rate is extremely high, at least in most of the world. We currently live in the safest time in human history with the lowest murder and lowest number of rape cases in recorded history. ",
"As many have said, rape is primarily about power, not sexual gratification. Speaking from the experience of surviving several instances of sexual assault, I can confirm.\n\nThe high murder rates in the US are not really connected to that. Most rapists don’t kill their victims because a murder investigation is far more likely to lead to actual consequences while reported rape is often not even investigated. And a lot of rapists are repeated offenders, with their victims often being close to them: spouses, relatives, friends. They have an interest in maintaining their power over their victims. Killing them would not help with that.\n\nMurder is so common in the US for other reasons, e.g. the high gun ownership rate and other factors. Other countries have far lower murder rates but comparable rates of sexual assault.",
"First homicide and rape rates are not actually high. They are on average the lowest they have ever been. There are some countries with higher rates than others and some places where the rates are higher now than a few years ago, but on average and taking the big and long view, violence is down.\n\nWay down.\n\nIf you are alive today your chances of being violently murdered are on average the lowest they have ever been and despite soke hiccups here and there the trend seems to continue to go downward.\n\nRape is harder to pin down. Statistics can be unreliable. Many don't report rape, especially in the past. It doesn't help that the definition has been changing over the years with things like marital rape not being a thing in the past in many places.\n\nStill it seems that even if the statistics are not quite as clear that rape and especially violent rape are down.\n\nFor the motivations it needs to be understood that many experts maintain that rape is usually about power more than it is about sex.\n\nThe idea of a sex-starved man snatching an immodestly dressed stranger of the street to satisfy his urges, is perhaps something that is popularized by certain groups but hardly what usually happens.\n\nIt is hard to compare rape statistics between places where prostitution is legal and common and where it is not, due to all the other cultural differences. But while there appears to be a correlation between healthy attitudes towards sex and fewer sex-crimes, it seems to be too much too claim that simply being able to pay for sex makes people less likely to rape.\n\nSo murder and rape are not nearly as common as you may think and rape is not about sex but about power for many.\n\nStill, what makes the rates of violent crime and sexual assault be so high in some places compared to others?\n\nA lot of different things, but high rates of violent crime usually go hand in hand with people not trusting their local authorities to fairly deal with things. If the police have a monopoly on violence, violence overall is down, if people don't trust the police and the courts violence will go up.\n\nBeing able to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence and instead appeal to some legitimate authority is how violence is reduced. If the police are corrupt or biased or powerless and laws are written in such a way to push people outside the protection of the police, violent crime will go up.\n\nRape and other sex-crimes are part of that, but they are also influenced by societies views on sex in general. There is a strong cultural influence at work.",
"It isn't just about having sex, it is about feeling they are entitled, that they somehow have earned the right to have sex with that person, and are merely collecting a debt. Most rapists know they victims, to the point of even being romantically involved. They don't see it as rape, it was their due, the victim enjoyed the experience, they were just being difficult about it.\n\nAs for the murder, it is often done dispassionately. The best witness to a rape is the victim, so killing them is often just to protect themselves once they realize the sort of trouble they could be in.\n",
"If you pay for sex, there's no resistance. You're not exerting force or overpowering someone. \nWith rape or homicidal rape, you get to dominate over someone that's unwilling, not willing. They may attempt to resist you. If you pay, any resistance is either fake or nonexistent. \nTo know why someone would pick X over Y, you need to simply look at the differences between X and Y. \nPeople keep pointing out the difference to you, and you say, \"Yeah, but that's not what I'm really asking.\" \nHey, the answer is the answer. If you want to learn rather than proving yourself right and becoming biased, then you gotta kind of make a choice that you'll take in the facts. \n\n\nAlso, rape is not at some kind of an all time high. One rape every 6.2 minutes? I had to google that myself. OK, I'm impressed. [_URL_0_](_URL_0_). That still doesn't mean that there's an epidemic though unless everything else on the map is also in some kind of crisis. \n"
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281i2t | in the uk, what happens to the state and government during the 17 days before an election when parliament is dissolved? | from Wikipedia:
> Members of Parliament cease to be so, as soon as it is dissolved, and, although they and their staff continue to be paid until polling day, they may not enter the Palace of Westminster.
So...what happens if there is a major national crisis during the 17 day interregnum, such as a declaration of war or a terrorist attack? What if there is simply some issue that cannot wait? Does the UK legally have no governing authority during those 17 days?
edit:typos | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/281i2t/eli5_in_the_uk_what_happens_to_the_state_and/ | {
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"The monarch has the prerogative to form and dissolve the government. The prerogative could easily be used to re-convene the houses of government."
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8b0x24 | what is so special about petroleum oils that we can't just simply use most other kinds of oil (vegetable, animal) as a fuel substitute? | I am assuming similar viscosity and consistency and whatever because obviously you can't run a combustion engine on a solid block of fat. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8b0x24/eli5_what_is_so_special_about_petroleum_oils_that/ | {
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"Petroleum oils are hydrocarbon chains, links of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms hooked to them. Vegetable oils have links of carbon atoms with some hydrogen atoms, but also some oxygen-hydrogen units attached to them.\n\nYou can absolutely use these as a fuel supplement, in the US almost all cars run on 10% Ethanol (mostly derived from corn oil). Some cars can run on 85% Ethanol, and others run on pure oil (which is usually called bio-diesel when used for fuel).\n\nWhen it comes to why petroleum, the answer is very simple. It's cheaper. People buy fuel from the lowest cost source.",
"You can burn nearly anything as fuel if you want to; there are engines that run on (processed) vegetable/cooking oil, and obviously ethanol supplements are well-known. They just aren't as efficient as petroleum gasoline.\n\nthe reason petroleum is prized is that it is basically the highest potential-energy-per-weight/volume substance we can find that both occurs naturally and isn't hugely volatile."
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4xo5cw | [psychology/neuro] why do most people value romantic relationships far beyond friendships? | Statistically, my friends have caused me wayyy less pain or grief than any person I've dated. Why do humans prioritize romantic bonds over other kinds of social bonds? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4xo5cw/eli5_psychologyneuro_why_do_most_people_value/ | {
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"It's really just the human instinct of reproduction kicking in and making you choose your partner instead of your friends as they don't benefit you in any way except from you beint socially active.",
"You have to ask? Semi-regular sexy sexing.",
"You cannot pass on genes with your friends. The hypothalamus is in control of you. The sense that you are fulfilling your duty as the hero of a cosmically ordained narrative, and other romantic premonitions are conjured up in response to the hormones oxytocin, serotonin, vassopressin, adrenaline etc. Its the minds way of forcing you to stay with a person whilst giving you a sense of agency about the situation."
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3mu0al | why do you dream about people that haven't been in your life for a long time? (example: an ex from over 10 years ago) | I've been unable to sleep all night because I keep dreaming about someone I shouldn't be dreaming about. I haven't seen this person in almost two years. So why does this person haunt my dreams? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mu0al/eli5_why_do_you_dream_about_people_that_havent/ | {
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"A lot of it has to do with mental triggers. Most of the time, triggers without us even realizing with them. A mannerism your ex had (sarcasm, a specific joke, a favorite food, a line in a movie) can bring all those memories rushing back. Also, keep in mind that your brain has an extremely high capacity when it comes to information and memories. And many times, those pieces of memories will tie to you for the rest of your life. The only other instance is mental organization. When you're going to sleep, your brain continues to organize itself without any current input, thus why you get some wacky dreams. This can also drag up old memories with no correlation or trigger. The mind is a weird machine.\n\nIt can be irritating and sometimes emotionally overwhelming when this happens, but it's normal to happen from time to time. My parents have been happily married 26 years, but in random conversations they can still find memories of high school relationships. This is normal. It doesn't mean you have some call from \"fate\" or a vision, it just happens. \n\nI have major depression and PTSD, so my triggers can be bad or good. So I can relate with a day-to-day amplification of this issue\n\nSeriously, don't sweat it. I know it's a pain, but it'll pass eventually.",
"I don't have an answer for you but I feel your pain. It's been around 5 years since my dog died. I still sometimes dream about her, wake up in the middle of the night, happily check under the bed because that's what she used to do. Come back into reality then cry myself to sleep"
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2xduoq | why were ww2 soldiers trained to shoot "dirty harry style" instead of using two hands? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xduoq/eli5_why_were_ww2_soldiers_trained_to_shoot_dirty/ | {
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"One obvious advantage is that it leaves the left hand open for the use of a knife or other tool. Most effective pistol engagements will occur within 10 meters or so, and that distance can be quickly covered by an opponent. Shooting and then immediately transitioning to melee might be quite common.",
"I'm not 100% sure I have this correct, but to my knowledge firing a handgun with one hand was the common practice until the 50's when the Weaver stance was invented at a target shooting event. \n\nIt also appears to me that the stance in those videos would allow the gunman to be more agile and quick on his feet, whereas the Weaver or isosceles stance has your feet more solidly planted in the ground.",
"Knees bent like that and weight being on the toes are to practice being in more of a 'moving' stance than the more standard \"straight-leg, legs apart\" firing stances. It should be noted that some of the more popular firing stances (Weaver and Isosceles and the Universal Shooting Stance in particular) were not fully developed until well after WWII\n\nFiring with one hand is to practice situations where the soldier may not be able to use both hands (injured arm, carrying something / someone). I would argue it's better to train this way and add a second hand in when possible during combat ('best' possible scenario) than to train two handed and then only be able to use one hand during combat (a significantly worse scenario)\n\n\n(Yes, I know that all firing stances you bend your knees slightly, I just said 'straight-leg' to differentiate how much the leg is bent in comparison)\n",
"Holy balls, there is nothing about this film that is even remotely realistic. It was most likely made just as PR or propaganda.\n\nLook at the way those guys are holding those weapons. EACH AND EVERY GUY has his finger curled around the trigger, even after one of them *explicitly* loads the weapon. Several of them sweep other people with the weapon. Try that on a REAL military firing range, and you're going to grow old doing push-ups.\n\nSkimmed through the rest, it was similarly silly.\n\nThis is Hollywood bullshit, nothing more.\n\n"
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2q04kl | why do kids perceive vegetables to be less appetizing than other foods (ie meats, starches, etc)? | And even adults I suppose.
What is there about vegetables (and even fruits) that are less appealing to some (perhaps even most) people than other foods? Why do parents have to persuade their children to eat their fruits and vegetables? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2q04kl/eli5_why_do_kids_perceive_vegetables_to_be_less/ | {
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"Our bodies are adapted to crave energy-rich foods which are difficult to find in nature. That typically means meats, fats, sugars, and starches. This ensures that we will eat them when we can and only fall back to fruits and veggies when we cannot get the more naturally rare foods.",
"Because they kinda are. Vegetables are low on proteins and carbohydrates (i.e meaty-ness and sweetness) but are high are alkaloid compounds (generally bitter).\n\nAnd as children are much more sensitive to bitter tastes than adults, they often have trouble eating vegetables (especially if they are blandly cooked/overcooked). You will notice that children generally do not have problems with carrots as they are quite sweet for a vegetable.",
"I heard this explanation once, and it made sense. \nBack when humans were hunter-gatherers, things like sugars, starches, salt, and the like were much harder to come by. That's why our drive for them is higher than it is for the nutrients in easier to acquire veggies. Protein (meat) is kind of the golden point of being relatively easy to get and super important to life. Growing kids have a stronger need for nutrients to become adults, so their instincts for these things are higher. ",
"As an adult who rarely eats a veggie...taste and texture",
"This isn't always the case, and much of it is modelling. My five year old eats a lot of fruit, sometimes too much. Something raw is served with every meal, such as salad, plus a variety of other plant foods. Sometimes we eat junk, like chips or biscuits, but it's occasional. Yesterday, the kids came home from a party, after eating lollies, cake and soft drink, having a great time, and they felt sick and only wanted cucumber for dinner. Kids can learn to listen to their bodies the same as adults, if given the right choices.",
"Your taste buds mature as you get older, and get less sensitive to bitter tastes. theres also a genetic component to it too, as to why some people dont like vegetables. Its the same reason that children typically dont like coffee or the taste of beer. ",
"Some children have double bitter genes and thus most vegetables taste horrible for these children.\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"I don't know... my son loved vegetables. If you assume kids won't like stuff and just give them typical \"kid food\" then that's what they'll eat. If you give them broccoli and shit, that's what they eat.",
"It also has to do with the fact that a lot of people cant fucking cook. You dont have to be a child to hate bland, yet disgusting steamed veggies. \n"
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2cmf6r | why simple and stupid android applications (like games) "need" acces to personal info like device id & call information | I've been wondering now for a while why very simple app that I download from the Play Store (for example a stupid archery game) for my smarthphone ask me for so many acces permissions including:
-Device ID & Call Information
-Photos/ Media/ Files
-Identity
-Etc ?
I think most of people don't even think about it and give all kind of permissions no matter to which app. I find suspicious that these app need so much acces to personal info and i think it's dangerous... please correct me if I'm wrong. (Sorry for the bad english) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cmf6r/eli5_why_simple_and_stupid_android_applications/ | {
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"The device ID is required by many adservers, to avoid revenue fraud. But call information just means the game wants to pause when it detects that you're received a phone call.\n\nIt's easy to say \"hurr stealin ur data\", but the more complicated truth is that Android permissions can be vague and confusing. At the end of the day, you just need to trust the developer of whatever you're downloading.",
"Basically what GoonBobby said. There have been a few times where I'm developing something on Android, and it won't work, so I figure I need to request specific permissions. And it often turns out that I do, and that the permission I need doesn't really sound much like what I'm trying to do. Like GoonBobby said, I need call information so I can pause when there you get a call, I need access to the file system so I can store some data about the state of my app.\n\nIf I want to use the internet for something in my app, for example I want to check for updates, or I want to maybe download some information, I need to request permission - permission to access information about your connection, and permission to actually make a connection to the internet.\n\nSo yea, even when developing, sometimes it feels like it's getting out of hand, but just because an app requests 20 different permissions doesn't mean it's necessarily doing something shady. It COULD be... but it might not be."
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736mwm | why does the "no smoking" light exist in planes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/736mwm/eli5_why_does_the_no_smoking_light_exist_in_planes/ | {
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"To constantly remind people of the fact, there are people who haven't flown since it was legal to smoke on aeroplanes and they might not know the rules.",
"First, the designs for most planes we fly on today date from the 1960s/1970s when a lot more people did smoke, and the designs still cater to that. There are probably still airlines somewhere that allow it.\n\nSecond, people who do still smoke need to be reminded, because it's tough flying for hours if you do, and if you don't see an explicit sign telling you not to you might be tempted to think it's OK.",
"In addition to the fact that it serves as a reminder that smoking isn't allowed, airplanes are sold to airlines all over the world, and some of those continued to allow smoking for quite a long time (though I don't believe any do today). Cubana (the national carrier of Cuba) only banned smoking on flights in 2014.",
"I'm not that old but I still remember a time where it was legal. If the plane is a bit old you might even still find ashtrays. Moreover, you have private plane where smoking could be allowed...\n",
"There are also still ashtrays in the bathrooms because they would rather you use the ashtray than the bin full of paper towels. "
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fxzegs | how are gas elements separated? | What does that process look like? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fxzegs/eli5_how_are_gas_elements_separated/ | {
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"Most commonly, cryogenic distillation. They're gases at room temperature, but are they still a gas at -200C? Cool them down until one gas liquefies and remove it. Then the next. Keep cooling until all but the lightest gas has separated out as a liquid.\n\nThat usually works, but if you're separating out two gases with very similar boiling points or gases that prefer to collect together more specialized methods may be required.\n\nIt may be necessary to remove a stubborn gas by chemical means and bubble the gas through some reactive chemical. Or force the gases through a membrane so impossibly fine that only the smaller gas can fit. Or in the most expensive and annoying scenario - centrifuges to separate two practically identical gases by slightly different densities."
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2vunm8 | has cern found the higgs particle or not? i know last year there were very strong indicators that they did and they would get back to all of us when they tested further. but i cant find anything but 8 month old speculative documents at this point. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vunm8/eli5_has_cern_found_the_higgs_particle_or_not_i/ | {
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"The LHC shut down for upgrades in early 2013 and is due to restart soon, so there are likely to be more announcements once it's been running for a while and they've analysed the new data.\n\nThe current position seems to be that they're confident they've found \"*a* Higgs boson\", but won't yet call it \"*the* Higgs boson\". In all the experiments so far it behaves as a Higgs boson is predicted to behave, but there are more predictions to test. They also haven't ruled out the possibility that this is one of several types of Higgs boson that exist.\n\n"
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4k1ze6 | how is the meat and chicken industry meeting the global food requirement without wiping out farm animal populations? | As an example, let's assume that most of us(excluding infants and babies of course) eat a quarter to half a chicken a day and also consume 1-2 eggs on average daily i.e. approx 1-2 billion chickens and 7 billion eggs, how does the industry deal with that type of daily consumption and still be able to provide ongoing supply without diminishing numbers?
When so many eggs and chicken are being consumed daily, how are their numbers still sustained?
What about the slow developing animals such as goat, lamb etc that don't even lay eggs and breed at a slower rate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4k1ze6/eli5_how_is_the_meat_and_chicken_industry_meeting/ | {
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"They grow large numbers of animals in small spaces, bringing in grain by truck for them to eat. A large percentage of the world's grain production is fed to meat animals. ",
"The planet is home to ~20 billion chickens. Chickens that are eaten are generally very young by human standards; two months old at slaughter is fairly typical. So the stock of chickens is regenerated very quickly to meet the demand for chicken meat.\n\nAlso worth mentioning that the average chicken consumption rate is far less than 1/4/-1/2 of a whole chicken a day.",
" > how does the industry deal with that type of daily consumption and still be able to provide ongoing supply without diminishing numbers?\n\nYou don't eat the breeding stock, you eat the output of the breeding stock.",
"Your estimates for global meat consumption seem a little high, but let's go with it. A five-pound broiler-fryer chicken can get to market weight in as little as five weeks- let's call that forty days. That means that every person who eats, on average, one chicken in four days needs there to be ten chickens alive at any given time, to keep him supplied. Plus one or two more, for breeding stock and eggs.\n\nIf everyone ate that much chicken, there would need to be around eighty billion chickens in the world. That's a surprising manageable number. What's the problem?"
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58lcrh | is there a way to determine how much pain someone is in using technology? do our brains react differently or the same despite each individuals unique pain tolerance? | So sorry if it's a dumb question but had this conversation a few weeks ago with someone and now I'm genuinely curious - are there similarities in brain activity for every human, enough that one day the doctors could basically hook you up to a machine or something and do a pain check that could actually rate it like a 1 - 10 scale and be accurate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/58lcrh/eli5_is_there_a_way_to_determine_how_much_pain/ | {
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"Because pain is *subjective* measure. Two people can be subjected to the exact same injury, but it'll seem more painful to one person and less to the other. \n\nYou could *in theory* put a person in an fMRI and measure how their brain is reacting to the pain, but -- again -- their perception of the pain might make that measurement pointless, and beyond that, it is absolutely impractical to do so. You can't have every patient in the ER put in an fMRI. ",
"They actually already kind of can. Pain is subjective to the one experiencing it, but you can get an idea of how much pain a person is in, by their vital signs. Of course this doesn't work on a life threatening level as the blood pressure and heart rate drops, but usually the higher these are for some, and the elevated breathing rate, are usually good indicators when something is wrong with them. Its why they always check those signs first. "
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4n7ig6 | why do social media apps like snapchat frequently update their layout despite a negative response almost every time? | Seems like a waste of resources when users usually want it to remain the same. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4n7ig6/eli5_why_do_social_media_apps_like_snapchat/ | {
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"It might be a \"New\" fancy thing that they might be able to advertise in some way, but usually, it's to keep up with what is deemed \"Stylish\" and \"Modern\". It just like how windows 7 and older, ios 6 and older, OSX Mavericks and older have these fancy 3D looking buttons, but later version have got these transparent, plain, single color buttons/icons with ariel or calibri font. It's basically keeping up with trends.",
"I'd say they want to maximize profits. Like snapchat isn't really something that makes money (as it's free) so they need to keep finetuning their layout to show as much advertising possible. Annoying for the user though.",
"If you want a layout that stays the same for decades look at ancient companies with ancient product offerings like IBM. These companies are more of the \"slow and steady wins the race\" frame of mind.\n\nSnapChat, on the other hand, only exists because they are rapid innovators. Their target audience has the attention span of a mouse. If they grow stagnant their user base will drift away. They have to constantly try new things. Lots of those changes will be disliked by many, but a ton of people like them or just don't care. You only hear from the complainers.\n\nMost programmers will tell you that constant UI redesign is bad for the user but programmers always lose to marketing and revenue. Not many investors have ever said, \"This company's app is exactly the same as it was 2 years ago, what a great investment opportunity. I'll buy them out!\"",
"People in general are resistant to change, even if it is beneficial towards them. So the only way to progress forward is to drag those people kicking and screaming sometimes. They will eventually readjust, and then that becomes the new normal and the cycle repeats.",
"I've been web designer for a few companies, and at some point websites need a revamp because it's been the same for years and it looks dated and doesn't have the best UX (user experience) meaning new users won't find it easy to navigate. \n\nWhen these sites do a huge update, users they've had for years freak the fuck out, they like how it was and they were used to it, people don't like change. \n\nBut the change had to happen because old sites look embarrassingly outdated compared to other new ones, and because the UX will be better for most users and especially new users. \n\nThese changes are also made for advertisement purposes, allowing better placement and smarter tech like for example a company is more likely to advertise on a website that has full view ability I.e they don't pay for adverts that load on the page but are never seen / scrolled too.\n\nOverall if these changes a) result in more users and b) result in bigger profits from advertisement there is literally nothing that will make them want to revert to their old style.\n\nWe hear about how bad newer versions are because those people shout the loudest, but it's unlikely that there are more who dislike than like it. The guardian website is a good example of making very good improvements for a clean looking, much better site but had such bad reviews and comments from existing users.\n\nI personally like most of snapchat changes, and I think a lot of the ones that people dislike are increasing their advertisement revenue, so they won't change that back."
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6pplm2 | buying a house | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6pplm2/eli5_buying_a_house/ | {
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"300k decisions shouldnt be advised on reddit. it also changes depending on what country, province/state, and even county of state youre in. you need to talk to a realtor at the very least. look up houses on zillow\n\n_URL_0_",
"This isn't a great place to ask for advice that will cover you if you're actually looking to buy a house. I strongly recommend utilizing a real estate agent, there's a TON OF THINGS you need to know and a mountain of paperwork that comes in waves that it's immensely helpful to have someone that knows what's going on to help you with and help you organize. Seriously, get a professional.\n\nAs far as the short version goes...\n\n1. Initial research. Know what you can afford. Chances are you can't afford as much as you think - figure you'll be spending thousands of dollars a year on maintenance and upkeep. Also take into account expenses for when you first move in which can be huge - appliances, furniture, repairs, etc etc etc.\n\n2. Shop around with various lenders. Don't just look at the interest rates, be sure to look at closing costs and other fees too. Get a preapproval which is essentially a lender telling you that \"after further, official approval, we'll lend you x amount for a house\". \n\n3. Look for a specific house. Figure out where you want to live, how big of a house you want, yard, parking, etc etc etc. Set up tours with the real estate agent for the property for sale (your own agent can do this for you).\n\n4. INSPECT EVERYTHING. Look up guides on what to look for when you're a first time homebuyer. There's a billion red flags to look for and it's immensely helpful to know these things ahead of times\n\n5. If you find a house you like, you set up an official inspection. You basically pay someone to inspect the property for structural issues, code violations, and possibly stuff like radon in the basement. \n\n6. If it checks out and you're serious about buying, you make an offer. This can go back and forth a bit. If accepted, go to 7. If rejected, keep haggling or find a new house. I believe at this time this is when you need to get official approval from the lender as well.\n\n7. When accepted, it'll take a month MINIMUM to get through all the paperwork required. I think we did ours in about 3 weeks which is super fast. \n\n8. You eventually get the keys and now you get to enjoy the \"joys\" of moving and homeownership.",
"A lot of it will depend on where you are, but I recently purchased a house in Chicago so I can share my experiences. The process went like this:\n\n1. Find a realtor, pick out a property. A realtor can help you find a house you like, or you can pick out a house on your own and then approach a realtor to help you purchase it. While a realtor isn't 100% necessary, the buying realtor's fee is paid by the seller so there's no reason not to use one as a buyer. Your realtor can usually refer you to all the other people you'll need to contact, such as an attorney, inspector, mortgage lender, or insurance agent.\n2. Make an offer. The offer takes the form of a contract that you send to the seller's attorney.\n3. Negotiations. They'll make a counter offer, you make a counter counter offer and so on until you find a price and other terms that you agree on. Sometimes sellers will offer you a lower price if you agree to take the house \"as is.\" This means that instead of inspecting the property to look for problems they might have to fix, you just buy it as is and any problems are you problems. This is generally not recommended.\n4. Inspection. You will hire an inspector who will look at the house and point out any issues. They will usually come up with a long list, as it's their job to point out *anything* wrong, even minor issues, but they'll tell you if they think it's so bad that the house is a bad one to buy. For example, my inspection resulted in 90 something issues, but they were almost all very minor wear and tear.\n5. Once the inspection is done everything is sent for attorney review. Your attorney and the seller's attorney will work out the details, amending the offer contract to suit both parties and document any changes or things that need to be fixed based on the inspection. Sometimes you will be offered a choice of having the seller fix issues in the house, or getting a credit from them. It's recommending that you take a credit. While that can be more of a hassle as it means you'll need to fix things yourself (or hire someone), it is generally better as if the seller fixes things they might not care to do the best work as it's not going to be their house for long.\n6. Once you know this is the property you want you'll want to start thinking about insurance. If you're getting a mortgage they'll usually require proof of insurance before the mortgage can be finalized. \n7. Once you have insurance and the attorney review is complete your mortgage can be finalized.\n8. Pre-Closing. Before the closing date you'll be sent information about the title company (which is chosen by the seller, usually) including a bank account for your down payment. To avoid being scammed, you'll want to call the title company and confirm the details with them over the phone. Once that's done, you'll wire your down payment to that account.\n9. Closing. On closing day, you'll meet at the title company and sign all the final contracts. The keys change hands and the house is yours.\n\n",
"Easy, don't. A house is a horrendous investment, because often people have to choose between investing and a house. A house is a (very) deceptively expensive purchase. A) You'd be very hard pressed to put money into an index fund AND loan principle, B) it drains your nest egg, C) you can make all your payments for three years and have zero (like literally zero) equity. D) The industry is still a big racket, fees, fees, fees. E) YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR REPAIRS D) homes do not go up in value (nothing like compounding interest). Seriously, just rent. You're not throwing as much money away. (If you can afford to invest AND buy a house, then do it). "
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35b0fo | why would the uk government put the tuition fees up if they have to lend out the money to pay for it? | Been seeing all day the Conservative's want to put up student fees but in the UK all the student loans are done by the government so surely they're going to make it worse for themselves? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35b0fo/eli5_why_would_the_uk_government_put_the_tuition/ | {
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"this benefits them, because when they loan out money, (usually) there is a grace period after your studies are finished, then they start charging interest, and the government *really* likes it when you have to give them more money over (possibly) a longer period of time. ",
"This is more like a back door tax on post-university success. The repayment plans for student loans are means based, as are the interest rates charged on them. Graduates with high earnings will end up paying much more than those with low earnings, who will eventually have most of their debt written off anyway. A recent [study](_URL_0_) by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the proposed Labor cut in tuition fees would benefit well off graduates while having little to no effect on poorer graduates.",
"If they abolished tuition fees entirely, who do you think would pay the cost of your university education? The answer: the government, and by extension, the tax payers.\n\nBy raising tuition fees and then lending the money to pay them, they are at lest getting *some* of that money back. Yes the government still had to absorb a lot of the cost of tuition due to people who never pay it off. But the alternative is that the government would be paying all of it."
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1rl7bb | the ideas and significance of thomas aquinas. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rl7bb/eli5_the_ideas_and_significance_of_thomas_aquinas/ | {
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"This is almost impossible to do and keep short or in the scope for a five year old, but basically Thomas commented on and integrated the thoughts and ideas of Aristotle into Christian thought. To get an idea on how much of an impact this has had, remember the line at the end of this exchange in the Star Trek movie: _URL_0_\n\n\"When is an act... ...It is morally praiseworthy but not morally obligatory.\" That's right out of Aquinas. \n\nIt's this idea in ethics and religion that leads to the church selling of indulgences, which leads to the reformation, which leads to the enlightenment, and then to modern political thought on the separation of church and state.\n\nAnd that's the impact of just one small idea he had. The man was a giant.",
"His most famous work, the Quinque Viae, are five ontological (ontology being the study of what can or cannot exist) arguments for the existence of God.\n\nThey're all different forms of the same argument, that being that all the cause and effect in the universe cannot be infinite. Something - Aquinas called it the \"ex motu\" - began it all.\n\nExample:\nThings move.\nMovement requires a moving force.\nEither, there must have been a moving force to cause the first motion, or the chain of cause and effect is infinite.\nNothing is infinite, and so there must have been a first mover.\nTherefore, God exists."
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bbshfg | what keeps the heart beating? | Ok, this may seem like a ridiculously obvious thing which im just not realising but here goes.
The heart keeps us alive by pumping blood to our vital organs but what keeps the heart beating? Why does it beat at the rate that it does? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bbshfg/eli5_what_keeps_the_heart_beating/ | {
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"The heart has [its own electrical system,](_URL_3_) which is primarily the [*sinoatrial node*](_URL_0_)\n and the [*atrioventricular node*.](_URL_2_) Those two keep the heart beating independently from direct input from the brain, [like this.](_URL_1_)",
"Quite an interesting question actually! Did you know that if you ripped the heart out of a living animal and plunged it into a saline solution, it would keep beating? The contractions are fully autonomous!\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe heart is made of very particular cells. Heart \"Muscle\" cells, wich are responsible for contractions, are actually able to transmit electricity. So a simple stimulation will cause them to contract, but also to transmit the stimulation to their neighbors. But you still need a regular stimulus to set them off, and that's the role of the heart \"nerve\" cells. They are located in small nodules and look like neurons, but work quite differently.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nWhen neurons are not activated, their is a constant tension on their membrane. To activate them (make them emit an electric impulse), you must make that tension go over a certain value (for instance, by pluggin in another neuron and activating it). But heart \"neurons\" are unstable: when at rest, the tension at their membrane steadily goes up, until it reaches the critical value activating the cell. As a result, they keep firing off at a regular pace, and the whole heart beats to that pace! This is why they are called \"pacemaking cells\".\n\nThe brain can, however, dictate the pace by sending hormones/electric impulses/random shit to the pacemaking cells. This is why your heart starts beating faster when you are preparing for an effort, and slows down when you sleep."
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_conduction_system_of_the_heart"
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23vc3k | how can someone squat in a house i own but am not presently occupying? | I don't understand why I have to fight to get them out. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23vc3k/eli5_how_can_someone_squat_in_a_house_i_own_but/ | {
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"I'm assuming this question is inspired by the recent article about the soldier. In the US, there are laws protecting tenants. Because they've claimed that is what they are, they have to go through an eviction process to get rid of them. It's really, really, stupid when you consider situations like this. ",
"Most places have laws that aggressively protect tenants vs. their landlords. In most cases, this is really important and useful for people, because it means the landlord can't just come and toss you out of your home. \n\nHowever, if someone is squatting in your home, they're not a tenant - they're just someone who broke in and started living there. There's no agreement between you and them. So why won't the Sheriff kick them out?\n\nThe reason is that police don't deal with civil matters, just with criminal matters. If there's even a hint that the dispute over residency in the house may be a civil matter, the police will tell you to take it to the courts. Why might they think it's a civil matter? Well, if the squatter says \"I have an agreement with him, he said I could live here\" then, even if it's a lie, it becomes a matter for the court and not the police."
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6ckmn4 | how can a reader find out if a news story is representing fact and not a biased opinion? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ckmn4/eli5_how_can_a_reader_find_out_if_a_news_story_is/ | {
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"Typically it's pretty easy to tell when a story is presenting an opinion. They'll gloss over details, use emotionally charged language, provide few if any citations, present only one side of the argument, etc. Factual news articles tend to be detailed and make efforts to contact the people involved in the story to get their take on the issue if they want to try to explain, say, a negative story about them.",
"Watching out for [logical fallacies](_URL_0_) is a good starting point, especially cheap ad hominem and appealing to emotion. But the truth is that everyone has a bias - the real problem is fully conscious agenda pushing, that is what separates journalism from partisan propaganda. ",
"Check many sources. Learn which ones have a reputation for honesty and reliability. Check to see if the story is presented as \"opinion\". Pay attention to the language used. Look out for extreme descriptors. Check if sources are provided. Then, also check the sources provided. Look at other articles written by the same author. Cross-compare the source you're reading with others with a differing perspective. Analyse the veracity of the two sides. \n\nThis is an example of the kind of resources one can use as a sniff test. Can you guess the bias of the compilers, BTW? \n\n > *[Journalism Quality and Partisanship Guide 2017 - Pigscast\n](_URL_0_)*\n\n",
"While verticaljeff provides a good example of how to tell the difference in fact vs. opinion, the reality is we cannot really tell since what authoritative sources consider fact seems to change with time. Historians, scientists and even reporters challenge each others facts all the time. University professors are required to publish in order to be in good standing and many authoritative facts are theorized and challenged. Remember the adage *\"When the truth becomes legend, print the legend.''* A lot of that applies to what is in our history textbooks and in the media. Napoleon Boneparte was not short but the myth says he was. And just like the Texas school board wants to rewrite history and science textbooks for the rest of the country, the extremists from either political spectrum want to play with the fact that there are unintended consequences of their pragmatic thinking that have both beneficial, drawbacks or perverse outcomes. Both opposing sides seem to be able to manipulate the same Congressional and Census data facts to their unique purposes. But what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander, what is good for one group usually comes at the expense of another, and there are situations where there are two or more opposing truths that are fact.\n\nAnd then there is our own resistance or willingness to trust the facts. Few of us sit in the middle as centrists any more in this polarized political environment. That is why Congress stalemated, obstructed, blackmails and shuts down government to achieve an agenda. It also why we have media and opinion shows based on political affiliation. "
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3t4koy | how are new flu shots tested every year if medical trials are so slow and expensive? | How is it feasible for them to come out with new flu shots every year? I thought that human testing was slow and expensive.
For them to be able to do the research on what the new flu virus each year, get it on time for testing, test it effectively, manufacture it and get it shipped out, how is it possible that they always have the flu shot ready on time for flu season every year? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t4koy/eli5_how_are_new_flu_shots_tested_every_year_if/ | {
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"Probabilistic models predict which strains of the flu are most likely to hit. These strains are included in the vaccine. The vaccines are only as effective as the predictions are accurate, so the effectiveness can vary from year to year. \n\nThey don't do the same kinda of trials with flu shots. They're not tested for effectiveness before-hand. ",
"Year-to-year, the only difference in flu vaccinations are the strains of the virus that it protects against. Everything else remains the same, and so there is really no need to test it for safety (the flu virus doesn't change that much, but just enough to fool the immune system). The strains included in the vaccine each year are usually based on what strains are prevalent in the preceding flu season in the other (northern/southern) hemisphere."
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1thm21 | why can't i make a pair of wings large enough and light enough to carry my weight, and use them to fly around? | If I made a pair of lightweight wings about 17 feet long and had a motor powering them, could I maintain sustained flight? And if not, please explain why. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1thm21/eli5_why_cant_i_make_a_pair_of_wings_large_enough/ | {
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"You can. It would just be cumbersome and difficult to steer and stay afloat for extended periods of time."
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3hydp9 | why does the skin itch after sitting in front of the jacuzzi jet or being in contact with a vibrating surface for a period of time? | Does it have something to do with the different type of nerve receptors on the skin? (i'm talking about Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner's corpuscles, Merkel's discs and Ruffini endings) If not, then what causes the itch? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hydp9/eli5_why_does_the_skin_itch_after_sitting_in/ | {
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"Both of these things increase circulation, which causes a small adjustment in your skin's sensitivity in those areas, which (usually) manifests as an itchy sensation."
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6e2act | how do motorbike riders drive safely in the rain? rain drops on helmet, boots wet etc | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6e2act/eli5_how_do_motorbike_riders_drive_safely_in_the/ | {
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"Not sure in what respect you mean, really, but...\n\nGood tires with decent tread. Some tires are better in water than others, same as your car.\n\nRiding properly for the conditions. Allowing more room for braking, more time for errors. Being a bit more methodical. \n\nBoots? yeah, improper footwear can be a hazard on slippery surfaces, but only when stopped. (foot slips out from under you, but in almost 37 years of riding, I've only ever felt a foot \"slip\" once.\n\nGoggles, helmets etc... good gear is ventilated well, preventing \"fogging\". At riding speed, the water on the lenses/shields just blows off.\n\nThe biggest danger in the rain is... getting cold. Which, again... is alleviated with proper gear.",
"We slow down, allow a greater stopping distance, and use rain gear. And sometimes we just suck it up and accept we are going to be wet and miserable for a while. If it gets too bad, we pull over and find somewhere dry to wait it out.\n\nIf you go fast enough, the wind will blow the droplets off of your visor, the real problem is the moisture fogging it up. As for the road conditions, a good set of tires will handle a wet road just fine, so long as you take it easy.\n\n"
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nw6y5 | caucuses | What are they and what does it mean to win one? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/nw6y5/eli5_caucuses/ | {
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"Let's say your school is having elections for school president, and 1 kid from each grade can run. You are in the 4th grade and you want to run for school president, so you get nominated along with 4 other kids who are also in the 4th grade. But since only 1 of you can run, the 4th grade as a whole needs to decide who they want to represent them. In order to best do this, you 5 candidates will go to each of the 4th grade classrooms and try to convince them that you are the best choice. Each classroom will then vote, and whoever gets the most support will run in the elections to represent the 4th grade.\n\nA caucus is essentially a group of likeminded individuals/political party who come together who is best suited to represent them in the general election. In the analogy above, the grade levels represents political parties (such as 4th graders are republicans) and each classroom represents a state caucus (such as the Iowa caucus).",
"Today's *New York Daily News* has a good [concise explanation of the Iowa Caucus](_URL_0_).",
"Let's say your school is having elections for school president, and 1 kid from each grade can run. You are in the 4th grade and you want to run for school president, so you get nominated along with 4 other kids who are also in the 4th grade. But since only 1 of you can run, the 4th grade as a whole needs to decide who they want to represent them. In order to best do this, you 5 candidates will go to each of the 4th grade classrooms and try to convince them that you are the best choice. Each classroom will then vote, and whoever gets the most support will run in the elections to represent the 4th grade.\n\nA caucus is essentially a group of likeminded individuals/political party who come together who is best suited to represent them in the general election. In the analogy above, the grade levels represents political parties (such as 4th graders are republicans) and each classroom represents a state caucus (such as the Iowa caucus).",
"Today's *New York Daily News* has a good [concise explanation of the Iowa Caucus](_URL_0_)."
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9mho35 | what makes the spacex rockets form the huge plume in the sky when they launch and why don’t other rockets make something similar? | Following last nights launch there’s tons of pictures and videos of Falcon 9 launching over California and I was wondering about the light show of sorts it makes. Is it from the rockets fuel system or how this rocket separates stages? Or could I just be that Elon wanted to make a big show to reignite People’s passion for space travel? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9mho35/eli5_what_makes_the_spacex_rockets_form_the_huge/ | {
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"It's just down to the timing of the launch. Launches during the day you won't see it because the sky is already bright, and launches very late at night you won't, because the whole sky, horizon to horizon, is dark. It has to be that time of day where once the rocket gets up to a decent height, it's back in sunlight again, so the plume is lit up like, quite literally, a cloud in daylight. \n\nThe reason it gets so wide and spread out is because as the rocket gets higher up, the atmosphere it's in gets thinner and thinner and lower pressure, so the high pressure exhaust from the rocket spreads out that much wider and farther. ",
"Here's what I found googling about it. What is happening is that the first (launch, lower) stage is separating from the second stage. Typically in previous rocket designs the exhausted stage simply falls back down to Earth (well, pretty much. But in the Falcon, the first stage autonomously flies back to the launch area, meaning it has its own engine that accelerates and flies at speed through the exhaust cone of the burning second stage. This stirs up that exhaust, which would otherwise be directed relatively narrowly straight backwards. And it's the interaction of the two rockets under acceleration in different directions that expands the exhaust cloud."
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3006zu | if depicting prophets is forbidden, since jesus (known as isa) is a prophet in islam along with muhammed, why are muslims fine with depictions of him? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3006zu/eli5_if_depicting_prophets_is_forbidden_since/ | {
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"Here is the thing: this 'no depicting prophets' appeared recently with the nutjob known as al qaeida and the wahhabism( extrem hardcore islamist lvl 20) and recently with isis - daesh.\n\nWhat is forbidden in Islam is the idolatry, by having a picture of a prophet, people will tend over time to pray him instead of God.\n\nDuring and after the prophet Muhammed's pbuh life, people could depicting him and other prophets. **edit:\"While depicting the Prophet people usually show him with [a veiled face and a halo around him](_URL_0_)\"**\n\nYou can compare that to the burning of the Coran, some muslims will go apeshit but they forgot that the only allowed way to destroy a Coran is by fire...\n\nHope that will anwser your question and sorry for my english.",
"Mmmmmm\n\nWell... as a Muslim, I do find illustrations of Jesus, peace be upon him, offensive. And as someone who is ethnically very recently from Africa, I find the blond-hair blue-eyed representation simply pernicious and distasteful at best. How is it that those who purport to change their views based on historical / scientific evidence still pretend that Jesus was a picture perfect \"Aryan\" spokesman? I mean, I could care less what ethnicity he really was since it's his *message* that carries the weight. But if people generally have come to know that he wasn't an European-looking white dude, then if they **Absolutely MUST** draw him and make statues of him and worship him etc, then at least try to do so accurately, gosh darn it.\n\nBut I, like the mass majority of my Muslim brethren globally, if someone depicts him (Jesus) or even Muhammad SAW, what am I supposed to do about it? I can voice my displeasure, but every man can only control his own self. I'm not \"fine\" with it, but it's not within the realm of my authority to do anything about it. If it was my own child who was doing it, perhaps I'd have more power to enforce it did not happen. I'm sure OP agrees that most of the world's +1.6B Muslims aren't up in arms when people depict Muhammad SAW or Jesus PBUH...\n\nAs someone here had already mentioned, these things have, can and do lead to idolatry. I know, most people reading this on Reddit will call BS or whatever... but really, all one really has to do is get out of their Herman Miller Embody chair, and see that there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who literally worship idols, statues, money, sticks, stones, paintings... even their own desires. While we live in our bubbles (and I'm just as guilty as the next), there's a whole planet of other people out there.",
"The Quran includes protections for people of the book. Jews and Christian's religious practices can't be directly infringed or banned. Thus the depiction of Jesus might be frowned upon, but it's permitted in actual Islam. The concern about idolatry is redundant when you're talking about someone that christians are actually worshipping anyway. ",
"Muslims are not fine with depictions of Jesus.",
"This is a very good question, as a guy whose been a Muslim -alhamdulillah- for a very long time this is probably the best and fullest answer you'll have my friend.\nThe general ruling on drawings of \"Any of the prophets\" ,peace and blessing be upon them, is Forbidden. The reason behind that is that prophets and messengers of Allah are sent with a message to their people, and miracles to prove their truthfulness . Now the good thing is that we have a real life example to base our theory upon ol' sport, people have been sculpturing and painting prophet iesa -Jesus- pbuh for many a year right bud? Well they made him God now didn't they? There you go then buddy! They probably drew the prophet pbuh out of reverence and respect at first, but time and new generations tell us it was one HUGE MISTAKE after all. ",
"Muslim here. \n\nAs many people have mentioned, Muslims tend not to speak up against the various paintings and statues made of Jesus. Christianity is, after all, the most followed religion in the world, not to mention that the majority of Muslims are peace-lovers who could not care less. If it is not directly interfering with their own religion, that is to say, nobody is forcing upon us a certain depiction of Jesus, then why would we pick on them? If it strengthens your belief, then I personally do not have a problem with it.\n\nHowever, there is an imperative reason that nobody has mentioned yet as to why Muslims do not draw prophets themselves, and that is: **how do we know how the prophets looked like?** These noble men lived thousands of years ago and it is, frankly speaking, inaccurate to draw Jesus as a black man or a Caucasian man because there's no *evidence* of this being true. What if he was Arab? What if he was yellow-skinned? Nobody knows. Why would we draw a man, when we do not know how he looks like, especially one as noble as Prophet Jesus or Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)? \n\nFinally, **physical appearances don't matter.** It is better for us to focus on what Jesus *taught*, instead of spending idle time drawing him. That is all."
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79d812 | are there any countries that allow you to become president if you are not a natural born citizen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79d812/eli5_are_there_any_countries_that_allow_you_to/ | {
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"The US is probably more of an exception here. Most countries allow any adult citizen to be elected to any office. "
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q7951 | why people choose to be vegetarian. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q7951/eli5_why_people_choose_to_be_vegetarian/ | {
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"My daughter is a vegetarian because she prefers the taste of beans and tofu to meat.",
"Because they perceive there being a nutritional advantage, they simply don't like the taste or texture of meat, or because they morally object to eating animal protein. Or some combination of all three. ",
"Happy you asked. Reddit doesn't seem very vegetarian friendly, so I'm happy to see an open mind. Keeping in mind that meat consumptioned has risen 500% in the last 60 years, a lot of the major concerns rather relate to the sheer amount of meat consumption. Although not eating meat can have one of the biggest impacts an individual can do without a lot of effort. \n\nEthical: \nThe conditions in slaughterhouses are just horrific. There is no room for any 'humane' treatment. It's a massive, massive industry. Furthermore, vegetarianism may actually be a way to resolve the world hunger crisis, due to the immense wastefulness of crops and water.\n\nEcologial:\nMassive amounts of land are being used for farming for animal food. A kg of meat will need around 16 kg of wheats to be produced and thousands of liters of water. So it's very wasteful and is one of the biggest contributors to deforestation. Animal gas and transportation also make the meat industry one of the big CO2 contributors. If I remember correctly, a third of the landmasses of our planet are being used for farming. It's actually a pressing issue. \n\nHealth:\nThere is nothing the body needs that cannot be found in a vegetarian diet. Red meat has been linked to various illnesses such as heart conditions and colon cancer. There are also a lot of studies that show a plant based diet being healthy, the largest one was published a few years back by the ADA. High meat consumption is also linked to obesity and high colesterol. Due to the high demand, a lot of animals are regularly being fed chemicals to enhance production. Health however should always be judged on an individual basis. But for a very high number of people, switching diets came with positive effects. \n\nReasons can also have to do with spiritual belief, simple taste or other things. But I found it that ethics, ecology and health are the most common.\n\nThis just from the top of my head, but there is a lot more information, arguments, etc. for vegetarianism and surprisingly little key points are well known or understood. With the Internet, Information is only a few clicks away, it is easy to understand the reasons behind a vegetarian and even vegan diet.\n\nJust to not leave without at least a small source, here is a top 10 reasons from the Yale Vegetarian Society:\n_URL_0_\n\nAnd on environment:\n_URL_1_"
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9r3um3 | why is it if you fry food take it out and put it back in it doesn't work and just burns it... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9r3um3/eli5_why_is_it_if_you_fry_food_take_it_out_and/ | {
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"What doesn’t work?\n\nDouble frying food is a thing, but there is a proper way to do it, same as anything.\n\nThe first fry is done at a low temperature, for a longer time. Chicken wings for example, go in first at around 225F for 20 minutes. Then cool to room temperature.\n\nThe second fry is hotter and faster. 400F until browned and crispy, approx. 10 minutes."
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3gkp4b | what happens when two viruses or diseases inhabit the same body? what if the same body part? | Do they affect each other in anyway?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gkp4b/eli5_what_happens_when_two_viruses_or_diseases/ | {
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"Generally viruses have very specific molecular targets inside the human body.\nIf the viruses are pathogenic that means you will likely get both diseases.\nViruses are much smaller than cells, that means many of them can infect the same cell. \n\nSome viruses were shown to interact with bacteria. Also, some viruses were shown to stimulate the production of other viruses if both enter the same cell.\n\nMind that even healthy persons have on average 5 different virus strains in their body.\n\nSee _URL_0_"
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1wmaj8 | why is the midwest called that? | As an Australian, this has always confused me. Looking at a map, the region seems to be in the eastern half of the country. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wmaj8/eli5_why_is_the_midwest_called_that/ | {
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"As the settlers were moving west, the Rocky Mountains were a natural boundary. Most people that moved to the far west traveled by ship. So west became the Texas / Oklahoma / New Mexico area (in the center of the country) and the area in between became known as the mid-west.",
"'West' in the US, is pretty much anything Rocky Mountains and further west.\n\nConversely, 'East' is pretty much any area that touches the Atlantic, Appalachia, or is East of the Mississippi River.\n\nThe East/West/Midwest thing has a lot to do with the original colonies and the Louisiana Purchase. East is the original US, Midwest is the Louisiana Purchase, and West is the rest of it, more or less.",
"The Midwest was once the \"west\", as it is west of the Appalachian Mountains, and it is in the middle of the United States.",
"The US used to only be the east coast, basically. Then we moved to the midwest, which was just the west. But then we moved even FURTHER west, so that was the west and what was west before became \"midwest.\""
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85uzdx | what are exactly those 'russian bots' everyone talks about? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/85uzdx/eli5_what_are_exactly_those_russian_bots_everyone/ | {
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"No question is stupid.\n\nA bot is a program that does a specific function. For instance YouTube has bots that identify the types of videos you watch and bird that try to match ads to the type of videos you watch. Facebook has bots that try to figure out if you know someone due proximity, common friends, common interests etc.\nRussian hackers have bots that try to destabilize other countries government, gather information about electorate, other \"nice\" things... Russian government has specifically used examples where governments are failing as examples for why democracy is a bad idea. \n\nThere is a really good CGP video about bots i recommend you look for it it explains how YouTube bots work.",
"A lot of Russian \"bots\" are just people Russia pays to put out propaganda in a way that looks like it's comments and links from a normal every day citizen. ",
"A 'bot' (short for robot) is basically an autonomous computer program that performs specific functions/activities in response to certain events or triggers.\n\nIn the context of social media posts, the term 'bot' typically refers to an account which is run by one of these computer programs. These bots generate and post comments etc. in response to certain events, commands, topics, or keywords.\n\nSome of these social media bots are helpful and there are many helpful bots on reddit—such as bots that summarize news articles and post the summary in the reddit comments section.\n\nHowever some of these bots are being used to promote government-sponsored propaganda. They are specifically designed to look like real human users and intentionally influence other people's opinions about a topic by flooding social media threads with bot comments that appear to support one particular narrative or viewpoint.\n\nSome bots are also designed to be divisive and encourage disagreements, hostility, and chaos (such as by posting intentionally extreme and inflammatory opinions). Some of these bots are even designed to post opposing extreme/inflammatory opinions to cause even more hostility between groups of people.\n\nIt's also worth noting that some people are now using the term 'bots' to refer to people who are paid to create fake accounts and promote this type of propaganda/rhetoric even though the accounts may be controlled by real people and not by computer programs.",
"It is a boogeyman and scapegoat in my opinion. Notice how the functions of this bot are always vague like destabilize a government. Yet no info is given on how. More than that if liking and sharing the right things on Facebook and reddit is enough to destabilize a government you might want to re think pretty much everything."
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7h8cfn | how do employee stock ownership plans work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7h8cfn/eli5_how_do_employee_stock_ownership_plans_work/ | {
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"Your employer give you options. After a period the options \"vest\" and you can \"exercise\" them (convert them into shares and sell them). \n\nIf there is a cost on the option per share, this is deducted from the proceeds on the sale of the shares (under a \"cashless exercise\") and the profit ((number of shares * sale price) - (number of shares * option price)) is a capital gain.\n\nIf the options are nil-cost then you get the full gain (number of shares * sale price) but this counts as income and is taxed as your salary would be.\n\nSpecifics may vary depending on where you live/work."
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3vkcw2 | why people think crystals have powers, healing ability, or other capabilities and why? is there any scientific evidence? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vkcw2/eli5_why_people_think_crystals_have_powers/ | {
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"Crystals look magical, because they're mysterious and shiny.\nThere is no evidence to support any healing factors in them, though. \n\nI'm sorry, I really don't know what else to write.",
"Humans have a tendency to believe all sorts of hocus pocus after observing a false positive or two.\n\nWe're hard wired to assume that a pattern exists even if the data is merely noise. This was vitally important to our ancestors since assuming the rustling in the grass was the wind when it's a saber-toothed cat was understandably problematic. In modern society it's less useful.\n\nCrystals are highly ordered ionic solids. They can have interesting properties, but magical healing abilities are not among them.",
"Basic scientific ignorance explains where this sort of thing originates from. Centuries ago someone gets ill, you put a rock on their head and they get better. \n\nMakes sense if you have no idea why they were ill, what the rock is or why they got better.\n\nThose practicing it *now* though are nothing more than frauds.",
"No one has yet mentioned the Placebo Effect, which despite what people may think, **is** a well studied and real phenomenon which can apply to just about anything including crystals and shit. Basically anything somebody *thinks* will work *will* work (to a certain degree for certain things).",
"People assign mysticism in an effort to try to comprehend what they fundamentally do not understand. Take astrology for example, would someone who truly understands the complexities of orbital mechanics and astrophysics be on board with astrology?\n\nOne of the funny things about crystals in general is that they are structured in those exact and repeating ways because the atoms are trying to get to a lower energy state and organizing with other atoms into a crystal lattice facilitates this goal. So while people are believing that a crystals are somehow imbued with some kind of energy, in reality the exact opposite is true.",
"They're easily convinced, especially if they tried it before and got the results they wanted by coincidence. Same way horoscopes work, they can be wrong 100 times and then right once and that one time working will have a bigger impact than those 100 times of it not on a person so they'll end up believing it. Plus a bunch of false marketing claims.",
"Okay, you know how watches often contain quartz crystals? \n\nThat’s because quartz crystals oscillate (they vibrate) at a very precise rate. Something like 33,000 times per second. This helps the watch maintain its accuracy. The vibration of the crystal helps to regulate the movement of the watch. Think of it like a perpetual tuning fork. \n\nIn fact, there a bunch of crystals that share this same property - Topaz and tourmaline, for example. And there are a bunch of other practical applications for it - like how they used to make quartz microphones. \n\nNow, you know how when you go to a club or someplace else where the music is really loud and the bass is turned way up and your heart seems to vibrate in time with the beat? \n\nThe belief that crystals have healing powers relates to both of these phenomena. The idea is that the vibration of a crystal can influence the body in the same way that a heavy, thumping bass at a club can, in the same way a crystal can a watch. Believers think that if they can find the right crystal of the right size with the right vibration and apply it to the correct malady (or whatever) the crystal can affect the part in question and bring its vibration into line with that of the crystal (resonance), thus curing the illness. \n\nThough there is plenty of scientific evidence for the first two things, I haven’t seen any for the last. Though interestingly, they just found last year that they can get certain types of specially prepared Xenon crystals to hold tremendous amounts energy! ",
"A lot of alternative medicine stems from modern science not being able to fix or cure anything.\n\nWe don't have surefire ways to get rid of a lot of different kinds of cancer, if you know you're going to die, you're pretty likely to explore other options (homeopathy, crystals, prayer), then suddenly your cancer goes into recession! You then say that your homeopathy was what cured you."
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2liy8e | had pi been a different number, what would have changed? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2liy8e/eli5had_pi_been_a_different_number_what_would/ | {
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"Just numerical values. Pi is a constant so all the rules and principals associated with it would be the same, just with different numerical values.",
"This works if you change the base you're counting in from base 10 to something like binary, octal, hexadecimal, etc.\n\nThe numbers change, but the ratios are constant."
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6ezah1 | what happens in your brain when you start daydreaming with your eyes still open. what part of the brain switches those controls saying to stop processing outside information and start imagining? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ezah1/eli5what_happens_in_your_brain_when_you_start/ | {
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"Baddeley's working memory model tells us there is a part of our mind called the central executive (located in the frontal lobes) that controls where our attention is focused, and filters out the rest. It decides what is relevant for you to feel or notice. Mostly through practice. \n\nWhen you first hear a loud constant noise (say, roadworks outside) it bothers you - but after a while you stop noticing it, because the central executive registers it, but filters it out of your conscious perception. When the drilling stops you tend to notice the silence as a relief because that filter no longer has to work. It's why we study better in quiet environments. \n\nSame goes for hearing your name in a crowded room - central executive processes all, but only sends over stuff you might find interesting or relevant. \n\nWhen daydreaming, we are focused on introspection so our central executive puts other stimili on the backburner until you need them again. \n\nIt's also what those \"you are now breathing manually\" or \"you are now aware of the position of your tongue in your mouth\" memes take advantatge of. Sorry. \n\nEdit: spelling",
"Well simply put - **Because our brains are bad at multitasking** \n \nDaydreaming is a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings, during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake.\n \nDay dreaming is not actual sleep (despite the word \"dream\"). It is simply a short-term detachment from your surrounding. Put simply, it it just your mind wondering. Like any other action you take, you do it with your eyes opened.\n \nThis is mainly due to our brains being very good at selective attention. It is impossible for the human brain to focus on every bit of information it receives, so instead it will focus on one or two main points and effectively ignore the rest.\n \nWhen we form mental images, we use many of the same parts of the brain as we use to process visual images. So, when you bring up a vivid mental image, you aren't able to make full use of those areas to process what you're actually seeing. Obviously, there is still plenty of information coming in through your eyes, but since you are distracted, it is not processed as thoroughly as when you are focused on the world around you.\n \nThe same goes for when you bring a memory to mind. I've often been listening to someone talk, and when something they says triggers a memory, I might not even hear what they said for the next few moments. The brain isn't too great at multitasking.\n \nThere are many types of daydreams, and there is no consistent definition amongst psychologists, however the characteristic that is common to all forms of daydreaming meets the criteria for mild dissociation.\n \n*What part of the brain switches those controls saying to stop processing outside information and start imagining?*\n \nWe are not sure. It gets tricky from here. Not sure if is understandable for a five year old :( Experts now agree, however, that daydreaming is a normal, and even beneficial, cognitive function-albeit one that is largely still not understood. An area of the brain called the “default network,” which becomes more active as the level of external stimulus decreases, is often considered responsible for daydreaming. The default network mainly includes the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), the posterior cingulated cortex/precuneus region, and the temporoparietal junction \n\nNeuroimaging studies have offered support for this hypothesis, though only indirectly. These studies demonstrated “correlations between reported frequency of task-unrelated thoughts and default network activation during conditions of low cognitive demand, as well as stronger default network activation during highly practiced compared with novel tasks in people with higher propensity for mind wandering.” A different interpretation of these data, offered by Gilbert et al., argued that “instead of mind wandering, activations in the medial PFC part of the default network may reflect stimulus-related thought such as enhanced watchfulness toward the external environment that is also likely to occur during highly practiced tasks”\n \nMore info here - _URL_0_",
"This has never happened to me. Can you describe it in more detail please because it sounds trippy? ",
"Then starts the debate \"can you actually see pictures in your head, like when you dream!?\".\n\n",
"It's interesting though; personally I have a tendency of falling asleep when I start to daydream. Usually when I visually see my imagination, it would be a sign to me that I have gone too far down the rabbit hole.",
"Because you're connecting to a different part of the simulation. You're processing a mix of memories and creating new images. Your brain can't multitask well in this simulation. ",
"What about when your high on opiates and you close your eyes and it's like they are still open, you can still see the room your in perfectly with your eyes open or closed.",
"It isn't a clear switch. When you imagine things, your visual areas of the brain light-up just as if you were really seeing, your areas for movement and control of coordination also light up like your really there. All that's missing is... very little actually. Which is why what we experience in reality and what we experience in our imaginations are one continuum of what we imagine to be reality. \nSource: Neuroscientist with interests in psychology and philosophy of the mind. ",
"well we have 2 systems in our brain, the fast and the slow one. You use the slow system to do things that need more brain power, for example solving a mathematical problem (43*15). Another thing of the slow system is that it can mainly focous on one thing only. You can't solve a mathematical problem (43*15) while playing an intense video game. It's the same with daydreaming, it's something that needs brainpower and our slow system puts the focus on it and disables everything else (that needs intense thinking like solving 43*15). Hope i could help.\n\n",
"The brain has several commonly used paths of neurons, the cells in our brain that hold and conduct electric charges , we call these paths networks. When you're daydreaming, the network known as the Default Mode Network is more active. The DMNs activity is inversely proportional to the activity in the Dorsal Attention Network, which is more active when you're consciously thinking about something like math, higher-order reasoning, or anything where you feel like you're concentrating. So the DMN is active when you're thinking about nothing, when you're daydreaming or really any time you aren't concentrating \nSource: Neuropsych atudent ",
"Wait, people actually see their daydreams like that? I always thought daydreaming just meant a deep state of imagination, where you can still see fully, you just zone out of it and into your imagination, but it doesn't replace your vision.",
"1. No switch takes place\n\n2. This nether-realm of subdued external inputs is arguably indistinguishable from our waking sense of reality.\n\nIn short, your brain works efficiently with shortcuts and predictive algorithms (but definitely not algorithms because some math dork will bristle at the very idea). We startle ourselves in the moments you described by tuning back into our immediate environmental inputs, but tuning them out in the first place is a helluva trick on its own. One borne out of a waking reality that....is *real* fuzzy, ya'll.\n\nThese processing shortcuts allow all manner of perceptual advantage, often at the expense of real-time observation and processing. We *perceive* a real-time existence, but even within our own biology, that perception is overcoming biological bottlenecks for processing data. We have evolved and adapted to incomplete, inaccurate models of our surroundings. Community and culture have helped to bind those models together with common assets, but you can see how this system has been strained *and* enhanced by the vast spectrum of environmental inputs available on internet, to good and bad effect.\n\nOur individual grasp of the human languages we use is a good example. Values are roughly entangled with these metaphorical constructs, that themselves have evolved around our most efficient means of processing information biologically.\n\nThe answers you find in this thread?\n\nShortcuts that were learned. Metaphors for comprehending something that humans currently don't, which is the functioning of our own brains. They're not \"wrong,\" they're just tragically incomplete to the point of uselessness. Our exploration of the mind with current scientific instruments reveals only the extent with which humanity can perceive meaning in a fuzz of unknown values.\n\nELI5: Kid, this isn't a question you can get an answer for from internet right now in human history. \n\n(I've offered intelligent confusion instead.)\n\n\n*Edited for edits",
"Definitely fact check me, but what we learned was that when people start to day dream or think introspectively the portions of the brain that are used for attention and working memory (right parietal lobe and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) \"quiet down\" in the sense that they lower their activity rates and the default mode network turns \"on.\" The default mode network is a network of brain regions that become more activated when the brain is focusing less on outside stimuli and more on internal reflection, day dreaming, or even meditating. This network changes then Brian waves from beta (alert and active) to alpha (awake but relaxed). That's part of the reason people \"snap out of it\" when interrupted while daydreaming. Basically when zoning out different regions of the brain get activated and the higher thinking centers quiet down so you are less aware of what's going on in the outside world and more aware of your internal monologue, thoughts, feelings, etc. \n\nParagraph and Sources: In neuroscience, the default mode network (DMN), also default network, or default state network, is a network of interacting brain regions known to have activity highly correlated with each other and distinct from other networks in the brain.[3]\n\nThe default mode network is most commonly shown to be active when a person is not focused on the outside world and the brain is at wakeful rest, such as during daydreaming and mind-wandering. But it is also active when the individual is thinking about others, thinking about themselves, remembering the past, and planning for the future.[3][4] The network activates \"by default\" when a person is not involved in a task. Though the DMN was originally noticed to be deactivated in certain goal-oriented tasks and is sometimes referred to as the task-negative network,[5] it can be active in other goal-oriented tasks such as social working memory or autobiographical tasks.[6] The DMN has been shown to be negatively correlated with other networks in the brain such as attention networks.[7] Thinking about others also could include guessing their thoughts, emotions, and psychological motivations.\n\n 3. Buckner, R. L.; Andrews-Hanna, J. R.; Schacter, D. L. (2008). \"The Brain's Default Network: Anatomy, Function, and Relevance to Disease\". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1124 (1): 1–38. doi:10.1196/annals.1440.011. PMID 18400922.\n4.^ Lieberman, Matthew (2 September 2016). Social. Broadway Books. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-307-88910-2.\n5.^ a b c Fox, Michael D.; Snyder, Abraham Z.; Vincent, Justin L.; Corbetta, Maurizio; Van Essen, David C.; Raichle, Marcus E. (2005-07-05). \"The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks\". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (27): 9673–9678. doi:10.1073/pnas.0504136102. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1157105 Freely accessible. PMID 15976020.\n6.^ a b c Spreng, R. Nathan (2012-01-01). \"The fallacy of a \"task-negative\" network\". Frontiers in Psychology. 3: 145. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00145. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 3349953 Freely accessible. PMID 22593750.\n7.^ a b c Broyd, Samantha J.; Demanuele, Charmaine; Debener, Stefan; Helps, Suzannah K.; James, Christopher J.; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J. S. (2009). \"Default-mode brain dysfunction in mental disorders: A systematic review\". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 33 (3): 279–96. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.09.002. PMID 18824195.\n",
"It's all the same part. You are \"imagining\" everything you experience, whether it's sensory input from your body, or recalling a memory, a generating a new experience through your imagination.\n\nOur brains are overloaded with sensory input, so we train them over time to ignore a lot of it.\n\nAlso, human vision is actually not very good. Hold your thumb out at arms length and focus on it. That's about the area that you can actually see clearly. To get the full field of vision our brain stitches together all the rest of it and we imagine a full image. That's why we experience motion blindness and various optical illusions. (There was one posted on reddit the other day where it showed a pattern with 12 black dots. But it's impossible for you to see all 12 black dots at the same time, even though it was a still image.)\n\nAll of the rest of your sensory input is handled the same way -- by your brain selectively ignoring most of it and trying to imagine the world. \n\nSo when you use your imagination, you're really not switching controls on or off, you're just ignoring a little more of the \"real\" world.",
"Furthermore, can someone elaborate on if daydreaming too much is caused by anything? I feel like I have a hard time concentrating on a lot of things and I seem to catch myself daydreaming throughout the day.",
"I don't know, but in junior high I'd space out in science class and the teacher would start talking smack to me for a minute or two before I'd 'wake up'. Usually I'd be staring out the window at the mountains. Very embarrassing. ",
"The brain isn't really like a computer, but more like a supercomputer. It also doesn't have a linear stack, where it does things in a certain order. It can certainly monitor the outside world, while also the inside, while also a few moments ahead of you, in what it predicts is gonna happen. The brains processing is done in chucks or clusters of little parts, often working on many different parts and things at the same time themselves. Then they're all synced with the frontal cortex to kinda pass on a 3d reflection of the outside and inside world.\n\nThis is all speculation.",
"It's the neuromodulator acetylcholine. \n\nNo one knows specifically why it's functionally necessary because no one knows how the brain works. ",
"You brain is actually just *barely* connected to your eyes so it doesn't take much to \"disconnect\" like this. The effective data rate between your eyes and your brain is about as fast as a modem. What you \"see\" is reproduction created by your brain anyway - your physical vision is more literally like [this](_URL_0_). \n\nThe human eye only has color and detail in the central fovea near the optic nerve. Involuntary movement called [saccades](_URL_2_) causes this sensitive area to \"scan' what you see. Even with all of this, the data rate and accumulated data even over seconds to minutes is far too small to reproduce the \"HD\" view you think you see.\n\nAll of this is related to \"The brain is not a computer\". You can't really use deep analogies between the two as a result.\n\nWhat you \"see\" is what your brain tells you \"it thinks\" you are seeing based on a combination of memories (accumulated over your lifetime) combined with the low-res hints picked up from your eyes. All the perceived colors are filled in by your brain and memories. All the perceived details are filled in by your brain and memories. What you \"see\" is more truly what your brain expects to see given the hints, than what you are actually viewing. \n\nThis is how the [\"selective attention paradox\"](_URL_1_) occurs and what most optical illusions come from.\n\nThis is related to much of what art training is about: teaching you to pay attention to what's actually \"out there\" rather than the inner model monologue/reproduction. You literally have to **unlearn** a lot to become an artist.\n\nThis is also related to what ADD/ADHD is about - the outside hints can distract the inner monologue too easily in certain people and we call that these names. Taking stimulants like Adderall simply speeds up the internal monologue so fast it can't be interrupted easily.\n\nSo when you daydream, it's really about your inner monologue disconnecting from the outside stimulus for a bit. Without the \"grounding\" hints, it can wander where your memories and brain take it. Sometimes you can solve problems this way by removing the immediate sensations of the problem that are locking you \"in\".",
"It's crazy to hear that so many people can't visualize things in their head. I thought everyone did it.\nI daydream constantly. Especially at work. But it never impedes on what I'm doing. My brain is still aware of what the machines are doing. My muscle memory and hearing kind of aid as my autopilot. They allow me to keep doing what I'm doing but alert me if something isn't right.\n\nAll the while I'm daydreaming about that DIY project I want to start or that drag car I'd like to build. It really helps get through some rough nights. I can't do it when I'm reading or writing though. \n\nOh and most of the time I talk to myself while I'm doing it. Literally like I'm explaining something to a friend. It helps me to visualize even better if I say it out loud. ",
"Weird... Apparently not everyone has images in their daydreams. I thought that was normal. As a writer, I use that skill all the time.\n\nWhen I was in high school, I wasn't very happy in my home so I did a lot of daydreaming. It was very complex and vivid, to where I would just sit there by myself for hours daydreaming. I knew that wasn't normal, I just didn't know that not everyone has images in their daydreams.",
"The brain experiences sensory info as well as internal memos posted spontaneously, typically in direct reaction to previous memos and the environment. The ratio of alertness to our internal environment and our internal memo posting is directly related to the excitement derived. E.g. A car crash would break you out of your day dream. So in short we get a little carried away with our internal memos and there isn't room in our active attention for the external cues since they are pretty damn boring anyway "
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1wt60x | scientology | I just don't understand it and its beliefs. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wt60x/eli5scientology/ | {
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"Science Fiction writer wants to become rich and invents a religion using his SciFi skills.\n\n",
"Twelve trillion years ago (yes, trillion with a “t\") an alien overlord named Zeenu wanted to depopulate his planet. He loaded his minions onto spaceships and sent then to Earth. They landed in volcanoes whereupon he nuked them and when you shampoo your hair they get inside your body.",
"South Park actually did a really good job at explaining it like you were 5.\n\nThere's a clip on this buzzfeed link.\n\n_URL_0_",
"[This video is both informative on the topic as well as entertaining](_URL_0_). ",
"_URL_0_ \n \nThis is one of my favorite rundowns of Scientology by a former member. It really gave me a better understanding of the entire scheme, not so much the \"what\" as the \"why\".",
"Scientology is a religion and philosophy created by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard previously had gained some traction with people through the creation of a self-help system called Dianetics, which largely became a basis for Scientology's practices. Dianetics believes that the mind has three aspects- Analytical, Reactive, and Somatic. Practitioners of Dianetics try to reduce and remove the Reactive mind, which they believe is a sort of mental scar tissue caused by trauma and negative experiences, purifying a person to their Analytical and Somatic minds. This is only part of it though.\n\nScientologists believe in something called Thetan. The Thetan is a bit like the Soul, particularly as defined by Buddhism, or a bit like Hinduism- everyone has it, and it's sort of your personal piece of a grand cosmic pool of souls.\n\nScientologists believe that Thetans existed before the big bang, and Thetans created the physical universe. They believe that Thetans sort of \"fell from grace\" when they began to associate more with the physical universe they created than with their spiritual nature. Scientologists aim to reclaim their spiritual nature through Dianetics. They believe that \"auditing\" (the process of strengthening the analytical mind and reducing the reactive mind) is part of this process. \n\nThe Church of Scientology, infamously, has \"higher level\" materials that they believe should only be available to people who are \"ready\" to read them. These materials detail a lot of the really crazy stuff that people make fun of Scientology for. They detail the actions of an alien Overlord named Xenu who lived 75 million years ago and controlled a galactic empire. He allegedly brought aliens to Earth via spacecraft, and using hydrogen bombs to set-off volcanoes, killed these aliens to collect and torture their thetans (souls). The long period of torture is allegedly the basis of the human \"reactive\" mind. ",
"[It's all fun and games until you question their teachings!](_URL_0_)",
"Slating on reddit? Your organizaton is considered terrible by anyone who spends time researching the subject. Get real[.](_URL_0_)",
"[This video](_URL_0_) explains the origin pretty well. The other stuff...well here's as kind as I'm going to be (to them, not you): \n\nIt's a cult that works by brainwashing an individual by separating them from society and making them loyal to the organization (usually works better on younger or desperate people). After the people are indoctrinated into how their social system works, they are made to believe that their \"truth\" is the correct and only truth and that going against that \"truth\" would mean going against the system (of which they have already been admitted to, which only happens if they are completely obediently, blindly, loyal). This is how a typical cult works. If you want specifics keep reading. \n\nTo get you to join, they will make promises such as emotional support, friendship, protection, stability and such (that is after you pay them all they think they can get from you). \n\nTo make you loyal, they take families and put them into separate camps to remove the familial bond. If you misbehave or do something that goes against their rules, you are sent to a work camp until you submit. \n\nTheir core belief: Humans are descendants of frozen aliens (prisoners, I believe) that were thrown into a volcano on Earth to be killed. Some survived and are our ancestors. That's pretty much all I know as this is a cult and I don't much care for it. There is proof of this but I'm too lazy to find it....",
"It's a brainwashing cult and nothing more. Everything you could want to know you'll find in this 1 hour BBC documentary. [Here](_URL_0_)"
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d5g0l9 | everything about battle tactics? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d5g0l9/eli5_everything_about_battle_tactics/ | {
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"It's gonna be difficult to explain battle tactics in a single comment. Check out The Art of War, by Sun Tzu."
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1lhnot | why is water being the universal solvent considered helpful to the survival of cells? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lhnot/eli5_why_is_water_being_the_universal_solvent/ | {
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"Water is one of the components of being essential for life because that it is dissolving vitamins and minerals.\n\nWater also cleans the system water to flush out toxins, regulate body temperature and aid our metabolism.\n\nI pretty much summarized the first few paragraphs where it is related to your question of that article below.\n\n_URL_0_"
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2hu0t9 | why do some people sweat substantially quicker/more often than others? | I know someone whe sweats almost every time they sit on leather (like their legs/rear end) even when they are not necessarily hot. It might be normal room temp, but they might still be sweating... Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hu0t9/eli5_why_do_some_people_sweat_substantially/ | {
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"Most of our sweat is released by the eccrine sweat glands, which are stimulated when the body is hot. When stimulated, these glands release a watery substance onto the skin. When this moisture evaporates, the body cools down. If we're sweating due to an emotional response, like anxiety, sweat is released from the apocrine glands. These glands are stimulated when we're nervous or overly excited.\n\nExcessive sweating happens for many reasons. Usually the reasons are pretty benign, like heavy exertion or hot weather. And some people just sweat more than others.\n\n(link : _URL_0_) ",
"Genes. Some people have more active sweat glands. ",
"I VERY rarely sweat. I might get a little sticky after a workout, but I don't sweat.",
"Certain meds will also cause you to sweat your ass off. ADD meds are prob. the biggest offender that comes to mind right now. ",
"Quick question: do people that sweat more burn more calories?",
"Omg this is me at work. Its 70 degrees and I will break out sweating. Our ac broke one time and it got into the high 70s. Having to wear a smock I was sweating like it was a fucking sauna\n \nEdit - everyone at work thinks I'm seriously fucked up. Its hard to talk when sweat is running down your face while customers are looking at you. You feel like a fatass or a miserable out of shape person..",
"Ever since I got heat exhaustion and \"whited out\" (optics nerves were pinched from constricting blood vessels due to dehydration, and all I could see was bright white) I sweat a lot more than I normally did and do more than most people. I also feel hotter in normal situations than I used to. The hypothalamus is crazy.",
"When I was thin, I didn't sweat much. Now that I'm a fat pig, I sweat profusely all the time.\n\nRocket science.\n",
"Your training level also plays a part in sweating. A highly trained athlete will sweat much more and much faster than an average person. This is an adaptation their body went through because they are much active more and need more sweat to cool down. You can see this when NBA players warm up and they are already starting to sweat even before the game starts.",
"I would really like an answer to this. I sweat like a fat kid stuck inside of a 150lbs mans body\n",
"So your hypothalamus controls your body temperature, its like the AC unit in your house. Some people's A/C units are more sensitive than others, like setting your unit to immediately turn on after a raise in 1-2 degrees. The AC unit in your body causes your blood vessels to dilate and get closer to your skin. The actual cooling is the sweating part… your sweat cools your blood as it circulates through your body. Some peoples AC units are very sensitive to any temperature change, and causes an increase in sweating to cool the body down ASAP",
"My favorite part is when I towel off from a hot shower, and I'm already covered in sweat before I'm fully dressed.\n\nOr walking outside in the summer. In wool work trousers. Summer weight wool is a fucking LIE. ",
"Hyperhidrosis is a pretty common thing. It's basically over-active sweat glands. I was born with it in my hands, feet and underarms. It doesn't matter how hot or cold you are, sweating can and will just happen for no reason. There are procedures and medications available to help manage the condition. And it's hereditary. Yay genetics!",
"Everyone that sweats a crazy amount at stains their work shirts needs to get certain dri that has aluminum chlorate in it. It was a miracle worker. Instantly ",
"When I went first time to doctor for over sweating I got some interesting (and quite disturbing) facts. Human can produce up to 5 liters of sweat per day. It can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and that shit takes years.\nThan I was like \"Fuck that, I'm gonna be sweaty pig for the rest of my life\".",
"I don't have sources because this is something I recently learned in class, but I can try to find some if you want. \n\nSweat glands are epigenetically controlled. The first few days after birth, the body determines how much sweat needs to be produced, and grows the sweat glands accordingly. \n\nSo if someone is born in a warm climate and experiences hot weather for the first few days of their life, their sweat glands will grow to be ready to produce a lot of sweat, and vice versa for someone born in cold weather. ",
"Sweaty bastard here, can confirm any light activity sends off the sweat glands going ",
"Well, some people like me suffer from hyperhidrosis, but I'm sure you meant people without this condition. Still, I can't tell you how many times people have shook my hand or whatever, and commented on \"how nervous I must be\" since I was sweating. And when I tell them how it literally is always sweating, even in cold weather, they act like I'm just making an excuse. Please don't be these kinds of people...",
"To lazy to scroll. Alcohol has a profound effect on this, the more you drink the more you sweat. Dry to drenched in seconds. ",
"I sweat lightly when I'm active. My Chinese wife just turns red. Our kids sweat when they sleep even in the winter and buckets when they play. I don't get it.",
"I used to date a guy who was an excessive sweater. Anytime we had sex, he would pour buckets! And this is from regular, non hardcore sex... The sheets would be soaked and I would be dry. He was in shape too. Not sure why he was like that.",
"My SO calls me mr. Frog, because I'll just sit there and be moist. Sweat so easily. ",
"I may have scrolled too fast but it looks like no one mentioned that profuse sweating/overly easy sweating can be a sign of liver problems.",
"follow up question:\nwho is better at tolerating the cold.. thin people, muscular people, big people, fat people.. .etc. ? ",
"If you sweat a lot, like me, check with your doctor about prescribing Hypercare Solution. It's prescription only but dirt cheap. It uses aluminum chloride. You dab it on before you go to bed and then just apply your regular deodorant after a shower in the morning. The only side effect that I've encountered is some slight burning/irritation."
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8srx3z | how do car sharing services deal with impounded cars? | Today i saw a car sharing smart (a Car2Go) being taken away because it was on a no parking zone.
I'd like to know how getting back cars works for them in these situations. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8srx3z/eli5_how_do_car_sharing_services_deal_with/ | {
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"The user who parked the car there will be charged for the ticket along with an administration fee for the company's trouble getting it out of impound. The car still belongs to the company and they will pay for the impound fee and ticket, recouping the cost from the driver.",
"The person who had it last will be charged for it getting impounded. Some times the impounding company calls the business since occasionally its disgruntled employees leaving work vehicles and its unlikely they'll be able to pay. But sometimes they don't and fees will build until it gets figured out. ",
"I used to work for one if the car sharing services but I cannot divulge in which company I was with.\n\nBefore the vehicle is out on a reservation, users sign up with a lot of information regarding their eligibility, driving record, background checks and a few other ends here and there. Once they reserve the vehicle, the sole member who is registered is now solely liable for any kinds of damages, at-faults or impound issues (of course pending investigation by any associates or agents that go out to the car.)\n\nSince the company pays the parking garages, lots, and local government (for on street parking) for the spots that are strictly reserved for the car-sharing vehicles, members are required to leave the vehicle in those spots anytime they leave the car. Anytime they park in a space that is not reserved for the vehicle, they are to pay for the parking fee to avoid getting impounded or fined. \n\nAlso-- most vehicles, whether it is aftermarket or OEM from the factory, come with a tracking device that is hardwired into the immobilizer and the vehicle, for theft prevention purposes, and so that only the member can access the car for the reserved time. The GPS always updates the location in realtime so that we know where it is at any moment in time.\n\nSo with all these tied together, whenever a vehicle is impounded (due to illegal parking, expired tags, theft or any reason therein), the GPS signal is sent from the tracking device to the main system to locate the vehicle at its exact coordinates. Once we realize that the vehicle is missing and the vehicle is put out of commission through the system to ensure other members don't reserve the vehicle while it is out of service, an associate or management is sent with company money to bail the vehicle out (assuming it is NOT totaled).\n\nOnce it is paid, the associate or manager will drive the vehicle back (assuming it is safe to drive) and move it to where it is supposed to be. They keep the receipt, take photos of any damages that were done, any belongings and document it when needed.\n\nThe time of towing will usually be given through means of receipt, reports or any kind of documentation that was given by call center, government, company and/or so on. Then the department responsible for the impounded and speeding fees (usually Headquarters) will triangulate the information and track down the last person to use the vehicle or current (since the vehicle when impounded is out of service and cannot be rented for fleet.)\n\nSo when the member in question is finally proven to be the person that caused the impound of the vehicle to take place, they charge them and notify them through the email linked to that account that they have been charged with the fee plus an administration fee because the vehicle has been found to be impounded during or after their reservation.\n\nYes there are a few very rare exceptions that haven't happened since I worked there, but most of the rules are laid out in a rulebook that members have to SIGN and ACKNOWLEDGE when their application has been approved.\n\nThis was my first eli5 post and I was kind nervous making sure this was typed out okay. I'm sorry if it wasn't the best explanation but I hope it helps.\n\nEdit: I missed a few details and grammar.\nSorry... English is not my first language."
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1v3pfc | what are the effects of ibuprofen on the body? | I'm a gymnast so I tend to be sore often, and I would say I take more ibuprofen than the average person, so what are the effects of this on my body? I know it can effect the liver, but does it do anything to anywhere else? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v3pfc/what_are_the_effects_of_ibuprofen_on_the_body/ | {
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"It isn`t great for your kidneys and actually quite horrible for your stomach as well, especially if taken without food. ",
"Another side effect that very few people know about: it affects your hearing. To be more precise, it can give you permanent hearing loss. Apparently it reduces the blood flow inside your ear (the cochlea) and damages it.\n\nI've been using this painkiller three-four days a week for over 15 years, and I've noticed my tinnitus has progressively become worse, especially the last 3-4 years.\n\nEDIT: more info _URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"Ibuprofen and other NSAIDS, like acetaminophen (Tylenol brand), block the production of prostaglandins (hormones) which are produced by damaged cells and cause inflammation.\n_URL_0_",
"A few points: I was not sure whether by \"what are the effects of ibuprofen on the body\" you also meant how does it work to alleviate pain, so I thought I'd add a bit on that first.\n\nIbuprofen is an anti-inflammatory drug. Inflammation is an immune response and damage control system in the body, where the affected area (such as a wound or a bacterial infection) widens its arteries (where blood travels from the heart) while constricting its veins (where blood returns back to the heart) to allow more blood to rush to the area and temporarily stay there. To put is as simply as possible, this means that, if infected, white blood cells can get to an infected area and help fight the infection, and red blood cells can help carry the necessary nutrients to help the body repair itself. This also allows platelets in the blood plasma to clot bleeding if a blood vessel has broken. So basically, inflammation is a very important thing in the body to heal injuries and fight infection, but the process can lead to heat, swelling and painful sensations. \n\nSo, what happens when you take Ibuprofen? It basically tries to reverse the effects of inflammation by widening veins to allow some of the blood in the area to be released. This alleviates swelling and pain, but can also hinder the speed that the body heals and recovers, especially if overused. Like most drugs, overuse can be very bad for your kidneys over time, as the chemical has to be constantly filtered out of the bloodstream if abused. The liver releases enzymes to help in this as well, which can also damage the liver if overused. There is also an increase of blood pressure associated with long term overuse, which can lead to hypertension and heart disease over time.\n\nThere have been some extreme cases of patients abusing anti-inflammatory drugs having gastro-intestinal issues as well, from diarrhea and constipation all the way to stomach bleeding. So yea, it's real bad to abuse these drugs. \n\nYou didn't mention your gender, but a very interesting study done in 2005 and published in the Journal of Urology seems to have linked long term overuse of anti inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen with a 140% increased risk of erectile dysfunction. There is information on this on the wiki article about ibuprofen if you want to see it.\n\nI don't think there is any danger in short term temporary use of anti inflammatory pain releivers, but I have to say that, even as an athlete, if you are so often in pain as to be regularly taking pain medication to cope and continue to perform in gymnastics, I would urge you to see a doctor, and perhaps some physical therapists, to find the source of the issue. You could be ignoring serious issues that could lead to stress fractures or tears.\n\nEdit: Phrasing and wording on a few sentences."
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eh1i31 | why do passenger jets have to have their fuel manually calculated? why can't the computers in them automatically calculate the fuel? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eh1i31/eli5_why_do_passenger_jets_have_to_have_their/ | {
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"Uhhh what are you talking about? What aspect of \"their fuel\" do you think is manually calculated?",
"Exactly what do you mean? \n\nThey have fuel gauges that tell you how much fuel is on board, fuel flow meters that tell you how much is being used, and flight management computers that tell you how much you're going to need.\n\nIf any of these components is inoperative, there are means to manually measure/compute these things, but it's not normal operation."
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a1koum | how does it rain in kansas? | There’s like no oceans or large bodies of water near Kansas. How the hell does enough water get up in the clouds to rain?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a1koum/eli5_how_does_it_rain_in_kansas/ | {
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"There is no real limit to how far moisture can travel in a cloud. \n\nThe rain falling in Kansas can be from evaporating water from mountain streams, the ocean or anything else. ",
"Water evaporates everywhere, even from the respiration of grass and trees. The rain in Kansas may not have come from an ocean, but from a forest in Colorado.",
"The rain in Kansas largely comes from the Gulf of Mexico, as you might see in this map:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n"
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9b6f74 | difference between colonialism and imperalism | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9b6f74/eli5_difference_between_colonialism_and_imperalism/ | {
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"The terms are closely related and often treated as interchangeable, and the differences are largely arbitrary.\n\nColonialism is the idea of having colonies, ie dominions away from your homeland that you own. Oftentimes this has involved exploitation by the colonial power of resources and people of the land taken over, so it's treated as a bad thing in modern parlance.\n\nImperialism is a somewhat more general concept. Its root lies in \"empire\". Empire has meant different things at different times. It once meant a totalitarian government with absolute power over large areas (ie, Roman Empire). In much of the post-medieval era, especially in Europe, it meant having colonies (ie British Empire, French Empire). It was also somewhat interchangeable with modern industrial might and power, leading to terms such as \"Empire State\" in the US. At times imperialism/empires have been glorified and at times they've been criticized, the latter becoming the more common usage starting in the 20th century.\n\nAfter WWII with the elimination of virtually all colonial holdings, traditional colonialism died out. But imperialism, as before, took on varying interpretations. The postwar economic global order overseen by the United States made it difficult to impossible to maintain a large overseas empire. Yet that same order made it possible for some powerful countries (particularly the countries that won WWII) to use their economic might (and sometimes military strength) to wield power over countries with less economic strength, even though they aren't formally colonies. This has been called the 20th/21st century imperialism. And because imperialism was so synonymous with colonialism for so long, many see today's economic imperialism as being a form of colonialism, although not as direct as once before. I think the actual term is neocolonialism or something."
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22uwg7 | how come files i save on windows can't have a ':' in the file name? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22uwg7/eli5_how_come_files_i_save_on_windows_cant_have_a/ | {
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"There are several characters that have special meaning to Windows \n\nA filename cannot contain any of the following characters:\n\n\\ / : * ? \" < > |\n \n---------------------------------------\n \n/ is a switch (and also a directory separator).\n\n\\ is a directory separator.\n\n: is a drive designator.\n\n\\* and ? are wildcards used in searching.\n\n\" is a way to allow spaces in parameters.\n\n < and > are redirection that allow input and output of a program to come from, and go to, something other than screen/keyboard.\n\n| is a pipe that allows output from one program to be used as input to the next"
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3l1w03 | what is the deal with proms and homecoming queen and kings? | I tried to gain understanding of this form a exchange student from USA but I didn't get the concept at all. What is the deal with the proms? Do all schools have them? Is there a national prom day or how does a school decide when it is held? In the movies they always vote for prom king and queen. Then there is a home coming king and queen? What is that now? I remember the exchange student also saying that only first and third year is allowed to participate. If second year students want to get it, they have to be asked as a date. I think I may be confusing many things here but it would be nice to understand teen movies better. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3l1w03/eli5_what_is_the_deal_with_proms_and_homecoming/ | {
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"Here in the USA, yes almost all schools have a Spring Formal Dance. During prom season which runs from April to the end of May; teenage girls go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a dress they will wear once, and most guys go out and rent a tuxedo or possibly a limo. They then take their date out to a fancy dinner.\n\nGrades 11 and 12 (juniors and seniors)are allowed to participate. Grade 9 or 10 students (freshmen and sophomore) must be asked by an upperclassmen.\n\nThere is no National Prom Day. \nMost schools book a venue off campus to throw the party at. It's' just the school's way of trying to fancy stuff up. Example: My junior and senior prom were held at a Flour Daniel office building 20 miles from the high school.\nAs far prom king and queen, who knows why that is a tradition.\n\nHomecoming is very different from Prom, atleast where i was from.",
"Both of these are big social events in a high school population that include/are centered on a big dance. Many schools have one or two other dances over the course of the year (more in more religious areas, where social activity is regulated by grown-ups).\n\nHomecoming is in the autumn, maybe a month or two after school starts (which is typically around the beginning of September). In college, its a time for recent graduates to come back and visit, and it has some of that flavor in high school as well. There's usually an official football game which is the homecoming game, where the King and Queen are crowned. \n\nProm is in the spring, a few weeks or a month before graduation. It's meant to be the social climax of the high school experience. \n\nIn both cases most schools have Kings and Queens and courts, which are essentially rewards for being popular. A school sets its own policies, although IIRC for prom at my school only seniors were eligible and only seniors voted, while at homecoming I think others were allowed to vote. \n\nHomecoming is usually open to anyone in the school. Prom is typically only for seniors (those about to graduate, typically 17-18 year olds), or maybe juniors as well (the year behind senior), although they can bring an underclassman as a date. But as I say, any given school might have its own rules of traditions that are different than the norm. \n\nWhen I was a lad it was de rigeur to go only if you could score a date, although that was (dear god) 25 years ago, so maybe things are different now. \n\nHigh school dances in general are sort of weirdly formal and weirdly trashy, because high school kids are often sexually active but still learning how to behave. There's also a culture of going to prom and then when it's over going out and getting drunk, and there is a lot of anxiety over kids getting in car accidents. (Note that it's illegal for people this age to buy, possess or consume alcohol, but it's not that hard to get your hands on it.) In part because of this, and in part because it seems cool, lots of kids take limos on prom night, and to a lesser extent to other dances. \n\nIn the movies it's a cliché that people lose their virginity on prom night. And certainly there is a lot of fucking that goes on, but many high schoolers have already punched their v-card before that point. (Although I will note the first time I ever got to second or third base was after homecoming one year. Which isn't particularly germane, but, you know, any excuse to tell that story.)"
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x2j4t | syrian protests and bashar al-assad | Im constantly hearing information about this, but i really have no idea what is going on. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/x2j4t/eli5syrian_protests_and_bashar_alassad/ | {
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"Bashar al-Assad was a dentist by trade prior to succeeding his father, Hafez, to the Presidency of Syria in 2000. Assad belongs to the Syrian Baath Party. The Baath Party is a pan-Arab, Socialist political party that broke up into two divisions: the Iraqi Baath Party of Saddam Hussein, and the Syrian one of Hafez al-Assad. The Baathists are typically Sunni and Christian Arabs. Going back in time a bit, for one, brief period Syria, Iraq and Egypt were united in a pan-Arab political union. It was short-lived but its background influences much of Syrian politics today. It is the root of the current Syrian regime.\n\nThe beligerents in the Syrian uprising include anyone not represented in the regime. This means Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Shiites, Islamists, and anyone else who is not aligned with the Baathists whom run the government. So it is not clearly divided among ethnic lines. It's much more political, but even politically it's not as easy as black/white, right/left and so on. \n\nLike the former Egyptian and Iraqi regimes, the Syrian one is a semi-socialist, mostly secular, authoritarian, and military government. It is a single party state where minority views are disenfranchised. So like Egypt and Libya, there is one tyrant at the top and an embedded network of supporters in the military and government. This gives the Syrian uprising a common cause, even though they aren't totally united politically, ethnically or religiously. At this stage the most cogent goal is the removal of the Assad/Baathist regime.\n\nThe uprising began in 2011, about a month after the Libyan one and two months after the Tunisia uprising. It is part of a wave of civil unrest, uprisings and protests known as the Arab Spring. So far this wave of disturbance has included Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia and Syria - although Algeria and Saudi Arabia had very minor flashes of protests as well. The Syrian uprising was started from within the country and was inspired by what was happening in the region. \n\nRegarding foreign involvement, NATO was heavily involved with the Libyan revolution, providing material and combat support to the Libyan rebels, and recognizing the rebel government fairly quickly. Politically the world was on the same page: Gaddafi had to go. With Syria that consensus hasn't developed. The US, as far as I know, hasn't supplied the Syrian uprising with weapons, but has supplied communications equipment. Russia and China aren't on board with military action, and Iran has used the situation to its political advantage. \n\nOf all the nations who would get involved, Iran would be one due to its support of Syria. How involved it would get in the event of foreign military intervention is uncertain. During the Iraq War, evidence of Quds force operatives was found several times, showing Iran had sent agents into Iraq during the American occupation. So it's reasonable to guess Iran would covertly support Syria here.\n\nAs to what America would do, there isn't as much momentum behind military support like there was with Libya. America is clearly war-weary, and with the election ongoing the President is not likely to order the military into Syria this year. A full scale invasion is out of the question, because Iraq and Afghanistan's trials loom too large in our memory. Nonetheless the Dept. of Defense is throwing plans around in case they have to deploy.\n\nThe single biggest blockade to international action in Syria is probably due to Russia and China. They have economic interests in the country which makes their votes on the UN Security Council an assured \"no\" if military action is proposed.\n\nThe largest supporter of military action in Syria is Israel. They are sworn enemies going back to Israel's founding in the late 1940s. They have warred with each other twice and a series of proxy battles have ensued thereafter. Israel is threatened by the Assad regime's very existence, and Syria likewise by Israel. Syria has supported the Palestinian movement, has occupied and manipulated Lebanon to its own ends and may provide some assitance to Hezbollah at times. As Israel is a major US ally, the US is forced to take some kind of stance on the whole issue.\n\n**tl;dr - If you think this is long, there are literally tons of books about this very issue.**"
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2g9mee | why is something advanced like assembling tiny computer parts made overseas less expensive than making them in the us? is it just purely nature resources or does insurance and legal stuff take a large chuck of profit in the us? | I know that some countries have some advanced technology so how come we make things like computer chips which I assume are hard to make are made overseas like Germany or Taiwan rather than at home? How come it's so much cheaper to make something that complex in a foreign country? Is it because the US has more laws for workers or less natural resources than other places? Thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g9mee/eli5why_is_something_advanced_like_assembling/ | {
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"Labour costs, more dodgey occupational health and safety standards etc",
"Slave labor in slave conditions. The reason China has become such a superpower is through treating their entire working class population as slaves so all the first world countries outsource their menial labor to them.\n\nI don't think China has minimum wage laws or working hour laws. If they do, they are ignored.",
"Physically making things has a certain value depending on how complex and novel, but mass manufacturing can be done without requiring much creativity or intellectual input on the part of those doing the physical work, although a good designer should always consider advice from people who actually make things. Who makes more money, the architect or the construction worker?",
"Lots of computer chips are made in the US; the US and other industrialized nations still manufacture lots of things like cars, airplanes, advanced medical equipment, and precision tools. Things that require very strict quality control measures unlike the shit made in China and the 3rd world, we just can't compete with $0.27/hour they pay in some factories.",
"There's lots of factors.\n\nCost of labour is one. Workers in some countries will do the same work for less than others.\n\nThere can also be lower health and safety standards.\n\nCost of energy is also important. Some countries like china have no concerns about burning highly polluting coal and not worrying about the environmental problems it causes, leading to cheaper energy prices.\n\nCost of resources is another.\nWhen a country is in need of aid, countries like the UK and the US offer aid in return for better human rights and moving towards democracy, which governments often don't want to do.\n\nWhen China offers aid, they look at a countries natural resources and say \"we'll give you this aid if our companies can have the rights to mine those minerals\". Under-developed countries often aren't using the minerals anyway since they don't have the industry to do it, so china gets a really good deal on resources while the countries government doesn't have to sort out things like democracy and human rights.\n\nGermany is different, however. German manufacturing isn't successful for being cheap, it's successful because they invest in producing specialist parts that nobody in the world can make.\n\nChina has a bad reputation for quality, even though not all Chinese made stuff is poor quality.\nPlaces like Germany can't keep up in terms of price, so they make things china can't, and they make things customers wouldn't trust china to make.\nGermany has a history of great engineering which it continues to foster, so the words \"made in Germany\" make people think \"quality\", unlike \"Made in China\" which makes people think \"cheap\".\nSeeing the words \"Made in the USA\" might make you feel like you've done some patriotic service, and it may seem better than \"made in China\", but I bet it's not as reassuring as \"Made in Germany\".\n\n"
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2y8gsm | why don't game designers just use real world physics equations in games? | Since we have so many well-established physics equations explaining gravity, motion, and just various forces overall, why don't game programmers just create their worlds using actual physics equations? Since a computer/console is just going through the code and essentially solving equations, wouldn't it just be easier to define all of the parts of the equation and have the video game world work that way? Sorry if I'm just completely off on my assumptions as well. I just started my Informatics major. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y8gsm/eli5_why_dont_game_designers_just_use_real_world/ | {
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"They do.\n\nThe problem is that the physics you do in the classroom is theoretical, not practical. It's easy to calculate the behavior of a point, but it's super hard to calculate the behavior of a complex structure such as a body. Every part of the body has it's own properties and interconnections, and so the equations need to be performed separately on all of them.",
"They do. It's often tweaked a bit to make for better gameplay, but they are based on real world physics equations.\n\nThey're not perfectly accurate because of processing power limitations. It's hard to accurately simulate lots of complicated objects, so some simplifications are made. For example most game physics only deals with completely rigid bodies. Soft bodies which can compress and stretch (such as fleshy humans parts) are modelled using rigid bodies connected together with joints and springs.\n\nThere's also the fact that they do it using discrete maths rather than continuous. The game is split into distinct frames, and it uses the results of the previous frame, and works out where things will be the next frame based on their velocity, acceleration, other objects they have collided with etc. Doing it this way means sometimes it's sometimes glitchy, especially if things are moving fast. A common thing that goes wrong is that an object is moving so fast it can completely go through another object because it's so fast that there is no frame where it would be intersecting the other object, so the simulation doesn't realise it should have collided with it. Some physics engines can deal with this though.",
"To some extent they do, but at some point real-world physics outstrips even our best graphics engines and processors. Depending on the type of game, there are different issues to contend with.\n\nTake a racing game. It seems pretty straightforward. Take the stats for a given car (0-60 acceleration, top speed, 100-0 deceleration, drag, etc) and put those numbers into simple physics equations to describe behavior. That might even get you an okay simulation. But when you start pushing for absolute realism, you have to account for ***everything***. How hot is the pavement? How old is the pavement? What are the weather conditions like? How humid is it? What's the dewpoint? What kind of lighting conditions are there? Wind speed and direction is a factor. The materials the car is made of matter. What kind of brake pads do you have? How far into the race are you and how hot are they and how much does that affect their performance? What is the auto-body made of? How does the suspension handle different terrain and transitions between them? How does the engine perform under stress with different types of motor oil? \n\nJust handling light in a game world is incredibly complex. Light doesn't just bounce once and stop, it reflects and is absorbed by multiple surfaces before it's done. So how do you handle driving under trees when you're modeling every leaf with real-world physics equations and you have to determine where the light will pass and where it won't, plus what color, tone, and brightness will hit the road surface and the myriad car surfaces.\n\nIf you get into games like call of duty or the like, then you have to start dealing with human motion, skin which can be all kinds of colors, have varying amounts of hair, sweat, blood, and dirt, and moves in ways we have trouble modeling with simple physics equations.\n\nNow imagine having to do all of these calculations simultaneously, repeatedly, and rapidly to handle the constantly changing conditions. It's enough to overload even the best consoles and gaming PCs out there. So game designers use other equations to model some patterns and movements to simplify what the system has to handle. As our computing power increases, our ability to match real-world physics increases, but we still have a ways to go.\n\nSo TL;DR: There are too many details to calculate real-world physics constantly for every aspect of a game, but we are getting closer.",
"They do.\n\nMost games follow Newtonian physics for the most part. However a computer can only compute so much in a certain time so to have a game which is playable in real time you need to make some simplifications.",
"They actually do. The problem is that you need to simulate that for everything. And I mean, literally everything. Not just how fast the ball falls to the ground. But how it bounces. Real life ball will have bilions of places, on which if the ball falls, will bounce a little differently, with different power, to different place. Now, how do you emulate the bilions of spots for a singular ball? It would take a huge ammount of work and processing power, which is entirely pointless for game, where ball is just a after thought. So they make ball bounce in singular way, so to not torture themselves. And I don't even mention the rotation of the ball, based on atmospheric pressure, wind resistance, material, the force that given it motion, the ammount of pressure in the ball, interacting through the material with the outside, etc...\n\nToo complicated for simple object that is supposed to look like it bounces somehow convincingly.\n\nIt's not that they wouldn't want to. It's just too much things to keep track of. So they focus on 1 thing. A Water in the original Bioshock, a ragdol in skyrim, Shadows in titan quest (and any game ever since). We are getting there, but suprisignly, the real world is hellova complicated.\n",
"As other people have said, they do and they don't.\n\nReal world simulations take extremely long times. For example, one of the most efficient and accurate ways to analyze a deforming body is to use something called Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and even that is just an estimate. But either way, to calculate deformation of a simplified object with simplified forces (like really simplified forces I should add) can take hours or days. In a video game, you want to step on a piece of grass and have it respond to the force of your foot. To simulate this with real world physics (or as close as we can get) is one, way way way too complicated to analyze with even the best software that exists without huge simplifications, and even if you managed to build the model perfectly, it would probably take on the order of weeks for an average computer to calculate everything. \n\ntl;dr Not really because of time\n\n\nEDIT: Souce: Mechanical Engineer who has spent countless hours wanted to shoot myself in the face trying to run ANSYS",
"A lot of the time they do! However for some things real world physics just isn't *fun*.\n\nSo they use different animation curves etc. Look at bayonetta's jump In Bayo1/2. So rises really quickly and falls a lot slower. She doesn't slow down over the course of the jump, she pretty much just stops at the top, hangs for a bit then falls again quite slowly. The time it takes you to rise is a lot quicker than the time it takes you to fall. This non-physics based jump serves a gameplay purpose: You want to get aerial quickly to start your combo, and you want to fall slowly so you have enough time to actually execute your moves. It also gives a much snappier animation and feels more \"real\" than real physics.\n\nI guess it depends on what you want your physics for. ",
"As well as the many points raised here already, in some cases the real world physics are thrown out as they're just not as much *fun*. For instance, Elite Frontier used (more or less) real world acceleration and newtonian physics for space travel - not to the extent of Kerbal Space program, but you get the idea. The trouble is that if you want to have space combat with space ships fighting each other, using real world physics means that even just getting into the same general area as the other ship is quite tricky (see rendezvousing in KSP), and in effect both ships have to *want* to fight each other, where what players want is more sort of dogfighting, where you have a constrained battle space that the participants enter, a la Elite Dangerous.",
"Not too sure about the physics but the graphics will look incredible if they ever start using this.\n_URL_0_",
"I like how all of these posts are \"They do!\" followed by a long list of ways they don't ",
"Because your equipment does not have the processing power to handle those calculations in real time. ",
"From a storytelling perspective you add details/mechanics to the game that reinforces the player experience you are going for. E.g. if you design an adrenaline pumping action game you might choose to not add inertia. So it's the same reason movies don't show people going to the bathroom - it doesn't reinforce the narrative.",
"Because simulations are hugely CPU intensive. Ask any houdini artist and he'll tell you, a water sim/glass sim/particles could take days to render",
"A lot do. However, there are a lot of complications in physical equations which are a bitch to compute. That's why scientists need to use supercomputers to model interactions.",
"Now, when I studied assembly it was for a 16-bit microcontroller, not a 32/64 bit PC, so the cycle counts I provide may be off somewhat.\n \nIn the world of a CPU, everything is in clock ticks. For a high speed situation like a game, you have a limited number of ticks, 33 milliseconds(ms) worth if on console, ~16ms or even 8ms on a PC(accounting to 30fps, 60 fps and 120fps respectively. It is really not a very long time when you consider it has to process at least everything you can see in the game. \n \nOne of the problems is that outside of addition and subtraction, math takes a long time. Addition is easy, only took 2 clock ticks. Subtraction was a bit harder, taking three. Multiplication took 34 clocks ticks to complete. Division took a whopping 56. \n \nNewtonian physics have a lot of multiplication and a decent amount of division in them if you process them as is. \n \nSo on order to save time and make sure you don't lag, developers cheat and cut corners.",
"Some equations take longer to process especially ones that have to be executed over and over. In this case it's often better to use a different equation or one that approximates the solution. If your equation takes less time to process you'll see improvements in performance and framerate. ",
"I'm a researcher who use Comsol Multiphysics to run thermal-hydraulic simulations. Equations running hydraulic mechanics are very cpu demanding while computing 3D models.\n\nFor exemple fluid flow modelling of melt metal during laser welding (molten pool size approach 0.8mm) take 16h with a 6 cores cpu running at 3,46ghz and 10gb of ram to describe 10 ms of process.\n\nJust imagine what it would take to run a game with real world physics.",
"Why don't we have real life graphics? ",
"My fluid simulation that took 90 hours to simulate for 10 seconds of actual video tells me game engines just aren't powerful enough to render and calculate things in the time frame needed. ",
"Engine programmer here;\n\nMost of the time we actually do use real-world physics. The best scenario is to use real-world physics to do everything, however simulating the real-world takes a heck of a lot of computing power.\n\nSimple stuff we do use real-world physics equations, like reflecting a vector or gravity and other forces, but complex things like lighting and collisions we have to cheat as cheating takes a lot less computing power than doing it raw.",
"The physics engine in arma 3 is pretty nice. At least when it comes to ballistics _URL_0_",
"For one, real world physics aren't necessarily more fun than virtual physics. Also real world physics are extremely complicated and factor in things that aren't generally coded in games, like mass.",
"To put things in perspective, it's almost absurdly hard to simulate the simplest of everyday things. Suppose that you have something more complex than two spheres hitting each other, and you want to make it realistic. Say you want to simulate how a model of a foot behaves as it starts touching the ground, just at the beginning of the contact phase of the gait cycle. There are still Ph.D.s being written about that topic, more-or-less.\n\nSuppose you have a spy game where you spy on someone with a \"bug\" that has a radio transmitter. The player's character has a hand-held receiver. The software that can realistically simulate how well does the receiver receive the transmission, is pretty much priced so that if you have to ask, you can't afford it. $100k wouldn't be a stretch. That's how hard it is to numerically simulate \"simple\" radio propagation in complex environments, such that it'd be good enough to be used in place of measurements in real life.\n\nThat's why, in a game, you often have to pretend really hard. For example, if you want to simulate drop-outs etc. in your hand held receiver, you have to make up an alternate reality where the nature is governed by much simpler rules, and simulate those instead. As long as the behavior feels natural to a human with suitable experience, you've done your job, even if numerically it's completely bogus.",
"In Super Meat Boy the physics are all faked, but its to the benefit of the game. The controls in that game are pristine.\n\nSource: _URL_1_ (which comes from his own tumblr where he asks fan questions, _URL_0_)\n\n",
"This thread has a lot of misinformation. Perhaps some devs in some games use some equations similar to physics in the real world but it's not taken to that degree throughout. An example would be helicopters or planes in a battlefield game. In real life you are talking about a massive rotor manipulating air and another rotor counterbalancing that torque to hover. In a videogame air resistance and torque are complete non factors, I can't think of one that accounts for them because it's wildly unnecessary. To keep the helicopter in air you swap the player physics engine with the helicopter physics engine (which most likely will just turns off 'gravity' while playing the animations). Another example, Most underwater levels aren't filled with any sort of substance as we think of water in real life, instead they tint the screen blue, use slightly different 'gravity' solutions, and make new character animations to simulate swimming. \n\nTldr much in the same way we don't use true particle physics to light game, we use very truncated models of those concepts and tricks to achieve the simulation of physics on objects. \n\nedit: Typed that first bit on my phone, wanted to elaborate. As /u/leafsleep pointed out\n\n > Real world physics isn't calculated, it's intrinsic to how things exist. All of the physics equations we have are just the best models we have of our observations - the things don't actually follow those equations. Simulating the real world perfectly basically requires infinite calculations per second. To me it's surprising that we can do so much with what we have.\n\nVideogame are quite the opposite, everything needs to be told what to do, and is done so by variables chosen to be described by the programmers. In real life you hit a mailbox with a car and the forces of gravity and inertia will be exerted upon the tensile strength of metal, mass of the entire contents, etc. In Grand Theft Auto you hit the mailbox, it probably swaps to a dented version, and follows similar ~~physics~~ behavior as most other objects of that size. At some point the designers of the game have to make a decision whether or not simulating all of those real life phenomena really makes an impact on gameplay, if not, simulate everything else to a convincing degree and call it a day.",
"Its because the real world sucks and people want to play games that are fun.",
"Video games are approximate SIMULATIONS. We can only approximate reality in them. WE can barely model more than a few dozen molecules on supercomputers. What you are asking is to track every particle in the game every single tick. Not possible.",
"They already do, but as The Third Law of Motion says: for every action, there is an equal, opposite reaction. This means that in order to accurately model physics in the videogame world, the game would need to constantly bring up the calculations whenever something happens. This eats up the processing power that could be used elsewhere (like AI, for example).",
"I tried adding realistic general solving of astrodynamic trajectories to my space colonization game. I used a library called PyKEP, got it working after a lot of clunking around.\n\nFor single impulse missions, it was very quick and easy. As soon as you added continual thrust (like an ion engine - highly important for asteroid mining) the solve time went up to 4 minutes. When adding gravity assists it went up to 8 minutes.\n\nWe needed to be able to calculate trajectories on the fly for thousands of ships simultaneously and instantly... Without having a petaflop computer lying around, faking it was the only way forward unfortunately.\n\nComputational limits are the reason games cannot 100% emulate the real world. However, according to the Deutch-Turing-Church hypothesis, if you can 100% compute a physical event on a quantum computer, it's the equivalent informationally as the real thing. \n\n**ELI5 Version** Computers aren't capable enough yet to emulate everything in physics, but one day they could be and if that happens it will change the world.",
"I'll give you an example, consider [Peggle](_URL_1_). That was a game mainly created by Sukhbir Sidhu, John Vechey (game designers), and programmer Brian Rothstein, and it was inspired by many of the pachinko machines that you see in casinos and the like.\n\nInitially, they used something like Box2D which was able to nearly exactly replicate real world physics, and it was good. It \"worked\". But was it \"fun\"? Was it as fun as it could possibly be? Absolutely not. Play a few levels of some of the official Peggle versions, then play some of the poor Peggle replicas on Facebook. Within no time, you'll see the Facebook versions \"work\", but are nowhere near as \"fun\".\n\nBecause when you think about it, would real world sports be more fun if each players had one Sonic-like charge in them per game, they can use when they like? It almost certainly would, but the real world is limited by real world physics, games are not, so there's then no need to limit them to that.\n\nSo back to Peggle. The guys had a closed-system development approach to making that. Brian made the system, then Sukhbir and Vechey played around with it for weeks, and then months, making slight tweaks to the ball bounce, the stickiness of the blocks and then the magic Peggle-slide.\n\nThis code is so complicated that there's only about 7-8 people in the world would be able to program that again from scratch! Source? I worked in PopCap, on a version of Peggle that didn't get realised, and then when they closed the Dublin office, set up a company with two of those who could code it, _URL_0_ :)",
"Ok the main reason is that these equations are very bulking and hard to do in real time. It would be easy to do if there was maybe 1 or 2 objects, but when you have 10 objects interacting at one the equations become very complex.The equations they use right now for the physics in games still can't handle many objects interacting at once without lag.",
"Real world physics would be kinda boring wouldnt they? I feel the same about real-looking graphics. What is this preoccupation with making things look \"real\"? It seems to me it just drives up production costs, and forces developers to make \"safe\" moves with their games.\n\nBut to each their own. I suppose some games do well with realistic graphics versus stylized.",
"They do. In python you can even import gravity",
"As a guy studying game design in college, we were actually told that although technically you can do this, it's not always a good thing. Take Grand Theft Auto for example. Half of the physics used in cars is so far from reality it's laughable BUT it's also fun to play and that's the key thing. If you put real world physics in GTA literally most of the fun would vanish. This is a struggle a lot of games have to cope with. Balancing gameplay and realism.",
" > define all of the parts of the equatiom\n\nthere's your problem. you going to make calculations for gravity, energy, momentum quadrillions of atoms at a time, every collision or interaction, for every single frame?\n\nor do you want to make it less accurate but faster to calculate?",
"To answer this from a fluid dynamics perspective, currently there is no way of finding the exact solution to the equations that govern fluid dynamics, namely the navier-stokes equations. \n\n\nAny solution to the equations are an approximation, and although there has been a lot of work in attempting to reduce the time needed to compute a solution while maintaining a high degree of accuracy to the real result, even simple fluid models may take many hours to arrive at a solution. \n\nPresently we are not close to being able to solve complex fluid problems in real time, and I assume that the applications of computational fluid dynamics will stay within the realms of research for some time, given the computing power required, coupled with the need for custom solvers. ",
"It is more fun to be able to bend the laws of physics then be restricted by them. It is usually more fun to jump higher and run faster. ",
"Here's a good followup question. Why don't we use real-world physics equations in the real world?\n\nIt turns out that virtually everything you use is some approximation of some broader law. For example, why would you assume that a gravity vector points downward when it really points toward the center of mass? Why would you assume that the gravity vector points toward the center of mass, rather than the sum of all the massive points nearby? Why do you assume that it is constant, rather than falling off with the inverse square of the distance? Why do you assume that gravity propagates instantly, rather than at the speed of light?\n\nWell, to answer the above, it's because determining all the points of a gravity field based on all the contributing massive points is very expensive, computationally. Even if you wanted to, you would need to specify a resolution at which to take the massive points, or you would need to sum the contribution of every atom in the earth. So, for our needs, assuming a constant, instant gravity value over a range doesn't break the game, unless you are coding Super Mario Galaxy or something. \n\nAnd that's just one parameter of an equation which will almost certainly be solved iteratively, which has its own error. [Runge-Kutta](_URL_2_) is the algorithm that is usually used to solve differential equations, and the above picture is a good example of the kind of error that occurs from the ideal solution.\n\nIf you wanted to solve it in a non-iterative manner, which is what it sounds like you are asking, you would need a closed form solution. We don't have closed form solutions for everything. A good example is the Quadratic Equation - you can get the roots of a quadratic equation with a pretty concise equation. But if you increase that to a cubic formula, finding the roots becomes [far more complicated](_URL_0_). And polynomials are something that is found just as part of a lot of differential equations, for example, in the denominator of a [second order transfer function](_URL_1_). \n\nAnd finally, let's say we could put in the physics equations we do know, and get closed form equations out. What then? Well, there are programming languages like Coq that are used to prove new mathematical observations. It's not a solved problem in the slightest. One big deal 'recently' was a closed form solution to the [navier stokes equations](_URL_3_) which someone more familiar with the paper would need to help me with. Navier stokes is used to describe fluid dynamics, for example, like the gravitational field above but with pressures and fluid velocities. They are an analog to Maxwell's Equations, which are basically the same thing but for electromagnetism. \n\nSo, tl;dr - What you want is to plug in the physics equations we know, and have it generate closed form or even iterative solutions for an arbitrary environment. This is not a solved problem. If you feel like solving it, please do, and grab a few nobel prizes on the way. \n\nEdit, sorry, I thought this was ask/science/reddit not ELI5. Leaving it to make children cry. ",
"One reason is gameplay and game balance. For example, Fruit Ninja.\n\nIf the fruits fall at 9.8 m/s^2 it will be extremely challenging for the majority. (It's currently 1.8m/s^2 cmiiw)\n\n\nAn example of game balance is a Shotgun's effective range in fps games. It would be overpowered to get 1 hit kills from 20 meters away. Many games give shotguns a range of only a few meters for game balance.",
"1) computational expensive. Especially when multiple physics objects interact with each other.\n2) floating point errors\n3) simulating things at a fixed, often varying framerate. That physics object heading towards the ground at one frame will be 12 feet inside of it the next frame.\n3) Honestly, it just *looks* wrong.\n\nI'm an animator and visual effects artist, so Ive got a good deal of experience working with rigid body simulation, soft body simulation, ragdolls, particle physics, realtime and pre-computed. Tweaking physics related settings is not intuitive for artists and engineers who write the systems will make something physically accurate, but will look slow, floaty, and lacking a convincing sense of weight of mass. \n\nThe audience doesn't want reality. They want something that caters to their expectation of reality. This is why car blow up into fireball or why a shot in New York City will show the Empire States building, Brooklyn Bridge, and Statue of Liberty at the same time.\n\nEven motion capture animation suffers from this. You an capture a stunt or performance and it won't look 'right' until you go in and tweak the motion, exaggerate poses and timing, etc.\n\nPhysics math in games is often simplified. Something that's really costly will be faked using a simpler algorithm or fewer iteration.\n\nTyping on phone, so apologies for spelling and composition.",
"Not really related, but including your title, you used the word \"just\" seven times in your question.",
"What made you think they didn't use them in first place?",
"Simply put, computational power is not good enough. Take water (or any liquid), for instance. The equations to model even the simplest liquid (Navier-Stokes) are monstrously difficult to solve (which you have to do numerically in almost all cases), what we often end up doing is something called finite elements. What this involves is cutting the liquid up into little triangles, then using some clever manipulations solving every equation on every corner (at the bare minimum) and proporgating that information across the whole mesh. Then you use that information to inch the mesh forwards in time 1 tick, then you remake the mesh to the new liquid state, and do the whole thing again. In a large system it can take hundreds upon hundreds of computational hours to do this. And bear in mind, these arent even the base physical equations, they're some form of large scale approximation to them. If you want to try do molecular dynamics for liquids on a large scale then well, maybe in 100 years.\n\nPhysics are far more complicated than computers can handle.",
"To make an apple pie, first you must create the universe.",
"First, you imagine a spherical NPC in a vacuum...",
"Most of the answers here seem to be from engineers or engineer minded people but you asked about why game designers don't use real world physics and the answer is because it often isn't fun.\n\nAs others have said, many heavy-reality based games will try to get close which leads to funny glitches but overall they do a good job. But more importantly what is fun about games is breaking the rules. Saints Row would NEVER want real physics nor would F-Zero (and I could go on and on). When you annihilate a foe in Diablo you want to see them go flying so the physics is intentionally modified to sell that fantasy.\n\nGames do this with everything, not just physics. Find a game with an iceberg and I bet you'll see 90% of it is above water whereas in reality the opposite is true.\n\nThe only time you truly want a solid physics approximation is in a realistic simulator and there hasn't been one on the market since maybe Microsoft's Flight Simulator which isn't really a game.",
"That's usually the idea, but the world is very complex so they make approximations. Since it's a game, not a simulation, what matters is looking correct and that gives the path to compromise when creating the approximations.",
"Often the baseline is modeled using basic physics equations. The iterations are often tuned for gameplay and performance reasons.\n\nReal isn't always fun, especially outside the realm of simulation games.",
"Most of the time, they don't. I'm willing to bet that most of the people chiming in with \"They do!\" haven't actually ever made a game. \n\nThe simple answer is that real physics don't feel good in a game setting. If Mario obeyed real physics, for instance, he would barely be able to jump, he'd move pretty slowly, and he wouldn't accelerate and decelerate the way he does in game. It would feel unresponsive and unrewarding. \n\nInstead, we make games using approximations and we only use the components we need. To continue our Mario example, all we need is acceleration, deceleration, maximum run speed, a few variables for jumping, and gravity. If we used real world physics we would have to take lots of other variables into account and that just gets messy. \n\nIn fact, it's even simpler than that. You don't even need to use acceleration and deceleration because you can actually just say how long you want it to take to accelerate to full speed and decelerate back to zero. This gives Mario that weighty feeling, but some games don't even do that! Mega Man just goes from zero to max run speed and back again, for instance, giving him functionally infinite acceleration. That's the difference between the platforming action of Mario and the twitchy combat of Mega Man. \n\nIf we use real physics, there's so much shit to deal with that games often become unwieldy. Some of those things might be worthwhile and important, such as in a driving simulator like Gran Turismo, but most of the time developers can just go, \"We don't need that,\" and approximate the rules with the bare minimum number of factors that make the game feel good. \n\n**TL;DR**: Most games don't use real world physics because they're complicated and not fun. ",
"The real question is, are physics just God's video game engine?",
"In the real world it is impossible to move an object to a certain position directly. You have to apply forces to it so it moves to where you want it to go instead.\n\nIn physics simulations you also should not directly move objects from one place to another but instead apply forces that will cause the move. The problem is that the developers are building a game, not a real world simulation. In a game you want things to happen in a certain, controlled way. So to get that control the developers often cheat and directly move objects around or assign speeds to them\n\nIn a game engine when you cheat and just move an object around, in typical situations it works so oftentimes games are built that way.\n\nThis leads to glitches where you for instance cause the game to move you or an object into a position that is part way inside another object. The physics engine tries to push the object out by applying a force to the object, while the game keeps moving it in. The force translates to energy that becomes stored in the simulation and because of the cheating it soon builds up to extreme amounts and the simulation explodes. Often the game is simply setting the speed of an object to a reasonable value but the engine is putting a lot of force on it, so when the game stops setting the speed the simulation converts the force to speed on the object and flings it far away in the opposite direction.",
"One, it's hideously expensive. So you simplify things. A person isn't a person, they're a capsule. A box is a box; so is a rock, a dog, and a bicycle, they're all boxes as far as the simulation is concerned. Simple objects make the simulation go faster. You may or may not allow them to rotate in space: that's expensive, and you may get most of what you want if they only translate through space.\n\nTwo, for a game like a multiplayer game, you may need to communicate what happens to multiple clients ASAP, and the more realistic and detailed the simulation is, the more messaging you may have to do, all the time, which bogs things down. Or you can do simulation client-side, and not communicate that stuff to other clients, with the result that you're confined to cosmetic stuff only, as gameplay-impacting physics wouldn't be synced up across clients.\n\nThree, a lot of gameplay feels terrible with realistic physics. I'm playing a character running around, and I can't run at max speed instantly? I have to ramp up to my top speed, have to slow down when I stop, and I have momentum when I turn? Yeah, that feels sucky (unless that's what the game is entirely about, like a racing game). So, you may immediately be dealing with things like infinite acceleration, which destroys a lot of real physics calculations.\n\nFour, framerate can affect the calculations, and games tend to be environments where variable outcomes based on framerate aren't acceptable. You therefore need things to be as simple as possible, as reliable as possible, and as real time as possible.\n\nFive, there's only so much precision to the calculations, which can lead to visual artifacts in things being solved via physics calculations. Things like rigid body debris from an explosion that can't quite calculate a rest position, so it vibrates in place for a long time, those sorts of things happen. You can tolerate them, you can try to hide them, or you can do hacky things to short-circuit the physics code to make things look correct.\n\nIn short, they're as real as the game can tolerate, if physics is a thing the game uses.",
"There's an even easier answer...\n\nBecause consumer products wouldn't be capable of handling the processing power needed to replicate the calculations fast enough to make for gameplay.\n\nBasically, you'd need a few thousand dollars worth of hardware before it would even be viable to play a game with realistic physics.",
"I just want to point out that in this discussion there seems to be a conflation of two ideas. A lot of people seem to be saying that the only reason is because real physics is too challenging to simulate. This is true. But we're not necessarily asking for a simulation of the universe. Newtonian physics is fine on a large scale, and unless the game is aiming artillery pieces we can ignore air resistance (and the million other simplifications physicists make). Newtonian physics is as realistic as we need to go for many, many applications.\n\nThe main reason is simply a cost-benefit analysis. There's no point hiring physicists and adding extra code (a rule of software development: more code = more bugs, so higher maintenance costs) for modelling something that would be 1% different than the simplified model, and that happens in the background so the player will never notice it. Or worse, that would actively detract from gameplay.\n\nTo use a bit of an extreme example. Engineers designing a nuclear reactor need the neutron transport software that runs for days because the results have to be exact for the heat transfer portions or reactor design, or else very bad things will happen. \n\nCompare this to a nuclear reactor in a game (like to power a Minecraft village). It's fine for a developer to assign some random power production value, ignoring the heat transfer portions entirely, because the game isn't *about* nuclear power. Players care about getting power to the village using the next tier of equipment, they don't care if it's nuclear or driven by unicorn farts. Forcing them to do it realistically is going to turn a lot of gamers off because they want to play a game, not read Introduction to Nuclear Physics and Introduction to Heat Transfer first.\n\nThe example is a bit extreme but it serves a point. The rules need to be bent a little bit so as to not frustrate players, or to add or reduce a challenge. Just like how in most games when you get shot or attacked by a zombie, you can just hide and your health will slowly regenerate. Or when you die you can respawn. Unrealistic, yes, but essential to gameplay.",
"In one of my game's where I had to approximate gravity I used Newton's equation for gravitational force. But in the case of complex games there isn't enough computing power to simulate physics to the atomic level. So game physics is mostly done on the macro scale.",
"Dynamics simulators split the model into tiny cells using a 3D grid. \nIn order to model a 1x1x1m volume with 1 cm accuracy, you would need 1,000,000 cells. And if you want a frame rate of 10 fps, your processor will need to apply hundred of physics and thermodynamics equations to 1,000,000 distinct cells 10 times a second. Sure, this is easy when nothing is moving in the volume, but when your material is undergoing physical or phase changes the processor has difficulty keeping up with the demand. Ultimately, almost all video games and simulators use some form of physics, but it is simplified using correlations and limits to improve game-play. Also, there's the problem of our incomplete knowledge of physics (dark matter, additional dimensions, etc). I think you will soon see processors that are capable of running real-time simulations that can fool you and I into thinking we are seeing something real, especially with the advent of quantum computing.",
"-They use a lot of physics equations. The problem however is the floating point limitations of the computer. It's practically impossible to get precise (real)numbers. It's also very expensive computation wise.\n\n-Games need to \"look like\" the real thing. Not \"be\" the real thing. \n\n-Gaming computation is already expensive as it is. Besides using real physics simulation doesn't mean better games. \n\nTL:DR: Computers are limited and slow.",
"I already know what the real world feels like -_- why would I want that in my game",
"For the most part, they do. Sometimes, approximations are used because doing real physics computations is very, very hard for a computer to do. For instance, [the Navier-Stokes equations](_URL_0_) are not used to model fluids in games since they are too complicated to run without sacrificing framerate.",
"I went outside yesterday. The graphics were amazing but the storyline was terrible",
"It just isn't fun to completely simulate reality. Paintings are the same way. Most are *naturalistic* and not *realistic* because imitating reality perfectly is impossible and often aesthetically unsatisfactory. It is better to bend things a bit to be a bit more fun; visually appealing; and responsive, especially considering how human perception shapes our expectations.\n\nCheck out a book called [Game Feel](_URL_0_). It has a lot of cool case studies of game design that is geared towards creating good-feeling gameplay. Mario's jump is a good example. He rises much faster than he falls. This allows the player to have more agency over where they land, and in fact the fast-rise, slow-fall character ends up *feeling* better to everyday people. The *realistic* version feels stilted and unnatural, oddly enough. I'd say this is sort of analogous to entasis in columns in architecture.",
"For some things, they do, at least to Newtonian precision. There's rarely much point in doing quantum mechanics or relativity calculations, though some quantum effects get approximated to give you things like soft shadows.\n\nThere are some phenomena that are extraordinarily expensive to compute in real time. Some real world equations have no symbolic solutions at all, so any calculation is going to be an approximation. For some equations, like the Navier-Stokes equation, it is not even known if they always have solutions, so simplified forms are required to ensure you don't end up with discontinuities. Others, like the rendering equation, have symbolic solutions that require some very esoteric math that nobody has bothered to accelerate, because the approximations to the rendering equation that everyone used before a solution was known can be computed well past the resolution of human vision.\n\nMost phenomena in physics have approximations that are good enough for non-relativistic simulation that it makes no sense to apply higher-order corrections, since no human will be able to perceive the difference. In most cases, those approximations were the state of the art for decades, centuries, or even millennia, so if it was good enough for Archimedes and Newton to describe the world, it'll be good enough for getting your ass kicked by a 12-year-old halfway around the world who fucked your mom last night.",
"Since no one has said this, I will add that even \"real world\" physics are themselves just approximate mathematical models to describe our universe. \n\nThere really shouldn't be any philosophical dissatisfaction over the fact that a game uses approximate physics as opposed to real physics, as long as the perception of accuracy is maintained.\n\nFor example, no one will go crazy over how game engines don't use enough digits of Pi. Even with a million digits of Pi, we know philosophically that we will always only be working with an approximation of Pi, the underlying model is reasonably represented.\n\nAnalogously, we usually don't have to model relativity in games since the player doesn't usually go near the speed of light. But the model of the motion of objects will seem like the same regardless.",
"Probably because it would be too boring. Same thing could be said about movies. Imagine you were walking with the actual speed when you are on the moon. It would lose the interests of the player fast. Most of the time, players don't care about the physics of it, it's more about the storyline so they would tweek it in order for the story to flow better.",
"They do to an extent. However a complete simulation of everything would be computationally prohibitive. There needs to be a lot of simplification. One of the biggest issues is that linear stuff is easy for a computer to do but non-linear things are hard. This means no circles or curves in general, no waves, no aerodynamic drag etc. Those things involve non-linear equations. To model them you need to linearize them. For instance if you've got circles turn them into squares or octagons. It's not perfect but for a lot of applications it's good enough. Also everything needs to be discretized. The world is continuous but computers are not. Every step in a simulation is a snapshot of the situation and the math just needs to generate the next snapshot rather than every possible snapshot. ",
"Computer science graduate student here. The key problem you have there, from a computational standpoint, is that the computer is not solving equations in most programs; that's simply not how modern computers work at a fundamental level. We aren't solving, we are computing. They would be called solvers if they solved equations (like 1 + x = 6), they are called computers because they compute equations (like 1 + 5).\n\nIn video games programmers simplify the equations and then program them in such a way that the computer just has to do a little math (just a couple hundred computations) to a bunch of stuff (everything in the game). The reason for this is that video games have just 0.0167 seconds to simulate physics, lighting, AI and do networking, input, rendering and sound.\n\nIn comparison mathematica takes **seconds** to solve an equation. It's a solver, that we created using a computer (the beauty of software). Solving equations in the general case is hard (millions and millions of computations), doing algebra is not easy for computers.\n\nAnother key distinction is that physics equations are both continuous and parametric. Modern computers are discrete and imperative. Our computers *can do* continuous and parametric, but it's extremely expensive (in computational resources) and simply not possible in the time frame that video games have.\n\nNow, all that being said, you have a good idea, a physics system which does the job of the programmer - looking at the game world and figuring out the efficient computation to do at run time - would be a cool/useful project. It would be like a physics system compiler; just like a programming language compiler. We are starting to get closer to a period where such Domain Specific Languages might be feasible.",
"We do use them but they actually don't look the best or have visual appeal. We use it as a starting point and then exaggerate from there. Sort of like Hollywood with movies. A real explosion or mussel flash is not as sexy as a Hollywood explosion or mussel flash, same with physics. You really would be surprised, I was. It must be something with our brain knowing it's fake, so if it is real physics it seems bleek. Maybe when we develop more in VR we can do more with real physics equations, but then again we have been so used to the exaggerate version it might be hard to appreciate realistic physics. ",
"We have the equations yes, but they are hard for computers to solve quickly. As it turns out approximations are good enough to trick humans in most cases. So approximations get used.\n\nAlso some of the equations we know how to solve for simple cases (a planet orbiting a star) but not the more complex cases (several planets orbiting a star with there gravitational fields effecting each other).",
"Well, they are trying too. The equations are really the same as the ones we use in the real world, but the more and more accurate you get, the more work the computer has to do. When you've got to pump out 60 frames a second, you make some compramises between realisticness and game aesthetic. Is it really important that the building crumbles perfectly or that you get those 60 frames? Optimizing the game engine to have \"pretty close\" physics is good enough for us nowadays. Maybe one day in the future we will have one to one hyper realistic physics, but today we just don't have the processing power.",
"You probably already have the answer you're looking for, but even though, here is an example.\n\nIn real life, light has gravity and thus, doesn't *quite* move in straight lines, and because everything with mass generates a gravity field, light technically bends around every person and object.\n\nIf I were to put this logic in, say, a 3d first-person shooter. You'll not be getting an impressive framerate, but won't notice the difference in terms of gameplay (that bullet you just shot came 0.000001% more to the right then it realisticly should)\n\nSo, as a TL;DR, in real life there is a ton of shit going on that aren't very noticable but would require a ton of computer-power to calculate.",
"In the particular case of fluid simulation, which I have studied somewhat shallowly, the thing is that the equations governing the behavior of fluids in real life can't even be solved (Navier-Stokes equations). \n\nThat's, if you want to have a picture of the state of a fluid without any simplifications (compressible, viscous, unsteady boundary, etc) we still don't know how to find a continuous solution for it. What we have are numerical methods which can solve the differential equations, albeit on a \"simplified\" fashion.\n\nBut even those numerical methods are way too heavy: In order to solve the equations and guarantee the boundary condition it takes anywhere from minutes to weeks, depending on the flow conditions and your code.\n\nYou can't have that in a game, in games you're supposed to solve all the physics on a fraction of the time required to render a single frame. That sure as hell can't be done when using a rigorous CFD method.\n\nSo, as most people have said, computing time is the hardest part, but I just wanted to clarify that some physics problems don't even have a continuous theoretical solution, they have to relly on numerical methods to provide a [very precise] approximation of the result."
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4kg4lh | us army/navy/air force numbering systems | Ex: Eighth air force, 115th infantry, etc. Those are just random examples, but how are they named? Is there a method to the madness or just chronology | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kg4lh/eli5_us_armynavyair_force_numbering_systems/ | {
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"It's all sequential. It starts at 1 and goes to 2, 3, 4, 5 etc... When the U.S. goes to war it expands the number of units activated to fill up every number sequentially. When the U.S. leaves a war or downscales then it gets rid of most of its units except the ones with historic or glorious lineage. That's why units like the 101st Airborne are still around.",
"_URL_0_\n\n > Is there a method to the madness or just chronology\n\nactually, it is not a good idea to have a sane numbering system. It turns out that statisticians can figure out how many troops are on the battlefield based on # observations and troop numbers"
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6uiqky | what's the psychology behind people being mean to others? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6uiqky/eli5_whats_the_psychology_behind_people_being/ | {
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"Being mean to others could be motivated by so many factors; it's hard to explain a complex behavior with one simple explanation. \n\nHowever, one can always apply the principles of behavior modification to understand behavior. Those principles state that behaviors that are reinforced will occur more often, and behaviors that are punished will occur less often. So, if someone is mean to others repeatedly, there's a decent chance that this behavior has been reinforced some way or another in the past. Some common reinforcers may be attention from peers, a feeling of superiority, or other social gains.\n\nSource: I am a grad student working toward my PhD in Clinical Psychology. ",
"Plenty of reasons. Here's a couple others probably won't bring up.\n\n1. Competition for resources. If I shove you aside to get the last PS4 on the shelf, I'm being a selfish jerk. Way back in the day though, being willing to do unsavory things for say, food or shelter could make the difference between life or death\n\n2. Confirmation bias. If I already think that /u/throwitaround123 is a bad person, my brain is going to prioritize information that reinforces that belief. If I just think you're a bad person because we got off on the wrong foot, I'm going to interpret good things you do as either some attempt to manipulate me, or just the exception to the rule. This can lead to treating people unfairly.",
"The only people I met like this were narcissists. It was a pay off for them. They felt good making me feel bad. There's some kind of self gratification in this process and I will never understand it. Simply because I don't feel \"good\" by making others feel \"bad\".",
"Bullies are mean to affirm that they are in the top position and that nobody will challenge them.\n\nSometimes a physically weak person will bully others to keep them scared so they don't get challenged.\n\nIt's a power thing mostly - they want to keep others scared of them because they are either very secure and don't want there security threatened or they are very insecure and that's the only way they know how to feel safe.\n\nI was born with empathy towards others, I remember somebody signed my yearbook \"to the kid that was never mean to anyone\" however sadly most people are not that way and will be mean to anyone just to get ahead or to feel powerful.",
"\\- feeling inferior and like you need to be put in your place; insecurity\n\n\\- physical necessity, like needing money, food, or shelter, or needing to fuel an addiction\n\n\\- meeting social needs or to increase social standing: stealing girlfriend, making fun of your appearance in front of others, etc\n\n\\- [borderline personality disorder](_URL_0_); it's a coping mechanism and these people generally don't realize what they're doing\n\n\\- sociopathic malicious behavior: serial killers, etc"
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6980q9 | why is "no antibiotics" a big selling point for meat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6980q9/eli5_why_is_no_antibiotics_a_big_selling_point/ | {
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"Two reasons: To keep the meat \"healthy\" despite the actual living conditions of the cow. No antibiotics means that the sanitation regulation for cattle handling HAVE to be followed.\n\nAnd second is for our own health. Antibiotics are like nukes, a last resort medication, they must not be taken so carelessly because it help with the development of microorganisms resistant to antibiotics. How do you kill a bacteria that survives our trump card? ",
"Animals raised for meat are often given constant doses of low levels of antibiotics. This keeps them healthier in unsanitary conditions, and boosts their growth so you get more meat from each animal.\n\nThe problem is that bacteria are really good at evolving to resist antibiotics, *especially* when exposed to constant low doses of those antibiotics. So pumping our livestock with them is basically creating a \"boot camp\" for bacteria. Anytime we come up with a new type of antibiotic, a resistant strain of bacteria shows up within two years, because farmers buy the new drug and start filling their cows with it, training the bacteria in the cows to fight it. \n\nWe saw this recently with [colistin](_URL_0_). Colistin is supposed to be a \"drug of last resort\", the thing doctors hold in reserve until you *really really* need it. It's the antibiotic equivalent of a nuclear bomb, and if bacteria become resistant to it, we're fucked. We don't have anything more powerful. And you know what happened? They found colistin-resistant bacteria spreading around, because farmers in China and India were pumping colistin into their cows.",
"Probably some fish are a good example to explain *why*.\n\nPangasius is a fish that's cultivated in Vietnam. It can get oxygen out of the air, so for the farmer (sorry, don't know the proper word in english) it doesn't matter too much if the water is clean or not. They can grow a lot of fish in a really small amount of water, about 150 fish per m³. Pangasius eat a lot of their own defecation, which is full of deadly bacteria, and those deadly bacteria are nuked with antibiotics.\n\nSo: antibiotics in our food chain is a sign for meat and fish, cultivated in an unsanitary environment.\n\nNext to that, the problem with resistation.",
"No antibiotics implies healthier animals, not feedlot animals living knee deep in their own feces.\n\nWhen antibiotics were given to farm animals, it was noticed they grew and gained weight significantly faster.\n\nAfter the antibiotic revolution, doses increased and farmers worked out you could avoid good husbandry and just pump your animals full of antibiotics and most would survive.\n\nImages of these poorly run feedlots hit the media, and were linked to antibiotics.",
"Thankyou for every comment on here. I've been wondering this myself lately. This post is very informative.",
"Thank you all for your answers!",
"This would be something my ag teacher would love to answer but I'll do my best. \nPeople tend to think cows or pigs treated with antibiotics will make you sick because the antibiotics are in the meat. But in reality any meat you buy from the store has no trace of antibiotics. Farmers have to let the antibiotics pass through the animal's system before they can be consumed. If there's any trace of antibiotics in the meat than it's no good. "
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5xv6jm | what happened in the bible and how much of it is true? | I'm from a different part of the world. All I know about the Bible is through pop culture. Noah's Ark, Jesus, water to wine, walk on water, and crucifixion. Clearly the part about Young Earth and all isn't true, but Jesus Christ was a real person, right? What cause did he champion and how did he come to be considered the son of god? And how'd he die?
Edit: I also remembered that I had heard about the Garden of Eden and the Adam-Eve-Apple story, not sure how that's relevant. And whatever mythology spills over in supernatural. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xv6jm/eli5_what_happened_in_the_bible_and_how_much_of/ | {
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" > but Jesus Christ was a real person, right? \n\nProbably, yes. It is also likely that not everything attributed to him actually took place, but the legends likely center on what was a real person.\n\n > What cause did he champion and how did he come to be considered the son of god? \n\nThat is difficult to say exactly, but he was most likely a preacher who was convinced the \"End Times\" were imminent. It may be that his being the Son of God was something what was added later.\n\n > And how'd he die?\n\nProbably he was crucified.",
"Part of the problem with answering that question is the fact that there is precious little information about the man outside of the Bible.\n\nNo contemporary writings of Jesus of Nazareth exist, and even the biblical teachings were not written down for a couple hundred years. The closest writing is that of Josephus, around 94 AD.",
"The Bible is a long collection of stories and it take far too long to go through all of them here, so this will just be a brief overview.\n\nThe usual Christian Bible is split into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is stories about the Jewish people from before Jesus. The New Testament is about Jesus and stories from after he died. Major stories in the Old Testament include the creation story, the story of the Jews fleeing Egypt under Moses, the story of Job, King David, and all of that.\n\nThe New Testament is about Jesus' life and teachings and the founding of the new Christian church. \n\nMost of the stories aren't true (or at least aren't verifiable), but they are based in history. For example, it's unlikely that any story about a particular person is true since so much time has passed. However, the references to the ancient kingdoms that existed are probably true (though they may be a bit inaccurate about dates, etc.).\n\nAs for the New Testament, the historical consensus is that Jesus was probably a real person who claimed to be the son of God. There isn't a whole lot written about Jesus by non-Christians from around the time he lived, which is what you would expect since non-Christians would not have thought of Jesus as special, but there are a couple of references to him. There are enough secondhand accounts, though, to make it seem likely that he was real and that he was crucified. However, everything in the New Testament was written from stories of people who knew people who knew Jesus - none of the authors knew Jesus directly. As a result, the details of his life are probably untrue.",
"Jesus Christ is a real person or not is a difficult question to answer. The problem is that we don't have much other source than the bible. \n\nTake Julius Caesar. We have a lot of literature talking about it. Some from himself, some from his friends and some from his enemies. We have different point of view about the same person. We also have archaeological finding that reinforce the position that Julius Ceasar was real.\n\nWhen it come to Jesus we don't have as much. We don't even know the author of most of the bible.\n\nIt doesn't mean that Jesus wasn't a real person, but we don't much evident that he indeed existed.",
"There is no historical record of him ever existing. The religion might have been invented by Paul( Saul) (Paulus)\n\n\nNailed by David Fitzgerald is a good book to read. \n\nThe core of the religion is love. Lots of similarities to the teachings of Buddha. \n\n",
"The Christian Bible is a collection of smaller books assembled into one as a sort of spiritual library. Each book has an author, an audience, and a specific message.\n\nSome of the books are related to each other, and some stand on their own. Some of the bible is pure history, describing the Jewish people as God molded them into His people. Proverbs is essentially a long list of wise sayings. Psalms is a book of poems and songs. The Song of Solomon is a long erotic poem written by a man to his lover. Some of the bible is prophesy, predicting the future. Some of it tells the story of the life of Jesus on earth, and some of the \"books\" are really letters, written to the early church from its leaders.\n\nThe first part of the bible is the \"Old Testament\". Jews and Christians share this part of the bible in common. Both accept it as spiritually valuable. The Old Testament includes the story of the creation of the earth, early Jewish history, and the laws of the Jewish people. The Old Testament foresees a messiah who will restore God's people to a position of power, and of right standing with Him.\n\nThe second part of the bible is the \"New Testament\". It begins with four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. Christians claim that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies of a Messiah. Jews do not believe this to be true.\n\nThere is a book (Acts) describing the history of the very early church. Then there are a set of letters written by early church leaders. Most of these letters were written by Paul. Paul was a devout Jewish leader who converted to Christianity and spent the rest of his life trying to evangelize the Roman world of his time. A few letters are written by actual followers of Jesus (Peter and James). The last book of the New Testament is called Revelation, and it is a highly metaphorical, almost incomprehensible prophesy about the end of the world.\n\nThe Bible was written by many people, over a very long period of time. Some books are very reliable, with many source manuscripts, all of which agree with each other. Other books are not considered as reliable, because there aren't many manuscripts, or because the manuscripts don't agree completely with each other. There is an entire field of study dedicated to textual analysis.\n\nAmong Christians, there are different positions regarding the authority of the Bible. Some hold it as an inspired work, divinely protected and guided through time as the Word of God. Others view it as a mere guide or source of spiritual meditation. There are many points of view in between these two extremes.\n\nI hope this is helpful The Bible is a really interesting peek into a variety of cultures and spiritual beliefs, regardless of your personal religious convictions.\n\n",
"There is a lot that happened in Bible. The Bible was written over a period of roughly 2,000 years by 40 different authors from three continents, who wrote in three different languages. Some books contain stories, some contain teachings, and some contain poetry.\n\nI will try to give you a simple explanation of the Bible. Pretty much everything from creation up until King David is heavily debated whether it is factual or not. Believers generally take it all as fact, and non-believers generally take it all as myth. There isn't much concrete proof outside of the Bible for a lot of it.\n\n**Genesis**: Begins with the story of how God created everything. Goes to the story of Noah where God flooded the earth. Noah's family repopulated the earth and then God chose Abraham to become the father of a holy nation. The story then follows several generations until you get to Joseph and his 11 brothers. Joseph was separated from his family and became a prominent figure of Egypt. A famine brought his family to Egypt where Joseph could help them, and the entire family settled in Egypt. Joseph's brothers and his two sons become the basis for the tribes of Israel. Israel was the name of the nation of God, but at this point in the Bible they are simply a group of people living in Egypt.\n\n**Exodus**: Picks up several hundred years later. Apparently a new pharaoh of Egypt felt threatened by the Jews and enslaved them all. They lived in slavery until a man named Moses came along. He was an Israelite, but was adopted and raised by pharaoh's daughter. He ran away and in the wilderness God spoke to him and told him that he would lead God's people out of Egypt. God brought ten plagues to Egypt to convince pharaoh to let His people go. Eventually pharaoh did let them go and all the Israelite left Egypt as free men and women. Pharaoh changed his mind however and went to fight the Israelites, but they were able to escape after God parted the waters of a sea so they could walk across. Pharaoh tried to chase them but drowned along with all his men when God stopped parting the waters.\n\n**Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy**: contains laws set by God on how the Israelites are to conduct themselves and their upcoming nation. It also documents their time in the wilderness. Because of the people's lack of faith they were punished to wander the wilderness for 40 years until an entire generation died. The next generation would inherit the land of Israel. God provided food and water to the Israelites during this time and they were entirely dependent on Him.\n\n**Joshua**: documents the Israelites conquering the land they are to settle. They find it inhabited and are to wipe everyone out. They basically murder everyone and take the land, but there are patches of people here and there who put up some resistance. The land is split into twelve lots and given to each tribe. The tribe of Levi doesn't receive any land, but they are given the duty of becoming priests.\n\n**Judges**: describes a time when the nation of Israel had no king. During this time other nation attempted to conquer parts, or all, of Israel and God chose specific people to lead the armies of Israel in a resistance. The most famous story in here is about Samson who was famous for having long hair and superhuman strength. When his hair was cut off he lost his strength and was captured and blinded. Years later (after his hair had grown back) during a party he knocked down two columns and killed thousands of Philistines at once (killing more in his death than when he lived).\n\n**Ruth**: documents the great-grandmother of David. David will become king of Israel later.\n\n**1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles**: documents the time when Israel had kings. Saul was the first king, but lost favor with God and was replaced with David who was known as \"a man after God's own heart\". The next king was David's son Solomon who built the temple where animals were slaughtered according to the laws given in earlier books. The idea being that sin against God demands retribution and the spilling of blood. God's wrath against sinners is redirected to the animals and the people are saved. Solomon later marries many women of different nations to make alliances with those nations. He was then tainted by the other religions they brought and God decides to punish the nation and splits it in a civil war. The people of both nations begin to fall away from God and worship other Gods, and then God brings other nations to conquer them both. The Israelites are scattered throughout all the lands.\n\n**Ezra and Nehemiah**: details the time when the nation of Israel is allowed to come back under the nation of Persia. The Israelites travel from all over and come \"home\" to rebuild the Temple and the nation (although it is still ruled by Persia).\n\n***At this point the Old Testament ceases to be in chronological order***\n\n**Job**: a story about a Godly man who is tested by the devil. This is actually the oldest book in the Bible and I'm not really sure when it is supposed to take place.\n\n**Psalms**: is a book of poetry. Mostly songs the Israelites sung to or about God. King David is attributed as being the authour of many of these songs.\n\n**Proverbs**: a book believed to be written by King Solomon. It is essentially a guide to his son on how to live a good and Godly life and resist/avoid temptation.\n\n**Ecclesiastes**: a book all about the meaning of life. It shows how without God one cannot derive meaning from anything. It is also a book believe to be written by King Solomon.\n\n**Song of Solomon**: yet another book attributed to King Solomon. This one is mainly love poetry.\n\nAfter this you have **the greater and lesser prophets**. This is a mixture of stories and prophecies. Many of these prophecies speak of a messiah that is to come and a time when Israel will become a great nation again. These prophets arose at different times throughout the history of Israel, and I honestly don't know a lot about many of them. The most famous prophet is Daniel who is most famous for being placed in a lion's den overnight. God protected him and he came out unscathed. He prophesied a list of nations would come and overtake the other. These include Babylon, Persia, Greeks and Rome. After Rome he predicted that God's kingdom would come.\n\nThis ends the Old Testament\n\nThe new testament is all about Jesus. Jesus was born around 4 BC when Israel was a nation under Roman rule. There had been a period of silence from God for about 400 years.\n\n**Matthew Mark Luke and John** detail the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be the long awaited Messiah that the Israelites were waiting for, but he was different that they expected. They expected a great leader to end their subjugation, but this isn't what Jesus was about. The basic message of Christianity is that He came to suffer and die and take the full wrath of God for our sins. The slaughtered animals taught in the law was only a symbol of what he has done for us. Anyone who believes in Him can attain eternal salvation and be right with God forever. He taught that Godly living isn't about following a set of laws, and is about loving God and loving each other. This message was so radical that the leading Israelites of the time put him to death on a cross (a particularly gruesome and torturous way to die). They thought they were killing a blasphemer, but it was all part of the plan. Through his death, his believers are saved. Three days later Jesus rose from the grave and spent some time with his believers before ascending to heaven.\n\n**Acts**: details what happened after Jesus. His followers were able to spread the message throughout Rome (the know world) and set up churches in a very short amount of time. It begins by following the acts of Jesus' disciples (his closest followers and students). About halfway through the book it follows Paul. Paul was an important Israelite who was given the task of persecuting and killing Christians. However, Jesus appeared to Paul personally and converted him and personally taught him in the ways of Christianity. Paul became the first and most prominent missionary of the time.\n\nThe rest of the New Testament are letters from Paul and some of the disciples. These are mainly to specific churches, or to certain people. Many are addressing specific issues that arose in those churches at that time, but they lay a foundation for how the church and it's people are to behave.\n\nThe last book of the Bible is **Revelation** that is a prophetic book about the end of the world. It is heavily symbolic and many sects of Christianity debate on what exactly is meant in this book.\n\nI know this was super quick, and super long, but I hope it provides a groundwork for your introduction to the Bible. Let me know if you have any questions, or would like me to expand on any of the sections."
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14ju86 | why do individual states have their own military forces? | Sorry for the US-centric post, but after seeing [this post](_URL_0_) I was wondering why the hell Arkansas needs a bunch of A-10s? Crowd control? Surveying the aftermath of a disaster? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14ju86/eli5_why_do_individual_states_have_their_own/ | {
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"The National Guard is also meant as an emergency augment to active forces and pilots must frequently maintain qualifications, so they possess an aircraft inventory to ensure this."
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[]
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1z03c6 | if a fever, coughing, vomiting or diarrhea are the body’s defenses fighting an infection, why do otc drugs offer to combat the symptoms? wouldn't you want the body to do its job? | I understand that deaths related to Spanish Fever were caused by the body's overreaction, but most symptoms of a sickness are the body’s defenses fighting the battle. Shouldn't they be aided and not suppressed or is it all just marketing and they are really just drugging you with a small dose of DXM? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z03c6/eli5_if_a_fever_coughing_vomiting_or_diarrhea_are/ | {
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"The symptoms you list might be *part* of an immune response, but the real work in fighting the infection is being done at the cellular level by your immune system. Stopping these symptoms does not stop the immune response.\n\nIf you have a cold and you stop the runny nose by taking something, the immune system hasn't shut down. It is still actively fighting the virus. But you just aren't as miserable.\n\nIn more extreme cases, like high fevers where the fever does actively help the body, the issue is that the body can push the fever past the point of helpfulness and into a dangerous realm. We don't know why it does this. We do know that you can suffer long term consequences from running a very high fever for an extended period of time, so the fever gets treated alongside the illness.\n\nSome symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea, might help flush out the issue, but again, can cause harm to the body as well (dehydration being the main one here). They are also not fun symptoms to experience. But even though these are part of the immune response, they are not the whole thing. The real work is being done at the cellular level.",
"Not sure about fever but for symptoms like diarrhea and stuffy noise/sneezing may be caused by the infection itself. The infection wants to spread and attacks our body so we sneeze, get a runny noise, have diarrhea this makes the infection have a better chance of spreading to others.\n\n"
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2wxlcq | how can campbells make soup with cooked meat in it that doesn't need to be refrigerated? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wxlcq/eli5_how_can_campbells_make_soup_with_cooked_meat/ | {
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"Meat rots because of bacteria. Canned good in general are packaged sterile, which means they don't rot.",
"The way meat spoils is that pathogens get into it. Refrigerating it slows the rate at which pathogens can reproduce. With soup, the soup is canned, then cooked in the can. Any pathogen in there is killed, and no new ones can get in while the can is sealed.",
"This is the whole point of canned food, it's been *sterilized* by heat (plus preservatives) and then sealed so no bacteria or air can get in. Most bacteria still need oxygen to live, so thy can't live in the sealed can.\n\nAnaerobic bacteria (do not need oxygen) can live in the sealed can, but hopefully were killed by the heat process and inhibited by he preservatives. Occasionally a poorly-preserved can can swell, and this is caused by activity of anaerobic bacteria which can produce deadly toxins.\n\nCanned goods last a long time but not forever."
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c6gxse | what is domain and a host before making a website? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c6gxse/eli5_what_is_domain_and_a_host_before_making_a/ | {
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"A domain is that thing most people type into the address bar. \nEG \n\"_URL_0_\"\n\"_URL_1_\" \nYou need to register it so when someone types in _URL_2_ they reach you. \n \nA host is the computer that actually responds once someone types in your web address."
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1rnj0l | if heat is simply molecules moving faster, why does my breath moving air faster cool down soup? | EDIT: Guys these are such great thoughtful thorough explanations and I really appreciate you taking the time to write them and I don't understand a word of what anyone is saying I'm sorry. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rnj0l/eli5_if_heat_is_simply_molecules_moving_faster/ | {
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"Moving faster around randomly. Net movement is still close to zero. Your sending out many air molecules that each come in thermal contact with the warmer soup. When two things are in thermal contact they want to become the same temperature. The air you blow heats up a bit during the time it is in thermal contact. The soup cools down.",
"When you blow on the soup, you're essentially blowing the highest energy particles away from the soup, lowering the temperature of the soup as a whole. Temperature is a measurement of the average kinetic energy of all the particles in a substance, so getting rid of those high energy particles at the surface of the soup reduces the temperature.",
"It's the comparison of two concepts: Forced versus Natural Convection. Naturally, the air above the soup will rise and in turn the temperature of the soup will cool. When you blow on the top, you are forcing that convection, allowing more air molecules to flow away from the soup and cool it down.\n\n_URL_0_\n_URL_1_\n\n",
"It is important to note that evaporation is a two-way street. The air above the soup already has water in it, and at any given temperature there is a certain amount of water that evaporates into the air and a certain amount of water vapor that condenses back into the surface of the water. However, the \"temperature\" that I am referring to is not the room temperature, it's the temperature of the air a fraction of a millimeter above the surface of the soup (because air molecules don't travel very far before they collide with each other), and the difference between this hot, wet air and the slighter less hot and wet air a bit above it, etc. There is a continuous gradient of hotness and wetness that all interacts, and of course air currents develop because the hot air rises.\n\nWhen you blow on the soup you replace the hot, wet air that had established a sort of equilibrium above the soup with cooler, dryer air and suddenly there is a lot fewer molecules of water going back into the soup from the air, fewer steam molecules beating down on the top of the soup and preventing some of the less energetic water molecules from getting airborne, etc.\n\nRichard Feynman has a great explanation of this in his very first \"Lecture on Physics\", section 1-3 \"Atomic Processes\". It's too long to type out here but it's a great illustration of how thinking about the world in terms of fundamental concepts (everything is made of atoms) can lead to simple explanations of all sorts of things that weren't obvious at the outset.",
"This is a good explanation from XKCD. It doesn't involve blowing but it uses stirring as the example. _URL_0_",
"Now a lot of people already gave excellent answers, but seeing as you have troubles understanding those, I will try to stay true to theme of this subreddit:\n\nThe soup is giving off its heat to its surroundings (the bowl it's in and the air above it). These surroundings get close to equal the temperature of the soup, creating an equilibrium, and thus no incentive for the soup to give off more of its heat (because everything nearby is almost the same temperature already). Now, if you blow on the soup, you move the hot air above it away, making room for colder air to get there and get itself heated up, thus giving the soup a reason to give off more of its heat again.\n\nAlso heat is particles moving faster, but completely random. If you take a section inside your hot soup, and look at your molecules in there over time, you will not be able to see a general direction of movement (statistically, and only if you didn't stir), e.g. for every molecule moving up there will be one moving down, for every molecule going right there will be one going left.\n\nYour breath does add kinetic energy (movement) to the whole system of your soup, but it is directed movement, and mostly added as mechanical energy. Only a (very very) small amount of it is added as heat. This addition of heat of yours is way too small to outweigh the benefit of blowing away the hot air above the soup, in total making your soup colder when you blow on it.",
"Remember heat energy is thermal energy, and the easiest to show how energy transfers.\n\nHeat is the amount atoms \"vibrate\" or \"excite\" when you heat an ice cube into liquid, and then into a gas, you have the water atoms slowly become more excited. At a solid, with thermal energy =0, the icecube has all the water atoms chilled out, and they stick together with their bonds.\n\nThen when the water thermal energy = 5, water is liquid. It's still together but the molecules can move more freely. They are moving about a little faster to break the bonds they hold together. \n\nWhen water is at steam, thermal energy = 10, the molecules are excited, and flip out. This creates a gas. They don't bond anymore to eachother, just fly around in a gas like form.\n\n\nSo, when you expel your cold air to a warm soup, you need to understand two things \n\nThere are two thermal energy levels at play here, the level of your air, the level of the hot soup.\n\nThe second thing to remember is thermal energy transfers from hot to cold. That is the hotter object will go to the colder one when it transfers it's energy, never the other way around.\n\n\nSo imagine this. You blow cool air into the hot soup. Your soups thermal energy is about 10, and the air you blow out is at 5. Remember air is not water, air molecules are excited into a gas like state at a very low temperature(amount of thermal energy) and that water molecules take a lot more energy to get Into a gaseous state.\n\nThis means the air can stay gas like and be colder (lower level of thermal energy) while water can be liquid yet be hotter (higher thermal energy)\n\nSo you blow into the soup. Now see what happens. \n\nRemember heat transfers high to low.\n\nThermal energy of the air you blow out is 5, it is cooler than the soup.\n\nThe soups thermal energy is 10\n\nWhen you blow the air to the soup, the air hits the soup, and now thermal energy will be conducted. Well, because high goes to low, what's happening is the soup is transferring its energy to the cooler air.\n\nSo over one second soup =9, air = 6\n\nTwo seconds, soup =8, air = 7\n\nThe air was cooler, and the soup was warmer, but what happened was the soup cooled because it transferred it's thermal energy to your air, which now got Warner.\n\nThe air will blow off into the air in the room, and now the soup will stay cool. \n\nIt's all about transferring this energy. Imagine when you put Ice cubes in a cup. Do the ice cubes cool the drink? Yes, but does the drink warm the ice cubes? Yes. It's always a transfer."
]
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aqns66 | the new funding bill is over 1100 pages long. how does a bill of this size get written so quickly, and how could it possibly get reviewed effectively? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aqns66/eli5_the_new_funding_bill_is_over_1100_pages_long/ | {
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"The bill itself is technically new, but the component parts are mostly from earlier versions of the budget or budget proposals that were previously submitted, with only a few changes between previous versions and the current version.\n\nAs the budget has been argued and debated for months at this point, the congress members are already very familiar with the bulk of the contained provisions and only need to familiarize themselves with any changes.",
"It is a mistake to assume that bills of this size are reviewed effectively - remember a year ago, when the 480-page budget bill had hand-written notes scribbled in the margins, and included provisions which surprised even the Republicans who voted for it once they actually read it after voting. It is almost certain that the new funding bill has not and will not be reviewed, and that large portions of it may be written poorly.",
"It's not written as a novel. There are thousands of line items, and their structural arrangement was decided long ago. What people have been debating is what values to put on a few dozen lines of a 1100-page long document. All the other lines, like fuel for the Coast Guard's helicopters, haven't changed in months.\n\nWhen each number is changed, somebody tweaks the paragraph describing it, and the 10 people who care about that line review it. Nobody reads it cover-to-cover because nobody cares about every line element."
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9zpavc | why are 32 cases of e. coli enough to issue a country-wide ban of romaine lettuce? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zpavc/eli5_why_are_32_cases_of_e_coli_enough_to_issue_a/ | {
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"Because it shows widespread contamination of the food item and that is a major public risk. If they were all in the same local area they would only shut down that region, but because they are spread out it is a major risk. ",
"If you are a storeowner or restaurant that sells someone tainted lettuce and they get food poisoning (or their kid dies), that’s on you. You’re responsible. Look at what Chipotle has gone through due to multiple tainted food problems. \n\n",
"This is the not the first outbreak caused by Romaine Lettuce in recent years.\n\n\nJust like why we take a single case of Ebola very serious. We know that if we don't it will be a much bigger problem based on historical data. "
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y4hbo | how r/braveryjerk works | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/y4hbo/eli5_how_rbraveryjerk_works/ | {
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"text": [
"If you're so brave you get uprons, and if you post there you are so brave.",
"1. Be So Brave\n2. Acquire le uprons"
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5o46pi | why do we have differences interms of intelligence? some are smart and some are dumb as sh*t. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5o46pi/eli5_why_do_we_have_differences_interms_of/ | {
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"So if we are the result of a long line of procreation with similar genes, then other people are too. Our traits, capacities and affinities travel through generations - including our mental abilities. We often run into others who are weaker than us in one way or another, just as they would also be stronger in some other way (maybe). \n\nI hope that made sense.",
"It depends of many factors let's start , first we have to remember genes are transmitted from generation to generation so some characteristics of past generations I'll pass to future generations, also let's consider the next factors \n\n1- Education at low age \n2- Awakening of curiosity by the parents at low ages \n3- Self esteem \n4- How much money your family has \n\n// I'm not saying being rich makes you intelligent , just that people with more money has access to more educational resources\n\n5- When someone motivates you to do something you feel good doing it thus because you feel good doing it you I'll do it more and more constant every time therefore you'll be good at it\n\n6- Some people may appear to be dumb but they are good at other stuff that you haven't thought "
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qy34z | why is animal breeding widely known and accepted and evolution not? | Humans have been breeding animals for certain desirable traits for millennia, and with obvious and dramatic outcomes (e.g. all the breeds of dogs). How is it that the theory of natural evolution still meets with such resistance? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qy34z/eli5_why_is_animal_breeding_widely_known_and/ | {
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"I THINK THE CREATIONIST YARN IS THAT ADAPTATION IS OK, BUT SPECIATION IS NOT. THAT IS TO SAY; THE BREEDS OF DOGS HAVE BEEN BRED TO \"ADAPT\" TO DIFFERENT (HUMAN-CREATED) NICHES, BUT THEY ARE STILL THE SAME SPECIES -- THEY CAN STILL BREED WITH EACH OTHER. \n\nTHE SORT OF COMMON-SENSE (WHICH I USE HERE AS A NEGATIVE TERM) UNDERSTANDING THAT IF A NEW SPECIES WERE TO EMERGE, THAT IT WOULD HAVE NO ONE TO BREED WITH BECAUSE IT HAS SPECIATED ALONE, CAN BE QUITE COMPELLING TO SOME FOLKS!",
"People either ignore it, or say that variations do happen, but they can't create different species. Some believe, that evolution happens, but God is influencing it. \n\nIt's not an issue of lack of education, or intelligence, but beliefs. When you get to view the world in a certain way, you'll start changing world to conform to your views. When you are an American Christian, then you'll see God in everything you don't understand. When you are a particle physicist, you'll see dark matter instead of abnormal gravitational behaviour.",
"Evolution is widely known and accepted, too.",
"Evolution is widely accepted, the polls showing that it isn't capitalise on the fact that to a large portion of the public \"evolution\" implies abiogenesis and a bunch of other topics regarding the origin of man, rather than a change in genetics over time. If they asked a clearer question, they'd get a much more sane looking set of results."
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6u8ywz | what is the biological reason behind human toddlers instinctively pointing at things with the index finger ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6u8ywz/eli5_what_is_the_biological_reason_behind_human/ | {
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"Are you sure that's instinctive? I think parents pointing at things in front of children is where that comes from.",
"So from watching my own child, it's not so much instinctual, it's more of a learning process. They do things to get your attention as they are a baby and eventually they find that waving their hands in the direction of something will make you look over there, and it kinda just goes on from there.\n"
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19sbg9 | black lights | What exactly do they do, and why do certain things glow under them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/19sbg9/eli5_black_lights/ | {
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"Black Lights basically work the same way as \"normal\" light. When light hits a surface it bounces off. Depending on the material the light that bounces of is viewed differently, this is how we can see different colours.\n\nThe difference between black light and \"normal\" light is that the wavelength is much longer so that we cannot normally perceive the light itself. However when black light comes into contact with specific materials it bounces of in a way that we can see it.",
"Any light source emits energy at a certain wavelength in the [electromagnetic spectrum](_URL_0_). \nRed lights emit wavelengths in the red region, so everything that can reflect red light looks red. The same is true for any color of light. Blue lights make things look blue, green lights make things look green. Black lights emit light on the edge of the Ultraviolet range, which if you look at the picture, is outside the range of \"visible light\". That's why when you are under a black light, everything looks black. Things that can reflect UV light, would look \"UV\" but you can't see UV light, so they look like they are reflecting no light. **EXCEPT** when certain materials are hit with UV light, they absorb some of the energy, or change the wavelength of the light they reflect so that it enters the visible range. This is what makes them seem to glow, they are reflecting visible light, while everything around them is reflecting \"invisible\" light. "
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16y639 | al jazeera vs cnn bias | I love al Jazeera but recently there have been some news surfacing about the Syrian war bias. And every time I tell my friends how well rounded this source of news is and how much information they provide compared to any other news channel they tend to point out it's source of funding. Is it really bad that it is funded by the Qatar government? What are some positives and negatives of this news network?
Edit: I realize all news sources are biased. I just want to know what these two channels are accused of leaning towards. I know CNN is criticized for being too liberal. What about Al Jaeera. I just need a good argument for my opinion. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16y639/al_jazeera_vs_cnn_bias/ | {
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"All news sources are biased. They can attempt to control that bias, and there's no reason to believe Al Jazeera does this any less than CNN, but at the end of the day choosing what to report and how to report it is an inherently biased process.\n\n(By the way, Al Jazeera is funded primarily by Qatar, not Saudi Arabia.)",
"al Jazeera tends to have a slight pro-Arab, pro-Muslim bias, but is a fairly reputable news organization.\n\nThe problem is, a lot of people consider a strong pro-US bias to be \"normal\", and consider anything without it to be biased.\n\nCNN, on the other hand, has a pro-celebrities-I-don't-give-a-fuck-about bias."
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3j5vqk | tennis challenges and how that technology works. | Is it lasers or something. That seems like bullshit | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3j5vqk/eli5_tennis_challenges_and_how_that_technology/ | {
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"You mean that Hawk Eye thing? If so, it has a bunch of high speed cameras covering all angles of the court, because there are multiple angles, a very expensive computer program is able to figure out where the ball bounced, and the speed of the ball factors in how \"squished\" the ball is when it impacts. \n \n[Here is a 2 minute video on it.](_URL_0_)"
]
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22cv2v | what do 'visine' eye drops do to your eyes, and why do they turn so white? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22cv2v/eli5_what_do_visine_eye_drops_do_to_your_eyes_and/ | {
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"Visine is a vasoconstrictor -- it causes the blood vessels in your eye to contract. This lowers the blood flowing through them, and thus eliminating the red eye phenomenon.",
"User should be aware that there is a rebound affect, thus the eyes will be more red after the visine wears off than before use of visine. ",
"If you ever use visine and want to try something I think works better get some Rotos its like have breath mints for your eyes haha"
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1r7yfr | why do companies like hospitals enter contracts with suppliers? isn't it a horrible idea to limit yourself to 1 vendor, where they can charge insane prices? | On the top of /r/rage, there is a post about how some crappy metal baskets cost 700 dollars, and there is no other way to get them because they are contracted to a medical supplier. Why on earth would a company make it so that they can only buy from 1 source, where that source is now free to charge things marked up 7000%? What could possibly be the benefit for the hospital in this case? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1r7yfr/eli5why_do_companies_like_hospitals_enter/ | {
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"They usually aren't free to charge whatever they want. Usually the contract specifies quantity and price, and usually you would get a preferential price compared to buying on the open market. It is entirely possible that the hospital ate the cost of a $700 basket because they were getting needles for $1 instead of $1.50 and they use more than 1400 needles for every basket they need (or whatever). Or maybe their supply chain people were horrible. Or there could be cronyism as well. But a $700 basket doesn't automatically imply corruption.\n\nIt is also possible that the basket had to meet certain requirements that a normal basket does not and that drives up price. Not that said requirements are always necessary, but that isn't on the supplier."
]
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3l6rov | how do they know how things were pronounced in the past? | There was a post about how English was pronounced 500 years ago. Sure we have written words left over from back then, but how do we know how the pronunciation of these words has evolved? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3l6rov/eli5_how_do_they_know_how_things_were_pronounced/ | {
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"One source of information is poetry. If we can see that two words rhyme, then that's evidence that the endings of those words were pronounced the same.",
"Misspellings are another way. Usually a misspelled word is closer to the phonetic sound of that word. "
]
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29iicn | why are fireworks considered patriotic? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29iicn/eli5_why_are_fireworks_considered_patriotic/ | {
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"text": [
"\"...the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air...\"\n\nI'm speaking for Murica, obviously.",
"John Adams suggested that fireworks be part of Independence Day celebrations."
]
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da7xny | gauss-jordan elimination - algorithm to solve systems of equations. | I'm working on a voxel game and as a part of that I need to solve systems of linear equations programmatically, to generate a contour of the scalar field that my voxel data essentially is.
I'm a High School dropout, and I'm having lots of trouble with articles that start talking about "improving numerical stability via partial pivoting". I'm not trying to diminish validity of these articles, but being barely past HS level math it's tough to understand on my own.
I taught myself a bunch of math required for other things before, and I know that what they're describing is probably super simple but explained with jargon because it helps people in the field understand it faster; It's just so opaque to me, I can't help but get frustrated when I've got to look up every other term I see.
So, explain like I'm five, please?
---
*Bonus points if you could touch on how I can know that the system has no solutions or infinite solutions as algorithm goes on, as well as "least wrong" solution to a "no solution" case - I heard that's possible with GJ Elimination*
---
The above is appreciated but not required, thank you. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/da7xny/eli5_gaussjordan_elimination_algorithm_to_solve/ | {
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"text": [
"It might help if you researched row reduction of matrices, that's what GJ really is. There's a lot of technical and mathematical jargon (linear algebra is a big field) but if you just need to learn how to solve them then that shouldn't be too hard. It's essentially just a process that you use to get a matrix (the matrix represents the linear equations) to something call \"reduced row echelon form\". Essentially it's just a defined process to simplify the matrix and solve the system.\n\nI feel like this picture is helpful\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIt'll be helpful to know what level of understanding you're at - do you know how to write the system as a matrix?",
" > how I can know that the system has no solutions or infinite solutions\n\nThis can usually be determined by calculating the [determinant](_URL_0_). If it's zero, there will be either no or infinite solutions. If it's nearly zero, numerical solutions will be unreliable.\n\nIt sounds like you're smart and motivated enough, and in deep enough, that you should just go ahead and read a linear algebra textbook.",
"You don't, you steal instead.\n\nNo matter what language you are programming in, someone has written a tricked out matrix libraries that is faster, has fewer bugs, and more feature than anything you can write in a reasonable time. A big part of good programming practice is not reinventing the wheel when you don't have to. \n\n\\ > *Bonus points if you could touch on how I can know that the system has no solutions or infinite solutions as algorithm goes on, as well as \"least wrong\" solution to a \"no solution\" case - I heard that's possible with GJ Elimination* \n\nThe object of GJE is to transform you matrix into something that looks like this:\n\n`1 0 0 | 7`\n\n`0 1 0 | -2`\n\n`0 0 1 | 4`\n\nExpressing these as regular equations shows us why this is desireable:\n\nx = 7\n\ny = -2 \n\nz = 4\n\nIf a matrix has no solutions, you get:\n\n`1 0 0 | 7`\n\n`0 1 0 | -2`\n\n`0 0 0 | 4`\n\nThat last line is saying 0z = 4, which of course is impossible. There is no mathematical definition for the \"least wrong\" solution. For a 2x2 matrix, each row represents a line on a plane, and the solution is where they cross. When there is no solution, that means they are parallel and never cross. There is no single point that is the least wrong place where they cross. \n\nIf a matrix has infinite solutions, you get:\n\n`1 0 0 | 7`\n\n`0 1 0 | -2`\n\n`0 0 0 | 0`\n\nWhich means 0z = 0, which will be true for all z."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://images.app.goo.gl/4231XoEZuKxcZJ8d6"
],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinant"
],
[]
] | |
2bxfns | how come that atoms can be sending signals, and detected through space? how are the atoms not becoming smaller from emission? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bxfns/eli5_how_come_that_atoms_can_be_sending_signals/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"I'm not exactly sure what you mean to ask. Let me try to rephrase your question, and you let me know if I lost the original intent. \n\n > If energy is conserved, and atoms lose energy when they radiate, how does an atom not lose energy (and therefore mass) when we detect light coming from it?\n\nThe answer is this: If you have a lonely atom in space, with nothing to interact with, already in its ground state (it doesn't have any extra energy), then it won't radiate. However, if you give the atom some extra energy (in the form of a photon, let's say), then the atom will eventually re-radiate an identical photon into space. \n\nAn atom can only radiate as much energy as it can suck from its surroundings. If you give it a constant supply of energy (by heating it, shining light on it, moving it, etc.) then it can happily radiate away the energy that you've given to it. If it can't suck any energy from its surroundings, then it won't radiate at all. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
4x3mj2 | how come soap fails to foam in rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl)? | When I wash my hands with soap and water, it foams. Sometimes, I've tried to wash my hands with soap and rubbing alcohol, odd I know, but it doesn't foam at all (or it foams so little it looks like it's not foaming). Also, I've sprayed rubbing alcohol into a sink filled with foamy soap-water, the result is that the rubbing alcohol quickly eliminates all the soap bubbles.
My initial guess would be something to do with polarity, but looking online it appears both water and rubbing alcohol are polar.
So, I ask, how come soap fails to foam (or barely foams at all) when mixed with rubbing alcohol? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4x3mj2/eli5_how_come_soap_fails_to_foam_in_rubbing/ | {
"a_id": [
"d6c648a",
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"text": [
"Alcohol has a lower surface tension than water that prevents it from \"sticking together\" hard enough to create bubbles. \n\n[Ethanol surface tension](_URL_1_) — 22.00 mN m^-1 @ 293.15 K\n\n[Water surface tension](_URL_0_) — 72.75 mN m^-1 @ 293.15 K\n\nSo you can see, ethanol has around 3 & times; less surface tension than water. (I couldn't find data for isopropanol sorry)",
"Soap foams in water because of water's high surface tension; water likes to bond to itself way more than other molecules. In bubbles, the water molecules' bonds to other water molecules stabilizes the bubble against the weight of the bubble caused by gravity so the bubble is stable. \n\nAlcohol has way less surface tension than water. Alcohol bubbles cannot sustain itself against gravity so the bubble collapses."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.ddbst.com/en/EED/PCP/SFT_C174.php",
"http://www.ddbst.com/en/EED/PCP/SFT_C11.php"
],
[]
] | |
5v9ue3 | the process of dating | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5v9ue3/eli5_the_process_of_dating/ | {
"a_id": [
"de0dad4"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"You meet someone.\n\nYou talk to them.\n\nYou do things with them.\n\nYou do more things with them.\n\nYou develop special things you only do with each other.\n\nYou do things together until you decide you want to do things with other people in the future or not.\n\nThen maybe you get married or break up but those are different eli5's."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
9gcfv1 | why do phones/laptops etc have so many different size screws in them? why not just use one size? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9gcfv1/eli5_why_do_phoneslaptops_etc_have_so_many/ | {
"a_id": [
"e633h8y",
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"text": [
"First off, let’s only talk about assembly related screws. \nIf they are screws on different components, and the components are made by different companies, it makes sense that there’s no common ground between those right?\n\nNext there’s standard following screws that must be be a certain way to follow standards. The mounting screws for m.2 SSD for example must be that size. The mounting/ tension screws are also mostly the same types for a given chip/heat sink.\n\nSo last there’s the screws that are put in place by the assemblers. The mac book pro is the only one I’ve looked at that has more than like five types of assembly screws.\n\nSo the different types may be different regarding length. Longer screws lock things in place better, but not every place can support such long screws. On bigger laptops you might see a long screw type and short screw type locking the chassis down.\n\nNext you have size, which often comes hand in hand with the screw type (torx, Phillip, etc).\n\nPhillips screws are designed so that it’s harder to overtighten them. The head will wear out before you can tighten them too much. But due to this design, they are also extremely fragile when you shrink the sizes down. So the very small screws mostly use torx, which provides extremely well grip and doesn’t wear easily, making them suitable for the internal screws.",
"That's one of those things that has never made much sense, in my experience (I did IT support for a factory that made telecommunications equipment). One of the dumber reasons for having a ridiculous variety of fasteners in a product is that it can be very difficult to change the manufacturing process on the fly. For whatever reason, a designer specs a particular fastener for an application - and when it goes into production, it takes an act of God to change it.\n\nI remember several big multi-departmental exercises (that took *months* to complete) in which the goal was to prove that fastener A was identical in every respect to fastener B so that we could pick one going forward and stop ordering/stocking/forecasting the other. Having proven that, the next huge battle was over whether we wanted to use A or B. This sounds stupid, and it was - and it happens all the time. If factories have this much trouble eliminating obvious duplicates, you can imagine the uproar it takes to actually try to standardize on a smaller subset of more common fasteners.\n\nEverybody obviously knows that unnecessary complexity in a manufacturing environment is a bad thing, but it just takes ridiculous amounts of effort to change the process. Sometimes you get T-shirts and coffee cups out of the deal, though."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | ||
8d3lro | how close are scientists to finding out how to reverse aging in humans? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8d3lro/eli5_how_close_are_scientists_to_finding_out_how/ | {
"a_id": [
"dxk36jb"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"This one requires an answer not explanation.\nMaybe you can rephrase?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | ||
1dhr5z | what are the factors that decide whether law is handled at thr state level vs the federal level? | I don't want to know the actual people that decide as much as I want to know why certain laws are handled federally and some are handled at the state level. Ex. Gun laws, gay marriage, differing divorce laws. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dhr5z/eli5_what_are_the_factors_that_decide_whether_law/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9qf3tc",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"The US Congress is **only** allowed to pass laws and perform actions that it is given specific permission to do so by the US Constitution.\n\nHere is a [list of enumerated powers granted to Congress](_URL_0_).\n\nThere are also \"implied powers\" and that's where it gets a little bit fuzzy. Congress is allowed to regulate \"interstate commerce\" but because that's such a vague statement it often goes to the Supreme Court for interpretation.",
"The Constitution spells out what laws the federal government can pass and what laws states can pass. The interpretation of these rules is basically the purpose of the Supreme Court.\n\nTo keep it simple, the rules are thus:\n\nCongress can only pass laws on certain topics (Enumerated Powers), however Congress has a lot of wiggle room in there (Necessary and Proper Clause). Anything Congress passes laws on, states can't pass different laws on (Supremacy Clause). States can be more strict, but but not less. This is because anything that Congress doesn't regulate is a power retained by the States or individual citizens (Tenth Amendment).\n\nFunctionally, politics and public mood matter. Sometimes people yell \"tenth amendment\" other times they yell \"necessary and proper!\" They don't actually yell these things - that would be silly - but they say things that mean the same thing like \"states rights\" and \"compelling federal interest.\"",
"Since you have two good answers on Federal powers, I'll answer the State side of the question. The answer is that states have very few limits on what they can do -- they can make lots of decisions that are forbidden to the Federal government. This is part of what makes the states [\"laboratories of democracy\"](_URL_1_).\n\nHere are a few limits:\n1-States each have their own constitutions, which prohibit certain actions (differs by state), and guarantee certain rights to their state's citizens.\n\n2-They also have to abide restrictions in the US constitution. These are in Article I, Sec 10, and in Article IV. States can't coin money or impose tariffs, for instance, because the US Constitution says they can't.\n\n3-The Bill of Rights and other amendments to the US Constitution [have mostly been interpreted as also applying to the states](_URL_0_) (there are a few exceptions, like the 7th Amendment right to a jury in a civil lawsuit). Every state constitution protects the core rights like Freedom of Speech anyway, often copying the exact language of the US Constitution. But the state-level courts may interpret their state Constitution differently, so this is a double-safeguard against abuses of rights.\n\n4- If the Federal government makes a law, the US Constitution makes that law supreme over state laws. This means the states can't make laws that are contradictory. [Federal \"preemption\" ](_URL_2_) of state laws is a contentious subject that depends on the exact content and intent of the state and federal laws in question. For example, the Feds for the most part have exclusive regulation over car safety and air travel, even though those aren't exclusive powers granted in the US Constitution."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_the_United_States_Congress#Enumerated_powers"
],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_Rights",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laboratories_of_Democracy",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_preemption"
]
] | |
3249kq | why does it rain so much in april compared to other months? | *April showers bring May flowers* | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3249kq/eli5_why_does_it_rain_so_much_in_april_compared/ | {
"a_id": [
"cq7q4jq"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Your answer is one Google search away mate ;)\n\n > During spring, the best precipitation dynamics of winter and summer converge. In the upper atmosphere, jet streams remain strong and the air holds on to some winter chill. At the surface, sunlight is strong, warming the ground, water and lower atmosphere. Warm, moist air is less dense than cold dry air, causing it to rise into the colder upper atmosphere, squeezing out moisture into precipitation, not just in Chicago, but across most of the northern hemisphere. Not surprisingly, this abundance of atmospheric energy and moisture is why the peak of the severe weather season occurs in spring."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] | |
2v1ery | why do cats and dogs sneeze and yawn but not cough? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v1ery/eli5_why_do_cats_and_dogs_sneeze_and_yawn_but_not/ | {
"a_id": [
"codl835",
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"score": [
4,
5,
2
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"text": [
"Dogs Cough. \n\nNever heard a Cat cough though. ",
"They do, you've just never heard one cough.",
"Both cats and dogs can cough. Cats coughing sounds really funny btw!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | ||
2jy087 | how come i can vibrate my eyes? | I can conciously vibrate my eyes. Most people I've met cannot do it. Why am I able to? What's happening when I do? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jy087/eli5_how_come_i_can_vibrate_my_eyes/ | {
"a_id": [
"clg3lj0",
"clg3y4r"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Muscles in eyes. Move muscles. Move muscles fast. *Vibration*.",
"I can do that, I'm curious to find out why as well."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] | |
crltqr | why do some bugs splat yellow, and others splat white when they hit my windshield? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/crltqr/eli5_why_do_some_bugs_splat_yellow_and_others/ | {
"a_id": [
"ex6qo31"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"So bugs are very small. They don't have a skeleton, so instead they have a rigid exterior, or an exoskeleton. This exoskeleton is hard and strong enough to deal with the attacks of other bugs. \n\nInside them, everything is packed together densly. Hairs, nerves etc are all squished together inside. So when this exoskeleton ruptures, the brains, nerves, eggs, guts, every organ that the insect or bug has will splatter all over. Depending on what is inside the color will be different, it is mainly yellow because their innards are yellow colored"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
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