query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1 value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Why are companies like Walmart and Apple considered American when they are owned and operated from The British Virgin Isles, Luxembourg, etc? Also, why are their incomes shown in billions when the taxable income is millions? | [
"Because it's an American company hiding on that island so it doesn't have to pay taxes equal to its earnings."
] | [
"\"Off shore\" refers to tax havens--places like Switzerland, Liechtenstein, or the Caymen Islands. It's only worth it if you are worth multiple millions of dollars."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
When you read news articles about global warming such as "The hottest year on record in 80 years!", why was it so hot 80 years ago? | [
"This year being really hot isn't necessarily indicative of global warming, an article with that title is being sensationalist. If the running average temperature over the last 10 years was getting continuously warmer, that would be a better indication of a trend. Temperature is affected by a lot of different thing... | [
"We have, by some estimates, already reached the point of no return. With the CO2 levels in the air reaching levels not seen in millions of year, it is unsafe for humans. The oceans were 80 feet higher than they are now the last time the CO2 levels were this high and weather much more extreme. We are already starti... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How is cape town in South Africa running out of water? | [
"Desalinization is energy intensive, so it's quite expensive. You see it a lot in places that have little water but are on the ocean, and there's lost of money -- like the Arabian peninsula. The problem with Cape Town is that it's experiencing a drought, which is a *temporary* reduction in rainfall. Desalinization ... | [
"Because in a lot of places, like where I live, there is literally not an alternative to Comcast."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why were revolvers created to generally have 6 shots? | [
"Ease of design, mostly. If you stack 7 circles in as close a shape possible, you get an hexagon with 2 on top, 3 in the middle, and 2 at the bottom. Use the centre as a rotating part, and you get 6 holes in a symmetrical way, without having to do weird complicated math."
] | [
"I assume you mean a self-loading pistol (like a common semi-auto Glock.) One advantage is that semi-auto weapons can be prone to jamming, whereas revolvers don't necessarily have that issue in the same way. There are many more working parts in a semi-auto than a revolver, so fewer parts to break / wear out. And be... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is there a risk of a deformed child when brother and sister perfom incest? | [
"I don't think it's necessarily incest, but rather reproducing with someone that has a similar make up as you. If you have a genetic defect and you reproduce with someone that has the defect, chances of your offspring getting it as well is very high. You want to reproduce with someone that doesn't have it so hopefu... | [
"Its possible, but extremely rare, for a person to have different blood type sperm/egg than their actual blood type (a chimera). The odds of both parents being chimeras would be astronomical. Either someone's typed wrong, or you're adopted."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why do white things turn yellow if they stay in light? | [
"It's not that they're white, it's that they're made of a type of plastic that, after prolong exposure to light, will degrade, becoming yellowed and brittle. UV is bad for that type of plastic, so the more time it spends in direct sunlight, the more it yellows."
] | [
"The white part is dry nails because it's not touching the skin and getting the natural oils. This is also why the white part turns translucent when you submerge them in water for long enough but go back to being white when they dry. I googled this a while back cause I was curious too hahaha"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Biology:"
} |
When dreaming, Why do we sometimes forget we are in one? How does our brain make it realistic? | [
"In some ways, you are living in an artificial simulation created by your brain at all times. Sometimes the simulation is based on information from your senses (like when you're awake and sober) and sometimes it's not. Noticing that you are in a dream requires you to realize that the reality that you are experienci... | [
"Either because they are just interested in what they dream about, or with the goal of learning how to identify when they are dreaming so they can trigger a lucid dream."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Psychology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Psychology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If doctors prescribe medication, why do comercials for medication exist that are targeted toward patients? | [
"That's all about encouraging patients to ask for the drug by name, rather than the generic version. Brand awareness 101."
] | [
"Diagnosing, probably not so much since treatment is chosen based on symptoms, not diagnosis. Preventing, delaying or curing it yes probably, simply because that's where the money is. You can make a lot more money in less time by selling pills than instructing people, especially since many/most people don't follow ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why everyone fled/hated Digg once v4 was implemented? | [
"Why I left, in a word, superusers. The way content was promoted was not even close to being democratic. This is a good read... _URL_0_ > An ordinary user might post the most important story of the day on Tuesday and get three \"Diggs.\" But if MrBabyMan (King of the Digg Super Users) noticed the story on Friday a... | [
"Slashdot got boring, Digg went to shit, reddit stayed pretty good."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Technology:"
} |
What happens in court if there is conflict between parents over homeschooling their child? | [
"Are the parents still married? In which case, do they want to get a divorce? Because this is how you get a divorce. A married person doesn't sue his spouse if he doesn't get his way. It's impossible to say how it would go down. It really depends on a lot of circumstances: there will probably be a psychological ev... | [
"Pregnant women qualify for Medicaid, which is paid for by the government, if they do not have insurance. The Medicaid cuts off for the woman after the child is born, but will continue to cover the child until it's 18 years old if the mother cannot get health insurance for the family from a private insurance compan... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
If downloading packets is random, how come videos stream in a sequence? | [
"Downloading packets only has a random latency, and probably a smaller random loss rate. The actual packets and their order isn't often randomized. The packets contain serial numbers, so they can be put back in order. Video streams aren't real-time, the player buffers up enough packets before the video starts to ke... | [
"Well, you still download it, so it's not that different. Streaming usually refers to downloading in a linear fashion (meaning we'd download in the order we'd need to play it). The streaming format needs to be such that we can play the video other portions of the video are still downloading (not all formats allow t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What did Google "invent" that made their search engine so much better than earlier search engines like Yahoo? | [
"[Page Rank](_URL_0_) which was a good process to decide which pages were important. Prior to that it was easy for a computer to find a lot of pages that had some keyword, but hard for them to tell which were useful (and this was exploited by a huge number of pages that had an enormous list of keywords hidden in wh... | [
"Because that's what people expect. Yahoo! has a horribly cluttered page that has turned many people off from it. One of the reasons Google rose up the search engine ranks is because of it's simplicity to use, to navigate, and to learn. At this point, it's almost become their unofficial trademark."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How can water/liquids in pipes and hoses go straight up and defy gravity. | [
"You defy gravity every time you lift your arm. Your muscles can apply enough force to overcome gravity and make your arm lift. Defying gravity is really easy. As for how the water in your pipes can do it, it's because of water towers. They pump a large amount of water into the air and let it gravity feed back down... | [
"Think of straws. You know how you get the drops in a straw after u you've taken a drink? The ones that take up the entire space inside for a few millimeters? They stay there unless you blow them out, it's the same thing except the tube is open at one end only do you can't just blow in one end to push them out. Ne... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How do people who specialize in computer forensics retrieve data on a hard drive that has been formatted or magnet wiped? | [
"Reformatting can be as simple as deleting the file system and rewriting it. That won’t delete any of the data, just remove knowledge of where it is. Secure formatting will rewrite all the bits and is not recoverable. Magnets generally aren’t strong enough to ruin a drive, those that are will do so by physically b... | [
"The space the files occupy is simply marked as being available again, and if you put new files on your computer, it may writing over that space. The files aren't actually removed until they're written over by new files. This is how programs that recover files that were deleted work (they find those areas flagged a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why is it important to have buffer states? | [
"Buffer states aren't always about marching armies. North Korea, for example, is a buffer between China and South Korea. It's not about keeping out the South Korean Army. It's about keeping out the South Korean Economy. If poor rural Chinese had rich, urban, capitalist, democratic, South Koreans just across the Yal... | [
"It's a big system. It also carries a bit from state to state. Are you interested in the application process? Policy? Logistics?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does a humidifier (water vapor) keep my skin from getting dry while simply splashing water on my skin does not? | [
"Your skin gets dry because it loses water to the air. Unless you keep your skin constantly wet, it will lose water to the dry air. A humidifier makes the air more moist, which makes it harder for your skin to lose water to it."
] | [
"It's to compensate for the air being dry. Lungs need to be wet inside, and if they dry out you will have some very major health problems very quickly. But if the nose is runny, it humidifies the air before it gets to the lungs and makes sure they stay functional."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
why if you try to sleep when not very tired, you stay awake way longer than if you waited until you were more tired | [
"The answer is circadian rhythm. How are circadian rhythms related to sleep? > Circadian rhythms are important in determining human sleep patterns. The body's master clock, or SCN, controls the production of melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. Since it is located just above the optic nerves, which relay i... | [
"I am not knowledgeable in medicine or human anatomy and sleep that much, but I can speak from experience. Your body is very adaptive. If you have not slept for, let's say, 24 hours, at some point it figures out there is some reason you are not going to bed and it turns of the feeling of tiredness that is actually ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Sleep and its effects on the body:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Sleep and its effects on the body:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment about Sleep and fatigue:"
} |
why can't heat be converted to electricity in a closed system? | [
"Because in any closed system, entropy always increases. Assume a uniformly warm room. Turning some of the heat to electricity would now give you a warm area and a cold area, thus *decreasing* entropy (sorting things out rather than mixing them together). However, if your room includes a warm zone and a cold zone, ... | [
"the most common method to convert matter into energy is combustion ( burning it ), this reaction produces thermal (heat) energy, and a small amount of kenetic (movement) energy from expanding gases. in a car those expanding gases are used to push the pistons in the engine. in a steam engine the thermal energy is u... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the point of showing the 'tropic' lines on a globe or world map? | [
"These lines represent the northern- and southern-most points of the sun's \"travel\" in the skies. The sun would be overhead during one of the solstice's were you to stand on each line--the northern one in June, the southern one in December. In between these lines and the sun may appear overhead some months, north... | [
"No two dimensional projection is going to fit all needs. The correct answer is a globe."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Does running vs walking an equal distance use the same amount of energy? | [
"Further to the other good comments, running is a series of small jumps \\(as in both your feet are in the air\\), whereas in walking you usually have one foot on the ground. So when you run you're having to repeatedly propel your entire body mass into the air \\- the energy requirements are very different to walki... | [
"Fat doesn't burn calories, muscles do. So when a fit and unfit person of the same weight do the same exercice, the fit person will burn more calories."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
What is going on with the US Secret Service | [
"It's likely mismanagement that is causing all of the commotion combined with the Internet putting everything in front of your face every single day. I'm sure there's always been some bad eggs in any organization. Previous management may have had a better grip on keeping issues in house. Having said that, any new s... | [
"Only if the federal government let it. See: American Civil War"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does our perception of time disappear when we go to sleep? | [
"Our brains stop taking in external information when we sleep. Sleep also messes with memory, so we simply don't remember much of what happened. How much we take in and remember depends on the stage of sleep. If you're sleeping well and hitting REM/deep sleep, you won't remember much. If the quality of your sleep i... | [
"To put it simply and briefly, your mind is going to freak out when you wake up and are unable to move."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about Psychology:"
} |
Game Show questions for TV watchers | [
"The most likely reason is that if they didn't have a question, it would be considered gambling, and they'd need a gambling license. By having a question, it's not gambling, it's a competition. I have no idea about the law in Germany, but that's true in many countries."
] | [
"If you're not aware, we have a weekly thread here on \"What's new in History?\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Education:"
} |
Why is Hunter S. Thompson cool? | [
"Writing talent. Sociopolitical insight. Humor. Sports knowledge. The ability to make friends with almost anyone. The drug tolerance of an african elephant."
] | [
"Am I out of the loop on something? Who hates Ringo?!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How does hydroplaning work? How can a dirtbike ride on a lake? | [
"Liquids acts like a solid the first millisecond you touch it. That's why you can slap the surface of a container of water."
] | [
"It doesn't. That's why you use slick tires, which have no treads, for track racing. Treads only exist to help you deal with water or fine debris (e.g. dust) on the road/floor. A slick tire would hydroplane and lose all traction on even a slightly wet road, whereas treads allow that water to go somewhere else and k... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do humans like white noise like rain so much? | [
"The brain likes to use its senses. In dead silence the brain goes as far as making up noises for itself to process. White noise is less crazy person, more natural feeling. Edit to add: This also tricks your mind out of *super sense* mode. A uniform noise throughout the night is predictable, easy for the brain to ... | [
"I think it's subjective; if a sound can lull you into a sense of security and distract you from thoughts that would otherwise keep you awake then it'll be easier to fall asleep. Anything that helps you disconnect from the day without stimulating you would likely help you sleep. I personally can't sleep with music... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
When you visit a fancy restaurant, why are the pepper shakers so large? What does the length add? | [
"* they are pepper grinders, not shakers...they grind up whole peppercorns to give you tasty fresh pepper * the bigger they are, the more peppercorns they can hold * the longer they are, the more easily they can reach across a table"
] | [
"It's mostly designed for restaurants, where a server might prepare four or five brown beverages without a convenient method of telling them apart. If you only care about your own drink, you're right, it doesn't matter. Likewise, the pizza thing is only used for large deliveries where someone might not want to open... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why aren't meteorite fragments more valuable and treasured than diamonds and other rare earth minerals? | [
"They're ugly, they're almost impossible to distinguish from regular rocks, and they're far too rare to collect enough to sell regularly."
] | [
"In terms of manufacturing, diamonds are valuable because of their hardness. They can be used in drills, etc. In terms of jewelry, they are expensive because the company De Beers controls the diamond market basically like a monopoly. In the end, diamonds are not as rare as their price suggests, even after polishi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How are space probes from millions of miles away able to send/receive signals and HD images back to Earth, but people still have network problems on their mobile phones? | [
"With a lot of expensive technology, [huge antennas](_URL_0_), laws to ensure lack of interference, cooperation with other countries, and the transmission rates are still glacially slow due to the enormous distance. I think New Horizons is transmitting at 1 Kb/s. **Edit:** Then there's that there are much fewer pr... | [
"Signals can be beamed from Earth to Mars and Mars to Earth, so getting on the internet is technically possible. The problem is that it would be very slow. Earth and Mars can be anywhere from 34 million miles to 249 million miles apart with the average distance being 140 million miles. With the average, it would ta... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Science and Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Science and Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Science and Technology:"
} |
The lighter your skin, the more prone you are to getting sunburn... considering that light colors reflect more light, and dark colors absorb more light? | [
"Because sunburn isn't about heat: it's about UV light causing the same kind of damage that heat does to our skin. Melanin is a protein human bodies produce that protects against UV light; and is dark in color: basically, it absorbs UV (preventing it from damaging us) and some visible light (causing the darker appe... | [
"Everyone does, not just Black people... The reason is because the palms of our hands and the soles of our feet contain very little melanin due to receiving far less ultraviolet rays than the outer regions. And when our palms and soles do receive ultraviolet rays, they don't allow the rays to pass through as easily... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How did we determine the composition of the Earth's core? | [
"We haven't actually \"detected\" the presence of iron/nickel in the core, or even measured its actual temperature. Seismology allows for measuring the core's density, as well as the inner/outer core boundary because the outer core is liquid. Assuming that the core is made of iron/nickel is basically a very safe gu... | [
"This is simply because of the natural variations in the density or types of particles in the air."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How and why did mead lose it's popularity? | [
"Beer and wine from fruits can be produced in higher quantities than meads. Honey production is much more limited in volume than the crops used to make other beverages."
] | [
"So when and where did playing cards as we know them come into being anyways?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How/where are heavy elements created? | [
"Stars can produce atoms up to iron, although they produce these elements very late in the life cycle. Any atoms heavier than that are produced in supernovas."
] | [
"What are you using it for? Where are you located?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is this thing on the bottom of all airplane windows? (Pics) | [
"It's a hole. There are two panes of plastic separating you from the outside, creating an air pocket. With the pressure change varying so much with altitude, if the air pocket were sealed in, it would more than likely explode. The reason the pocket exists in the first place is to create an insulating cushion to min... | [
"How about through that opening on the side of your head?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
what's the fascination that people have watching videos of maggot removal, zit popping, ear dirt extraction, etc. ? | [
"Talking completely out of my ass here, maybe it has to do with some instinctive grooming drive that we inherited from our ancestors. If you go to the zoo or watch a documentary, you can see that apes/etc. instinctively groom each other; so some people probably get a sense of pleasure from seeing such things becaus... | [
"Random stuff. Dirt, bug bites, weird nerve or skin stuff like growing or healing, hairs touching stuff or blowing in air currents, terrible diseases you don't realise you have. Could be anything really"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does one country make threats to another country? | [
"Who says they don't just call the other country and threaten them? What do you think diplomats do behind closed doors?"
] | [
"Nations are sovereign which means there's no higher power that can force them to do/not do something. Rather a stronger nation or group of nations must go to war. No group of nations feels that North Korea is worth going to war over, much less the vastly more powerful US."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How can any style be considered "modern" (like modern architecture)? Wouldn't any style be considered modern during its time? | [
"There is \"modern\" meaning contemporary and then \"[Modernism](_URL_0_)\" (or Modern) with a capital M referring to a specific artistic movement in the early to mid 1900s"
] | [
"I don't think this is a particularly historical question. Any instances of disco being used as a \"poster boy\" for things that have died out would have occurred after disco died, and therefore very recently. Furthermore, it's a matter of pop culture, and a contentious one at that. I've never really thought of dis... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do multi-million dollar companies end up paying $0 tax? | [
"A few ways. First thing to know is Company's only pay tax on profits, not revenue. 1. Setup headquarters in low taxing country and shift profits there. One of the big mining company's in Australia sells it's own coal to a Singapore based company they own. In Australia then pay tax on the heavily discounted rate th... | [
"So your question is flawed because EVERYONE can evade taxes through loopholes. The difference is that ultra-rich people have the ability to pay for extremely skilled advice on how to capitalize on the tax loopholes that exist, and those ultra-rich people have a lot more incentive to pay whatever fees are necessary... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why is the Upvote system flawed? | [
"One major problem is that any people don't really bother reading more than the first page or two of comments. This means they're only seeing the top-rated comments, and upvoting those. Any comments that come later never get read or ever have a chance to get upvoted, regardless of quality. You can see this effect b... | [
"Why are empty threads showing up on the front page? This makes no sense."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What causes me to wake up minutes before my alarm goes off, even when I've barely slept? | [
"There is something in our body called a biological clock. If your body is used to doing some things at a certain time, be it waking up or maybe using the restroom. You will generally do these things at those times even when its pointless to do so otherwise. Since you work your body does this to help you not oversl... | [
"It depends on the sleep cycle you're in when your alarm goes off. Most of what I've read about this states that it's better to just get out of bed. Hitting snooze makes the rest of your day more difficult. That's what I've read. I don't know if this is factual information. But it does work for me. As soon as my al... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Sleep and its effects on the body:"
} |
Why do rockets level off horizontally rather than maintaining a vertical path? | [
"All the other commenters are correct, but no one has linked [this classic xkcd what if](_URL_0_) that explains and illustrates the concept very well."
] | [
"Mostly, we don't. We fire it straight up for only a short time just to get it into thinner air so there is less drag from air and then we turn it to take advantage of the Earth's rotation AND get it into an orbit that is parallel to the ground. So, only in the first minute or two does it go straight up. Then it tu... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:"
} |
How does a lawyer defend his client, if there is concrete evidence that they actually committed the crime? | [
"When there's concrete evidence that they did it, the lawyer will work for a lower punishment. They'll find whatever excuse they can to get a shorter jail time, avoid death penalty, whatever the case may be."
] | [
"If they were proved, in a court of law, beyond a reasonable doubt, to have knowingly and falsely accused someone, they do get sent to prison."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Am I really saving gas by turning off my car's engine at red lights? | [
"I believe 10 seconds off will make up for the gas to start it up. However if you stop your car at every light you will wreak havoc on your starter."
] | [
"Speed up slowly. Don't use the air conditioner unless it's necessary. Keep windows closed. Keep a large lead in front of your car to the car in front of you (a large buffer) Drive so that you don't have to use your brakes. Drive so that you drive slowly and steadily rather than start and stop. Clean and/or replace... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How do people figure out what colors to use when coloring an old black and white photo? | [
"\"Black\" and \"white\" are actually a ton of different shades of grey. If you know the method the picture was taken with and how it converts visible light into something that can be put onto film in greyscale, you can tell with a pretty high degree of accuracy which shade of grey corresponds to which visible ligh... | [
"A long time ago they used to hand paint every single slide on the film strips. This is why the colors sometimes look blotchy or weird. They also used to dye entire segments of the film one color so a whole scene would be tinted red or purple or something to evoke a certain mood. As far as adding color to black and... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How does my car radio display the station's call letters? | [
"Via [RDS](_URL_0_). There's another signal tucked away inside the FM broadcast that can carry information like text. The station chooses what to send. This is also how radios can identify the type of music playing like 'Rock' or 'Jazz'."
] | [
"RDS - Radio Data System. It is a signal that is carried by station's transmission in what's called a \"subcarrier\". That subcarrier is outside the frequency range that the music is carried on. On the RDS signal, stations will often broadcast the title/artist for the current song and sometimes they'll transmit we... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Do special forces count as "boots on ground" or do they have their own separate rules? | [
"\"Boots on the ground\" isn't a really helpful term since it basically means whatever the speaker wants it to mean. That said, it doesn't typically apply to special forces or \"advisers\" or the like. Assuming the figures in [this article](_URL_0_) are correct, the US has/had 1,000 advisers in Iraq while insisting... | [
"Delta Force is a special mission unit of the US Army. SEAL Team Six is a component of the Joint Special Operations Command which is from the US Navy. They exist separately because they belong to different branches of the armed forces of the US. Why exactly the people who carry guns on the ground are different from... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
how did we as humans collectively decide on the location of the international date line? | [
"It didn't. The date line is the opposite side of the globe to the Prime Meridian (roughly). There were multiple Prime Meridians throughout history, typlically countries with large a large navy or merchant shipping fleet would have their own. Eventually they all lost out to the current PM."
] | [
"If I recall correctly, they did decide to convert to the metric system a good number of years ago. so the obvious answer would be any other way then that."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do self-driving cars reduce accidents | [
"> Can a self-driving car keep tabs of all the pedestrians around it too? Yes. A self-driving car also has (depending on how its implemented) a 360 degree field of vision, and has a reaction time that exceeds human reactions by an order of magnitude. A computer can begin stopping the car before you've even *notice... | [
"Encourage people to carpool by offering them an immediate incentive (less congested, therefore faster lanes) By encouraging carpooling, decrease the number of cars on the roads. Decrease pollution. Increase the lifespan of the roads. Decrease traffic."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If a woman became president of the US, and got pregnant, would she get a maternity leave? | [
"On the off chance a woman of child bearing age became president, which is unlikely, the VP would step in if she were incapacitated following the birth, or when she couldn't do things like flying, but as it isn't a very physical job, and the baby could always be in her office, I imagine she wouldn't take a complete... | [
"How is Trump the choice for evangelical Christians? Look his Howard Stern Interview in 2003 _URL_0_ Talking about how far the hot intern will go, promoting the premier of The Apprentice, defending Micheal Jackson, getting blow jobs in the hot tub, how sexy his daughter is, and how great unprotected sex was in the ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why did Sarkozy call Netanyahu a liar? What did he do? | [
"Palestine and Israel are pretty much enemies today, though they would like to share the same land. So, a lot of other countries (including France) want peace to appear there. Sarkozy probably had some verbal agreement with Netanyahu. Sarkozy put some weight on the discussions between Israel and the EU. He also hel... | [
"Someone once asked Bill Clinton this question during an interview. The exchange went something like this: Q: So, when you became President, what did you want to know? What did you find out? Clinton: The first thing I asked as President was who killed JFK and are there really aliens. Q: And...? Clinton: You'll have... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why was Princess Leia on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan if she was *FROM* Alderaan? | [
"The Galactic Senate wasn't on Alderaan, she could have presumably been heading home between legislative sessions. Of course nobody in the galaxy bought that story either way, since Tatooine isn't close to either."
] | [
"If the Empire had openly shared their Death Star schematics with the rebels from the start, they wouldn't have left that exhaust port unshielded, now would they?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How can a 64gb SD card hold more data than a 32gb SD card if they are the same physical size? | [
"We're talking about storing information, not an actual physical substance. If we're talking about something physical, like water, it would make sense that two buckets the exact same size would hold the same amount of water. However, we are talking about information, and information can be represented smaller and ... | [
"SD in SD Card stands for \"Secure digital\" Card it has nothing to do with the files that can be on it. It's a type of card, just like a type of car, for example a Lexus or Ford. It can hold any file There isn't an HD SD card. You're thinking of SDHC (SD \"High Capacity\") card, which is a revision of the SD card ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why can I watch Netflix or porn online seamlessly but when I watch a video on _URL_0_ it's choppy as fuck? | [
"ESPN has horrible video technology. They use an in house video player that hasn't been updated in some time. On the other hand, Netflix and Youtube's whole business model relies on having good video service. They spend a lot of money making sure they have a great video player."
] | [
"If you're having issues with YouTube buffering, go to youtubehtml5. Now it will load quickly, and you can scroll around as much as you want."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Would you die if you injected water into your bloodstream? | [
"Depends on how much water you injected. A small amount (a drop or so) probably won't kill you. A larger amount would cause your blood cells to rupture because the concentration of water inside and outside the cell would be different. Water would rush inside the cell and blow up the cell membrane. If you kept injec... | [
"So you won't get whatever you're expelling out of your nose into your eyes."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How smoke detectors work | [
"Smoke detectors are a really cool piece of technology. They contain a bit of radioactive material in them (not enough to cause any serious harm to people). This radioactive material decays every now and then, which generates alpha particles, which in turn knock electrons off the atoms in the air. This generates a ... | [
"Chemicals in the air that are detected by sensors in our noses."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Science:"
} |
Why do industries stay close together geographically | [
"A lot of it is because that's where the good employees are, because that's where the jobs in that industry are. That's kind of a chicken and the egg thing, but it's there now, so it perpetuates. There are businesses that do that there, so the colleges start having curriculum around that industry, and it snowballs.... | [
"Taste is a series of chemical reactions, which occur more vigorously in warmer temperatures than colder temperatures."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Politics aside, why is pet euthanasia considered humane, while lethal injection is considered cruel and unusual? In other words, why can't we put people to sleep and then administer drugs to stop the heart? | [
"Lethal injection is technically the most humane method of execution that we have. It's not that lethal injection in it of itself is cruel and unusual it's just that the death penalty system isn't the greatest. Lethal injections usually use 3 drug cocktails that anesthetize, relax muscles, and stop the heart. The p... | [
"A few reasons. Morphine, heroin, fentanyl, etc are more expensive than sodium pentothal or barbiturates, which are commonly used in executions. Also most supporters of the death penalty would likely object to death penalty convicts receiving a euphoria-inducing drug before they die. From a medical standpoint, opio... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do skulls and, specifically, brain cavities grow in humans? | [
"The skull does not start out as one solid chunk of bone. At birth, it consists of multiple plates connected by cartilage. Infants have a soft spot, aka a fontanelle, where you can feel that bone has not fully formed and even see the baby's pulse. The plates grow larger and the cartilage is replaced by bone, which ... | [
"The skeleton is a basic fundamental part of vertebrates. It is often conserved with vestigial limbs long after their utility is gone. Remnants of limbs are found in whale species. Giraffes have the same number of neck vertebrae as other mammals. A lot of changes can occur in the shape and size of a bone. But it ca... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
.. How can H & R Block afford to give away 1000$ everyday for a year? | [
"H & R Block is valued at [over 8 billion dollars](_URL_0_). $365,000 is basically nothing on that scale."
] | [
"To get you to spend $29.95 on their \"work from home\" information package."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do people who make song mashups isolate the vocal tracks to songs? | [
"Vocal-only tracks for many songs can be found publicly. For many songs for which vocal-only tracks aren't publicly available, producers of those mash-ups may have connections to labels/artists and can get the vocal-only audio for a track privately. I've done music composition/DJing/remixes for 20 years (as a hobb... | [
"From my understanding this is what happens: 1. A producer creates a backing track 2. A ghost writer will write lyrics according to the backing track 3. The producer and ghost writer sell the song to a singer like Ariana Grande or Beyonce. 4. The singer will sing the lyrics to the song at the studio until they achi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why did Obama Care raise the cost of private health insurance for many middle and upper class Americans? | [
"Insurance is pooled risk. Everyone puts in a dollar in case they need 10. The company collects 100 knowing that they will only need to pay out 3 lots of 10. Everyone is still paying a dollar so all is well. However the company knows that some people are at a higher risk than others, to protect its profits it eith... | [
"No we don't. There are programs like Medicaid and Medicare for certain groups (seniors over 65 are eligible for Medicare, and Medicaid is usually used by Americans who are medically unable to work), and children are covered under their parents' insurance until age 26, but Americans not in one of those groups have ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
In movies and TV shows, why are streets at night always wet, like it just rained? | [
"Because it looks better on camera. Lights reflect in the surface and it just gives it a better look on screen. The movie crews generally wet down the street before rolling."
] | [
"There are a few ways. In addition to CGI trickery, street sets, and shutting down part of the city to film, sometimes its possible to film in cities when they're deserted. Maybe you've seen *The Omega Man*, where Charlton Heston's character is driving his car through a deserted post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. They j... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do power-washers only take the dirt and grime away and not the underlying paint on a car or house? | [
"Dirt and grime are only physically stuck to the paint. Paint actually undergoes a chemical reaction and becomes chemically bonded to the underlying surface. You could remove it with a pressure washer set to high enough pressure or pointed at it for enough time just as you could sand it off. but the dirt and grime ... | [
"They are abrasive. They don't remove the scratches, they remove all of the material around the scratches, which hides the imperfection."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is that when I drink water or soda, I feel full after a while, while with beer, there's no stopping me? | [
"By the time you have drank enough to feel full [for me it is 3 glasses of water] you have had enough alcohol for the fun to start. Lack of inhibition is enough at that point to make you want to drink more. On top of that the ethanol being metabolized in your liver causes a sudden blood sugar drop. Drops in blood s... | [
"First off, there aren't really any foods that are zero calories. We drink things that have zero calories because we like to taste good things but not get fat. As for filling you up, water has zero calories, but after a half gallon, you don't feel like eating, do you?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
With ice caps melting, ocean levels rising, and higher global temperatures, this theoretically would be a perfect storm for massive rainfall. Why aren't we seeing an increase in precipitation within dry arid area's, instead of increased droughts worldwide? | [
"Dry arid areas like north texas where we've gone from 10 years of drought to massive flooding in 6 months?"
] | [
"It's mostly referred to as global climate change AFAIK. For good reason too. Just one instance of evidence would be climate and weather patterns becoming more 'extreme' worldwide, not necessarily temperatures rising universally. More frequent and more severe droughts, floods, forest fires, tornados happening where... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are Junior, the II, the III etc. only used for males? Is there a female equivalent? & if there is, why isn't it used as often? | [
"I'd think it's because 99% of sons keep the same first and last name their whole lives. Then you can have Bill Jones, Bill Jones Jr, Bill Jones the Third, from birth onward and the name sticks. Whereas women are much more likely to change their names. Mary Smith's daughter is Mary Jenkins, her daughter is Mary Fra... | [
"We originally had Master and Mister for young and older males, and Miss and Mistress for unmarried and married females. Mistress became Missus or Mrs Master fell out of use for boys that left us with Mister or Mr for men and Mrs for married females and Miss for unmarried females. Why the difference? Why care about... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
The supposed manifestations of 'Qi' ("Chi") | [
"Parlor tricks. The tips of the \"spears\" are rounded. Line them up carefully with a meaty part of your leg and they'll hold you up with enough \"comfort\" and cushion to not cut into you. Line up the third with a relatively cozy spot between your chest while holding yourself up with your arms and you do the \"mag... | [
"The invention of New Ageists. As far as I can make out, Araragat was invented by a spiritualist whom I shall not name for fear of increasing his page-rank, [in this 1999 book](_URL_0_) (indirect link, again for page-rank reasons). According to him, Araragat and Thoth and Ra were former kings of Atlantis who set up... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
I've read that the simulation hypothesis is extremely unlikely because of something called Lorentz Invariance, but I don't know enough about physics to understand why. | [
"I think the idea is that simulations have an absolute time (the time of the computer). Lorentz transformations transform time too so any viewpoint has it's own time. If all viewpoints are equally valid then there is no absolute time for the whole universe. Of course the simulation may take all that into account an... | [
"It's scary to the following groups of people: - Much of the physics community from when it was first being discovered. All of science depends on experiments being reproduceable. Things will happen the exact same way in response to the exact same stimulus every time. Discovering the way things work and defining it ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Physics:"
} |
Why is wine only served in 5 oz (150 ml) portions, while other alcohol may be portioned out differently? | [
"It's not, really. It's just that 5 oz of wine is a good measure to use to compare to a 1.5 oz shot of liquor, or 12 ounces of beer in terms of alcohol content. Of course, it's not perfect as beer and wine can vary in the amount of alcohol they have per ounce. Liquor, on the other hand, is almost always the same am... | [
"I've never heard of 26er or a mickey, but a fifth is a 750 ml bottle--so called because it is a fifth of a gallon. One size up from that is one liter--1000 ml. I don't know of any nicknames for this size. One size up from that is a 1.75 liter bottle--usually called a handle, because there is usually a literal ha... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How does the army work? How does one get a promotion and such? | [
"Military promotions are not nearly as sexy as they appear on TV. If you're enlisted, you earn rank by passing formal tests, doing your job well, and earning time in rank/service. If you're an officer, you earn rank by earning time in rank/service, meeting educational goals (like getting advanced degrees), and doin... | [
"Also, would her military experience be any useful in finding a job? Did women serve in the British military during World War 1 and if so, did they go back into the workforce afterwards?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
The OJ Simpson court case | [
"It was an absolute circus. The only thing that compared was a Michael Jackson trial. More than a year of CNN covering it every day. Not just updates, but complete wall to wall immersion. It made the careers of several talking heads like Greta Van Susteran and Mark Fuhrman. It was one of the earliest indicators tha... | [
"So they? All I ever see is RICOH"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why doesnt your soda get "shaken up" when it falls out of the vending machine? | [
"Two reasons that both contribute: 1) The vending machine acts as a fridge, and at a colder temperature the CO2 gas requires more force to seperate from the liquid But more importantly: 2) The \"drop\" you see in these machines isn't as dramatic as you may think. There are [columns](_URL_0_) of each different type ... | [
"It's there to create an airtight seal, so the carbonation doesn't leak out. If it was just the plastic screw-on top, it wouldn't be airtight, and your soda would be flat long before it was delivered to the store you bought it from."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Pseudorandom numbers and how it is different from truly random numbers. | [
"Pseudorandom numbers are generated by a formula. They look random at first glance, but if you know the formula, you can predict the next number with 100% accuracy. Also, if the formula is not very good, then you can detect patterns in the numbers that it generates, or determine that it might favour certain numbers... | [
"There are programs called Random Number Generators. This is a misnomer: they don't generate random numbers, they generate pseudo-random numbers. They do this by performing complex mathematical operations on what is referred to as a 'seed value'. As long as the same seed is used to start the generator, the same num... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do dogs have to sniff about before going for a dump? | [
"It's an instinct from when they were hunters in the forest. If they poop near a game trail, the deer will be scared from that trail because they can sense that a predator was nearby recently, and then the wolf will lose a food source. By making sure they always poop far from game trails, they increase the likeliho... | [
"It seems to come as a surprise to my dog, every time he farts the noise spooks him. Also do you go sit on the toilet or go outside every time you fart?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How is it possible to program a random number generator? Wouldn't it need an algorithm | [
"The programmer provides the seed number, often choosing the time in milliseconds (a pretty random number). Encryption software uses stronger methods of randomness like asking you to move the mouse for a few seconds and pulling random data from that."
] | [
"Randomness is either \"pseudorandom\" where we take an element of the computer like miliseconds to the next hour, plug that into a function adding, multiplying, dividing, etcing that number. And then use that number as a basis for the randomness requires 65032 (mod 10) + 1 for a random number between 1 and 10. For... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How is the position on the Earth's Surface determined by a GPS? | [
"There is a cluster of satellites in orbit (the much cooler term is \"constellation of satellites\"). Each one has a very accurate clock and they continuously broadcast their current time and which satellite they are. Your GPS device receives these time signals and since it knows (a) which satellite sent which sign... | [
"Today, you can just put a GPS Tracker on the top and measure it against the nearest height of the sea. Other methods can be: Measure the air pressure Triangulate by other visible objects Fly a Plane with radar over it"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
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How can someone with type AB blood be the universal recipient for blood donations, and only eligible to donate blood to other type AB patients, yet is the universal donor for plasma? | [
"[This image kinda sums it up](_URL_0_). The important thing in blood donation is that the plasma can't have antibodies against the antigens on the red blood cells. You either have A-antigens on your red blood cells or (you're pretty likely to have) anti-A antibodies in your plasma. B-antigens and anti-B antibodie... | [
"On the positive: any O- blood, with a few less common exceptions, can be transfused into any patient without issue. In an emergency situation where an immediate transfusion is critical, waiting a few minutes to test a patient's blood may do harm to the patient. On the negative: O- blood is rare, as donors of that... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Healthcare:"
} |
What is a blind and a double blind experiment in science? | [
"Blind: The participants in the study don't know whether or not they're receiving the treatment being tested. Double-blind: Neither the participants nor the researchers know which participants received the treatment being tested (during the course of the experiment, in the case of the latter, they obviously find ou... | [
"I am not an expert, but my answer would be three words: high interest rates."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why is The Interview receiving much more hostility than Team America:World Police? | [
"Probably because back then north korea didn't have internet and a different \"president\"."
] | [
"Nice try North Korea. We're still going to watch The Interview one way or another."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
why movies with good screenplays only have one or two writers, while the typical (and bad) blockbuster scripts often have up to three to four writers? | [
"Because with more writers some movies tend to get written and rewritten, to the point that the story makes no sense anymore. An example would be [Prometheus](_URL_0_), which was passed repeatedly between two writers. Obviously a screenplay with one or two writers would be more \"focused\". Of course that does not ... | [
"Part of the reason is that many, many more people are now credited on movies. A credit scroll longer than 10 minutes (like some of the big action movies have) would test the patience of audiences. So now the main actors and key crew members might be credited at the beginning, leaving the full list until the end."
... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it that some food items, when we taste them once, we continue having more and more, even if our appetite is full already? | [
"Because things like fat, sugar, and salt are rare in nature. You are biologicaly driven to consume them in excess to create reserves. The food industry takes full advantage of these innate addictive properties."
] | [
"Chewing is a very rewarding activity - at least to our brain! It sends out hormones that food should be arriving shortly and sets your food metabolism in the works. Spitting out food after chewing gives you a hollow experience unless the food you were eating tasted awful (and even then, your body will still expect... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why can non-American actors so commonly mimic a perfect American accent, but rarely can an American actor accurately mimic a foreign accent? | [
"In part there's a survivor bias. If you can't do an American accent, you won't land a role playing an American. So we don't get to see actors with poor American accents."
] | [
"The British accent? There are British accents that sound harsh and vulgar, but I guess it's due to a certain image. There's the southern belle that sounds refined and regal and that's an American accent. That's for the secondary question. To the first, I dunno. I'm an American so I don't know how hard it is for a ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
- Do bees know they are going to die if they sting you? If so how? | [
"No. Bee stings are supposed to work against other insects, so they shred the carapaces with their barbed stings. But humans have soft and spongy skin, so the barbs get stuck inside, instead of shredding anything, and the bee accidentally rips out half it's organs trying to fly away. A single dead bee is not really... | [
"Mosquitoes - because they can smell you and you're delicious. Gnats - I've heard it's because they're attracted to the carbon dioxide that you exhale. Don't know how true that is. Wasps - because they're dicks."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
When people say they've lost their appetite, what's happening in the brain to cause it so? | [
"I've heard it explained in this way: if you weren't taught not to eat rotten food by your parents then you will try to at one point or another, when you smell the rotting food your body loses it's appetite so you simply have no desire to eat that rotting food anyway, therefore not getting sick/dying."
] | [
"A lot of nerves in your ear canal link to most of your body. Tickling them makes your blood pressure drop and thus leads to pleasure. At least that's what I read. Correct me if I'm wrong."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument about Health and wellness:"
} |
Why can't the prison system agree on a "painless" execution method, when any veterinarian in the country can painlessly put down a dog? | [
"Part of it is, it's getting increasingly more difficult for states to get the drugs necessary. Some drug companies will not sell the drugs to states if they know it will be used in executions. If the states could get all the drugs they need for an execution, instead of having to alter the process, or use off-labe... | [
"Standard operating procedure, what if he survives, basic respect for human life etc. The logic is \"he's gonna die anyway\" but if that's the case why not just hit him in the head with a hammer?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how can my cat crawl under a mountain of blankets on my bed and sleep comfortably for hours but I feel like I'm suffocating after just a few minutes? | [
"The amount of oxygen a mammal needs is directly proportional to its mass, ergo your cat is way smaller than you are and needs a lot less air than you do. Basically it's just pure math, a cat that is 1/100th your size will need 1/100th the air."
] | [
"If I sleep on my side, I sleep with a pillow between my legs and if I sleep on my belly, the pillow goes to the ground beside the bed. So when I roll over back onto my side and grab the pillow and throw it between my legs, its generally pretty damn cold and if that pillow touches my balls it starts the chain react... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why aren't electrical outlets universal? | [
"The infrastructure was created independently, and once it made sense to standardize it was just too expensive."
] | [
"Son, the best way to charge any electronic device, is to plug the plug thing with the prongs into an electrical outlet generally located on a wall."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Electrical plugs and their design:",
"pos": "Represent the argument about Electrical plugs and their design:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How is our sense of taste and smell connected? | [
"> How is our sense of taste and smell connected? Most of what you think of as \"taste\" is actually smell. For instance, an apple and a raw potato taste almost exactly the same. If you hold your nose (which stops air flow past your olfactory nerves), you can't tell if what you're biting into is a raw potato or an ... | [
"No, but you wouldn't know it. Human sense of smell and taste are not heightened enough to know the difference."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why do my computer speakers occasionally pick up radio or (phone?) conversations? | [
"A piece of wire can be used as a radio antenna, as a conductive material can pick up the electromagnetic radiation that makes up radio waves. Your car radio, for example, has an antenna that picks up electromagnetic waves, and the tuner in the radio isolates which frequency to isolate. From there, the received sig... | [
"I don't think that's what OP is asking. You can have a phone on silent, sitting next to other electronic devices, and you'll often hear very distinct electronic buzzing type noises from the other devices specifically when the cell phone is ringing."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does smell transmit? Does it radiate like sound or 'float' like gas? | [
"Odor is carried by molecules. When you smell lemon, for example, little molecules from the lemon are making their way through the air to your nose. Now think about what happens when you smell shit..."
] | [
"Scent travels as fast as the water travels. It doesn't have mobility on its own. You're simply detecting molecules of the associated substance as they reach you, carried by the water from the source. Similarly, scents in the air travel as fast as the air does."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How did the business suit become standard fashion for men in a diverse number of cultures around the world? | [
"The fact that Europe colonised almost the entire world about 150 years ago and spread their culture all over their colonies made it happen."
] | [
"\"Initially a symbol of Ottoman modernity, the fez over time came to be seen as part of an \"Oriental\" cultural identity. Seen as exotic and romantic in the west, it enjoyed a vogue as part of men's luxury smoking outfit in the United States and the United Kingdom in the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th c... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why we are in a "war" right now? | [
"The invasion of Afghanistan occurred as a direct response to 9/11. The goal was to go after the terrorist organizations that planned the attacks and find the people responsible. Iraq is a bit harder to explain. Basically, the American people were told that the dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destructi... | [
"It's not our job to police the world, thats why the world hates us."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How do people eat and drink in space? wouldn't the food just float around and not go straight to the stomach? | [
"Swallowing does not rely on gravity. The muscles around your esophagus (and all through your digestive tract) contract in series to squeeze food through you. This motion is called \"peristalsis.\" As for getting the food in your mouth, that's just a matter of getting a food that clumps together pretty well, direct... | [
"> If the food goes down to the stomach wouldn't the stomach acids break down any sickness on the food? If you get bacteria/viruses on your hands and then eat with them, you're not going to swallow each and every one. Many of them will stay in your mouth and start multiplying and spreading to your nose, throat, or ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why can't/don't we use salt water in our toilets? | [
"This would require running two separate water lines into your house, one containing salt water specifically for your toilets, and keeping that water separate from the rest. It would also require towns / cities / whatever to have two water reservoirs - one for salt water (for toilets exclusively) and one with fresh... | [
"They do. But it's extremely expensive and inefficient compared to other methods of water that are available most of the time. So basically, you don't have a lot of incentive to do so."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do job applications ask for my ethnicity when they are apparently not going to be used in my application for equality purposes? | [
"Companies are required to ask and keep that information so that it can be reviewed if there were ever a complaint. The company isn't required to hire to maintain any ethnic balance, but they have to show that they are not discriminating in hiring because of ethnicity. If someone complains, and there's an investig... | [
"Some employers may consider your application incomplete and discard it. If they decide that those consent forms and background checks are necessary to be considered for the position you'll probably be dropped from the running. Whether or not that is legal depends on where this is all happening."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why is Adele's Hello song & album, 25, released in 2015 nominated for the 2017 Grammys? | [
"The Grammys don't use the calendar year for eligibility, instead they use October 1-September 30. Since *25* was released in November of 2015, it's part of the 2016 eligibility year (which ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016)."
] | [
"Elvis is the highest selling solo artist of all time with more than 600 million records sold in the U.S alone. The population of the U.S. was only 200 million in his prime. Elvis has the most hits in the Top 100, the Top 40, The Top 10, and has had 32 Number 1 Records. He broke color barriers of country and R & B,... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do mom porcupines and hedgehogs give birth without the babies' spines causing any harm to the mother's insides? | [
"A porcupine's quills are hair, not stiff rods. When they give birth, the quills are soft and wet. That is also why the quills can be replaced constantly."
] | [
"Because humans have gigantic brains. They basically have to be born 3 months premature, just so their huge heads don't kill the mothers during birth. Birthing that head is a bit trickier than birthing a calf is for a cow. Also, humans don't have to worry about predators finding their babies and eating them, so it'... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Why did we ever start counting things in 'Dozens'? Why not in tens, or something easier to work with? | [
"Base 12 was used in ancient Egypt. You can count to twelve on one hand, using your thumb to move on each finger joint (four fingers, each with three joints). Arguably, base 12 and base 60 make more \"sense\" than base 10, because you can count to 12 on the one hand and keep track of five groups of 12 with the othe... | [
"60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30. Lots of options for splitting time into neat segments. You can divide 60 into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, twentieths, and thirtieths. 10 is only divisible by 2 and 5. So you can only divide it neatly into halves a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Mathematics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Mathematics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Mathematics:"
} |
If most water is absorbed in the colon, then why does thirst resolve immediately after drinking? | [
"Yes, but it's your brain and not your colon that makes the decision of whether you feel thirsty or not. There are whole lot of times there will be a disconnect. Consider the experiments with infinite soup bowls. People will eat more when offered bigger portions, regardless of hunger, and if you covertly keep filli... | [
"It's a diuretic, it makes you pee. It just so happens that there is a lot of water in you, most likely from drinking beer."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about biology:"
} |
Why are written and spoken English so different? | [
"English is the result of a linguistic mishmash of Low German dialects, Norman French, Scandinavian languages, Church Latin and Scientific Greek, and loanwords from a hundred other languages from Italian to Arabic to Swahili to Cherokee to Hindi to Japanese. As a result, it has lots of different rubrics for how let... | [
"No. You have many different sign languages, and some languages differ between countries. American Sign Language is different from British Sign Language."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
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