Split (1)

train · 14k rows

q_id stringlengths 6 6	title stringlengths 4 294	selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k	category stringclasses 1 value	subreddit stringclasses 1 value	answers dict	title_urls listlengths 1 1	selftext_urls listlengths 1 1
5w1q9z	Why do most video games take 5-10 seconds to reload the level after I die? Surely all that needs to be "reset" is the player character if all the resources were already loaded?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de6n8g7", "de6of3q", "de6o7g5" ], "text": [ "Depends on if the system has the memory to store the initial level state in memory while the user plays. Restarting a level may also require running a script to initialize the physics, object locations, NPC behavior, etc. Game designers may...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w1xog	Why do tv networks have to be on differently #d channels based on your location?	Feels like every city/state has ESPN on a different channel. What's the deal?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de6o9lx" ], "text": [ "Originally, television was actually broadcast through the air on radio frequencies. Different channels were assigned to stations in different cities to reduce interference in places that could receive signals from more than one city. So Washington had stations on 4, 5, ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w2355	How does Microsoft mass produce Windows os cds? With no blank copies?	also this could be any company that sells software on any type storage device.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de6qky0" ], "text": [ "The advantage of CD's is that you can manufacture them with the data already on it without having to produce it then write the data, since CD's work with pits for data you can simply stamp the CD with the data which essentially stores all the information onto the cd in ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w27f1	Why does the content I actually want to watch constantly buffer but the ads play perfectly?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de6qsn4", "de6rcpc" ], "text": [ "I'm not an expert, but I always figured that the video ads where essentially queued up, like ready to go regardless of what video you chose the and was prepared to play before you clicked it", "One of them usually makes the company money, so they'll i...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w2g85	How does Planet Earth get all these insane angles and right next to animals without disturbing their natural choices?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de7004y", "de6stc4", "de6xjbq", "de6vozg", "de7dbe0", "de6w73f", "de6xig4", "de6z03a" ], "text": [ "I make wildlife documentaries. This is an answer that I cut and pasted from a previous thread. I can't really say too much about long lens stuff cos I specialise on ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w2gz9	Why do we still plug a big block into the wall to charge our phones, instead of something more flush with the USB port, since nothing has the grounding peg anymore?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de6tdgl", "de6svjd", "de6tju0" ], "text": [ "The power going into your phone via usb is DC format. The power from the wall is AC format. It needs to be transformed to go into your phone. That big plug is a transformer. It never had anything to do with the need for a grounding plug. De...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w2xcq	What is the Deep Web?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de6ykbe", "de7270u", "de77mqv" ], "text": [ "First you need to understand how the \"regular\" Internet works. Search engines like Google use scripts called crawlers (a type of \"bot\") that visit every site they can and gather information. The information is then processed by various ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w3w33	Are Data Science and Information Systems the same?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de7652o" ], "text": [ "From your title, I was going to post an immediate \"NO\" to your question. However you also mention that the syllabus for the 2 programs are basically the same. This confuses me greatly and makes me think that someone who doesn't know the field named the programs. Obvio...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w4obw	Why does sending a picture via Messenger lower its quality so drastically?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de798cf", "de79kiw" ], "text": [ "Here is my 2 cents: Because it gets compressed to save space and bandwidth. Same thing happens to YouTube videos. As a general rule, any file you upload or send online gets compressed depending on the server, some are better than others at this. In the Yo...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w6kfl	How do console video games improve the quality of graphics during the same generation?	For instance, how can can a game like Gears of War 2 look better than Gears of War while working with the same hardware?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de7nv43" ], "text": [ "Basically, they get more experience at writing code for that hardware and learn how to optimize it. It's like getting more practice with a set of paints. You don't get more colors to work with, but you learn how better to use the ones you do have." ], "score": [ ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w7rog	Why is it when you download something it slows down dramatically at 99% or just simply takes a longer time compared to other percents? It's annoying.		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de7z140" ], "text": [ "With bittorrent, the last percent takes a long time because there's only a couple or just one block left, and it's coming over a slow connection. You can only get a block from one peer at a time, and you were likely getting it from someone with a slow connection or it w...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w85dr	Why do glasses need UV protection when people who don't need glasses are fine without it?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de815s7", "de81i0c", "de813ab", "de824dm" ], "text": [ "The same reason why you wear sunscreen. UV causes irreversible damage to your eyes and if you wear glasses anyway why not protect your eyes from UV if you can do so without adversely affecting the performance of the glasses?"...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5w9lb8	What is an IP address and what role does it play in tracing online activities back to you?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de8gdgu", "de8gjhd", "de8d1is", "de8gfvz" ], "text": [ "I assign ips, both public and private for a hosting company. Im also responsible for switch configuration and firewall provisioning. Postal service is the best analogy here. Your house address is how people send letters to yo...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wan4h	Why does RCS need carrier support?	If RCS transmits over WiFi or cellular data, why is Google pushing so hard for carrier support, and why is it currently only available on carriers that support it?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de8ssx6" ], "text": [ "Because it's goes thru the carrier's network. iMessage uses Apple's servers, so the carrier is not involved. Android is a total mess in terms of everyone having the same experience, most people are not on the latest operating system and updates are depended t on your ph...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wb8pw	How does vector and matrix operations differs in CPU vs GPU?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de9gi3i" ], "text": [ "Most modern CPUs have vector units, so they do not differ from GPUs in any meaningful way. Intel's x86 family of microprocessors initially supported IEEE scalar floating point arithmetic with the x87 family of coprocessors. This architecture was integrated into the CPU ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wbata	How did people make the "bootleg" NES/SNES/MD games back in the 90s? Like "Sonic" for the NES, or "Kart Fighter"?	Back in the 90s (and 80s too, probably) there were bootleg games for consoles like the NES/SNES/Megadrive(Genesis). Stuff like this: URL_0 That's a Game Grumps play of Kart Fighter, a bootleg for the NES. Some of these games are more recent, i.e. people made them post-2000 and they mainly existed to be played on emulat...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de9airu" ], "text": [ "Unless development documentation had leaked to the public, pirates would have to reverse engineer their target platform. This process usually involved looking at how the game system behaved given an existing program (a legitimate game) but also could include decapsulati...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wbgh1	Why do nightlights have a motion sensor as well? Is there a point to these?	Just something I realized whilst turning on my light in the bathroom today and the switch is next to a plug in night light.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de8r97t" ], "text": [ "Sure it's a motion sensor, and not a light sensor? I know many nightlights have light sensors so they switch on in the absence of other light." ], "score": [ 6 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wbyl5	If programs/software is created in such a way that it's not possible for them to be hacked , how do they actually end up being hacked?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de8vn3e", "de90phf" ], "text": [ "It is not possible to make something that cannot be hacked. Just like everything else, if humans can build it then humans can unbuild it.", "It's very, very difficult to be sure that a program is completely secure, unless it's a very simple one. If we...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wc5p0	When will driverless cars be widely available? What is the status of their technological development and legal roadblocks?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de8x86c" ], "text": [ "They are currently in the middle of safety testing in several States. They will likely be street legal within 5, but will require driver's licenses still. It will probably be 10-20 years for it to allow people without licenses to ride in one solo." ], "score": [ ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wc9n4	How are 3D movies filmed?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de8zutd" ], "text": [ "Most of the time, they have a special camera with two lenses that it records simultaneously (one for the left eye, one for the right). Some films that wanted to add 3D as a gimmick were shot in 2D and then modified in post-production to add 3Ds (where artists modified t...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wd990	If a civilization relied on the sun to tell time, what did they do on a very cloudy day?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de965sr", "de97jn5", "de982qu", "de98ph4", "de9phpg" ], "text": [ "Until the modern age(locomotive trains, and telegraphs), knowing precisely what time it was, was not very important. Only when communication and travel between groups of people in different places became the no...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wdnci	What is IBM Watson?	I've seen it involved in a whole bunch of stuff, and I think it's some attempt at AI, but I don't know more than that. What's the big deal?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de99r6p", "de99n00" ], "text": [ "It is a brand name that IBM is applying to a large number of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and pattern recognition technologies -- including the software, hardware, and services involved in doing so. Originally, it was announced as the machin...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wdopl	How do the heart rate monitors that clip on to your finger also find oxygen levels?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de99y8f", "de9l75v", "de9ozgk", "de9adih", "de9lt4m", "de9pyu5", "de9afea", "dea5tgu", "de9zxcu" ], "text": [ "One side of the clip has a light and the other has a sensor. When you clip it on your finger, it shines both red visible light and infrared light thro...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5we0uy	Why do companies continue to build brick and mortar facilities rather than create virtual offices?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de9erew" ], "text": [ "Workplace psychology is complex, but it's generally accepted that social interaction in the workplace is vital, especially in person interaction. There are neurological processes at work when engaging in things like eye contact that simply don't happen when trying to ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wgblj	How does a rice cooker know that the rice inside it is cooked?	Usually, i cook long grained white rice in our rice cooker and it takes about 10 minutes to cook. But recently, we switched to brown rice and its cooking time is longer, i think like 25 minutes. edit: thank you for all the answers guys!	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de9txda", "de9xs8h", "de9tzug", "de9ti9n" ], "text": [ "Once the rice cooker's thermal sensor detects the pot going above 212 degrees, the water has all been absorbed. At that point, the rice is done. To prevent the rice from cooking any further, the sensor automatically trips the...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wgpqk	The argument against net neutrality.		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "de9w427", "de9zl5k", "de9xqi8", "deale98" ], "text": [ "It boils down to: Private companies are allowed to serve the customers however they want, even if the service is horrible, and furthermore, internet isn't a necessity for life. The government shouldn't dictate how the company...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5whct1	What's the difference between an sd card (or thumb drive) and a solid state drive?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dea0uh8" ], "text": [ "Read and write speeds. A standard 128gb SD card will write at around 10mb/sec. An unimpressive 128gb SSD will write at at least 150-175+mb/sec. While the amount of storage might be the same, the speed at which it needs to be written and retrieved differs greatly." ], ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5winxt	Why do websites start with www?	I tried to do some research on my own but couldn't find much info out there. Is there any reason as to why websites start with www is it something to do with the coding?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deadeg9" ], "text": [ "Domain names conventionally follow a reverse hierarchical system. The last portion (top-level domain, or TLD) is a signifier of purpose or nationality of the site (.uk, .fr., .jp; or .com, .org, .biz, .gov). The next to last portion is the owner of the site, or the name...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wkuv0	How do Landline phones work when the power is out?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deavbuu", "deaw03t" ], "text": [ "A standard landline (POTS) has -48V DC power included with the signal. The phone company central office also has a bank of batteries to operate when the power is out.", "The Central Office for the phone system supplies power down the lines for the pho...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wmyvf	What is the true purpose of "Tag a friend who ..." spam-posts on facebook?	I guess it has something to do with facebook's algorithm for ads or something? Or is it just a ruse to gather personal information from people? They are annoying as hell and I'd like to understand why they exist at all. Just to clarify: I don't mean the Rolex spam hacks that have you involuntarily tag friends. I ...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "debg5nv" ], "text": [ "Generating range, e.g., exposure. Getting a brands' name 'out there'. Every view, every click, every page loaded is, at its base level, an interaction with a brand, or product and a potential customer. Any page, be it a standalone website, a facebook page, a blog or wha...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wo9y2	Why can't you compress a RAR file with RAR or ZIP?	Why can't you compress a RAR file,	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "debkofi" ], "text": [ "Compression is a technique for finding patterns in a file and writing it in a way that takes more space. For example instead of writing \"aaaaaaaa\" you may write 8*\"a\" which is much shorter. Or instead of writing \"abcdefgh\" you may write \"a\"-\"h\". However if you...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5woe50	Why can't we just cover a proportion of the desert with solar panels to provide the world with energy?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dec7shh", "deblvrt", "decmwwd", "deblm75", "debmffl", "dec1dfi", "debr0ep", "dec97tn", "dec5sst", "decahnd", "dec79iw", "dec6hfu", "dec07k5", "debm3rz", "dece7ud", "dece8rl", "dec25ck", "decau7a", "decfl8j", "decf0av", "d...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wpapu	How do Blu-ray Discs know where I stopped watching the movie, even if I restart it on a different player?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "debw728" ], "text": [ "The disc doesn't know. Its The player that remembers where you stopped when you last loaded this disc" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wq70f	Do editors at big movie studios use commercially available software (Premiere, etc) to edit big budget movies or do those studios have proprietary software they use?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dec4gts" ], "text": [ "Avid is the most popular choice or sometimes Final Cut Pro(I think that one has become less popular). Those are both commercially available, although they're a little pricey." ], "score": [ 6 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wri0q	What is, and what is wrong with AmazonS3?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "decfsz7", "decfyni" ], "text": [ "Amazon S3 is short for Simple Storage Service. This is part of Amazon Web Services, or AWS. AWS, to simplify, is an ENORMOUS pile of computing power and storage. People are able to freely rent chunks of this power as they see fit, treating that chunk ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5ww873	What makes it possible to control a touch screen while lightly hovering your finger over the screen?	I just realised that I was still able to control my phone's touch screen by pressing the screen, and raising it about two millimeter above the screen, so this was quite a surprise to me. Thus I was really curious to understand the phenomena further. I'm case this is not doable under normal conditions, ill precise thst ...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deda2sb" ], "text": [ "The way most modern touch screens work is the folowing (very simplified): The phones screen creates a magnetic field. Your finger (or basically any conducting object) changes that field when it is inside of it. The screen then calculates where those changes happened and...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wwcbr	How does a police officer prove his radar reading was specifically for your car when there's hundreds of cars whizzing by on a busy highway?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedbcwe", "dedkpzc", "dedkq5d" ], "text": [ "They point it at your car. They can observe you are moving faster than the other traffic and they stop you under their own judgment. In court their judgment is generally considered to be reliable evidence that a particular motorist was beha...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wwfh4	why do so many people film cellphone videos in portrait mode?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedbf7p", "dedes4d", "dedb5qn", "deds05z" ], "text": [ "Because that's how you hold a phone when doing most other things. It doesn't occur to them or they don't care. It's easier to hold a phone one handed especially with how huge phones are these days.", "1) That's how people...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wwlrr	Why mobile banking apps are so far behind in functionality compared to internet banking.		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedcmh7" ], "text": [ "They don't need to be. Most mobile banking apps are capable of doing 90% of what you need to do for online banking - you can check your balance, transfer funds, deposit a check, pay a bill, etc. The more complex functionality, like opening a new account or applying for ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wwqcj	How was it decided that clocks move "clockwise"?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deddjj9" ], "text": [ "The way the shadow moves on sundials in the northern hemisphere. That's really all there is to it. People were used to reading sundials, so when clocks were invented, it was a natural choice for the hands to move in the same direction as the sun's shadow." ], "score...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wx6g9	How do night contacts work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedhpxe" ], "text": [ "My understanding is they reshape the eye. The degree of how concave or convex the lens of the eye causes near sightedness or far sightedness. Sleep contacts temporarily shape your eyes back to neutral." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wxghu	How does Google manage to parse every page on it's database and show our search results on them in miliseconds?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedl8hc" ], "text": [ "In fact they already have parsed all pages in the planet and created a database of relevant words and how these words relate to the pages. By doing that they have created a rank by words and what pages to show. Then they measure the distance between words and incorporat...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wxh56	How can siri or any other voice recognition software tell the difference when someone says your or you're, or its and it's?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedjr61" ], "text": [ "It determines it by context. If you just said that single word it would just have to pick one or the other, but as you add more information it can make a determination which is more likely. If you watch siri you can actually see it do this in real time. It will put a fi...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wxrrr	What actually happens to the mobile phone networks/cell service when there is a large scale emergency or disaster? What do the networks do?	I've read that mobile networks possibly allow calls to be free, or turn certain service or features off so there isn't any unnecessary strain on the network in the event of large disasters etc. What's the deal? Edit: Sorry about the whole flair thing guys, I'm on the Reddit app & don't know how to do it.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedn3zv" ], "text": [ "Its been a while since I worked in telecomm infrastructure but I'll take a stab. > I've read that mobile networks possibly allow calls to be free You're talking about the rule that says all cell networks have to allow emergency 911 calls to any mobile subscriber regardl...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wyeat	Why are smartphones getting thinner and thinner?	Is there any reason apart from aesthetics? Why aren't smartphones ignoring this in favour of a larger battery?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedtjxb" ], "text": [ "The market has said that all else held equal, they want thinner phones over doubled battery life. Every phone has to have some sales niche. Some will be designed favoring battery life over thickness, others will be extremely thin and lightweight. Tablets can be phones t...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wz0qx	Why does old plastic go yellow? Will that happen to plastics made recently too?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedxpim" ], "text": [ "A chemical called bromine is added to plastic as a flame retardant; it's usually white/colorless, but when exposed to UV light for a long time it turns brown/yellow." ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wz3nl	How does my key fob only work on my car?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedyfib" ], "text": [ "the fob sends out a signal that acts like a password only your car knows. if it recieves a signal with the wrong \"password\" it wont respond, so as long as nothing goes wrong each car should only respond to its paired fob to prevent someone from duplicating the signal ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5wz4nv	Whydo developers still use Unreal Engine 3 if Unreal Engine 4 is available?	Both were also released 2 years apart so I'm not even sure if there is a monumental change in features. I do understand that they are freely accessible and new is usually better hence my confusion	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dedynsa" ], "text": [ "Former game developer here, Principally the reason to stay on a given platform is either because of licensing or because you're invested on a particular version and there are breaking changes if you upgrade. So what is more important? Upgrading your engine and fixing wh...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x063z	What is 'Legacy Code' in programming?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deeb7p1", "dee74w7", "dee8qgk" ], "text": [ "It is code, often written in archaic languages running on archaic systems, that no one who has to work with it really understands anymore. The original programmers have retired or are dead, the company that made no longer supports it or is ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x0x0q	Can you create a flashlight bright enough to shine completely through a person?	So i was taking a minute with my flash on my phone, and was struck by how it was bright enough to go through my finger to the point where some of the light reached the table beneath it. I was wondering if a flashlight could be made bright enough to go completely through people? Why or why not? Thanks for satisfying my ...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deedqu3" ], "text": [ "No. The light is shining through the translucent parts of your finger - not the bone. The visible spectrum can't go through bones." ], "score": [ 8 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x22gw	How come sometimes a coin won't work on a vending machine, then after retrying it one or multiple times it will work eventually?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deenhli" ], "text": [ "TL;DR: *The sorting mechanisms weren't quite perfectly calibrated, or are dirty or loose or otherwise have moved away from perfect calibration over time, or the coin went too fast or is a mess, and so the coin doesn't get slotted correctly and falls through to the r...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x37jd	What is happening when a game is loading?	If a game can render the scenery and objects as you're moving through the world, what's the point of waiting behind a loading screen?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deexbyy", "deeujwx", "deevsy6" ], "text": [ "So imagine a fast food place that can make burgers really fast, on demand. This is like the game when it's loaded and running, it's rendering stuff quickly and on demand. In the morning someone has to open the fast food restaurant, warm up ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x3jdu	Why aren't consumer computers "instant" yet, in terms of the basic functions like booting up, opening up programs, etc? I mean literally instant, with zero delay following a mouse click. Will they ever be?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deewnwm", "deewu18", "defe1ii", "deewy6z" ], "text": [ "There are instant computers, you just don't think of them as \"real\" computers. Tons of devices with embedded microcontrollers (household appliances, elevators, traffic lights, you name it) have real computers in there that ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x48v0	How can antivirus companies can analyse new and powerful viruses without getting themselves infected ?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "def2omf", "defqnv1", "def2yo7", "defauzd", "defd143", "defpfwc" ], "text": [ "They keep the viruses contained, for instance in rooms with negative air pressure (so that any airflow runs in instead of out) and containers that the virus cannot penetrate. Then, they study the...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x49dd	Do people without Nielsen boxes affect viewership ratings? Does recording a show and watching it later increase viewership counts?	I'm trying to find out if there are other metrics other than Nielsen. Do they still use Nielsen boxes?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "def4k7p", "def7cpu", "defeyts" ], "text": [ "They still use nielsen pretty much exclusively. And nielsen still relies almost entirely on set-top boxes. They have a competitor in rentrak which uses actual data provided by cable provider partners. nielsen recently [struck a deal with di...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x5c3k	From what I gather, Wikipedia seems to be a fairly neutral source. What prevents the polarization of facts on Wikipedia?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defciow", "defcpyx", "defcrke", "defd9ep" ], "text": [ "There is a lot of arguing going on behind the scenes at Wikipedia. Visit the 'talk page' of the article on a controversial person or topic and there will be long discussions on what should be included and how it should be wor...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x5ktc	Crowd gps	I'm looking into Trackr or Tile and they both mention crowd gps. It seems simple, but I still can't wrap my head around it. Does that person get your GPS location?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defeo96" ], "text": [ "Crowd GPS apps are different in that they give your more real-time information such as obstructions in the road, red cam lights. All the added real-time information is gathered through different people who use that app. Functioning as a self sustaining community, people...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x5zbu	AMD's new Ryzen processor.	I get that Intel dominated the market over years. But what is going on in the following thread? What are they all talking about? What is Zen? And what is that thing with the 3-5-7 number? And all this other stuff? I would be very grateful if you could please explain it like I am really 5 — or since my 7 year old cousin...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defiq47", "defsepg", "deg1oh6" ], "text": [ "Zen is a new processor architecture releasing pretty soon. The 3/5/7 is a marking nomenclature used to separate different models into mainstream/performance/enthusiast categories, very similarly to Intel's naming system.", "Zen is a new...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x63p3	How does hashing work for single value like the letter "a"?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defjbzv", "defjxcn" ], "text": [ "You didn't specify what hashing algorithm, but in general, if the input wasn't long enough you would pad it by adding \"zero bits\" to it. Technically, even long strings often need padding as well. This is because to be able to work with the bit string pr...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x6618	How did people slack off/waste time at their desks before the Internet or cellphones were invented?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defjv4r", "defkx19" ], "text": [ "In the vicinity of a computer: minesweeper At home: television There are plenty of ways to procrastinate. You could even read a book. God forbid! Anything works when it comes to not wanting to work.", "I predate the internet! When I had a private offi...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x68ew	Why social media apps take up so much storage?	Facebook, twitter, IG, etc all seem to take up 400MB or so each of data, and most of it is in "documents", why is this given the actual app is relatively light?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defu308" ], "text": [ "I think the reason is primarily cached data. The apps download a bunch of content at once so it doesn't have to load progressively." ], "score": [ 7 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x6gjo	What is (if there is one) the difference between machine learning and AI?	My question started from a deep comment I made on /r/gadgets: URL_0 Kind of boiled down to my last question in the thread: > ...at what point does many machine learning data sets become an AI? Is this there a line in the sand where a program is one and not the other? Are there certain meta-characteristics that present ...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "defn7q3" ], "text": [ "This looks like a version of the [Chinese Room argument]( URL_0 ). I'll summarize it here: Imagine that I put you in a closed off room, with no interaction with the outside world other than two small slots, an \"input\" and \"output\" slot. Inside of the room you have s...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x6uma	What determines the noise or visual pattern of TV static?	i was wondering this for quite a while, and i just want to know what makes TV static look and sound the way it does. is there anything that makes some bits white and others black? Same for radio static	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deg3qxu", "defue8l" ], "text": [ "For the most part, it's stray electromagnetic noise, with about 1% being background microwave radiation. As for why the picture is only white or black, it has to do with how your receiver interprets those signals. Most television receivers have automatic ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x9g4f	How are credit card numbers validated?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "degc23s" ], "text": [ "The first step in that the first few digits will be checked to correspond to a certain company. For example an Amex card will start with 34 or 37 and will be 15 digits long. Where as a Visa will start with a 4 then the next 3 digits describe the issuer and card type, it...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x9ge2	- Ryzen Cpu's? What's all the fuss about?	I get that they're AMDs new CPU's, but there seems to be a damn lot of fuss being made. Have AMD changed the game or something? Or same old same old?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "degcmm8", "degcbyx" ], "text": [ "Long story short: For roughly the last 10 years, Intel have dominated the performance CPU market. For the last 5 years, Intel have dominated it to such a degree that they've practically stopped trying to push performance forward in any meaningful way, wit...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5x9q6l	Why does the last 15% of my phone battery life disappear so much faster?	When my phone gets to the last %, normally around 15%, it visibally starts to fall! It only lasts a few minutes!	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "degdvqh" ], "text": [ "So generally there are a few causes to that. 1. power = voltage * amperage, The lower cell is charged the lower the output voltage will be, li-pols range is 4.2V to around 3.0V, so between 100% and 5% there will be 1.4 times as much drain because the amperage will have ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xcjnc	What exactly is the difference between "cores" and "threads" on a CPU?	I see some CPUs have cores equal to threads, but some have twice as many threads as cores. What are threads here?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "degzz3t" ], "text": [ "In a CPU core, various types of calculations are actually done in physically different parts of the CPU. For example, integer arithmetic runs on a different part of the silicon than floating point (decimal) arithmetic. A CPU with multiple threads takes advantage of this...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xdrp0	Why do most online games feature beta testing phases, but offline games are released untested by the public?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deha09n", "deh9sqz", "deh9syl", "deh9vgc" ], "text": [ "An online game needs to be exceedingly \"balanced\" in order to be successful. That means that a knight, a wizard, and a thief need to be all about as powerful as the other guy, else everyone who wants to play a knight will b...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xe6tv	The concept of abstraction in computer science	What is it? Why should I know it? How is it used? Thanks!	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dehgsno", "dehdisx" ], "text": [ "Abstraction is the idea that the user of some function or method doesn't need to understand how the function works, the only thing they need to know is how to operate it (i.e. the input and output). Abstraction is incredibly important for building complex...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xhqrx	What is a "Duck" in Computer Programming?	Or "Type Safety" for that matter.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dei6nnr", "dei5ivu" ], "text": [ "'Type safety' refers to how much a language checks the data types of variables. For example, checking that you aren't trying to perform math operations on strings of text. Some operators work differently on different data types. For example, 'x + y' might...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xi0uh	How do games know if its been pirated or not? How do game developers code in a repercussion to pirating a game?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dei7mg6", "deiea2k", "deicu4d", "dei7q4d", "dei83sf" ], "text": [ "It's possible for a game to connect to an activation server and check the key used to activate the game, and if it is blacklisted on the server, it may be a pirated copy. Most cracks will try to disable this. I...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xiz6j	Why did TVs go from squares to rectangles?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deih11p", "deieoat" ], "text": [ "There's a video [here]( URL_0 ) that goes through the whole history. To summarize: movies started using the 4:3 (not quite square) aspect ratio because a guy working in Thomas Edison's lab picked it seemingly arbitrarily. TVs picked the same ratio so they...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xjilp	Why is the Louis Vuitton's Youtube channel registered as an afghan channel		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deij13e" ], "text": [ "Afghanistan is alphabetically the first country, so if the registration form included a dropdown menu for the country, that's what would appear by default. My guess is whoever created the channel just didn't set the country, and was left with the default." ], "score...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xl6qx	Exactly how does an MRI work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dej0tly" ], "text": [ "Your body has 7*10^27 hrdrogen atoms which are spinning on their axes that are all pointing in random directions. When you are placed in a MRI machine, the magnetic field aligns a small majority of those atoms' axes with the direction of the magnetic field. Then, using ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xlctp	Why is the performance of a graphics card tied so heavily to the drivers, to the point that a bad driver can cause a sudden drop in performance?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deizrcn" ], "text": [ "Yo don't write code to be executed on the graphics card directly. Yo write code in a API like DirectX or OpenGL that the driver converts or thing that are executed on the graphics card. So the performance depends on good the driver is. The reason for not writing directl...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xm77q	Why do we continue to make nuclear weapons, despite a seemingly global hatred for them?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dej5v2h", "dej5sj7" ], "text": [ "There is an acronym called m.a. d. Mutually assured destruction. While we all live in a word where we don't want nuclear weapons they are still here and because of that if one country wants to attack another country they know the other country can match t...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xm9q8	How do hacking attacks compromise user accounts if passwords are stored as hashed values?	Unless you could reverse the hash back into the password, wouldn't the password be safe?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dej8e3s", "dej6iri" ], "text": [ "It depends on which hashing process was used, and how strong your password is. Your comment is right, by definition you cannot reverse a hashed password. That is what a hash is. Your password is fed into a one way grinder (\"hashing algorithm\") and trans...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xmjd9	Why does water fry electronics?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dej7zu0", "dejqs3o" ], "text": [ "Electronics have defined paths through which electricity has to flow. These paths are designed such that there is always a regulated flow of electrons from low potential to high potential. This flow also generates heat due to resistance and electrons coll...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xmyzl	What is Facebook's rationale for having my friend's comments on strangers pages show up on my feed?	I understand Facebook does many things to gather data/increase monetization. But I don't understand how showing friend F comments on their friend G's (a stranger to me) page, on my feed, gathers data/increases monetization for Facebook. And on my end, I can't remember ever engaging with one of these conversations becau...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejbb1v", "dejk392", "dejotgp", "dejtele", "dekm2mq", "dejsc8f" ], "text": [ "They're hoping that you and G become friends. Either you know each other in real life but haven't become Facebook friends yet, or perhaps you haven't met but you join in the conversation and beco...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xn0v3	Why do many installers tell you that it's "recommended that you close all other applications"?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejg9w5", "dejfjzi", "dejbve6", "dejbaap" ], "text": [ "The operating system and execution environment of most modern operating systems have \"shared libraries\" that are directly mapped into memory. This means that the file(s) that do various things -- like run your display or co...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xnaas	What algorithms do programmers use to produce "randomness"	I know that it is impossible to make something truly random, but what algorithms do most people use to do so?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejfzlu", "dejnu20", "dejifdj" ], "text": [ "There are different possibilities: There are so called \"hash functions\". You put a number in, you get a number out. The important thing: if you put two close values in, you get two vastly different outputs. If you use now the system time,...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xoacz	If child pornography possession is illegal, why hasn't Snap Inc's CEO gotten arrested?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejndwt", "dejlzn0", "dejlzdv", "dejm4qq", "dejoy19", "dejp485", "dejumyg" ], "text": [ "I am not a lawyer and not your lawyer and this is not legal advice. I used to work IT for a very large computer services / sales corporation where an employee had child porn on the...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xovw6	-Why won't ethanol work as an alternative fuel source?	Having a discussion with my dad the other day about solar and other alt energy and he says we should focus on ethanol, since it's renewable. Since I'm dumb, I really don't know why, but it seems like I've heard loads of smart people say that ethanol won't really work. But I've never really heard why.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejq8f6", "dejpsi1", "dejq0uv" ], "text": [ "In the US, ethanol has two problems: * in part because Iowa votes very early in the presidential primary process, ethanol production from corn is subsidized...corn is a pretty terrible thing to make ethanol out of * making ethanol out of an...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xoy60	how stealth operations really work since most depictions of silencers/suppressors aren't realistic	I've read/seen from different sources that silencers and suppressors on weapons don't actually "silence" gunfire, and shots are still quite loud. Since most depictions of stealth operations in videgames and movies depict teams quietly picking off hostiles while making their way through an area so they don't raise any a...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejqbh2" ], "text": [ "Suppressors dull the sound of a gunshot slightly, but more importantly they dull its ability to echo, and they dull the recognizable 'pop' or 'crack' of a gunshot, turning it into a some kind of 'chiss', 'tssk', or if you use subsonic rounds, 'chack'. These two features...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xq2bg	How is /r/mildly interesting able to detech immediately that the image I've posted is a screenshot?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dejzc62" ], "text": [ "Can you see the top notification bar from your phone in the picture?" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xqk92	Why is the launch price for the Nintendo Switch nearly $100 more for Australian buyers? Even converting the US price to AUD equals $394 D:		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dek3hxa", "dek4t9y", "dek4mki" ], "text": [ "There may be extra costs involved for Nintendo. The price of importing a product is more complex than simply the sales tax the consumer pays. Besides import duties there is some one-time safety/legal obstacles to be cleared and if they expe...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xqkxc	Why has air traffic control not been automated by computers? Wouldn't a computer be able to more accurately keep track and maintain all flight paths and altitudes?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dekcjwm", "dek3rsi", "dek3pb6", "dek6cvv", "dekfu41" ], "text": [ "Air traffic controllers think on the fly more than you would assume. They look at their radar scopes and plan each target to work with others by working their speed, altitude, and path. Computers could probably...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xtl6t	Being a millennial who has been raised around screens of all types; how -realistically- have I been affected?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dekq5le", "deksz7m", "dektl7i", "dekqnls" ], "text": [ "By screens? As in LCD displays? As a millennial you are probably safe. Us old people who were raised around CRT TVs and displays have more to worry about. LCD displays are pretty safe as far as radition and other harmful effe...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xtvec	Why are "Pro" cameras so big/heavy	I've got a relatively nice Canon mirror-less camera. What makes a "pro" camera like the Canon 5D so big/heavy. The sensor is obviously a little bit bigger and there's a few more dedicated buttons, but it doesn't seem like there should be that many more things inside to justify the size/weight difference.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dekt7bx" ], "text": [ "Presuming both cameras are SLRs there are still several things that add weight: * larger more powerful moters (for cameras that support in body rather than on lens focusing) and to operate the reflex mirror much more rapidly. * large pentaprisms rather than penta mirror...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xu3wi	How do the fingerprint sensors in modern smartphones work?	I am constantly amazed by how quickly and reliably the fingerprint sensor on my phone works. I'm wondering what kind of technology is responsible for the accuracy of fingerprint scanning.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dekwwo9" ], "text": [ "Optical readers take a picture of your fingerprint with a digital camera. Apple chose a capacitance reader, which is far more interesting. Touch ID uses a capacitance sensor to detect small differences in electrical conductivity on the surface of your finger." ], "s...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xu4t9	How does Navigation in Space work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dekwlif" ], "text": [ "Using a triangle metod.. You send a signal to nearest station or satelite(but their position must be know), and you get resposnse after some time. Repeat that with three stations(satelites).. Using a simple formula v=s/t.. you get three diameters and a place they inters...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xuutd	Why are PC-tune up programs considered a scam by some people?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "del1neq", "del1hrp", "del7qd8" ], "text": [ "They are deserving of being suspect as they can't, by definition, fix the problem. So then what are they doing? And we're going to explore a couple important questions: What do these programs suggest they can do that, say, Microsoft, doesn'...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xvbey	Why do hard drives have the same RPM speeds (like 7200 or 5400)? Is there a specific reason? Or could they go 7205 and still work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "del8j91", "del9kbh" ], "text": [ "Carry over from old AC motor driven harddrives that use to run at 3600 RPMs. US AC power runs at 60hz per second, which resulted in 3600RRPM drives, until manufacturers figured out they could provide more power using brushless motors at higher factors(540...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xvhrt	How does self-modifiying code actually work? Does this just mean it can continuously teach itself to get better with now peak?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "del7yo6" ], "text": [ "Software developer here, That is highly dependent on context. In Lisp, the code is data, and it's absolutely trivial to reason about it as data, at runtime, in your program. This is quite common to do in the language, as runtime code generation and execution is a fundam...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xw914	Why are Vending machines so picky when it comes to paper money?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deldbaw" ], "text": [ "When I was 12 we used to photocopy dollar bills and exchange them for quarters in the local laundromat machine so we could go and play pinball. They're pickier now because of kids like me." ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xwepk	In a world where we have devices the size of a deck of cards with enough computing power to launch the Space Shuttle, why does it still take an hour to update software?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deldl9r" ], "text": [ "The task of getting an update to your machine and applying it moves down a very long pipeline. First the data is stored somewhere on a physical hard drive inside a server someplace. The server has to know about your request for the data, access it, send it along the net...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xxqrd	What's the difference between a message being 'sent' and 'delivered'?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "deloczv", "delq3a2" ], "text": [ "When you put a letter in your outgoing mail, it's been \"sent\". When the letter carrier picks it up, it's \"in transit\". When a letter carrier drops the letter off at its destination, it's \"delivered\". When the recipient opens the letter, it's \"read\...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xy164	How do websites like Bitly and google (and maybe other websites) shorten links?	Do they host them? Sometimes I even see other links shortened, like Washington Post to URL_0 or something	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "delrfnj" ], "text": [ "Say you tell URL_0 to generate a short link for your user profile page, Bitly will tell you to use a link that looks something like this: ` URL_0 /aabbcc` When you asked Bitly to generate the link, they write a note in their private database which says: \"The short link...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xz6gi	Why and how do dead pixels spread across a screen?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "delzvrd", "delzzw0" ], "text": [ "If anyone can explain also how a vertical line of dead pixels in my monitor came back to life, I would appreciate that as well.", "physical damage and shock aside (where a physical trauma breaks connections, such as a drop or a hit), a 'dead pixel' ca...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
5xz6vs	Why can Apple control the shape of its chargers but other companies have to follow the regulations and change it to USB C?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "dem004o" ], "text": [ "Apple still has to comply to European standards and as a result, all iPhones sold there have to have a microUSB to lightning adapter, and probably USB-C to lightning adapter soon. It is just easier for the other companies to switch to microUSB after the standardization ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]

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