id stringlengths 13 25 | qid stringlengths 5 6 | question stringlengths 11 300 | answer stringlengths 64 13.7k | score int32 2 73.7k |
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explainlikeimfive/db8xd44 | 5ikud2 | Why does it take an hour to close a $40k auto loan, and 30 days to close an $80k mortgage? | Two big problems are (1) houses are usually sold used, and require inspection, and (2) it's often necessary to check government records to confirm that the "owner" is really the owner and free to sell it. Also, the process is set up to support much larger mortgage amounts. $80k is unusually small. | 8 |
AskReddit/cp9s6at | 2yibdl | If all food prices changed according to how much sugar they contained, which items would be completely sold out? | So, much sugar = High price and low sugar = lower prices? All types of meat would be sold out, as most contains no added sugar. Water would now actually be quite affordable over soda. Beer would be quite cheaper too. Since the yeast metabolizes the sugar, creating alcohol. By common knowledge (As far as mine goes) the ... | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/cuxi9iv | 3kho6b | Why do dogs lick human wounds? | I had always thought dogs lick their own wounds to clean them and this behavior would then transfer to helping thier 'pack' clean their wounds. Probably not bacteria or such but possibly dirt and the like from being having a scab grow over it? | 5 |
explainlikeimfive/dlt8hwr | 6ujwt8 | Why is water so destructive to electronic devices? | There are two ways that water can destroy electronics. And both are worse in salt or soapy water. First off the water might conduct electricity better then the air so you might create additional electrical paths. This can overload components that can get more current then they are designed for and destroy them forever.... | 3 |
AskReddit/cxhdzx0 | 3uscd7 | Why do movies "premiere" on a certain day but have showings the night before? | It used to be that the showing the night before was at midnight (which was technically the premiere/release day) but that has fallen out of fashion. The movie theater shooting, money making opportunities for earlier showings, and what not made movie releases what they are today. | 2 |
AskReddit/c1uo5mx | hdztg | If you've ever worked at a summer camp of any kind, what are your favorite memories/crazy stories of working there? | I worked at a camp for inner-city kids in New Jersey. I was assigned to the 7-8 year old boys; there were 3 cabins of about 10 campers each in that group, and 3-4 counselors in each cabin (4 for ours). There was the stereotypical bedwetter, the fat kid, the kid who didn't listen to anyone, and one kid who tried to stea... | 3 |
AskReddit/c436p1v | r62cn | How do I tell my best friend I'm bisexual and attracted to her? | First, do you trust her? I mean REALLY trust her? I'll assume yes and move on. Since she is your best friend, I suggest one time while you're alone and talking, you should bring it up. Me, hypethetically(being a guy), I would be totally OK with my friend honestly telling me how he feels; even if he was extremely sexual... | 3 |
AskReddit/c3ue4i0 | q3auw | What is the absolute best dream you have ever had? | Dunno if this was the absolute best dream I had, but it was the most memorable. Earliest part of he dream I remember is entering the door to a house party. Just imagine a regular party scene - red Dixie cups, music in the background, and all your best friends chatting. I conversed a bit with some buddies, and grabbed a... | 5 |
explainlikeimfive/cjfhdyx | 2cgwdm | Why don't anti-trust laws stop companies like Comcast and Verizon from monopolizing cable, internet and other services? | Technically they aren't monopolies. A monopoly is when you have one and only one choice for a service, with that service trying to force any competition out. ISPs are not in such a situation because of loopholes. Most people have to deal with one option for cable internet, one option for dsl, one option (at least) for ... | 50 |
AskReddit/ceiib85 | 1ugckt | If you could sum up everything you've learned about life up until this point in a single sentence, what would it be? | Love fearlessly because passion is a pathway. This doesn't apply only to romantic love, but to loving life in general. Be excited about the day and look forward to achieving goals. When you are in love with someone, love them. Learn to love yourself. Tell people you care about they matter. You have meaning. Anytime you... | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dp3j0ff | 79ohsa | Why is something annoying to everyone except the person doing the annoying thing? | If they were aware enough of what they were doing to be annoyed by it, they wouldn't do it. You only get annoyed by the things they are not aware of. Also, we perceive what we are doing very differently than others perceive us. If you are, say, chewing your food loudly, that sound is going to be a small component of yo... | 3 |
AskReddit/chi7xor | 25l244 | Do you guys have any tips to make me speak English with more confidence? | I know exactly how you feel, mate. What i have found out was that that certain feeling will fade away after a couple of sentences in an English conversation. Just let it out, that's the best you can do. Plus: 99% of the people you will talk to will push your confidence by saying a sentence like 'You speak English very ... | 2 |
AskReddit/d12lwwa | 4aq3zy | What can you do for 10 minutes every day that will change your life? | Stop thinking. Just clear your thoughts and worries from your head and sit in complete silence for 10 minutes. Read something education that's not for fun. Read a classic you normally wouldn't read. Shave a baby. | 2 |
AskReddit/efh5rsh | aluqie | Why do most people hate the sound of their own voice? | Singer here. It's because you normally hear your voice not only through your ears but also through the meat and bones in your head (seriously). So when you hear it recorded or amplified, it doesn't sound like the voice you are used to which makes you think "wait is that how people hear me?" | 6 |
AskReddit/div4ik0 | 6h3446 | Why do homosexual males have different sounding voices to heterosexual males? | Different subcultures often develop different accents. This is just a case of that. For example, west-coast surfers sometimes have a distinct sound to their speech: "yeahh brahhh gnarly ripping so barrelled" etc. Although, it is not by any means uniform and does not apply to all surfers. Not all homosexual males sound ... | 4 |
AskReddit/cnkbaoz | 2rxx40 | Are old people as miserable as they appear to be in nursing homes? | They're not in nursing homes just because of the number of birthdays they've had. They're in NURSING homes because they require NURSING -- something is medically wrong with them, either physically or mentally. And they probably realize it's never going to get any better. That's why many (but not all) of them are misera... | 7 |
AskReddit/dogqr8c | 76ub9m | What's the worst thing about being a guy? | Anything wrong in my life is my fault. Anything wrong with the lives of the people around me is deemed my fault. Anything wrong in the world is also generally my fault. The only thing society wants from me is to make money and die working. | 67 |
AskReddit/dxmam47 | 8dds97 | Have you ever had a moment where thought that you were actually going to die? | Yeah but it’s really stupid — I was 7 and I was eating at someone’s house and when I got to the toilet I locked myself. After I finished peeing, I couldn’t unlock the door. I thought I was going to be locked inside forever. I started crying and screamed help at the small window, turns out the neighbor (an old women) he... | 5 |
askscience/c38lf47 | neyoj | Are Electric cars realistically feasible for total replacement (current and future) of our internal combustion vehicles? | Mech E here, I have done work for the auto industry and I am seeing some general trends without disclosing NDA stuff, I will try to answer: In 30-40 years we will most likely not have pure electric cars, hybrids both battery and mechanical will be more popular and the combustion engine will become more efficient. There... | 8 |
AskReddit/dtrg8id | 7vdftk | What do you think life is? | A kind of existence that resembles a prison, wherein consciouness is reduced to a human vessel that can perceive a greatly limited number of dimensions, a fixed flow of time, a limited spectrum of light, and cant live beyond 200 years even in perfect conditions without genetic engineering. But thats just human life. Fo... | 4 |
AskReddit/e4dcsdc | 9857n7 | What are some little things you can do to gain an advantage in life? | No matter what happens there was always something you could have done to change the situation, sometimes it's reasonable (watching for erratic drivers behind you and getting out of their way so they won't leave around you) sometimes it's not like in the cases of changing people, but when you start realizing there were ... | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cp7en7u | 2y9btj | If Clorox wipes can kill most viruses, why isn't there a (safe) equivalent for humans to take to kill viruses in their body, like the flu? | Short answer is that these are harsh chemicals that work well on surfaces but would be very toxic if used in the human body. Yes, they kill bacteria and viruses, but if used in the human body they would also kill human cells. I can spray 70% ethanol on a hard surface and kill most of the bacteria. But if I gave myself ... | 18 |
Ask_Politics/c83i89u | 179qeo | What will the Supreme Court do with the recess appointment ruling? | OP- "Basically the court has ruled that "recess appointments" as we have known them are not constitutional." That is not true at all. What the court found was that the House was not in recess when these specific appointments were made. It did not indicate that "recess appointments" in general were invalid. | 2 |
AskReddit/cd7nuag | 1pzkgy | What's the saddest thing that's happened to you or have witnessed? | When I was ten years old my father had a heart attack in front of me, I tried to give him mouth to mouth but I was just a kid and he was a big man and I couldn't help him, but my mom called an ambulance and they came and got him. When we got to the hospital I was so excited to see him I was sure he would be well enough... | 2 |
AskReddit/c0yqpks | dafab | What is the coolest profession in the entire world? | Some of the coolest, funniest people I know are zookeepers. It's a profession that attracts smart, creative people who don't mind getting dirty and working hard. Also they tend to have awesome anecdotes about tigers/cassowaries/cobras/etc. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/drv9xbx | 7mns1g | How does siphoning gas from one car to another work? | Once you get enough suction to make a gas bridge through the hose, gravity causes the gas to "fall" the rest of the way into the other car's tank. Usually people will use a canister instead of their car if their car's tank is higher than the victim's car tank. | 13 |
AskReddit/c3r319w | poz6i | What are the pros of smoking? | "The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide." - Kurt Vonnegut | 4 |
AskReddit/d1bph2e | 4brcba | What is one thing you've realised that has changed your life? | My cousin told me something pretty interesting "Everyone is crazy in their own way about something. The thing you need to figure out is 1-Do they know that they're crazy about it? 2-Can you deal with that craziness?" We were talking about business but it seems to hold true to most other aspects in life as well. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/dscs8lh | 7owfok | How is sticky tape only sticky on 1 side despite the whole thing being rolled up? | After the tape is coated with adhesive, the adhesive is overlaid with a thin coat of anti-stick material (such as polyvinyl carbamate) to keep it from sticking quite as hard to the next layer of tape in the roll. | 20 |
explainlikeimfive/cwmcyib | 3ralyz | Why do phones have enough battery to show you the picture saying that they're out of battery? | Modern phones don't let their batteries completely discharge. If they did, they wouldn't charge again and they would need to be replaced. I don't know the exact number, but I've heard that most phones will hold 10-20% of their battery in reserve even when at 0%. | 5 |
explainlikeimfive/e4etkrl | 98c00c | Why are human eyeballs white? | It is theorized that humans evolved whites of the eyes as a form of nonverbal communication. Because your eyes have whites, I can look at your eyes and see what you’re looking at. I can see if you’re making eye contact with me, or looking down. You can silently catch my eye, and then gesture with your eyes, like “look ... | 3 |
AskReddit/cbjxbd4 | 1jzw6j | What's a good film to watch without knowing anything about it (no trailers, teasers, spoilers, etc)? | I lent a copy of "Dear Zachary" to a friend of mine. I specifically instructed her not to look up any spoilers for the movie. It absolutely blew her away. I'm now making a small list of movies to recommend in a similar fashion. Any suggestions? | 2 |
AskHistorians/cc4qtis | 1m09oe | How did tomatoes become so important to Italian cooking? | Meat has historically been scarce in Italy. They have a tradition of "fast day" dishes that were ostensibly developed in order to conform with the Catholic restrictions. The truth is, as it is with many catholic traditions, that it come from an older tradition and vegetarian substitutes for meat were common and necessa... | 10 |
AskReddit/e8k8f4e | 9rwrxl | What's a thing you are scared of for no reason at all? | Dying. I'm 40 and have no reason to believe I'm not going to live for another 50 years but *occasionally I wake up in the middle of the night absolutely convinced that if I don't exercise more (or eat better, or take vitamins, or wear my seat belt, or all kind of various other weird things) that I'm going to die, like,... | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dioeflh | 6g91g9 | When ZIP files are compressed, they remove redundant information, why can't this be done for all files? | If every file was compressed then every file would have to be decompressed every time it is used (and re-compressed every time it is saved). Zipping and unzipping files uses a decent amount of processing power, and today's computers can store a lot of data where it makes more sense to just store the uncompressed versio... | 3 |
AskReddit/c7x8bh4 | 16ly0n | Is anyone else suffering with the January blues? | I hate the holiday season anyways, so my blues start as soon as it gets cold and I have to put my motorcycle up. I work nights so it is dark when I wake up, go to work and drive home, and the sun is just rising when I am going to sleep. There is nothing good about winter IMO. | 2 |
AskHistorians/ckskit2 | 2hgtg6 | What sort of options are there to pay for getting a history degree in grad school? | You can definitely TA as a graduate student in history (I did for history and French). Depending on the department depends on the position. I have seen departments with TAs who assisted professors with large lecture classes and maybe lead small discussion classes (what I did), TAs who worked basically as interns for Jo... | 3 |
AskReddit/c35brbk | n0k78 | Why are most homeless veterans? | I'm not sure of the exact answer but my guess would be that it's a because of the heavy emotional toll that fighting in wars can have on veterans. Some of them left behind everything they had to go fight for our country and ended up coming home with emotional scars that can leave them unable to work. Many of them don't... | 4 |
explainlikeimfive/cliighr | 2k74v3 | Why hasn't the US enacted a mandatory 3 week quarantine on every person returning from West Africa? | Because there's no need to do a mandatory 3 week isolation. No one outside of the medical field has been infected with the disease (in America). It's easily containable etc. It's not financially viable or worth it to hold people for 3 weeks and have to house and feed them for a disease that is so hard to catch. | 3 |
AskReddit/dvk4b3h | 83rxod | How do you get over being an ugly girl? | This might sound cliche but as a male I realized that as the longer I live the less I care about the woman’s looks. I care more about their ability to hold a conversation and look more into personality. Makes them seem more attractive. I am not saying that I lost ability to recognize hotties, but I rather be with an ug... | 11 |
explainlikeimfive/e25sm64 | 8xug7d | If an old person gets a lung transplant from a teenager who dies, can they live a longer life because the organ is younger? | If we're talking about flawless transplant with no problems, then yes, people with younger organs have a certain chance of living longer. For example, if you have a new heart. But don't forget that your brain and the rest of your body will still be old and prone to various failure. And you can't transplant your conciou... | 876 |
AskReddit/dw1e9uy | 85zytv | What’s something about yourself that you’ve stopped denying, even if you don’t like to admit it? | I’m clingy. Luckily my husband doesn’t seem to mind too much, but it’s hard for me to handle that sometimes he just wants to play video games and that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want me. In my head, if you want me, then you should always want me, right? It’s something I’m slowly working on. | 2 |
AskReddit/com4uk9 | 2vz08d | What is the most thirst quenching drink out there? | Nothing seems to quench my thirst waking up after a night of drinking as well as a cold Diet Coke/Pepsi. Regular soda leaves that nasty sugary film feeling. Water doesn't nearly work as well. Coffee helps but doesn't really quench my thirst. I don't know about anyone else, but waking up hungover is as thirsty as I get ... | 11 |
AskReddit/ci65pr7 | 28090w | What is something you see someone wearing that you immediately judge them negatively on? | Suspenders with casual wear. It's like really. the fedora wasn't enough? You need suspenders and ironic handlebar mustache? Also people that say they are wearing anything ironically. Really.I don't think you or the person that taught you about ironic clothing know what that word means, dickbag. | 3 |
AskReddit/dptqgss | 7cypvf | What makes your job cool? | (throwaway account) I use python and SQL to automate data reporting and analytics processes that had previously been done manually via Excel and a bunch of archaic VBA scripts. The purpose of these reporting and analytics processes is to track the physical condition of public transit assets throughout the 9-county Bay ... | 11 |
AskReddit/ers6w6d | bgbbpx | How do you persuade people? | I'll give you some information on how to persuade people now, but it only works if you are motivated to learn more about this. You can read my text right here, so that means you are on a device with internet. You might or might not know yet that there are a lot of sources on the web that you'll find valuable. Now, you ... | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/ertmkvj | c3vy94 | Why scramble jets for a disruptive passenger? | Post 9/11 we realized how much damage the aircraft crashing into something can cause. A disruptive passenger might be just a jerk or drunk. Or it could be a distraction from a team of highjackers that want to take over the plane. An armed fighter along side might make disruptive passengers settle, and if it's a take ov... | 3 |
AskReddit/ej53ax7 | b4906o | What seemingly trivial thing almost completely ruined an otherwise perfect book/movie/video game for you? | In the Hunger Games book, they break the crown in half at the end. In the movie, there are 2 crowns. It totally ruined the whole experience for me. Breaking the victor's crown was hugely symbolic of a break in belief in the Capital. | 2 |
AskReddit/cte2ss7 | 3edz44 | What was your weirdest dream ? | Mine is weird because of how mundane it is. I was in secondary school at the time and I dreamt I was in the supermarket buying lunch with my mates as we did pretty much every day. While there we walked past the pet food towards the deli counter. In Ireland the main dog food brand is pedigree chum and the main cat food ... | 2 |
AskReddit/cj6lq5v | 2bl80q | What are some of the most common bad life choices? | Spending an inordinate amount of time on Reddit writing detailed responses to questions about topics such as making bad life choices while getting paid to do actual work. | 4 |
AskReddit/du84po4 | 7xgk5u | What do you usually play out in your head, eyes closed, in bed, while you're trying to fall asleep? | My mum had major anxiety when she was home alone with me and my sister so when she slept she'd have the radio on to make it feel like someone was around. When I was a baby I used to sleep in the same room as her and that need for background noise translated to my sleeping patterns. So it not so much what do I play out ... | 2 |
askscience/dvg0uyw | 838u7i | Do mirrors have any sort of delay? | Yes. When you see your reflection, the light that enters your eyes has traveled from you to the mirror and then back again. In air, light travels at approximately 300 millimeters per nanosecond, so the delay won't be perceptible. | 9 |
AskReddit/em22ac1 | bipc1f | What is the word you hate the most? | I have a long list of words I call my ‘fear words’. Basically I have a hard time saying them and feel uncomfortable hearing them or talking about them Most of them are just things I’m self conscious about, mainly body parts. For example: Acne (also, pimples, zits, etc), thighs, nose, chin, etc I also hate words such as... | 2 |
AskReddit/d806hwd | 54adji | Why are you not a millionaire? | It is my dream to be rich. No not rich, but filthy rich. The kind of rich that looks down on millionaires. But since I have no discernible talent, the kind of stupidity where I'm lucky if I can manage to tie my own shoes plus my family doesn't have any wealth to pass on it seems like being filthy rich will forever rema... | 7 |
AskReddit/d35dvsm | 4jc3gl | Should disinformation and misinformation in science and the news be outlawed and how do we go about it? | Outlawed no. There are some concerns over freedom of speech no matter how much I detest those who intentionally propagate misinformation. There's also the issue of whether the misinformation was intentionally spread knowing it was wrong and who we hold accountable as far as corporate organizations go. I think that at a... | 2 |
askscience/c4fx5u5 | sppbk | What are transitional fossils and why do Intelligent Design proponents say there are none? | You essentially have it. An ID proponents main train of thought is to deliberately misunderstand evolution and thus they seek the famous 'crocoduck' fossil, or some other nonsense. By arbitrarily designating irrational meaning to the term 'transitional' they are able to ignore vast amounts of evidence. | 12 |
explainlikeimfive/e0d02w5 | 8pok98 | Why do some blisters fill with fluid? | The fluid that fills in a blister is your body’s way of making a padded bandaid. Say you get a burn, fills with fluid, the outer layer of skin is dead skin, but the skin underneath is the damaged skin from the burn. So the fluid is the body’s way of protecting the damaged skin until it heals. That’s why doctors tell yo... | 8 |
askscience/c5rqhqz | y2i67 | Why is it that when I blow up a balloon with air and then let it go when it isn't tied up, that it spins in a corkscrew-like manner? | For it to fly straight, the air would have to be ejecting straight out in a line that goes through the centre of gravity of the balloon. Since it is far more likely that it doesn't, this mislignment will cause the balloon to spin about the centre of gravity - and since the ejecting air will propel the balloon in the op... | 2 |
AskReddit/cde3164 | 1qlp9z | What did you buy thinking you'd use it all the time, but then never did? | A Mathematics study guide for all my course work after my trial exams. Day One: Yeah! Time for improvement, let's go buy this textbook, I'll review it everyday! Day Two: No. | 28 |
AskReddit/ec4rr9k | a7pq8p | Who do you think is the antichrist and why? | Just as Christ is a symbol/metaphor of the West's conception of the ideal man and all our best tendencies, the antichrist is a symbol of all our worst tendencies, and each exists within all of us. The message of Revelations is that if we let the antichrist (all of our worst tendencies) to take control, it will lead to ... | 3 |
AskReddit/ccpu9wr | 1o8y1a | What's the luckiest thing that's ever happened to you? | About 8 years ago I was playing paintball in a friends backyard / wooded area. After everyone took their mask off my friend's dad gives a speech about keeping the safety on all the guns, etc. Irony of it all as he goes to point out the safety on his gun, he picks it up by the trigger and it fires. LUCKY FOR ME, I had t... | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cqlfa8i | 33ja0s | Why does everyone hate the patriot act and NSA's mass surveillance? | Because freedom slips slowly away. The patriot act removes liberties in the name of safety. History is littered with tyrannies which started as "for your protection and safety" . We the people are supposed to control our government, not the other way around. Warrantless surveillance is a dangerous path. Secret courts a... | 16 |
explainlikeimfive/cxtss2j | 3w6k6w | Why don't more ships get stuck from the anchor getting caught on the ocean floor? | The anchor is shaped in such a way that the only way that would happen would be if it rotated after hitting the ground. If the anchor wasn't solidly on the ocean floor the ship would continue to move so the crew would haul it back up and redrop it elsewhere. If it did get caught they'd just cut it loose and take their ... | 9 |
AskReddit/cm8x67b | 2mzefu | Do Doctors go see other Doctors? | Yes, they do! I work in an ER and I've seen doctors come in for the same problems everyone else has. They obviously get preferential treatment but they still go through the same motions. My dad is a physician and while he's good at taking care of himself, he does get other opinions from specialists. | 3 |
AskReddit/dpbnpb5 | 7aoj03 | What's something cool you own that you'd like to brag about? | I have a 1973 Triumph GT6. A British car that is relatively rare - only 2,500 sold in the US in '73. In it's current condition it isn't anything to brag about, but if I ever got around to restoring it, it would be pretty cool. | 3 |
AskReddit/e0iupj2 | 8qfqxz | How long do you take in the shower? | Inspired by my bf question because he takes SUPER LONG (imo) showers, 25-30 minutes. He has to wash every inch and part, wash his hair, rinse, repeat and whatever else. Even when I need to shampoo, condition, and shower - I’m in and out 10 minutes. | 2 |
AskReddit/d052vyj | 46h0ze | What are we in the golden age of right now? | Not really your question, but I think we just ended the Golden Age of Albums. Albums really became popular about 50 years ago. It was the main delivery method of music. Recently they've become less popular and are dying in place of singles or a-la-carte downloading. | 2 |
AskReddit/d7ftqq5 | 51y8gv | Are you worried about the Zika virus? | No, I'm more worried about the long term effects of the pesticides they are using to kill off the mosquitos. Zika has a 1% chance of causing birth defects, the pesticides also have a 1% chance of causing birth defects. The pesticides are killing off bees, birds, fish in lakes. I have a lot of family down in the south a... | 2 |
AskReddit/egz2uxa | at74o8 | What is something that you do subconsciously and don’t realize you are doing it? | I chew on my lower lip. I injured the nerves in a car accident, and I don’t feel it anymore. I will chew it to burger, and not know until I start tasting blood. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dp2hlj7 | 79jokn | Why do ice cubes crackle when liquid is poured on them? | So most things expand when heated and retract when cooled. Because ice is already so cold, when you pour a liquid on ice, the surface that the liquid hits will instantly expand, and the rest of the ice doesn't have time to catch up. The top surface expands from heat and the rest of the ice remains cold and doesn't expa... | 12 |
AskReddit/c2u5kkq | lno17 | Why can cars go up to 120 mph when the highest speed limit in the U.S. is 80 mph? | Let's just say that you were on a bus and someone strapped a bomb to it and told you that you had to stay above 80mph or it would blow up. I'm betting you'd be happy an actual speed limit wasn't imposed on your bus's engine. You'd also be happy that Keanu Reeves was on your bus. | 2 |
AskReddit/dy6vp69 | 8fvw7y | What words that someone said have stuck with you for years? | A therapist once said to me "your family is like the titanic and the ship is sinking. You can offer your mother a life raft and it will be her choice whether or not to take it but you cant drown with the ship just because she wont take the life raft .you have to get off the boat". That was 8 years ago and I still have ... | 2 |
AskReddit/czapc9v | 42iql5 | What happened to the first boy or girl that you had a crush on? | My first real crush was in 5th grade. Both of our local elementary schools came together into one middle school in 5th grade. There was a boy in my class that I thought was so cute. Let's call him Cutest-Boy-Ever. I distinctly remember him wearing his peewee football jersey to school and thinking, "This boy will be my ... | 3 |
AskReddit/ckas1fk | 2fn37l | What's the worst thing you've walked in on someone doing? | Used to walk into an employee shooting up all the time in a restaurant I worked at. He used stale doctor pepper for whatever reason. Also walked into the pops beating it when I was in my late teens. Walked back out immediately and never spoke a word about it. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/d7q4wad | 535g7j | What is "space - time"? | Imagine the universe is a table with ants crawling across it. Then you could take a bunch of pictures of that table and stack them on top of each other. The table itself is two-dimensional (flat), but the stack of photos is three-dimensional. That third dimension is proportional to time (scaled by the rate you take pho... | 14 |
AskReddit/etxlkyu | ce0vwi | What made you question reality itself and made you think you were the star of your own Truman Show? | I've legit been feeling that way my entire life. I'm not sure reality has ever felt truly real. I've been mostly out of it for as long as I can remember. As a child, I genuinely believed that my real life was some sort of dream. I mainly thought so because it felt that way. There have always been times when everything ... | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/di45jdp | 6doh8m | Why is it that sidewalks are spit up in to separate pieces of concrete instead of one big piece? | Over time, the sidewalk moves a bit. Heat/cold causes them to expand and contract, tree roots press up on them, etc. Plus they get damaged. By making the sidewalk in pieces, only pieces need to be redone if a section needs replacement, and not the whole thing. Additionally, grooves are etched into the pieces, which cre... | 3 |
AskReddit/cnhm4z1 | 2rnxb5 | What's the most painful experience you've had, physically? | I've broken my nose and finger, been bitten, punched, mildly burned, accidentally stabbed myself while carving, and bumped my body off of about every sharp edged surface in the house, but nothing quite compares to stepping on my dog's half chewed, upturned Whimzee on a carpeted floor while barefoot. I would imagine it ... | 2 |
AskReddit/d6azm0q | 4wydqh | What do you do that you think makes you look cool? | I paint my nails bright blue. I think it makes me look kinda cool. I guess because its not a traditionally sexy color, but still kind of quirky and fun. I think blue nails make handjobs look nice. | 2 |
AskReddit/d652v6x | 4w97nw | Who hates you and what did you do (if anything) to make them hate you? | My ex hates me I gave her a place to live so she could get out of her hudcase home with her drunk and abusive father despite her cheating on me more than once and giving second chances. My infraction? She broke up with me and when she wanted to get back together I rejected her. | 3 |
AskReddit/dvqemfz | 84lai5 | What are the best words to intentionally mispronounce to annoy people? | Allow me to play doubles advocate here for a moment. For all intensive purposes I think you are wrong. In an age where false morals are a diamond dozen, true virtues are a blessing in the skies. We often put our false morality on a petal stool like a bunch of pre-Madonnas, but you all seem to be taking something very v... | 11 |
AskHistorians/cm52b37 | 2mfkqn | How was literacy in colonial America leading up to the revolutionary? | So, this really depends on where in colonial America you are talking about. It's really important to understand that there were deep geographical differences in colonial America. In New England, during the eighteenth century, the literacy rates were upward of 90%. This has a lot to do with the Puritan influence in New ... | 2 |
AskReddit/cbql030 | 1kn0uw | What's a great life experience you had that future generations must also have? | Hiking and camping. I don't think future generations will have it. Not because nature is getting ruined, but because kids are spending so much time getting stimulated by internet, games etc, that their brains aren't going to accept the low stimulation of walking in the woods. | 2 |
AskReddit/ejpc0yi | b74qik | What is the most clever spot where you or someone you know has hidden something they weren't supposed to have? | Used to live in "dry" worksite dorms where Security searched our vehicles when we arrived. I heard of guys who couldn't live without their booze pouring some strong liquor into a big takeout coffee cup in the cupholder. I suppose you could do something similar at home as long as nobody else ever would tidy up your garb... | 2 |
AskReddit/dmxt9zv | 6zsvcv | Are you excited for the iPhone 8 and why? | No. A new phone isn't that high on my list of things that excite me. Opinion. It's an overpriced piece of hardware. Fact. The software is limiting, which is fine for some, but not for others. Subjective fact. I ordered a $200 Chinese brand Android a year ago. It can do everything I want it to do. I even got drunk and t... | 4 |
AskReddit/ckx77of | 2hylju | What are some clever "couple costumes" to wear with your SO this halloween ? | Foods can be cute, like eggs and bacon or ketchup and mustard, but a little cheesy. Jobs and super heroes are cool. Doctor and a nurse. Pilot and flight attendant. A cop and a burglar. Superman and wonder woman. Batman and catwoman. Hulk and Back Widow. Antman and that wasp lady. Starlord and Gomorra. What about a fire... | 2 |
AskReddit/dd5ah44 | 5r8v6m | What was the biggest thing you procrastinated on? | Well, in France we have a financial aid for paying rents. I procrastinated the paperwork during my first year of college, and lost almost 1000€ that I had to pay back to my parents (thanks summer job). Second one : my thesis. I had 2 years to do it. Wrote 80 pages in (the last) 5 days, and I don't know how I had 15/20 ... | 2 |
AskReddit/csm8t1i | 3bhs36 | What's the easiest way to seduce YOU? | Talk to me for a long time, actually listen and it doesn't hurt to have a sense of humour. Don't be afraid of me asking personal questions, I also answer personal questions without problem and don't be too forward with the seducing. Slow and easy does it. Maybe slowly introduce some physical contact, nothing too extrem... | 75 |
askscience/ec3g0ua | a7j4d2 | Why is specific heat capacity of saltwater lower than that of pure water? | Yes. The specific heat of water depends on the abundance of hydrogen bonds that are continuously forming, breaking and reforming. Introducing impurities into the water changes the net van der waals forces in the fluid. It also increases the average size of the molecules in the solution which makes collisions more frequ... | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/cdupwan | 1s7o22 | How does bullet sizing work? | Bullets stop being bullets when they have a calibre of 20mm (this is of course, like anything else, argued, but militaries generally consider anything able to shoot 20mm and over to be a piece of artillery) and then they become a shell. 20mm is 0.79 calibre so anything slightly smaller than that would be the largest ca... | 2 |
AskReddit/d8m7x07 | 56sp3n | What is something you did as a kid that you will not let your current/future kids do? | I would not let them be spoiled. As a kid I was suuuuch a douchebag and I have no idea how my parents did it. I got away with so much, I'm surprised I turned out okay. I work with kids and I now understand what my mom went through! | 3 |
AskReddit/c92rxnf | 1b1sfh | Where did the stereotype that the French are cowards come from? | Historical ignorance, mostly. They were defeated relatively quickly in WWII, but fought quite hard regardless. The political and strategic leadership was lacking. In the 19th century, it was commonly claimed that the French were a rigid and warlike people. Rather the same stereotype that would be applied to Germans a c... | 4 |
AskReddit/cdsfkim | 1rzgoh | What do you do to stay positive when you're broke? | I carefully plan out a shopping list and a menu that includes a treat even if that means eating less all week. A 79-cent candy bar or a 50-cent soda is downright delightful when you're living on eggs, rice, and beans. Also, movies. | 4 |
AskReddit/ccx3tbs | 1oz2fy | What single thought has plagued you the longest? | What if the "light at the end of the tunnel" people who have had Near-Death Experiences claim to have seen is the light that a newborn sees before coming into the world, and death is just a transition of soul from one body to the next. I don't really believe in reincarnation, but I find this thought harrowing. | 28 |
AskReddit/enyezt9 | bpwyz4 | What music albums are absolute gems? | 13th Step and Mer de Noms by A Perfect Circle are two of my favorite albums of all time. My standard for rock music rose with their offerings. | 2 |
AskReddit/djmbkaf | 6kijkr | How long could the average human actually survive if it were in perfect conditions 100% of the time? | Cells can only divide a finite number of times before they die out (about 50-70); this is called the Hayflick limit. It's estimated that if nothing else went wrong and our decay was only limited by the lifespan of our cells, that humans could live to be about 120 years. | 4 |
AskReddit/c0fqmj3 | a3zs4 | How do you sleep? | When I was an infant, I had medical issues which required the running of an I.V. line. When you are a baby, the only veins large enough for that are in your head. To prevent me from pulling out my IV, I was tied down on my back. Since then I have only ever felt safe and able to sleep if I lie on my stomach face down, a... | 7 |
askscience/crwdshk | 38mxq7 | Why do bugs fly into lights? | Because they use the moon to navigate. The moon is far enough away that all the light rays coming from it are (effectively) parallel. When a bug sees a light on the Earth, it uses it to navigate like it would the moon. The rays coming from a light on the Earth, however, are not parallel. Following them leads the bug, w... | 6 |
explainlikeimfive/clwgn47 | 2ln9fr | How does becoming vegetarian for the sake of animal rights truly help the animals? | It's like voting. your vote, on its own, doesn't matter at all. But if everyone felt that way and didn't bother to vote, the system wouldn't work. In parallel, you not buying meat makes absolutely zero difference. You won't save even one animal. But the vegetarian movement as a whole can reduce consumer demand and thus... | 5 |
explainlikeimfive/d0mmrt4 | 48uf7l | Why does high radiation messes up electronics? | The problems that radiation cause to electronics can be grouped into two types, long-term and short-term. The short-term effect is easier to understand so I'll explain that first. Short-term: Electronic components communicate with each other using a concept called states. High energy radiation has the ability to change... | 8 |
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