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a5otdq
Often times, I read about game developers placing superfluous data within a game's files to take up disc space. A text file or audio file, for example, which serves no other purpose. Why was this?
I can't think of any examples, but I know I've heard of this somewhere. Edit: I should clarify what I mean: When I say 'superfluous', I mean it has no apparent purpose to the game. Not even an unused thing or a planned thing that later got scraped. In particular, I recall one instance of a text file that simply had ran...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebomjsl", "ebo7mvf", "ebo9w5l" ], "text": [ "Sometimes taking up space *is* doing something for the game. Ex. a CD has a single spiral containing data going from the inside to the edge of the disc. However due to the way it works, reading from the edge of the disc (closer to the end o...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5p0io
Why do lightbulbs burst with light before going out?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "eboatiu" ], "text": [ "Incandescent bulb filaments get thinner and thinner as they are used, literally evaporating. Eventually some spot gets to the point of positive feedback: It gets thinner, so it gets hotter, so it evaporates faster, so it gets thinner,... As this reaches its conclusion, ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5p8x5
how those finger sensors at the doctors office can tell what my oxygen levels are at.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebob08a", "ebob225" ], "text": [ "Red blood cells are a different colour when it's saturated with different levels of oxygen. So the light bounce off your red blood cells and the probe sees what colour it is.", "Those sensors work by light absorption. Different wavelengths of light ar...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5pzt9
How do mobile games get away with advertising blatantly fake gameplay?
I'm not referring as much to the legality of the issue, as I understand it would be difficult to prosecute. I'm more curious as to how these adverts don't seem to be in violation of Google Play's own policies (I can't speak for the App Store since I've only ever used Android). A lot of these games promote fake CGI game...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "eboj29i", "ebokcg7" ], "text": [ "It's not exclusive to mobile apps. You see it quite a bit in regular videogame commercials, I can remember them from the 90s showing little to no actual gameplay, or stuff that doesn't happen in the game sometimes, or bits and pieces of FMV sequences, etc...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5q1jy
What is YouTube Rewind?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "eboie5o", "ebootfw" ], "text": [ "A video which you tube makes every year to show the collective trash created on youtube in that year featuring the youtubers who created that trash. ^Disclamer: If you make good content then you will not be part of it.", "YT rewind is a collaboration ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5tw8l
How do they provide oxygen for the "space people" on the ISS so that they don't need to dock with refilling spacecrafts all the time?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebp5gd9", "ebp6bhv", "ebqo4hi" ], "text": [ "It recycles the air and scrubs the CO2 from it. Also recycles water from waste. It is very efficient.", "First of all they do dock with spacecrafts all the time to refill their supply of among other oxygen. They have big tanks on the sp...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5xb1t
Why are game updates so big when the code is probably just a few hundered MB?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebpz1eo" ], "text": [ "> Why is Fallout 76's day one update 51GB? Because Bethesda screwed up, same reason their beta had people clicking the play button in the launcher and the whole game deleted itself. Fallout 76 is a bad reference Normally large patches come with new models and textures, ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5xkl3
How are perfectly looping gifs made from real videos?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebq76qu" ], "text": [ "there's two main ways from what I've seen, you can either get to a section of the video and replay it backwards or find two frames, one from the start, one from the end and leave them as the first and last frame." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ]...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5xvj0
Why are plural checks online often missed out or completely ignored? Example: You have 1 notifications
I see it so often and it makes me wonder, is it just laziness or does it have a legitimate reason?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebq580o", "ebq5axw" ], "text": [ "Usually when programming you preplan a sentence like this: \"You have & 1 notifications\". The & 1 then will get replaced. You have one sentence that works for every number. If you want the plural / singular, you would need two different sentences and a p...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a5zp5f
Speed squares used in carpentry.
I am a 1st year apprentice and I have only used my speed square as a straightedge. It says hip and valley and has numbers all over it, but I haven't used them once.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebqpxae" ], "text": [ "The hip/valley potion is used for building rafters, specifically, it's for measuring the angles for a [hip roof]( URL_0 )." ], "score": [ 5 ], "text_urls": [ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_roof" ] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a60i5j
Why are DJs important? What’s wrong with a playlist?
Not trying to offend anyone. Just genuinely curious
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebqpwcz", "ebqpxp1" ], "text": [ "A DJ is supposed to feel the room, feel the crowd and be able to adjust the songs they play on the fly to play whatever is the \"best\" song next for the patrons in the venue. They may even, and often do, cut songs down, and start a new one in early if on...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a61f8i
How did Houston know what conditions would be like for a human on the moon to prepare the space suits just right to protect the astronauts during apollo 11?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebr2nub", "ebr20m0", "ebr01iu", "ebqzwv0", "ebrgi87" ], "text": [ "Nasa was very woried about the suits during the first moon mission. The astronauts were instructed to stay close to the capsule in case of emergency. Plant a flag get some samples and get out. They also where n...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6288d
How effective is regenerative braking on electric vehicles?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebr6cyl" ], "text": [ "Roughly 60-70% efficient overall. That is considering the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle and how much of it can be converted into kinetic movement of the vehicle later, not the efficiency of the braking in turning movement into electricity." ], "score": [ ...
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[ "url" ]
a62mdu
Why do ads on paid subscriptions play better than the shows themselves?
To be more specific...I select a show to watch, I suffer through the ad, and then when the show I stayed to watch comes around, an error saying playback failure; cc hulu .
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebr6wq8" ], "text": [ "Everyone in a given area gets the same set of ads so they are kept handy by the servers. Not everyone watches the same shows so they might be stored in a more distant, slower location. An analogy is a hardware store with rows and rows of different parts you can order, w...
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[ "url" ]
a62ti2
Why aren't you allowed cellphones and other wave emitting equipment in a mine?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebraj6v" ], "text": [ "Cell phones do not work underground due to all the rock shielding the radio signals. So there is no reason to bring it with you. However in a mine there are lots of dangers that can potentially be triggered by cell phones. They often use radio signals to set off explosi...
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[ "url" ]
a6445y
How did Planet Earth II get their shots without disturbing the animals?
I find it hard to believe that there are people there while filming the bobcats fighting and if there isn’t anyone there do they hide the cameras to match the environment?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebrg80c", "ebrmjxf", "ebrit8h" ], "text": [ "They usually either use large telephoto lenses (like the Canon 1200mm L: URL_1 - this one is designed for photography, but it can be used with compatible digital movie cameras as well), or use concealment tents ( URL_0 ). Sometimes you use ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a64dio
Google Maps uses Mercator projection when zoomed out, giving a distorted view of Earth. Why does nothing seem to change as I zoom into those distorted areas? Surely there should be areas of Siberia, Canada, etc that look fucked up when zoomed in?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebrknsd", "ebrp1gf" ], "text": [ "First, Google Maps doesn't use a Mercator projection when zoomed out... at least not today on my browser. I get a 3-d spherical \"satellite view\". But anyway, what Mercator does wrong is that the scale depends on latitude: polar parts of the Earth look b...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a64uvd
How does inntagram know I recently bought a guitar without typing in guitar on their app?
The same thing happens to me with amazon and YouTube I won’t even search for guitar on any of their apps but they somehow know I own a guitar now. It honestly creeps me out a lot.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebrob6r", "ebrpb7e", "ebrpe3h" ], "text": [ "Metadata. Basically, anything you search up or look at is collected and sold to marketing companies which in turn are seen through advertising.", "You probably researched it somehow, on Google or Facebook (FB owns Insta) for instance. T...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a653hl
Why, in almost 2019, do we not have total network coverage for mobile/cell phones?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebrqeur" ], "text": [ "For the large part: money. In some areas, primarily remote/rural areas, the costs of building out and operating cellular network towers may exceed the additional revenue the company expects from building/operating such towers, thus there is little or no incentive to bui...
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[ "url" ]
a65sis
What is the difference between WiFi and Bluetooth?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebs4qt9" ], "text": [ "In general terms, WiFi is a protocol used to connect various devices to a central network, and is intended to take the place of in-wall cabling. Bluetooth is a protocol for devices to connect to each other and for peripherals to connect to devices, and usually takes the...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a664dd
What causes a car's head gasket to blow and why do certain car brands seem to have a bigger issue with this than other brands?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebs9sqm", "ebs714f" ], "text": [ "For manufacturing reasons, the cylinder head is fabricated as a separate piece of metal than the cylinder body. These two pieces of metal are bolted together, to enable maintenance, at a point where there are very high combustion gas pressures. These high...
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[ "url" ]
a66fpr
Why do PC and monitors/TV still have a VGA port?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebsb1t0", "ebsb4w9", "ebsb1up" ], "text": [ "VGA is pretty common with legacy equipment, especially in the business space. It's less common in the consumer space, however.", "Because there is a demand for support for legacy components. There are still quite a few VGA monitors and ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a66qj8
Software Architecture
I saw a video where Bill Gates states he still helps with the architecture for Microsoft. What is software architecture?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebsf7c2", "ebtr0d9" ], "text": [ "Software is built of various logic and data components that interact with each other. Architecture design is determining at a very high level what these components should be, what they should do and how they should talk to each other.", "Architecture ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a67b31
How did spacecrafts come back to Earth from the Moon? Did the lack of Earth-like atmosphere on the Moon interfere somehow?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebsjzgt", "ebsivwn" ], "text": [ "Landing on the moon without an atmosphere was harder than getting off the moon without an atmosphere. Having an atmosphere means that as you go faster, you get more resistance to acceleration as the air has less time to move out of the way and let you pas...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a67hfq
How do Yubikeys work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebsnueo" ], "text": [ "There is a tiny computer inside. When you touch the \"go\" spot a circuit senses your electrical capacitance (you are not as good an insulator as air). This circuit tells the computer to \"go\". A fixed program in the computer reads some data from the USB port it's plug...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6a5pd
Why do URLs have %20 in them to represent a space?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebt81kt", "ebtp8k4", "ebt75cl", "ebtqkoj", "ebt9vxm", "ebtrexw", "ebttsr1" ], "text": [ "Computers don't understand letters, they only understand numbers. So back in the early days of computers, someone sat down and associated each letter and punctuation mark they want...
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[ "url" ]
a6cxzt
Why did the Brits ship IPA instead of other barrel-aged beers?
I learned that the extra hops in IPAs acted as a preservative that made the beer suitable for the many months' voyage from England to India. I also realize that those IPAs were shipped in barrels. Today, there are many less hoppy beers suitable for long barrel aging. Why, then, was the hops of IPA required in colonial ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebttq1r" ], "text": [ "Nowdays we have efficient techniques for controlling microbial growth. At the time, they barely understood what microbes were, and many people didn't even know they existed. So, without having the techniques we have to preserve the beer, hops were about it. It's a food-...
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[ "url" ]
a6dimc
How do people animate nowadays?
Basically people like Namark , TheOdd1sOut, and JaidenAnimations seem to be able to animate their videos in such a beautiful way, what I don't get is how they do it so well in (relatively) little time. I'm comparing this to animated cartoon movies mosly. So the question is, do people actually draw all of these frame by...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebtx7tt", "ebtxjyj" ], "text": [ "They draw keyframes in software and the software does the inbetween. I think. I don't know who those guys you mentioned are though", "Most modeling is 3d now. So they take a 3d model, move it into poses, then the animation software moves between the p...
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a6f9iw
Why are semi-auto marksman rifles not as accurate as bolt-actions?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebu9s0l", "ebuharn", "ebuyrdd", "ebub0g6", "ebv8o69", "ebu9kxb", "ebuv3eq" ], "text": [ "There are a lot less variables with a bolt action. They are simple and strong, and that makes for less ‘play’ in the action. Semi autos use a gas system, rechamber based on recoil ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6fc1k
Why is 24/25 fps okay for video but painfully low for gaming?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebufnou", "ebua5ze", "ebucqke" ], "text": [ "It has to do with a difference in how the frames are formed. Individual movie frames are very blurry, but their blur isn't just a random fuzziness but instead something called \"motion blur\". That kind of blur contains information because ...
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a6fuxn
Why some manufacturers can offer devices with insane GPS precision? I thought this was reserved for military.
I spent 2 hours repainting the lines on a rugby field yesterday. Plenty of time to think about automating this quite annoying task using an RC Truck combined with a drone controller+GPS. I searched the internet and found some manufacturers who claim that their automatic line marker robots can achieve a precision of +/-...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebug8jl", "ebufm20" ], "text": [ "\"Military grade GPS precision\" was (the absence/reversal of) an encryption algorithm being applied to the GPS signal to make it very slightly incorrect in a reversible manner. During one of the Bush administrations, don't quite remember which, the troop...
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[ "url" ]
a6h6by
Why we still need to do the whole "left eye/right eye, option 1 or option 2" when getting glasses? Why isn't there a machine that can test this just by looking at our eyes?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebus1kq", "eburv4x" ], "text": [ "Vision is a really subjective experience, affected by many factors including the exact shape of lots of different parts of the eye. You've got two choices: 1. Get a complicated, expensive machine that gives you an OK pair of glasses; or 2. Buy a simple, c...
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[ "url" ]
a6ivqt
How are Lightning and USB-C connectors able to work in both orientations?
Besides the physical symmetry, of course. Other plugs like USB-A prevent you from using the wrong orientation because they wouldn't work that way anyway. What enables USB-C and Lightning to do so?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebv72kh" ], "text": [ "No, it's really the physical symmetry. USB-C was designed to be symmetric because the Lightning solution (which was non-standard) was very well received by users. It takes twice as many connectors, more parts, more complexity, more gold; but yet users find it's very wor...
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a6j0l5
What's the difference between an arduino and a raspberry pi?
What's their marketing? What can one do that the other can't? Which one is more popular? Which one is better? When do you use the arduino, when the RPi? Thank You so much!!
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebv84zq", "ebv9nj2" ], "text": [ "Pi is basically a low resource PC, mostly used for single task setups (dev enviornment, router replacement, streaming service, etc). Arduino is a microcontoller for sensors. Controls robot arms, sensors, and has options for computing tasks.", "Oh! I g...
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a6k1c2
How much of the internet that I see is limited by my location in the world?
Is there a Chinese internet I just have never seen? It just seems like every website is in English and most news is about the US (that's where I'm from)
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebvi9xb", "ebvi9jo" ], "text": [ "If you're in a free country, you can read nearly every public site in the whole Internet. Including Chinese ones.", "Well, the US is a disproportional part of the Internet. Head over to URL_0 . If you can't see that, you can't see China. Of course you...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6muwx
what is the difference between disk capacity and density with a SSD?
I'm trying to upgrade my system and have a vague idea. Want to clarify before I buy.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebw91ei" ], "text": [ "Capacity is what you really want, that's how much total storage the drive provides Density is about how much storage we can fit in one flash chip. Higher density chips enable higher capacity drives in the same size, or drives with the same capacity but fewer chips Densi...
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[ "url" ]
a6nke6
Why do integers have different sizes depending on the architecture of the computer? (64bit, 32bit)
Example: 64bit has integers the size of 8bytes and 32bit has the size of 4bytes
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebwih97", "ebwhg90" ], "text": [ "That is by definition of an integer. From the Kerningham and Ritchie The C Programming Language, 2nd edition: The range of both int and float depends on the machine you are using; 16-bit ints, which lie between -32768 and +32767, are common, as are 32-bit...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6ojy8
What is an API
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebwpspx", "ebwmnxh" ], "text": [ "Think of it like you and your dog are two different computer programs. An API is like the words your dog has been trained to understand. If you say \"sit\" you know what to expect and the dog knows what to do and how to respond. On the other hand, you hav...
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a6p1km
How do they replace lights on the top of tall temples?
Currently in Bangkok and absolutely do not understand how they replace the bulbs on the very top of these temples, specifically Wat Arun. I can't imagine there is an easy ladder access haha, do they literally scale these things?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebwqvtm" ], "text": [ "They are hollow. You walk up stairs or ride a small elevator. At the top there are handholds for climbing the last bit. Source: that's how they replace the light bulbs on the TV station tower I worked at." ], "score": [ 7 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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[ "url" ]
a6qa3k
Just A Random Thought: How did they find out that it was Plutonium/Uranium that was the perfect catalyst for a WMD?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebwzq2g", "ebx2ydn" ], "text": [ "It's easy to narrow down a list of the most suitable elements by looking at their properties. Uranium-235 and plutonium-239 undergo fission readily and were thus considered, among other elements. Finding the absolute best is just a means of trial and erro...
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[ "url" ]
a6qflo
Why are the three primary colors red, yellow and blue, but computer system color palettes use red, green and blue as their base colors?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebx12b6", "ebx18ab", "ebx3o8l" ], "text": [ "Red, green and blue are the primary colors of light.. Combining all three gives you white Red (magenta) yellow and blue (cyan) is the primary colors of pigment. Combining all three is viewed as black (or more technically such a clusterfuck ...
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[ "url" ]
a6qkqc
How does the process for animated movies even start and how do they make everything run perfectly together?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebx8fwj" ], "text": [ "Movies started out as individual film photographs. Movie cameras captured live action, but once you had that long strip of film you could do stuff. Some early \"special effects\" involved inking black-and-white film prints to turn one object a color. From that experimen...
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a6qnnl
What happens when you click the 'cash back' button when you pay with a card at checkout? Is that a credit card only thing? How does it work? (Ive only ever had a debit card, if that matters).
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebx2885", "ebx2dqs" ], "text": [ "It's a **debit** card only thing. Basically, the shop overcharges you by an amount of your choosing, and hands you cash as \"change\" from the purchase. This way, you can grab some walking around cash without having to go to an ATM. Your bank sees it as a...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6rk1s
How do cameras capture high quality photos in the dark or during the night? What is needed to do this?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxamke" ], "text": [ "The more sensitive the sensor is, the higher quality you'll get in low light. Having a larger sensor helps with this since you have more light hitting each individual pixel. Also, a larger and higher quality lens that can focus more light onto the sensor helps. The alte...
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[ "url" ]
a6rscr
If cell phones are based off radio, how do we still get service deep inside buildings, etc.?
Peaked my interest whilst pooping and browsing Reddit via LTE...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxcn9r" ], "text": [ "Some of the radio signals actually can penetrate buildings well. Especially signals below 1000 MHZ. Also some buildings have signal boosters in them that most people don’t even know about." ], "score": [ 5 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6rtsl
How does Bluetooth Low Energy Work?
I've seen it on my phone before. I have a Samsung S9+ and I look into settings and says it uses Bluetooth Low Energy. Or LE. It uses it's microphone to find devices to connect to and to transfer data files with. What is Bluetooth Low Energy exactly? It says it will use a bit of battery (3500mAh Capacity from the phone)...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxi2gq" ], "text": [ "Bluetooth is a way to communicate to other devices wireless, The most common application on a cellphone is to connect to headsets, spearker etc Bluetooth low energy is the latest bluetooth standard that do what is say and used less power. The amount is usages depend on ...
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[ "url" ]
a6sih7
Why isn’t Braille just raised letters? Wouldn’t it make more sense if it was?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxjzni", "ebxnfeg", "ebxwrx6", "ebydxp4" ], "text": [ "Not for reading it quickly. It's designed so that each letter is distinctive by touch - Braille readers don't have to feel each letter individually, they can just run their fingers over a row and read it all at once. Another ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
a6sjvb
Why is Windows 32-bit referred to as x86 and not x32 while 64-bit is referred to as x64?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxkoca", "ebxlukf", "ebxki8x", "ebxlcke" ], "text": [ "The 8086 was an early Intel processor which led to the 186, 286, 386, and 486. The architecture was called x86 and anything compatible with it was x86 compatible. These were some of the earliest and most wide spread 32 bit pr...
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[ "url" ]
a6swcj
How do wireless chargers work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxogj5" ], "text": [ "> I know that charging a battery is essentially moving electrons back into the battery That's not really how it works. Electrons aren't \"spent\" when you use power from electricity. The electrons are all still there. No electrons have been lost. Electrons don't go back...
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[ "url" ]
a6tnuw
How do subtitles on streaming services work?
what is the technology used for the subtitles on Netflix and Hulu? Have they actually typed out the script to everything streaming on those platforms? Thanks
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebxum03" ], "text": [ "Yes, someone did have to sit down and type them out. Usually it's done by the studio for closed captioning (on TV) or subtitles for the DVD/blu-ray release, then they just send the files along when they license the content to streaming services. For Netflix Original stu...
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[ "url" ]
a6ua46
why law enforcement uses polygraphs but they are not admissible in court
If polygraphs are not reliable enough to be admissible in court then why do law enforcement use them to help eliminate suspects or possibly confirm their suspicions?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "eby9jsr", "ebykza1" ], "text": [ "It is a useful tool for finding pressure points. There are two types of modern police interrogations - reid method and interrogative. Interrogative - That is basically questioning people until you catch them in lies. Knowing which questions to ask is very...
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[ "url" ]
a6wa9r
What does Netflix have to gain with "are you still watching?"
Why does Netflix have this feature? Surely without it there would be more watch minutes, better numbers, and all around just beneficial to Netflix. So why add something that stops the customer from using the service? Not only that, but why make it uncontrollable by the user? There is no way of turning it off as far as ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebyidqu", "ebyiq5m", "ebyif51", "ebylb4e", "ebyia5c", "ebyl0w4" ], "text": [ "A reduction in required server bandwidth. If people fall asleep and the stream keeps going, it's adding demand that could otherwise be allocated to users who are actively watching.", "I like ...
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a6xs9a
Why do USB connectors have 2 sides? Every time I go to plug one in I have to turn it around...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebywavp", "ebytxpd", "ebytfes" ], "text": [ "The thing is to realise that USB cables weren't created out of the blue; they were a solution to a problem, and that problem was the frankly nightmare situation that existed in the 90's of different connection standards. The rear panel of a...
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a70jva
Why do phone batteries seem to die faster in colder weather?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebzcydh", "ebzrs7e", "ebzsee7" ], "text": [ "Because lithium ion batteries perform worse in the cold. They need some heat in order for the ion flow (which makes the battery work) to work properly.", "Remember that although a battery produces electricity, it itself is a chemical-ba...
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a71cq2
How do they make these piped cookies with truffle centers?
A Costco cookie assortment made its way to my office for the holidays, and these mint chocolate cookies were among them. I'm an above-average home baker, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how they get the truffle center into what looks like a piped cookie. [Pictures of the cookies here]( URL_0 ). The stripes a...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebzmvgs" ], "text": [ "So there's basically a bigger \"central\" nozzle that pipes in the truffle center, and then this big nozzle is surrounded by smaller nozzles for the alternating mint and truffle. All of this stuff is fed through yet one more nozzle which drops and lifts the actual cooki...
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a71qhl
if heat creates energy, why have humans not yet tried to harness the power of the earths core?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebzlaef", "ebzlfhi" ], "text": [ "...we do, it's called [Geothermal Power]( URL_0 ) So yes, it's plausible, because we're doing it.", "We do harness this \"geothermal\" energy in places where it's plausible to do so. Usually you have to bore *really* deep (miles) to find temperatures ...
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a71ufn
Nueral Networks.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ebzq4us", "ebzq9mm" ], "text": [ "I saw a TV programme years ago that showed a \"machine\" built out of matchboxes and coloured beads that could be taught to play tic tac toe. Turns out that it was effectively a mechanical neural network designed in the '60s named MENACE. Details here: UR...
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a73jws
After seeing Peter Jackson's Restored Footage, why is a lot of old footage look like it's in fast-forward?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec018yl", "ec00a85", "ec006es" ], "text": [ "So, video of all sorts is just a series of still images that gets changed really quickly. Each image is called a *frame*, and how many images you see per second is called the *framerate*. Old footage, as people have noted, used hand-cranked...
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a745zd
Why does Redsit use so much Data?
Whenever I use Reddit for an extended period of time while not connected to a WiFi source, I can use up to 40 megabytes within a half hour period. Why?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec051wh", "ec080bt" ], "text": [ "Reddit needs to load a ton of images and text when scrolling, just like Twitter does. The images can take up a lot of space overtime.", "A lot of images on reddit are 1/4 to 1/2 of a megabyte. A bunch of comments and their associated metadata can be 1...
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a74hb3
why does old black and white video footage almost always look sped up.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec07rpx" ], "text": [ "Back then, they were cranking the film while they were filming it. This is before technology could automate the timing. They figured that cranking a little too fast worked better for the story. Or maybe they just thought that the film was boring so they were trying to s...
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a75k4x
How do flash drives keep data stored when they have no power
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec0gpmi", "ec0h8yc" ], "text": [ "The flash storage device use what is known as a floating gate transistor. That is a transistor where one of the wires are not connected to anything. Therefore you can charge this wire and then later check the charge of the wire by checking the state of th...
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a7ac3m
Will a Youtube video with a still background require the same processing power as a moving video ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec1fesx", "ec1krtm" ], "text": [ "No, Youtube doesn't send the video as a whole and sends every pixel, even if it doesn't change, they will send the changes between frames, so a completely still video uses less data and therefore involves less work. How big the difference at the user-side...
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a7aq6b
Why can't the mouse cursor move off screen on the left side when it can on the right?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec1hg43", "ec1hk2v" ], "text": [ "The cursor is actually only one pixel. The top left pixel of the pointy thing So when you run it to the right most of the pointyctjing can run off the screen but not the left row of pixels of the cursor. When you go to the bottom, the top row stops.", ...
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a7ba86
During the late 80s to mid 90s, every home computer came with their own operating system. Now almost all home computers comes with just Windows, why?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec1phk1", "ec1lqv9", "ec1vite", "ec1z11y", "ec1yinn", "ec1w4ec", "ec22po2", "ec21vqe", "ec1v16r" ], "text": [ "The short answer: because Microsoft, lead by Bill Gates, engaged in illegal anti-competitive actions to drive competitors out of business and establis...
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a7biv2
How do vinyl records store sound, and how does a needle reproduce that sound?
I collect records yet I've never understood this basic question about them. I've read many explication but I've never found one that explains it plainly and completely. Thanks in advance everyone!
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec1nf22", "ec1qbc5" ], "text": [ "Records are etched with very tiny physical bumps in the plastic. The needle is very delicate and when it runs over a bump, it vibrates. The bumps on the record are placed and sized very precisely to vibrate the needle at the exact pitch of the recorded so...
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a7d4kg
With so much YouTube drama, it seems there would be a huge market for an alternative site. Why isn't there one?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec20fep", "ec20w9o", "ec218h8", "ec218aw", "ec20tn1", "ec20zjx", "ec23m3n", "ec20z00", "ec24edt", "ec241f9" ], "text": [ "Twitch is branching off with features that support content creators who are searching for a alternative but that's all as far as i know...
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a7di2a
Why does the Google Play Store app require Google services to be installed as opposed to being installed with an .apk like any other app?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec2av3a", "ec2gaad" ], "text": [ "It is to prevent phone manufacturers to add the Google Play Store and have it work without agreeing to Google's terms which include bundling some Google Apps with the phone.", "Politics. You know how Microsoft had a monopoly over Operating Systems? Al...
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a7gtjt
What makes a product "Military Grade"?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec2uvv9", "ec2vnv0", "ec2uymv", "ec2yl5p" ], "text": [ "The IMPLICATION is that the product is supposed to be durable, but this is just marketing. Anyone who's served will tell you how funny they find that term -- we know that \"military grade\" actually means \"procured from the ...
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a7hbtz
How are music and audio recordings synced in the music videos?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec33gm9" ], "text": [ "The finished audio recording of the song is played back on loudspeakers during filming. It’s loud, and there’s plenty of noise on set from foot steps, fans, directors comments, etc. The audio from the film is replaced by the officially released recording during post-pro...
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a7ijhk
how does an mri/ct scan see inflammation?
What is it about inflammation that makes it pop up on these scans?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec3uwtl" ], "text": [ "In contrast to what other replies have said, on a CT scan, blood has basically the same density as water and since most of our soft tissues are highly perfused with blood and our cells are full of water, most tissues look the same on a CT scan with the exception of air,...
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a7k486
How does a vinyl wrap (e.g. for a car) wrap around the curves of the car so seamlessly without folding over itself?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec3lo2l", "ec43jdh" ], "text": [ "When they make the wrap it gets cut and scored so that it doesn't kink when it gets applied. Its also fairly stretchy so as they apply it they can stretch it to prevent bubbles and kinks. As they apply it they keep the sticky side wet so that it only actu...
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a7l9dj
How do fast food places with multiple drive-thrus that merge into one keep track of who ordered what?
For example, you have Lane A and Lane B. In lane A, you have person C and person D. In lane B you have person E (myself) Person C orders first. Right after that person E (me) orders. Then person D orders. Logically, Person C then E then D should pull up. But person D cuts person E off. How does this not mix the orders ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec3sthd", "ec4iwqs" ], "text": [ "They take a picture of your car, then it’s attached to your order on the screen at the first window where you pay. Then the order you pay in is the order your second window is given so they give you the right food.", "Chic-filet has this system and th...
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a7lyox
why do some letters like "a" or "g" look different on a computer than when normally written?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec460yt", "ec3yw4x", "ec402i2", "ec3zgma", "ec42nf6", "ec4cdxo", "ec4a9y5" ], "text": [ "A number of reasons, some of which go back hundreds of years. More or less in chronological order, they are: \\- Legibility: Handwriting conventions are a compromise between readab...
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a7naa0
Is therea difference between a "3.5ghz cpu" and a "2.6ghz cpu but with turbo boost up to 3.5"?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec47mff" ], "text": [ "Turbo boost is a marketing term for dynamic clock speed in CPUs. Intel chips equipped with the technology normally operate a certain speed but can dynamically increase to the Turbo-boost speed when under load. The reason the chips can't operate at this speed all the tim...
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a7nar7
How does credit card skimming work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec47brg", "ec4a8be" ], "text": [ "It's essentially a \"man in the middle\" attack. Normally when you swipe your card the machine reads it, and transmits your info. To setup a skim the criminal inserts a special machine into the reader, which also looks like a reader so you won't notice. Y...
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a7pa4r
Excited for the SpaceX and Blue Origin rocket launches, but what's the actual purpose for this series of launches? Are they just launching and landing immediately for the sake of testing?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec4p8s7", "ec4xrjx" ], "text": [ "SpaceX have been contracted by the US Air Force to launch 10 new GPS satellites into orbit. The first of these satellites are now sitting on the pad on top of a Falcon 9 rocket ready to launch into orbit. This is a fully operational flight with the main o...
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a7q3cy
How are telephone numbers assigned when you purchase a new cell phone?
I'm a bit of a Luddite; I only recently got a cell phone and my husband was the one who purchased it and took care of all the details involved. I read a story online a few years ago when someone purchased a cell phone (circa 2003) and the number she was assigned used to belong to a celebrity, so she received some calls...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec4wxg2" ], "text": [ "Yep, there are a finite number of telephone numbers (after all, there are only so many ways you can combine 10 digits, and a bunch of those combinations aren't actually allowed as phone numbers), and numbers are recycled regularly. Each telephone carrier gets blocks of ...
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a7r5z6
How do IT workers (sorry for the generic term) “see” a user’s web traffic? If I accidentally click a NSFW link using Apollo while connected to my jobs wifi, can they see that?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec55bud", "ec553fm", "ec53krc", "ec53sp2" ], "text": [ "So, there are two answers. First, yes - they can see that. They very likely can't actually see what is at the link unless they go there (most web traffic is encrypted these days, including Apollo's, AFAIK), but they can see t...
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a7t7ki
why do airlines insist on having dual-type headphone jacks?
It doesn’t seem to make sense these days with most people carrying their own headphones. What is the benefit of having the dual-type jacks? Is it so people don’t steal the complimentary headphones?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec5kbi0", "ec5k7v2" ], "text": [ "Some people suspect it's a vestigial choice based on when airlines used air-pressure type headsets instead of electrical. They had 2 tubes one for left and one for right in the seat that you would plug a headset into. URL_0 The most likely reason for usin...
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a7uj20
How does a computer (running a modern operating system) boot up?
What happens between pressing the power button and being able to use a fully functioning operating system?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec5vbpy", "ecbdim6" ], "text": [ "It does a POST which is a check of the very basics of the computer. If you fire up an oldie you get to see it, usually just white plain letters on a black screen as it counts how much RAM it has available and checks what the processor is and such. In a mo...
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a7vy6a
what's the difference between a router and a modem
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec65g0a" ], "text": [ "A modem converts data flows between two different physical media, typically between coax cable and Ethernet twisted pair. A router looks at the data and decides if the data needs to move from one place to another in order for two or more systems to communicate with one ...
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a7x50f
What is the difference between white box and black box testing?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec6cl6i", "ec6d6l2" ], "text": [ "Black box describes a device which you can view its inputs and outputs, but not its internal workings. Therefore black box testing means testing something only by feeding it various inputs and then analysing the outputs. For example, black box testing a w...
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a7yhej
tried posting on r/askscience but it kept getting removed... Today I read"Biohacker injects himself with DNA sequence made from Bible and Koran verses"how is this possible?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec6lgda" ], "text": [ "> how is this possible to do outside of a well equipped lab He didn't do it outside of a lab. Right from your own article: > The student then built the proteins **in a lab** before injecting himself Emphasis mine. > and how do you go about arranging dna into words He di...
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a807qn
Why do drive up ATMs have Braille?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec6yj6y", "ec6yji8", "ec6zy7y", "ec6ykwl", "ec6yonb" ], "text": [ "The buttons are mass produced, it doesn't make any sense to produce a different mold, different production runs, and a different product line just to save material from some bumps. They just use the same button...
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a8392j
How does a business router handle internal traffic better than a consumer one ?
So this question comes up a lot at work, I've tried explaining that consumer routers are designed for fast upload and download, but find it hard to explain why they don't work so well for internal traffic. Does anyone have a good simple explanation ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec7o8hj" ], "text": [ "Business routers usually have a great deal more customization than consumer grade routers do. Consumer routers are designed to plug and play, with minimal things that you can screw up. Businesses usually need more flexibility. For example, I run a business grade router ...
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a85e0s
What does a cpu core do when no program is using it?
Normally one core is noticeably higher than the rest cause it is handling windows and maybe some background processes. But all other cores are also being uses, very minimally, but something is happening. Just curious as to what a core does when not in use by a program or the OS.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec83oi2" ], "text": [ "Unused cores are \"idling\". They are basically doing nothing (actually doing \"NOOP\"=\"no-operation\" commands every cycle, afaik) while waiting for some work to arrive. Modern CPUs are often able to underclock them on the fly, i.e. run idle cores at lower speeds, whi...
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a865u2
Why did it used to be mandatory to add “www” in front of a web address for it to pull up correctly, but now it’s optional?
When I was younger, it used to be that if you didn’t type “www” in front of a web address, the page wouldn’t load properly, but now it’s optional. I’ve read that the “www” part has to do with the webpage’s server, but servers are all different, and it used to be like...a collective thing? So does that mean people used ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec8adw5", "ec8aoz0", "ec8auzk", "ec8bafu" ], "text": [ "Some websites started pointing URL_0 to their website to make it easier and it just kinda caught on. You would think that teaching people that you have to go to WWW. to get to the website would be easy enough, but you would b...
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a884iv
why aren't there multiple versions of the Internet run by different tech companies?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec8n8pa", "ec8nm5c", "ec8qso7", "ec8nv6n", "ec8plwt", "ec8n8al", "ec8v296" ], "text": [ "The internet is just millions of computers connected to each other. It's not actually run by anyone, and too widely diffuse to be controlled by one company. Although Google's searc...
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a8a3if
Why did switching back and forth between channels help make that one naughty channel come in clearer as a kid?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec8zntx" ], "text": [ "Because on old cable devices when you changed to a pornography channel It would take it a second to check and see if you were a paid subscriber. In that time while the machine was checking for verification the channel would come in clear but then scramble once they foun...
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a8bgir
How does a music box work? (My 5 year old just asked me, and I realized I actually have no idea)
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec9be0g" ], "text": [ "Inside the box there is a comb of tiny tuning forks. When plucked, each fork makes a single note. There is a drum and there are many spikes on the drum. When the drum turns, usually by a clockwork mechanism you wind, the spikes pluck the forks. The spikes are arranged i...
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a8br1p
If visible light is just a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, can we build a camera that can "see" other frequencies on the spectrum, e.g. so we can see where certain frequencies are being transmitted from?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec9e1or", "ec9edcu" ], "text": [ "We can and do. This is exactly what radar, thermal imaging cameras, UV cameras, and X-ray detectors do. Space probes and telescopes are often mounted with cameras that are looking for things other than visible light", "We do! [Here’s]( URL_1 ) some im...
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a8bvcw
Does Google have to pay to advertise the Pixel 3 on YouTube?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec9f9up", "ec9ficy" ], "text": [ "I have no specific knowledge about this specific example, but usually large companies that have divisions like that (like a company that makes products but also owns a magazine, etc) will not have to pay “per se” but have to track accounting and maybe mov...
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a8bw9a
Is the Moon a better launching base than the Earth for space exploration?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec9f3s7", "ec9f94v" ], "text": [ "Yes, for the reasons you say. However, the problem for that is that the entire space program is located on the Earth, and you have to bring an awful lot to the moon before you can launch from there. So for the foreseeable future, we're going to be launchi...
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a8e2ru
How do touchscreens work? And why do some surfaces work while others do not?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec9w1vd", "ec9wh2p" ], "text": [ "There are two basic kinds of touch screens. Resistive and capacitive. Resistive detect pressure and so you can use almost anything to interact with them but they can usually only detect a single touch at a time. Capacitive screens are what is used in almo...
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a8e37t
How exactly does the “Year 2038 Problem” pose a threat to us in the future?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ec9wz7q" ], "text": [ "A lot of computers count time as \"How many seconds has it been since midnight of January 1st, 1970?\" and store that number in a piece of data that can only count up to about 2 billion. The issue occurs when we end up at a time frame that's beyond 2 billion seconds aft...
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a8enp6
How do headless guitars and basses work and why would you want one over a regular model?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "eca6tn5" ], "text": [ "On a normal guitar, string tension (i.e. string pitch) is controlled via tuning pegs located on the head of the guitar. A headless guitar removes the head entirely, and the strings are attached at a fixed point where the neck ends. String tension is instead controlled b...
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a8gnyb
How do applications such as Steam allocate space in a hard drive without downloading anything?
So I bought R6S and the game file size is 70.1 Gigabytes. It took 6-7 minutes to just "Allocate disk space" when I went over to the file where the game would be downloaded upon clicking on the folder and right clicking it the folder comes up at 0 bytes. So how do applications allocate space in a hard drive before even ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ecaj1wv" ], "text": [ "Steam is simply reserving a certain ammount of space on the hard drive so it knows it has enough space to store the files when they download and to make sure no other applications fill the space during the download. It also helps keep fragmentation to a minimum when dow...
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a8h2r0
What does each browser extension (.com, .gov, .edu, etc.) do? Does it make a difference? How/when did they come about?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ecalpw3", "ecb38nf", "ecaloy9", "ecalvci", "ecaop8n", "ecalurn" ], "text": [ "traditionally .com was commercial. .org was non profit or some other organization. .net was network related site. .edu was educational. .gov was government website. some of these are reserved lik...
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a8id1r
Do movies with more special effects take up more space than a movie of equal resultion but no special effects
Could the colour make the file size larger? How how dis work
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ecawu8s" ], "text": [ "If you're talking about video compression, typically it compares differences between each frame and only includes the parts that have changed. In a movie scene with two people talking, most of the background won't change. That means the compression can be higher. Most C...
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a8jeeq
How did they hide the camera in this shoot?
@01:52 URL_0
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ecb8dzm", "ecb7zjn", "ecbcadi", "ecbists", "ecbdatp", "ecbgmmd", "ecbc6eo", "ecb5do3", "ecbkd01" ], "text": [ "I may be able to give some insight as I've been doing freelance VFX for several years. The film \"Birdman\" had a similar effect in the make-up room, ...
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