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64rtr5 | Do clouds move around the globe because of wind currents or does gravity have anything to do with it? | I've always wondered if clouds move solely because of wind or does gravity actually have anything to do with it? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"dg4hiov",
"dg4rans",
"dg4hiwm"
] | [
"Clouds move on the wind. Gravity has *something* to do with it, but only in that it is the force that prevents everything from just drifting off into space."
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3
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ajbhdm | Why military coups don't happen often in democracies? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"eeu5ju8"
] | [
"Dont happen as often... But authoritarian states are more likely to have coups since they relay heavily on both police and military (and many times a mix of both) to retain control, So In a democracy or a free state, the police is controlled in a civilian manner and the army has political and civilian oversight, while in Autocracy the millitary and police tend to have less oversight, to make their job easier... So its easier for higher ups in the army to roll out the tanks and get rid of the army. A good example is Turkey, Turkey has had several coups, even while being a democracy several Islamic themed parties in the past have tried to impose more autocratic rule and were overtrown, while the current president before starting his reforms and road towards autocracy first took the time to dismantle the control over the army and replace key military leaders to people loyal to him to prevent this. Also popular satisfaction in autocracies tends to be quite lower, so they wont bother if the army goes out and kills the president."
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npai2q | measuring neurotransmitters? | In our society today we can draw blood and determine what levels of certain things (vitamins or what not) people are low on, and then prescribe them things to make their levels “better”. When it comes to mental health/mental illness, why can’t we do something similar with our brain chemicals? Like somehow draw some brain fluid or something and see that this person is low on dopamine or serotonin and then prescribe accordingly? Wouldn’t that help the mental health community immensely? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"h042kfj"
] | [
"It's difficult to measure neurotransmitters directly, since they are quickly metabolized. But we can measure their metabolites. For example, metanephrine is a metabolite of adrenaline, and homovanillic acid is a metabolite of dopamine. These can be measured in blood, urine and CSF (fluid drawn from the spinal cord). It is used to diagnose certain tumors. These tests are not used in psychiatry, but I suppose they could be. You might need to know a patient's baseline levels first though. I did a quick search and found [this study]( URL_0 ) showing higher homovanillic acid in schizophrenic patients, and [this study]( URL_1 ) showing higher metanephrines in ADHD patients."
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8qpx4t | Why are there other ingredients inside of water bottles instead of just purified water? | Chemistry | explainlikeimfive | [
"e0l4t9y"
] | [
"Natural spring water, and tap water from aquifers, contain many dissolved minerals. This gives water from different regions or different springs different taste. Pure distilled water tastes weird compared to water with dissolved minerals because all the water you'eve ever drank has been mineralized to some degree."
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7wsezm | An antenna excites electrons to create radio waves. So, assuming you had an extremely powerful antenna, could you create different sorts of waves (such as visible light or gamma rays)? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"du2tay6",
"du2u3n2"
] | [
"The modes by which electromagnetic waves interact with things are different, and they have to do principally with their wavelengths and their energies. But in a general sense, any machine which produces any kind of electromagnetic radiation could naively be called an antenna. It's just that the production method would be largely different. Radio waves are the product of an alternating voltage over the radio antenna. There's not too much to do with the excitations of specific electrons in atoms. The characteristic energies of these sort of excitations (where electrons move between atomic energy levels) produce radiation from visible light to x-rays, depending on the exact energy gap. Gamma rays are defined as originating from within the nucleus of an atom, by the rearrangement of protons and neutrons releasing energy. So a gamma antenna would necessarily be a nuclear antenna, in a sense. Another thing to note is that all objects emit electromagnetic radiation by virtue of having any temperature above absolute zero. At temperatures we find here on Earth, that is primarily in the infrared region of the spectrum."
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e2ej4e | If certain hairs (like leg hairs) stop growing once they reach a certain length, why do they grow back if you trim them? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"f8v1b9j",
"f8vgclu"
] | [
"They grow for a certain length *of time*. Let’s say they grow one centimeter in a month, and then fall out. You can trim them after 2 weeks and then it will continue growing for 2 more weeks prior to falling out again."
] | [
30
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gmd4s4 | How does inflation really work? | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"fr2y2gt"
] | [
"Imagine you're shipwrecked on a deserted island. After figuring out the initial survival details, eventually you and the other survivors build a simple economy, using a bunch of monopoly money from a board game that washed ashore. As the coconut collector, you find and sell coconuts for a hundred dollars apiece. One day, a cargo container washes ashore. Your small group of survivors opens it to find a whole shipment of monopoly boards. \"Amazing!\" you all cry. \"We're rich!!!\". You gleefully hand out a billion monopoly dollars to everyone in your small community. Tomorrow, someone comes up to you and asks to buy a coconut for $100. You've got a billion dollars, are you really going to spend hours looking for coconuts for a measly $100 now? So you tell them no. They go shopping around trying to find someone else to buy a coconut from, but no one cares about $100 now that they're rich. So, the desperate and hungry person starts begging to pay more. He'll give you $500 for a coconut. $1,000. $100,000. $10,000,000. Finally, someone agrees to find a coconut for $100,000,000. Coconuts used to cost $100, but now they cost $100,000,000. Why? Simple -- because coconuts didn't get any easier to find, you all just got a bunch more monopoly dollars to pay each other with. In the end, the same thing happens in the real world. If you create more money (e.g. by printing US dollars) without creating more value (by finding more coconuts, or baking more bread, or building more cars, etc.), you get inflation."
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hcgq2f | What makes the lyrics in Bohemian Rhapsody so memorable? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"fvf0nfv",
"fvezz7c"
] | [
"The song has clear sections that sound distinct from each other, and each of those sections is fairly short with repetitions, rhymes, and/or clear imagery. So you've got the visual in your head, you're hearing the specific melody for that section of the song, and it's easier to memorize that part without consciously deciding to do so. Contrast to other songs that have a certain melody for the verse, a certain melody for the chorus, and then those 2 melodies alternate with each other to form the song. You might get mixed up as to which lyrics go with which verse because the melodies for those words are the same, whereas with Bohemian Rhapsody, once the first section is completed, that melody is not repeated again in the rest of the song. It's also why the bridge of a lot of songs tends to be the most memorable part, because it stands out from the rest of the song. In BR all the parts stand out from each other."
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7x6vze | Why doesn’t Coke stain? | I have never had Coca-Cola stain. As a matter of fact, I used to actually pour a 20oz bottle into my work coveralls when I was in the Army to help remove grease stains. It was a tip I learned from someone else. So why did I never get Coke stains? And more importantly, why did Coke plus name brand detergent get all the grease out of my uniforms? | Chemistry | explainlikeimfive | [
"du63t5b"
] | [
"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can tell you for a fact that coke stains. There are still stains on the carpet in my parents house that can prove that."
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19
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j958n8 | what is the square cube law and what does that have to do with us not being able to grow indefinitely? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"g8hkfp6",
"g8hfkmj"
] | [
"For a cube with a side length of *a*, each square face will have an area *a x a* (or *a* squared) and the volume of the cube will be *a x a x a* (or *a* cubed.) So if you double the height of a creature, it's volume becomes 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 times larger! But the cross sectional area of any given bone will just be 2 x 2 = 4 times thicker. With 4x the bone width trying to support 8x the weight, it's much more likely to break, and because it is multiplactive it gets progressively worse the bigger things get!"
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13
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8slzpb | How come a large, inflatable ball which weighs no more than three pounds can knock an adult man flying five feet through the air? | We've all seen the videos. An inflatable ball, usually about two feet across, and full of nothing but air, hits a person at speed. Logically, the ball should bounce off harmlessly. Instead, the person gets fucking DECKED like he just ate a shotgun slug. Why? How? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"e10gvkn",
"e10gsjd",
"e10h3r6"
] | [
"Take a uninflated balloon and roll it up into a small wad and throw it. Simple, right? Goes a decent distance. Blow the balloon up and try to throw it with the exact same amount of force you did with the uninflated balloon. It'll sort of float a bit then land at your feet. To get the balloon moving at the same speed it was going when it was wadded up is going to require a lot more force due to the air resistance. So that beach ball has got a lot more force and momentum behind it than it would have if it weren't inflated."
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5zr44z | What is inflation and why is it necessary for modern economies? | I've never really understood the idea of inflation, so thought I'd ask! | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"df0blof"
] | [
"We can produce wealth with time or resources. Let say you buy 1000$ and 2000$ of workers to build a mining equipment that you can sell for 5000$. You can created more wealth. What if the person that bought that equipment started to mine material and start to sell it. He also just created wealth. So now if you don't print more money your amount of money will stay the same, while the wealth of your country will increase. Money will increase in value over time because more wealth than money will be created. If money gain in value, product will decrease in price because their value didn't increase (that deflation). It will become a good investment to just sit on your money for a long time because that money will gain value by itself. If people prefer to keep their money and wait, there is less people ready to invest in company. Without investment company can't grow as fast and less wealth are created. Less wealth created equal less job created and you start to have economic problems. Now a way to combat that is to print more money. If you print more money the value of that money won't increase over time. So now you print money faster than wealth is created. There is more money to exchange the same value of product so now the value of money is decreasing and the price in going up. If that process is high, then all the money you put aside is also decreasing in value. Basic product become costlier everyday and what you put aside become valueless a lot of people now have a hard time to pay their rent and for their food. You are in a recession. So if you don't print enough or too much money you destroy your economy. The goal would be to print just enough money to compensate the wealth gain. But that's impossible to estimate with such precision the wealth gain. So you either allow a little bit of deflation or a little bit of inflation. A little bit of deflation and people will still have a little incentive to keep their money instead of investing it. But a little of inflation and people will want to invest their money, which will help the growth of the economy. So a little bit of inflation is better and that's what we try to achieve."
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k5eag5 | Why are video games and DVDs region-locked? I get changing things that better appeal to different countries, but why region lock them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"gee7g5u",
"gee78tf"
] | [
"DVDs are priced to be profitable. This is a different number for everywhere DVDs are sold. So if I, a young and enterprising grifter, decided to buy thousands of DVDs where they are cheaper and having them sent over to me where I can sell them for cheaper than the price everyone else can offer, I'll make a killing. The companies that produce the movies, and in turn produce the DVDs, don't want people like me (the hypothetical scalper) to cut in on their profits. They are region locked so that I can't do this. If I may quote a line from a really terrible Tom Cruise movie: what is the answer to 99 out of 100 questions? MONEY."
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atik8b | What is the difference between Firmware and Software? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"eh17w5o"
] | [
"Firmware is a type of software. It's generally written to a memory chip on a piece of hardware, and controls how the hardware works. It's different from other types of software in that it usually isn't changed, it's integrated into that piece of hardware. Many devices have the capability to update the firmware, but it is done a lot less often than updates to other types of software, and if something goes wrong during a firmware update, it can render the device unusable."
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h0hcfg | what is a singularity? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"ftm2bjm"
] | [
"a point where your normal models become useless. usually it refers to black holes or neutron stars but it can also refer to the technological point where we get computers that are smarter than us and thus their power increases at rates we cant even imagine right now. and there's tons of other uses I'm sure. so you might need to narrow it down to a field"
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ds91m0 | -How do you "lose stocks"? | I've been talking to people about investing and a lot of people say they "lost everything" during the recession. The way I understood investing, you gain a share of a certain company or market, and if the market crashed, and you kept your shares and just had to wait for the market to go back up to at least get the money back that you invested. How is it possible to lose all of your money without selling your shares in a panic while the market is down? EDIT: Thanks everyone! You all helped tremendously! | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"f6o1hwj",
"f6nzmy4",
"f6nzgx5",
"f6nzox4"
] | [
"There are two main ways to lose everything you invested: -The value of a share can go to $0 if a company goes out of business. -You're investing in options and derivatives that have 'leverage' built in. Leverage multiplies the potential gains, but it also multiplies the potential losses."
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6pk9cf | Why do American cargo trucks have the engine sticking out in front of the driver whereas European trucks have the engine below the driver? | Engineering | explainlikeimfive | [
"dkpz7ao",
"dkpyn8k",
"dkpyqag"
] | [
"US laws have maximum trailer restrictions, EU has total length restrictions so it makes sense to have as short of a prime mover as possible so you can have a longer trailer."
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bjza3d | how does new topsoil form on brand new land that's barren? | (e.g. barren island made by an undersea volcano later transforms into a fertile soil that springs forth a lush vegetation) | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"emci78t",
"emdf9rv"
] | [
"The rock can get broken down by erosion (wind/rain/waves). Plant seeds/spores then get deposited by wind or animals (usually birds). If they land in the right place they will start to grow. The roots further break down the rock. When the plant dies, it will become part of the new soil. If there are animal colonies, their poop also gets broken down into the soil. There has been considerable study of plant colonization of Surtsey in Iceland which was formed in the 1960s."
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jmvgms | Why is there a fluctuation in the capacity of my bladder required to trigger the urge to pee? IE, why will I sometimes have to urgently pee and it's a relatively small pee when other times there is a considerably larger volume with a smaller urge? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
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"Your bladder is made of a very stretchy type of tissue called transitional epithelium. It can change size rapidly to hold and release different amounts of urine. The bladder has stretch receptors in it, and when they detect the bladder getting full they send signals to your brain that it is time to pee. However, there are many signals that can interrupt and interact with this stretch signal that your bladder sends to the brain. For example, when you are nervous you can experience an urge to urinate that has nothing to do with your bladder’s size. When you are feeling threatened, you can not realize you have to pee until your bladder is far fuller than it would normally be when you felt the urge to urinate. The nervous system is complicated, and while some of your urge to urinate is governed by physical stimuli, some of it is governed by your emotions and other sensations your body is experiencing."
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c99i53 | - How do hydrogen cars work? Are they better than electric cars? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"esunivg",
"esuu4h9",
"esuxwl6"
] | [
"Hydrogen fuel cells use the difference in charge between hydrogen and oxygen ions which provides the electric power to drive an engine. URL_0 Better is a rather subjective term and it depends upon what you are measuring and what weight you give. The output of a hydrogen fuel cell is non polluting, but the generation of the initial power might not be."
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d9y58q | Are the minutes between snoozing the alarm and getting out of bed more restful than regular sleep? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"f1m3str",
"f1m1507",
"f1m2h1s"
] | [
"Well actually, I think it’s the opposite. When you go to sleep you enter the sleep cycle and you need to finish all stages to wake up rested. When your alarm goes off, and you hit snooze and go back to sleep, you actually start that cycle all over again and you certainly can’t finish it in 10-ish minutes. So, when you wake up you’ll feel more tired than just waking up when your alarm goes off. I’m not 100% sure this is correct but that’s what the internet told me when I was researching the same subject :)"
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9mz9cn | If Opioids were always prescribed by doctors, what caused an epidemic in the past few years? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"e7iekfe",
"e7ifd8s",
"e7if008",
"e7idnk5",
"e7ig4ay",
"e7ig7sl"
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"It’s very easy to get hooked on opioids but the drug companies said they were not that addictive. Doctors trusting the pharmaceutical companies prescribed them for pain management. People got hooked and once you’re an addict it’s hard to stop. Prescription drugs than become a black market commodity and flow into the country as well as some people selling their own stuff. Then people realize heroin and fentanyl are cheaper and switch to that. Overdoses are hard to prevent as people chase a high that their body becomes used to having and they dabble in new and unknown drugs. Overall it’s a shit show. Doesn’t help our lack of universal healthcare means a lot of the people hit the hardest don’t have access to long term drug addiction treatment plans so even if they want help they can’t get it. Mix in lots of economic hardships as your jobs move away and your town dies around you and it’s easy to see why some people turn to drugs rather than face the bleak reality they have every day."
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d8skhy | what is air pressure? | 4.5 year old asked me how the weather 'casters know what the weather will do. We looked at weather maps and got into bands of high and low pressure, but that's where I ground to a halt. Do different temperatures cause the molecules to be more densely or loosely packed?? If so, packed in what? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"f1cednx",
"f1cf0ti"
] | [
"> packed in what? Themselves! Know how when you dive under water the pressure on your eardrums the further down you go is because of water pressure. Way down at the deep end you have the weight of all of the water that is above you trying to push down and compact the water that is around you. Think of our atmosphere like a giant air swimming pool. Air doesn't weigh a lot, but if you have enough of it, it can add up. Thankfully we've evolved to breathe and be fine at the bottom of our \"atmoshphere swimming pool\"... and why as we go higher (climb a mountain, fly a plane), we find it harder to breathe - our lungs expect the air pressure to be ground level, but up way high its a lot less. To continue my lame swimming pool example. So lets say you have a pool heater that is shooting hot water into your pool at one end. Hot water and air tend to rise vs. cold water/air. The warm water rises, drawing cooler water from the other end of the pool at the bottom. Meanwhile the warm water spreads across the top of the pool and now you have a nice little circulation current around your pool. The streams of high and low pressure are essentially the same thing but working in our atmosphere swimming pool. The things that cause heating and cooling of the air are the sun, either reflecting off snow, or being absorbed by ocean, change in season vs. the hemisphere you're in (which in turn changes amount of sunlight), any radiant energies absorbed by landmasses etc."
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dobfmr | How does the fact that qubits can be both 0 and 1 at the same time allows for faster computations? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"f5lwofs",
"f5lrvc9",
"f5lr9va"
] | [
"Quantum computer can evaluate combination of inputs. Let's say you have two people that say either yes (1) or no (0), and you have to decide whether they agree with each other. On classical computer, you ask the first one, then you ask the second one, then you compare the answers. You needed to ask **two times.** On a quantum computer, you can ask both of them at once. Or, better said, you can ask a \"combination of them\". You ask *first one + second one.* The answer will be precisely the thing you want: * 0 + 0 = **0** (mod 2) * 1 + 0 = **1** (mod 2) * 0 + 1 = **1** (mod 2) * 1 + 1 = **0** (mod 2) So, if the *combination of the people* answers you **0**, it means they agree with each other. If the combination answers you **1**, it means that they disagree. So that means asking **one time** was sufficient. Keep in mind that you don't have any information about their answers: 1. If they agree, you don't get to know what they agreed on. 2. If they don't agree, you don't get to know who of them said yes/no. However, this information is useless for your goal, all you need is some kind of aggregated information about all people."
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817u9t | Why is it that when we work out it's easier to do the exercises with bad form and get injured? Shouldn't it be more difficult to move in a way that's bad for your body? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dv144ak",
"dv14vq8"
] | [
"Our body isn't evolved to do exercise the way we do today. What use does a caveman have for lifting a rock up and down repeatedly in two sets of 15 reps each? The problem is that modern life doesn't really lend itself to exercising the way our prehistoric ancestors would have (i.e. spend six hours persistence hunting an animal in the heat). Instead, we try to condense a full day's worth of exercise into 30-60 minutes, dramatically increasing the intensity of the workout beyond what our ancestors would've been used to. This increased intensity, lifting heavier and heavier weights, is what risks damage."
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juc30v | Why are most laser pointers red? | I know that red colors have the lowest wave lengths in the visible spectrum. How does that relate (or not) to the predominantly used red laser pointers? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"gcb1oi7",
"gcb1fsf"
] | [
"Red solid state lasers using a red laser diode are super cheap to make and have very low complexity. Green lasers involve an IR laser shot through a crystal. The IR laser needs to have much greater power than the final green output and for safety you need to add an IR filter to prevent IR leakage. Blue lasers solid state lasers from blue laser diodes are newer and still not as cheap to manufacture as red. To answer your question directly, it comes down to cost."
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6zbto7 | If Saudi Arabia was a huge influence for 9/11, and most of the people involved in the plane hijacking were Saudi, why did we go after Iraq? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"dmu4829"
] | [
"Paul Wolfowitz and a lot of the other guys behind the Project for the New American Century had identified Iraq as a target for military intervention from day one of the Bush administration. As soon as those guys were in power, they were proposing invading Iraq. In order to understand why Iraq, you sort of need to understand The Project for the New American Century. America is a super-power, we all take that for granted, but twas not always thus. Our status as a powerful nation came from a combination of factors, but one big one is that we are RICH. That wealth, that prosperity, what people mean when they talk about America as being wealthy and prosperous stems from the post-war era. In the 1950s and '60s, America was the only industrial nation in the world. Well, there's probably a better way to say that: we were the only nation who emerged from WWII with 100% of our industrial capacity intact. Virtually every single other production center *in the world* had been bombed. And that took decades to recover from. So for a little while, America was the only game in town. That was nice. We were able to sell our goods everywhere in the world and that was the era when you could have an entire family and a nice house and two cars and only one member of the household was working. That's because that family member was working for a company selling its goods everywhere with almost no competition. Since the 1970s that hasn't been the case, and American prosperity has suffered. But really, the fact that it was ever so ridiculous should be remarkable, not the fact that it's less ridiculous now. A bunch of guys in the NeoConservative moment in the late 1990s got together and said \"The 20th century was great for America,\" choosing to omit the Great Depression for obvious reasons, \"How do we go about *ensuring* that the 21st Century is just as good?\" They decided the best way to ensure American prosperity was to go back to that Only Game In Town era, and turn the rest of the world into a market for US goods. Return things to the way it was in the 1950s. They formed a think tank and called it The Project For The New American Century. Their stated goal was to use American money, diplomatic power, and *military power* to turn the rest of the world into a market for American goods. This isn't a conspiracy theory, these guys didn't do anything in secret. They had a website! I went to it back in the day! They were open and upfront about all this. Bush got elected based on a few factors, but one of them was his alliance with the NeoConservative movement. He wasn't really a NeoCon, but he admired those guys. The Vulcans, they called themselves, because they liked to believe they were acting out of pure smarts and logic, with no annoying compassion or humanity in evidence. So once he's in power, he gives a lot of the guys behind the Project For The New American Century jobs in his cabinet. They immediately start looking around for ways to advance their agenda. Which...why wouldn't they? That's why Bush appointed them. Iraq--and here we get to the real answer to your question--was chosen as a target for \"regime change.\" Iraq, to the Vulcans, was perfect. On paper, it's the ideal target for these guys' plans. The guy in charge was a brutal, horrific thug. Let's just start there. If you think \"Well, I get he was a bad guy, but...,\" you maybe don't get it. It was way worse than you imagine. So it was hard for the Vulcans to imagine a world where getting rid of Saddam Hussein wasn't an axiomatic good. Iraq is a prosperous nation. Everyone seemed to think the invasion was \"about oil\" in the most naive, primitive way, but oil certainly played a factor! The oil meant the country could pay for its own reconstruction, which is huge. Iraqi's are well-educated. This isn't Afghanistan or North Korea. Iraqi's have infrastructure and universities! There are a lot of Iraqis! Again, unlike Afghanistan and North Korea, if you can get the population of Iraq out from under its dictator and with some money to spend, holy shit would that be a great **market** for someone to get into. And if those people owed you their freedom, all the better. Iraq was not a hotbed of religious nutjobbery. Unlike...Iran, in which the majority of the population really truly does think the best government is one run by the church, it wasn't *clear* that if you got rid of Saddam Hussein you'd end up with a theocratic oligarchy. In practice the reason it was secular was that the Boss Thug didn't want competition. So to the Vulcans, holy shit Iraq was perfect! You topple this dictator, spend some Iraqi oil money fixing the place up, and you're left with a rich, educated populace ready to purchase American goods. Unfortunately, the thing about these kinds of dictatorships is that it's impossible to know what will happen after you remove the guy in charge. He might be Hitler, in which case you take him out and the country thrives, or he might be Slobodan Milošević and the only reason the country was held together in the first place was because that dude used terror and brutality to do it. Certainly there were smart people arguing the latter was the case, but there was no way to prove it one way or the other. 9/11 gave the President carte blanche to invade any Middle-eastern country that could be tied to terrorism, however implausibly and at that point folks who'd been paying attention knew we'd go after Iraq, which we did."
] | [
23
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
73w7zp | why does our nose get stuffy when we lay down for the night but clear up when we are out and about? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dntmyc0",
"dntprbg"
] | [
"I believe it's primarily gravity. When you're standing up mucus can slide easily down your throat but when you lie down it can not. You also swallow less in your sleep and that compounds the problem."
] | [
4
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
6j333w | Why is -40 the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit? | Mathematics | explainlikeimfive | [
"djb3h14",
"djb4a9y",
"djb3fzm"
] | [
"Both scales are linear measurements of the same phenomenon with a different intercept and slope. So they have to intersect *somewhere*. It just so happens that this intersection occurs at -40 degrees Celsius. In contrast, Kelvin and Celsius (or Rankine and Fahrenheit) don't intersect because they have the same slope - 1 degree indicates the same increase in temperature."
] | [
18
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
bhmz59 | Are humans in first world countries still evolving through natural selection? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"elu1xg9"
] | [
"Yes, but evolution may not look like what you think it looks like, particularly if you're using the term \"natural selection\" - a term which even Darwin wanted to discourage as it promoted a misunderstanding of evolution. People mutate. The vast, *vast* majority of these mutations are very bad and are called \"birth defects,\" or more-or-less neutral and go unnoticed. Effectively none are radically good. Over time, these mutations cause diversification of the gene pool. \"Cross-breeding\" (mating with people who are very genetically distinct from you) also causes diversification of the gene pool; this is more likely to happen in first world countries with relatively high rates of immigration, compared to poorer countries where there is little immigration. This is evolution. It is a general change in the gene pool and a diversification of the genetic makeup of a population in a certain area. Another part of evolution is survival & reproduction rates. There is *always* a relationship between genetic makeup and death rate / reproduction rate. It may be very small, and vastly outweighed by cultural factors like wealth rather than genetic ones, but it still exists. That's kind of par for the course though - most of the time, genetic variation doesn't impact death rates *that* much. It's when there's a sudden change in environment that you notice it much more sharply. If there is a new virus which kills 10% of the children it infects, and 20% of the population has a gene which protects against it, that gene is going to wind up existing in much more of the population over time. Even outside of humans, this is how \"natural selection\" works a lot of the time - genetic diversity increases, but it doesn't matter and may not be noticed until a new pressure comes about which makes that diversity matter more, and then the diversity decreases slightly as an \"adaption\" to the environment."
] | [
16
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
iwkxa7 | Why are number two pencils the standard for school and tests as opposed to number one pencils or pen? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"g60s0nl"
] | [
"Because the device that scans the test to mark the answers correct or incorrect requires a dark enough mark to be able to see. In pencils, the higher number means lighter writing. So actually, a number 1 pencil should work just fine, but a number 3 or 4 or 5 would not be able to be picked up by the scanner. So they standardized on number 2 to make it easy for students to know what pencils to use."
] | [
7
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
k89jpf | If the USA gets universal healthcare, what happens to health insurance companies and their employees? | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"gewuipq"
] | [
"It's somewhat complicated, but you still need a lot of people to process all this stuff. Right now when you make a claim to your insurance, your provider (hospital, doctor, specialist, PT, psych, etc.) sends over info to the healthcare company, they figure out if they should pay for it or not, then they pay whatever they think they owe to the provider, and you pay the rest. If we switch to universal, the healthcare providers still have to get paid. So when you get a service provided to you (check up, surgery, anesthesia, etc.), the provider would then have to send that claim to 'the government' to get paid for it, and not every service would be completely covered (elective surgeries might not be covered at all or might have supplemental insurance available to cover some of it, and some procedures may have elective parts of them such as getting general anesthesia instead of local, or possibly something like going to a nicer hospital or whatever, where the government wouldn't cover 100% of your stay). In order to manage all that stuff, you still need a lot of people to process the claims, and you need to transition a lot of IT stuff (or the government contracts outside companies to keep handling that kind of stuff). So some healthcare companies may shut down, others may transition to being a government-contracted service provider, or act as a middleman to provide other services (like doing data analytics or reporting for the overall healthcare system, providing claims management stuff, etc.). In the end, you do end up laying off a lot of people, but the overall effect could be that you lower the average cost of healthcare since you no longer have middleman health insurance companies adding to your costs (both by adding cost to the provider, and by taking insurance premiums and using part of those premiums to pay for advertising and other stuff that a universal healthcare system wouldn't need, and taking part of those premiums as profit). I don't want to go into the political side of things too much, just wanted to give an idea of how some things can be affected."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
a1f1ro | How does flossing make your gums healthier/not bleed? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"eap91tz",
"eapd6bq",
"eap9dw6",
"eap91up"
] | [
"Flossing makes them healthier because you remove food that sits on them essentially removing the exposure to foreign bacteria deposits. Over time they stop bleeding because just like most parts on your body, the tissue thickens due to adaptation."
] | [
15
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.ada.org/en/press-room/news-releases/2016-archive/august/statement-from-the-american-dental-association-about-interdental-cleaners"
]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
5xgww9 | Why devil's advocate is a negative characteristic? | I am a Software Developer and after one meeting we had where we discussed some potential solutions to a technical problem I was called a devil's advocate. As not being English I had to Google to to understand what it means and from what I saw it has mostly negative description. Is it undesirable to discuss alternative solutions or try to critically address current assumptions instead of just agreeing with the very first solution purposed? Or do people just take things personally and don't like when counterarguments are presented? Trying to learn to improve myself. | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"dehykon",
"dei4l1n",
"dehyg95",
"deia5do"
] | [
"It sounds like, for your situation, people just take things personally. Or they are saying you're arguing for the sake of arguing and you're not adding anything constructive to the situation. From my experience, \"Devil's advocate\" is usually something that a person calls their *own* argument, specifically when they don't truly believe in their argument but they think it's worth bringing up anyway."
] | [
12
] | [
[],
[
"http://thehill.com/homenews/media/320680-video-bill-maher-condoned-sex-between-35-year-old-woman-12-year-old-boy"
],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
5y6pr2 | How did they take the lead bullets out of hunted game and how do we make sure we've got all of them? | Nowadays i can sort of some fancy tech. But if say I were to hunt some deer with a blunderbuss in the mid 1800s, how would I make sure all that shrapnel isn't still somewhere in my venison? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"denlwgl",
"denm1vc",
"denn8nq"
] | [
"Usually if you are eating birds or animals killed by a shotgun you just have to spit out the shot whilst eating."
] | [
13
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
62gh6y | What happens if the president won the election due to foreign intervention? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | [
"dfmdx2l",
"dfmf21o"
] | [
"Russia parties down and said president gets closer to his claimed level of wealth. Meanwhile the other two branches of our government being controlled by republicans means everyone gets away scott free."
] | [
7
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
8j241l | Why is it possible to see something in the dark with your peripheral vision but not when staring directly at it? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dywd9g8",
"dywdd74"
] | [
"When you look directly at something, the light falls on your fovea, where the majority and highest density of cones are. Cones are the light sensing cells that recognize colour, and they don't function well in low light. What does function well are your rods, which exist at higher densities everywhere else in your vision. Rods are the light sensing cells that are good at noticing movement. They don't see in colour and they also work much better in low light. Light from things in your peripheral vision fall on your rods which is why you see them better."
] | [
7
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
693god | How does Duck Duck Go make money? | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"dh3fu7q",
"dh3g9r1"
] | [
"They do show you ads, just not tracking-targeted ones (and they give you the ability to opt out). Apparently they're also in some affiliate programmes, so they get a cut of revenue when people buy things they found via DDG - even though they don't track you, your browser provides a \"referrer\" field to the destination page so it knows how you got there. They publish a [broad description]( URL_0 ) of how they make money, though it took a little digging to find it."
] | [
12
] | [
[
"https://duck.co/help/company/advertising-and-affiliates"
],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
8b3lsp | Why do video game companies such as Codemasters with their F1 series have such a difficult time with licenses? | So Codemasters have an official Formula 1 series since 2010 and I've read that they can't do certain things such as full body damage (other than front & rear wing) and classic content due to licensing. Why is this an issue? Why can't F1 give Codemasters full rights to make a game they want to make with no limitations? I know this doesn't only apply to Codemasters/F1 too. | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"dx3psdx"
] | [
"I believe the limitation is only due to FIA wanting to maintain a certain level of, I dunno, public image? Safety is a major concern for FIA, both for the sake of saving pilots and not traumatising viewers (guess which more). There're no technical reasons for such limitations, just reputational. Think about it like this: GRR Martin comes to you and says, 'Man, I want to include you personally in my new chapter of GoT, but I need an official permission'. You think that prolly the last thing you wanna see is getting yourself killed on TV, so you say 'Okay, sure, let's sign a contract where you can add me to your book as long as you don't kill or maim the character'. And some time later viewers are all 'Why is this dude still alive? This is so uncharacteristic', but you've got legal reassurance it won't happen."
] | [
9
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7lanhs | Why are physical businesses allowed to deny service to customers for any reason, but online services like Twitter or Facebook receive backlash for banning people with extreme views? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"drkrzxp",
"drkt5lh",
"drkrh44",
"drkrg4y",
"drks42k",
"drkuz3j",
"drkwzhb"
] | [
"Being legally allowed to do something does not mean that one is immune to criticism for that choice to do so. That's what freedom is all about - the ability to (within legality) do and say what you want - but also the responsibility of the consequences of those actions regardless of whether you think you deserve them or not."
] | [
496
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
gil39y | What is the exact meaning of pH, acidity and alkalinity and how is it apply for things like the soil or shampoo | Thank you in advance, I've always been neglected in chemistry | Chemistry | explainlikeimfive | [
"fqf7npw",
"fqf7o6e"
] | [
"This is an inverse log scale of the concentration of positive hydrogen ions in a solution. Water is basically made up of H2O, but some of it is in the form of H+ and OH-. pH of 1 is 0.1 Molar hydrogen ions (H+) concentration (or amount) in the solution. pH of 7 is 0.0000001 Molar hydrogen ions in the solution....a lot less. The more hydrogen ions, the more acidic it is. Orange juice is pH 3. Which is 100 times less hydrogen ions than pH 1, but 10,000 times more hydrogen ions than pH 7 water."
] | [
6
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
kx7mo2 | How does selling goods and services abroad during an economic crysis helps the economy? | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"gj8tomh",
"gj8ijrj"
] | [
"A weakened currency makes your country's goods cheaper abroad. That increases demand for your goods. And if your country exports more goods, it brings more money from outside into your economy that goes to pay people who make/grow/extract those exports. Those people then spend money locally... the factory worker who makes exported cars goes to eat at restaurants and pays his plumber to fix his sink. The farmer has money to buy a new tractor. The mining company manager buys furniture and gets a haircut. Additionally, the demand for your goods causes the exchange rate for your currency to strengthen."
] | [
3
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
eorck8 | What is the "repo market?" What is the current controversy surrounding the repo market? | Referenced here [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"fef5l60"
] | [
"More like ELI15 but its the best I could do. Imagine a strip mall full of pawn shops. These pawn shops are operated by other banks. When a bank needs cash they can go to this strip mall, find the pawnbroker that is offering the best deal and pawn their stuff for cash. And just like a pawn broker they have the option to buy it back in the future for an extra fee. This last year the pawnbrokers stopped trusting the banks, so they increased the extra fee they charge. The extra fee makes it more expensive for the bank to operate so it has to increase its fees on the loans it makes to its customers. Uncle Sam doesn't like this because they want to keep the bank's loans cheap. So, Uncle Sam opens up their own pawn shop and starts accepting stuff from banks for cash. Uncle Sam sets the fee low because they want the banks loans to stay cheap. Uncle Sam though is lending a lot of money out though, money that it would normal be putting aside to pay for the loans Uncle Sam takes out. Now Uncle Sam has a bit of savings, so everything is ok for right now because the banks should be paying Uncle Sam back eventually. However, if the banks don't buy back their stuff then Uncle Sam may not have enough money to pay his loans. It will still be ok though, because Uncle Sam can always print more money."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
e1cq9b | What caused the Concorde to go under and is it likely to ever come back? | Engineering | explainlikeimfive | [
"f8o911o",
"f8o91jw",
"f8ocf8v",
"f8oapte",
"f8o9h1k",
"f8o9rz1"
] | [
"Noise and flight paths. Breaking the sound barrier is loud, as such the flight path had to be well outside a residential area before it could get up to speed. Basically it all just became too difficult and thus not economical."
] | [
13
] | [
[],
[],
[
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_4590"
],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
5uhdsn | Is my cold aching goosebumped body wanting to get cooler to fight the bug or make me seek warmth to raise my temperature? | A 'bug' has been going around at work and now I have it. It's not serious but I have full body aches and even worse, cannot feel warm very easily. My question is 'Is my body trying to lower my temperature or is it trying to make me lay on my electric blanket and under a duvet to raise it?' Either way trying to warm up feels best. What's happening? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"ddtzo3o"
] | [
"Generally you get a fever when you are ill. this results in your body temperature being much warmer than the air temperature. you would then feel like the air around you is much colder than it actually is, thus you feel cold all the time, except when you are in an area that is as warm as your body. this is also the case in heated pools. they're 80 degrees, but they still feel like ice baths sometimes hahahah. generally the body fights illness with fever because the virus dies around 100 degrees, and your cells can hold out at a little hotter than the virus can. this is also the danger of prolonged or excessive fevers. your cells start to die too eventually. I would consult a doctor about the best course of action to treat your illness though."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
99hxy8 | Why does the stomach expand when the lungs are in the chest? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"e4nssnt"
] | [
"When you breath, the diaphragm moves up and down as well. The \"stomach\" expanding is, more than likely, just the diaphragm."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
9jfqc6 | What's the difference between using (olive) oil or butter when baking (muffins or cookies)? | Was baking muffins and the recipe said " add 175 ml olive oil", which made me think what difference does it make compared to using butter? Does it change texture or something else or can you use either? | Chemistry | explainlikeimfive | [
"e6r5df5",
"e6r1qxj"
] | [
"Compare olive oil, or another oil, with butter or margarine. Oil: * has no water in it; it's 100% fat * has different kinds of fats compared to butter and dairy margarines - the saturated fats in milk taste \"richer\" * has no proteins, meaning it won't brown * has a different flavour (sometimes a neutral flavour, sometimes not) * is liquid at room temperature (for most oils). So you can't simply substitute one for the other in a recipe. At the minimum you'll change the texture of the muffin due to the different water content. However if you have a basic conversion guide you could swap one for the other and it won't be massively different."
] | [
4
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7yo43e | Why do ducks and some other birds fly in patterns? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"duhxfrl",
"duhxgbr"
] | [
"V-shape formations are more aerodynamically efficient for the group. The air directly behind a wing is pushed downwards (called downwash), and the air behind and to the side of a wing is pushed upwards (upwash). This is due to the vorticies formed on the wing tips. Flying in the downwash is harder, and flying in the upwash is easier, which is why ducks, geese, and aircraft flying in formation position themselves behind and to the side of the leading bird. [This diagram]( URL_0 ) shows this nicely."
] | [
24
] | [
[
"https://imgur.com/a/D8SQc"
],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
6rpga3 | How award shows have footage of a live event that hasn't happened yet | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dl6siba"
] | [
"They rehearse for live shows before they do them. Most of those clips are from those rehearsals, or previous events that the artists performed in."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
7oedhc | Why do body fluids and other substances glow brightly under a blacklight? | Chemistry | explainlikeimfive | [
"ds8vg1t",
"ds9kaju",
"ds9mos6",
"ds9vxpe",
"ds9j0a8",
"ds9vy6w"
] | [
"ELI5: They have proteins in them that fluoresce with UV light. For more detailed explanation URL_0"
] | [
2327
] | [
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1tn7d7/why_does_semen_show_up_under_a_black_light/"
],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PBQV4HG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mOnuAbY9Z0YPZ"
],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
jwuxzm | what happens when a pair of shears hits that creamy smooth glide-cut and what causes this? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"gcsnvg4"
] | [
"The first thing that you need to understand is that when you use scissors in the open close motion, you're not really \"cutting\". You're tearing the paper. You're just doing it really really.... really precisely. Put a piece of paper on the edge of a desk. Hold it down with one hand and pull the part hanging off in a downward motion and you can see it \"cut\" along the edge of the desk. And this is the same process that scissors use. Now the thing about the scissors themselves is that they're just two knives bolted or riveted together. So, when you find that sweet spot where the scissors glide through, this is where the blade of the scissors is actually cutting. The paper is no longer being ripped between two edges, it's hitting one of the blades and slicing to either side of that blade. Just like if you took a sharp chefs knife and sliced through it."
] | [
113
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
9bys3g | Why is it possible to 'feel' someone's presence without seeing seeing them or knowing they're there? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"e56rite"
] | [
"You usually aren't consciously aware of how your ears sense the space you are in. Someone entering a space will change the acoustic characteristics and alter the echo pattern of any noise you are making. Sometimes they will also subtly change the brightness over a large area, by occluding a bright surface such as a white wall. There are a lot of cues we tune out almost automatically, especially when we are focusing on other things."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
70rljl | Why is it "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" instead of just "life, liberty, and happiness"? What makes "the pursuit of" so important that it needs to be included? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | [
"dn5emd3",
"dn5eh4h",
"dn5eds7",
"dn5fbty"
] | [
"> What is the meaning of \"the pursuit of\" anyways? To \"pursue\" means \"To aim for, go after (a specified objective, situation etc.)\". So \"the pursuit of happiness\" means \"striving to reach a state of happiness\". > What difference does it make if it was left out, if any? To say that you are entitled of \"life, liberty, and happiness\" would imply that it's the government's job to make you happy. But entitling you to \"the pursuit of happiness\" means that the government's job is to stand aside and not interfere in your right to try to achieve happiness in your life, which makes a lot more sense."
] | [
27
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
5tx917 | How does absorbed light turn into heat? This makes no sense. | Heat is the movement of atoms in an object. I understand how a photon smacking it can speed up the atoms, but that doesn't answer the question of what happens to the photon. | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"ddppwsn",
"ddppu62"
] | [
"> Heat is the movement of atoms in an object. Actually, no, this is just the simplified version you were told in high school because the real definition of temperature is incredibly weird and requires a working understanding of the things that happen in the deep end of thermodynamics, which result in things like negative absolute temperatures and entropy generation. However, temperature can be pretty easily correlated to the averaged motion of atoms in an object, particularly in everyday applications, hence why we use it as a stand-in. > I understand how a photon smacking it can speed up the atoms, but that doesn't answer the question of what happens to the photon. The photon is absorbed, and its energy is added to the atom it collided with. That energy is then typically re-emitted as one or more additional low-energy photons (likely within the infrared range, although this is dependent on the precise temperature of the atom, as well as what element it is)."
] | [
9
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
g62evs | Why can the task manager stop lagging programs but we can't ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"fo6ysch"
] | [
"Because the Task Manager is very, very rude. When you click on the \"Quit\" button in an application, you are asking it nicely to clean up after itself and shut down. The application might say no - for example, it might say \"you haven't saved your file yet; do you want to do that before I quit? You might lose your data.\" But when you click on \"End Process\" in the Task Manager, you're not taking \"no\" for an answer. The application will quit, now. No cleaning house. No friendly messages. And if the application can't quit, the Task Manager will force it to quit. The Unix console equivalent makes this a little clearer. The command is \"kill\". You can kill nicely (\"kill -s quit application\") or you can kill with extreme prejudice (\"kill -9 application\"), but you're still killing it."
] | [
19
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
imn4o9 | How does a ceramic armor plate work? | I know alot of force is used to break it, but if you can break it just from dropping it how does a much harder hitting bullet stop? If i were to guess id say this.. Dropping makes a small crack that spreads on its own while a bullet makes the whole crack at once taking more force. Is this correct or is it something else? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"g419wos",
"g41cizq",
"g41ax25",
"g41d7pz"
] | [
"They are supposed to break when hit by a bullet. The hardness of a material is not the same as its brittleness; ceramic may be brittle (it doesn't flex much before shattering) but it is a very hard material (it resists deformation). By shattering and crumbling, the force of the impact is absorbed into the material of the plate itself and spread out. Unlike a steel plate, because the ceramic can't deform, the energy from the bullet is basically absorbed and redistributed around and outward from the impact point. Think of tapping an egg against the edge of a pan to break it. The shell cracks but the yolk inside doesn't get damaged. The spiderwebbing cracks from the point of impact absorbed the force of the blow. It's also worth noting that ceramic plates aren't always standalone. The fabric of the vest also contributes to the overall protection and is usually made from something like Kevlar. The IBA (Interceptor Body Armour) that used to be used by the US military is an example of this; either the vest or the ceramic plate alone doesn't meet the military-specified protective requirements, but together they do and they're designed to be used that way. The ceramic plate absorbs the *energy* of the bullet impact and also shatters the bullet into small fragments, and then the Kevlar behind it actually catches those fragments and prevents them from continuing past the cracked plate into the body."
] | [
12
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
67rwhx | Why do drugs speed up or slow down your heart rate? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dgsv3bo"
] | [
"Simple explanation: The heart has numerous receptors to which different drugs bind and cause a response. Some drugs bind to the receptors that cause slowing of heart rate which decreases the workload on the heart. Muscarinic receptors in the heart work in this manner. Drugs like epinephrine bind to the receptors which cause an increased heart rate. There are also drugs which block certain receptors and have an opposing effect. Beta-blockers, for example, block the beta receptors which are normally responsive to adrenal stimulation, which, in turn, causes slowing of the heart rate. [Cardiac receptor physiology]( URL_0 ) is as complex as the many drug classes which act on them."
] | [
3
] | [
[
"http://www.cvphysiology.com/Blood%20Pressure/BP010"
]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
a68q3t | Why nails exist? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"ebsvc5l",
"ebsxa2c"
] | [
"Like fingernails? They're vestigial claws, and still exist to protect the very sensitive skin around your fingertips and under the nails. Our evolutionary ancestors most likely used them to get through the skin of thick fruits before we invented tools to do that and rendered them mostly obsolete."
] | [
7
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
nixb2y | Why does carbon monoxide bind more easily to hemoglobin than oxygen? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"gz4j2n0"
] | [
"The answer has a lot to do with the biochemistry of the **heme-pigment molecule** (the part of hemoglobin that carries oxygen) as well as the very sophisticated conditions within the bloodstream that change how heme behaves with respect to its binding affinities for oxygen -- in other words hemoglobin switches back and forth between \"wanting oxygen\" and \"not wanting oxygen\" depending where it is in the body. & #x200B; > The tl;dr answer is that hemoglobin actually does not like oxygen very much, but conditions around it help it bind or unbind depending on the situation. Hemoglobin binds carbon monoxide over 200x more effectively than oxygen because CO stabilizes the heme in a much more \"comfortable\" state. \\--- The real details --- At the center of the heme-complex is a single molecule of iron in the ferrous state (Fe^(2+)) which is stabilized by an array of other amino acids (protein building blocks), akin to the scaffolding of a building. This scaffolding maintains stability of the heme complex in various states, such as when it is bound to gas molecules (oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin) or when it is unbound (plain hemoglobin). Also understand that the protein hemoglobin actually contains ***four*** heme complexes, so therefore one hemoglobin can carry 4 molecules of dioxygen/O2. In order to understand why CO displaces oxygen it helps to understand how oxygen binds in the first place. When blood containing unbound hemoglobin circulates to the lungs, **the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2)** in blood from the alveoli (lung air sacs) **is incredibly high** (about 100mmHg) and is the **main determinant that facilitates O2 binding** to the ferrous ion (Fe^(2+)) of heme, the latter of which becomes reduced to ferric (Fe^(3+)) when holding oxygen. Another important component is blood pH which is slightly less acidic in the lungs compared to other tissues -- the higher pH causes slight changes to the protein scaffolding of heme which stabilizes the Heme-Fe3+-O2 complex. There are other, less important factors at play (e.g. temperature, CO2, phosphate and something called 2,3-DPG which is beyond the scope of this ELi5 to go into). The point is, when hemoglobin is in the lungs, it **REALLY WANTS** **TO BIND OXYGEN** (and it actually does not want to get rid of it either). When blood containing oxyhemoglobin reaches body tissues, such as your heart, **the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2)** is much lower (closer to 40mmHg) and the pH is also relatively more acidic from metabolic activity. The partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) is also higher from tissues using oxygen. All of these factors (and a few unmentioned others) shift hemoglobin's behavior to **WANT TO RELEASE OXYGEN**. This is a good thing because the body tissues want oxygen, and hemoglobin wants to get rid of it. One other factor of hemoglobin binding that relates to your question goes back to those ***four heme complexes*** per hemoglobin molecule. As one or two heme complexes bind oxygen in the right conditions, it makes the remaining 2-3 much more avid at capturing a molecule of oxygen. The reverse is also true. As oxygen leaves 1 or 2 of the heme complexes of a hemoglobin, it makes the other 2-3 filled complexes more efficient at giving up their oxygen too. I will come back to why this matters in a moment. Now that you hopefully understand oxygen behavior, can discuss carbon monoxide (CO). **The affinity of heme pigment for CO is** ***over 200x greater than that of O2***. That is one of the most important concepts here. I have explained how oxygen dynamically shifts on and off heme pigments based on the location in the body. CO does not need any assistance from blood pH, CO2, phosphate, or 2,3-DPG in order to bind to hemoglobin the way oxygen does. When CO encounters a heme complex, it binds and stabilizes the iron in the Ferric state and remains that way as carboxyhemoglobin. This is a matter of thermodynamics. The dynamic conditions that affect oxyhemoglobin don't really affect carboxyhemoglobin. When hemoglobin reaches body tissues, O2 drops off and a CO can easily sneak on. Worse still, once one heme complex binds CO it locks the other neighboring heme complexes I talked about earlier to hold their oxygen and not release it to tissues (much like the behavior of hemoglobin in the lungs). This is very problematic because any carboxyhemoglobin essentially is useless as a carrier of oxygen if it wont deliver anything to tissues. The only way to reverse this process is time, and by providing very enriched oxygen at a hospital (to raise the pO2 of blood) so that hopefully you can drown out the CO. **In summary, hemoglobin's chemistry favors treating O2 like a used hooker but treats CO like its boo.**"
] | [
8
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
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"url"
] |
|
5myhuc | How do we create saliva in our mouths and where does it come from? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dc7c74l"
] | [
"I don't have any reference materials, so I can't to much detail, but nobody else answered yet, so I'll do a summary. Saliva is a combo of mostly water and proteins with a little bit of dissolved salts. It comes from salivary glands that are placed in several places around your mouth. Mostly under the tongue. A gland is basically a pocket. The cells that make up the pocket are specialized to make the proteins and release them through their cell walls into the pocket. They also have gates that let them bleed a little bit of water that comes from the cells who absorbed it from your blood. The salts mostly just followed the water. Hopefully a more detailed answer will come along for you later if you're still interested."
] | [
4
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
6ov6me | Why is it that medical doctors can deal with a single species(humans),veterinary doctors are(assumed?)able to deal with every other species? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"dkkfnk4",
"dkkfg1y",
"dkkgte8",
"dkkfkat",
"dkkipgb"
] | [
"Most veterinary doctors don't deal with all species, you most often go to a different doctor for your snake than your horse. Also vets tend to not go nearly as in depth as human doctors. People will do a lot for their pets but there is a lot less options for animal medicine than human medicine. Like animal organ transplants are very very rare (sometimes kidneys, basically never hearts or lungs), cancer treatment is simplified, diabetes treatment is very loose compared to human treatment, etc. You just do a lot less for each animal than you do for each human. It's still a complicated science but it's a little less down in any direction so you can handle more directions at once."
] | [
113
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
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"url"
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"url"
] |
|
gv5mgn | Why does a medical doctor often tests the knee for reflexes? What is it really testing for ? Surely not that single area for a single purpose (reflex). What am I missing? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"fsmjlem",
"fsmjtpp",
"fsmjcwz",
"fsml5ss",
"fsmm4j7",
"fsngirx"
] | [
"They check your reflexes because it part of a neurological test. A lack of reflex could indicate spinal injury, muscle degredation, and neuromuscular disease."
] | [
511
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
94pbm2 | Why is it there are seldom daughters named after mothers, but sons named after fathers (Jr.) are fairly common? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | [
"e3mqotq"
] | [
"I mean, I’m no expert here but I imagine for the same reason that women historically have taken husband’s names, sons have been more important in a family than daughters, etc... families have historically been patriarchal in much of the world. Dads and sons represented and were breadwinners of the family, while mothers and daughters took care of the dads and sons. It mattered that a son carried on the family legacy, i.e. the father’s name."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
bhg5q7 | In colorblindness, the cone cells are messed up. But what happens if your rod cells are messed up? What does that look like? What is that called? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"elsmaim",
"elsn4qj",
"elspwd6",
"elsygsa"
] | [
"If your rod cells are messed up then you don't have color blindness, you can have just \"blindness\". It doesn't look like much from all accounts."
] | [
14
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
mhscc8 | What happens biologically when someone has auditory hallucinations? | Asking from personal experiences of it. | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"gt0lwls"
] | [
"Basically, when you hear, see or otherwise sense something your brain receives a signal from your ears/eyes/whatever, analyzes it and makes a conclusion like \"Oh, it's someone saying hello\". But the brain is a very complex and convoluted system with many ways for things to go wrong. If something jams somewhere, it can mistake a piece of memory or even imaginary sound for a real one or come to a wrong conclusion even with the correct input. Many types of hallucinations exist, ranging from mild things that can occur even in a healthy brain to severe cases where a person is practically living in a fever dream unable to distinquish it from reality."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
d89je3 | why is it that light can travel for a billion years across the universe, but as soon as you flick off a light switch it disappears instantly? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"f18lv3w",
"f18kjbq",
"f18lanh",
"f18lsyl",
"f18ldih"
] | [
"The second part is your real question, you are wondering why the light disappears instead of bouncing around in the room. The answer is that it does bounce around in the room, it is just that it bounces around so fast that it is absorbed effectively instantaneously. Material absorbs light, the less light it absorbs the more reflective it is. But even the most perfect mirror absorbs some of the light that hits it. Light just travels so damn fast that even really reflective materials absorb it 'instantaneously', although if you could measure how many times it bounces back and forth you'd find it takes ever so slightly longer to go dark in a room made of mirrors than your normal off-white semigloss."
] | [
45
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
avkynj | Did T.V stations back then used to play the national anthem then cut to static? If so, why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"ehfwhu5",
"ehg46gs",
"ehfwuq8",
"ehfwaab",
"ehfwlau",
"ehg9ejo"
] | [
"In the past, TV networks didn’t have enough cone to to broadcast 24 hours. So at a certain point it would just cut off broadcasting. Different stations had different ways to signal the end of the broadcast. I’m not sure if any ending with national anthem, most started that way though. Following the ending of their end of transition message, the broadcast would end, causing the TV to cut to static."
] | [
20
] | [
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/Im9fe4a6bcg"
],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvZim2-mNk"
],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
6qxp2h | Will we ever be able to prevent natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, etc.? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dl0w64c"
] | [
"We can prevent some of the damage from the event, mostly by expanding communications so that a Tsunami Warning, for example, can be forwarded to the countries in its path. It is only this last decade which has seen Tsunami Warning systems begin operating in the entire Pacific Basin. These kinds of multi-national efforts take time. The USA and other nations have been working for decades to try to understand and predict other natural disasters like earthquakes and Volcano's, and we (the world) are better for their collective efforts. At this point the idea of regulating a volcano or deliberately releasing pressure to alleviate an explosion is still hypothetical and such a process would be a major effort for any country to attempt. Soon, Maybe!"
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
5y9fwv | If nobody emigrated anywhere for the rest of time, would people in North America become more Native American looking, people in Europe become more "European" looking, etc? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"deo8jn1",
"deo8dh0",
"deobkpv"
] | [
"Quite possibly. History has several examples of this happening. For example, Australian Aborigines look *very* different from most other people. For another example, Europeans (and their descendants) with their pale coloring look *very* different from nearly all other people (with their brown coloring)."
] | [
5
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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|
ksw6vv | So what is energy? In simplest terms please. (science definition) | So what is energy? In simplest terms please. I find what is most helpful if you explain it like I'm 5 years old, then explain it like i am 12. then explain it like i am an adult. History shows that is the fastest way for me to learn. | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"giii6li",
"giil64r",
"giixvbe"
] | [
"Energy is the capacity to do work. It may exist in potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. There are, moreover, heat and work—i.e., energy in the process of transfer from one body to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always designated according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred may become thermal energy, while work done may manifest itself in the form of mechanical energy. ( like a gasoline car engine, for example ) URL_0"
] | [
4
] | [
[
"https://www.britannica.com/science/energy"
],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
njel3h | Why do we mainly see road kill or the occasional pile of bones in the woods while hiking? Why isn’t there more dead animal carcasses just lying around everywhere? Where do animals go to die? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"gz6wwfs",
"gz6x91u",
"gz6x58j",
"gz6wtd2"
] | [
"Small ones end up in predators. Bigger ones end up in scavengers once dead. Corpse will seldom stay intact for long so you have bones here and there. Bones decay slow but alot of small rodents even gnaw bones for easy calcium. Also big scavengers and predators break up bones. Not to forget, woods are usually big and in comparison there aren't that many big animals in a forest."
] | [
8
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
9no5pv | How do computers store information? And why is there an integer limit in computing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"e7nx34x",
"e7nr47r",
"e7nsdez"
] | [
"You don't need to know binary to understand this. You do need to understand two things, though: 1. Digits. Each number requires a certain number of digits. 545 requires 3 digits. 384271 requires 6 digits. Yes, computers use a different numbering system (binary) and will therefore require different numbers of digits, but the concept is the same: each number requires a certain number of digits. Also, for a certain number of digits, there is a maximum number that can be stored. For example, the biggest 3-digit number that can be stored is 999. 1000 is right out. 1. Memory addresses. Everything a computer is working on (*everything*) is stored in its memory. The way that a computer uses its memory is by using addresses. Instructions for a computer are like \"store the number 5 into address #1832\". Then later \"what was stored at address #1832 again? I need that now\". So whenever a computer is storing something in memory, or retrieving something from memory, it has to be able to figure out what address it should be using. Alright, so once you've got those two things understood, there's an unfortunate consequence of this. In order for a computer to easily/quickly figure out which address something's stored in, the address should be *fixed*. If we're doing an accounting program and we start storing the total in address #1500, it's got to stay there! Constantly moving stuff around in memory is a nightmare because you've got to have a system to keep track of where everything is, so keep all the addresses fixed. If your addresses are fixed, then that means the *sizes* (number of digits) must also be fixed. You've got to say \"okay I think my total will require a maximum of 10 digits, so let's use address #1500 through #1509\". If you later realize 10 digits wasn't enough, you're stuck. You can't make the number bigger (what if there's another number you're storing at address #1510) and you don't want to move things around, either. So you make a good guess as to what the biggest reasonable number you're going to need will be. Your addresses are fixed. The size of your numbers are fixed. For a number of a given size, there's a maximum number that can be stored there. Ultimately, that means your program's going to have limits on what kind of numbers they can store. There are systems to get around this. They're called [bignums]( URL_0 ). They have a book-keeping system to start off a number as being small, then grow it dynamically as it needs to get bigger. The book-keeping system is required because as the number gets bigger, it may need to be move to a new (free) spot in memory, so you need to always keep track of which address in memory it's moved to. Bignums aren't used all that often (usually only in specialized applications) because all the extra book-keeping makes performance quite poor."
] | [
6
] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrary-precision_arithmetic"
],
[
"http://sticksandstones.kstrom.com/appen.html"
],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
5pzc4d | People in rural America claim that guns are necessary for their way of life. How do rural residents of countries with stricter gun laws get by? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | [
"dcv0t0c",
"dcv1e03",
"dcv1t51",
"dcv8eof",
"dcvadfr",
"dcvmgju",
"dcven68"
] | [
"So, the only place where this really is the case is Europe. Europe has no predators or other large and dangerous animals; they've all been killed off over the millennia of humans living there. By comparison, North America has wolves, bears, mountain lions, moose, bison, and elk, all of which can cause pretty extensive damage to personal property, can can easily harm or kill people. In addition, there are a large variety of pest animals (like coyotes) that aren't a direct threat, but can cause all sorts of damage if they can't be driven off with firearms. In addition, Europe is pretty heavily urbanized, such that the police really aren't that far away, ever. Take, for example, Cherry and Sheridan counties in rural Nebraska, which are out in the middle of nowhere, have essentially only ranchers living in them, and (combined) are **roughly the same size as Slovenia**. So yeah, we have local police forces (and we're not talking LAPD all-black military-grade equipment police forces, but Jim-bob and his beat-up second-hand pickup police forces) who are responsible for territories the same size as entire nations. Out there, you need to be able to protect yourself, because the police may take *hours* to get to you, and that's in *good* conditions. This same part of the country averages *feet* of snow in the winter, and it only get's worse as you go further north. Finally; even Europe allows rifles with relatively few legal hangups, and rifles are what rural gun owners really want to have access to, which shouldn't be a problem given how few people are actually killed with rifles in any given year."
] | [
146
] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/services/firearms/permits/firearms_permits"
],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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|
8996cu | Why are the Chinese tariffs a big deal? | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"dwpmqpv",
"dwptwye",
"dwq5it4"
] | [
"Its only a big deal because the US imposed tariffs recently so China is retaliating. Its absolutely, 100% expected in every way (if someone imposes tariffs on you, you almost always strike back with tariffs of your own), its just a big deal because tariffs can significantly effect certain parts of a country's economy. Ok but even more so Its a big deal because Trump is HUGE news in the media. And this is Trump news FAR more than it is anything economic. Business people and economists can deal with it all, but for the general public, the words: Trump (always brings in readers), tariffs (sound scary!), and China (oh we care about them) make a freaking great headline. There are complicated economic policies and changes happening almost every day, but they don't have the name recognition to the general public as these do."
] | [
5
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
a1d53s | Why when I’m loading something does the last 2 percent always take the longest? | For example, if I’m loading a video on Netflix the first 98% seems to load in about 3 seconds, but it takes like 10 seconds or longer sometimes to load the last 2%. Makes me feel like it’s not really 98% loaded... is it some sort of placebo effect? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"eaosht9",
"eaosbyo",
"eap2mjp"
] | [
"I can't speak for Netflix but when it comes to computer programs where you often see this sort of thing happen while installing or downloading stuff, it's because there's really two different tasks going on inside your machine. The first task your device does is \"retrieving the file\". To do that, your computer or TV or internet-capable fridge or whatever accesses the information in the form of a file and then pulls it down into its local memory or onto longer-term storage such as its solid state drive or memory module plug-in. But that's just a file. It doesn't really do anything yet until the computing part of your device fires that file off. That second part can actually be pretty big, and it can cause a whole lot of things to happen, including some or all of the following: * it decompresses the file, because the file was artificially shrunk so it would be smaller and faster to transmit * it writes the single file into a broken down set of files somewhere else in your device's storage * it turns one of the file's components into an active computer program which begins to run * it reaches into your device's operating system to add some stuff or make changes or update files * it scans results to ensure they completed properly * it loads sections of the downloaded file into active memory, such as a picture for a loading screen ...or other things. The first 98% is step 1 where your device is grabbing the big file in the first place. But the other 2% is when it reaches near the end and is doing all that unpacking and manipulating and executing stuff. Back when the internet was slower, that second stage actually DID take 2% of the overall time (more or less) because downloads were so slow. But now with ultrafast downloads, that last 2% or so takes a lot longer in comparison to the pure download time... and so it seems longer in comparison."
] | [
13
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
k7ju3x | Why is diplomatic immunity a thing? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"gerdoi1"
] | [
"We don’t want a foreign nation abusing our diplomats and in exchange we promise to not abuse their diplomats. This goes so far as to make diplomats immune from prosecution unless their country gives permission. And typically, permission is granted if the diplomat abuses this privilege."
] | [
8
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
o5tx7j | On why lumber prices are as high as they are | I don’t understand it, why are prices high? I can understand a few dollar markup due to the summer weather but 100’s of percent upcharge seems a little much. There doesn’t appear to be any less lumber around or a shortage according to my carpenter friends. Well prices stay like this? I would like to do some projects by myself but prices seem out of range | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"h2oj4ym",
"h2oivek",
"h2or6av",
"h2om0m5"
] | [
"Lumber industry was shut down temporarily, slowed by COVID--in part due to expected reduced demand in the early days and also due to COVID safety protocols, etc. And then instead of a reduction in demand, there was a surge as people wanted to buy bigger homes, wanted to remodel, wanted to build decks and swingsets, etc. So less supply, much higher demand led to a surge in prices."
] | [
15
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6e9fi5 | Why is it possible for weeds to thrive in so many different settings, but flowers like roses require constant nurturing? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"di8lmb9"
] | [
"Weeds have developed to be able to grow under diverse settings, while flowers have been cultivated to the point they can only grow in certain conditions. Plus, you have to remember the difference between a 'weed' and a 'flower' is \"Do I want that growing there?\" So while you might mean dandelions when you say weeds, there is no monolithic 'weed' plant. This means there is some plant that is not wanted in a location that will thrive in that same location."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
5sd7qs | What are Active Directory Sites and Services | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dde7epi"
] | [
"Microsoft Active Directory is a role you can install on Microsoft Windows Servers to help you create a unified rights and login infrastructure across several windows computers and applications. To explain the above a bit more in depth. You have probably a computer at home and may even be sitting in front of one as you read this. If you have a computer with windows at home you may even have it set up in such a way that it asks you for a user name and password on startup. (Many people who are the only users of their computers set it up so it skips that part and automatically logs you in). If you are a bigger organization you will have many different computers and on each one there may be different users who need to log onto the computer. As you can imagine it can be hard to keep track of all the different logins. Microsoft AD makes it so that a central computer (or several working together) have a central place for all the users and their passwords in the company. The same user logging in one computer can use the same name and password to access all computers in the company. It can also be used to login to all sorts of server applications. If the system is set up correctly a user will only need to have one username and password for everything they do in the company. This simplifies things a lot. This piece of software can be managed with a number of programs among them \"Users and computers\" which is the main one, but also the management console called \"Sites and Services\". \"Sites and services\" is not a tool anyone will need very often because you mostly use it configure different locations. Your organization may have offices in a different city with their own networks and in sites and services you configure which place has which network and how theses different sites are connected to together. It also is where you configure where the Microsoft AD servers are. Unless you are a sysadmin setting up or changing things for a branch office or similar you will never have to use this tool."
] | [
4
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
i66ttz | What causes apples to go brown when bruised? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"g0twd4z"
] | [
"Damage to the tissues and exposure to air releases an enzyme that oxidises certain compounds in the flesh, turning them into brown compounds. The chemicals affected are called polyphenols and the enzyme that causes the oxidaton is called (not surprisingly) polyphenol oxidase."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
ih2zlb | Where do deleted files go? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"g2xh6e1",
"g2xh6pi"
] | [
"Effectively nowhere. When you delete a file, it simply writes over the \"Header\" which is a piece of information that tells the computer what the file is named, where it is located, how big it is, what format it is... etc. So once you delete that header, all the data still remains in the same place it was, it just has no indexing information so the computer sees it as free space. It remains there and available if you want to try to recover it, that is until you overwrite it with new data. This is why they say if you accidentally delete a file, to not use the computer until you can recover that file because your computer might come along and write a new file over that existing data, which effectively eliminates any trace of it."
] | [
9
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
koxpu3 | Why is the sun yellow/red/orange but the hottest flame is blue. | My (19F) brother (11) has autism and wants to know why the blue flame that is shown on Bunsen burners is hotter then a yellow safety flame. My mums got involved in the debate but she doesn't know either lol. We said blues the hottest but he said the sun is yellow therefore the safety flame is the hottest. | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"ghtvk4p",
"ghtzwii",
"ghtup8x",
"ghtrvt9",
"ghtuy0e",
"ghtx6d1"
] | [
"Hot objects do glow, and they'll generally start red and move up through yellow towards white but you'll never really get something to blue because that's not how black body radiation curves work. The sun is basically white because its surface(where the light is made) is at just 5800 Kelvin which is why \"Cool White\" LEDs have a 5500-6000K color temperature. Higher temperatures mean a bluer white but still very white. The blue flame from the bunsen burner isn't because its stupid hot, its because of *what* is stupid hot. When you burn methane it will look blue because its hot enough to excite the electrons on the molecules and when they settle down they give off a blue photon. You can get a similar effect if you burn copper, you'll end up with a green flame and its very obvious in this case that its green from the copper and not green from the heat. TDLR - Two different properties can give a flame color, the blue flame is not blue hot, its blue because of what is hot"
] | [
127
] | [
[],
[
"https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/massive-blue-supergiant-challenges-theory-of-how-big-a-star-can-be"
],
[
"https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sb/Aug-2004/reflectance_wavelength.jpg"
],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/vVE0B6g9F_0"
],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
d01phf | Why do our eyes get puffy the next morning after crying the night before? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"ez5rwkx"
] | [
"When your eyes water, the tears that you see are the very same ones that keep our eyes moist and comfortable, and wash out bits of dust and debris. Those basic tear secretions are produced in the conjunctiva, the membrane that coats the entire surface of the eye. These basic secretions don’t overflow like the tears associated with emotional crying. Those tears are produced by the lachrymal gland, located in the upper, outer corner of our eyelids. Not only are they much more watery than basic tear secretions, but there are usually so many of them that they overflow and spill down your cheeks and drain through tiny ducts into your nose. So why do eyes get puffy after crying? It’s because emotional tears are more watery, they’re less salty than basic tear secretions and the tissue in your eye. So, through the process of osmosis, the water moves into the saltier ocular tissues, which makes them swell up. And then there’s all that furtive eye rubbing your “friend” does to hide his tears, which inflames his eyes even further. Still, even though it looks bad, the puffiness and irritation will eventually go away."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
fal6dp | What is the hype surrounding 3D printing food? | Don't you need food to 3D print the food? It seems like all the hype shows that we can just make all of these magical foods out of thin air. For example, when 3D printing with plastic, you still need the plastic strings(?) to make layers that form the shape. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"fiyttzx",
"fiyxd0p"
] | [
"3d printing food doesnt work by miceing up food to be printed. Instead, meat is syntetically grown to be 3d printed. Thats why its more interesting."
] | [
4
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
90jd9x | I live in the US and everytime I pass a weigh station on the highway, they are always closed. Is there a reason to this (only open at night?) or is my luck just that bad? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"e2qvgy3",
"e2qxyic",
"e2qw90g",
"e2qux3i"
] | [
"The stations are opened \"randomly\" and big rig trucks are forced off the highway and into the weight station. To be weighed and check over the log book for compliance. It doesn't happen often though because it can cause serious delays."
] | [
19
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
i24yzl | How did companies recover when they were partially or fully destroyed by the events of 9/11? | Economics | explainlikeimfive | [
"g01uh8t",
"g01uuj1"
] | [
"The story of Cantor Fitzgerald is probably the most well known, detailed here: URL_0 The short version is basically that 2001 was far enough into the establishment of the internet that multi-office companies were often able to lean on their other offices to keep the ship afloat."
] | [
6
] | [
[
"https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cantor-fitzgerald-the-city-firm-that-rose-from-the-911-ashes-6441839.html"
],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
6te7jk | Why is hot water a bit white when it comes out of a tap ? | Repost | explainlikeimfive | [
"dlk0ksq",
"dlk0kdf"
] | [
"Dissolved air bubbles. When pour a glass of hit water, it often has air trapped in it. If you pour more slowly, or let it settle, you'll see the water looks clearer. Small air bubbles appear white because they contain many reflections of the environment."
] | [
11
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
9q388l | Why have we not been able to domesticate large breed felines ( lions, tigers etc.) like we have with large breed canines ( Mastiffs, St. Bernards etc.)? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"e8696iz",
"e86akyq",
"e86bs6g"
] | [
"Large breed felines are all different species. All domesticated dogs are the same specices - with specific traits (size) bread into it over centuries or millennia. Dogs started from wolves thousands of years ago."
] | [
11
] | [
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
hch4ux | We're taught that cells are small, yet there are very large unicellular organisms like Bubble Algae that can grow up to 4cm in diameter! Are they really a single cell? How does that work? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"fvf5o9f"
] | [
"Okay. So cells are small. The normal ones that have one nucleus, but big single cellular organisms have multiple nucleuses (?) and the cell walls between the cells don't exist where they would usually be."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
e2srro | How does a government shut down the internet for an entire country? What are the steps involved in shutting down the connection? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"f8xhebc"
] | [
"Every country has only a relative handful of places where they connect their network to the rest of the world (forming the internet). For most countries, these connection points are along the coast, where fiberoptic cables (armored glass tubes) come together in large facilities for distribution throughout the country. Other countries that are landlocked have similar facilities, though I'm not sure whether they're located on the border or elsewhere. In either case, to block outside information they simply stop those signals at those facilities and prevent them from moving throughout the country (this is like what Russia is trying to do). If they want to shut down the internet within the country (such as Iran), so that people can't even communicate domestically, they turn off the internal facilities as well. What you term \"the internet\" is just information being sent through a bunch of hubs. Because it's so expensive to build, those hubs are relatively few and far between. You shut down the hubs, and nobody can send information. It's not all that different than asking \"how do you shut down the power for an entire country.\" Only there are fewer facilities providing internet than there are power stations. Edit: This is a map of the underwater fiberoptic cables mentioned in the first two sentences. URL_0"
] | [
12
] | [
[
"https://www.submarinecablemap.com/"
]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
79sio7 | Why does a glass with water in it get bubbles if it sits over night? | Chemistry | explainlikeimfive | [
"dp4gwic"
] | [
"Dissolved oxygen conglomerates on itself and attaches to imperfections in the glass sides. Remember that the act of pouring and / or filling the glass is a process of oxygenation / aeration."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
l5isuf | Why does lukewarm water feel extremely hot on our hands/feet/etc. after being out in the cold? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"gkuf8ct"
] | [
"Humans cannot \"feel\" temperature directly, they can only sense heat flow. That's why we invented ideas like \"wind chill\". When your skin has been chilled, it detects more heat flow from the water, thus the water feels \"warmer\". It works both ways, when you put your hand on a stone countertop, it \"feels\" cooler than the air in the room, though both are at the exact same temperature, because granite has higher heat capacity than air."
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
8asam3 | What causes the many different toots and horns of flatulence day by day? | Is it the position you're in? The food you eat? I noticed some days are completely different than others. | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dx1kmzd"
] | [
"I saw a children's museum exhibit several years ago that explored this. Simply put, a lot of it is about tension and geometry of the anus, as well as gas pressure behind the \"toot.\" In the exhibit, air was flowing through a balloon valve (the opening of a standard balloon that you would tie off. The kids were encouraged to stretch the valve to make a long, narrow opening. As we all have undoubtedly experienced, this makes a high-pitched noise. But you can modify the valve a bit to make all sorts of sound qualities. If you don't stretch it too tight, and if the air pressure is not too high, then it sounds more like a standard fart. I would suspect this is how a whoopie cushion is designed. This is certainly similar to how some vocal sounds are produced. So, transfer this to our bodies, and we have an idea of factors affect the sounds of flatulence -- shape of the anal canal (brought on by body type, body position like sitting or standing, and body motion like are you running or lying down), pressure of the gas, and also wetness of the area. It's not just our vocal folds that have a variety of sounds!"
] | [
3
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
5polgu | Why are the plots of soap operas some repetitive and uninspired? Has it always been that way? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | [
"dcsm6c1"
] | [
"Soap operas as a genre were developed in the mid-20th century to serve audiences that were mostly housewives whose kids were at school and husbands at work. What that demographic tends to find interesting are changing combinations of interpersonal relationships. Since there are only so many possible variations on affairs, romances, and ridiculous plots motivated by them, the results are (as you say) repetitive and formulaic. Character logic is irrelevant, just that they keep being thrown together in new combinations. It's the same way that logic is irrelevant in most action-oriented genres targeted at men - what's important is just that people fight and things explode in various ways. In a soap opera, it's just a bunch of excuses to show swooning kisses and sobbing."
] | [
4
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
6a6965 | FCC Comments. How many are needed and how do they make a difference in policy? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"dhc0eo0"
] | [
"The SOPA debate led to over 500k comments on the FCC. Less than a year later, the initial mainstream net neutrality debate that followed led to over 1M comments on the FCC. So, to answer your question - historically it seems that you need roughly 500k comments to delay policy change for another year. The question is, how many do you have to hit in order to actually cement net neutrality as policy. As that number is purely hypothetical, let's just say that as long as there's a monopoly on ISPs being privately opposed to publicly run, the answer is: infinite comments."
] | [
5
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
62an18 | What was the starting point that lead to a successful rocket launch into space? How does it not take a million incremental tests to get to the end goal? | Physics | explainlikeimfive | [
"dfl2295"
] | [
"It does take millions of incremental tests thats why it took so long before we started sending man mad objects into space. First thing you have to do is make sure your rockets can provide enough thrust to get into space. Strap it down and measure its output. If it doesnt net the results you want go back to the drawing board. Find a new fuel source, find a new fuel delivery method, find a way to cut down weight, Find a way to strap more boosters to your payload. Try again and hope for a better out come. Notice your rocket is still too unstable so find a better way to arrange your boosters to provide more stability. Test it again and hope for a better outcome. This time you notice your boosters fire and then act as dead weight for the rest of the flight so find a way to remove them mid flight. Test this system at varying altitudes to make sure it fires when you want it to. Eventually you get to a point where everything should work so you pick the best conditions you can for your launch and hope for the best."
] | [
8
] | [
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
nsk4u2 | What does solder actually do in electronics? | I understand that part of it is for structural support, but what else is it for? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | [
"h0mwi4j",
"h0mwrj9"
] | [
"It is basically just conductive glue. It holds electrical components in place and allows them to conduct electricity along a path between them and the next components in the circuit."
] | [
10
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
5mxz6j | How do birds feet not freeze? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dc7k6ia"
] | [
"[This]( URL_0 ) is a pretty good description for why they don't freeze. In a nutshell, bird's feet are little more than skin, bone and sinew, and their blood flows so fast that it doesn't have time to freeze in the first place. Their circulatory system is also set up to reduce heat loss through their feet, which could make the rest of their body colder."
] | [
8
] | [
[
"http://askanaturalist.com/why-don%E2%80%99t-ducks%E2%80%99-feet-freeze/"
]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
an6vw0 | How do pilots know when to expect turbulence? | Aside from the obvious bad weather etc, how do pilots know when to expect turbulence when flying through clear skies? | Other | explainlikeimfive | [
"efr5eme",
"efrnn4w",
"efrc26o",
"efr5tqg"
] | [
"Somebody will come around with a clearer answer, but I think pilots that have experienced unexpected turbulence just report it to ATC, and then ATC lets the other pilots know when they’re entering the area where turbulence was reported."
] | [
22
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6z7ugh | Is there a disadvantage in being an omnivore? | Humans are omnivores and can survive off of meat and vegetables, but most modern carnivores only eat meat and just a few species are eating vegetables too. Is there a hidden disadvantage for being an omnivore and shouldn't Survival of the Fittest have favored omnivores since they are more adaptable? | Biology | explainlikeimfive | [
"dmt9lek",
"dmt77v1"
] | [
"> Is there a hidden disadvantage for being an omnivore There is. Carnivores are better at digesting and extracting nutrients from meat. Herbivores are better at doing the same with plants. Omnivores are can digest both, but are worse at either, which means they have to, in general, eat more overall."
] | [
8
] | [
[],
[]
] | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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